I Love Me Some Flakies

I fell in love with flakie polishes the first instant I saw them. I was lucky enough to be able to snap up Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure when it came out like 2 years ago. I was torn between using it all the time because I loved it so much and never using it because I loved it so much and didn't want to run out, haha. So I was glad when polish manufacturers finally realized how awesome flakies were and they became more readily available. If you don't own one you need to rectify that situation immediately! I know Essie runs a little bit on the higher side for a drugstore polish (although it used to be salon only!) but Shine of The Times is a must own (it's basically a Hidden Treasure dupe).

This was back when my nails were long and pretty. Sigh. I need to start taking my biotin again...

This is 2 coats on Nicole by OPI Party in The Penthouse with a coat of Essie Shine of the Times on top.

Opal Nails

Another quick post! In a Facebook group I'm in we have weekly nail challenges. This week's theme was opals. Here is my attempt to recreate opals on my nails.

I consider this a bit of a fail. It had so much potential! I used 6 different polishes, plus a base and top coat and I guess that was too many because it bubbled like crazy. I HATE bubbles. I had to leave for work, so I had no choice but to leave it on. I could feel those damned bubbles staring at me the entire time. Also, the flakies looks so washed out here, but they were more vibrant in person. In case anyone is interested here is the list of polishes I used starting from bottom to top- Sinful Flutter, Revlon Snow Bunny, Revlon Runway Pearl, Essie Shine of The Times (flakie), Finger Paints Flecked (flakie), and Finger Paints Asylum (flakie).

And in case you need your daily pug fix, here is my Sammy looking super cute as usual.

Cult Nails Inaugural Colection Swatches and Review

Cult Nails is a new nail polish brand started at the begining of this year by a fellow blogger named Maria.  I thought it was really inspiring that she had this dream to start her own company and actually followed through with it and is doing everything she can to make it a success.  Of course I immediately wanted the whole collection.  I couldn't afford it at the time so I saved for awhile and about a month ago I bought both the Inaugural collection (5 polishes) and the Day At the Races collection (5 polishes and mostly limited editions). Their collection for Fall called Hypnotic is up for pre-sale on their website and I love their polishes so much that I purchased the collection the first day they put it up!

And now I know why Cult Nails is quickly becoming, well, a cult favorite.  The formula of the polishes is amazing.  I didn't have any issues with streakiness, or too thibk or thin formulas, or bubbling.  All of the ones that are supposed to opaque were opaque in two coats. Every time I would start applying one I would think it was sheer with the first coat.  And then with the second coat it would become perfectly opaque.  I shouldn't have been surprised when this kept happening over and over, but this held true with the entire line.  There are a few polishes that are intentionally sheer and even those build up pretty well.

At $10 each these aren't the cheapest polishes around.  But I wouldn't expect them to be.  This is a small company with no employees but the owners. Unless you are producing/selling in massive quantities like brands that are sold at drugstores and such, you have to charge more.  $10 really isn't so bad if you think about.  You can tell that Maria puts a lot of thought and love into the polishes and her company and it really shows.  You know that your $10 is buying quality.  Sometimes you aren't even guaranteed that with $25 Chanel polishes.

Cult Nails Quench in the sun

This was 2 coats but would need more to fully eliminate VNL. This is a glossy jelly red, so like most jellies, some VNL is expected when using fewer coats.

Cult Nails Quench in the shade

Cult Nails Iconic in the sun

This is a berry reddish pink with gold shimmer and flakies. I've heard somewhere before saying this is a dupe for Barielle's Elle's Spell but I have that one also and it is most definitely not a dupe. (Here is Elle's Spell for proof) I think Maria should do more polishes with flakies! (hint hint)

This was 2 coats.

Cult Nails Iconic in the shade

Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid in the sun

This is a greyed lavender with silver shimmer. But not the ugly frosty silver shimmer. This one is subtle and pretty.

This was 2 coats.

Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid in the shade

Cult Nails Living Water in the sun

This is a deep blackened blue jelly base with blue and green glitter. This is so gorgeous and I can't think of any colors that look similar to this.

This was 2 coats.

Cult Nails Living Water in the shade

Available:

• Cult Nails polishes sell for $10 each and are available on their website.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Perhaps My Favorite Mani Ever- Sinful's Mint Apple under Hidden Treasure

Damn, I just realized I passed my 100 post milestone like a week ago!  I was anticipating it and counting it every day since about post 85, but then of course I completely forgot about it.  Not like post 100 is any more special than any other post, but for some reason I feel accomplished making it past 100, haha.

I'm still very behind in editing pictures and I'm so busy it doesn't seem like I'm going to catch up any time soon.  When you're busy it always feels like there will some how be a magic time when you'll be able to catch up on everything you need to do.  You tell yourself, "I can't wait until I can get a little break and then I'll be back on track."  Yeah, it doesn't work like that for me.  I get a little break and I take a nap and forget about all the little things I wanted to do.  I guess I'm destined to be playing catch-up the rest of my life!

