AlabasterLacquer

Givaway Winners are....

2010-11-23T03:34:00.000-08:00

Congrats to these three winners of the giveaway: Saori, fisiwoman, and Sue from okibi_insanity. Hope you ladies love your prizes and thanks again for the support. I am taking a really long break but should be back after all holidays are over.

Update: Giveaway winners

2010-11-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hello guys and gals I have been super busy with things this week and wanted to stop in to tell you I will be picking winners for the giveaway by random.org next week sometime so be sure to check in to see if you are one of them. Thanks guys and I look forward to picking the winners soon.

Yay! It's Giveaway Time! Closed

2010-09-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

Thank you guys for all your support thus far and putting up with my noobness LOL. BUT now I want to do a giveaway to give back to you guys. Here are the rules and pictures:

Here is one of the prizes: Hades: is the star franken from the Handful of Genesis collex, mixture of Liquid Euphoria Nirvana and Ozotic 506

Marine Life Highlight Powder and BN Ever Hip (to tell you the truth I am really sad to get rid of this l/s because I am almost done with mine I love it so much, BUT (huge but), I want someone else to enjoy this l/s too, whoever wins it will be very lucky, plus, the packaging is super cute *-* and you know I WUV you guys!

FOLLOW

1. You must be a follower to this blog and if you come in late to the game just hit the follow button, I hope you can find it somewhere's on my blog.

PRIZES

2. There are three prizes for three different winners. The first winner will have a choice of whether they want the Marine Life Highlight Powder from MAC or the Ever Hip lipstick from Mac or Hades and which ever you do not pick those will be left over for the next winner to choose. So, if you want a choice you probably want to win first, but if you don't care and/or here for some of the other stuff than have fun ladies, the third prize was a surprise I wanted to wait till this giveaway to mention it, if you have found me from my luuux account than you already know the prize, I am going to give Hades away to one lucky winner, remember the crazy duochrome franken I made from the Handful of Genesis collection? That is one of the prizes, so, quick run down of prizes is Mac's Ever Hip Lipstick, Marine Life Highlight Powder, and Hades nail polish! Edit: Since I extended the time frame for this giveaway I will be adding more prizes to the groupings, so there will be three groupings based on the 3 prizes above.

HOW TO ENTER

3. To enter all you have to do is enter a comment below stating what is your top 5 nail polishes for fall or if you are more into make up, your top 5 make up products for fall. Now you can only enter once this way but if you have a blog, facebook, or twitter, and you mention this giveaway along with a link directing people to this giveaway then post another comment below with the link to blog, facebook, or twitter post, that can be counted as your second entry. So in total you are allowed to have two entries, but make sure you provide a link back to this blog giveaway for it to count!

Bonus: For those who follow my LUUUX account you are allowed 3 entries: in the comment section under this post you need to post your comment top 5 picks for fall (that is one), link back to this blog giveaway on another blog of yours, or your facebook, or your twitter (that is two but only pick one of these choices) and make sure you comment in the comment section below with a link to your post, and you can have a final entry by linking back to this giveaway on your LUUUX account (that is three, but remember you would need to follow this blog and my LUUUX account for the third entry to count) Thanks in advance!

link to my LUUUX account: LUUUX

TIME ALLOWANCE

4. This giveaway will start today September 24th, 2010 and will end at midnight on October 31st, 2010, roughly 1 month.

WHO CAN ENTER

Here is where it gets tricky, I don't mind international entries, but I am putting a limit on what I will pay for shipping anywhere, and the limit for shipping is 10$$, so, if it costs more than $$10 dollars to ship to your country from the US and you did not inform me before I go to the post office to work out the rest of the shipping costs, I will have to forfeit your prize and give it to the next winner. It is your responsibility to find out shipping rates for one make up product or one nail polish item from the US to your country, if for some reason you win and I go to the post office and it costs 20 bucks to ship you your prize and AGAIN, you did not work out something previously to pay for the extra shipping cost the prize will be forfeited. I am sorry for this, but 10 dollars for one item is my shipping cost limit.

WINNER CHOSEN

I will be using randomizer.org to pick three winners randomly, after the giveaway is over I will post the names of the winners up on my blog over the course of the week so 11/1/2010 to 11/6/2010. I will say that this is the week of my daughter's birthday on November 4th so if there is any delay I will let you guys know but you already know how I am about posting stuff :) NOTE: You have 24 hours to get back to me or else it will be given to the next person. I don't have a lot of time to wait for a response, because you will be holding others up in choosing their prize. Also, if you see you are one of the winners you need to email me your address and email address, at diatom.shells@gmail.com. please include your screen name connected to your profile so I can verify it is you.

I will update this post if I think of anything else, and will include pictures later. Thanks so much lovelies for being so faithful to me :) *big hugz* and if you have any questions please email me and DO NOT ASK THEM IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BECAUSE THAT WILL MESS UP RANDOMIZER.ORG......TIA!!!!

Supreme List of Nail Polish

2010-09-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This is something I am going to start doing because in my quest to find such a reference turned up as a fail. I am going to do a list of all polishes ever made, known to man, and if you want to contribute you are welcome to do so. I mean, a HUGE list of all polishes, brands from all over the world. I understand this may seem like an impossible task but it is not meant to perfect in any way and is not meant to ever be finished this will continue to grow and grow. More like a history book of all polishes ever made. Below I have started it, and if you know of some that were made years ago and you don't have it anymore but know it existed please email me all the names of the ones you know of including around the year you think it was made if you have knowledge of that, and what color it is considered ie: purple, red, black etc. If you don't know the time frame in which it existed that is fine, we don't NEED it. This doesn't have to be completely date accurate but 90's, mid 90's, 80's, mid 80's etc. It could be 20 years ago, 10 years ago and so on. Now, so you are not confused, I am not making an htf list this list includes core polishes as well as current ones being released now, as well as discontinued polishes, but no where will it state whether the polish is htf or not as there could be a problem with knowledge focusing on that aspect of our np world. I am just going to do the names, brands in which it is from. and what color it is for now, later on I will add approximate time frames in which it existed. In no way are these in any particular order yet; after I have thought of all the brands I can think of I will put them in alphabetical order, then it will be categorized by actual polish names, for example You Don't Know Jacques, by color within that brand, for example taupe. I know all you history buffs will appreciate a list like this.

