Saturday, June 18, 2011

Wild and Crazy Sheri & Barry M Instant Nail Effects Pink Fizz


Wild and Crazy - Sheri, 2 coats

I know it might not look like much, but I absolutely adore this polish. Sheri is the perfect blend of pink and purple with super fine gold shimmer. It was pretty thick (not gloopy though) so I added a little bit of thinner to make it better suit my formula preferences, but without thinning it would be a one-coater. Wild and Crazy = Sinful Colors, thus Sheri has an identical twin somewhere in their line.

Wild and Crazy - Sheri & Barry M Instant Nail Effects - Pink Fizz, 2 + 1 coats

I luvz the crack, gotta have the crack... The Barry M Instant Nail Effects are very nice in all aspects - the formula is grand, the brush is stiff enough and they crackle in an even fashion on the nail. Me gusta!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Lumene With the Flow



Lumene - With the Flow, 2 coats

I don't know why, but these muted colours with contrasting shimmer make my heart skip a beat. ♥ I love Essie Demure Vixen and am always on the lookout for Estee Lauder Surreal Violet. Go With the Flow is a purple toned taupe with pink shimmer (and odd dark flecks, see above). I think this is a seasonal colour and not part of the Gloss + Care core line, perhaps it's time for another backup purchase.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

L'Oréal 842 Aurore & second attempt at water marbling


L'Oréal - 842 Aurore, 4 coats

Another old sucky L'Oréal LaquiResist polish, I haaaaaate the formula! I had to do four coats to hide VNL, and of course it wouldn't dry and I woke up with sheet marks. Mind you that there was at least six hours between me finishing the mani and going to bed. The colour itself is cute, a pastel baby blue, but the finish is somewhat frosty and the fact that it won't dry... yuck.



L'Oréal - 842 Aurore & water marbling, 4 coats

(Eek, I can't believe how hard it was to get a decent shot of my right hand...) Quick, you have to camouflage the ugly! I used Essie Mod Squad (pink), Misa Honeybunch (white glass fleck) and H&M Hello Kitty brand turquoise. Even though I worked fast, I had trouble with the layer of polish hardening before I could drag a toothpick across it to make the pretty swirls. The water I used was regular, room temperature soft tap water that I had left to sit overnight... I may need to experiment with store-bought filtered water.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Petites Daze & LaRosa Maroon Red


Petites - Daze, 3 coats

Dazed, yes, but definitely not confused - unless this out-of-this-world green foil causes you to drool all over the keyboard and its stunning beauty gives you heart palpitations. :P~ This is perfection, my quest for the ultimate blend of kelly/lime green has come to an end. Since the Petites are only .25 fl.oz. each I bought two bottles of Daze so I won't have to regulate its use.

Petites - Daze & LaRosa - Maroon Red, 3 + 1 coats

...And of course I had to try crackle over Daze. Maroon Red has two purple pigments in it which you can clearly see in the photo above. This is what the Joker would wear as his mani, lol.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

China Glaze Lighthouse & first attempt at water marbling



China Glaze - Lighthouse, 2 coats over 1 coat of Rimmel - Sunshine

This is Lighthouse, a cheerful yellow glass flecked polish, and my favourite from China Glaze's Anchors Away collection. It's a relative of Misa Under My Sunbrella but whereas the Misa is like a tall glass of chilled fruit punch, Lighthouse is sunshine in a bottle. B)


China Glaze - Lighthouse & water marbling

This was my first foray into the world of water marbling and albeit messy, it was also tons of fun. I used Essie Mod Squad (pink creme), Misa Honeybunch (white glass fleck), a white jelly and a clear polish. Most people use Scotch tape to ease cleanup, but I grabbed a tin of unused petroleum jelly lip balm (didn't like the scent) and an artist's brush and carefully masked the cuticle area and the surrounding skin with the jelly. This took more time than covering the skin with tape, but oh how easy it was to simply wipe away the excess polish afterwards! Of course you'll have to wait for the water marble to dry but that doesn't take long.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

H&M Peppermint Fusion, Milani Cyberspace & IsaDora Spraycan Blue


H&M - Peppermint Fusion, 2 coats

I've been lemming for Barielle Slate of Affairs for ages, and now H&M has released a colour that is very close to it! A dusty periwinkle with turquoise shimmer, Peppermint Fusion is slightly more vivid than SoA but it's a near dupe and close enough to the Barielle to kill my lemming.


