Nicole by OPI: Denim to Earth

Afternoon! Happy Thanksgiving to those of you [and me] located in the United States! Hope you are having a good day! I got off of work early so I decided to do a post for you all. This is sort of a part two to the last post. As I mentioned, I think, the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Me + Blue was part of a two pack of polish I picked up from TJ Maxx. Unfortunately, while the other polish looked pretty in the bottle it was the complete opposite to Me + Blue... extremely disappointing.

In the bottle this looks like a deep plum-purple with pretty little purple/pink shimmer in it. The shimmer is nearly invisible on the nail. I'm not fond of polishes that LOOK black unless you  know they are a different color. This is one of those. My pictures are usually taken indoors under different types of lighting, but most always artificial light of some sort. This is what I when I looked at my fingers:

Look at the "e" in Nicole. See the shimmer there? I wanted that!

Well. That was disappointing. So I thought Hmmm, maybe if I go outside the sparkle will come out!! I went outside on my porch. I started in the shade, but had some sun so I hoped for some sparkle like what what in the bottle buuuuuut....... blah. Just blah dark-purpley blackness. 

Finally, I got some direct sunlight. Oh look! Look!!! It only  shimmers where the sunlight hits. That's it. It doesn't even move around the nail while you rotate your hand. :( I wasn't really impressed. You can make the image larger if you want.

This was really the only way to *sort of* see the shimmer: outside, up-close camera crop.

Can't see it? Enlarge and see the speckles. That's all they look like.

At least the other half of this duo had enough WOW in it to make up for this sadness. I'm actually still wearing a full mani of Me + Blue. I didn't take it off for Thanksgiving. Although, with all the food, at least the drooling didn't look so weird...... shhhh. Haha!

Thanks for checking in!

-Amy


*****Disclaimer: the polish in this post was purchased by me*****

Nicole by OPI: Me + Blue

I'm going to start this post out by letting any blue lovers know that you might want to grab a kleenex or paper towel or something since this polish I have for today is guaranteed to make you drool! I don't usually like blue, but this polish has ME drooling! You've been warned!

I was at TJ Maxx the other day and grabbed one of their two packs of Nicole by OPI polish. I thought this looked pretty in the bottle, but I actually got it for the other color... which I will be posting soon and turned out to be a total let down. :(  Anyway, this is Me + Blue. It is a fine glitter polish in a blue base. It's not a shimmer, but it's not a pure glitter either. It's somewhere in the middle of a standard shimmer polish and say...  polishes like China Glaze's Glistening Snow from their Holiday Collection. Then, among all the already gorgeous glitter are holographic bits of glitter that give this polish a pop when ANY light hits it. I mean ANY. On the drive home from work tonight I could see the holo sparkle as I passes under streetlights. *drooooool*  

All of my pictures are with 3 coats that would have been easy if the brush hadn't been so terrible. I hate the wide brushes because my nails are narrow so the polish gets EVERYWHERE. Blerg! Anyway, 3 coats. There are a lot of pictures in this post and a included a few pre-topcoat to show the matte-glitter finish, so the pics are all under the cut so your poor browser doesn't spaz! I've noted if there is or is not topcoat being used For the topcoat pictures I used a coat of Gelous and a coat of NYC In a New York Minute.  Now.... blue/glitter/holo lovers, get your drool-wiping cloths ready before you click "read more."

Sensationail Wear Test Results!

Good afternoon! I'm back with the end of my wear test for the Sensationail brand of gel nail polish! Here is the original post for reference. I realized after about a day that keeping the same color on my nails, whether I had time to do them or not, was difficult! (Addict, anyone??? Haha!) But I really wanted to see how long this polish would last so I stuck it out until my first chip.

I painted my nails 11/6 and didn't have a single chip until today 11/11. While 5 days may seem to fall short of the advertised two weeks on the box, for someone as hard on their nails as I am, that is INCREDIBLE! The polish lasted through showers, play sessions with the kitten, room cleaning, work... I'm impressed. Before taking them off, all I had was that small chip on my left-hand middle finger and a medium sized chip on my right-hand ring finger.

This was originally just the bit on the right... but it got caught on my hair right before the picture and that ripped off the part on the left. Oops!

As you can see, there is almost not tip wear either! Awesome! I'll probably do this again when I have to go a few days without doing my nails!