Avon:

OPI:

Essie:

Misa:

Color Club:

Ciate:

CHANEL:

Dior:

Givenchy:

Glitter Gal:

Ozotic:

Zoya:

Barielle:

Liquid Euphoria:

Sally Hansen:

LA Splash:

Revlon:

L'Oreal

Lancome:

Orly:

China Glaze:

Nicole by OPI:

Sephora by OPI:

Pure Ice

NARS:

Seche Vite:

GOSH:

Barry M:

Wet n' Wild

Miscellaneous no brand:

Miscellaneous no names:

Mary Kay:

Milani:

Elf:

American Apparel:

Nfu Oh:

Maybelline:

Sation:

NYX:

CND:

NYC:

Petites:

Bon Bon:

Essence:

CQ:

Sally Girl:

Claire's:

MAC:

Deborah Lippman:

Rescue Beauty Lounge:

Butter London:

Nina Pro Ultra:

Nutranails:

Borghese:

Sinful Colors:

Estee Lauder:

Jafra:

Naturistics:

LA Girl:

Artmatic:

Hard Candy;

Konad:

Bath & Body Works:

Icing:

LA Colors:

Illamasqua:

Sparitual:

RGB:

YSL:

Carolyn New York:

New York Summer:

Finger Paints:

Ginger + Liz:

Nubar:

duri:

Rococo Nail Apparel:

StrangeBeautiful:

No Miss:

OOPS! Jealous:

Pop:

Model's Own:

Nocti:

Ana Sui:

Urban Decay:

ULTA:

Super Star:

Savvy:

Rimmel:

Piggy Polish:

Jessie's Girl:

Orgasm Cosmetics:

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics:

Dare to Wear:

Manglaze:

Eyeko:

Goldie:

nailene:

Massini:

Tina Tarantino:

KO:

Jessica:

inp:

BB Couture:

Sephora:

Hot Topic:

Diamond Cosmetics:

Cover Girl:

Claw Polish:

Clarins:

Chi:

Savina:

BYS:

Bourjois Paris:

ArtClub:

Amour:

NOX Twilight:

Hello Kitty:

Studio M:

Confetti:

Jolly Rancher:

Charlotte Russe:

NATROBBINS:

Blue Cross Beauty:

10 Professional Nail Lacquer:

Forever 21 Love & Beauty:

Easter Nail Polish:

Pumpkin Nail Polish:

Arissa:

Kolor Ring:

Ornaments:

Snowman Nail Polish:

Tip Toe:

Versace's Heat Nail Lacquer:

Orlane Paris:

Laura Mercier:

a la mode by Orly Enchante Nail Polish:

Phantom Frights:

Fright Night Claw Polish:

Victoria Secret:

NOTD: Attempt at the "Galaxy Nails" by Asami

2010-09-22T01:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the original posters blog, Nails by Asami, she is a genius and I didn't do nearly as well as her, but I still had fun and I love the look!

...and here are the pics...

Mythological Franken Collection

2010-09-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

I have been in the works on making my own franken collection based on Greek Mythological gods and goddesses. I am currently only half done with it, but I decided I would go ahead and share what I have done so far and I am including the recipes if you decide you want to make any of them yourselves. Some of the mixes include a couple htf's, but the other's are nearly obtainable. Anyway, on with the show.

This collection is called Handful of Genesis....

First up is Zeus.

Zeus- god of the sky and all the Olympian gods- gray, bone white jelly with silver flecks and gold hex glitter.

Recipe: 3/4 Maybelline Pot of Gold, any white will do; I used NYC Little Italy and Pure Ice Superstar, and a little bit of LA Colors silver polish I found at the Dollar Tree.

Top coat to go over any of the frankens is called Olympus- the gods' dwelling place- is tiny gold and purple flecks.

Recipe- 1/2 bottle Orly Love Each Other, 1/2 bottle Wet N' Wild clear, and a sample size of Fyrrinae Lights of Tel Aviv.

Olympus over Zeus.

Artemis- god of many things but I focused on the part where she was goddess of the moon- dusky gray blue with gold glitter and medium sized holo hex glitters.

Recipe: Nearly 1/4 OPI Suzi's Says Feng Shui, 1/8 Petites Vintage Gray, drop of black, and mostly all China Glaze Medallion, little clear too.

Olympus over Artemis.

Poseidon- god of the sea- cobalt blue jelly with iridescent, glitter, holo glitter, and green glitter.

Recipe: 1/16th Nfu Oh 270 or a 1/4 Orly Royal Navy would work, whole bottle of Wet N' Wild Hallucinate, 1/4 tsp. Wet N' Wild Fantasy Makers Confetti glitter called Glitz, a half the bottle of LA Colors Art Deco striper Green Glitter found at Dollar Tree.

Aphrodite- goddess of love, desire, and beauty- blackened gold shimmer with gold mica flakes.

Recipe- 2 bottles of Petite's Universe and eye ball the addition of a black, I used Wet N' Wild Black Creme.

Olympus over Aphrodite.

Hades- lord of the underworld- crazy multi-chrome with multi-changing pigment.

Recipe- 1/2 Ozotic 505, 1/2 Liquid Euphoria Nirvana.

Purple side of this polish...

Now, we are getting into the red territory...

Here, it starts turning green...

Matte.

Olympus over Hades.

Thanks for stopping in today. I haven't missed that we are now at the giveaway limit and I am working on getting the details figured out and that will be the next move. Thanks again!

Reference to all the info on gods and goddesses from www.greekmythology.com.

Almost There!!! Giveaway!!! Ever Hip and Marine Life

2010-09-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

I am almost to 20 followers, and when that happens I am having a giveaway! I am not doing it to get followers necessarily but that would of course be a bonus. I am mainly just excited to have it done already (I have had these for months!) and give these awesome things away to someone that either missed out on them or didn't have the money to get it at the time, or maybe you just need a B/U (back up). I know others have just started blogs a month ago and have double or even triple the amount of followers than I have, and I have been doing it since December of last year. I am a super newby at this, but I have learned a lot since I started and I think I have gotten a little better. I am not the greatest writer, and I apologize for that bit, but I can do some mean nail art and I think I have great polishing skills and photos. I know I need to be a little more committed and post more often. That, my friends, may be what I am missing here. Any who, if you know anyone that really wants the Liberty of London Ever Hip lipstick or needs a back up, this will be one of the prizes feel free to send em over on to Alabaster Lacquer. The other prize will be the Marine Life Highlight Powder/blush (I call it a blush) from the To The Beach collex Mac released this summer. When I reach 20 or more followers I will let you know the details and requirements of the giveaway once I figure it out, does that make sense? I hope so LOL. Thanks for stopping by, hope you all are having a great weekend. <333

NOTD: Mad as a Hatter and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

2010-08-29T03:50:00.000-07:00

This looks so vivd and iridescent, it truly blew my mind.

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoyed the flowers today! :)(:

Lil' ol' Haul

2010-08-29T03:15:00.000-07:00

Quick pics :)

Left to right: Essence The World's Coolest, Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal (gorgeous irl), Essie Main Squeeze, Nicole Pitch-Black Glimmer (dense black glitter!)

Savinas left to right: Fairy Dust (dense holo glitter), Purple Confetti (looks better irl reminds me of Massini Slamming Red or the other one called Purple something or other, Orange Sky (has a blue flash).

This reminds me of Demure Vixen but with speckles. I have it on right now as a full mani with Fairy Dust over it, LOVE! By itself it looks like a soft pearl, very sophisticated. The base color is a purple/green gray very hard to explain. This one has a blue violet flash whereas DV has a pink purple flash.

Sorry about the poor photo quality I didn't have sun because it was nighttime and I only did them in five minutes. This one has a blue shimmer as well in a neon orange base and dries matte as all neons do.

Fairy Dust looks just like China Glaze's Fairy Dust but it is a lot more dense and opaque. I think I could get full nail coverage in 4 or maybe 5 coats.

This is a stunner; it doesn't look like much in the photo, but, I tried it on over the teal by Sonia and it looked so blingin'! It really does remind me of the Massini one. For realz.....

