Vintage Vixen Swatches - "Cat's Meow"

Happy Hump-Day all! Are we ready to finish out the China Glaze - Vintage Vixen swatches? I knew you'd be excited!>>>

Classic Camel - Maybe the most interesting color in this collection. I love weird shades like this. This is a yellow-tan with gold shimmer. It's sort of like Dijon mustard but shimmery!

First Class Ticket - I love this and it was my first official manicure with this collection. This is a plummy purple that has a lot of blue shimmer than makes it look very "blurple" and even very blue in the bottle. I love this one.

Emerald Fitzgerald - I may like this more for the name than the actual shade, but I do still really like this emerald green. It is pretty blue sided. It reminds me of Nubar - Earth but deeper.

Midnight Mission - Oooh. This denim blue polish with tons of silver shimmer immediately made me think of a starry night sky and a particular highly coveted nail polish of a similar name: Starry Starry Night. This would be a very distant relative to SSN as that one is glitter and this is shimmer, but still...

Riveter Rouge - This is a ruby red with gold shimmer and micro glitter pieces. I don't usually care much for reds but this one is interesting and I like it! Do you think Rosie would be proud? :cP And how about that close-up bottle shot?!

Goin' My Way? - Ooh oooh! I did not think this would be so pretty! This one was a big surprise. This is a brown shimmer but this shimmer is incredible. It is multi colored and and shines like mad. I can see glints of green, gold, red... it's just gorgeous.

This set has very pigmented shades and I was able to do 2 coats for all of them. I am really digging all these shades and can't wait for the cooler weather so I can wear them. The finishes of all these are very interesting and shimmery and sparkly. I think the word "frost" should be used a bit more lightly for this collection. When we got the first pictures and shade descriptions the "frost" was thrown around a lot and it put me off big time and I am sure plenty others. These are more like shimmers than frosts and even if a couple of them seem a bit frosty, like Goin' My Way? and Bogie, they are flattering.

Now that we have seen them all, what do you think?
-Elaine
:c)


Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

Vintage Vixen Swatches - "Hotsy Totsy"

Hello Everybody! I have a very exciting post today: One half of the China Glaze Fall Collection, Vintage Vixen. I have been very excited to see these shades for myself and they do not disappoint. The only way they disappoint me is that they make me wish it was fall!

Vintage Vixen is a collection of 12 foxy, vintage shades and I am showing you them in two parts. Today is going to be the first 6-piece set: Hotsy Totsy. Tomorrow I will show you my swatches of other set.

Okay, ready? >>>

Jitterbug - This is a steel colored, mega shimmer with a sort of foil finish. It's part foily metallic, and part shimmer. Very flashy and hott. This is 2 coats.

Swing Baby - Same concept as Jitterbug but this is a champagne colored shimmery foil shade. This appears to have several different colored particles in it to give it the overall shade it is. It is hard to peg as "cool", "warm" or "neutral". This is on the thinner side than Jitterbug though. I needed three coats.

Bogie - This is a eggplant purple shade with silver shimmer. WOW. I really like this one. I wish it was fall so I could wear it! It doesn't feel like a summer color.

Hey Doll - This is a mauvy, rose with shimmer. Not a color I would normally go for, but it is still pretty.

Ingrid - Ah, the beloved taupe nail polish. Do we have lots of them? Sure, but this one is special thanks to the caramel colored shimmer.

Foxy - A very unexpected surprise. This is a very brown, red shimmer. On coat 1 it looks mostly like a red shimmer (boring), but by the second coat it has a more noticeable brown color to it (awesome). This is another one that is making me wish it was fall.

How pretty are these? I would have normally thought tomorrow's set would be way better thanks to the bold colors like blue and green, but this set is fantastic! There is lots to enjoy here. The formula of these are a bit thin and runny, but very pigmented allowing for two coats on all except for Swing Baby. Hey Doll may need 3 coats but by doing a thicker second coat I was able to get away with just two.

Stay tuned for Part II!!

Elaine
:c)


Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

HOOT!

First of all, can I just say: I got myself the newest NP release from MAC, In The Buff, and it is so weird! It is one of the weirdest colors I have. It is one of those "ugly pretty" shades I can't get enough of.

