L.A. Colors Color Craze and Art Deco swatches

Hey guys! I meant to post way earlier but I got caught up doing submissions for More Nail Polish's franken contest and Swaafie's nail art contest! And tomorrow I'll be doing a submission for Leslie aka Nail Polish Art Addiction's nail art contest!
Everyone check out those contests.
When voting begins I'll be sure to show you my submissions :)

I also got caught up making swap packages! Swaps are fun but I am done swapping for a while, it got a little out of hand. Haha.

Today I'm going to show you all my L.A. Colors nail polishes.
This does not include L.A. Girl. (They are the same company right?)
Anyway. I have 5 Color Craze polishes and 2 Art Deco polishes.

 I'm going to start with my favorite - Sea Siren.

You might remember this polish from my 10 favorite polishes post.
Sea Siren is an awesome one-coat teal polish. It seems a bit streaky in the photo but it isn't. Beautiful polish. Still one of my faves for sure.
It is a bit hard to capture the color.

It is almost neon, and has a bit of lovely shimmer. I think my picture from the favorite nails post is the most accurate so I'll post it again here:

Love love love.
The rest of the Color Craze polishes I own are jellies.

Atomic is a teal jelly. VNL after 3 coats. Really pretty color though!

Static Electricity is a royal blue jelly, still sheer at 3 coats. Really nice color though.
I think these shades are better on short nails because the VNL is not as obvious.

Nuclear Energy. Again, sheer, 3 coats. Nice deep-but-vibrant purple.

Hot Blooded. I cannot refrain from singing the song Hot Blooded when I see this polish/talk about it.
Hot blooded, check it and seeeeee.
Okay. This one is only 2 coats but still sheer. True red jelly.

That's all for Color Craze!
Everyone should buy Sea Siren. If you can find it. Since I bought this bottle I have never seen another in any L.A. Colors display.
The rest aren't great, and they take a while to dry because of the 3 coats. But jelly lovers will love them!

Now for Art Deco. These aren't really swatches I guess but showing what they are.

I only have 2 Art Deco polishes. Black and Silver Glitter.
The silver one is great but the black one sucks now.
After you use these for a few weeks, doing things like zebra and leopard, they get super gloopy and unusable because when you do detailed patterns you end up leaving the bottle open for too long.
I don't use the black one anymore, I should probably throw it out. No amount of thinner makes it useable really. I started using this brush in Wet N Wild Black creme but now that I have nail art brushes, this one is not needed anymore.

The brushes are really thin and good for nail art. But not excessive nail art, because like I said, they dry up.

The silver glitter is all small silver glitter, all the same size, no holo. Nice for detailing.

That's all my swatches for today!
Now here is a sneak preview of my upcoming DS Original post.
(If we ever get sun. Tomorrow is June, yet today it was so cold I had to wear my winter coat. Pathetic.)

Soooooo holooooooo.

the A-Z of me! + Stylish Blogger Award

Hey guys, second post today because I'm at work and bored.
Yes, I have internet again! :D
So I decided to do this tag even though no one really tagged me. I have an hour left to kill!

A. Age: 20
B. Bed size: Queen. My dad owns a mattress store so I am very spoiled in the bed department.
C. Chore you hate: Basically the only thing I have to do is swiffer... and I hate it. Haha.
D. Day: Every day I'm not working, so, Wednesday-Saturday, and every second Sunday.
E. Essential start to your day: Toast.
F. Favourite colour: You should know this if you've been following me for a while. Teal and purple.
G. Gold or Silver: I prefer silver jewelery but gold nails. Lol.
H. Height: 5'6"
I. Instruments: I play a bit of guitar and bass, a tiny bit of drums, and I can sing! I was in a band in high school. And I miss it a LOT because I should be a rock star. Haha!
J. Job title: Manager/Sales Representative/Refill Technician... haha
K. Kids: Nope.
L. Live: Newfoundland!
M. Mum’s name: Cathy. This is a strange question.
N. Nicknames: Beck, Becka
O. Overnight hospital stays: A week when I was 4 and a week in 2009.
P. Pet peeve: I was thinking about this earlier - when people have word verification on their blog. I haven't ever had it, and I have never received one "spam comment." It's such a waste of time!!
Q. Quote from a movie:

I Love You Man. One of the funniest movies ever.

