Good evening!
Tonight I bring to you a first from me- a comparison swatch. I enjoy seeing these from other bloggers I admire, so I hope I can do this properly. Now, my comparison won't be between two well known polishes; mine is between a well known and one of my creation :) So, I'll also being showing off my first dupe. Sit back and enjoy!
Ok, so I know most of you should know what OPI's Absolutely Alice looks like. You're prolly familiar with how hard to find and expensive it is, and can, be. I acquired my own bottle of AA last year without too much difficulty, but almost immediately with the first use, I wasn't totally happy with. I'll explain why.
My first complaint is how thick it was even on the first use. I tried and tried to get the coats thin, but that was impossible. AA only got thicker after that, no matter how much lacquer thinner I used.
My second complaint is how quickly it chipped, which was practically the next day. Yes, yes, I know, it's glitter. Glitter chips fast, especially with how dense AA is. Even still, I didn't expect it to chip that soon.
So, with these two things working against, I sought to create a suitable dupe. It took some, as I couldn't find what I needed. What, exactly, is my secret :P You'll notice right away in pics some obvious differences.
My dupe is made with a finer glitter than AA, which is, in my opinion, a chunky glitter. Because it's finer, it lays much smoother and has more shine to it, even without a topcoat (which I didn't use in these swatches). My dupe still has a texture and still is topcoat hungry, but it's no where near as bad as most of my other glitters. As for chipping, I don't know yet how well it lasts.
For the sake of my comparison, I applied 3 coats of my dupe against 2 of AA, which was achieved for opacity. No topcoat was used.
So, what do you think? Personally, I like my dupe better for the reasons I listed. The dupe is a bit darker, but to those who aren't too picky or familiar with AA, it could be a great substitute.
Good morning! Welcome to the middle of a short week for my US followers! I hope the morning finds all of you well.
Today I bring to you my offering for Pink Wednesday. This week I kept it pretty simple, mostly because A) I couldn't figure anything else to do, or B) whatever I attempted turned out horrible xD. For some reason, the polish I'm about to show you practically shouted "I need something more!!!" and for the life of me, I just couldn't get anything to work. I also have no idea why I kept feeling the need to do something with it, since it's a beautiful color on its own, lol.
The color I'm talking about is the lovely Reagan from Zoya. This is another color from their Beach & Surf collection. It's very similiar to OPI's Dim Sum Plum and Ate Berries in the Canaries, both of which I have. I may have to do comparison swatches just to see how close they are. Anyways, Reagan is dark berry pink that's a nice change from the brighter, neon colors that are hot this summer. I think this would be a great color for just about any skintone, honestly.
You'll have excuse my pics for this post. I wasn't able to get outside to take them because our landlord decided to have new siding put up and these idiots came early early early. The first two are inside as close to my window as possible for "daylight" pics, the other two are inside as well with the flash.
Oh, and this 2 thin coats topped with Poshe. I will say this, the cremes from this collection are very pigmented, which I think makes them a bit thicker than other creme polishes I own. They are a bit harder to work with because of it, but not impossible.
Good evening!
I don't know how many of you are Americans or internationals, but here in the States it's Memorial Day today. I hope you all had a great day, regardless if it was a holiday or not. Hubs and I went over to my parents for a little cookout and ate too much, and I drank a little too much lol.
In tribute of Memorial Day, I wanted to do something patriotic on my nails. I don't really have a white polish I like, so I chose a red and a blue, Zoya Sooki and Ibiza. I alternated colors, 3 red 2 blue on my left, 3 blue 2 red on the right. I did two coats each color and topped it with Out the Door's Northern Lights in silver. I let that completely dry before moving on.
I then pulled out my stamping gear, Konad Special White, and Shany plate SH13. The image I picked on the plate reminded me alot fireworks, so I went to town and stamped every finger with that image. I topped again with Northern Lights, and on accent fingers, I added a little gem to the center of the image. Done! Very simple, but very pretty. Even hubs noticed and commented on it several times!