When I read the very first description of MAC's summer collection, I was very excited to see this because in the description it said "avocado" and so I expected a green. This is not green! It is a sand colored nude with lots of olive tone. It may match some peoples' skin to be a true nude, but it is definitely not my skin tone so I can appreciate it as a color. It looks like a brown paper bag sometimes, and sometimes more nude, and sometimes very murky olive. Strange but cool.

Anyhoot, back to the point of my post! I have recently become a huge fan of anything to do with owls. Without telling too long a story, a friend and I got these necklaces with owl pendants and call them "friendship owls" and it has made me really like anything with owls. So I figured that meant it was going to have to be on my nails somehow. I think I pulled it off>>>

If you like the owl and would like to try my hand-painted art, you are in luck! I decided to take pics as I went along so that you could have a tutorial!

Here is what I used. LA Colors Art Deco stripers in white and black, L'Oreal - Sizzling Tangerine, Barielle - A Bouquet for Ava, Seche Vite and a dotting tool. The colors you choose are not important, but you should choose well pigmented shades so that you don't have to go over the same spot several times. You will also need at least one striper polish.

1) Using one of the regular polishes you choose, make a ovalish shape in the middle of your nail, a bit below center so you leave space for the head. This will be the owl's body. Let it dry.

2) Using another color make two circles at the top of the blob you made in Step 1 and then pull them up to make an upside-down heart. I just used the nail polish brush to make these circles, but you could also use a dotting tool and a larger drop of polish if you prefer. Let it dry.

3) Using your nail art striper, make the owl's puffy feather "hairdo" on top of his head pulling the striper brush from outer to an inner point just below the tip of the "heart" we made in Step 2. Make several passes until you feel that it's puffy enough! Next, take the brush and just under the "heart" inbetween the two circles, make a little diamond shape to create his beak.

4) Using white polish and a dotting tool, make two dots for the whites of the owl's eyes. Let that dry.

5) Using black polish and the dotting tool, make a smaller dot in the center of both white dots.

6) Getting out the striper again, make two slightly curved lines on either side of the body to make wings. I made a couple passes on each side so they were a bit thicker than just a line. Then make two bunches of three little lines on the bottom of the body for his talons.

7) To finish him off, add some dots to the body with the dotting tool and whatever shades you'd like.

8) Finish off with a coat of Seche Vite, or whatever thick self-leveling top-coat you choose so that your finished owl is level and not lumpy/blobby looking.

What do you think?!
:c)

USA! USA! USA!

USA is going on to the Top 16!!! I am of course talking about World Cup! I had a friend over to watch the game yesterday and we were screaming and flipping out and rolling around on the ground in fits of joy when Landon Donovan scored the winning goal in the 91st minute of the final game in group play for the U.S. which was the deciding factor of whether or not US would be moving on. If they didn't score to win they would have been eliminated, but they did, advancing them to the next stage of play and it made them winners of their group no less!! Amazing. So in the spirit of this extrodinary game, I am posting a U.S. inspired mani I did >>>


(Shade/Sun)

For this mani I used three of the glitter colors from Color Club's Glitter Vixen Collection: Art of Seduction, Sex Symbol and Sexy Siren.

1) I cut small pieces of painter's tape and covered about 2/3 of my nail at an angle and painted on Sexy Siren on the lower portion of the nail. I removed the tape while still wet to prevent any nicks.

2) On the remaining, unpainted portion of the nail I taped on a new piece of tape and carefully painted with Sex Symbol avoiding the blue I already did. I removed the tape.

3) I painted the remaining portion with Art of Seduction freehand.

The strategically placed star is there because I of course broke my nail before I got to take pictures of this mani soooo, that is the reason for that.

You can't see the break if I turn 'em though!

For the right hand I did the same method, I just switched around the colors.

USA!!
:cD

POTD: Neon Pink Layering Experiment

Hello! Sorry if my posts have been on the thin side. I have had a lot going on that includes painting walls so not only have I not had a chance to do swatches, but even my nail of the day manis have been quickly ruined so I don't have much to post. So instead I have a pedi!

