Nubar Prisms Swatches and Review

This post has been moved to HERE. Sorry and thank you for reading and your comments!

-Elaine

Post To Come: BB Couture Disco Ball Collection

I am so excited about these I just had to show you these bottles until I get to swatch them!

Make sure to click on the pic for the enlarged view!

Hustle, Dancing Queen, Studio 54, Disco Ball, Disco Lady

OMG!!! These are all so awesome!!!
Will post swatches ASAP!

No More War Halfmoon Matte Manicure

Hi guys! I am traveling today so this is a scheduled post. I am not actually sitting here posting this! I am on my way to New York state to see my family! YAY! But I have pics of nails for you!

This was a mani I did last week. After a day of wearing Rescue Beauty Lounge - No More War I wanted to do some sort of halfmoon mani to it. I bought circular reinforce stickers for loose-leaf paper, and was ready to go!

I couldn't come up with a complementing color, and then it hit me. Do it matte! So I stuck on the little reinforcers on the lower part of my nail to mimic my natural halfmoon, and painted the rest of my nail with China Glaze - Matte Magic. I love it!

Have a nice holiday!

Water Marbling 2.0

One of my first posts when I first started my blog was about water marbling. How many people actually read it, I don't think many. But I have made an updated tutorial on water marbling and I am sharing it today! The reason for this is because I love marbling but it is kind of a pain, but I have a couple tricks for making this semi-difficult nail art a bit easier.

Tip 1: Use 3oz Dixie Cups. When I first started doing water marbling, I had a very small Tupperware container dedicated to my water marbling. That was fine, but there are a couple reasons why using the Dixie cups is better. First, they are disposable. When you do water marbling, the polish sits on top of the water, and then you pick it up with your nail. Some of the polish stays on the water, however, and it creates a sort of invisible shield, even if you think you picked it all up, and that restricts new polish from flowing out on the water if you want to reuse the water. That means you have to change the water for every nail. Using the Dixie Cups allows you to set up ten cups of water when you begin, and then you don't have to spend time changing the water. The other reason I like this better is the area to fill is smaller. My tupperware container was small, but still much larger than this little cup. When you drop in the polish, it spreads out to the outer walls of your container. If the container is larger, you are going to have to used more polish since it keeps spreading out and out.Tip 2: Apply petroleum jelly, or "Vaseline" on all the skin on your finger, around your nail. I think the worst part about water marbling is that there is sooooo much clean up involved. It takes forever, is wildly annoying and you have to use a ton of nail polish remover, which gives me a headache! If you use petroleum jelly, you can easily wipe off the polish on your skin with a tissue.

Tip 3: Clean your nail surface with alcohol (I use OPI-Chip Skip) to clean any petroleum jelly that may have gotten on your nail. You don't want to repel the polish from your nail... just your skin.

Now pick your colors! I used 4: Zoya - Malia, Sally Hansen - All The White Stuff, Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away, and Sinful Colors - Black on Black. You don't have to use exactly 4 colors. I have done it with 2 or 3 and you could probably do it with more than 4 too. Unscrew all your colors and get ready for the dropping!

Begin by getting enough polish on your brush that it will drop off, hold it right above the water and let a drop drop in. It will spread out across the water's surface.

Add the rest of your colors into the center, one after another. The circles will get smaller and smaller.

Next, take a toothpick and swirl the colors around. There are several ways to do this. You can start at the outer edges of the polish circle and just keep pulling inward. You can go back and forth left to right and right to left, or just go all around in no particular pattern... just what looks pleasing to you!

Next you dip your finger, face down, into the swirl you made. The pattern will stick to your nail just the way it appears on the water, so pick the area that you want on your nail. With your nail still in the water, pull away all the excess polish. If you try to lift your finger out without doing that, you will get the excess following your finger out of the water and it will fold over your desired design.

Here is how it is going to look once you get your finger out of the water. Not to worry! Since you put Vaseline on first, you can just wipe the polish on your skin away with a tissue.