Good morning, and Happy Memorial Day weekend to my US followers! I hope this weekend finds everyone with fun filled plans and equally fun manis to go with them! I have a special mani planned for the actual day, but am nakey right now :P Today's post will be featuring the mani I rocked yesterday, so on to it!
Most, if not all, of you have prolly seen swatch pics and the actual colors in person of The Amazing Spiderman collection from OPI that was released earlier this month. When I saw swatches myself, I was determined to at least get Shatter the Scales; I knew for a fact I didn't want Your Web or Mine? and Call me Gwen-ever, but I had mixed feelings about the other four. While I was out last weekend, I stopped in Regis to see if they had the collection yet, since JCP didn't. They did but not the Shatter. So I looked over the others, and bam! One of the colors jumped out at me.
It wasn't one the ones you would expect either. This color is one I really didn't want to like. It's so not something I would normally wear, plus there was alot of hype surrounding that kinda turned me off. But there I was, polish in hand, buying it. I'm still on the fence a little with this color but I really like with Shatter the Scales over it. What color am I talking? Well, that would Just Spotted the Lizard. Everyone's been buzzing about this one, because it's supposed to a dupe for Chanel Peridot. I don't have that, so can't tell you either way.
What I do know is, the duochrome is hard to capture on camera lol, but it does have it. Most of the time you see an old gold color, but when you go outside, you see more of the teal green flashes. The formula is a little runny, and flooded my cuticles on almost every finger. Opacity was achieved in 2 coats, but I did a third because I thought I saw some bald spots I put in. I topped with SV, added an normal thickness coat of Shatter the Scales, and topped again with SV.
Now, let me tell you about Shatter the Scales. It's not like the other Shatters that OPI released last year; it's more like Super Bass that was released with the Niki Minaj collection in January. It's more glittery and not metallic at all, but it's not the Crackle Glitters that China Glaze has out currently (one of which I have and will do soon =D). Also, I haven't seen a Shatter or Crackle in this shade of green, so it's great all around in my book.
The first two pics show JSTL as the gold color. The third captures a teeny bit of the green, and of course the last is a close up that shows how the Shatter sparkles.
Alright, here it is! Today's pink mani!
I was really stuck last night on what to do for today's mani. I have a few pinks that I haven't used as a full mani, but I didn't want to do just a color. I wanted to do something nail artsy, but couldn't figure what. After alot of back and forth, I came up with today's mani.
I started with 2 easy peasy coats of Zoya Rory. Rory is described as a mauve pink with lilac undertones and gold and silver shimmers with a foil finish. It's a very pretty pink, and the most subdued of the Beach & Surf collection. Definitely one of the more subdued pinks I own, that's for sure lol, but that's a good thing. Sometimes after doing alot bright, wild colors and such, we all need something easier on the eyes. I topped Rory with Poshe and let that dry completely.
Once that dried, I got out my Konad Special White stamping polish and Bundle Monster plate 208. That gave the mani a cracked look without having to use Shatter or Crackle. I used one last coat of Poshe, cleaned up, and done.
Good morning and happy Pink Wednesday! This is the first of two posts for today. Yesterday I didn't really have a chance to post my mani, since I had to be into work early.
You may remember, a few weeks ago I mentioned attempting a splatter mani, and it didn't turn out so well. I ended up doing something completely different for that day. Well, as Monday was my day off, I had plenty of time to devote to attempting a splatter again.
I started with 3 coats of my base color, Rumple's Wigglin' from OPI. I topped that SV so it would dry quick. Now, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube for splatter manis. The method I used involves a straw, and yeah, it's still messy lol. I highly recommend using Scotch tape around your nails to minimize how much clean up you'll have. My splatter colors were:
China Glaze- Pink Voltage, Turned Up Turquoise
OPI- Flit a Bit
Zoya- Pippa
FingerPaints- Blue Raspberry Taffy
I'm very proud of how this turned out. I have pics of both hands to show you; the right hand pics are not the best. I have a really difficult time taking pics of my right hand since that's my dominant hand :P
Good morning! Yeah, I'd thought I'd warn my readers in case they didn't want to look at any Crackle, because that's part of today's feature. I have so many Shatters/Crackles that I'm gonna try to use one every Friday. So considered yourselves warned! Lol!