R. Right or left handed: Right.
S. Siblings: Nope. Thankfully.
T. Time you wake up: Usually around 9.
U. Underwear: Currently navy blue with a big silver guitar. Told you I was a rock star. (P.S. I am planning on an undies-inspired series after the success of that post! Haha.)
V. Vegetables you dislike: This would be easier to answer the other way. Vegetables I DO like: Lettuce, potato, corn.
W. What makes you run late: Nothing really. I'm pretty punctual. Other people make me late if they're picking me up.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Everything. I literally cannot think of a body part that has not been x-rayed or CT scanned. I even have pictures on my cellphone from my head x-ray. I like to show people my skull. Lol.
Y. Yummy food you make: Baked goods. Cookies, cupcakes, cakes, cake pops, banana chocolate chip muffins. I also make a mean ice cream sundae, and peanut butter toast.
Z. Zoo: I've never been to a zoo!

Secondly, I was recently tagged with the Stylish Blogger Award from Moondancerjen.

Thanks, Jen! I don't think I can come up with 7 things about myself after the last tag, haha. But I did just want to mention that she gave this to me! Girl has some cool nails, too.

I tag all of my followers with blogs of their own ;)

My mom just called me and told me that my DS Original just came in the mail! I can't wait to get off work and go get it!
Swatches tomorrow if there is sun! :D

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri swatches and stamping tests!

Good morning! I am so tired this morning, I don't know how I'm going to get through 7 hours of boring work.
When I'm not sleeping in my own bed, I never get enough rest. 2 more nights of staying with my cousin. When I get home from work tonight we're going to finish painting her zebra wall!
Thanks for all the comments about the wall! I painted it, but unfortunately it isn't my wall. I wish it was! Maybe I'll make mine leopard print...

Anyway. Today's post is about my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's.
In my swatch marathon the other day, I swatched the remaining 6 shades, and did a stamping test with all of them.
I have 2 others from this line that were swatched and stamp-tested here.

I'll do them in the order of the picture :)

Lickety-Split Lime. 2 coats for even coverage. 1 thick one could be fine.
Not a big fan of this color on it's own.

Presto Pink. This should be called Pepto Pink because it looks just like Pepto-Bismol.
Again, this is 2 coats, but one thick one would work.

Brisk Blue. Same story, 2 coats or 1 thick one.
Do not wear this without base coat. I have some yucky blue nails now after swatching it.

Rapid Red. 2 coats. This is the older formula, it's not as opaque and does not stamp very well.

Silver Sweep. Love this one. One thin coat is all you need. Dupe for China Glaze - Millennium, I compared their stamping ability, seen here.

Whirlwind White. 2 coats to avoid streaks. Looks like I forgot to watermark this one but I'm too lazy to do it now!
This is the best white I own. It's more opaque than China Glaze's White On White, so I prefer this one.

When it comes to stamping with Insta-Dri's, I have found that the ones with the name on a sticker on the top of the bottle work best.
If it does not have a sticker on the top, it is much thinner and doesn't work for stamping.
My Rapid Red is the old formula with no sticker, and it does not stamp well.
Here is the stamping swatch:

 As you can see, the red is good over white but not black. Everything else is good over white/black (except white which is obviously not good over white, so I swatched it over pink.)

Whirlwind White is almost as good as Konad Special White. Once it thickens up a bit I imagine it will be more like Special White.
When I got Whirlwind White, I first got a non-sticker bottle. In this post, I showed the difference in the two.

This morning I got an email from a reader, Analy, who asked if I could do a stamping test with Insta-Dri - Brisk Blue and Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away.
Here you go, Analy!

I mentioned before that these colors are dupes. But do they both work for stamping? Not really.

Blue Me Away is not nearly as opaque for stamping, despite the fact that basically covers in one coat. It just is not quite as pigmented.
I hope this helps, Analy!

Overall, I love all these polishes.
I love the brush in Insta-Dri polishes, I find it really easy to work with. However, I did not buy these polishes for full manis, I use them mostly for stamping.