NARS Zulu is Bringing Along Some Friends

2010-08-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

In October NARS was going to rerelease Zulu for us addicts and the like, but now the news is they are not only rereleasing Zulu but also Midnight Express, Full Metal Jacket, Mash, and King Kong. Yay, I will be getting nearly all of them especially back ups of Zulu. You can see the promo pic here Belle Bath and Beyond. Thanks for stopping in!

Pre-order Zulu:

Edit 9/14/2010: A quick inside to what I did for pre-ordering, because you don't want to miss out on Zulu this time! I called a Nordstrom's in my area that is known for exceptional customer service, more so than other Nordstroms, usually you can find these in more upscale areas in your town. I asked the Nars sales rep. when I could pre-order the fall nail polish and he said "now". I quickly was on the ball to order when finding this out, because I refuse to go to evil bay for htf's unless it is a Clarins 230 or something. I suggest if you have a "nicer" Nordstroms in your area to do this to pre-order Zulu or else you may risk being SOL. When I was there at the store that day there was already a couple ladies asking about Zulu, and the reps. commented that it must have been a popular nail polish.....What? LOL, if he only knew, right ladies?!? Thanks again, and hope this helps someone out there.

Sainte-Chapelle Inspired Nails

2010-08-25T01:13:00.000-07:00

I took art history my first term back to college after five years. It was a pretty intense class but I loved it nonetheless. The Saint-Chapelle in Paris, France was one of the pieces we examined. This is where I took inspiration from for this mani. If you want a tutorial let me know and I will be happy to do one.

I used Orly Royal Navy for the base color because that church in France has the most beautiful stained glass windows with a cobalt blue color shining through the glass. The top floor signifies heaven and the lower floor symbolizes hell and all its red fury. If you do not know what the Saint-Chapelle is go google it now I will wait........

Here's the pics

Here's a few intricate nail close ups.... (sorry about the weird coloring of my hands my lighting isn't so great here)

Thumb

Index

Ring *bling* *angels sing*

My favorite is the middle finger... LOVE!

Thanks for looking!

NOTD: Borghese

2010-08-25T01:01:00.000-07:00

This one is from the Tutti Frutti Gelati LE display. It is quite sheer but I am in awe of the glow it exudes.

Thanks for stopping in!

NOTD: Sew Psyched

2010-08-25T00:57:00.000-07:00

Oh, who do we have here....

is it an elegant long stemmed rose?

I think I have died and gone to heaven when I put on this glorious green cream, nearly a one coater and immediately magnetized compliments. Not that I need compliments to help me decide if I love something or not but others also noticed Sew Psyched's beauty right away.

LOVE! New fall Essie: Sew Psyched

There was no sun today. Poo poo! :(

NOTD: Apple Of My Eye

2010-08-25T00:42:00.000-07:00

This is the polish that started it all...

my obssession *sigh*

It isn't too special or anything, just a red jelly with a little pink and orange, but I have loyally loved her ever since we met.

Here are the pics...

NOTD: Naughty

2010-08-25T00:35:00.000-07:00

Today I felt like something vampish.... or maybe it was naughty, either way here's my vampy....

Orly Naughty. This is supposed to be a dupe for Chanel's Rouge Noir. I don't have er' so I cannot say. This, though, is beautiful and glasslike. I did three coats color, one coat NYC Extra Shiny TC, and one coat SV. MY nails look like the glass bottle I am holding.

Thanks for looking!

My Private Jet Franken

2010-08-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

This isn't the black I used, this is just for picture reference. I used 1/4 Wet n Wild Black Creme and 3/4 or more of China Glaze Let's Do It In 3D. This isn't exactly like MPJ because the holo glitter is chunky. If you like more of a finer holo effect a perfect recipe is with the green holo polish by Glitter Gal and black. That one is amazing. When I get my hands on some of those polishes I will be sure to try that franken out but in the mean time this is a fab one.

These are iphone pics, because for some reason my nice expensive camera doesn't pick up the holo effect very well. Same with glitters too. So this is why the iphone pics, still looks yummy to me :)!

The 90's NP Gods Have Smiled Upon Me

2010-08-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Quick and dirty pics. Found all of these at a yard sale for 3 dollars!!! Loaded my bag and was off *who0sh*

Colors from Left to Right staggered: Bambu,

Red Opal, Lori Anne Green Glitter, Nutra Nails Uptown, Avon Mirror Shine Glisten,

Wet n Wild Club Havana, Enamelettes Pearly Grape, Wet n Wild Disturbia ( I used this to franken an exact match to Paradoxal), blue bear polish, behind the bear is Scented Secrets Oriental Spice, Revlon KhakiChrome, behind KhakiChrome is possibly Eggplant Frost the number is 417E, Revlon StreetWear in Grape 12, Wet n Wild Through the Grapevine.

Sally Hansen Rich Frost (not a frost, a shimmer), behind is Naturistics Gossip, SH Opulent Frost (shimmer), behind L'Oreal Resort, Naturisics Sea Ya! Pearl, behind are two Pale Pink Opals, Nicole Viridian, behind is CG NailSlicks Plum Frost (shimmer), SH Exquisite Frost (shimmer).

Old Sinful Colors Japanese Violet, Nina French Violet Tint, behind is Sinful Colors Sugar Plum, Color Drops Pear Berry (scented), Color Drops Periwinkle (prisma), behind is Nina Ultra Pro Fuchsia, Color Drops Bumblebee (chromatic).

Estee Lauder Piquant Pink, behind is Avon Sizzlin' Pink, L'Oreal Berry Blue, behind is Adoro Persian Silk, CND American Pie, behind is Artmatic Terracota Gold, don't know brand but name is First Date, Parfait Posh Party Pink.

No brand but name is Cha-Cha, another WnW Egglplant Frost no number this time, WnW 416A, Toma mood changing glitter from red to clear!, Mood Changing Color Plum to Red.

No brand but name is Flower Surge, no brand but name Jet Multi, WnW no name and no number blue glitter, WnW yellow green glitter 455A, no brand but name is Georgia Green,

None of these have names or brands but I have a feeling a few are old Bon Bons. The red one in the middle has glitter like OPI's Absolutely Alice with red and purple glitter.

Hard Candy Greed, OPI Telepathic Topaz, Revlon KhakiZing, OPI Deer Valley Spice, Hawaiian Orchid.

Closer, these are gorgeous! The HC is from 1996!!

Duochromy goodness!

Mother Load of a Haul

2010-08-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

So, today I went to Sally's to get a couple supplies to do my aunt in law's nails, and I found some neat things on clearance. Then I went to a couple Dollar Trees close by, and Big Lots and found some cheap thrills to franken with, and a couple other places LOL.

These are from the DT, some rhinestones cuz I think I cleared mine out with my last mani (inside joke), you get it if you seen my last mani. *will post next*

..and LA Colors art striper glitters to franken with, these work great

I found another Mist You duo by Sally Hansen, and some Maybellines; a Maybelline waters to do a syrup mani.

I have never seen the Pro 10 line before, but I liked the bottle and it there was a yellow. I wanted to try it to see if it's streaky or not.. it was only a dollar (another stupid inside joke). I don't know why that sky blue looks sky blue, because it's teal LOL.