Yes, I know, many people are over it, but I am definitely not. In my opinion, it's the easiest way to do nail art. All you have to do it apply over completely dry polish and top coat. That's it. You can even apply it in different directions, like diagonally or side to side, or even in dots. It's all about how you want to wear it.
For today's feature, I started with 3 coats of China Glaze's Blue Sparrow. Now, Blue Sparrow is labeled as a neon, it even dries matte like a neon, but it isn't what I would call a neon blue. It is a pretty blue, though, with fine glitter in it that really becomes noticeable when you add a topcoat. Neons dries very quick, and this one was no exception, but I still topped it to be sure it was completely dry.
For the Crackle, I used Crushed Candy, also from China Glaze. I picked this up weeks ago at Sally's because it was on clearance along with all of last year's Crackle Glazes. So, if you're like me and still enjoy that look, check out your local Sally's and even Ulta in the clearance for them. I applied one, not too thick over BS, then topped again with Seche Vite. That's it, done!
Hello and good evening! Welcome to the middle of week, which means it's Pink Wednesday again!
Tonight I bring to you a girly pink gradient, created using Zoya Shelby and Rory. I haven't shown Rory to you all yet by herself; I'll save that for another post. I started with 3, unfortunately, coats of Shelby. I really wish Shelby went on better in 2, because I can already tell I'm gonna need a back up of this pretty color. I topped with Poshe and let that all dry. For the gradient, I pulled out some make up sponges and just painted Rory right on and dabbed that onto the nail. There really isn't a right or wrong way to do a gradient; there's plenty of tuts on YouTube if you need some guidance. I pretty much just dabbed, let it dry, and dabbed some more until I was happy with the look, then added one final coat of Poshe.
Oh yeah, I had to take these indoors today x.x When I got up this morning, it was drizzling and didn't let up enough for me to get any nice outdoors pics.
Good morning! So, yeah, I've been feeling kinda blah, mostly because of the craptastic weather here, and just haven't gotten to posting my last two manis. Today I actually had the time and the want to do so. Thanks for your patience!
I'll start with the mani I rocked on Friday.
As you know, I ordered and received 8 of the 12 Beach & Surf collection from Zoya. Friday, I decided I wanted to use the "oddball" of the collection, Carly. I say oddball because, out the whole collection, Carly is the darkest and the only purple. It is a beautiful grape purple foil that is truly grape colored. Carly was mostly, if not, totally opaque in one coat, but I did a second in case I had some balding. I topped it with Out the Door's Northern Lights in silver and let that dry. The NL was very subtle against Carly and difficult to capture on camera. Once that was all dry, I layered on a thick coat of China Glaze's Latticed Lilac Crackle Glaze. Yes, yes, I know; most bloggers are over the Shatter/Crackle craze, but I'm not, and I intend to use what I have lol. I used one more coat of NL and that was it for this mani.
Alright, next I'm gonna show you the mani I did for Mother's Day. This one I kept pretty simple: two coats of Zoya's Zuzu with a rose stamped in OPI's DS Fantasy using Red Angel plate 118 on accent fingers. The image didn't transfer completely on my left, so I took a close up of the right hand to show it.
I love the color of Zuzu. In my opinion, its a true seafoam green that fits perfectly with the collection it belongs to. The only complaint I have about it is, the formula is a little weird. It's thicker than I'm used to, but not too difficult to apply. Opacity was acheived in two coats.
So, there you have it! I'll have a post up and ready for tomorrow's Pink Wednesday!
Good morning!!
Ok, so one of the big trends right now is fruity, citrusy colors, which you'll see in just about everything from polish to lip glosses to clothing. I adore colors like this for summer; they're just so fun and bright and happy. Nothing quite embodies this as much as the Birchbox trio of Zoyas. Over the weekend I showed you Coraline with Belle layered over top. Today, I bring you the third color, Kate.
