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

30ROCK Manicure

Happy Thursday! I am very happy today because the season premiere of one of my absolutely favorite shows, 30ROCK, is today! If you don't watch it.... you really should! I was so excited that I decided to do a mani to celebrate!

The title card of the show is pretty simple, so besides for writing "30Rock" on my nails, I was at a loss of what else to do. I thought maybe the NBC peacock would be a good idea. Then I came across this little gem:

If you don't watch the show, it is about a fictional sketch comedy show on NBC called "TGS" and this deal-breaker sketch was from one of the episodes.

"If you're man leaves in boxers and comes home in briefs, that's a deal breaker, ladies!"

So I thought I would used the pink polka dots for the mani. Here is how it turned out:

I used:
base: Color Club - Oooooo La La
Dots: Zoya - Dita
"30": Green Migi Nail Art pen (full review to come)
"ROCK": Black Sally Hansen Nail Art pen


Peacock:
red: Milani - Red to Tango
orange: Misa - Speed of Life
yellow: Sally Hansen - Lightening
purple: Zoya - Pinta
blue: Essie - Mesmerize
green: BB Couture - Poison Ivy
white: Migi Nail Art Pen

I did however, screw up the colors of the peacock on the left side. They should go yellow, orange, red not red, orange, yellow... ooooops. I think the point gets across. It took me a whole day to figure it out.

Have a great day and watch 30ROCK!!!

Glitter Trimmed Vampy Nails

So last night I was sitting with a friend and we had a bunch of polish out, and I grabbed her Massini - Magic Attraction (same as Color Club - Magic Attraction if you don't have access to Massini Nail Polish) and I painted just the tippy tip of my nails on one hand. No idea what made me do it. I just wanted to put it on something and since I already had my nails covered in Konad and rhinestones, it just ended up there. And I really liked it! It hit me that it would probably look great with a dark color painted on the nail. So I went home and re-did my mani while watching the Dancing with the Stars I had recorded, and came up with this little combo:



I used Sinful Colors - Rich in Heart with Color Club - Magic Attraction on the tippys. I didn't paint the underside, or the nail tip as you would a typical french manicure. I did just the perpendicular edge to those surfaces. That itty bitty thin edge. Just the tip. See how it feels.

It feels just like the icing on the cake. The icing detail, that maybe you didn't really need, but it gives it something special. I'm going to have fun looking at this all day!

NOTD: Dream On Konad

Hello and good afternoon! Today I want to share with you my Nail Of The Day. I wore Sinful Colors - Dream On yesterday, and last night I decided to jazz it up! I love this color so much, but I had an itch to use my Konad.



The base is Sinful Colors - Dream On
The stamp is Konad Special Polish in White using plate M22
And then I added sky blue and black rhinestones

I'm diggin' it!

Jade Glitter Swatches

Hey there! How are we all doing this Monday!? This Monday that is a holiday for most here in the US except me! I am at work! I could have used today off. I am still a bit hungover from Saturday's shenanigans! That is not fair. You need not be hungover for more than one day! Anyway, today I bring some interesting glitters from Jade. These are my first Jade polishes. You don't see them very much. I stumbled on them online one day so I took a chance and ordered a few. Here's what I got:

Gold Flakes - This is a horribly misleading name. This is not a flake polish. It is gold glitter in a sheer, shimmery gold base.

Asteroid Caress - Magenta glitter in a clear base. What a strange name! It makes me picture asteroids caressing people floating in space, or people being caressed on an asteroid. Lots of interesting imagery...

Charm Illusion - Lime green glitter in a clear base. It kind of looks gold at first glance.

Volcanic Lava - Deep orange glitter in a clear base. This is the one I used as the middle color on the glitter gradient in my previous post. I really love the color of this glitter, but I wish that it covered completely. This was 3-4 coats and still shows plenty nail. That is the case with all of these, actually.

