Jaded

Happy Friday! Today I have Sally Hansen Diamond Strength, Jade.

This is a really deep, gorgeous green, very similar to Emerald Sparkle but with shimmer instead of glitter in the darkest green base I have ever seen. I think it might actually be black and jelly! My sister picked this one out, these are her nails.

I applied 2-3 coats and gave the accent finger one coat of Revlon's Apple-tini fizz. This layering combo reminds me of China Glaze Zombie Zest, I love that one :) On it's own this one looks pretty dark in most lighting, but when the light hits it just right you, the shimmer literally shines.

Iced Chocolate

Hello, hello. Today I have mani refresh with Zoya's Dea and various sized dotting tools. The colour combo reminds me of fancy chocolate :)

For the dots I used Nicole by OPI's My Lifesaver and Sally Hanson Diamond Strength Pink Rose. In retrospect, I should have used a more opaque, cream pink, as this one had a jelly consistancy. As you can see I dotted the interior of each coloured dot with Zoya's Dea.

Mmm, looks yummy :)

Chocolate Nails

Today I have a nice fall shade to share, this is Dea from Zoya. I originally purchased this polish because it looked like the perfect milk chocolate, but when I saw it in person it didn't look as perfect as I thought, at least with my skin tone.

It looks a lot more milk chocolaty in the photos.

Still a nice polish, and perfect formula, this was ONE COAT,  no top coat. Zoya, you are amazing! Can't wait until the next trade in promo they have in the spring.

Update - Across The Universe

Lately I've been feeling blah about blogging and nail polish, not too sure what it is. Maybe with the change from summer to fall or my sudden busy work schedule. I don't even know what I want to wear anymore, so hard to make that decision. I had been feeling really uninspired which sucks especially since I have so many awesome fall shades. Plus I am so far behind on reading some of my favorite blogs, and although I have been hauling like crazy it's almost like I feel a sickness, link uhhhggg... more nail polish? really? Where am I going to put it?! But I just have to have that funky new shade, right?

Do you ever feel like this? Luckily, I have still been documenting my nails and hauls and such and I will be posting them. I have started to get a little bit excited again as Halloween approaches :) I LOVE HALLOWEEN! I plan on making the month of October 100% Halloween content! Whether it be nails, random thoughts, or delicious treats I make during the month for the occasion. Do you guys dig that?

I hope you are as excited as I am? I can't wait for October to start so I can bust out some fun Halloween polishes :) What are some of your favorites?

I'll leave you with an amazing, glittery, blue jelly, Deborah Lippmann, Across The Universe. Awesomeness right? I got this beauty through Amazon for FREE with my Swagbucks. It took me a while to make a decision but I am glad I made the purchase.

It was hell to remove but what glitter isn't. I'm pretty sure this was 3 coats with 1-2 coats of Seche Vite. I love the depth in this polish, I could just stare at my nails forever :)

Smokey decided she wanted some affection while I was taking photos. I think she likes Across the Universe too :)

Jelly Navy Stamping

I wanted a change a couple days in to wearing Not So Blueberry, so I stamped over it with Bundle Monster plate BM 210.

I really like this stamp design! Never used it before but I hope to do so more in the future. I used NYX Girls Ink Heart for stamping, this is a beautiful deep navy jelly, and since it is a jelly it had a slight transparency to it when used for stamping. I think it adds depth. Normally this polish is a careful one coater and is super deep, when stamped it is way lighter.

Don't really have too much to say about this combo, but I really like how it looked in the sun, and I feel as though the blue in Ink Heart really brought out the duochrome a bit more.

Another Revlon - Duchrome & It's Scented?

Last week my boyfriend and I were at Wal-Mart picking up a prescription when I wandered in to the makeup isle while we waited for it to be filled. My boyfriend was the one who actually spotted this polish and said he wanted to buy it for me! How sweet, right :)

I had seen Revlon's Not So Blueberry on blogs before, but never really understood why it was so popular, to me it just looked like a light blue/purple with a foil-ish finish? Upon taking another look at it in person, I saw the interesting duochome within the bottle. Very pretty. It shifts between blue and purple with a very light green in some lighting.

