Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ah, my favorite day of the year. This is seriously my favorite holiday. I'm not even Irish. I just love it!

Check out the mani I did for you guys today:

I started with a coat of Ilalmasqua - Whack, my favorite orange creme. Then I used re-enforcer stickers to hide the lower portion of my nail and painted the rest with Rescue Beauty Lounge - Underwear to get the half-moon mani.

Next, I used Konad plate M22 and Konad special polish in green to stamp the clovers. I did this before my tips because I figured it would be easier for me to make a mistake on the clovers than on the french tip and would hate to do more work than I had to if I made a mistake and had to start over.

Lastly I painted the tips with Illamasqua - Elope and topped it all off with Seche Vite.


Erin Go Bragh!

My Nails Are Partying for Mardi Gras

Happy Fat Tuesday all! Are you planning on rocking out today? Or planning on having a rockin' mani?! I have planned both! Nails first:

LEFT HAND-Beads, Mask and Fleur-de-lis:

Thumb: Illamasqua - Elope, China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky, Migi Nail Art Pen - shimmery olive, China Glaze - Harmony, Passion, Cherish

Ring: Illamasqua - Elope, China Glaze - Grape Pop + Konad plate M78, China Glaze - Passion + Konad plate M15

Rest: Zoya - Pinta stamped with plate M77 and China Glaze - Millennium, Passion and Harmony (it's beads!)

EDIT: THE BEADS WERE STAMPED WITH PLATE M77. NOT M78. OOPS! Sorry!

RIGHT HAND - Hat, Glitter and Fun:

Thumb: China Glaze - Passion, BB Couture - Poison Ivy, China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky, Zoya - Pinta

Ring: Color Club - Sultry, Tru Passion and Object of Envy

Rest: BB Couture - Green Goblin, plate M78 + China Glaze - Harmony and Passion

I really went all out. That is what Mardi Gras is all about, right?! I'm going out with a girlfriend tonight and she is going to paint my face up like a mask. She wants to be a make-up artist professionally and mostly in stage make-up, so this is going to be sick!!! I can't wait! I am sooo not going to want to come in to work tomorrow...

PS - If my nails seem different it's because I chopped 'em down. I had a devastating break on my left hand so I cut them all down to match. It was really my only option. I rather like that I switched things up too. I loooove my "talons" but this length is fresh and comfortable. Don't worry! They will grow back! :c)

Mint Creme Comparisons

Essie - Mint Candy Apple, China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint, BB Couture - Laguna Lagoon, Barry M - Mint Green, Illamasqua - Milf

Hi junkies! This isn't a terribly original post, but it may be helpful. I did a comparison of China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint from the new Up & Away collection against some of the other mints in my collection.

Across the top:
Essie - Mint Candy Apple
China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint
BB Couture - Laguna Lagoon
Barry M - Mint Green (my MAC - Peppermint Patti dupe)
Thumb: Illamasqua - Milf

All swatches are three coats except for Milf at 2. Re-Fresh Mint is the cleanest and brightest and is closest to mint chocolate chip ice cream, which is a good standard to go by for mint, I think! Mint Candy Apple is very close to that but more blue. Laguna Lagoon is more yellow and more toned down (not as stark). Milf is very close to Laguna Lagoon but more dusty. Mint Green is not even really comparable to any of them, but is very beautiful.

Hope you like it!
-Elaine

Illamasqua Swatches

How are all you hotties today?! ;c)

Today I am bringing you some Illamasquas. They aren't new, but they are gorgeous! I love the edgy-ness of this line, the bottles, the formula, the brushes, the colors, the names of the colors... They are just amazing! Here is the ones I have:

Hectic, Milf, Elope, Whack, Rampage

Hectic - Dirty olive green creme. How I love it. I know these types of shades are not for everyone but they are for me! My winter coat is the same exact color! This swatch is 3 coats. Hectic is similar to Rescue Beauty Lounge - No More War in that it is a dirty, olive green but it's actually not that close when you compare. Observe:

Hectic on the left, No More War on the right. Hectic is more yellow and calm and No More War is more brown and funky.

Milf - I thought this was a clean, yellow-based mint green, but it is actually a rather dusty color. Mint, yes, but a little dusty. It really doesn't show it's dusty property too much on the nail. It just gives it a slightly aged, vintage look. But it is very evident when you look at it next to a polish like BB Couture - Laguna Lagoon, which is very clean and bright. It is gorgeous though and I love it! I wore it for 3 straight days this week! This swatch is 2 coats.

Elope - Bright, bright kelly green creme. This is very vivid and very green. Perfect for St. Patrick's Day! This swatch is 3 coats. This polish is very vivid. It has a bit of a neonish/antifreeze glow to it in real life. Very awesome.

Whack - Mega bright, super bold, red-orange creme. 2 coats. I LOVE THIS! Best orange creme. And it has staying power. I intentionally wore it one weekend when I knew I wouldn't be able to redo my nails. And it lasted and lasted.

Rampage - Super smooth, jelly finish dark green creme. 3 coats. We've seen it before, I know, but we can always see it again because it is beautiful. 3 coats

Illamasqua is based in the United Kingdom and will ship internationally from this site: http://www.illamasqua.com/ and in the US you can purchase them from Sephora, but they don't carry Elope and Hectic. Lame.

Illamasqua Nail Art Contest

This has been floating around for a little while, but I still wanted to do my part to spread the word.

On Illamasqua's blog I spotted a nail art contest for your alter ego. The full details are here:
Illamasqua Nail Art

I plan on entering myself and will post my entries right here on my blog!!! I am a little bummed though because I just noticed that each contestant may enter no more than 3 designs. I had at least 7 planned already!! It's okay... I think I can narrow it down.

The contest runs until Sept 6th, 2009 and is open to international readers. Nail products used do not have to be Illamsqua, and do not have to be perfect. They will be judged on creativity. They should be designs that represent your alter ego and you must give the backing story as to how they do as well!!

And the best part is that the winner and 2 runner ups will receive Illamasqua nail varnish as prizes!!

Good luck!