4th of July Nails

Happy 4th of July!

Right now I'm missing my family in Michigan because we usually have a huge party that lasts all day/night with tons of beer, food, and fireworks. I LOVE family parties!

These are the nails I did to celebrate (I DO get to go over to my grandparent's and have a little party with them and my aunt and uncle). I used Revlon Royal for my left ring finger, China Glaze Phat Santa for my right finger and OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre? for the base on the rest. Then I layered All That Glitters Glitter Glory over the ring fingers and sponged it on in a gradient French over the others. It is very easy to apply with the brush, but I had a little trouble sponging it. I do love the result, though!

I bought Revlon Royal in a drugstore a few months ago, so I think it's readily available. Phat Santa was part of the China Glaze 2010 Christmas collection, but there are a lot of red creme/jellies like it. Glitter Glory was purchased from the All That Glitters Etsy shop, but it doesn't seem to be in stock at the moment. Hopefully it will return!

Dandy Nails - Come Out and Play and You Set My Soul Alight: Swatches and Review

Another indie/Etsy brand! This time it's Dandy Nails. I had been contemplating Come Out and Play for a long time, and finally caved and bought it, along with You Set My Soul Alight and Colorblind (but I haven't figured out which color to layer Colorblind over yet).

Dandy Nails - Come Out and Play

Come Out and Play is a beautiful fuchsia-purple jelly base with lots of small white glitter and is opaque in two coats. This one has the "jelly sandwich" look where some of the glitters get buried in the purple jelly to create extra depth. It's so simple, yet so stunning. The brush was a bit "fluffy" on this one, but I hear Dandy Nails has nice new brushes that are a lot better.

Dandy Nails - You Set My Soul Alight

This one is a charcoal/black jelly base with multicolored micro glitter. Again, this one has a lot of depth (I love glitter in jelly bases!). At the same time, it's not to flashy in dim light, so it'd still be elegant enough for a formal setting. I didn't know how much I'd love this one until I tried it on. It's gorgeous!  I should have gotten pictures in the sunlight to show how sparkly this one can be!

I have yet to find an awesome base for Colorblind, but I'll definitely post it when I find something fun!

Dandy Nails polishes can be purchased from the Dandy Nails Etsy shop and retail for $8 for a 15mL bottle. If the one you're looking for isn't in stock, don't worry - the shop is restocked pretty often!

KKCenterHK Nail Strips: Swatches and Review

KKCenterHK has some pretty nifty nail patches. The first kind I tried didn't seem to work well on my nails, but these are much better! These are basically very thin plastic strips.

Most nail patches I've tried that are not actual nail polish have been kind of thick and tend to wrinkle because of the curved shape of some of my nails (if you want to see what I'm talking about, check here).  These are different in that they are very thin and flexible, as well as a bit stretchy.  They worked MUCH better for me than the others (although still not quite as nice as 100% nail polish strips).

KKCenterHK Nail Patches

As you can see in the closeup, I got a few tiny wrinkles on some of the nails, but honestly I got better at it with each nail I did, stretching it just perfectly to minimize the crinkles. Just like the 100% nail polish strips, these take a little bit of practice. Overall, though, they're pretty easy and the result is nice.

I didn't get a chance to test the wear - I only wore them for a day. The problem came in the shower... one and only one of the stickers started to peel up on all the edges. The rest were still stuck nice and tight. I'm not sure what I did differently on that finger, maybe I accidentally touched it and ruined the adhesive before I applied it. Not sure. They were easy to remove though. They peeled off easily without doing any damage, and left the adhesive as a film on the nails that came off right away with polish remover.

As you can see, they come in a sealed package like Incoco, but since these aren't nail polish I don't think they dry out after they're opened. I'm saving the extras for accent nails, so I'll update this post when I find out.

Overall, I actually really liked these!  The design is nice (although I wish the little "tail" of black had fit onto my nails), and they'd be perfect for a special occasion or night out.  They were much easier to manage than other nail patches and didn't bother me with rough or peeling edges.

These can be ordered from the KKCenterHK site here, along with lots of other cool nail patches!

OPI NY Ballet Collection: Swatches and Review

This was an unexpected love for me. I'm not usually the sheer/pink/nude type, but something drew me in: these are beautiful, elegant JELLIES! I've been crazy about the glitter/jelly sandwiches lately, and I have a feeling these would be perfect for them!

OPI - My Pointe Exactly

This is my favorite. My Pointe Exactly is a light grey jelly that is semi-opaque at three coats (shown). Even with a bit of VNL, I still loved the look of this. Elegant and edgy at the same time!

