By golly, I'd say that's a duochrome! [NOTD]

My goodness, I've found my new favorite polish.



The wonderful duo-ness isn't very strong here. So, you're probably thinking.. pshh, that's not a duochrome!
Check out the bottle of this wonderful stuff.



So what is this beautiful quad-chrome?
It's Savina Black Pearl.
I reviewed the Savina brand a few hours ago, then decided to use Black Pearl as a full mani for today.
I'm awed by this polish. This is two thin coats with one coat of seche vite. The formula was amazing, absolutely no issues with this one. Overall, one of my favorite polishes ever.

The Ring [finger].

Ok, so I decided to go take a look at my past posts and see if there was anything wrong with them that obviously needed fixing. I went back and just realized- my ring finger is cut off in nearly every swatch picture! Luckily I just learned to to fix that, so I've now made all my pictures a bit smaller so you can see all three of my swatch fingers.

Let's all do a happy dance mk?

Review: Savina Nail Polish

I'd like to talk to you guys about a new (to me) brand of nail polish my friend gifted to me. Luckily, they have labels on them that shows that they are from Nordstrom Rack. I truthfully love these polishes. The bottle is exactly like china glaze with slightly modified caps. The caps have some sort of squiggly pattern on them, but I believe that's for aesthetics and not an important function. I own five Savina colors:



From right to left- Passion Pink, Neon Yellow, Golden, Money Tree, Black Pearl.

I love all these colors except Neon Yellow. I found this color really odd because though it's very bright, it's also a shimmer.. which I find to be a rather displeasing combination. Without a doubt my favorite polish of theirs is Black Pearl, an amazing duochrome (triplechrome?) foil. I found the bottle design and brushes to be great, exactly like the ChG ones. The brush is a bit skinny but it works very well. The formula had no issues- it wasn't drop dead amazing, but it wasn't any drugstore polish either. All together, these polishes were very pleasing :)

Tea Party Poll :)

Hello all!
This weekend, my friends and I are throwing an afternoon tea party *crosses fingers for no rain*.

I'm going to be wearing either a short white dress with rosettes at the center, or a white dress with large coral(ish) flowers & kelly green leaves. So.. my dilemma is my nails!

I'm not looking to be completely matching, but I'd like it to look good.

Check out my spreadsheet here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0At0rzk5O3z3HdG9jRzdKVmhGNzhfN3k3SzlfTHpKZ0E&hl=en

Or feel free to suggest any Sinful/DS polishes not on there ;)
Thanks guys, I love your input!

NOTD: Sinful- Fiji & Let's Talk

I wish I did bolder stuff with my nails. I rarely use my konad or do any variations- I'm a one color per mani type of girl. But today I decided to change it up and alternate two of my untried colors- Fiji, a somewhat dusty lavender shimmer, and Let's Talk, a blue-based purple glowmonster that basically screams "GORGEOUS" at every possible moment.

I love these colors.
I've been told purple looks good on me due to my tan skin and brown hair/eyes. I don't know about that, but I do love purple. This is why:



My index finger looks all funky and dry in this pic, but it (amazingly) was the most color accurate. However, this is hardly color accurate at all. Let's Talk is on my middle finger, with Fiji on either side. Purples are the swatcher's nightmare- this picture shows both colors as very blue, while in reality they are both EXTREMELY purple. This is two coats Let's Talk, and three coats Fiji (it's quite sheer).

Hooray for untrieds!

NOTD: Sinful- Tapping Nails

It's about time I posted again!
Today, I bring you an amazing color from my new (and old) obsession. I believe Sinful is what first got me into nail polish- the range of colors and and the quality for such a low price makes me feel pretty special. I'd say I have about 25-30 Sinful polishes.  But right now, the main reason I'm obsessed with SInful is because they introduced me to an orange I can like AND wear.

I'll admit, I'm not an orange gal. I never have been. In fact, my mom has a home video of me begging to change my halloween costume from a pumpkin to a fairy- not because dressing up as a pumpkin at age five was a tad odd, but because the costume was orange. Yuck.

But, without further ado, may I present you...



Tapping Nails!
This isn't exactly color accurate. The real  color is a tad darker and redder, but does have the amazing lit-from-within glowiness I tried to capture in this picture. This is two coats with one coat SV on top (I need to get a basecoat- any recs?) If you can believe it, this is pre-cleanup. I've really been trying to improve my application, and I think it's working! I know you guys inwardly groan everytime I post swatch pics due to my mess that I call cuticles, but I'm working on it!

