The Deepest Depths!

Happy, Happy Friday!

I am obsessed with this polish! Orly released a bunch of glitters in 2012 apart of their Glam FX collection and I knew I just HAD to get my hands on a few of them. Go Deeper was one of them. I actually grabbed Mermaid Tail, apart of the same collection, first to paint my nails, but after one coat decided Go Deeper would be the best option for full overage.

This glittery polish is made up of blue/green teal regular and hex glitter, some of which reflect beautifully holo! The jelly is a sheer teal and allows the beautiful glitter to shine through. It really is true to the name, the glitter and jelly base add so much depth.

I used three coats and did some touch ups to the tips of a few nails before  adding a topcoat. The formula was good to work with, thin base with dense glitter. It wore fantastic too, about five days before I started to remove it. I would have left it on longer but I got a chip on my thumbnail and I started picking it... And picking it...lol. I know,  I have a problem!

Collective Haul for the Month of July

Lots of polish purchases during the month of July for me. I haven't been purchasing many polishes lately but I think this makes up for it. I blame the sales!

I'll start off  with my first few purchases of the month from Zoya. They had two awesome promos this month, the first were their sets of all-American trios which were $15 each including shipping. There were four options available and I chose the most interested (and best deal) Patriotic Pixie Dust.

Tomoko is a shimmering white gold pixie dust. When compared to Zoya Godiva, it is much more shiny and gold toned. Godiva is more of a tan, sand coloured neutral shade. I also find it is the least "textured" out of the trio.

Chyna is a glittery red pixie dust and has a sand like texture finish once dried.

Liberty is a blinggy blue pixie dust and has a sand like texture finish once dried.

Two coats were used for each polish in the swatches below.

The next few Zoya's I purchased were apart of the "Threedom" promo. Any three polishes for $12 including shipping! Back to back deals are awesome, thanks Zoya!  I chose some fun bright shades for what is left of summer, from left to right, Dillon, Muse and Alma.

Dillon is a bright pastel teal with golden shimmer. This dainty shade is apart of the Spring Awakening collection.

Muse is insane! It is this gorgeous deep blue teal jelly packed with gold shimmer and iridescent he glitter pieces. It shines beautifully in the sun, but in indirect lighting it is mesmerizing.

Alma is a oranges based cousin in Muse. It has a sheer jelly orange base and is packed with gold shimmer.

Two coats are shown for each of the polishes in the swatches below.

Nicole by OPI A Lit-Teal Bit of Love is a gorgeous shimmery blue foil. I don't usually go out and purchase a NOPI polish on my own unless it is something really special. My boyfriend went to go grab some last minute groceries while I was making dinner and picked this up for me. To be honest I probably wouldn't have picked out this shade on my own, but it is such a stunner! I love the blackened edges and hint of a purple duochrome. It is similar to Orly's Sweet Peacock, but more blue and a shade darker.

Next up is Sally's, I went there a few times this month to make the most of my birthday coupon, here is what I picked up;

China Glaze All Aboard collection, fall 2014. I was so happy to find this in store late July across the boarder! I got my pick of the whole collection.

Choo-Choo Choose You is one of those grey, purple taupey shades, but what sets it apart is he strong mulitchrome shimmer. I'm talking Clarin's type shifting. The formula was quite thin, but surprisingly built up quite well. The first swiped appeared to be frosty, but it dried to a smooth and glossy finish.

Loco-Motive is a glitter topper made up of charcoal glitter and larger orange-red hex glitter sprinkled throughout. You probably could get this one to reach opacity but it seemed quite thin, I stopped at two coats for my swatch.

Next up, Boundary of a Memory.

This is apart of The Giver collection. Yes, The Giver the book! Does anyone else remember reading this in grade 5? I do vaguely, however back then I was not a big fan of reading. Apparently they are making a movie about it and China Glaze has partnered with the release of a polish collection. The only polish that caught my eye was Boundary of a Memory, a shimmery glitter. Both Sally's I went to did not have swatches available, so I based my decision on the bottle alone, and let me just say that the bottle does this glitter no justice! So much better on the nail. It appears to be a mix of silver grey and brown micro glitters and builds up to opacity nicely, two thick coats are shown in my swatch below.

Finger Paints:

In the Monet is a saturated blue jelly jam packed with blue microglitter and slightly larger silver prismatic glitter that shines green. Two coats are shown  in the swatch below.

Colourful Collage is a holo glitter bomb! I have been wanting this for a while but not really needed it. I added it finally to my cart when I needed a few extra dollars to use my birthday coupon, yippee! It is a mix of multiple shapes and sizes of silver holo glitter in a clear base.

