New Orleans Saints Mani

Hello fanatics and football fans! I decided to do a mani for the Superbowl in honor of the New Orleans Saints. I have been rooting for them this year (when not supporting my beloved Bears!) and thought a Saints mani was in order. Plus I love combinations of black and gold so I have an extra excuse to do it! Apologies to my international readers. I know American football is not an international sport like futbol, but I love it!

I started by painting the whole nail with China Glaze - Passion. Next I halfmooned it with the majority of the nail in black. Then I added Essie - Matte About You to make the whole nail flat. The reason being I love foils stamped over flat black. It looks so hott. Then I stamped the Fleur-de-lis on all nails with Passion and Konad plate M15.

Hope you all enjoy the game, snacks and beer! (and commercials!)

Relapse

As of late I have been liking blue polish more. I think aside from colors like sheers and nudes, blue was lowest on the totem pole. Maybe brown and black were lower, but my feelings for blue were very odd because there were of course blues I loved and wore, but a lot of times blues that other people were drooling over, I was not, or when I bought blues I never wore them. Well for whatever reason that tendency is shifting. Out of all the Sally Hansen - Complete Salon Manicure colors I showed you, Thinking of Blue was the one that I wore first. And I didn't want to take it off!

The whole reason I say all this is because of a new lemming I found in myself for a discontinued blue: Lippmann Collection - Rehab. I saw it plenty and didn't want it, but for some reason lately I wanted it. I can't get it, so I made my own! I named it Relapse.

I used mostly clear, and equal amounts of both Wet n Wild - Nocturnal and China glaze - Liquid Leather. If I had to give measurements, I would say 4 parts clear, 1 part Nocturnal and 1 part Liquid Leather.

It is very translucent and needs 4 coats but that is what I wanted. i didn't want it too pigmented and looking like a nearly black creme. I wanted it to be obviously blue and obviously jelly. Check it out! >>>

Have a lovely weekend!

Diamond Cosmetics Swatches

Hello! I finally got myself some Diamond Cosmetics nail polishes! They are all awesome. I love them all. I swatched them all and will show some today and some more tomorrow. All swatches are 2 coats.

Swatches!! ---->

Seafoam Spray - This is more of a pale mint, I think, than a seafoam green. And it has a golden shimmer. Very pretty! I think maybe, possibly, I did 3 coats on this but now I can't remember!

Chainmail Charm - This is a brown-black holo. It is more brown than another popular black holo realeased this year; Color Club - Revvvolution. But Chainmail Charm is more holo. I like Revvvolution, but I have always felt like I really had to dig for the holo. It only shows up in strong sunlight or flourescent lighting. But Chainmail Charm shines even in low light. Comparison:

Revvvolution on the left and Chainmail Charm on the right.

Never So Evergreen - Cloudy fir tree green with a golden shimmer. I love this. Of course! I don't have another green like it.

Not Your "Hum Drum" Plum - Okay. Whoa. This is one of the best colors I have ever seen! It is a bold blurple cream and I swear it glows! It is so vibrant. It is more purple than in the pictures. My camera makes purples lean blue sometimes. When I look at this I hear a scream of joy in my head yelling, "BLURPLE JAM!" I love this. Must have for any purple/blurple lover.

Don't Teal My Heart Away - Teal cream. Perfect. I adore this.

Diamond Cosmetics polishes can be purchased HERE and retail for $2!!!

Nfu-Oh #40

Whoops!!! Wardrobe malfunction!!!

Okay okay. It wasn't a malfunction. I confess. I did it on purpose because I am just so pround of my little nails! They make me so happy! Look how they grow!

I never actually had too much trouble with the growing part. It was more the not breaking part. Now that I keep my nails polished and use strengthening base coats I have a lot less breakage.

On to the polish!


Today I am bringing you an Nfu-Oh nail polish; #40. It is what is called "flakie". It has these thin, opalescent flakes that shine several different colors. Nfu-Oh - #40 is a clear base with flakes from different shades of green to all sorts of shades of blue. It reminds me of the tropical blue ocean and of swimming in a warm, secluded lagoon or cove. It doesn't have the same effect by itself but if it is layered it is out of this world. For these swatches I have it layered over black.