Have a nice day guys :)

Uh... wow! (Giveaway!)

So yesterday afternoon I left on my ski trip. When I left, I had 23 followers. I was so excited, thinking that I was really close to my first 25, and therefore able to do my first giveaway. I just came to post some old NOTDs and such (then I realized I didn't bring my camera cord on the trip, sorry guys!) and noticed I had THIRTY FOUR followers. I don't know what happened, but I'm honored.

Because you guys blew past the 25 mark, I'm just going to go ahead and do my very first giveaway!
It's rather small, but they'll get bigger and better as time goes on :)
(I'll add a picture to my post as soon as I get home)

The giveaway includes:
2 Sinful Nail polishes (San Francisco* HD Nails & Nail Junkie)
Zoya-America
The Body Shop- Almond Hand Wash (mini)
and a 3-pack of 5 Gum!


Rules:
-You must be a follower (Sorry, I know it's annoying)
-Comment on this post with your name and email address, plus links to any extra entries.
-Reblogging earns you an extra entry :)
-Twittering earns you an extra entry.
-Telling someone earns you an extra entry (Ask them to post a comment here and credit you)
-Writing a nifty haiku about nail polish earns you up to three extra entries.

**edit: I realized I forgot to put a deadline on this. I'm extremely busy until the end of my spring break, so I won't be able to send anything out until April 20th- so that's the deadline!

***edit again! I'm so sorry guys, I mixed up the polishes. I'm actually giving away Sinful HD Nails, not San Francisco. Sorry for the mixup!

Another amazing friend post!

I apologize for the current boringness of my blog- I just don't have time to do swatches or reviews at the moment. So the only posts I can do right now are update and PSA type things. No worries though, I'll be able to post interesting stuff again soon! (I've got a few reviews planned for the weekend).

But anyway, my friends are practically killing me. I put a brave face on and went on a no-buy a few weeks ago. Then, my friend generously donated some of her oldies to me. Today, my other friend dumped about 6 polishes in my hands and said "Surprise!". You would think this would encourage me not to buy, right?

Nope. Today I was walking through walgreens to get some shampoo, practically covering my eyes past the NP. Then I turned a corner and saw the ST. Paddys display (I have no idea why it's still up), including Green Ocean. I had no interest in it before, but then I thought- that would look good over some of my new polishes.  And it was a downward spiral from there... I now own Green Ocean, Fiji, the CC PmF collection, and about 13 random oldies. Yay for me- nay for my wallet.

T&T Numero Uno

Aka.. Tips & Tricks number one!
So, after not posting for a few days due to lack of new things to write about, I decided that it might be fun (and hopefully you guys will like it) if I post little tips and tricks I use to maintain my nails/cuticles. I promise they look better IRL than they do in person :)

So, my tip for today is what I use when I'm out of cuticle butter/balm, or I'm on the go. A few weeks ago when my cuticles were practically dying of thirst, I decided to use my chapstick as a makeshift cuticle balm. The chapstick I originally used was a Burt's Bees replenishing lip balm- I like it better than my cuticle balm! While most chapsticks work on holding in moisture, this particular lip balm works on adding it back in. The easy application with the tube was a huge plus. However, if you do this I would advise keeping a chapstick specifically for your cuticles- hands carry all sorts of nasty germs that you certainly don't want touching your mouth.

I'm currently swatching some new finds (And old ones), so those will be up ASAP.

Condensation of Spam.

Ok.. so I just found a giant list of giveaways, each better than the next.
So, I decided to condense all the spammage of them into one post for your convenience :)

To start off, KONADomani is having a giveaway with the deadline tomorrow for an array of nail art/konad related things.

http://konadomania.blogspot.com/2010/02/300-giveaway.html

Then at Emerald Sparkled, the giveaway is filled with lovely turkish polishes and such

http://emeraldsparkled.blogspot.com/2010/03/200-giveaway.html

Then a set of Illamasqua Pastels are being given away here:

http://laquermanic.com/2010/03/17/illamasqua-pastels-collection-and-nudge-give-away/

Then Sawan is giving away THREE FULL SETS of the Claire's mood polishes:

http://sawan-heaven.blogspot.com/2010/03/claires-mood-polish-giveaway.html

You've Got Nail is giving away a cute little nail art kit:

http://youvegotnail.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-giveaway.html

Nail art pens & acrylics are being given out here:

http://thechainnail.blogspot.com/2010/02/50-followers-giveaway.html

And last but not least, a bunch of random things are being given away here:

http://allyoudesire-ayd.blogspot.com/2010/03/500-followers-giveaway.html.