And here is the finished result!
I wasn't too pleased with the end result just because the colors didn't really excite me. I tried again with Blue Me Away, Zoya - Pinta and Misa - Dirty Sexy Money.

Ahhhh. That is better!

And the last tip is to use colors that are well pigmented, and that get full, or close to full, coverage with one coat. The polish ends up spreading out very thin, so if you use a polish that normally requires 4 coats, it is not going to look like much marbled. My favorite polishes to marble with are China Glaze - Romantiques because they are definitely opaque in one coat and look amazing water marbled.

The first time I ever heard of this was on the China Glaze website and there was a tutorial with still pictures. Now there is a link to a video here. I suggest you watch the video to see what I mean about the swirling technique where you pull inward and how to pull away the excess polish before taking your finger out of the water. The problem I have with the video is that they make it look so easy because they are using a false nail on a stick instead of your finger, so the issue of clean-up is not addressed.

Some Urban Outfitters Nail Polish Swatches

Happy Monday! Is everyone scrambling trying to get last minute shopping done?! I know I will be.

Last week I strolled into an Urban Outfitters for one thing only: to get some nail polish. They had lots in all sorts of colors, but I tried to restrict myself to only a couple since I was unsure about the formula and didn't want to spend a ton on crappy polish. So I got 4 rather interesting shades and I am excited to share them with you! They have the most boring names though.


Blue 2 - This is a blue-gray slate color with a jelly finish. It takes 4 coats for opacity, but it reminds me of RBL - Bikini Bottom; It takes 4 coats, but the end result is worth it.

Green 1 - This is an awesomely bizarre, very yellow light, bright green. I love it. But this swatch is 4 coats and it is still a bit streaky.

This photo is two coats of Blue 2 and Green 1 over one coat of OPI - Alpine Snow. I don't think I would bother layering Blue 2 over white, but I think Green 1 over white really pops and I will definitely wear it like this.

Purple 6 - This is a jellyish medium hued lilac. It is very vibrant. Sorry for the weird lighting. This just gave the best representation of the color. Every other shot I took pulled way too blue and didn't look like the original at all. Every time I look at it I want to call it "Electric Lilac", but we already have a polish named that! This swatch is 3 coats, and I think that it is worth it.

Matte Green 7 - My entire motivation for buying this was that I was hoping to find you guys an alternative to KO - Liberty; a matte mint polish, which costs $19. (It costs $19 now, but I swear when I bought it in the spring it was $22) Anywho... this is a blue sided mint that needs 3 coats for full coverage and it dries kind of satiny. Not really matte.

This is Matte Green 7 on the left and KO - Liberty on the right. The shade is almost dead on but the finish is not. Liberty is far more matte. Matte Green 7 will need a topcoat to set it anyway, because it never dries alone. So if you use say, Essie - Matte About You, you could set it and get a finish like Liberty, and then you will have Liberty without the $19 price tag. Also, Liberty takes 3 coats too because it is rather thick and streaky.

So overall impression is that if this line had a out of this world unique color, I would get it and deal with the formula but otherwise I have a hard time sucking up $5 for a 0.33 fl. oz. bottle. The formula is very thin and jellyish, requiring 3-4 coats each. Unless of course you layer them over white first. But that is a sacrifice you have to decide on based on how bad you want this polish. I did get this on sale thought for $3.50, which was a surprise until I checked out. I love when that happens!

Dashing Through the Snow... With my pretty painted toes...

The holidays are upon us! I decided to get festive with my tooties!! It's really thanks to the BF. I was going to redo my toes and picked out a nice orange creme: Sally Hansen - Sonic Bloom. I showed him what I was going to use and he did not seem enthused. He said "Why don't you do them for Christmas? With snowmen!" Okay, dear. You got your wish!