I purchased these at 123nailsupply.com and they were $1.25 each. These do not have the best coverage, but look great layered, or would make great frankening colors. Especially since they are so inexpensive.

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:

Maybelline Vanishing Venus

Hello! I had a really great post of my manicure this past weekend planned, but I left the pics at home so I can't post them right now and I wanted to put up something! So today I bring you a pretty color from Maybelline. It is called Vanishing Venus. I borrowed it from a friend. I was so intrigued by it because I went to her place one day with Rescue Beauty Lounge - Scrangie on and couldn't wait to see her reaction because it is so unique. She looks at my nails and says "Is that Maybelline?" Are you serious?! Maybelline does not make a color that is a dupe of Scrangie. So I had to borrow it and see. It is definitely not a dupe, but I see where she was going. Scrangie is more of a blue-purple-lilac with a blue-green shimmer, and Vanishing Venus is a deep plum-eggplant color with a more green shimmer. I don't know if this color is discontinued, but I have never seen it in stores. But you can just add it to the hard-to-find shades you are going to hunt for! There are dupes to this color, however they are hard-to-find too. There is Urban Decay - Bruised and NYX - Grafitti. I was most exicited to learn about Grafitti and rushed over to NYX's website to find it but instead found that Grafitti is now what looks like a gray-white shimmer. Boo. I really hate the interchanging of names/colors that NYX does. Not cool.

And I will post the awesome weekend mani I had on either later today or tomorrow!

Halloween Giveaway

The cool chick with the most amazing long nails is hosting a rather awesome giveaway. It includes:

-A Konad sponge nail art kit
-A Konad image plate with Halloween designs
-A Konad Special Polish

I am so excited! Head here to enter!

Essie Swatches

Hello and Happy Friday! I must apologize for my unexplained absence! I went to NY last week to visit family and just got back last night. It was a great time, but I am glad to be home! And glad to be back to you guys! I have lots to post, so let's start the post-fest with a post filled with pictures! My favorite kind of post!

A few months ago, I discovered that one of my favorite e-tailers, Head2Toe Beauty had increased their prices on Essie polish from $4/bottle to $8. That is a %100 price increase! I was a bit panicked, and figuring this was not the fault of Head2Toe, but that of Essie, I was afraid that the same would happen on other favorite sites that allow us to get our polish fixes on the cheap. So I bought a bunch that I had wanted immediately from Trans Design.

I have compiled all my Essie's right here for you! They were not all necessarily purchased on Trans Design, but I wanted to post them all! They are not in any particular order, or collections. Some are really old, some are new, some are safe, some are blue. (I just had to do that rhyme!)



Mesmerize - From spring 2009 collection. Bold royal blue creme. Awesome.

Sexy Divide - Gorgeous royal purple shimmer. From winter 2008.

After Sex - I must say I bought this one just for the name. Some of Essie's name choices are pretty interesting. And she says that she herself does the naming. Hmm. Anyway, this is a glowing red shimmer. I really love it, but I think it looks just like Sinful Colors- Sugar Sugar.

Wild Thing - This one is older. I found it at a nail supplier and I believe it is not big three free. (So it contains Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde and Toluene) It looks just like After Sex, but with sparse, holographic glitter pieces.

It's Genius - From Winter 2008. It's a muavy purple shimmer.

Sag Harbor - Another interesting name! I really, really love this color. Very slightly blue gray with a subtle silver shimmer. From The North Fork Collection, Spring 2009.

Marshmallow - Classic, jelly white.

Caribou - Light, baby pink creme. The absolute worst application ever. This swatch took 5 coats and it still looks like crap. It is the streakiest, runniest polish ever.

Pound Cake - Creamy off-white with a hint of tan. Love this.

Flirty Fuschia - Neon pink creme. Dries matte and is awesomely bright.

Funky Limelight - One of the best colors I own. The absolutely brightest neon ever. The brightest neon hi-liter yellow. It amazes me.