The formula wasn't bad either! I applied only 2 coats and the colour was fully opaque on my nails. For some reason I feel like this polish has a texture to it, it looks and feels foily, but it's not quite. I can't really explain it.

I tried to capture this polish to the best of my ability, but unfortunately I missed the sun on this one. I will have some more photos tomorrow with some BM designs on top out in the sunlight :)

I agree with other bloggers that the duchrome is stronger in the bottle than on the nail, but in the sun this one really shines. It has a foily sheen that is just really pretty.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to talk about the scent! I really liked this one, definitely has some blueberry in there, but it really reminded me of Pez candies lol. I did notice that once I put a topcoat on the scent wasn't as strong, but still noticeable.

Glitter Tips

Today I have a Refresh with Revlon's Night Plum from my last post. I used a new polish from China Glazes fall line, CG In The City. This glitter bomb of a polish is hard to define colour-wise. The base is clear with suspended glitter with colours ranging from pink/purple/magenta, silver and black. I love that that there is some black in there, I love black glitter!

I applied 2 coats to the tips of my nails to achieve this look. the first coat was just a straight line across the white of my nails and the second coat was a little lower without trying to be a straight line.

The photos do not have a topcoat, but I imagine it would be extra sparkly with one on top :)

 

I think this would look a little better over a lighter base, you'd be able to see the black glitter a little better. I may even try this as a gradient French manicure, I think it would look very pretty :)

Mmmmm Fall!

Is is just me, or did fall just come out of nowhere? I love the start of fall, especially October, is anyone else super excited for October?! I already know of so many fun polishes I want to rock. It's sad to see summer go (although it doesn't end officially until September 23), but fall is fun too.

I was feeling very fall-like when deciding what polish to wear after my sparkly Honeydew combo. I was feeling like something dark... and purple!! I actually looked through my whole stash, which is uncommon, to find the perfect polish. After picking a handful out of my stash, I just knew I  HAD to wear Revlon's Plum Night.

I think it's the perfect eggplant purple, it is really dark, but not quite black. In some lights I even think that it looks a bit brown. I love it! its so fall and chic, and glossy. Best of all I only needed 2 coats!

I haven't worn a Revlon polish in a long time, but from what I remember they usually take a while to build up. Mind you, I did use thicker second coat, but it was perfectly opaque :) I also usually have issues with Revlon's drying fast enough. Seeing as how I was going to sleep after I applied it, I just slapped on some Seche Vite and called it a night.

I haven't worn a dark shade like this in a really long time and I love it :) I can't wait to pull out some of my other fall shades.

A little Glitter

Short post to start off the work week... ick... work.

I wanted to add some sparkle to Honeydew from last week so I took out one of my Milani glitterbombs to accent my ring fingers and thumbs, gold.

I used 2 coats and piled it on a little thick. Why do I always do that? Remember my Kleancolor fiasco? The thick coats of glitter and the bubbling? I guess I am just impatient and want the most glitter in one shot!

Fortunately, this did not turn out as bad as that. I did get some bubbling from the clear base in the polish, that and the big goop of NYC quick dry top coat I layered on top that I'm milking every last drop from... that means it's thick, but it's awesome!

I got the tiniest bubbles that were hardly visible, they almost looked like tiny pieces of glitter. *sigh* I have to be more patient when applying glitter topcoats.

Mmmm Melon

I feel like this was my "Last Hurrah" polish of the summer, I wore it over the long weekend on my little getaway. Wowzers already Friday and I'm talking about LAST weekend... don't you just love short weeks ;)

I love polishes like these that are in between season colours, I think this one could go with my wardrobe all year round. I wore mostly brights over the weekend, but this polish was also very close to an Aeropostal hoodie I brought along, didn't even notice until I put it on!

This is the gorgeous Honeydew from Sally Hansen, it is apart of the old school Salon brand that came in the rectangular bottles. I really like those ones, they fit so perfectly in my drawers :) I'm pretty sure this was apart of Tracy Reece's collection for 2009.