Sun:
Shade:

Here are some shots of the greatest thing to ever happen to flakie nail polish: a matte topcoat:


Oh, the magic that is Nfu-Oh

China Glaze Spellbound

Hello everyone! I thought to get us in a Halloween Mood I would bring you China Glaze's Halloween set, "Spellbound", including a fabulous glitter topcoat of the same name. The set includes a black and a white creme, the glitter, and a glow-in-the-dark topcoat. The packaging for the set is super cute. It has a little witch on a moped all decked out with Halloween friends: a toad, a spider who has a web on her hat, a black cat and a raven. So cute.


Liquid Leather - Black creme. Nothing to write home about. It is very thin. It took me 3 coats to get it opaque. Not a winner in my book.


White Out - White creme. Although the 3 coats it took are annoying, I like the look of the end result. It is just a smidge less harsh than actual white out. It has a softer feel.


Spellbound over White Out - Spellbound is described as a topcoat, but it is dense enough that you could get complete coverage. In this swatch, I did a different number of coats on each nail to show how it looks as you build it. Left to right they go:
-- 1 coat of Spellbound
-- 2 coats of Spellbound
-- 3 coats of Spellbound


Spellbound over Liquid Leather - Same as the previous swatch:
-- 1 coat of Spellbound
-- 2 coats of Spellbound
-- 3 coats of Spellbound


And here are some close ups:

1 coat of Spellbound over Liquid Leather


2 coats of Spellbound over Liquid Leather


3 coats of Spellbound over Liquid Leather


This swatch has White Out on the first two nails and Liquid Leather on the last two. The glow-in-the-dark topcoat, Ghoulish Glow, is on the index and ring fingers to show you how it alters the base color of the polish.

And for fun:Pic of glowing bottle

Autumn Glitter Gradient

I am finally bring you the manicure that I have been super excited about. And I am bringing it from Washington DC as I am traveling for work! I'm on the road again!

It is a glitter gradient and it seems pretty fall-like to me. I started with a black base using Tropez - Black Satin, my absolute favorite black. (It is opaque in ONE COAT and it cosst ONE DOLLAR!) I then used Sinful Colors - All About You and started painting further from the cuticle than where the black started. Then I did another coat of All About You and started up further than the first coat. I then grabbed my orange glitter, Jade - Volcanic Lava and did the same application further up still. I finished it off with a coat of Color Club - Art of Seduction, a very dense red glitter, on the tips. And voila! Glitter Gradient!

And of course, I had to see it matte:

Urbay Decay Apocalyptic Nail Kit Swatches

As soon as I saw that Urban Decay was releasing nail polish for the holidays I knew I would buy them. What I didn't know, was that they were releasing this cute set of 7 shades! I thought there would be only one or two colors. I am so excited! I love them all, and I love the packaging:

They come in a metallic purple zip pouch, and I have been thinking this would make a great gift.


White Widow - This was the selling point for me. I really liked all the colors, but I rushed to click "buy" a lot faster for this one. It is a gray-white with silver shimmer, and it goes on like butter! I love whites, and this one is one of my favorites.


Gunmetal - The second I got this out of the box and looked at it, it looked brown to me and not really gunmetal-gray. But I have changed my mind. It is gray, but a brown gray. Brown-gray shimmer. This was the only one that I was not a fan of, formula wise. It gave me a few bald spots.


Apocalypse - This one is like OPI-Lincoln Park After Dark: It's a really hott, super black, purple creme, but it just pretty much looks black with two coats. Luckily the formula of this is so wonderfully super smooth, it allowed me to do a nice one coater to show the true color of it.


Grunge - I am so torn on what this color is! I can't even think about it. As soon as I decide it's green, I say, "noooo, it's blue. But.... it's green!" And it's not a typical teal. I went back to the Urban Decay website to get the link for these, and found their description for this polish: "metallic peacock". I like that! Very fitting, since the shimmer flashes blue and purple and therefore, looks peacock.


Meltdown - Royal purple shimmer. Gorgeous.


Big Bang - Hot pink foil. I looove this one. Very hott, opaque and metallic-shiny.


Fbomb - Bright, brick-red creme, this swatch is only one coat!! These are incredible.

And since I have been on a matte kick, I did a quick shiny/matte comparison using Essie - Matte About you matte finisher.

Shiny:Matte:
I especially like White Widow, Grunge, Big Bang and Fbomb matte.

The set can be purchased online at Urban Decay and goes for $26. The bottles are not standard half ounce (15 mL) size. They are 0.17 oz (5 mL).