orly - royal velvet - swatch and review

This polish has proved to be very frustrating for me.
I bought it because it just looked cool in the bottle, but really I don't wear dark shades like this very often. (Which reminds me, why did I buy a dark blue China Glaze today?)

Anyway. I tried to swatch this a month ago when I got it but just had such issues with it that I took it off and swore never to use it again.
But after loving Oh Cabana Boy I decided to give Royal Velvet another try, and it went much better.

The first time, it just would not dry right. It was latex-y and gross, and I kept denting it, and it was so uneven and gross. And so hard to clean up. Just a bad experience.
This time I was able to get much more even coverage and it did dry fine. I don't know what happened last time!

Royal Velvet is sort of the definition of "blurple." It's a purple jelly-like base that sometimes looks blue, with bright blue shimmer. Sort of duochrome.

Hard to capture in pictures.

It's a bit sheer - 4 coats for perfect coverage.

Even though I had an easier time with application this time, I'm still not in love with this. I just don't think dark is my thing anymore.

The last picture is my favorite because it shows the purple!

I'll be posting my April haul tonight - I almost made it to my goal of less polishes than there are days in the month. Almost.

P.S. I got 2 blog awards yesterday from lovely ladies - I'll do my post on that tomorrow!

orly - oh cabana boy - swatch and review

Hey guys, I have a wicked swatch to show you today.
Apparently my camera really likes neons and took amazing, color accurate photos of this beauty.
This is Orly's Oh Cabana Boy, which was one of the polishes I snatched up on my last B2G1 Sally's haul. I really want to go back today or tomorrow and get one last haul though!
Anyway, I don't have a lot of neons, pretty much just the Color Club Poptastic collection. So I decided to get this and I am happy I did!

My bottle pictures are always crooked. I don't know if I just end up tilting the camera and not realizing it or if my lens is crooked or something. I need to work on that.
Anyway, now for the pretty pictures!

Soooo neon! My camera actually amazed me.

If you do a google image search of this color you'll see a lot of washed out photos. I'm delighted that I could capture it!

The formula on this is a bit thin, and this was 4 coats, 5 on some nails to eliminate VNL. But it dries quickly. After taking these pictures, it kept drying and dried a bit more matte than in shows here. So you'll need topcoat with this one.

Look at all the shimmer!

Hot pink neon with purpley-pink shimmer. Love it! It seriously just glows.
I can't wait to wear this as a full mani. Wicked summer polish for sure. I'm going to add this to my list of polishes-I-might-wear-on-my-trips. Hah!
This with Black Shatter for Katy Perry? I think so!

sephora hello kitty liquid nail art - purple sprinkles - swatch and review

My HK polish came in the mail today! But sadly that was the only thing. I have no patience.
However, this little beauty will make me happy until my other goodies arrive.

So. Freaking. Cute.
I took a ton of pictures, half of them of the bottle alone. Keep reading for more!
(For some reason the spacing between words and pictures just won't remain the same in the editor and in the post - so excuse the sloppy spacing.)

ridiculous skittles!

As you can probably tell, this is a skittles mani post!
They're ridiculous. Ridiculously cute.
Let's just get to the pictures.

(click to enlarge!)

Ahhhhhh so much cute at once!
(Excuse the yellow stain on my left palm - it's ink from work!)

These nails are on their third day now, which is a lot for me lately.

(click to enlarge)

Hello Kittyyyyyyyy.
And glitterrrr.
And rhinestones.
And pretty colors.

(click to enlarge)

And a cupcake! Don't these nails have almost everything?! Hahaha.

(click to enlarge)

I know it's a bit odd where my thumb designs go in different directions, but they wouldn't work the other way around! It's all about nail shape.

So I love these a whooooole lot.

Now I will list what I used.

The colors used are:
China Glaze - Spontaneous (purple)
China Glaze - Rich and Famous (pink)
China Glaze - For Audrey (blue)
Nicole by OPI - One Less Lonely Glitter (over Spontaneous)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Whirlwind White (for kitty and cupcake, also mixed with Spontaneous on cupcake)
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mellow Yellow (kitty's nose!)

The middle fingers are a fishtail pattern I recently saw all over tumblr. It is sooooo cute but it takes a while to do because of drying time.

I used quite a few wheels of stones for the accessories, there are 3mm stones, 1.5mm stones, triangular ones from a mixed wheel, and a small pearl from a pearl wheel.

HK's bow came from a wheel of bows, hearts, pearls, and 3d flowers. The bow originally had tails on it but I cut them off with tiny scissors to make it more HK appropriate.

The bullion beads on the cupcake came from a wheel of bullion beads from Born Pretty. I would not recommend buying them in the wheel. The beads are just too small to be in the wheel, and they do not stay inside it, and it makes a big mess. The first wheel they sent me was terrible and they replaced it, and it isn't as bad, but still nearly impossible to work with.
They also sell these beads in 12 individual pots - which is what you should get if you want these. But they didn't have those on ebay so I bought the wheel.
Also, they are all different sizes and it would be hard to do intricate designs with them because of that. But as sprinkles, they're fine.