I would definitely recommend all of these colors, except Rapid Red.
Go get yourself some Insta-Dri and get stamping!

china glaze - harmony - swatch and review and stamping test

Hi lovlies, short post today before work.
Today I'm going to show you Harmony, from China Glaze's Romantiques collection.
This is the only one I have from the collection but it was very hard for me to leave the others at the store. Haha.
(I really want the pink/blue/green/dark gray)

Harmony is a metallic purple chrome polish. Lovely in 1 coat.

It was hard to get the right color. I think it is really somewhere in between the two pictures.

So of course, this polish is awesome for stamping.

Great over all colors.
I used it in this manicure for stamping.

I can almost hear the other Romantiques calling me from Chatters.... hahaha.
I have displayed such willpower it is ridiculous.
Last night I found Essie's Brazillant collection at Shoppers and somehow managed to not buy Smooth Sailing and Absolutely Shore.
What a good almost-no-buy I have been having! Such willpower!
(Not buying the Essie's was moreso due to their 11.99 price tag. I wonder if I can get them cheaper online...)

Off to work, and then back to work on the zebra wall I mentioned yesterday!

It still needs another coat but it is awesome.

zoya - faye - swatch and review and sponging nail art!

Good morning! Today I have another polish that Leslie sent me :)
This is my first (and still my only) Zoya polish.

Leslie included this polish in her package to me because she wasn't sure if she liked it on her skintone, and I'm not sure if I like it on mine either.
Is it possible for a polish to have too much shimmer? Haha!

I found the formula a bit hard to work with. Normally when I paint my nails, I do all 5 fingers on one hand and then do the second coat right away, and then the third if necessary. But with Faye, while I was doing the second coat, the polish on my tips decided to all just smear off. So I had to blob more on and it got messy.
So I let it dry longer before the third coat, and it still kinda dragged at the tip.

Anyway, so I don't really dig it on it's own. (My mom loves it, however.)
But then I saw someone use Faye for sponging. (The Polished Perfectionist.)
And it was beautiful. So naturally I had to try it out too!

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Trouble Maker. You may remember that this is one of my favorite polishes. (Speaking of favorites, someone suggested in my giveaway form that I do more favorites, and I realized that I really do need to update that!)

2 careful coats. 3 if you're sloppy.
(Trouble Maker did not want to photograph on its own, the picture of it with Faye is more color accurate.)
So then I got to spongin'.

Beeeeautiful!
I think that if you have more of the Sunshine collection from Zoya you should try them over a shade similar to the base. Like Apple over something green. I think that would be fab.

So pretty.
And then I decided to add some girly stamping because it was looking pretty girly already.

The stamp made it sorta classy, I guess. My mom LOVES it.
It's definitely different from what I usually do but I like it!

The stamp is from an ebay fauxnad set, and I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep.

:)
That's all for today!
I'm staying with my cousin for the next few days, so I don't know how much I'll be around.
Today we're painting one of her walls zebra print! Haha. Using my nail talents on a wall ;)

sally hansen nail prisms - lapis amethyst - swatch and review

Hey lovlies, second post today, this one for my friend and fellow blogger Ame from GiMiKd Girl.
Ame loves Sally Hansen Nail Prisms. She loves them so much, she has a page dedicated to them!
In looking at her page of them, I noticed that my one Nail Prisms polish did not look like the version she posted of it. So I told her I would show her mine! So Ame, here you go!

This was done after I swatched a bunch of red polishes so of course macro picked up my slightly red cuticles. Ignore that please!

This is FIVE coats. It is really, really thin. Not just sheer, but thin. I knew I wouldn't be trying to keep it on my nails, so I didn't care about the dry time of five coats. I just wanted to build it up enough to show the color.

This is just a light blue sorta metallic sorta shimmery polish. There is a purple flash in the bottle which you can see in my pictures, but it does not come out on the nail.

I'm not a huge fan of it. I think 10-year-old me bought one of the least interesting polishes in the collection. Typical! (But this also proves that lacquer does not die after a year.)

I decided to try layering it over black, because I figured that would be awesome, and maybe end up sort of like the HD polishes over black. And I was right!