Yes, another.

Ok, you know how I said the last giveaway I saw was amazing?
This beats it. By alot.

The lovely lady over at Nail Junkie (http://www.nailjunkie.com/my-first-giveaway/) is giving away a total of 20 polishes, along with an assortment of other amazing items. I rarely care about giveaways... but I want this one!

Sorry to spam the blog with all these contests, I'm a sucker for them.

Mini 'Haul'

Hey guys!
Tonight I lucked out- My friend decided to clean out her nail polish, and she gave me a bunch of ones she didn't want. Unfortunately, she chose to keep a few oldish OPIs I wanted.. but I can borrow them! She also refused to part with her AiW set.. which is sad because she doesn't even use any of them, just likes them for their names (I don't blame her)

She gave me:

Del Sol- Girls Night Out (hot pink/deep purple sun change polish)
$OPI- Never Enough Shoes
SH 'Magical'- Purple Potion
SH- Goddess
SH- Stone Serenity
SH- Lighthearted Lavender
NYC- 104A

I'll probably swap most of these, but she said she was fine with that.
What do you guys think?

A few swatch requests:

A few recent swatches/swatch requests. Very messy and frazzley ones, but swatches none the less :)

Milani Hi-Res


SH Celeb City


Un-named Icing


Zoya- America


SH- Fairy Teal


SH- Blue It

Franken Swatches:

These are a few swatches from a pastel mini-collection I made. I love the colors, but I really messed up on the formula. These are such PITAs, streaky and bald spots after 4-5 coats.



Fairycakes



Twinkle Toes



Bumbershoot

:)

Holy cow.. huge giveaway!

The lovely ladies over at NAA (Nail Addicts Anonymous) are having a huge giveaway for their 64th follower (Yeah, I don't get that numbers significance either).

It includes:

Essie

Mink Muffs, Shindig, Porcini, Van D'Go

Orly

Snowcone, Mint Mojito

OPI

Chapel of Love, Jade Is The New Black

China Glaze

Bahamian Escape, Shower Together, Tree Hugger

Awakening, Lemon Fizz, Bermuda Breakaway, Good Witch?

Plus some yummy looking easter candy!

Amazing.

Go check it out at 
http://nailaddictsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-first-giveaway-celebrating-64.html

Holy cow. Review: Body Shop Mango Scrub

Ok, so I was looking through my old Body Shop sets to try and find more 'miracle' products, and I decided to try out my mini mango body scrub. Holy cow, I think I just died.

This stuff is.. amazing. Just so amazing.
It smells divine, just to start off. I love the mango scent from the Body Shop, along with strawberry and pomegranate (which I believe is/was limited edition).  I'll admit I took a rather large scoop of it just to wash my hands, but that's alright. I found it to be a very dense paste with small granules (I'm not sure what they are- perhaps sugar?) that felt amazing on my hands. After I rinsed it off I found this odd oily sheen on my hands.. and I know I'm in the minority, but I LOVED it. It made my hands feel amazingly soft and supple, and I thought it was great. After that I went and did my nails (using a small amount of acetone on a q-tip to clean my nails first) and they still feel great!

Overall.. love at first sight!

CVS Mini-Haul!

Well, I just went to CVS (A few days ago, actually) and couldn't help buying some nail polishes.
After eyeing the SH Complete Manicure series (I'm obsessed with the brush!) I finally decided on Grey by Grey (which isn't grey at all), and Fairy Teal. I also picked up Xtreme Wear Blue It, and Milani Hi-Tech & Hi-Res.

I love all of them, so much.
I decided I needed to do some more swatch pics (I need to work on my application, after all!), so those will be in the next post. I need suggestions though- what should I swatch?

My spreadsheet is located here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0At0rzk5O3z3HdG9jRzdKVmhGNzhfN3k3SzlfTHpKZ0E&hl=en

And I'm in the process of updating it with this haul, my frankens, the polishes I've taken out, ect..
I'm also in the process of creating wishlists, and I'm looking for really unique shades. If you have any recs, please suggest them!

