Milani Swatches - Part 1

Hello! Today I am finally posting my Milani swatches, Part 1 of 2. I decided to do them because while thinking about my polishes I realized these were way up there on the faves list. This brand is great because it is virtually everywhere, and has beautiful colors and an incredible formula. They usually retail around $4+, but I always almost see them on sale. I also saw someone online write they didn't like the color selection, but I think they have a wide wide range of colors, including cremes, glitters, neons, shimmers, metallics... In blues, purples, orange, yellow, pink, whites, browns, red, berry... plenty to choose from. So here's my swatches:

Blackberry Baby - Ugh. Not for the color but for my sloppy fingers! Sorry. I just got this one and am in love! It's a dark cherry color that is not too dark. It's shimmery too. It goes on super smooth and is a gorgeous color. LOVE IT
Totally Cool - sun pic and shade pic. Other bloggers have been raving about this one and with good reason. Are you looking!? It's a blue/purple jelly with purple microglitter. HOT! I did 3 coats because it's a bit sheer being a jelly, but it's worth it. If you go to a drugstore it check this out, also look and see if they have Sinful Colors-Daddy's Girl. It is also a blue/purple jelly with purple microglitter, but the base is brighter and bluer and you may like it more. I wish I had it to compare. I tried to control my buying. (Which is usually a failure anyway!)
Mr. Sandman - Indoor with flash, and outdoor in sun. A tan metallic. Not too much to say about this one. It's neutral and pretty.
The Hottest Pink- Sun and shade - I just rebought this one because I killed the old one because I wore it so much! Yup. That awesome. Doesn't the name sell you too? 'The Hottest'. Okay. You win. It's a hot pink/fuschia with blue flash. Goes on smooth and gorgeous in 2 coats. One of my faves definately.
Red To Tango - The first pic is in one coat. It's amazing. This one is a goof proof red. It is so thin and smooth and easy to apply. It's amazing. I am a habitual 2 coater so I did two, and that is in the 2nd and 3rd pics, sun and shade. The shade is the best representation of the color. It is not as bright as the first 2 suggest. It is much deeper.
Tropical Fiesta - Bright pink creme that is kind of on the coral side but I wouldn't call it coral. It's super bright without being neon. Very fun, punchy color. The pic is indoor with flash. I thought is was the best pic to show the true color. It didn't show as true to life in the sun for some reason.

I have more to come so stay tuned for part 2!!

Olive Green Franken

So I have mentioned before that my favorite color is green. What I haven't told you is that one of my favorite greens is olive green. So a couple of months ago when my nail polish fetish was kicking in stronger I thought "I need an olive green". A good dirty olive green. I couldn't find one so I turned to frankening and tried a new formula every couple days. I then discovered Rescue Beauty Lounge- No More War which was perfect. BUT... it cost $18 which seemed a bit much. Then I saw Steph's Closet swatch of Comrad Green by Hot Topic and RAN to Hot Topic to find they didn't have it and it wasn't on their website. Well, I then found a suitable mix to franken my own:
It consisted of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lightening, Tropez - Black Satin, Rimmel- Camouflage, Misa - Hot Couture and topcoat to be glossy.
It looks weirdly light in the bottle but it isn't really.

I dubbed it G.I. Franken.

This is what it looks like on the nail. It is a very cool olive green, but not really dirty enough. I didn't need it to be exactly like No More War, but I did think it would come out more yellow. This is leaning closer to forest green. Even though I used half as much green and black as yellow and tan.

I wrote it Amanda at Dr. Frankenpolish yesterday to pass the challenge to her for this green. I am quite sure she will pass the test!

I intend on geting my No More War today anyway thanks to The Polish Addict's sweet RBL coupon code but I still want to see a good franken of it. I think my next mission will be to franken an olive green that looks like my winter puffy coat:

What do you think?! I think it would be awesome!

And one more pic for fun: I added a Konad stamp to the design with China Glaze-Passion and plate M57.

It's like a wild safari on the nails!

So how does everyone feel about olive green? Love it or hate it?

Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen PLUS FREE POLISH!

WHOA!!! I couldn't wait to do this post. So yesterday I leave work at 5, like anyone else, and like anyone else with a polish problem, went to go browse the closest Walgreen's for awesome buys. I came out with 8 new polishes. AND 5 of them were the Sally Hansen-Tracy Reese Spring collection I have been drooling over. On other blogs I read that they would be released late March/early April, and I just discovered these a week or so ago. I also read they would go fast and are hard to find so I assumed I missed my window, pouted and tried to move on. I even went and looked at the same Walgreen's for them exactly a week prior to yesterday's mission with no luck. So when I saw them yesterday I thought I was dreaming. I stood there shocked for a moment and was ready to pounce and fight for them like a hungry coyote. There were just... sitting there!!! I couldn't believe it. And now I know why they are hard to get. This display only had 2 of each color. So after I got my paws on them they were almost half gone!! Silly.