I also went to this place downtown called Blush Beauty Bar. A cute boutique type cosmetic store, and they gave me a glass nail file for free, yay! These puppies are bringing me a massive amount of htf polishes, Blue Moon Lagoon, Fortune Teller, Star Magnets.. and more (haha I just sounded like a salesman *big nono*).

These removers were also on sale for a dollar at Albertson's; they are remodeling, so lot's of clearance cosmetics and np on sale.

Black holographic stars! Shut up.... friggin awesome!

These work so good for Konad stamping. Sally Hansen came out with these pen polishes in a chrome line.

Here is the Big Lot's stop. I bought some more stuff to franken with.

I know they aren't too pretty now, but they will be after I am done with them, I guarantee you! (continues on with salesman gimmick).

These are also for syrup mani's in which I will be doing a tutorial on as soon as I have time. It takes patience LOL.

Buy one get one at Rite Aid.

Shimmering Bark has a pretty purple shimmer :)

Then, *catches breath*, Sally's had some brilliant things on sale, just brilliant *slows down*

More clearance stuff, Savvy's 1.99, cuticle rejuvenator 3.49.

More glitter that does not bleed; I have tried them multiple times in the past.....distant past

These are always 99 cents and work great for frankening, because they are cosmetic grade. Although, some cosmetic grade glitters do bleed, you just have to test to make sure. I know for a fact the blue and silver do not.

Look at these weird flake/shard things that were on clearance, they had tons, may go back for a couple more..... and that is it, I promise! hahahaha hhee *evil laugh*

Thanks for stopping in to check out my blog. Remember, you can follow your fave blogs through blogger dashboard. You do not need to write your own to have a blogger account, that is optional. It is just an easy way to keep track of your favorite blogs and stay up to date with the new nail polish and make up collections that come out.

LA Splash Swatches

2010-08-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick and dirty swatches. Enjoy!

Silver Starfish is a charcoal silver, so unique.

Sparkling Lavender

Sparkling Sand a warm pink, reminds me of a sunset type pink. It's gorgeous.

Sparkling Stratosphere is a medium true blue. This has great depth.

Sparkling OceanSpray is a teal.

Sparkling Torpedo is a holo jeebus! So friggin beautiful I had to show you again. I have diamonds on my nails that is how light refracting this is.

In order from top to bottom (except Torpedo where there are a bajillion of), the pics go from one indoors, one outdoors (some sun, some shade), and one close up bottle pic. I can't seem to find Golden Seahorse but when I do I will add it to this post. Thanks guys!

Giveaway Scout

2010-08-19T02:18:00.000-07:00

There is a website search engine that allows you more exposure for your giveaways, and also sends others' giveaways to your inbox. Here's what it says on the site:

Add your blog to Giveaway Scout
Make the most of your giveaways.
Giveaway Scout is a giveaway search engine. Our users subscribe to receive updates on the latest giveaways on the web. Add your blog and your giveaways will be exposed to our large network or users. Here is the URL for those interested. http://www.giveawayscout.com/addblog/# Thanks!

LA Splash Sparkling Torpedo

2010-08-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here's some quick pics. This polish literally looks like diamonds. Please put on your UV protection. One downer is it get goopy but on the up side it is almost opaque in one coat!

This is the blurry pics with my iphone, this is the most accurate of the pictures of this polish I could get. Now, imagine this much bling but IN FOCUS. Awesome! (sorry about the cuticles :(

Thanks for stopping by! More of these awesome glitters to come, I have a total of 7 different LA Splash Glitters. Sparkling Sand, Sparkling Stratosphere, Sparkling Lavender, Starfish Silver (blackened silver glitter, LOVE) Sparkling OceanSpray, and Golden Seahorse. This one is Sparkling Torpedo the blingiest of all the glitters and also all holo pieces. The others are just really shiny glitters but still gorgeous. Please stay tuned...

Petites Color Fever Swatches

2010-08-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

Due to this increase in bandwidth these pictures won't be able to be seen till next month when the bandwidth starts over. I will try and upgrade to pro as soon as I get a bank account again and a debit card. Sorry about the inconvenience but if you go to my photobucket you can see it here Photobucket.

Periwinkle

Sorry about the smudges on the lid. This polish had smooth application almost like buttah. The color is a dusty Periwinkle. Not your average periwinkle where the color seems to lean blue this one has a sophisticated touch.

Creme Blue

It's a sky blue, nothing real special. The application was very nice again. If you want a good wearing sky blue, this is a good one.

Empress

I like this one. I got it because I thought it looked close to OPI's Glitzerland but I still have to investigate that claim. It is super blingy, and again, do I have to say it? Great application.

Fairy Pink

Hello! A sweet pink holo. I love this one too, heck, I love all of em really. Mainly for the colors but the wear and application on all of these were fantastic. This was the only one that was a bit sheer. That is expected with holos.

Wild Plum

This one is a very interesting purple. It has red and purple pigment so it sets itself apart in that respect. You can't tell a whole lot with my iphone pics, but trust me, it's there.

Black Diamond

This pic is kinda blurry on purpose so you can see the bits of holo pieces. This doesn't have that rainbow slick aspect to it; it's more so the holo glitter particles. Even so, it is one of the must haves of this brand if you like black holos. It's no MPJ but it's.....*nice*.

Vintage Gray

This lil guy is probably one of my faves. I am not usually a neutral gal so that's saying something, I guess. It's gray leaning taupe and totally remind's me of the color Lady Gaga was wearing in that magazine issue. (sorry brain isn't functioning today). That was, of course, Waking Up In Vegas by dear Deborah Lippman. Not saying this is a dupe but I prefer this to WUiV's putty gray look.

As you can see these are iphone pics, and I apologize for that. I am just being a bit lazy these summer days. Thanks for stopping in!

NOTD: Across The Universe and Happy Birthday

2010-08-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

The New Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears: Purple Gala, Mystic Lilac, Concrete, and Fireberry Red

2010-07-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

I found these a couple weeks ago at Freddy's. The formula was good, and the dry time was also as expected with SH XW's. I only got these three colors, but I tend to pick up Concrete as well in the near future, because it is a taupy/gray lilac shade. I love those colors. It falls somewhere between Rimmel Steel Gray and AA's Mouse. I like all three of these shades equally, each are unique enough to own all three. My swatches are with an iphone, so they are not as great as I'd hoped for, but I plan to redo the swatches sometime soon and use the Cannon instead.

Fireberry Red

This one is very shiny and incredibly smooth. I thinks its the jelly-like quality. There is also gold and red irregular particles in the red base. It reminds me somewhat of ChG's Ruby Pumps because of the "lit from within" quality it has. Edit: It has been said that this polish is a dupe for China Glaze Stroll. This is more of a deeper berrish red though. I love it.

Purple Gala

This one has the same irregular particles as Fireberry Red, but has a gold and purple combo. Also, it is predominately more gold. Some think it is a dupe for HC's Mr. Wrong, but I think this one is more purple rather than silver, and the gold stands out a little more in Purple Gala than in Mr. Wrong. This is two coats and no top coat. Shade so you can see the gold. In the sun it's harder to see the different colors because it is so blingy. :)

Mystic Lilac

I love this one, it has lime green shimmer in the gray lilac base. It was a little more sheer than the other two, but I didn't mind that. This doesn't look as gray as it shows up in this pic; it is definitely a lilac color with just a hint of gray in it.