I picked up Crystal Springs on clearance for $2.10! It is a topper made up of matte lime green and baby blue glitter and sprinkled with holo gold micro glitter and irregularly shaped silver holo glitter. Two coats are shown in my swatch below

Aloha Lei is an orange shimmer that has a deep orange jelly-ish base and golden yellow/orange shimmer. Two coats are shown in my swatch below.

China Glaze Off Shore collection, summer 2014:

Stoked To Be Soaked is a basic creme orange. I am rethinking purchasing this polish as it is nothing really special. Two coats are shown in my swatch below

Shore Enough is bright green creme polish. Along with Stoked to Be Soaked, this was an impulse purchase, but I prefer this over the orange. Two coats are shown in the swatch below.

Nuclear Sunrise

I need to find me some more Fresh Paint polishes! I just recently discovered them in late June and I am so impressed. Not only do they have some awesome colours, but the wear is fantastic. I can only comment on the two neon cremes I have purchased, Guava and Honeydew, but if you know neons, you know they chip FAST, and Guava and Honeydew lasted

I wore Honeydew for almost a full week with no chips and only slight tip wear, that is fantastic for a neon. Honeydew is a pastel mint neon creme. Although the first coat was a bit streaky, the second coat evened everything out nicely so I didn't require a third. It dried to a slight shine but as always I added a coat of Seche Vite.

Unfortunately.... I have misplaced my photos for this mani, so sad! I  do have photos of it with a refresh I did. To update this mani I used China Glaze Shore Enough, Bundle Monster Plate 402 and a cosmetic sponge.

I started by stamping Shore Enough on the tips of my nails and blending downward in to Honeydew. On the second coat I added Honeydew to the sponge with Shore enough to blend the colours further.

Once that had dried, I stamped with the centre top full image pattern on Bundle Monster plate BM-204. On the plate the design looks abstract and asymetrical. I'm not sure what drew me to it initially but once stamped in black over the gradient it looked like an abstract sunset. The bold lines representing the rays from the sun, the circle. The green base makes the whole idea even more abstract!

Plate BM 402 is apart of the Create Your Own collection and it stamped perfectly with no issues. One tip I would give should you use this design or any similar (with bold lines), try to scrape in the general direction of the lines to avoid any weird bald spots in the design once on the stamper.

My only regret is not lining up the "rays" perfectly with each nail, other than than I am happy with the final look.

Starry Jelly Sandwich

Happy Friday (And long weekend!) I just loved wearing Essie's Bouncer it's me, a deep yet bright blue jelly and didn't want to remove it after I developed some chips. I decided to carefully fill them in and do a sandwich with OPI's Pirouette My Whistle. Bouncer, It's Me evened out very well with the previously applied polish. 

Pirouette My Whistle is a glitter topper composed of silver glitter and lager white opalescent glitter pieces.

One coat was all I needed for good distribution of the glitter on each nail. The hex glitter was inconsistent with each nail, however, I liked the look. Since the silver and white glitter pieces are overlaid with the blue jelly, it gives the appearance of a starry light. The positioning of the hex glitter unintentionally looks like constellations in a star filled sky.

I'm happy with how this turned out, but it didn't last too long due to the previous chips  I had before applying the glitter and additional layer of blue jelly. 

Bouncer, it's Me!

I haven't worn an Essie polish in a while and figured I should try a summer untried of mine. Bouncer, it's Me, is a deep blue jelly polish. I had forgotten it a a jelly polish until I sampled the shade in my nails. The formula is thin but deeply pigmented. Depending on the pressure you apply and the about of polish on the brush you can really change the whole look of the polish. This is great for a jelly sandwich, but also can be built up to full opacity in as little as two coats!

I love that the formula is so versatile. I decided to build up to full opacity, so I only needed two coats, the first was on the thinner side and the second was a bit thicker. The formula evened it's self out perfectly, I was dreading runny, sloppy application.

Since the formula is thin, I find that the more you apply to the nail in one coat the longer it will take to dry. I severely dented my nail on the fist thin coat! It was easily evened out without any issues, but I will me more careful next time for sure.

It dries to a satiny matte finish, so a topcoat is a must. I would recommend using a quick dry topcoat to best avoid any denting after application. My go to top coat is always Seche Vite. I also added some Sally Hansen quick dry drops, which is an oil that also helps with drying the polish.

I love the look of this shiny shade. Although it appeared slightly lighter in the bottle, it does dry a deeper shade.

Fun fact: I applied this polish to myself while getting a pedicure! Not bad, right!? The pedicure post to follow.

Christian Louboutin Nail Polish

I found a great article today both based on design, fashion AND nail polish, a few personal loves of mine:

source: link

"PARIS — Back in 1992, surveying one design from his third signature footwear collection, Christian Louboutin was dismayed that the actual shoe wasn’t as colorful and compelling as his original sketch, especially underneath. 