LEFT FOOT
Big Toe
China Glaze Emerald Sparkle
Migi Nail Art Pen in white
LA Colors Art Deco in Red Glitter

Little Toes
Unnamed shimmery white from Borghese Allegra set
Unnamed red glitter from Borghese Allegra set

RIGHT FOOT
Big Toe
China Glaze - Caribbean Blue
LA Colors Art Deco in Black
Migi Nail Art Pen in White
LA Colors Art Deco in Red Glitter
Tropez - Black Satin
Konad Special Polish in white
Konad plate M3

Little toes
China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle
Konad Special Polish in white
Konad plate M3

Neon Pastel Franken Polish

I always see this odd, yellow colored VW Beetle in my neighborhood and I think to myself, "That is a disgusting color for a car. But I would love it on my nails!" Well, that of course sparked the franken bug in me. The cocktail I mixed up probably doesn't really look like the car, since the car probably isn't neon, but the color is so weird, I don't know what it is. It is this weird pale yellow, but also sort of bright? It is hard to describe. I like the idea of making a neon pastel. I really don't know if that even makes sense, but since I did it with the franken I showed you here, by mixing a neon with a white creme, I have wanted to do it with more neons.

This is what I used:


Sally Hansen - All the White Stuff, Essie - Funky Limelight, Hot Topic - Unnamed neon green. I didn't take exact measurements, but if I had to say, my mix was probably
45% - All The White Stuff
30% - Neon Green
25% - Funky Limelight

And here is what it came out as:

I think in real life it's a little more green. I have been calling this mix "V-Dub"! It's one of those colors that you could argue all day with someone about whether it is green or yellow. And I love the starkness from the white creme. It's so bizarre!

What do you think of V-Dub? Do you mix your own colors?

Laine's Favorite Blue Nail Polish and Why You Don't Use Remover To Thin Polish

One of the most important tips I have learned on this nail-polish obsessed voyage I have been on, is what to do about a thick, lumpy, or dried out nail polish. You thin it. How do you thin it? With a nail polish thinner/reviver. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, USE NAIL POLISH REMOVER!

I had to learn this on my voyage. But before I learned, I too, tried to thin my polish with nail polish remover.

At the beginnings of my polish collecting, I started small. I hit only 1 new polish a week or so. But I must go back even further, to when Sephora opened at the mall near my parents house in New York. While home for Thanksgiving I went to check it out and saw the most amazing nail polish color. It was blue and deep but also sort of neon. It was amazing. And out of stock. So I forgot about it for the most part, but for the next year when I would go visit my parents I would hop into Sephora to see if they had it. They didn't. Ever. So last year around Christmas I went in and tried to order it, but they were so busy it would have taken hours. The sales associate suggested I come back another day. So I did and they didn't even have the tester so I had a hard time explaining what I was looking for. Well it was okay because they found it for me and I was so excited, I bought 2 bottles. Why not, right? If I need it this bad, I am probably going to need a back up! So this was the beginning of the end! My passion for finding unique and interesting colors had begun!

I was thrilled to receive my new, blue love. But I was not aware that the formula of Sephora's nail polish is not so great. The application was pretty horendous. It was so thick and streaky and it felt like it was dry. I couldn't get enough polish on the brush and I couldn't get on my nail. Ugh. So I thought, "I'll add a little nail polish remover to thin it". FAIL. Take a look at my 2 bottles of my adored Sephora blue (whose name is "Myrtille" although they don't put in on the bottle. It's only Myrtille on the website):


Yeeeaahhh... soooooo....... my bad? Yes. Very bad. The one on the left was spared my horrible idea of thinning with NP remover, but sadly the one on the right has done this amazing, science project, decomposing, separating thing over the past year and turned into Myrtille and a milky substance of some sort. Ewwww. So learn from me. Don't use NP remover to thin polish. NP remover is designed to break down polish. The ingredients in it are not found in the nail polish you are sabbotaging with it.

