Mani Refresh - Not Feeling It

I had been so excited lately about trying some freehand nail art, probably because I have hardly been doing any nail art at all! I was all excited and planned it for Tuesday night. But when I actually sat down to do it, I was at a loss.

I decided I would stamp instead. But I still felt in a funk.... What colour do I stamp with, what stamp do I use, etc.

I tried out one stamp with a purple foil, did not look good so I wiped it off and grabbed another plate.

I ended up stamping with black and Bundle Monster plate BM-212 over my previous mani of Revlon's Royal Cloak.

To tell you the truth I'm not too thrilled about it. I do really like the design though. I dunno what it is, feel like I'm in a funk, hope it doesn't last too long.

For some reason Royal Cloak is looking darker and darker to me as the days go on lol. I think it's time for a new mani.

Going to the Mascarade

There is this random mostly Revlon shop I've found that sells similar products that they have for their warehouse sales every now and then with similar if not the same products for sale. Lately I have found that they are getting the latest Revlon polish collections and I was super excited to find Royal Cloak! I applied it the very next day!

I don't even think I ever saw the Mascaraed collection in Canada, I remember seeing it a while back in the States, but nothing much here. I have never purchasd a Revlon polish in store because I know that I can get it for much cheaper else where, otherwise I probably would have purchased Royal Cloak when I had seen it then.

This trip to the Revlon shop I was actually hunting down Whimsical and Starry Pink, but not so much luck. And I searched every rack too! This was the last bottle in the store of Royal Cloak! I had though that Zoya's Neeka was a dupe for this so I hesitated, but for $2, I figired why not. Soooo glad I took a chance this time! They are not even close. You can see my swatches here of Neeka to compare.

As you can see Royal Cloak has a medium toned purple base with white glass flecks and shimmer. The formula was awesome! I really think that Revlon is upping the quality on their polish lately, most of the other polishes (1-2 years ago) I own from them have bad formulas, they're runny, take forever to dry. Lately this is not the case, I would actually compare the formula for Zoya's Neeka. It was the perfect thickness.

This polish changes with the lighting. Sometimes I find it more dusty and greyed out, while other times I find it brighter. The shimmer and glass flecks look different also. In low light and overcast skies the glass flecks are more visible, but sparse. The sun and direct lighting really bring out the shimmer in the polish, it almost appears gold.

I could have gotten away with 1 thick coat, but  I opted for two thinner ones. I can't comment on dry time because I fished this off with Seche Vite, but I did get a couple of dings on my right had within an hour of application. Nothin extreme, guess I have to be more careful.

I love purple with my skin tone so I'm super happy with this polish. The formula makes me want to try more Revlon's.

Dopplegangers - Featuring Orly Lucky Duck

Another comparison post featuring Orly and OPI again. Lucky Duck and Jade is the new Black are medium green polishes with a grey, dustiness to them. I didn't even think to compare them originally but I had read on other blogs they were similar and wanted to see for myself. In the bottle they look different, but my OPI has had this weird yellowish haze to it since I purchased it. The polish if fine, just appears weird in the bottle.

If you compaire the tops of the bottle they look similar. Below are both polishes at one coat, left to right Orly and OPI. This shade of green is slightly more blue based and has a dusty quality to it. In this first coat Orly appears to be slightly more yellow, interesting.

Two coats...

This is where I stopped, both polished reached full opacity at 2 coats which is great, that is usually the norm for me. Here the swatches are again in natural sunlight. The colour shown in these photos outside really show the true shade.

 Different angle...

Although I hate to admit it, I must say that these are 99.99% dupes. It's pretty clear to see, in the photos and in person.

Underwater Sparkle

I finally tried out this gorgeous glitter after almost a year! Claire's Chunky Blue is a deep blue jelly saturated with blue micro glitter and silver hex glitter that appears blue under the jelly polish. The glitter suspended in the jelly base adds some great depth. I have many photos today to show you the depth this polish has. The two photos below are with my lamp light.

I thought I would have needed multiple coats to reach full opacity but only two were needed. The formula was pretty easy to work with considering there were decent sized pieces of hex glitter.

This looks soo cool, it remindes me of Deboraph Lippmann's Across the Universe but I can assure you that they are definitely not dupes. The main difference being the hex glitter colour and base colour being darker.

Removal wasn't too bad considering it's packed with glitter. I attempted to remove manually, but half way decided to finish of with the foil method. I had done some house cleaning the day before removal and it just destroyed the polish! cracks and chips everywhere. Other than that it did last on my nails without chipping for a good amount of time, probably just under a week!

I actually purchased 2 of these, Claire's was having their 10 for $10 promo and I needed a couple of extra polishes to equal 10. I have the magenta version of this as well, also never worn. Do you own any of these glitters from Claire's?

Inked

Today I have a pretty well known polish from OPI, Ink. I don't know exactly when it was released, but I know it has been around for a while. My boyfriend got me this for Christmas last year :) This was my first time wearing it and it was perfect.

Lately I have been so indecisive with picking a polish to wear, but I just picked this one up and started polishing away!

Ink has a deep purple base that shifts to indigo at certain angles, AKA, duochrome. It also has glitter flecks that change along with it, it adds a lot of depth.