Thanks guys ;)

NOTD: Milani Hi-Tech

Or, to be specific, NOAFDA.
Nails of a few days ago :)

Anyway, I love holos. I love them so much.
On the day I wore this I went to Monterey, and this was sooo pretty with all the sun and blue skies. I twas a great trip :)

Anyway, I believe this picture is just two coats with one coat SV. I was so happy that SV didn't dull this- I thought it would, but as it dried the holo came back quite nicely :) The application was smooth and very nice, though I did find the brush to be a little long and awkward, but maybe that's just me. I also have Cyberspace and Hi-Res (Both untried), so I'm excited to try those out!

*** Warning/Info:

I'm sure a lot of you have heard about the recent scandal on MUA.
A trusted blogger (I read her blog quite often and enjoyed it), ManateeMama has recently been linked to the wave of Ebay scams. I'm very upset because I enjoyed her blogs, and never imagined that she would do something like this. She scammed a great deal of NBers out of their money, and it scares me to think how many accounts she may have previously had, and how much money she may have stolen. I stopped following her blog, as did many other MUAers. If you feel the same way, I would advise you do the same. If you were scammed by her, a group of MUAers have filed ebay claims (I believe), and you should do the same.

Thanks for reading, pass it on!

lazy lazy lazy.

Excuse the laziness post- I took pictures of my mani yesterday and today, but I can't find my camera cord and don't feel like looking for it.

Right now I have a St Patricks Day skittle mani with:

Orly- Enchanted Forest
Milani- green holo (Forgot the name)
ChG- Custom Kicks
Milani- Green Glow
Franken- Fairycakes
ChG- Tree Hugger
WnW- Carribbean Frost
SH- Grass Slipper
Sinful- San Francisco
OPI- GGG

But I'll have to crop the pics because I just noticed a hugeee baldspot on my left pinky.
I'm not sure how that happened.. but I always mess up my manis. So, what's your St. Patricks day mani?

Swapping

Well, I've officially joined the swap world.
And I think I'm obsessed.
Now, I'm not able to part with many of my polishes.. four to be exact.
But for the past bajillion years or so, all I've gotten for my birthday is random The Body Shop sets.
So, I'm hoping I can swap all 11 of them away. And my uncreative friends. Last year, I received four bars of strawberry scented soap. I love their body butters.. but why would I need that much soap??

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to ship all of this stuff, but hopefully someone will be willing to part with it. I really want to swap away half my jewelry, but I'm not sure if you're allowed to do that.

Anyway, I'm off to go find some more stuff to swap. NOTD is one of the Milani holos, I'll post pics/comments ASAP.

PS- If you want a crapload of vitamin enriched shower products, message me ;)

Helmer!!!

Yesterday I finally picked up my first helmer :)
It's a lot smaller that I expected it to be, and assembly was an outright pita. However, it may be my fault as I'm not too good at reading the directions. It got together eventually though, and I was expecting to fill about half of it... but I didn't even fill a drawer. I thought Helmers were supposed to hold like 200 polishes?! But I have just over 100, and it all easily fit inside one drawer. It's great, because I vowed to stick to one helmer.. but also bad, because now I'll go buy polish to fit it :)



That basket on top is another little basket I got from ikea, it's the perfect size to store my acetone/remover/cotton pads/file/ect..



A closeup of my basket :)



This is what my stash looked like before helmer. I'm not kidding, all my polish was dumped out onto my floor so I could find certain colors.

And this is what it looks like now:



It looks so small compared to other stash pics I've seen. I almost feel ashamed. Almost.

NOTD: Orly Enchanted Forest

Ignore that huge dent on my middle finger... Bria and wet polish in the morning don't mix very well. Honestly though, I've got to find a better time to do my manicures, as I'm sick of them turning out like this :P But.. I love this color! I originally got it because it reminded me of my summer camp, both because of the name and color. It's my first (and only) Orly polish, but I'm happy to say that I'm going to get a lot more. I love the Orly grip cap, and while there's nothing special about the brush, it works very well. The formula was very smooth, and gave me a perfectly opaque mani in two thin coats. This picture is no b/c (I need to find a good one still, any recs?), two coats EF, one coat SV. Seriously... I love Orly.