I was so excited I swatched them indoors with no sun, as I got home late due to my violin lesson. Well, there would be no sun regardless of the time because it was a cloudy day. So I present my 5 of the 7 colors:

Forsythia. I was most excited about this color because it is so unique. It's like what I wanted Misa-Hot Couture to look like but didn't. It's so ugly, isn't it!? I love it. So drabby and mustardy.... awesome
Tassel. Is a shiny metallic gold. Not too flashy though. I felt like I could wear this one to work. It's very pretty, and especially to me because I am a big time gold lover.

Honeydew. I was craving Honeydew from the moment I saw it. Other ladies have had it swatched and I wanted it soooo bad!!! It looked gorgeous and I was not dissapointed. A teal, that is on the greener side, with a bit of shimmer. Lovely.

Night Hydrangea. Another I wanted sooo bad. I have been loving purples and this is a good one. It was hard to get this one accurate. It is a smidge brighter in real life. It looks a little dusty in my pic.

And lastely, Azalea. Awesome coralish, though I say more pink than orange. It appears as though I duped myself. I compared Azalea to Zoya-Eva in the pic below. Thumb and pinky have Eva, and the others Azalea. Can you see a difference? Me either. I think that Eva's application was nicer. Not as thick. So if you want Azalea and can't find it, go for Eva instead.

I didn't get two colors in this collection. I didn't get Beet Stain because it looks just like Zoya-Moxie (which I had in my purse at the time. Sick in the head, I know). And I didn't get Nasturtium because I just didn't think it would look good with my skin tone. But you can view them on the Nailphile.

So the moral of this story is if you thought of giving up hope on this collection, don't!!! It's out there.

AND in unrelated news, I found out from Steph that Butter London is giving away a free polish. If you tried to go on on Earth Day as I did and got blocked out cuz the site crashed, you get a second chance!! I just did it. You can pick from Billy No Mates, Crumpet, Mariner, Prince's Plums, and Eastender. Choose the color, add to cart and go to checkout. Put in you shipping and billing info and the code EARTH2009. You do have to give the credit card info or paypal, but after that page it deducts the cost of the polish and you just have to pay shipping! Mine came to $7.33. But that's still a $14 savings! HOW COOL!?

From the Vault: For Audrey

So, I have been wanting to do a 'Drugstore Series' consisting of Milani and Sinful Colors because they are wonderful and should get more blog love! I did half of the Miliani's and didn't want to post them until I got to do the other half. However, it's been rainy and cloudy so I have been waiting for a sunny day. You can see Milani-Totally Cool, however, on All Lacquered Up which is in my batch. It's gorgeous.

I wanted to put up something today so I have one I did a few weeks ago. It's China Glaze-For Audrey; a gorgeous blue/green/turquoise cream. When you wear it you will not stop looking at your nails! It's amazing. And it looks different all the time. It's sooooo pretty.

And then I added some Konad love with plate M64 and Konad SNP in white:

I was really proud of this thumb! It was a redo from the first round of stamping so when it came out so nicely I was really excited!

OPI Brights

Has anyone seen this new collection from OPI?
I found it on Transdesign.com but it's not on OPI's website, and I haven't seen it on any other nail blogs. It looks like a collection of 6. A bright blue, purple, pink, orange, orangey-red and a mushroomy taupe. Should I just order it... hmmm... I am intrigued...

'Tinkerbell' Mani

Today I bring you what I have dubbed 'The Tinkerbell Mani'! I thought My light, metallic green, Cherish, from the China Glaze Romantiques collection would make for a nice base with a green fairy stamped over it. But then I was struck with a wonderful idea: Marble Cherish to get a swirly-shimmery, more fairy-esque base. So I did! I used Cherish, Devotion and Passion and tried another round of water marbling. Here's my right thumb:
Perfect. The colors are all soft and blend together without having a strong contrast like a did in my water marbling post. This works well for my fairy-land base.

Next, I used Konad special polish in green and plate M35 to get my fairy. She is sprinkling what looks like little flowers, and they look just like the little flowers on plate M3, so I added one more to the thumb and a bunch of random ones all over the other nails:

And that's the Tinkerbell Mani! Happy Monday!