In my opinion, Kate can be described as, when using 3 coats as I did for this mani, a beautiful, ruby red grapefruit. That is exactly what it reminds me off. Unlike Coraline, the color was very even in 2 coats, but I did a third to darken the color a bit more. And, omg, the shine. I almost decided not to layer Belle over it because it is so shiny, but I did, and used one coat of Belle. Belle is perfect complement to Kate; it's a pink grapefruit color also, packed with shimmery microglitter. Belle can be worn over many pinks and oranges to jazz them up. On to the pics! Oh, I topped it with Poshe.
Good morning!
Very quickly, I want to make a PSA. It was brought to my attention, along with many other bloggers and polish groups, last night that there is yet another Face Book page by the name of Indievolutions with many stolen bloggers' pics. In most of the pics, the bloggers' watermarks have cropped out and a new one added. The page owner claims it was accident but we weren't fooled. As of about 11:15 last night, the page has been inaccessible but we don't know if it's because Face Book took it down or if the page owner set it to private. From what I understand, the latter was discussed with the page being brought back later in the week. So, keep your eyes out, notify any bloggers whose work you recognize, and report! These people got pretty nasty even though they admitted the page owner was wrong =\
On to today's mani! This past Saturday I broke my no buy (lol) but it was worth in my opinion. This season's collections have left me seriously wanting blues, simply because what's been offered was rather disappointing. Imagine my joy when promo pics of summer collections have popped up with bright, happy blues! I saw a lovely mani last week done in Orly's Skinny Dipping, and promised to look at it when I was at Sally's........ While it is a lovely color, something wasn't doing it for me with that polish. A few shelves up, though, FingerPaints had one of their summer displays up and lo, I spied Blue Raspberry Taffy. That was it, I was done for.
While it's not truly a unique color, I don't have a similiar color in my stash, so offer to the register I went. BRT is a pretty, almost pool blue with a purple undertone. The formula isn't horrible, but I did need three coats to get even opacity. I layered one coat of Sally Hansen's Glass Slipper, then topped with SV. Once that was all dry, I added a coat of Essie's Matte About You. I have found it's quicker to do that than just adding the matte coat alone, because not all of it may be dry and you risk smudges.
When you're busy, busy, busy! Whew, where did the last four days go?! I swear I lost time somewhere x.x
Good evening! I hope everyone has had a great weekend. I spent most of yesterday running around doing errands in the wonderful, early summer heat we have going here in FL, then cleaning today. Fun fun!
I wanted to show the manis I was rocking Thursday, then Friday and Saturday. For Thursday, I did some nail art with my mani. I started out with two, very easy cots of Orly's Sweet Peacock. I can not say how much I love this color and how happy I am to finally have it. I topped it off with one coat of Out the Door's Northern Lights in silver, although with the crappy weather I had Thursday morning, you can't really see it >.>
I let that dry then pulled out a fine, round paintbrush and nail art lacquers, and went to town. I ended up doing something that I have just been dying to try since I first saw: monarch butterfliy wings! Anyone that knows me in real life knows how I absolutely love butterflies, my favorite being the Blue Morpho. So this was sort of my attempt at recreating that. Not too bad for my first try, I think.
I will say this for it: as pretty as it is, and can be, I don't think I'll be doing again anytime soon, as it's very time consuming. It took me a good hour or so, from start to finish, which I don't always have to devote to a mani.
On Thursday, I recieved my first Birchbox order, which was the Birchbox trio of Zoyas. I fell in love with these three colors when I saw swatches of them, and knew I had to had them. As soon as I opened the box, I knew that I would be wearing at least one of the colors the next day. Orange is a huge color right now, and one I can't get enough of, so I chose Coraline with Belle layered over. For this mani, I did 3 coats of Coraline with one of Belle. I know it looks like I didn't wrap my tips or have tip wear in my pics, but I did and I don't. It was the way the light was catching what I had for visible nail line, which really wasn't too horrible. I think I might have been better off with either 2 coats of each or just one more coat of Belle. Either way, it still came out very pretty.
