Saturday, December 31, 2011

Top 20 - Part II

Today I have the second half of my Top 20 for you! This half consists of blues, greens, and layering polishes. Yesterday's disclaimer still applies, by the way.

Blues:


Orly Halley's Comet



Revlon Chic



China Glaze DV8



China Glaze 2NITE


Essie Starry Starry Night




Greens/Layering polishes:


Lynnderella Connect the Dots (shown here over SHCSM Dorien Grey)



Nails Inc. the Wyndham (shown here over Nails Inc. Kensington)



Chanel Peridot



Lynnderella All Hallow's Eve



Illamasqua Rampage (arguably my all-time favorite)


Thanks for looking!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Top 20 - Part I

Before I start, let me apologize in advance for some of the photos. A few of them were taken back in March or April, when 1) I was using my cell phone as a camera and 2) when I was completely clueless about lighting. Eventually I'll retake most of these photos and post them properly!

I've broken my Top 20 up into 2 parts so that it'll be a little more managable. Today I've got the reds, pinks, purples, and neutrals to show you!

Neutrals:


Deborah Lippmann No More Drama


Estee Lauder Surreal Violet



Reds/Pinks:


Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers (this is the main one I was apologizing for at the beginning of the post, lol)


OPI Royal Rajah Ruby


Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle


Quirius Sunshine Energy



Purples:


Barry M Dusky Mauve (Revlon Perplex is pictured here, but they're more or less the same color)


Zoya Neeka



Milani Dot Com



NARS Purple Rain



That's it for now. I'm cringing as I look at a few of these older photos...yikes. Tomorrow I'll post the other 10. Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Lavender Creme franken + Finger Paints Flashy

I've been hunting for my perfect lavender creme for almost a year now. Everything out there right now is too white, too chalky, too lilac, too bright, or too blue. Picky, I know, but there's a very particular color that I've been after! Planks a Lot was released with OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean collection earlier this spring, and lo and behold, the exact color that I wanted! But of course, I wound up with the brighter, warmer-toned version, and later found out there are two versions of this color. What the heck, OPI. I got tired of looking though, so I added a few drops of Essie Mesmerize and a few drops of this grey creme, and I'm very happy with the result!




And as you may have heard, Finger Paints is releasing a collection of flakies! The official release date is New Year's, but I got lucky and found a Sally's that already had Flashy.

Flashy is your standard red/gold/orange/green flakie, and is exactly like SHCSM Hidden Treasure, Nubar 2010, Nfu Oh 38, and Essie Shine of the Times. The only difference between these is the density. Shine of the Times is the most dense, and I think Flashy is the least dense.

Advance apologies for the random bits of water in these photos! It was raining a little when I went out to take them. What you see here is 3 coats of Flashy over 3 coats of lavender: 




I really like how coppery these flakies look over lavender! Here's a macro at an angle so you can see the color shift:


Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Nails Inc. Kensington + Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

The semester's finally over, which means I'm back! It's been a while since I last posted, and I figured I'd come back with an new favorite layered with an old favorite.

Kensington is the base color that came paired with the Wyndham. I still don't have a swatch of Kensington on its own...I'll have to do that at some point. I paired 3 coats of Kensington with 1 coat of Nail Junkie, and I have to admit I'm really happy with the result! I don't have top coat on in either of the photos in this post, so there is still some texture, but take my word for it when I say that it was perfectly smooth after top coat.


The multicolored glitters in Nail Junkie really stand out against a dark base like Kensington. There are small hexes and tiny squares, as you can see here:


Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Temporary Hiatus

Finals are coming up, so I'm putting my blog on hold until the end of exams. So much studying to do...wish me luck!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Revlon Devil's Candy

Good evening! A little over a month ago, I posted Lynnderella Connect the Dots layered over Devil's Candy, but the lighting that day was terrible and as a result I couldn't get decent photos of the base color. Well, here they are! Not sure about the decent part, but they're color-accurate at least, lol.



So glossy! So squishy. So awesome. 2 coats is all you need.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Sinful Colors Open Seas, plus some layering!

Sinful Colors is great. They've been ripping off OPI collections lately, which I guess isn't cool for OPI, but it's great for us! It means we can get $2 dupes of some of the colors. In the spring, OPI released their Pirates of the Caribbean collection, and soon afterward, Sinful came out with their Adventure Island collection.

Open Seas is a jade creme intended to dupe OPI Mermaid's Tears. It came pretty close, but not quite. Mermaid's Tears is a bit more blue-toned, and Open Seas has more yellow. That's a good thing for me though, since Mermaid's Tears is a very weird color for my skintone. Open Seas looks MUCH better. It has an interesting formula though. It's thin, and needs to thicken up a bit before it becomes easy to apply. The first time I wore it, it took 3 coats, but the next time it only took 2. Here is 2 coats of Open Seas on its own (advance apologies for the dry hands! the cold has not been kind):


Of course, since I can never leave a creme alone, both times I've worn this I layered with it. The first time I wore it, I put L.A. Girls Crowd Surfing (aka Love & Beauty Green) on top.



I tried wearing this combination matte too, and it looks even cooler that way! I had some proper photos of this combination, but my hands are so horribly dry that I'll spare you all those photos.


The second time I wore this, I layered Nails Inc. the Wyndham on top! I'm very fond of this combination too. 2 coats of the Wyndham over Open Seas:


For some reason, I forgot to take photos of this while it was glossy, but I like it better matte anyway.