OPI - Don't Touch My Tutu!

Don't Touch My Tutu is a nice clean white jelly. Along the same lines as Essie Marshmallow but a little bit more sheer, I think it would work even better for the glitter sandwiches. I love the way white jellies make glitter look like sprinkles on a cupcake.

OPI - Care to Danse

Care to Danse is a light purple jelly. The bottle looks more purple than it appears on the nail.  I'm not sure, but this may be my second favorite.

OPI - Barre My Soul

Barre My Soul is a very nice peachy beige jelly.  This would be a lovely base for a French manicure!

OPI - You Callin' Me a Lyre?

You Callin' Me a Lyre is a a peachy pink jelly that's more saturated than the others in this collection. Again, it'd be a great base for a French manicure base.  I think of the collection this was the most opaque at three coats.

OPI - Pirouette my Whistle (over each of the colors above)

Pirouette My Whistle is a clear base with silver micro glitter and large white/silvery pearl hex glitters. Most pictures of this at one coat didn't have too many white hexes, but my bottle seemed to be packed with them. I had to actually TRY not to get too many because I wanted a sparse look. Either way, it's quite elegant for a glitter. I think I like this even better than Nubar White Polka Dot.

All of these applied very nicely and easily in three coats, although it seems easiest to avoid streaks by using medium-thick coats. I suggest waiting a few minutes between each coat to prevent bubbling as well. They do kind of self-level though, which is a plus.

OPI is available at Ulta stores as well as in JC Penney Salons. I prefer JC Penney because if you buy two or more, they're only $6 each instead of $8.50 at Ulta.

Dollish Polish - Expecto Patronum: Swatches and Review

I just can't get enough of these indie polishes... especially the pastel/white jelly bases with glitter! (I'm currently on a mission to get NailVenturous Robin Laid an Egg!)

Dollish Polish - Expecto Patronum

Like Pretty & Polished Jawbreaker, this is a nice squishy white jelly that is opaque in 2-3 easy coats (3 shown). There is a mix of small and medium teal holo glitter, as well as some larger teal hex glitters, and subtle orange flakies. The flakies don't show well in the picture, but then again they don't show too much in person either - just a flash of orange every once in awhile. I love how some of the glitter from the first coat(s) get buried underneath the white jelly to give it different shades of teal and some depth.

The only quirk with this polish that I've found is that the large hexes are not flat... instead they are very chunky and ruin the smoothness of the polish. I think Dollish was having a problem with some glitter in another of her polishes, Hip Hop Hippity Hop, and this one seems to have the same issue. I think she was working on resolving the glitter issue in Hip Hop, so I imagine Expecto Patronum will be fixed as well. For now, I just don't shake the bottle and let the big hexes fall to the bottom so I don't get any on the brush. The other glitter and flakies still seem to suspend nicely.

Here is a picture of the cute mini bottle. These bottles are pretty tiny, but it's great to be able to sample lots of polishes for less! I love Expecto Patronum so much that I'm looking to buy a full sized bottle once the glitter is fixed!

Expecto Patronum is available on the Dollish Polish Etsy shop, but business has been booming so much that she's been opening and closing the shop to be able to keep up with orders. Sign up to be notified when she reopens if you're hoping to get this beauty!

Pretty & Polished - Jawbreaker: Swatches and Review

This was one of those days where I felt like I couldn't find something that I'd be satisfied with on my nails. Then I decided to try out Pretty & Polished Jawbreaker, and it was PERFECT.

(sun)

(shade)

Pretty & Polished - Jawbreaker

Doesn't it look JUST like those jumbo jaw breaker candies? I love how it gives the jelly/glitter sandwich look in just one polish. This is three coats shown, but it really only takes two coats to be fully opaque. You can also layer it over white to conserve it, but I recommend using a white jelly like Essie Marshmallow to preserve that squishy look.  The glitter is random, but is dense enough that it's not hard to get the nails looking "even" but still unique.  Just a wonderful polish!  I wish I would have gotten the full size instead of the mini...

Jawbreaker is available in mini and full sizes ($4.50 for 5mL and $8.00 for 15mL) in the Pretty & Polished Etsy shop, but goes in and out of stock a bit because they're all hand made. Be sure to check the shop regularly!

Black and White Jelly Sandwich

This is my first time trying out a jelly sandwich, and I really liked it!