What's the verdict? Cute or ridiculous? Or ridiculously cute?

back to crack

I haven't done some crack(le) in a while, so after I took off yesterday's layering combo, I broke out the crackle!

I really liked the pink over the white but not the blue so much.
This is all China Glaze - Broken Hearted and Crushed Candy over White On White.
This was my first time using my White On White and I'm a bit disappointed by it - 3 coats was still a bit streaky.

Also, it's been a few weeks since I used my crackles. When I opened them up I couldn't believe the mess on the inside of the bottles.
The necks of the bottles, on the inside, were covered in thickened up polish. And the rim had dried up polish all over it. It was just yucky. I'm going to have to thin them.
I guess the thick stuff is inside the neck is because of wiping the excess off the brush, you know? The stuff that drips down the sides thickens before it can drip all the way down.
I tried to use the brush to push it back down into the bottle! Hah.

Sorry for only the one picture today - I promise something great is on the way tomorrow!

Dear mail man, please bring me my Bundle Monster plates and my package from Leslie and my HK polish today!!
Edit: He just came with nothing but a bank statement :( 

one of the best layering combos ever!

Hey guys, when my floral mani started chipping yesterday I decided to try and remake a stunning combo that my lovely blogging friend Jane did. Her blog is Nailside and everyone should check her out because her designs are great and so perfect!

She posted this mani one day and mattifed it the next day, and the combo was so great that I had to try and recreate it!
But out of the 3 polishes she used, I only had one. So I hunted through my stash for similar polishes and I think it did the trick!
This post will be pic-heavy because it was too beautiful!

I started out with 2 coats of OPI - Yoga-ta Get This Blue.

This is a dark blue with turquoise shimmer, but the shimmer is less noticeable on the nail than it is in the bottle.

I wasn't too happy with the formula on this one, it was a bit streaky and hard to make even.
I got this for 60% off though so I don't care! This next picture is more color-accurate but a but blurry.

And then I added 2 coats of Gosh - Gasoline.
My mom heard me complaining about how much I hated the last Gosh polish I had bought and decided to exchange it for me, lollllll. I feel a little bad where I had used it on 4 nails but whatever!
Gasoline is gorgeous but a bit sheer.

Like Jane, I loved it at this step too. Gasoline was just so pretty.

(click to enlarge and see the beauty!)

I was tempted to stop here.
But I had to keep going and add OPI - Last Friday Night.

I love Last Friday Night. It is sheer, but lately I've been down with sheer polishes. And as you can see it is great on top of stuff too.

(click to enlarge and see more beauty!)

The above picture is the most color accurate, because the purple was really that visible in person!

Last Friday Night also happens to be one of my favorite Katy Perry songs. (Behind Peacock, of course. Have you heard that song? If not, go listen to it. Unless you're easily offended... heh)

And then, matte!

My matte top coat is Icing - Matte About You. 
I'm never sure about matte looks.

I like this one though! Glittery matte manis pretty much always look nice.

Just look at that purple shimmer! And all the glitter! I'm in love.

I think I managed to recreate this really well!
But the problem was, after 5 coats of color and then matte top coat, it just wouldn't dry fast enough and I took a big chunk out while doing some tidying. So I took it off. :(
But it was nice while it lasted!
I will be using Gasoline again sometime soon, I love it!

Here's a picture of the bottles.

Thanks for the inspiration, Jane! :)

I get my grades for this semester today, wish me luck!

easter goodies! + nail art of a different kind

Hey guys, I decided to do a second post today just for fun.
Part of this post is non-nails, and then the end is sort of nails. Nail art of a different kind. Read more and see what I mean!

underwater nails

Happy Easter!
Sadly I don't have a very Easter-ish mani for you today because I still couldn't bring myself to remove my floral mani that I love so much (and apparently you all loved it too!)
So I have a mani I did a few weeks ago that was supposed to look like swirling water and stuff.

I used a whole bunch of polishes for this mani, and tried to swirl them all together with a dotting tool to marble them.

But the colors were all so similar that it was a bit difficult to see the differences.

I also sponged on a bit of China Glaze Atlantis, which you can see in the above picture. And Sinful Colors Blue Ocean. It's hard to spot the flakies though.

Now I'll try to remember all the colors I used. Hah!
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Marine Scene, Turquoise, Ocean View
Sally Hansen HD - Spectrum
Wet N Wild Dry Fast - Teal of Fortune
And Atlantis and Blue Ocean mentioned above.

I blobbed the colors on my nails, and I used the smallest dotting tool I have to try and marble the colors.
And then I added pearls and rhinestones from ebay.

I'm off to eat an entire Terry's Chocolate Orange.
Oh, and the Easter Bunny brought me a polish! Nicole by OPI - I'm a Beleiber. Heh.

stamping tests!

Hey guys, today I'm going to show you some stamping tests I did recently with new polishes I got.

I got a couple of Insta-Dri's a few weeks ago. Silver Sweep, Rapid Red, and Whirlwind White.
First I'll show you Silver Sweep, as compared to China Glaze Millennium, AKA pretty much the best silver stamping polish ever.