Edit: Concrete

It's hard for me to pick a favorite, because I truly love all of them. I am really happy Sally Hansen keeps releasing these awesome collections. Now, if only they can be more consistent in shipping and stocking stores all over the US at the same time. I live on the West Coast so it seems we always get new d/s nail polish and even make up collections a month before the East Coast does. If you haven't seen these in stores yet keep looking they will probably show up soon. :)

Franken Swatches Part 1...The Greens and Neons

2010-07-28T15:05:00.001-07:00

These were taken with my iphone yet again. So not the best quality.

This is my version of Paradoxal. Can you tell which is Pdx and which is the franken? I'll let you know next post which is which.

Neon Peach

Sick at Sea

Vintage

Neon mint

Green shimmer/microglitter

Green shimmer/flash...please excuse the dryness I swatched all day and my hands were taking some punishment

Neon red jelly with gold flecks

This is more of a baby pink/barbie pink with gold flecks

Part two is coming up and includes the glitters, a franken of SSN, and an altered version of ATU or Across The Universe by Deborah Lippman. Thanks for looking!!

Lohanicure

2010-07-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

I did this mani a while back, after all the "jail nail" drama from Lohan's court appearance. I thought the mani was cute minus the *f* bomb. If you want a tutorial just let me know :)

This is kinda blurry because I had to take it with my iphone.

I'm back :)

2010-07-22T00:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm almost back. Since school got out I haven't had Internet, but yesterday I broke down and signed up for more. This whole iPhone typing thing gets on my last nerve. By next month I will be back in full swing. I picked up ATU or Across the Universe by Deborah Lippman. This polish is sensational, one of the best I have seen in a long time. Enough of this iPhone typing thing I'm off to bed. Thanks for reading :)

Update: I will be back soon...dies

2010-06-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to quickly stop in to tell you guys I miss my blogger friends and am currently in finals week for college. I had originally planned to take classes during summer, but I am completely burned out. Plus, one of my teachers decided he would squeeze 8 assignments, big assignments, into the last week of the term. He took 3-4 weeks to grade simple assignments, and some of which he didn't even receive, and to top it off I didn't find out till 3 weeks later all the while emailing him for 3 more weeks to find out a solution with no return emails. NOT ONE! It has been very frustrating. I am glad I can come here to vent a bit. I can't believe colleges charge more for online classes when most of the teachers are disorganized, and fit too many assignments into one week. I literally have only had a couple hours of sleep this whole week. I am so thankful for my math teacher though, because she was so organized and everything was the same all the way to last week of the term. No surprise due dates to screw you up, if you get what I mean. I would send her flowers if I had time just to tell let her know how much I appreciated her teaching skills. Well, I have an essay to finish, speech to give, math studying and notes to do all due before friday morning. I am off to the coffee shop.

Google Paints Series: Art 3: Wild Flowers

2010-06-04T04:27:00.000-07:00

One thing I need to make clear about this series so your not confused as to what I am doing. This is not your regular cartoony nail art, where you put a base color on and pop a simple flower on top. What I am doing with the nail art is treating it as a painting. I am putting layers and layers of thin polish over each other; waiting for it to dry and then putting the focal point on top, the same way you would do a painting. I paint on canvas as well so it helps me to do nail art. I don't do this type of nail artistry all the time; I just decided I would show you guys something a little different for a change. I love the cartoony style nail art too, and its great when you don't have much time to fuss with different brushes and things.

Now on with the art. This was inspired by, a field of wild flowers. As you probably noticed I am quite fond of flowers. In the spring and summer my husband and I will go out and pick up a variety of flowery plants, because I have a concrete backyard *sad face* but I make up for it with potted plants. I love to go outside in the summer to water and take care of them. I like to prune them as well, because it is a good stress reliever for me and somewhat meditative....

Inspiration

This photo is from a public domain for photographs, so it was up for grabs. I love the wild things of nature; they have this sort of innocent stature about them.

I used a mood changing polish as the background color. This polish is probably the least appealing of the mood changers but paired with nail art it just makes it pop. This photo is when the polish is a blue-green, the above pics are when it is more yellow or creamy.

Thanks for looking :) <33

Google Paints Series: Art 2: Water Iris

2010-06-01T00:43:00.000-07:00

I took a picture of an iris while at the japanese gardens last year. I decided to use that photo for the nail art. Check it out. This took a while, because I did the grass first, then waited for it to dry, then used many layers of different polish colors for the iris.

Inspiration

I didn't do any clean up, I haven't had much time lately. Plus, our weather is terrible and my cuticles are taking a beating, and I am trying to stay away from the acetone remover for a bit till they recover.

Google Paints Series: Art 1: Japanese Fighter Swirl

2010-05-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

I am going to start a series of nail art. It involves the artistic process of me taking other's paintings for inspiration. I found them just by googling "pics of paintings." These paintings are not mine and again are only used for inspiration. Thanks for looking! If you find anything interesting while you are out there on the web that you think would make a good nail art please leave me the link in the comments. Hope you like it.

Inspiration

Painting by, Sofan

Painting by, Jill L. Erickson.

This is what I came up with. The swirls represent the first painting and my accent nail is an interpretation of the second painting. Isn't he adorable. Well, I think so.

Excuse the smudge under my nail, I hadn't realized it was there when I took the photos.

I like the Picasso style swirly things. My nails look like those little hand-painted glass tea cups. It was fun to do.

If you want to know the colors and polishes used, feel free to ask. Also, if you are wondering I cut my nails shorter and filed them square again. I have always had the tradition of wearing my nails shorter in the summer and longer in the winter. There are good reasons for doing this in the summer, because, if you're like me, you like to go camping and swimming and fun stuff like that. It is better to have those nails shorter and more sturdy than long and more susceptible to breakage. It's all those jumping off rocks that inevitably break my nails square off. Yack! I hate that feeling.

Bye for now....

To The Beach/ Make-up Look/ Possible Giveaway???

2010-05-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

I got a few things from the To The Beach collex from Mac. I didn't go all out; I had originally had a Mac gift card that I was waiting to use in the future, so I decided to get a few things from this collex. I got two Marine Life Highlight Powders, Hipness blush, Temperature Rising, and In The Buff nail lacquer. I am not going to do a review or swatches of these products, because there are plenty of these types of posts out there in the blogging community. I mainly do this blog for the artistic side of it. I am not a fab writer or photographer, but both are things I enjoy doing. Nonetheless, if you come here and read me expect unusually photos, or should I say unique photos, with a few of my thoughts thrown in the mix. I will occasionally do reviews and tutorials, but that won't be the main feature here. That will be left for my youtube channel. I did do a make-up look inspired by the To The Beach photos of those two models in sun hats and such. The photos are the last ones if you scroll down. This is not a replica of the make up; it is only inspired by it. A few products I use are not supposed to be used around the eyes but I do it anyway. I am not promoting you do this, I am just telling you what I used. I don't really care if my eyeballs fall out...... No, I am just kidding ladies!! Oh one last thing, as you can see in my photos I have two highlight powders, one of which I want to giveaway. I don't know if I should give it away here on my blog or save it for my yt channel. Tell me what you think in the comments. The conditions would be: I want to at least have 20 followers before I do a giveaway, so go tell your friends if you have to, and lets get on with the show! Enjoy!