But.. is it supposed to be Orly (Pronounced as one word) or O-RLY (Oh really). This is the question.
Do you have the answer?

Organization

I have issues with it.
My 'nail polish room' (Actually my brothers, as he is away at college), is such a mess I don't even know where to start. I need to get myself a helmer.. or something. I took some pictures, but as I don't want to scar my readers for life, I'm refusing to post them. If you want to picture it.. imagine your nail polish stash. Now, dump it on the floor. Mix it up a bit. Add in some used cotton balls and an open bottle of acetone. Surround it with open shipping boxes covered with test strokes. Want to cry yet? Leave half the tops off of the bottles (See post below). Alright.. someone kill me please. Preferably with a helmer.

Polish Monster

I've become a polish monster.
A few weeks ago, I would have been content to let my friends come over, play with my polishes, even use one of my franken bottles to try it out. Not anymore.

Yesterday, my friend came over. My friends make fun of my polish addiction (It's worth it though), but she was content with sitting down and painting on an old cardboard box because she'd already done her nails. I even let her use one of my pretty franken bottles (One of the new ones, not just a cleaned old bottle) to make a rather odd purple glitter color. However, this morning I came downstairs into the room where I kept my polish, and realized that EVERY SINGLE polish she had used (About 18) had the tops unscrewed, some even off and laying on my floor. I know it's my fault for not realizing this before I went to bed.. but still. That girl is NEVER touching my polish again.

PSA: I need to get a life outside of polish.

Ok, that's my rant for the day. What's yours?

MeganChair's Pi Day Giveaway!

I love things that rhyme :)
Ok, so I know this is a bit (really) late, but Megan over at Little Music Boxes is having a fantastic giveaway for Pi Day, which is tomorrow. She has quite an array of amazing polishes, including Icing Blackout and ChG Fortune Teller (One of my lemmings!)

Go here for more info:

http://littlemusicboxes.blogspot.com/2010/03/pi-day-giveaway.html

Goodluck guys!

A Mini Franken Collection :)

I'm really getting obsessed with frankening. I'm quite a fan of this little mini set though, but they still need names. The only one that has a name is the purple in the middle. My friend Rachel told me to create one for her with the name 'Twinkle Toes'... so I did :) But then I decided that Twinkle Toes needed a mint green brother.. but then that mint green brother would look great with a sky blue grandpa. So, this set was born. If you have any suggestions for names, please comment/pm me!

TIA <3

NOTD: ChG Dorothy Who?

-insert frazzle complaints-

Seriously, I don't know what is happening with my cuticles right now.
And.. I chopped off my nails. Do you like the nubbins?

Anyway, I <3 DW. The application was very nice, though I got a little bit of drag on my second coat. I believe this swatch is only two coats, but I may have added a thin third one, I'm not sure. As you can see, DW is a great bright blue with dense blue and silver mircoglitter. It's very similar to OPI Absolutely Alice, except AA has gold glitter instead of silver, and is quite a bit denser. One thing I did not like about it, however, is that my usual one coat of SV didn't smooth it out for me- I insist on smooth nails, and for some reason DW didn't want to comply. Roughness forgotten though, it's a very nice polish :)

Review: The Body Shop- Strawberry Body Butter

Alright, I know it says body, but I use this exclusively for my hands.
And I love it!
I had a full container of this sitting on my dresser for well over a year before I finally decided to try it out.
It's a nice, thick body butter that goes on very smoothly and makes my hands feel great. It leaves little residue (Though I would put it on after the polish, and none if you're wearing matte/suede), and sinks into the skin very quickly. The scent is delicious, but very strong. So, if you love the scent (Like I do), you'll be very happy, but if you feel otherwise then this isn't for you.

I first decided to try this product due to my extremely dry/flaky hands.
I'm on a no buy, so I decided it would be good to try everything I had before going out and buying some random hand cream. And boy, am I glad I did!

My hands are now extremely smooth and well colored (They have a tendency to become washed out and oddly colored with dryness), and smell very good too. It took me while to find the best times to apply it, ut I've discovered that if I apply it twice a day then it keeps my hands nice without overdoing it.

The body shop carries loads of different scents and formulas, I also own a mango scented one and love it just as much. Overall, a great product!

Is it just me?

For me, when I'm not doing anything to improve my appearance, I look decent.
But whenever I take steps to try and improve a minor flaw, it all blows up and looks disgusting.