Essie Marshmallow and Claire's Black/Silver Holo glitter

This was made in five layers alternating between Marshmallow and the Claire's glitter. The multiple layers of glitter create varying shades of grey which is a pretty cool pattern. The overall effect reminds me of stones in concrete or the little color-blindness tests (except in black and white... which doesn't really make sense, haha).

What I realized with various experiments is that your base color doesn't need to be a jelly at all.  I found that using a medium pink creme then a layer of glitter, then a layer of white, it created a neat light pink with white and grey speckles.  Very pretty!  So now I want to try some with various glitters and base colors.  I really like the effect that white puts over the glitter!

Any ideas for jelly sandwiches that you'd like to see me try?

Some Manglaze Swatches and Review

After reading so many good reviews and seeing awesome swatches of ManGlaze nail polishes, I figured I should try some of them!

First of all, can we talk about how AWESOME the names are of these polishes?? They all go right along with the attitude of the company, which is straight-forward, brutally honest, and not in the least bit "work safe." And yet because of their antics ("If we don't hear from you, we will assume we sucked ass" on the receipt), they are incredibly likable. I'm not one to throw obscenities into my daily speech, and I think it's for that very reason that I can truly appreciate how amazing it is to have a polish named something as perfect as "Fuck Off and Dye." I suppose my blog may get a "mature filter" for that statement, but oh well, SOPA is going to censor the internet anyway, right? (Holy gooses, I hope not... please sign Google's petition here if you haven't yet!)

Manglaze - Mayonnaise

ManGlaze - Mayonnaise (with top coat)

Mayonnaise was really the reason I wanted to try ManGlaze. Gotta love the name, and the color is awesome too! I have a couple shimmery whites, but this is the only matte one, and also the only one that is an off white instead of stark, bright white. It's as wonderful as I'd hoped, though it took three coats instead of two.

ManGlaze - Fuggen Ugly

ManGlaze - Fuggen Ugly (with top coat)

This is one I threw in to the order just because it was on sale... and it ended up being my favorite of them all. Not only does it look so drab chic matte, but it turns out to be a stunningly edgy gunmetal shimmer with a top coat. I don't know which I like better! Two easy coats.

ManGlaze - Matte is Murder

ManGlaze - Matte is Murder (with top coat)

And last is their matte black shimmer: Matte is Murder. This is one of the blackest mattes I've seen, although with a top coat it becomes a lovely charcoal shimmer that has amazing depth. Could be my new favorite black shimmer. Two coats and super easy to apply!

All of these can be bought directly from ManGlaze on their website, or from their Amazon store or Facebook store (all three link can be found here).  Fuggen Ugly and Matte is Murder are still on sale for $6.66 as of this post!

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 9 - Night Snow

This is a variation of some nails I did a while ago, for the first snow.

Night Snow: China Glaze Up All Night with Nubar White Polka Dot

I liked it so much over grey that I had to try White Polka Dot over a navy blue. China Glaze Up All Night is one of my FAVORITE dark blue polishes because it always looks blue and not black, but it's nice and deep and dark. This reminded me of when it snows at night and you can see all the snowflakes against the dark night sky. I prefer it with only one coat of glitter (shown), but two looks nice as well.

I know a lot of nail bloggers are obsessed with black glitter, and I wanted to be too (as it turns out, I don't really like it much... but I love the new charcoal grey glitter from Deborah Lippmann... i think that's what I always WANT black glitter to look like). Instead, I'm so in love with white glitter. All of the white glitter I've seen is a silvery pearl white, and it's SO pretty. This one and Lynnderella's Snow Angel are perfect examples of awesome white glitters!

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 7 - Golden Snow

I really wanted to do some type of snowflake nails, and here they are!  I was going to do silver snowflakes right up until the last minute when I switched it to gold.  And I'm glad I did.

Golden Snowflakes - Essie Marshmallow stamped with China Glaze 2030

Heehee, the name is supposed to be somewhat funny - just remember, seriously, to never eat golden (yellow) snow!! Now, I'm not very good at stamping, but I don't even care if the snowflakes didn't come out perfect. I call this a success. It just makes me smile and think of a beautiful winter.

For good measure, here is a picture of Essie Marshmallow on it's own, because this is how I wore it for two days before stamping it (it was taken in low lighting so it's a tiny bit blurry):

Essie - Marshmallow

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 3 - Spice Drops

This was a manicure I had in mind since Mrs. Claus and Mistletoe Kisses came out last year in China Glaze's holiday collection. I wanted them to look like various flavors of spice drops (you know, the ones you decorate gingerbread houses with?). So here they are!