Good Koni Idea, not so good results

So today I thought I'd stamp that fun, boxy design on Konad plate M73 onto my Sag Harbor mani. And I thought to would look cool if I did a dual color stamp with green blending into white. Well, it was great in theory but didn't look that great on the nails. So then I added some gold sparkles: Cover Girl-Gold Rush and Sinful Colors-Paris. And that didn't really please me either.
There's just something I'm not feeling. Maybe a darker base color would do better. I have not given up on this design. I want it on! It will work for me!

At leat I like my tooties!! I got tiger toes! There on the prowl!

Essie Neons and Others

Today's post is featuring all Essie swatches. Yesterday I went out to scoop up some of the new Essie Neons!! I love them! I passed on the purple because I have a neon purple, and I only got one pink because they seemed close enough that I figured I could live with just one! Even though they were both very pretty, I chose Flirty Fuchsia. I knew for sure I needed Funky Limelight! I love it!

Funky Limelight is awesome. I was scared to buy it because The Nailphile said it took 7 seven coats! But I gave in when I saw Scrangie said she did it in three. I ended up with 4. Probably could have made it in three if I was a bit more careful. I love it no matter how many it takes though! It's so bright! When I left the store yesterday it was dark out, and I had put a bit on a card to see what it looked like, and in the car, from just the little bit of light outside I could see it!! The glow is crazy!

Flirth Fuchsia is gorgeous as well. I actually probably could have got away with 2 coats for this one. (I love 2 coaters!) But ended up with three. I was trying to swatch quickly.

Next up is Mesmerize. I know this is not even close to being new, but it is for me! I just picked it up yesterday too. I resisted buying it when it came out for some reason. Maybe because Essie has always seemed to be pinks and reds and then when they threw this in I felt like it was too late! But they got their game right now! It is a great blue, and I got her on in 2 coats.

Next up is my lovely friend, Sag Harbor. A gorgeous medium gray with just a smidge of shimmer. I have this one on for the day. I love it!

And I bet you're wondering what the heck this is! It's Greenport... mostly. When my Greenport arrived I was terribly upset with it. This is because I really didn't find it to be very green. To me it looked exactly like China Glaze-For Audrey. Now, that color is one of my faves, but I didn't want two of them! I wanted GREEN!!! So I immediately frankened it. Yup. instantly. I felt bad about doing it to a brand new bottle, but I got over it. I poured out about a quarter and and added Rimmel-Camouflage. And it looks great! It's no longer a creme as it has gold shimmer in it, but that is not bad! It has now been dubbed New Greenport AKA Filthy Rich.

Earth Day

I got up early enough this morning to do my nails, which I don't normally do! I'm no morning person but the modivation sure kicks in when it comes to polish! I started painting and then realized it was Earth Day! I was not using a green at the time of this discovery. I was using Zoya-Dita. But I kept going because I really wanted to see her on. Looks nice!

I'm loving it! It's punchy and bright... a great berry-ish color. The application was wonderful. I've been getting more into creams lately. Most of my polishes so far have been shimmers and metallics. I've been worried about my application skills when it comes to creams. I had Color Club-Oooooo La La the last couple days and LOVE it. However, after 3 coats I still had some bald spots, and it seems to me other ladies can make it even in 3. I have to practice I guess! Or maybe use a base coat...

As a nod to my recent violin performance (last saturday) I added some musical Konad to the mani:

I stamped OPI-Lincoln Park After Dark with Konad plates M22 and M73. My instructor was into it! He also said his girlfriend liked my nails and toes at the recital! I was sooo excited they were noticed, and complimented!

And to redeem myself for Earth Day blunder, I stopped by a Walgreen's on the way to work and picked up Sinful Colors - Show Me The Way:

I can't wait to use it! I've been trying scoop more greens (it's my favorite color) but they always elude me. We must be green starved, because whenever they come along, they sell out fast. I went to 2 drugstores yesterday just looking for this one with no luck. I can't find Orly-Mint Mojito, it's out of stock on head2toebeauty. It's scary!

There are so many great colors to get in current spring and summer collections my head hurts from thinking about them. I want so much, yet I know I buy faster than I wear, and am trying to tone it down a bit. I have to wear and be happy with what I have first! But I am a major list writer so I wrote (or typed in a spreadsheet!) all the colors I'm lusting to get. It's gross. I hit 105! And I am quite sure I need them all! I don't know if I can whittle this wish list down! Does anyone else have so many nail wishes?