And so he snatched a jar of nail varnish from an assistant, who howled in protest, and his famous red soles were born. 

Now the French footwear guru is taking his first steps into the beauty business with a range of signature polishes housed in strikingly tall, spiky bottles. 

Priced at $50 each, the well-heeled, red nail enamel, Rouge Louboutin, is scheduled to go on sale today in a U.S. concession shop on the eighth floor at the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship in New York and the 15 Louboutin boutiques in the U.S. Saks will devote five display windows to the launch, with each filled with a display of an imaginary city, called Loubiville, whose architectural shapes give hints of products to come. 

The rest of Louboutin’s U.S. distribution — the remainder of Saks doors, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom and select Sephora stores — will unveil the Rouge nail polish on Aug. 6, displaying the new beauty product alongside his footwear collections. The remaining 30 shades will be available throughout the U.S. distribution on Aug. 31, according to Catherine Roggero, general manager of Christian Louboutin Beauté. The new beauty company is a joint venture between Christian Louboutin’s fashion company and New York-based Batallure Beauty. The month-long lag in distribution rollout between the red polish and the 30 remaining shades is designed to give the Rouge enamel its own time in the merchandising spotlight."

To read more, check out the original post on TheDieLine.com

Small Rant + Grass is Lime Greener

Happy Friday!
I am not one to go pay to get a manicure done. Although not trained professionally I feel that I know enough to give myself a pretty good looking mani, minus the hand massage and all that fancy stuff! Prior to my recent experience, which I will be sharing shortly, my first ever manicure experience wasn't the greatest. It wasn't horrible, but I figured I'd rather do it myself than pay someone when I can do it to my personal preference.

Start Rant...

My latest experience was at a beauty school. Now I have had many experiences with beauty schools, and I get it, they are still learning and practicing their skills, but shouldn't they really be practicing what they are specializing in for a profession? I have had many pedicures from collages with amazing results, but this manicure was by far the worst, and I think it has turned me off from getting another one in the future.

Knowing I was going to a school (of learning students) I prepared my nails to my liking before the appointment, this including trimming and filing my nails to the length and shape I am most comfortable with. I made it clear from the start, please do not cut, shape or file my nails, I am happy with how they are. Se said okay and proceeded. After removal if polish and soaking she decided a few nails needed to be evened out, I said fine, in my head reminding myself that this is her job and she knows what she is doing.

Wrong! Not only did she reshape my nails, but she also used the harshest grit for a "light" file! I was dying in the inside, but she would fix it, right? It was at this point she mentioned that she came to this school to specialize more in, laser hair removal, microdermabrasion, etc. and tht she doesn't like doing nails. Now I start to panic... She starts to apply the polish and I am dying I the inside! To shorted the story a bit, let's just sayit was bad, a bad, streaky messy situation. I had to show the nail tek how to apply the polish... In not even joking. She kept pushing the brush firmly on the nail and sliding it slowly up the nail. This was with a China Glaze neon polish. Ugh! Just thinking about it makes me nervous! After the second or third streaky, uneven and ununiform (some nails had polish starting a cm above the cuticle) coats, I asked her to stop. Not only did I not get the full treatment (adiquate cuticle softening, removal and massage) but I just wasted a time and money for something I could have done in about 10 mins!

A thoroughly frustrating experience overall. On my way out I switched all of my previously scheduled manicures for anther service (I have a package wth them and have enjoyed other services jncluding massages and pedicures). I was filing my nails while waiting (the rough grit did not leave my nails smooth at all) and the receptionist asked why, and I said that it was done incorrectly. I was then given an excuse that the polish I chose was difficult to work with, that why it didn't turn out right... Right.

As soon as I got home I wet to work on clean up and evening out the polish on the nail. I then applied one more coat if polish to even out the streaks (and texture) caused earlier and finished with a top coat and slight clean up. Ta-da! Good as new. I fixed the shape of my nails as best I could, and am happy with the final look. I wish I had a before photo to share with you but I couldn't stand to look at my nails from the moment she started to apply the polish!

Ahhh, that feels so much better, END RANT, now more about China Glaze The Grass is Lime Greener.

This is a lovely pastel neon green shade. The formula is a tad difficult to work with, however, what I told the nail tek, and what I will tell you is that as long as you work with a light and quick hand and an adiquate amount of polish on the nail, it will even out. I would estimate two coats max. My photos show three coats.

It does dry to a satin/matte finish so a topcoat is needed. I have been wearing this mani for about three days now and surprisingly it hasn't chipped all over the place. Although beautiful, I find the China Glaze spring collection to be particularly fussy, either with application or wear or both!

I love this shade, it was originally my top colour to purchase from this while collection, just perfect for summer. It literally just glows on the nail when outdoors. So glad I was able to salvage it :)