Spice Drops - CND Sugar Sparkle over various bases

For the bases, I used CG Grape Juice, CG Mistletoe Kisses, CG Mrs. Claus, Ulta Sun-sational, and Revlon Powder Puff, then I topped each with two coats of CND Sugar Sparkle.  This is what I was going for:

I love these candies, but only the ones that are flavored like spices (not fruits).  If you haven't had them, you should try them!  Some of the flavors are anise (purple), spearmint (green), peppermint (white), and cinnamon (red).  I can't remember what the orange and yellow ones are...  ginger might be one?


Do you have any favorite Christmas candies?

Orly Au Champagne and Little Bird

This was really the only one from Orly's winter collection that I really wanted. I love white polish that looks like snow, and from swatches I could tell this one fit perfectly. Here it is at three thin coats with not top coat. Notice how it dries to a satin-matte finish. Beautiful!

Orly - Au Champagne

I loved how it looked with the satin finish, but because I had stuff to get done, I needed it to dry quickly so I put a coat of Seche Vite on top of it. Here is how it looks shiny:

I really don't know which way I prefer. It's gorgeous both ways! In a day or two I'll probably end up putting China Glaze Snow Globe over it.

And here is a bonus picture of another pet: my little feather-baby named simply Little Bird or LB for short. I took this picture because I thought it was a hoot that Neiman Marcus sent one little bottle of nail polish (Nars Purple Rain) in this big ol' box.  LB is extremely curious (doesn't he look like he's reading the label?  haha) and destructive, so most likely he tore right into the box shortly after this picture.

Little Bird (white-bellied Caique)

Lyderella Swatches!

I just received my order from Lynnderella's latest sale yesterday and I just couldn't wait to try them! She sure does make some doozies! Just look at these beauties! If you love glitter, you NEED to keep watch for her next sale (she only opens shop for a small bit of time every few weeks - this last time she was only open for some 15 minutes before she was swamped with orders!).

Lynnderella - Cauldron Drippings over Essence - Get the Fever

This is Cauldron Drippings over Essence Get the Fever. So many pieces of pretty copper/orange glitter with some random bits and pieces thrown in (whatever is in the cauldron, she says). It's just a perfect Halloween polish. I did like it over orange, but I decided I'd try it over black and it's EVEN BETTER!  I will definitely be wearing this on Halloween, no question.

Lynnderella - Cauldron Drippings over China Glaze - Liquid Leather

Lynnderella - The Glittering Crowd over China Glaze - Liquid Leather

So most glitters have a couple colors and may contain a couple different shapes. But not this one. According to Lynnderella, this polish contains over ONE HUNDRED different types of glitter, and because of this, every finger comes out different. Also, all of the Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday dupes (I don't have the original) look dull in color compared to this one. The colors are so vibrant and varied that it's the biggest rainbow in a bottle I've ever seen. This is THE BEST rainbow glitter EVER. I'm wearing this for my mom's birthday this Sunday!

Lynnderella - Very Pretty Vampire over Essie - Bordeaux

Very Pretty Vampire is not as "blingy" as the others, but it's just as gorgeous. It's a mix of all different shades and hues of red and burgundy (and even black I believe). I layered this over Essie Bordeaux, but it appears that the base itself is tinted. I may have to try it on its own sometime.

Lynnderella - Connect the Dots over China Glaze - High Hopes

Connect the Dots is one of those truly unique but kind of simple ideas. It's just black and white glitter, but in all different shapes and sizes, including string or bar glitter. It's totally awesome, but I had trouble getting the glitter to look any kind of "even" between all the fingers. Nevertheless, it turned out amazing anyway, and I love the shimmer in the base. Also, I like how a smaller black hex ended up right in the middle of a white one on my ring finger - so cool! I SHOULD have layered it over orange for more Halloween vibe, but I didn't think of it until just now.

Lynnderella - Snow Angel

Last is Snow Angel. I may have mentioned before that I was obsessed with finding a white glitter polish. Well, this one takes the cake. It's been mentioned that it is hard to work with, and after the first perfectly even coat I thought "no way!" However, the second coat was a little rougher, and you can see it doesn't come out quite even. Maybe letting each coat dry in between or even putting Seche Vite in between each coat would help, I dunno. I wish I would have gotten a picture at one coat because it was so dainty and delicate and I liked it better. I'd also like to try it over some greys and a white like Essie Marshmallow.

I'm so incredibly excited that I was able to get an order in this last sale, and I can't wait to see what she has to offer in her next sale!