Now since you were so patient, here is a pretty swatch of my beloved, out of the good bottle:

Myrtille - A deep, semi-neon, indigo. Gorgeous! This swatch is pretty close, but in real life it is a drop darker and a drop more purple. AND this went on nicely since I thinned it appropriately with Poshe Nail Polish Reviver.

Have a great day!

50% Rescue Beauty Lounge Today - Last Minute Swatches

Good Morning! I hope you all have your clicking fingers ready and credit cards in hand for the 50% Rescue Beauty Lounge 5 hour only sale today!!! The email says to keep it hush hush except for my "BFF and "in the know" sis"... well isn't that all of you?!
:c)

The code for 50% is VIP 5 HOUR and it is good from 12pm to 5pm Eastern Standard Time today. I stayed up late last night to do swatches of all the RBL polishes that I have. It's not very many, but it may just help someone.

Square Pants - 4 coats

Bikini Bottom - 4 coats (I really believe the 4 coats is worth the end result)

Scrangie - 3 coats

Locavore - 3 coats

Frugalista - 3 coats

No More War - Ah my beloved NMW. How I love this color! It is my NOTD. 2 coats

I honestly don't even have my list ready for today. I am for sure getting Underware, Purple Haze and probably Concrete Jungle. And then I'm on the fence for Starfish Patrick, and some reds and Teal and Dead Calm.

What are you going to get?

Nubar Prisms Press Release

What a great email to receive! The latest collection from Nubar: Prisms! Or as we nail junkies like to say: HOLOS!!!!! Oh my! I am so excited!

(Make sure you click these images for the enlarged view!)

Drugstore Awesomeness: Rimmel

I picked up a couple new Rimmel London 60 Second polishes at Ulta last week (also available in most drugstores if you don't have an Ulta nearby) and I am amazed at how beautiful they are. I have swatches of Camouflage, Green With Envy and Night Before. All swatches are 2 coats.

Camouflage - This is one I have actually had for a really long time and I just wore it over the weekend. Wow. It is so beautiful! I can't believe it took me so long to wear it. It is a emerald green with gold shimmer and it glows so much it almost looks like a foil-ish metallic. I love this. I am buying a back up.

Green With Envy - I died when I saw the name of this in the store. I had to have it. It is blue!! Not green! But this turquoise shimmer does have a pretty strong green tinge to it. (It's not terribly apparent in my swatch) This is another glowing, unbelievably beautiful, foil-ish shimmer. Wow.

Night Before - This is a blurple base with a strong, bright purple flashy shimmer. My camera is totally screwing us. It would not pick up the shimmer. You have to just trust me on this one. It is really bold and beautiful and the shimmer also has a slight gold duochrome. HOTT!

The formula on these is great. The bottle says one coat and done, but I disagree. I say 2 coats, but there is nothing wrong with that. The brush is nice and easy to control. Does it dry in 60 seconds? I don't know because I throw top coat on it anyway, but I don't think it matters. I didn't buy it for dry speed. I bought for color! I need to pay more attention to Rimmel when I am shopping. These are unbelievable!

More Diamond Cosmetics Swatches

Some more Diamond Cosmetics swatches for ya!

Hue Are You? - Cranberry red with heaps and heaps of gold shimmer. 2 coats.

Lemon Yellow Zest - Lovely yellow cream. Very yellow. Almost marigold. I had to do 3 coats to get it all even though.

18K Gold - Oh how I love this bold gold shimmer. It is such a bold yellow-gold that I want to actually call it orange-gold. In 8th grade there was a girl that came to school with a manicure like this and I wanted that color so bad. And now 11 years later, I have it.

Tropical Dream - Soft creamcicle orange with a golden shimmer. 2 coats.

Party Hearty - Awesome champagne foil. I think I may use this as my New Year's Eve mani!

I am so pleased with the colors I bought. I love them all and the formula is great on these too. Mostly 2 coaters and nice easy application. The bottles are slight less than the usual 0.5 oz size. These are 0.43 oz, but that is fine with me.

Diamond Cosmetics can be purchased HERE and are only $2.