There is also a special removal kit you can purchase and a removal tool, but I passed on both of those. The kit is just a glorified version of the foil method! And I used an orange stick to gently scrape off the polish after it soaked. It took me a little longer than normal because I didn't have any foil handy so I just held an acetone-saturated cotton ball over my fingers. I had to do them one by one, so yeah.... took awhile. But if I had to estimate, this could probably be done in 10-20 minutes with foil. (If you aren't familiar with the foil method for removing glitter, here is a quick tutorial: the foil method.) Just soak, then scrape the polish right off. If any is stubborn just soak a bit more.

I would recommend this product. It's on the expensive side, but once you get the lamp, really it's just the polish and there isn't a huge selection... that's if you even want to use the gel polish. You could always use normal polish with the base and top coat to extend its wear! ^_^

That's all for now! I'm trying to get a picture inventory going so I can post more regularly! Hope you all enjoy your weekend! As a bonus, my baby is growing so fast! She's a little rascal. Likes looking out the window though!

Juneau - 5 months

-Amy



****Disclaimer: all products in this post were purchased by me****

Sensationail Gel Nails: Purple Orchid

Good morning! (At least for me, anyway!) I hope everyone had a great Halloween! I did, even though I didn't really dress up. ^_^

Between my new kitten, work, and a few other things I've had going on, I feel like I haven't had enough time to spend on my nails. I'm trying to organize and catalog my polish collection... and organization is NOT something I was gifted with! Anyway, my nails are too stained to leave naked and I really just can't spend the time painting them every day. (It probably doesn't help that I'm insanely hard on my nails and they aren't naturally strong... so polish always chips very quickly for me.) Based on that, and the fact that I wanted a UV lamp to see if a Gel topcoat would help lengthen my polish wear, I ended up purchasing the Sensationail (cute pun, right? haha!) Starter Kit from my local Walgreens.

Sensationail is a gel nail system that DOES need to be cured under a UV lamp. The starter kit came with the UV Lamp, Gel Primer, Gel Base & Top Coat, a polish color (I didn't use the one it came with because I bought a different color), and gel cleanser. It also includes some lint-free wipes, an orange stick to push back cuticles, and a nail file. When I originally tried this brand I used the old lamp I purchased because it was on sale with Seche's UV Topcoat. So I just got one of the nail colors (Purple Orchid) and tried that lamp. MAJOR fail. The light didn't seem to get around my entire nail so the sides didn't cure right, things smeared, it was a disaster! So I went for the lamp that came with the kit. It does need an outlet, so if you want to try this, just be aware of that.

The process to apply is pretty simple. The instructions say to start by lightly buffing the natural shine of your nail with their provided file. I didn't use their file for that, mostly because my nail are just too fragile, so I used a buffing block. I couldn't tell a difference. Then you can use the provided wipes and gel cleanser to clean off any other natural oils and left over dust from filing. After that you apply the Gel Primer. I watched the video from the web site and there are two different ways you can apply the primer, to your entire nail or for easier removal, just around the edges. The primer is a liquid, sticky substance that you put on with a super short, stiff brush. You don't cure that step at all.

After the primer has had a few seconds to dry--it's still tacky. I learned hair and lint WILL stick to it if you aren't careful--you apply the gel base and topcoat. Cure for 30 seconds. Then the color comes next. The color gel polish you cure for 60 seconds. Application on this was pretty difficult. The polish flows differently than normal nail polish and if you get it on your skins/cuticles, acetone does not remove it so clean up is nearly impossible. (Although, if anyone has tips there, I'd love to hear them!) One benefit seemed to be that since the polish doesn't dry like normal polish either, you could take more time patching up missed spots or going over the same area to make sure it's covered well. The directions say to do 2 coats, but I did 3 to make sure everything was evened out. Each coat is cured for another 60 seconds. After that you apply another coat of the base and topcoat, cure for a final 30 seconds and viola!! You should have a manicure that will last up to 2 weeks.

Oh boy, long winded post! Pictures now! Purple Orchid is a deep, cool-toned purple with blue glass fleck (I think?) shimmers. The shimmer give the polish dimension in low light sparkles in the sun. The pictures are surprisingly color accurate!

Click to enlarge any of them! I'm indoors but tried to capture the shimmers by the window!

On a side note, using this as a base/topcoat to sandwich regular polish seemed to lengthen the wear time. I used a holograph polish (Layla Ultra Violet) since they are notorious for not wearing very long unless you use the special base coats for them. (I don't have any soooooo, yeah. Chip city.) I went 3 days without a chip which was impressive. So I do have high hopes for this brand's wear time!