This is such a pretty shade of turquoise with a pearly kind of white shimmer to it. At first I was kind of put off by the pearly, almost frosty shimmer, but I honestly grew to love it after like 5 mins of application lol. SO much so, that I picked up another Sally Hansen, pretty sure it's a ceramics colour, in a corally shade with the exact same white pearly shimmer :)

Application was awesome by the way, I really like the grippy handles and the brush was a decent size. I don't remember having any issues, And I'm pretty sure I used 2 thicker coats and one last thin one to even everything out.

I'm so glad to own this polish, I wish I could find the purple from the same collection (Night Hydrangea). I could have sworn I already had it or saw it somewhere before, but after cleaning out my polish drawers a bit, I realized I don't :(

Do you have any of the old school Sally Hansen salon polishes? Which is your favorite?

Je suis un ananas!

I'm back! Vacation was awesome, sooo did not want to go back to my normal life and boring old job. BOOO working.

 If you remember my mani from last week, I was sporting Electric Pineapple, which was a fun, bright yet muted colour. I had to do a refresh with something relating to pineapples so here it is.

 I used BM plate ## which reminded me of the same pattern a pineapple has! I stamped with one of my eBay purchases last month, China Glaze's GR8 from the OMG collection. I really love this polish more than I thought, although I have never worn it as a full mani yet. It is great for stamping, I wish I could get my hands on some more from this collection... one day.

 Its a nice, tone on tone subtle pattern, but the glitter really makes it shine, literally :)

For those wondering about the title of this post, click here. Did any of my Canadian readers need to sit through the actual Telefrancais in French class? I didn't, but I know some people who did lol Pretty messed up, right?!The real thing is even more messed up if you can believe it ;)

Where Have I Been?

Hello out there, I rarity neglect my blog so I just wanted to let you guys know I am still here!! Technically I have only been away for 4 days (not including the weekends, I only post week days) but it feels like forever.

 I took this when the sun was setting one evening :)

Usually when I am away from my blog you're not missing out on much, I took a little 4 day vacation for the long weekend so nothing too new with my nails. I do have some mani's from last week I didn't post so you can look forward to that coming up. Right now I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm still here! Totally feeling the fall colours for polish, although I wish summer could stick around for a little while longer. I also made a lot of impulse buys on eBay for some hard to find polishes... eBay has me hooked lately! I really have got to stop spending so much money on HTF polishes though.

So yeah, all this and more, coming up shortly :) Hows the weather where you are? Did you do anything for the long weekend?

It's Electrifying!

Today I have one of the beauties from my recent haul, China Glazes Electric Pineapple. When I first saw promo photos for China Glazes summer collection, I just knew I wanted to own this polish! In the photos I saw it looked like a bright and sunny yellow, I even thought it would have been a neon.

To my surprise, this polish ws a lot more complex that I thought! And at first is kind of turned me off, because I was expecting a neon yellow of some sort. But every time I saw it while shopping I'd pick it up and check it out but always  end up leaving it behind. If you read my last haul post, you know I found it on sale, it was so meant to be! I look a bunch of photos to try and help capture the colour of the polish, but in all honesty, this is one of those colours that changes shades depending on the lighting source. Take for instance the photo above and below this line of text.

This is under my desk lamp light, and I believe this is close to the true colour which I would describe as a pineapple that is not ripe yet! You know when yellow fruit, like a banana is not fully ripened it has a greenish hue to it? That is what colour this is. I do find that in natural light like the photo below the yellow comes out a bit more.

That being said, when in natural light the yellow actually looks a bit muted because of the green undertones. I think this was the perfect polish to wear for the last week of August and first week of September, can you believe it's September already!? My point is the muted feeling I get from the polish works great for fall, yet it is still a bright enough colour for summer.

EP actually reminds me of the new polish in China Glazes new fall line, I'm pretty sure it's called Trendsetter, I'm not sure I like it, looks too mustard for me lol. I highly doubt they are dupes, but they are definitely similar. Let me know if you've seen a comparison somewhere, I'd love to see it :)

BTW - let me know how you like the photo size in this post , I bumped them up a bit from the usual size. Do you think they are a good size or too big? I'd love to know what you think!