Nest of products.

This looks like baby doodoo. No joke, I put this on and took it right off. If you have read any of my other posts you know I am a sucker for unusual polish colors, but this one should be left for nail art. I know I can find something to use it for, hmmm... I Know! Frankening lol.

I love this lip pencil; I need a back up right away :)

Hipness blush is a coral pink color, it reminds me of Deep Throat by Nars on the cheeks.

Here is the beloved highlight powder, I haven't used it because I just like the way it looks with the gold overspray on it. I will eventually, but not right now.

Different lighting... warmer lighting. Mmmm it looks comfy.

This is just for aesthetic purposes only, I just like the dimensions of the sea horse, don't she look purtey.

Temperature Rising, X Rocks, Almay intense i-color trio, gel liner, coral crepe, BE Flawless Definition Mascara (I love this mascara!) Its best utilized when a little dryer though.

Hahaha this pic makes me laugh, in no way do my lips look that big in person. And who eats their necklace anyway!! I did. Lol it reminds me of that Fraggle Rock episode where the little puppets start eating these crystal looking slabs for food. Don't ask. This is Temperature Rising lip liner with Ever Hip over the top. .

Finished look. I have hipness blush over Laguna bronzer for contour. And many other things. Let me know if you want a tutorial. Thanks for looking!!

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure/ Haul

2010-05-09T00:27:00.000-07:00

I found Tracy Reeses Runway nail polish collection of 2010 at my local Walgreens a while back. For those of you who may not know who Tracy Reese is; she is a fashion designer, and this year she came out with a polish collex with Sally Hansen. I bought Hidden Treasure, Silver Lining, and Dive Deeper. I only have photos of the Hidden Treasure so far, because it is the most stunning. Plus, at the end of the beautiful photos of Hidden Treasure is some haulage spam goingz on... Enjoy! Note: Warning very heavy post and dry cuticles, and please, please, please click on some of the HT photos to see how brilliant this gem really is. Thanks!

I would describe this polish as an opal flakey. It has that sort of fire and opal has, this really transforms depending on your base color. It looks deep and sexy when applied over a black, or dark purple or blue, and looks sweet and innocent when applied over a lighter shade of polish like I swatched above.

Divider photo, haul coming up in the next photos...

Sally Hansen's Platinum 17. I do not understand why this is called Platinum, and it is has no 'silver' origins at all; this is a beautiful pearly color. It has way more color change in real life. This color changes from green, to pink, to purple, to yellow.

This is such a delicate color.

I have a pretty wide selection of nail polishes, but lately I have been grabbing for these Pure Ice polishes, so I decided to pick up some more, and for two dollars a pop, you can't pass them up. The formula is great, the colors are cool, and I like their drying times. I bought this one in the color Wild Thing at my local Walmart.

I am in LOVE with this color; this green is outstanding. It isn't extremely neon; the color is very accurate in the photo, it is like a lime coolada color with a slight blue-green shimmer. This one is called: Free Spirit. Love it!

Ignore the little blob of color on the outside of the bottle, I accidently bumped the brush against the bottle when I opened it. I think this is very chic and understated, which is right up my spiffy alley. What is strange is the fact that the name on the bottom of the bottle says Taupe Drawer, and isn't necessarily a taupe color; it is more of a dusty pink, BUT I was going to pick up this mauvey-purple color as well, and when I looked at the name of the purple one it was also called 'Taupe Drawer' too! I was really confused, and have no idea which one is is supposed to be the real 'Taupe Drawer'; they both were no where near a taupe. I looked at a couple of both colors, and yep, all the same scenario.

I saw this at Walmart as well, and I didn't think it was too special, but it had the 'NEW' sticker on it, and I had to check it out. When I opened it up (I like to open them to make sure the polish isn't all over the mouth of the bottle) it was the strangest formula. It reminded me of a jelly but wasn't thick enough; it had this weird watery consistency, so immediately I thought, yay, I found a water formula. If you don't know what a water formula is, it is a lot like a jelly but is more watery, for lack of better words. More of a thin formula, I guess would be better lol. It looks very much like a jelly when applied, all squishy, and shiny. I actually loved the color too when I opened it, it appeared to be glowing, so I picked up two, they were only 1.50: another great buy. The color is vibrant blue pink, very nice. The name is Pink Flame number 461.

Whenever I go to Walmart I always pick up a few of these little polishes by Bon Bons, they don't have names, but it is a mid-toned purple with a puplish-blue flash in it.

Well, gotta run. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Hey MAC why don't you come here so I can whisper a little something in your ear....

2010-05-04T02:55:00.000-07:00

I just came up with a brilliant idea, or so it seems in my head. I thought of this idea while visiting Temptalia's blog and was thinking about Mac's issue with its repromoting and such. Wouldn't it be grand if Mac held an interactive event be it once a season, or even once a year, or even as a trial run, either on their main website or on someone's blog, where their loyal consumers could go and cast a vote on what product they would like to see be the next repromote? There are so many limited edition items that have become holy grail status to us make up addicts, that it would be nice if they could "give back" to us in a way for us being such great contributors to their wealth. I am not trying to be a smart arse here, I am being serious! Just think about something that you own from Mac that you need a back up of, or something you completely missed out on, wouldn't it be great if the choice were in our hands. They constantly come out with fabulous collections that are laced through and through with limited edition this, limited edition that, limited addition ahhh! ahhh! ahhh! We crowd the Mac counter frantically to buy them up before they go bye-bye for years to come, or until someone on the throne of Mac-dome decides, "Hey! Why don't we rerelease Stereo Rose this year," and us lowly citizens of Mac-ville feel the need to burst with joy at the first leak of their indiscretion!.... *coughs*.... This is just my crazy thoughts, even if I sound exaggerated and comical, I think this would be fun to do, and fun to see what everyone ended up choosing. I personally would like Lightscapade msf, or maybe something from Barbie or Hello Kitty, or say, Peppermint Patti. It wouldn't necessarily have to be the special edition packaging, although that would be utterly fantastic, but just the fact they were thinking of us, awwwe how sweet. Lol

They could start off with the highest rated lipstick, or lipgloss, nail varnish, or blush. Whatever it is they decide; it would be OUR choice, but they would still have some control of choices. How awesome would that be? I know there must be a more complicated process behind just letting us choose any old product, they would have the control of choosing the 10 to 20 color choices for us to vote on, and well, you know the rest. And, I am off to sleep-dome. Let me know what you think in the comments below, and what you would like to see be repromoted. Maybe someday someone from Mac-ville will come along and see this blog and ask me to coordinate it hehe, *daydreaming again*. How many licks does it take to get to the center of tootsie-pop.... we may never know. Goodnight my lovelies... zzzzz

Mani Spam 2

2010-04-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here is mani spam numero 2. I usually take quick pictures of my manicures over a month or so, when I don't have time to do a whole post. Bon appetit...