Thanks for checking in! I'll include overall opinions and a general review of this experiment in my follow-up post. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

-Amy

****Disclaimer: All products in this post were purchased by me****

Nail Fail! Sephora by OPI: Blasted Opalescent

Good morning! It feels a little odd getting a post out before noon. Usually I'm on in the wee hours of the morning, like 1 or 2 am! Had to take Juneau to the vet for another round of kitten shots. She's a trooper!

Anyway, last night I decided to try a random combo. One of the crackle polishes I REALLY like is Blasted Opalescent from Sephora by OPI. It's a shimmery white with purple/blue/pink sparks in it and I like the way it changes personality depending on what you layer it on. I realized I had never used my bottle of Stone Cold from the Colors of the Capitol collection by China Glaze, so I decided to use that as my base. The end result was pretty neat, although because of the matte finish it liked to eat my topcoat. Odd for a non-glitter polish! I added two coats of topcoat and figured I would add a final coat in the morning before work.

BUUUUUUT (you saw that coming, right?) when I woke up this morning, this is what my pretty mani looked like!

Bad picture, courtesy of my phone! 

T_T  The color came off!! My ring finger is what it looked like when I went to bed. My pinkie is what it looked like when I got up, and the rest of my nails are in some stage of colorlessness. :( I was a little bummed because I got the polish on sale! I don't have any other Sephora brand polishes because none of the colors speak to me so I can't justify paying $9.50 for a bottle. I got this for $5. Odd thing is, it didn't do that the first few times I wore it. Just this time! Major bummer.

Does anyone else have this polish? Has anything like this happened with your crackles at all? I'll probably try it again just to see if maybe this was a fluke with the polish. I sure hope it is.

***Update/edit*** I'll have to test this, but I realized that my first layer of "topcoat" was my Nail Magic nail treatment. I didn't have that the first few times I wore the polish, so maybe that's what caused the shimmer to fade. Judging by the smell of the nail treatment, I'd say it's a definite possibility! (But it hasn't had any effect on my other polishes, and I've been using it for over a month. huh.)

OPI: Barre My Soul

You know, if someone had told me when this collection came out that it would be one of my favorites I would have told them they were delusional. Really, what could be so awesome about a bunch of delicate nail polish colors, other than the fact that they're jelly finish polishes??

Of course, the entire Soft Shades Ballet collection is AMAZING! I can't explain why I like them so much, but I do, and I have them all. Today I've got some swatches of Barre My Soul. This polish is a pinkish-beige color. It's not PINK exactly, but there is a pink tinge to it that doesn't make it a solid beige/tan. It looks pinker in my pictures but if you compare it to the actual pink in the collection, You Callin Me a Lyre?, the difference is obvious.

All the polishes in this collection are very sheer. This is 4 coats and you can still see visible nail line. Fortunately the dry time on this is very quick. I think if you REALLY wanted it to be opaque you could add one or two more coats, but I have also seen some swatches where it looks opaque in as little as 3.

Last one just because of the different tone. It makes the polish a little more pink, as mentioned above. 

I really, REALLY like this polish! No clue why! I should hate it just because it seems so... girly? I've never been one for pinks or dainty/delicate things but I just love this polish. If I had to rank the top 5 polishes in my collection by number of times worn this is probably #2. 

This polish is part of OPI's Ballet Soft Shades Collection seems to be pretty standard at any beauty supply store that stocks OPI polish. 

Lime Crime: Les Desserts d'Antoinette Nail Polish Collection

Whew! That's a mouthful. Today I have for you four of the seven shades from the Les Desserts d'Antoinette Nail Polish collection by Lime Crimee. These polishes are all pastel colors. I'll admit, my sole reason for purchasing these initially was the Lime Crime logo. I love unicorns! Turns out, though, that these polishes are fantastic!

The four I have for your today are Milky Ways, a lovely dirty-white color; Pastelchio, a pastel yet very bright limey-green; Lavendairy, a wonderful violet; and Peaches and Cream, a bright, pastel orange. The collection also has a blue, a yellow, and a pink. 

First, Milky Ways, as mentioned, is a dirty, off-white. I don't like straight white much so this color is a nice changes. It's white but with a slightly beige tinge to it. 

For this last picture, I added a coat of White on White by China Glaze so you could see the color difference of Milky Ways when compared to a stark white. I really does remind me of like the nuggat filling of a candy bar, don't you think?

