September Haul

New month, new haul… right? Some of these are old and some of them are new. I’m behind on the textured polish trend because I honestly didn’t like it at all until just recently (but I adore it now!) so a lot of these have been posted before on other blogs. However, I’ve never been one to check on whether or not my posts include the most up-to-date polishes. I would like to do more of that though so I’m beginning to make it a point to find newly minted colors. I’m pretty sure I found some stuff that comes from 2013 fall collections so without further adieu, my September haul:

(Click photo to enlarge.)

First up are the glitter polishes! From L to R we have…

1. You Tacht to Know Better by Finger Paints
2. Hue Brighten my Day by Finger Paints
3. Call the Coppers by Nina Ultra Pro
4. Glamrock by Nina Ultra Pro (Glamrock was swatched and reviewed in my last post.)
5. Peaceful Opposition by ORLY

Aren’t they gorgeous?! I took closeup photos of these so you could really see the glitter. The lighting became altered between each photo due to changes in my position but the photos are true to their beauty!

(Click photos to enlarge.)

And then we have the China Glaze and Seche Vites… Sally’s Beauty Supply had a “buy one, get one” sale on the Seche Vite which I had to take advantage of! You can never have enough topcoat anyway (this time I got a base coat too… we’ll see how it goes!). From L to R:

1. Kiss My Glass by China Glaze
2. First Matte by China Glaze
3. Base Coat by Seche Vite
4. Dry Fast Top Coat by Seche Vite

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Now for the textured polishes I picked up! From L to R:

1. Sweetie from the Sugar Coat line of Sally Hansen
2. Sugar Fix from the Sugar Coat line of Sally Hansen
3. Unrefined by China Glaze
4. Blue-Berry Sweet on You from the Gumdrops line by Nicole by O.P.I.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Remember when I got three bottles of polish from Spellbound Nails and two of them were broken? Well, when I placed an order for two more bottles from her shop she was kind enough to include the original polishes that didn’t make it one piece. She even left a sweet handwritten note in the box! Now to the polish! From L to R:

1. Pishsalver/Drink Me! by Spellbound Nails
2. Upelkuchen/Eat me! by Spellbound Nails
3. Jaded for Green by Spellbound Nails
4. Lilac You by Spellbound Nails

I will start swatching more of these beauties as soon as possible. I have tried every single one on at least one nail though and so far, so good!

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Addicted.

It’s official: I’m addicted to indie and franken polish. I’ve been “frankening” all week and  come up with five particular bottles I enjoy quite a lot. I’ve also ordered some suspension liquid, empty bottles, and other items to start making legitimate nail polish. Ultimately I would like to sell it but we’ll see how that goes.

In the mean time I’ll continue doing what I do: buying absurd amounts of polish and writing about it all here. This past week I’ve purchased:

• Violette Coquette by Lancome (first Lancome polish)
• Rose Boudoir by Lancome
• Sunbaker by butter by London
• Secret Peri-winkle by China Glaze
• Sweet Hook by China Glaze
• Scattered & Tattered by China Glaze
• Lightning Bolt by China Glaze
• Van Gogh’s Violet by Finger Paints
• Paper Mache by Finger Paints
• Set in Stones by Essie
• Haley Good Lookin’ by Nicole by OPI
• Confetti Fun by Nicole by OPI
• Beige-a-vu by Nina Ultra Pro
• Sparkling by Revlon
• Seche Vite topcoat

Like I said though, I’ve been so wrapped up with mixing polishes that I’ve barely tried any of this new stuff out except for Rose Boudoir by Lancome and Set in Stones by Essie (which is AH-MAZ-ING, by the way!).  Here are a few bottles I’ve come up with:

My Haul and Some Tricks of the Trade

So today I splurged… a lot. Not only did I pick up 17 bottles of polish, I also got some tools needed to do some proper “Franken polishing.” For those of you who may not know, franken polishing is when you mix together existing polishes or totally create your own from clear polish while using anything from eye shadow pigments to the actual chemicals involved in order to create legitimate polish. I have long wanted to create my own polish and this Indie kick has certainly made my desire even stronger.

All told I bought:

1. butter London’s Jaffa
2. butter London’s Royal Navy
3. butter London’s Dosh
4. China Glaze’s Lightning Bolt (crackle polish)
5. China Glaze’s Scattered and Tattered
6. China Glaze’s White on White (which I already own and love!)
7. China Glaze’s Sweet Hook
8. Nicole by OPI’s Selena
9. Finger Paints’ Hue Left a Message?
10. Finger Paints’ Vintage Vincent
11. ORLY’s Harmonious Mess
12. Revlon’s Spirit (a white I tested on the spot and it’s definitely not sheer!)
13. Three bottles of Sally Hansen’s Diamond Strength No Chip Nail Color (clear polish)
14. Two bottles of Cover Girl’s Outlast clear polish
15. A plastic pallet set from Michael’s for mixing/”Frankening”
16. Four glass jars for finished products (each are 2 oz. so they’re large)
17. Six packs of fine glitter in white, gold, copper, silver, charcoal, and twilight
18. Revlon’s Matte coat (my first matte polish)
19. Adhesive faux pearls from Michael’s (the cheaper version of the stuff you buy at Sally’s Beauty Supply or any other similar store)
20. More acetone–you can never have enough!