Top to bottom: American Apparel's Palm Springs and Maybelline's Pie in the Sky for base colors, and the flowers are AA's Coney Island and Office with L.A Colors' yellow striper polish in the center of the flowers.

Left to right: AA's Coney Island and Office as base colors, and the flowers on the pink base is Mabelline's Minty with Sally Hansen's Lime Lights, and the blue flower is China Glaze's Secret Periwinkle with AA's Mount Royal. The green base has a peach flower that is China Glaze's Peachy Keen and AA's Palm Springs. The pink flower on the green base is China Glaze's Sugar High and AA's Coney Island.

Pure Ice's French Kiss (base) and Strapless (glitter).

I call this a striped gradient in purple. From darkest to lightest there are four colors: China Glaze's Grape Pop, LA Girl's Hustle, LA Girl's Groovy, Sally Girl's Blissful Kiss (one of my favorite lighter purples, sad it is a mini), and last but not least is China Glaze's Light as Air.

I really like this combo, Pure Ice's Scandal with Busted over the top both from the same brand. Reminds me of glass. This isn't a reflection of the light from the windows it actually changes different colors from purple to a light greenish gold, very unique.

Just a basic red but I thought it was extra sexy for some reason ;) Essie's Escapades. My nails grow pretty fast, this was only about a month ago and the above pictures are of my current length.

Just a little pic of me and my little man I talked about in my previous post. Look at those cheeks, so cute lol.

Loreal Passport to Paradise or is it Essie's North Fork 2009?

2010-04-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

There is a new polish collex by Loreal that resembles the Essie's North Fork of 2009. If you missed out on that collection by Essie, like I did, I would get it because they are exactly alike. You can see swatches on Steph's Closet of both the Loreal and Essie collections. I have many Loreal polishes and I love them, the formula isn't superb but they are nice. Here are the pics of the colors and some comparison swatches as well. So, beware this is a heavy posting. The collection is called Passport to Paradise and the colors are Waters Edge, Ocean Breeze, and High Tide.

Left to right: Waters Edge, Ocean Breeze, High Tide.

Left to right comparison swatches: Ocean Breeze, Maybelline's Pie in the Sky, Sally Hansen's Blue Me Away, Sally Hansen's Pacific Blue. This is in lighter conditions.

These are the same colors but in the shade.

The bottle in my hand is what is on my middle finger, it is more of a periwinkle color, and we all know how hard it is to photograph purples even if they are purple blues.

This is the comparison pic of the bottles, and they are in the same order as the comparison swatches that are on my nails in the above pic.

Left to right: Waters Edge, China Glaze's For Audrey, Sinful Color's Mint Apple, Franken of mine I did a while back, I forgot its name. ;)

Excuse the baby head in the background, he is in his high chair where I can see him because he likes to bat the camera while I take pictures for the blog, and laugh at how frustrated I get when I can't get a clear picture. I love him!

This is in the same order as the nail swatches.

Left to right: High Tide, Sally Beauty Supply mini in Periwinkle, Bon Bon's mini in the number 9356. As you can see I do not have many of this color in my collection.

I have shiny fingers because of swatch overload, I had to apply some cuticle oil to keep them from looking horrid. This is in lighter condition.

In shady conditions.

Same order as swatches on the nails.

The color, Ocean Breeze, is a clear sky blue color and is a cream but is a little squishy which means it has a jelly texture, my fave texture! Waters Edge is a darker For-Audrey-color and a little dusty, maybe that is why it gives you that beach resort type of feeling. It is soft and lovely and it's going on my nails first. In the bottle it looks almost exactly like For Audrey, but as you can see in its pictures above, it is a tad darker. The last one is gorgeous! It is this faded powder blue with a delicate shimmer. Also, because High Tide is a grayish blue it isn't too stark which means it doesn't leave your hands looking like death. The formulas are all nice and do not give major trouble but the color that is the rebellious one is Ocean Tide. Although, I like how it has a jelly feel to it, usually jelly's can take a tad more effort than cremes. This collection was a nice surprise from Loreal, I will show you sometime soon my whole collection of Loreal polishes. I think that was what started my collecting years back of nail polishes. I am still working on getting the full Liberty of London review up, but I need to finish homework this week then I can get back to blogging a bit more. Thanks for looking!

Paper or Plastic... Paper Please!

2010-04-23T01:12:00.000-07:00

Today the Pret-a-Papier collex came out, or yesterday since it is midnight, and I had pre-ordered a few things. I had loads of homework, what's new, so I begged my hubby to go pick up the products I purchased last week. I ended up getting the Brown Bag polish and the chromagraphic pencil in NW15/NW20. I forgot to get the Coral-Crepe paint pot as well, but I will be picking that up later today. I know everyone is sort of raving about the Originality polish instead, but being the odd one out that I am, I appreciate the Brown Bag polish a little more. The first thing someone would think of this polish is that it is so boring, right? Well, that isn't quite what I am thinking; I mean, do you know of any polish that is the actual color of a brown paper bag? I think not. It certainly isn't your typical "pretty" color, but I think it can hold its own being that it is so unique. There aren't that many brown polishes on the market today, but I see this color becoming a little more popular as the years progress. Also, it is a great color for work; especially, if you work at a grocery store... sorry that was bad. If you work at a grocery store and this offended you, I will not apologize, but instead tell you I had worked at one as well and I think it was a great experience. Now back to product talk, I am really pleased I picked this up; I have been eyeing the promo pics for a while now, and having it as an addition to my collection, there really isn't anything like it in my nail polish storage center. The formula was a breeze and when it dried it had mega, mega shine; I even put SV over it, and this may sound crazy, but it seemed to dull the shine a bit. The drying time on its own is average leaning more toward the faster drying side of polish formulas.

Now, for the Chromagraphic pencils; this is a major multi-tasker. One, you can put it on your waterline, and of course this will be what people think of when they buy this product, but there are so many more uses. You can also use it on the outside of your lip line, to prevent your lipstick from feathering, or so your lipgloss does not smear when you eat or drink. This would be a wonder for the perfect red lip! Another similar use would be to outline your eyebrows to make them appear more defined, or even just under your brow for the above-the-brow-bone highlight. Also, I used it just under my eyes, right where a dark circle starts to form if you have not had much sleep, which is the story of my life at the moment. I would not put it all over the under of your eyes, but just near the inner corner going down a little toward your nose. This brings me to the next use; in the inner corner for highlight. If you do not like a very shimmery inner highlight, and want to have a more natural look for daytime; this would be perfect to brighten up any eye make-up used as the highlight for the inner corner and onto the inner part of the lid to blend your eyeshadow and give more dimension to the lid. Another obvious use could be a spot concealer, as long as it is not too light for you. It does come in two colors if you have a darker complexion or more of a tan this time of year, but that is IF you want to use this as a spot concealer otherwise get the lighter one, it has more uses. These pencils will be permanent in the Mac Pro stores coming June, I think, but do not quote me on this I have to double check. There will also be a more wider range of colors at the Pro stores as well. Just talking about all its uses makes me think I need to buy another one. Well time for pictures, see below for product pics and swatches, all purchased by me. If you have any questions go ahead and ask me and I will get back to you as soon as I can. :)

Swatch of the NC15/NC20 Chromagraphic pencil. This swatch is a little far away click on the picture and you can see it better.