Today I'm posting a mani I did like 2 months ago that I never got around to posting (while my nails were long! *SOB*).  It was inspired by this mani by my friend Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!


I don't have the OPI she used, but I've been wanting to use Sinful's Mint Apple again and this was a good opportunity.  I love how this looks so much. I rarely repeat manis, but I have to with this one. This is either 2 or 3 coats (Sorry, I forgot to write down how many!) of Sinful's Mint Apple with a coat of Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure on top.

In the sun

In the shade

To show all the different flaky colors

Macro nail picture

I love this.  It reminds me of a sunset over a tropical ocean.




Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Random NOTD: Hidden Treasure over OPI's I'm His Coral Friend Matte

Hey guys!  Hope your Tuesday went well.  Mine wasn't bad- got some errands done, that kind of booooring stuff.  I was cleaning out my picture folder on my computer and found this pic of a mani from several months ago.  I wish I had though to take pics in the sun before I removed it!  Still, I love this and will probably recreate it some time in the future.

This is 3 coats of OPI I'm His Coral Friend as a base, which is a bright red-orange coral jelly.  I then topped it with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure flaky polish and a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic top coat to make it matte.  I wish I was able to capture that the flakies still change color with a matte top coat, but you'll just have to take my word for it!

This is taken under a light bulb which makes my skin look sickly and yellow, yay!

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Flaky Jelly Goodness- Barielle Elle's Spell Nail Polish

Everyone loves a good flaky nail polish (and they are all good aren't they?).  For some reason nail polish companies are a little slow and we've only really had one that was widely available.  And even that was pretty difficult to find.  Remember the hype over Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure?  I, who never buy backups, bought one of this polish because it makes any polish instantly look 100 times better (see this post for an example).  I had to put my self on Hidden Treasure detox because I used it on top of every single mani for about 5 straight months.  Unfortunately it was limited edition.  Looking on eBay right now the cheapest I see it for is around $20.  A better option would be to buy Nubar's 2010, which is a perfect dupe for Hidden Treasure.

So this brings me to another polish which, as far as I know, is also limited edition (Sorry!). However, it still is sold on Barielle's website.  Elle's Spell is a burgundy red jelly with multicolored foil flakes that is absolutely gorgeous.  This is my first Barielle nail polish and now I'm really wanting to try some more. 

Barielle is sold on their website for $8 and also at Ulta for $2 cheaper... I'm not sure why it costs less there. I rarely go to Ulta because it's further away from me than Sephora, but I was able to find a basket of discounted winter collection polishes.  A lot of the polishes were $1.99 (which is what I bought Elle's Spell for), including many from China Glaze's winter collection.

This is 4 coats with base and top coat.

Taken in the shade

The only complaint I have about the polish is that the color in the bottle is a bit of a misconception.  The polish isn't nearly as pretty on the nail as it looks in the bottle.  It's understandable though; they had to keep the jelly sheer enough to let the flakies show through but not so sheer that the color wasn't buildable.  So, the polish does end up being pretty sheer overall.  It would look nice layered over other polishes too.  Don't you hate with some jelly polishes your tips always look like they have tip wear even if you just applied the polish?  This one does that, but it is more evident in the pictures versus real life.

Taken in the sun

This is one of the few times a polish looks better in the shade versus the sun.

Taken in the shade

Taken in the shade

See how it looks like I have tip wear?  I don't since I just applied it, the polish just looks really thin at the tips.

Taken under a lamp

I'm including this one in attempt to show how the flakies can look green.


Available:

• $8 on Barielle's website
• $6 in Ulta stores

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

NARS Purple Rain (and something fun)

NARS Purple Rain was my first high end nail polish.  I kept seeing pictures of it over and over on blogs loved it, but there was NO WAY I was going to pay $16 for one nail polish (Hm, it looks like they raised the price to $17 recently).  But maybe you can guess by the fact that this post is called Purple Rain that I caved.  I still don't own that many high end nail polishes; I don't really see the need to when there are so many cheaper brands that are just as good, if not better like China Glaze and Orly.  But still, Purple Rain is one of the prettiest polishes I own.

Stick around to the end and I'll show you something THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!  Well, maybe not, but it is pretty.

Purple Rain is a blackened  red-toned purple with pink and purple shimmer.  This was 2 coats and no top coat.

Purple Rain in full sun

NOW FOR THE EXTRA PRETTINESS!

1 coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure over NARS Purple Rain!

Full sun

Outside in the shade

See? Aren't you glad you stuck around?  I told you it was pretty.  I wish Hidden Treasure was still available and east to find.  Oh well, at least I have a back up!


Available:

• $17.00 at Sephora.com
• Brick-and-mortar Sephora stores
• $17.00 at NARS' website

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!