It turned so turquoise! Total surprise. A good surprise.
I'll be rockin' this baby over black for sure.

I hope you liked this, Ame! :)

china glaze atlantis vs. sinful colors nail junkie

Hey guys, I have a comparison for you today!
On another blog I saw someone say that Nail Junkie is a dupe for Atlantis, and I am here today to prove that wrong. Haha.
(These are both swatched on my right hand so the pictures are a bit awkward.)

They are similar, but not near dupes.

Atlantis is a green base, slightly blue tint, with silver and holographic glitter. Three coats for full coverage.

Atlantis is pure gorgeousness. I am so happy that I got my hands on this when Sally's had that Treasures collection.

Now for Nail Junkie. This was one of the polishes on my wishlist that Leslie got me! Thanks Leslie!

Nail Junkie is a blue jelly base with a bit of a green tint, and iridescent glitter.
This is 4 coats. This polish is really thick and gel-like, I don't think it was designed to wear alone. (Unlike Atlantis which builds well and is not gel-like.)

I wasn't sure if Seche Vite could even dry 4 coats of this, but it did eventually.
Despite the thickness, I love this polish too, but I don't think I'll wear it on it's own again. Like I said, I think it is supposed to be layered!

It has the same sort of glitter that is in polishes like OPI's Last Friday Night.
Actually, this is a loooot like Last Friday Night in glitter and formula, but the shade is much different.

I think this comparison photo is the best for seeing the difference! One coat on paper.
Blue vs. green and small silver/holo glitter vs. iridescent.

Which one do you like better?
I prefer Atlantis alone, but I know Nail Junkie will be awesome for layering!

I'm going to go do some crochet! Only working 2/3 days a week and not being in school is lovely.
I'll probably post another swatch later :)

Have you entered my giveaway yet?

my friends like nails, too

Hey guys, another late night post from me, but not quite as late this time.
I just have so many things to post that I feel like doing multiple per day.

Between last night's swatching session and the one I had today, I swatched 24 polishes. Ridiculous. If only that made a big dent in my stash...
I'm really into this swatch project thing.
I have sorry cuticles now, but I enjoyed it. I'm trying to do everything I own by a brand at once. So I'm starting with smaller sets of things I have, like L.A. Colors and Revlon. I'll be posting them in sets I guess!

Anyway, so because I have so many things to post, I wanted to show you guys 2 sets of nails I did for my friends this past week!

I did my friend Nicole's nails on Sunday.

Thumbs up for cupcakes!

Cupcakes and leopard print! Enlarge the photo to see it better.
The colors I used on Nicole's manicure were Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue, Presto Pink, and Whirlwind White. The cupcake detailling was done by mixing the colors with white.
I did the leopard with my black nail art pen.
Add bullion beads for sprinkles and a red rhinestone as the cherry on top! :)

Tonight, my bestie/soulmate Emma and I went to The Hangover 2 with our new friend Nina! It was pretty awesome. Not quite as good as the first but still hilarious.
Before the movie, I did Emma's nails.
She was already wearing a For Audrey dupe and we made it much better!

Enlarge the photo to see all the awesome!

I have nothing better to do so I'll tell you what I did on all her fingers.

Her thumbs consist of one cupcake, done the same way as Nicole's, and a floral nail!
Her index fingers are plain but use cool polishes - China Glaze Senorita Bonita with Hidden Treasure layered over it (which looked super cool in low light but I didn't get a photo) and Milani 3D Cyberspace over her For Audrey dupe
Her middle fingers have cute lacey/finial/whatever patterns from the new BM plates. OPI - Dim Sum Plum is the pink.
Her ring fingers? Milani Jewel FX in Silver and For Audrey dupe with OPI - Last Friday night layered on top.
One pinky is a fishtail with the F.A. dupe, Dim Sum Plum, and Milani Nail Art in Purple Outline.
Her other pinky is special - a black cat in memory of Emma's cat, Miss Puss! From the original BM set.
(Black stamping was done with Wet N Wild Black Creme, of course.)

Emma loves everything so we did everything. Haha.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my art on other people's nails for a change! Nighty night.