I haven't worn anything this dark in a while, and I really appreciated it. I was thinking of doing some stamping, maybe with black, or a lace pattern, something subtle that will add to the vampiness of the polish it's self.

Do you own Ink?

Doppelgängers! Featuring China Glaze Strawberry Fields

Oops, accidentally posted this for 9:30 PM, not AM, just realized now. Sigh... long day today! here's my post anyways!

Today I have another installment of Doppelgängers! I purchased this next polish specifically because it reminded me of China Glazes Strawberry Fields, but I didn't realize how close they really were until I swatched them side by side.

I found this Sally Hansen polish at a liquidation warehouse type store a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure how readily available it is now, but it's called Tip Toe Tulip. Since you all know what Strawberry Fields Looks like, let me describe Tip Toe Tulip for you; it has a deep pink/magenta base with a golden sheen of micro shimmer. Although they are not glass flecks, they are still very pretty. Here they both are in the bottle.

Now let's see some closeups! First is Strawberry Fields.

Next we have Tip Toe Tulip. Both of these bottle shots were taken in direct sunlight.

Here they both are again at 1 coat. Left to right, Strawberry Fields and Tip Toe Tulip.

2 coats,

And 3 coats.

I think it's easy to see the differences in these polishes. Although very similar, the glass flecks sets them apart from one another. Tip Toe Tulip's shimmer is also not as prominent as Strawberry Feilds.

I wonder when this polish was first released, it's in the old insta-dri bottle, I can't remember when exactly they switched over. Such a great shade, either polish!

A Very Blingy Review! Design Glassware Nail File

I received some products to review recently from a design glassware company based in the Czech Republic called Design Glassware by Mont Blue Ltd.. They specialize in an assortment of cosmetic tools, accessories, jewellery and compact mirrors which are decorated with gorgeous Swarovski crystals!

I was sent two products for review, a glass nail file and a hair pin. I'll start off with the nail file since this is a nail blog.

This is no ordinary nail file. Not only is glass but it is decked out whit some Swarovski crystals :) I own a couple of glass nail files, some cheap, some higher end. A favorite of mine is The Perfect Formula mini travel glass nail file.

First, let me show you the other glass files that compare to this one. I have a no name dollar store one and the Perfect Formula one. The dollar store one is pretty weak, after multiple uses it has worn down quite a bit. I hardly use it anymore. The Perfect Formula file is great for smoothing out the tip of the nail after major filing from a harder grit file and shaping.

I feel like this file is most similar to the Perfect Formula one. It feels like a slightly stronger grit while still being smooth on my nail, plus it is so pretty! You do feel the jewels on your fingers when holding the file, but they don't get in the way. I found the best ways to use this file is with a softer touch, I also preferred to use it for shaping. I do own another nail file I purchased at Sally's that is a way stronger grit that I usually use to file my nails down, I don't think I would use this nail file for that. More for after they have been filed down for shaping and getting rid of any layers of nail that have frayed at the edge.

Moving on now to the hair pin, At first I was a bit confused as to how I would go about writing a review, but after wearing it for a day I have a lot to say!

I decided I would wear it in my hair to hold a side poof at the front of my head. I've been rocking the poof since before I knew what a Snookie was, so don't judge, I had it first anyways!

I was impressed with how well it held the poof tall and strong all day! AND it looked super cute. I also wore it another day the same way, but with the rest of my hair down (in these photos the rest of my hair is clipped back.) I have pretty long hair, it actually touches my ribs! I don't wear my hair down often, it is usually clipped back during the day, and when I'm at home it's clipped up in a bun. It kept a good amount of hair out of my face while shopping, I didn't even realize I had my hair down!

I'm not sure what the actual pin is made out of but it is silver in colour and very stiff, I had to get the hang of prying it open and sticking it in as I'm not used to using hair pins in this way. It held strong all day and kept my poof perfect. The best part was I didn't even feel it in my hair. I really love how this looked in my hair, total thumbs up :)

My boyfriend actually thought that they were 2 pins or clips because of the double crystals. I love how it adds just the perfect amount of sparkle that can be used every day.

Some more information on Design Glassware by Mont Blu Ltd. taken from their website:

Mont Bleu Ltd Company is one of the world leading suppliers of glass nail files. Our glass nail files are made of high quality Czech glass; they are decorated by patterns, or by Swarovski crystals. At present our company is growing, and we became one of the main producers of the accessories decorated with original Swarovski crystals in Europe.

Mont Bleu delivers its products all over the world, that is why clients from USA, Canada, Israel, CIS countries, Asia and from all over the EU are buying our products with great pleasure.

Our company offers to your attention only quality production approved with quality certificates of Czech Republic, Russia and EU. Our glass nail files were tested and approved by Czech institute of health.

Our assortment of cosmetic and office accessories is permanently supplemented. Most of the designs were created in our design-studio SIS-Luxury Glass Fashion in Prague. This means that you can order products a la carte, with your own designs.

We have opened an Internet-shop which allows purchasing our products online. It can also be an option for our wholesale retailers.

You can use ordinary way of shopping- contact with our sole offices, or with central office in Prague.

The site www.design-glassware.com was especially created for those who admire luxury accessories, and for those who have an eye for exclusive presents and expensive hand made accessories.

Prices and more information on their products can be found on their website.

*This product was sent to me for an honest review, all views expressed are my own honest option.