I love brights on my toes for summer, especially neons and especially pinks. I started my pedi out with Essie - Flirty Fuchsia and the got an idea to layer over it thanks to my sister. We were playing around with a super shimmery pink: Piggy Polish - Pink-ing of You. It reminds me of the new Sally Hansen HDs that have super shimmer in semi-sheer bases. I was digging Flirty Fuchsia on its own but this just made exponentially better.

This pic isn't the best representation because it is more neon and more cool in real life.

This pic was taken right around sunset, but the neon is more apparent in low light so I had to snap a pic! It shows the brightness a bit better.

And of course... my fave: the closeup!

Have a great night!
-Elaine

PS - GO BLACKHAWKS!!!

GO BLACKHAWKS!

So the Chicago Blackhawks are now up 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals! WOO HOO!

Base: OPI - Alpine Snow
Stripes: LA Colors Art Deco in Red Glitter and Black

Sorry I didn't include the pointer. He had a huge chip by the time I got around to taking a pic of this.

Logo:

• China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky
• LA Colors Art Deco - Red Glitter
• BB Couture - Poison Ivy
• LA Colors Art Deco - Black
• Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen - Black (for the outline)

Have a great day!
-Elaine
:c)

Nailene Skinny French Tip Pen

My review of the french tip pen from Nailene has been waiting For. Ever. I am a total slacker. Sorry! I have some swatches and a review now. I played around with this about two months ago so there are some pics from then, and then I used it last week for a mani so I have some pics of that for you too. Here we go!

This is the pen. It's supposed to make a self done french quick and easy. It comes with a mini bottle of top coat, which honestly, I didn't try! Oh no!

This is the tip before use. It look like it would be spongy, but it is actually very stiff. On the one had that is good because it allows for lots of control, but can cause issues. I think maybe it may have been better if it had a little more give.

So two months ago, this is the first swatch I did with it, with my dominant hand, free-hand, with no tip guides. Not bad huh? This is completely bare, no base, no top, no sheer pink.

Here is what it looked like after I threw on a coat of sheer pink.

And another.

Last week I needed a conservative mani so I decided to try this again. This is what it looked like with two coats of Essie - Jackie On My over it.

Not too shabby, right?!

So how easy is this to use? I think it is much easier than trying to free hand with a regular white nail polish, for sure. The issues I encountered were these:

1) This isn't entirely the pen's fault. It is mostly the user's, but I tried to use tip guides the second time around to seen if I could get a cleaner line, and I did just the opposite. I put all ten guides on and then did two coats of white, and then tried to take off the guides, and since the "polish" had dried, it pulled up when I took off the guides and I had to take it all off and start all over. I should have took off each guide after each nail was done so that the polish wasn't dried to the guide.

2) Some times the hard tip will prevent getting an even coverage because it "scratches" off what you have already painted. I found that I had good results if I got a good amount on the pen tip, and then when I painted, I essentially touched only the polish to my nail, and not the tip of the pen to the nail.

I would choose this product to do a french mani for these reasons:

1) The pen's style allows for much more control than painting with a regular nail polish brush.

2) It is much faster to use than painting with a brush.

3) The formula is very pigmented allowing for one coat, providing you are careful not to do the "scratch off" as mentioned above.

4) If you do have to do more than one coat, it doesn't result in a gloppy, thick tip like you would get if you tried to use regular NP. It is very thin, but it isn't water soluble like some other similar pen products I have tried before. It is still like a polish.

5) It is fast drying.

So overall, I would give this product a "B". I would definitely use this for a french manicure, but there are special requirements to get it to look flawless. If you don't have a steady hand, this may not give you the results you want, but you can use tip guides as long as you remove them immediately after painting each nail. It must be a good product if there are more pros than cons!

What do you think?
-Elaine
:c)


Disclosure: The products featured in this post were furnished to me by the manufacturer or PR company for review. For more information please visit my disclosure policy.

Bottle Promo Pics of Orly Cosmix FX for Fall

OMG look what I just saw on Temptalia:

photo courtesy of Temptalia

They look EVEN BETTER than I thought. They anticipation is driving me even more mad now! I neeeeeeed these! Hope I get a job soon so I can buy them! HAHA