Zoya Polish Exchange

After seeing all the pretty of swatches of Zoya polishes on my favorite blogs I decided I needed some. And thanks to Zoya's Polish Exchange I got new Zoya's without feeling too bad that I have more polishes than I can wear, since I got rid of others!

Here's what I sent:

And here's what I got back!:

Richelle, Goldie, Midori, Tallulah, Jo, Malia, Juno, Fergie, Jacy, Moxie, Dita, and Eva! Soooo pretty!

Goldie, Midori, Tallulah and Jo

Fergie, Jacy, Malia and Juno

Moxie, Dita, Eva and Richelle

I chose Juno for the first manicure since she will be going off to a friend:

It's a gorgeous royal purple. In the bottle it looks like it has a bit of a blue duochrome, but I didn't really see that on the nail. Not that it bothered me... It's beautiful!

I was so excited when I discovered the Polish Exchange. I took several days to chose all the polishes I wanted! I was so impressed that the newest collections, La-Di-Da and Ooh-La-La were also available for exchange. I thought at first that there would be some catch. Like only the older colors and collections were available. But I was wrong. And then i thought, "Something horrible will happen. The colors I want will be out of stock, or my send ins won't be good enough..." nope. Everything worked out just right. The 'too-good-to-be-true' was true! Thanks Zoya!

Water Marbling

I was cruisin around on the internet, lookin for polish as usual, and discovered one of the coolest things I've ever seen... Water marbling. I found it on China Glaze's website. They call it 'Swirl Play'. I had a plan to do a marbling of a bright red and blue, to mimic what it's like when you get a slushie and you don't know which to get so you mix them both together! So I decided to test out water marbling with Color Club's Sexsea, and China Glaze's Carribean Blue. This is what I got:

It's not quite what I had in mind. But still cool. The thumb looked a bit better:

I then figured it would be nice to show some step-by-step of what I did. So I picked out some new colors. The first thing you do is take a small dish with some water. I used an itty-bitty tuperware container I didn't care about. Open up all the polishes you want to use. Start with one color, let a drip fall into the water. It will spread out over the water. It looks really cool! Then drop the next color in the same spot, and the next. It will look like this:

Keep going, alternating your colors, until they can't spread anymore. The middle circles will get smaller and smaller:

Next, I used a toothpick, and pulled it through the polish in one direction and then the opposite to get the marble look:

Now you need that on your nail. So place it in the water with your nail down and your palm up. Let it set for a sec, and then slowly pull your nail out, while using your marbling tool to keep the rest of the polish in the dish. I didn't try to keep the rest in the dish, and it all wants to pick up and go with you because it's all one sheet of polish. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I got a goofy, stringy drip down the middle and it would have looked perfect if it wasn't for that:

Clean up the stray polish with some remover, and she's all set!

This is soooo fun to do. It reminds me of when I worked in a cake bakery and had to make marble cakes. That was my favorite! Swirling the different batter together was so pretty. I was itching for more when my boyfriend suggested putting the nail in face up and coming at the design from under the polish. That worked out okay, probably a fine method if you practice it. You just have to make sure the water is deep enough, and you can find a way in without disturbing the work floating on top. I don't think we need to see the nails I did, (cuz they're not great) but I at least have to put up the polish in the dish. I used my Romantiques: Harmony, Passion and Adore. Warning: It's the coolest thing you've ever seen.

First Post/First Konadicure

Hello! I have always been pretty into unique polish and doing my nails, however, it wasn't until this past month I discovered how much bigger a world of nail polish there was, and how many polish blogging ladies there were! And how I never knew about holos, and Misa, and Color Club, and Konad and Scrangie and head2toebeauty and Steph's Closet and the Polish Addict.... whoa. My mind has been blown with polish! And it's led my to buy tons and tons of polish and Konad stamps! And it's led me to thinking about polish a fair amount of my day. And so I thought I'd get it all out of my system with my own blog, Lacquer Laine. It's a bit of a play on words... Elaine is my first name, so... ya know. That's that story.

The first photos I wanted to publish include two colors from The China Glaze Romantique collection. It's also the first actual Konadicure I did and kept on for more than an hour. (Cuz it was the first one that looked decent!) I have (although getting better!) an issue with lining up my stamper properly. The good thing about the design I chose was that even if the floweres were off center, I could just grab a couple more and fill in where it was sparse, and the randomness worked out well. So here it is:

The base is Harmony and the stamps are Cherish (the green one) and I used Konad plate M2. The Romantique collection is very pretty by the way, and probably the first I've seen that are opaque in one coat. It makes them excellent to use with the Konad system, if the metallic alone is a bit much.

Thanks for looking!