So there’s my haul. Believe it or not I spent less than $100! Where do the “tricks of the trade” come in? Read below!

Review Post #15

 

Today’s review is for Disco Dolls by Nicole by OPI. I saw this in the store and immediately fell in love. It’s predominantly a golden, coppery polish with random bits of different colored hexagonal and circular pieces of glitter. This polish is perfect for a night out or any kind of celebration and it catches the light in such an amazing way. I wish the sun was out while I was taking photos because it looks amazing in natural sunlight. It also applies really well and unlike most glitter polishes it’s not that hard to get off.

Click below to see more photos…

Swatches Galore

It looks like I’ll be adding yet another section to this blog. I’ve enjoyed getting these swatches together and it’s a lot easier to show different polishes than having to paint my own nails. I will still do reviews, manicures, etc. but a lot more posts with color wheels will be appearing in the future.

I wish I could post more content at once but I’ve been really busy getting ready for yet another big move. Things might be touch and go for a little while but there will still be plenty of regular posts. For now I leave you with a swatch of the Nicole by OPI polishes I have. They are all so gorgeous! My favorite by far is Disco Dolls so I’m going to review that soon and post more photos. Enjoy.

Nail Tutorial #004: Giddy for Green

Today’s tutorial is called Giddy in Green and has an overall fun, youthful feel. It is easy to do but a bit time-consuming. I have done a few other manicures like this (see tutorial #003) and get faster each time. This particular manicure took me about half an hour from start to finish.

The following items are what you’ll need to achieve this look:

– Sassy by Revlon
– First Mate by China Glaze
– Nicole by O.P.I.’s My Favorite Gold
– Lexington Yellow by NYC
– Silver nail studs
– Any kind of dotting tool (here I have used 12 gauge craft wire that has been cut to reveal flat, circular ends which are perfect for dotting)
– Tweezers (Pictured above is a tweezer/scoop combination that can be found at Michael’s or any other craft store. It is perfect for this manicure because not only can you pick up and place these small beads with ease, you can also use the back of the scoop to tap them which helps set them in place.)
– Q-tips and acetone for corrections (optional)

1.) Paint two coats of your base color and add a quick dry topcoat for optimal dry time.

2.) Take a glob of polish and place it on a piece of paper. Dip your dotting tool into the glob and try a few practice dots on the piece of paper before moving on to your nails. Place one dot at a time on your nails.

3.) Immediately after placing one dot of polish, use your tweezers to pick up a stud and place it in the middle of the dot. If it is not placed perfectly don’t worry. You can always use the tweezers to push it a little in one direction or another to achieve perfect placement. Be sure to do it while the polish is still wet though or else the stud will fall off easily.

4.) Clean your dotting tool off by dipping it in acetone and wiping it with a cotton swab or paper towel.

5.) Using two other colors of nail polish start placing more dots on each nail.

And there you have it! A manicure made of dots and studs in bright, playful colors. Be careful not to bump your nails into anything (use the bathroom before doing your manicure!) because the studs come off easily until they’ve finished setting. It also helps to add a topcoat to sort of seal them into place but this is optional. Be sure to wait to add the topcoat until everything else is dry though because the brush might drag a stud out of place. Fortunately this is easily fixable with tweezers but it might take some polish from your base coat and subsequently require doing the dot (or dots) over again.

My first three Konad + Bundle Monster manicures!

I would add a tutorial but it’s pretty self explanatory. Each of these manicures involved Bundle Monster plates and a Konad stamper.

So far I’m pretty happy with everything I ordered. However, as a beginner I was not privy to the fact that using a special polish is best when stamping. Konad apparently makes such a polish and I will be purchasing it soon. Until then I’ve figured out a few tricks to help make the stamping process better:
1. Do it quickly! It seems like “regular” polish dries so fast that it barely transfers (if at all) while stamping unless you do it within a few seconds.
2. Make sure to push down the stamper and roll it around really well so it will pick up the entire design.
3. When applying the stamp to your nail you need to do it in a rolling fashion from one side to the other in order for it to work properly.

Hopefully mine will get better with time and the proper nail polish. I am definitely satisfied though!

First manicure:

Second:

Third (and my personal favorite!):