Like my skin for instance- I had nearly perfect clear skin up until this year, when I decided I needed to take care of one tiny pimple. So, I started washing my face with an assortment of fancy creams, and now my face looks like a minefield. Lovely.

Then, my cuticles. I didn't even know what cuticles were until I joined MUA (curse that day.. I've been draining my bank account ever since), but ever since then I've been really nitpicky about them. They were fine for awhile, but now they've developed into a battlefield of hangnails, dryness, and overall ickness that no amount of cuticle butter can seem to fix.

What to do, what to do?

Whatt?

I've been receiving a lot of positive attention for my collection, and I'm surprised (and thrilled!).
It's only been finished for about four hours, and I've already gotten several people wishing to purchase/swap/insert other way of receiving my polishes here. Everyone has been really kind and supportive, so I'd just like to thank everyone for that.

I've decided that if people are that enthusiastic about my polishes, then I might as well give them a shot.
I wrote and followed strict franken recipes for them, so I feel confident I can dupe them fairly easily.
I haven't decided on a price or anything yet, but I'm really open to any offers you may have- whether it be swapping, buying, ect.. I'm open to suggestions!

If you are interested, please message me on my MUA account (briobobia), or email me at bvicenti@comcast.net.

Thank you so much everyone, all the support means a lot.

NOTD: ChG Happy-Go-Lucky

WHY CAN I NOT FIND A YELLOW FOR MY SKIN TONE?


That said, I love Happy-Go-Lucky. I love the color, I don't mind the formula.
But it looks awful on me.
For some reason, this applied horribly. But I'm almost positive it was my non-existent application skills, not the polish.

Application and skintone nastiness up ahead >>



All together, a great polish. Adorable with some black & white polka dots, as I added on to this mani after I took this picture. This pic is no b/c, two coats Happy-Go-Lucky, and one coat SV.

Dun dun dun....

I would officially like to present the (not) Official Harry Potter NP Collection!
Overall I am very satisfied with these polishes.. some turned out to be a tad tricky to apply, and some were very different from my original idea.. but I'm satisfied.

In no particular order:

Wherefore Art Thou Werewolf


My first shade :) WATW is a rich, chocolate brown with a gold shimmer and a small amount of rainbow microglitter. This is two coats, no b/c or t/c.

Duddykins


I love this color, though I'm not sure how I feel about it on me. Duddykins is a warm coral cream leaning a bit towards the orange side. This picture is almost exactly color accurate, except that Duddykins is just a tad warmer in person. This is three coats, but you could get away with two if you were careful. No b/c or t/c.

Half-Moon Spectacles


One of my favorites, Half-Moon Spectacles is a very pretty gray/blue/lavender sheer. It showed up more blue in this picture, but it has hints of purple in there as well. However, it is very sheer and does require three coats. No b/c or t/c.

Lily's Eyes


Amazingly, this is only three coats. This is probably one of the sheerest polishes I own, so those three coats were a tad thick. I think it's worth it for the color though- An almost seafoam green with a (unseen in the picture) subtle gold/yellow flash. No b/c or t/c in this picture.

Catch My Mad-Eye


My favorite name- though I can't take the credit for it. My friend came up with this name while she was helping me brainstorm polishes. Catch My Mad-Eye is an electric blue jelly, with a (extremely) subtle dark blue shimmer. The color is a tad darker IRL, along the lines of OPI's SSFS. This is 2 coats, no b/c or t/c in this pic.

Stupefy Me


I have to admit, I'm running out of commentary. Stupefy Me is a great tomato red with a jelly(ish) finish. Like pretty much every other color, this also has a really subtle flash- an orange one, in this case. Two coats, no b/c or t/c in this picture.

The Chosen One


I apologize in advance for any blindness or mental scarring due to the messiness and grossness of my cuticles in this picture. I kind of lost patience with many nice, neat little swatches.. so I just slapped this one on. A black jelly with green/gold glitter, this went on very nicely. Two coats, no b/c or t/c.

Meet Me At Zonkos


The only one that was really different from my original listings, MMAZ is a crazy green, blue, silver & purple glitter. This picture is two coats over Wet N' Wild Black. I believe you could have it by itself with a few thick coats, but I didn't have the patience to do that today :) No b/c or t/c in this picture.

It's about time!