Next I have Pastelchio. LOVE the name on this one! Pastelchio is one of the reasons I fell in love with this collection. It's a pastel, there is no question, but it's not chalky and somehow it still manages to be amazingly bright without being a neon. Amazing! 

Very much like Pastelcho, Peaches and Cream manages to be both pastel yet very, very bright. This is my favorite orange polish out of my entire collection. The label actually has a little heart symbol instead of "and" but I can't type it here. My blogger goes all nuts with the text coding. :( 

Finally, I have Lavendairy. Again, I love the name! This polish I definitely had to debate on. I don't like pink and all the swatches I'd seen had this one leaning a little more pink and a little less lavender, regardless of the name. I finally decided to buy it when I decided I was just getting the entire collection anyway, and fortunately  this polish is indeed purple! I think my picture is really REALLY trying to lean blue, but isn't quite making it. While this might tread the line between purple and pink (much like I imagine most pastel purples would) the color is gorgeous enough that it doesn't matter and the application was flawless.

The coverage on these were all fantastic! Each swatch is three coats although I think if one was more careful than I was, two would be okay. I got these in two different sets at two different times. Pastelchio and Peaches and Cream were a little thick and tended to leave polish ridges if I wasn't careful in my application. I added polish thinner to both to make them easier to work with. Lavendairy and Milky Ways, on the other hand, had no issues at all! The polish was smooth and easy to work with. In the end though, the formula definitely doesn't make me change my mind about these polishes!

I would recommend these to anyone who likes pastel polish or bright colors. I can't wait to get my hand on the yellow in the collection! I love yellows (even though my skin tone doesn't) but sometimes putting on yellow polish is more hassle than it's worth. If that polish is anything like these though, then that won't be an issue at all! 

Finally, as a sidenote, I just got a new addition to my family! This is Juneau and she is an absolute sweetheart! She is 4 months old and only has two modes right now: sleep and play. (On or off. haha)

****Disclaimer: all polish in this post was purchased by me.

Butter London: Knackered

I hope everyone had a good weekend! I’m not sure I’m ready to start the week yet. I was pretty excited to learn the other day that we just opened an Ulta in my town. I have to get a lot of my polish off the internet unless I find time to make a specific trip. The closest Sephora that carries polish is an hour away… in fact, pretty much everything is an hour away. It’s a bit of a bummer since I rarely want to pay shipping when SOME DAY I’ll make it out to get the polish in person!

Anyway, I hurried down to Ulta ASAP to check it out! (And tried not to look crazy because I was soooo excited!) I picked up Orly Space Cadet, a few of the new Sally Hansen  polishes that have been floating around, and Butter London: Knackered.

I was SOOOOO thrilled to get my hands on a bottle of Knackered. I’d seen pictures floating around, and every time I would think meh. It’s not THAT great. (And thus put off buying it…) After getting a bottle, let me just tell you, it IS that great. It really is. Knackered is this gorgeous duo-chrome polish that is sprinkled with holographic glitter bits. It’s really sheer on its own, although I think you could build it up if you wanted to. I don’t have the patience for that so I layered it over Julep Viola—a deep, black-purple.

My pictures are a little off, and I don't have the editing skills to fix them, but this polish has an unmistakable purple-pink shine. My camera wants to make it grey. 

This is going to be really picture heavy because none of these images could do the polish justice. 

My first Glitter Gal polish!

Hello all! I hope you all had a good weekend! Today I have for you my first Glitter Gal polish! It's one of their shade shifter polishes. These come in two options: brilliant and soft. I picked Wild Violets Brilliant. It's got a great shift from a classic violet purple to a deeper blue-toned purple depending on how the light hits. Maybe not the strongest shift in the world f polish but it's absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to pick up a few more color options from Glitter Gal!

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

I don't remember how many coats this was. Three, I think? Anyway, you can pick up Glitter Gal polish from their direct site HERE or Ninja Polish HERE. They retail at $17.50 a bottle, which may seem steep to some, but these are definitely worth it... and  you get a full-size bottle! 

That's all I've got for today. I hope you all have a great day/night (wherever you are) and hello to the new followers! ^_^

****Disclaimer: the products in this post were purchased by me

OPI: Every Month is Oktoberfest

Hello everyone! I hope your days are all going well! Today I have for you a polish from the OPI Germany Collection. I didn't get very many of these. Not many colors stood out to me so I only picked up Every Month is Oktoberfest and the odd yellow that I can't remember the name of. It's across the room so I'm not going to go grab it. >_< Haha.