Silver Sweep, Millennium

Silver Sweep, Millennium

As you can see, there isn't a big difference. Millennium seems to be a little brighter, but you really can't tell the difference in person.
So this is a good polish to pick up! Millennium can only be found on ebay now, but you can get Silver Sweep anywhere Sally Hansen is sold.

Then I picked up Rapid Red and was really excited about it, but it was a big disappointment.

:(
I need a red creme stamping polish dammit!

And then there was Whirlwind White. Now this one is a bit tricky. There are 2 formulas.
You'll notice in my first picture that the Whirlwind White does not have a sticker on the top of the bottle.
That means that is is not the good one. If you want to buy this polish, make sure it is the new formula, with the name on the top of the bottle.
So I bought a second bottle of Whirlwind White, with the sticker. And returned the wrong one. But only after doing a comparison of course!
Allow me to show you the difference in the new and old formula.

old, new.

I didn't clean the plate between stamps which is why the new formula's stamp is not perfect. But I assure you it is good.

New formula

It's even good over black! (Again, the plate wasn't clean so it could have been better but this shows the opacity fine.)
So this polish is something you should look for if you want a white stamping polish but don't want to pay for Konad Special polish. It isn't quite as good, but it is pretty damn close.

So this stamping leads me to believe that it is pretty much only the new formula of Insta-Dri that is awesome for stamping.
The only ones I've tried that don't work are the ones without the sticker. Rapid Red being one of them.

I did one more stamping test when I did these, because the polishes were nearby.

Fashion Addict, Worth the Risque

These don't work well.

Not opaque over black or white.

Anyway, that's all I have for you today!
Sometime soon, as a request from a friend, I'm going to do a post of all the polishes I like to stamp with.
I'm probably going to work on that on Tuesday.

i have conquered the floral nail!

I have tried doing floral nails multiple times. I tried freehand ones, and I tried the ones where you blob on the colors and swirl them, but I just never liked the outcome.
And a few days ago I saw an image somewhere where they used a rose stamp to make floral nails. The image was unwatermarked though so I don't know who to credit!
Anyway, I was inspired and went right to it yesterday!
And they're amazing, if I do say so myself.

(click to enlarge)

And now I'm going to post multiple pictures because I like them so much.

Perfect for spring!

They make my short nails look cute.

Even did my right hand really well!

For this design I started with 2 coats of Joe Fresh - Faded Violet.
I then added some light pink blobs with a small brush, with Wet N Wild Wild Shine - Tickled Pink. I made them roughly the same size as the rose image.
Using OPI - Dim Sum Plum I stamped the rose from Bundle Monster BM14.
And then using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Green With Envy, I added some leaves with a small brush.
Add Seche Vite, and it's done!

Love love love.

I'm off to do some spring cleaning. Yuck.

ugly ugly polish swatch

I don't even feel like titling this post correctly because of how much I hate this polish.
I figured I would post this now and then post my nice nails in the morning or afternoon. Just so tomorrow isn't a yucky post.

This is a swatch of Gosh's Purple Heart.
When I saw this in the store under artificial light it looked really cool and duochromey, almost the colors of gasoline. Purple, green, blue, bit of pink.
But it does not look that way on the nail.

This is just so gross. Gray with purple and sometimes green flash.
But it doesn't look the way it does in photos - the shimmer isn't so particle-y, if you know what I mean. It just looks like metallic purple somehow coming from gray polish, that turns disgusting green when you turn it towards the light the right way.

Blehhhhhhh it's like the grossest green ever.

Yuckkkkkk.

Most of the time it just kinda looks like that unless you're next to a light source. But again more smooth metallic than shimmery.

I just hate this. Super bummed that I bought it for $5.49 and tax. It is just pure yucky. For me at least.

What's your verdict?

teal paisley

Hey guys, today I'm going to post these nails I did a week or 2 ago that I keep pushing backwards on my "to post" list. Haha.
I really did like them though!

Long nails. Miss them.

For this mani I used Milani Neon Fresh Teal, and I stamped from Konad m64 with a Sally Hansen Quick Color Pen in Fuchsia Chrome.

I am a big fan of this image. I got this plate on ebay for just over $5 which is about $2-3 cheaper than normal.
Still too expensive though, haha.

In other news, this week I managed to buy 2 polishes that I absolutely hate.
China Glaze Sun Worshiper and Gosh Purple Heart. Blehhhhhh.
I took pictures of Purple Heart and I might post them tomorrow or something but my god it is disgusting.
And I couldn't even leave Sun Worshiper on long enough to take pictures! I'm going to try to figure out how to wear it. I think I'm just too pale for literal highlighter orange. BRIGHTER than highlighters.
Yuck you guys. I hate that I spent money on things that I hate. Hah.

In other other news, Kellie, these will be on their way to you on Saturday! (It would be tomorrow but the post office is closed for Good Friday!)

Spent my day doing these! (And my own nails, of course. Which are beauties, by the way. Check those out tomorrow.)

It was a complicated operation!
I have a question, would you lovely followers be interested in more giveaways of custom painted nails?
I had fun doing it and I know Kellie is excited for hers!

That's all for today!