H&M - Peppermint Fusion & Milani Cyberspace, 2 + 1 coats

Did a coat of Milani Cyberspace, a blue scattered holo...


H&M - Peppermint Fusion, Milani Cyberspace & IsaDora - Spraycan Blue, 2 + 1 coats

...and then applied IsaDora Spraycan Blue crackle over the whole thing. This dark blue crackle is not completely opaque, letting the underlaying polish to shine through, and has shimmer in it. IsaDora's brush is perfect for applying crackles with one stroke and their formula is among the best.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Lilac OPI knockoff & nail art stickers



Lilac OPI knockoff & nail art stickers, 2 coats

Here's a fake, stinky "OPI" that I found on eBay about a year ago. The bottle has a white cap and the sticker on the bottom says the colour is #681 Sheer Nude. :D It has the ProWide brush which I love, but the formula was terribly thick and I ended up thinning this one a lot. I pretty much had to pat the polish on and then wait 30 minutes between coats to avoid bubbling. Nevertheless, it's quite a cute colour and reminds me of Nubar Vaso.

Friday, June 10, 2011

L.A. Girl Color Addict Extreme & Jesse's Girl Firefly


L.A. Girl Color Addict - Extreme, 2 coats

Woo, I finally filed my nails down! :p Anyhoo, I want to show you this pretty lil' lacquer I got from the most recent Cherry Culture sale. Extreme is a slightly dusty, delicate periwinkle blue with beautiful green and gold shimmer. This polish really reminds me of my grandma's vintage coffee set with tiny forget-me-nots and gilded edging. :3




L.A. Girl Color Addict - Extreme & Jesse's Girl - Firefly, 2 + 1 coats

Firefly is a lot like China Glaze White Cap, but they're definitely not dupes. Firefly has this gorgeous blue flash that White Cap is missing.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Zoya Adina



Zoya - Adina, 2 coats

Adina from Zoya's Reverie collection is a lilac with duochrome shimmer. I love how it looks in indirect light when the lilac base and green shimmer coexist in sweet harmony. :p I'm not a huge fan of Zoya's formula (which is often watery and runny) but this applied nicely and I'm glad to have Adina in my stash.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

More nail polish rings!

Nfu-Oh 51 & black crackle / Nfu-Oh 52 & black crackle

Various blue glitters & LaRosa Sea Weed / Silver glitter & black crackle

Various purple glitters & Scherer Chameleon / Orly It's Not Rocket Science

 Lace imprint on blue / Nfu-Oh 54, China Glaze Tantalize Me & black crackle

 CND effects on dark purple / Silver glitter & pink 'n' black crackle

These are the same type of cabochons that I used in my previous post. Some of them I love, some just like and a few I consider failed experiments. I had some unwanted side effects with the first epoxy glue I tried (it contained acetone, major FAIL) so I'm waiting for some E6000 to arrive in the mail. I also placed an order for 50 more cabochons and some more "modern style" ring bases (don't like the ones I have now so much), so I might someday have a small nail polish ring shoppe section on my blog.

See the beauties sparkle: Cabochons in direct sunlight

My hair feels sticky: Cabochons indoors w/ flash

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Vintage purple to green duochrome comparison




Sally Hansen Maximum Growth - Chameleon, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Emerald Amethyst, Revlon - Kiwizing & Hard Candy - Groove, all 2 coats

So what's the difference between these four I hear you ask... there isn't one. They're the same frigging polish! Now, several days after doing this comparison, I couldn't tell them apart if I hadn't written down the order I applied them in. ...Well okay, Chameleon is a *tad* more blue than the rest, but basically if you own one there's no need to hunt down any of the others.
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