Every Month is Oktoberfest (EMIO?) ha, anyway, EMIO is a deep red-purple with subtle gold and purple shimmers. It leans more red to me than purple, but the base has a definite deep purple tinge to it. I was actually hoping for a smidge more purple than what there was, but it's still a really pretty polish anyway. I thought the formula was great. It went on smoothly with two coats. I topped it with Seche Ultra-V, a UV topcoat. (The lamp was on sale.)

And please forgive me some for slight swooning. I am still on my new-camera high and these pictures are TONS better than ones I could have gotten with my old camera or, heaven forbid, my phone! *drool* haha! You can also click on them to make them bigger if you want to check out the shimmer!

I don't know what is going on with my ring finger! I think it's just the way the light is glaring off of it. There isn't anything smudged on it at all but I had a hard time getting a picture without that smudge/dirt looking thing there!  

I started using the UV topcoat to see if it lasted any longer than a regular top coat. I didn't notice much of a difference in wear time between this and regular Seche Vite. I use my nails a lot and regardless, I always have a chip or two within a day with either one. When I remember, I plan on doing a test with alternating fingers. My main reason for sticking with this is that the curing with the lamp takes a few minutes  longer, but there isn't that slight fear of bumping something and getting a dent or a scratch in your ALMOST dry mani. Maybe that's just me, but with this you are pretty much good to go when you're done curing unless you hit something REALLY hard or sharp. That seems to work better for me!

Have a good day/night everyone! 

***Disclaimer: all products in this post were purchased by me

NOTD: Illamasqua Prosperity and Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Super, SUPER quick post! I got a new camera! Whoopie!!!! I need to play with it to figure out how to use it so I can get some better pictures up here! I did a quick one with my mani for today. I added Max Factor Fantasy Fire to Illamasqua's Prosperity from my last post, and of course it is GORGEOUS!

Could be a better picture but I haven't had a new camera in YEARS so this is like alien technology to me. Give me a cell phone and I can have it figured out in minutes....but a camara? Nope. Haha I think I'll do some swatching this weekend as practice!

Illamasqua Prosperity

Hello all! Sorry its been so long! I made s HUGE mistake a few weeks back and decided I didn't have time to do my nails, so I had acrylics put on. Bad BAD idea. First: I know I hate acrylics. Getting junk between my fake and real nails is just nasty. Second: I didn't choose a good place. My nails got destroyed. I wasn't even worth it because I soaked them off a week layer. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I had to rehab my nails for awhile. They're still weak, and there is a ridge where my new nail is growing. I've finally gotten it to the point where it isn't so noticeable! (Except when I wear chromes, which sucks since I picked up the China Glaze Bohemian Collection and STILL haven't gotten a chance to wear them!)

Now, my polish today! We don't have an actual Sephora in my town. The one we have is in a JC Penney and they have almost nothing for nail Polish. Boo! I can never get myself to order from their site though because the city an hour away from me has a Sephora, and they DO carry polish... I just never have time to go up. Finally made it this weekend and picked up my first Illanasqua, which I've been lemming for for awhile! I only grabbed Prosperity from the rubber mattes because I was on a budget and wanted some Nails Inc. too!

Prosperity is of the limited edition Rubber Mattes Illamasqua put out. There are 5 or 6 other bright colors that I didn't grab since I at least just wanted the purple! This was my first dealings with this brand and if this was their not-so-good formula (based on some other blogs opinions) then I'm amazed because I thought it was great!! It went on in two easy coats and didn't bubble at all! I'm not 100% certain I'm sold on the finish, but it's interesting. Not matte but not shiny. Rubber is very accurate!

The only thing that might be a negative for some is the polish dried a lit darker than the bottle color. I was expecting a brighter purple but as you can see, its still very dark. I'm on with that but it might bother others.

Finally, forgive my picture and future pics as well. My camera is missing so these are all from my phone! And sorry if this post is covered in typos. I'm writing it from my phone as well because I don't want to dig my laptop out to transfer the images. Haha lazy, I know!