Well, I did it!
I finally made my HP Franken Collection.
I'm very proud of it.
There's a range of colors and finishes, and they all apply very well.
Almost every color is how I imagined it, too!

Great stuff :)
I'm swatching them now, the collection will be in the next post!

Haulage.

Ok, so I'm pretty satisfied.
I went to Walgreens to stock up on polishes to franken with.
I came in, expecting to get 8 or so specific shades that I needed to make my HP collection.. and walked out with 21 polishes, all for the same price I expected to spend.

Life is great :)
Except for the fact that I missed my empties package today, so I'll have to go pick it up sometime at the post office.

Oh dear.
Sorry for the really short post, I just really don't have a lot to talk about ;)

Well... that didn't work so well.

After lemming my own HP collection for a few hours. I felt the need to make a polish. Unfortunately, I have no polishes I want to mix at the moment.

So, I decided to take a tip from Josh (petrilude) on youtube, and make my nail polish using pigments.
AKA four year old drugstore eyeshadows.
I'm not a makeup girl.
Nails... love!
Makeup... No. Don't care.

So I went into my bathroom, took out all 3 of my 6-color eyeshadow palettes, and went to work.
I ended up with what (in my mind) is hopfully going to be 'Half-Moon Spectacles'. It's a very shimmery and pretty (but very sheer) periwinkle color, more on the blueish side than the purple. It does flash purple though, and silver in the perfect light.

I'll post pics soon!
Overall, not bad for my first eyeshadow polish :)

NOTD: OPI Ink Suede

Oh my sweet polish.
I love this polish.

Ok, so I'm not a big OPI person.
Just kidding, I love them.. just can't afford them.
I have two OPI nail polishes.
One, the great color but PITA.. Gargantuan Green Grape.
GGG gave me horrible expectations for OPI.

But then my VNS order came.. and I decided I needed to give Ink Suede a try.
Probably the best decision I've ever made.
Because my camera is currently unavailable (read below for details), I'm going to be one of those cool ultra-detailed people.
(ps- I have compulsive line break and new paragraph disorder.. bear with me. [bare? baer?])

OPI Ink Suede is part of their (not new at all) Suede collection. I believe these were released with the matte polishes. Ink Suede is the suede version of the color Ink, but it looks nothing like it. IS is an amazing dark indigo color, with tiny microglitter that dries matte, giving it the suede finish. It seems like it should dry gritty, but it's perfectly smooth. It is very nicely pigmented, mine was perfectly applied in two coats. It's completely unique- I haven't seen anything like it. One downside though, is that it chips very easily and you can't apply a topcoat while keeping a suede finish.  A tip I picked up from the MUA board is to apply two coats IS, one coat topcoat, then one more coat IS. I feel like this would be too many layers though, so I'll just deal with the chipping.

I highly recommend this polish!
So go buy it.
Now.

<3

Camera cord oh camera cord.

Wherefore art thou?
I decided to undertake the elusive 'stash pics' challenge today.
I organized all 73 (don't laugh, it's a lot for me!) of my polishes.
Lined them up all perfectly, took some (really bad) decent pics.
Even got a good 30-40 seconds of sunny ones.

Then, I came inside all excited to upload them... and my camera cord is gone.
I swear it's hiding from me.. I've looked everywhere.
Including my sock drawer. And under my pillow.

If anybody sees a spare camera cord lying around, feel free to tell it to return home.

A HP Franken Collection :)

Hello guys!
I was bored the other day, and was discussing future career options with my friend.
I realized that my (temporary) life goal was to become one of the OPI color namers.
So, in order to practice for my future, I decided it would be fun to create a nail polish collection based on the Harry Potter series, by the wonderful JK Rowling.


I haven't created them yet, but here are a few of my concepts.
If you have any ideas, I'd love some comments or input on them, I haven't decided some of the colors.


Lily's Eyes- Lime green creme, maybe slight forest green shimmer.
The Chosen One- Black jelly with bright green/silver microglitter.
Wherefore Art Thou Werewolf- I liked this name, but I have no idea what the color could be- input?
Diddykins- A bright peach creme
Meet Me At Zonkos- A bright purple base with yellow and green hexagonal glitter.
Half Mooned Spectacles- A pale gray/light blue/purple duochrome
You Stupefy Me- No idea what to do for this one, perhaps something red?
Catch My Mad-Eye- Electric Blue shimmer, almost neon.