***and sorry if the pic is in a random spot? Phone app = pretty terrible stand in.

China Glaze: I Herd That

Ha. Ok, so I guess I lied yesterday when I said I was going to do a layering combo for today. I DID do a layering thing, but the nail polish fairy must be out to get me. I did a jelly sandwich with OPIs Care to Danse and Nubar 2010/Fingerpaints Asylum. It looked really neat but for some reason it just didn't want to stay on my fingers! Over lunch today the polish on my pinky nail just completely fell off. (like if you paint your nails and don't let all the layers dry, then rub your finger against something. It just kind of shears off the nail.) This was weird because it was hours and hours after originally painting them! So, that's a bummer. Lucky for you all I have a plan B!

I picked up a few of the Safari Collection China Glaze polishes when I was at Sally's the other day. This pick is sort of odd for me because normally I do not like glitters. Not one bit. I own very few and the ones I do I got because they were cheap or I wanted to try them out because I *hoped* I would like them. It never works! Haha Anyway, I saw a swatch of I Herd That and just fell in LOVE. I don't know what happened, but I think we might get married (Ha, not really! But remember those grade-school taunts? If you love it then why don't you marry it!) So.... check it out!

I had a really difficult time getting the true contrasts of the glitter to come out. There seems to be a mix of holographic glitter, gold glitter, and some darker coppery glitters. The effect is truly amazing. I didn't want to take it off! The formula on this was beautiful. My pictures all use topcoat, but this polish dries to an interesting matte finish. It does have texture to it, but not as much as a lot of other pure glitter polishes. All I needed was a coat of Gelous and one of Seche Vite and it was smooth!

If you like glitter, this is absolutely a must-have polish! The fact that my glitter-despising self likes it should say a lot! Like I mentioned, I found the collection at Sally's and they would probably have it at Beauty First as well. (Although, Beauty First in my area is slow at getting stock in.)

I hope you all have a good night and happy Friday! 

Quickie Product Review (with no pictures. You'll see why!)

So, I've spent the last few days being sick. I thought I had strep throat, but it turns out it's just a nasty, NASTY cold. Anyway, I spent yesterday in bed after taking a trip to my local Walgreens for assorted medications and throat drops. (FYI, Cepacol. It numbs EVERYTHING. uh-MAZING!) Anyway, while I was there I noticed they had the Gel Perfect nail polish things on sale so I grabbed on. I've always wanted to try it but I change my polish so often that it seemed like a waste of money. Since I was sick I figured hey, why not? Then I don't have to mess with my nails for a few days! (They look so nasty when they aren't painted. Ewwww!) My plan was to review the product and do a wear test with it to see how it worked out.

Well, I don't know if maybe I did something wrong.... but the product was TERRIBLE. Absolutely horrible. I don't have any pictures because I painted them then fell asleep. I was sick and didn't want to get the camera. I believe it's supposed t last for up to two weeks so I figured I would just take pictures today. Well, in less than 4 hours I managed to chip the ring finger of my right hand. I was annoyed--not really--but since that isn't my picture hand I just ignored it. My left hand looked fine. Too bad that didn't last! Today at work, so less than 24 hrs after applying the polish, I had a GIANT chip in on my index finger and thumb on my left hand! Really?? I've had plain polish last longer than that and I didn't use my nails nearly as much as I usually do!! I was so disappointed with the wear time.

The other thing that really got to me was the smell. The smell alone is enough to keep me from every trying this product again. I think the activating polish has the same chemicals as the glue for press-on nails, so you might as well just sit there and stiff the glue from one of those kits. That's what it felt like, and the smell never went away! Anyone ever use the Nabi Magnetic polishes? Those smell bad... this was worse.

So, that's why there are no pictures of the mani at all. I never had a chance. All in all, I am definitely glad I picked this up while it was on sale. Ugh. If anyone has used this an it has worked for them, let me know. I'm curious to know what techniques you used that I just must not know!! I think I should be able to get a post in tomorrow. I'm going to try and layering combo for you! Hopefully it turns out the way I am picturing it it my head!

Have a good night everyone!

....and OK fine. Oogle this. Not related in any way to above griping!

Bonus picture to make me feel better about being so wordy  in the post! Max Factor Fantasy Fire over Zoya Yasmeen! This was sooooooo pretty!!

*Disclosure: This product was purchased by me*

Girly Bits Hocus Pocus (aka the best polish ever if you love holos like me!)

Hey everyone! Today I've got for you what is probably one of my new favorite polishes! Girly Bits Hocus Pocus! Hocus Pocus is a really simple holographic top coat that can be used with any base polish. I wanted to try and show you all exactly what that means with a bunch of before/after-type photos!

First though, this is what I actually ended up wearing for a few days. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite genius enough to take any pictures of Zoya Yasmeen before I added Hocus Pocus. Oops.

Over Zoya Yasmeen

Over Zoya Yasmeen

Over Zoya Yasmeen

Over Zoya Yasmeen

 If that wasn't enough to make you swoon, check under the jump here for more pictures with different colors!

NOTD: My first jelly sandwich!

Hey guys! Just a super short post for today. Yesterday I tried my first jelly sandwich mani! It's definitely not the most awesome thing in the world -- compared to others I've seen -- but I thought it turned out pretty neat!

I used Don't Touch My Tutu! from OPI and a random Orly glitter I picked up on my last trip to Sally's called Can't Be Tamed. (It's got small purple hex glitters with black microglitter in a clear base.)

The results:

It reminds me of those candies that come out during Easter that are the speckled egg chocolates. Anyone else see that or even know what I'm talking about?? Haha 

Coming up this week I have another creation from Pam at Girly Bits that I'm in love with! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Girly Bits: Street Magic

I have a beauty for you all today! I managed to get my hands on a mini of Street Magic when the Girly Bits store did their last restock. I was hoping to get Shift Happens (like a lot of others, I bet!) but it was sold out by the time I was able to place an order. I'll try again next time, but until then this gorgeous polish will hold me over!

Not a lot of words for this one. It's soooo PRETTY! I chose to layer it over a dark green polish today and love the way it turned out! This flashes from gold to green to blue to bronze depending on how the light hits. My camera didn't want to capture anything other than the gold, for the most part, but I tried. This is really one you do need to see in person! It's worth it!

(Direct lamp light - Indoors)

(Lightbox. This didn't work well. I was hoping to get some of the other colors.)

And the beauty of them all (for me anyway):

(Direct Lamplight - Indoors)

Aren't you just drooling? I took a ton of pictures of this but all of them either ended up blurry or only half my nails were in focus! Oh well. You can catch a little more of the green shimmer here.

You can pick up Girly Bits polishes at her store http://girlybits.bigcartel.com/ or at Llarowe. You can also check out her BLOG to keep up-to-date on restock status.... or look at all the pretty pictures! 

There is no photo in this post but I'm too excited not to say anything!

I ordered a bottle of Max Factor Fantasy Fire a few weeks back. If you aren't already away, this polish is very similar to the rare and long discontinued Clarins 230 polish. I've been checking my mailbox religiously for DAYS now and tonight when I opened it.... THERE IT WAS!

I'm so excited to try it out. I will get some pictures up for you soon so you all can see how awesome this polish is! 

That's all for now. Short and sweet. Haha, I hope you all have a good night (or day, depending on where you are).

Orly Glowstick - Take Two!

Wow. So that last post should teach me to never swatch/post as an alternative to sleeping. I just pulled up my computer and that picture from my phone is absolutely TERRIBLE! It's not color accurate at all.

I managed to fish out a working camera that I used, and took some pictures in shade/natural light. I don't have the skills to manually edit and color correct photos in Photoshop or another graphics program, so I relied on some comparison shots to try and bring across the true color of this polish. Everything from the last post is still the same when it comes to formula and all that, but here are some WAY better pictures!

As you can see, my camera is just wanting to pick up on the fact that this polish is yellow. In reality this polish really does glow. (Not in the dark, although that would be pretty neat!) Looking at my hands, I'm reminding of being in middle school and coloring on my fingernails with markers, or a highlighter in this case! I hope I wasn't the only one to do that? Haha ^_^ But you can see how yellow this polish is, right? The picture in the last post looks pastel, almost, and this polish is so far away from pastel! 

To try and show how yellow and neon it is, I took some pictures next to Fingerpaints Lemon Sour. It has it's own set of swatches here if you want to compare side-by-side swatches.

Lemon Sour is a very pastel/muted yellow. It's not canary yellow, but you can see how bright Glowstick is when they are placed next to each other! Glowstick is SOOOOOO colorful! 

Since I don't know how you got to my blog, this is the link to my first attempt at posting this color. I'm not taking it down because I had to type it up twice! So now it will stay up on principle... or something like that. haha

Anyway, longer post than I thought. Oops! I'm planning on relaxing all day today. It's my weekend and today is my birthday! Movies + Polish + Coffee + Cats sounds like bliss.