This is a lighter brown polish with a gold shimmer. I love the subtle shimmer in this... so chic.

These two pictures, above and below, are taken in my lightbox and are extremely accurate, when I tried enhancing the picture in the editor of iphoto it made it too orange so all these pictures are left alone, as with all my photos, because my camera is so awesome! I love you camera :)!

This is in direct light and is the true color when held in the direct light, when held more in a subdued light it is also accurately portrayed in the above pictures.

Thanks for reading today's post, I have another mani spam post coming soon, along with swatches of the Give Me Liberty of London Collex and Review.

YSL Rouge Volupte Madness!

2010-04-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have five YSL Rouge Volupte lipsticks that I love. Some say they do not last long on the lips, but when I use a lipliner underneath, like Mac's new In Synch and Naked lipliners, those are perfect. They last almost all day on me. The pigmentation is phenomenal. Please see below for pics of the l/s and swatches. I have included one Rouge Pur lipstick, and also is quite nice.

From left to right, #2, #13 (dupe for Chris & Tell), #30, #7, #27, Rouge Pur #22

This picture is with them wound all the way up, I have barely used these, all but the number 30, which is a little smaller because I use that one a lot! I think this is gorgeous; therefore, number 30 is my fave!

Rouge Pur #22, similar to Mac's St. Jermaine on the lips.

Top lip is #30 and bottom lip is #7. I thought doing swatches on paper lips would be interesting; to say the least, plus, it looks like art, and I try to be as creative as possible when it comes to simple things such as writing a blog. Well it seems simple enough, but sometimes I think my writing could use a few more minutes of proofreading, lol.

Top lip # 27, bottom lip #13.

Top lip #22 Rouge Pur, bottom lip #2.

From top to bottom, left to right. #2 and #22. #30 and #7. #13 and #27.

Close up #2 and #22.

Close up #30 and #7.

Close up #13 and #27.

I have to run but I will come back soon to give a thorough review. Thanks for reading!

Edit: These lipsticks are 34$ each, and that is expensive, trust me, I know. Now I wouldn't run out and buy all six at once, this is a couple months of collecting just these l/s, because I liked them so much. I thought the packaging was superb. It has a mirror on the top which is a bonus when you forget your compact.The l/s feels weighty in the hand, and you can definitely feel the hard work that went into the packaging. Do not get me wrong, the product itself is essential, but I guarantee you it didn't cost the majority of 34 bucks to make the l/s itself; it was the heavy gold metal casing the l/s is housed in. Like I said previously, the pigmentation is extraordinary, it surely is a one-swiper. Now for the cons: if you do not use a lip liner this will stay on, but 10 minutes, at the most. Also, because it is a "one-swiper", you could go through this thing lickety-split. I would say, if you used this lipstick consistently for a month, it would last about that, maybe a month, maybe less. But, if you are an avid collector of l/s, like I am, you won't go through it quite so quickly. It is more so for the occasional use than everyday use. One thing I forgot to mention was the fact that the color options for the YSL Rouge Voluptes are one of the best, and most of the colors look great next to any skin tone. Another plus is if you have very pigmented lips; these will do the job of making them over completely with no real effort to boot. If I left anything out, or if you have any questions; please feel free to post a comment below and I will get back to you asap. Happy shopping! :) <3

Gaga/Cyndi Viva Glam Review

2010-04-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

Review is below swatch pics. I changed the layout a bit with the text being below the photos, tell me if this works better.

Gaga/Mac

Cyndi/Mac. On my nails is Pacific Blue/Sally Hansen.

Swatch with Gaga left, Cyndi Right.

I had purchased the Lady Gaga Viva Glam lipstick, and Cyndi Lauper's l/s around a month ago, and I have had enough time of wear to give a proper review. The color of Gaga's l/s is a light cool-toned pink, but is more of a forgiving cool tone. Some cool-toned l/s do not look good next to a skin tone like mine. I am more of a neutral, medium skin tone. Cool-toned l/s look best on fairer skin, but I have seen this l/s on many different skin tones: from really pale white, to a pretty mocha shade skin tone. It really does look good on everyone. Both Gaga and Cyndi are lustres, which mean they go on more sheerer than other Mac l/s, are more versatile. Because the l/s are lustres they can be more buildable, and you can play around with intensity for your own personal preferences. One thing I need to mention for all who do not know about the Viva Glam l/s that Mac comes out with yearly is 100% of the proceeds go to AIDS research. Usually a celeb or two, team up with Mac to come out with a new l/s shade, and this year it was Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper. Although I have my strange beliefs about charities, I still think it is a good EFFORT by Mac and the celebs, if anything. Gaga is best worn with a smoky eye, because it tones the rest of your face down, but in more of a stylish way than just a nude lip. Especially when you have that strong contrasting eye make up with the light lip, does it look best on the face. It produces this baby, pinked-out lip that is a little innocent/sexy. And we all could use a little sexy in our lives sometimes. Cyndi's l/s is a more raspberry red and is also gorgeous on everyone. I especially like this on asian skin-tones, it brings out that pretty olive color to their complexion. Enjoy!

Mish Mash of Mani's!

2010-04-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

Here are random mani's that were done over the passed few months that I haven't had time to post. If you would like tutorial's for any one of these designs just leave a comment below. Don't forget to sign up for a blogger account so you can keep track of all your favorite blogs in your dashboard!

All American Apparel polishes, Office (mint green), Factory Gray (gray), Palm Springs (dusty peach), Coney Island (light, Barbie pink), Mount Royal (royal blue).

AA polish mani. Forgot to add, I used LA Colors Art Deco striper in silver as well.

I named this mani; I do not know why, but I did. I call it Celestial Barbie, because the sparkles remind me of stars, and the pink reminds me of: again, a Barbie. Both the pink and glitter top coat polishes are frankens that I did a while ago. Look below.... or above, however this ends up being laid out when I press the publish button!

Pink one. What should it be called? Help me with my franken names. Maybe Strawberry Milk? I actually like this pink polish a lot.

This picture needs to be clicked on to appreciate it's brilliance. This franken makes me think of a demented circus or something. Not sure I would want to name it that though!

The purpose to have blurry-glitter-shots: is so you can pick out all the different colors.

This polish is one of China Glaze's Up and Away collex colors called: Light as Air (pale lavender shade). The flower design on my accent nail was done with a lot of different striper polishes by LA Colors.

Hello again 80's! This mani was done with Lippman's Happy Birthday polish as the top coat (plethora of colorful, chunky and small sized, as a matter of fact, with any-sized glitter), CG's Sugar High (mid-toned bright pink), not as bright as it shows in the pic. I can not remember what color is on my tips, maybe CG's Grape Pop (deeper toned purple)? Edit: Nope! It was Nfu Oh's number 51 on the tips lol!

All these photos were taken a while ago when I still had my old phone, and the quality isn't so great, but I still thought I would share it with you guys. Hope you all enjoyed these. Let me know if you want tutorials, and I will try to fit it in as soon as time allows. Thanks for looking here!

Spam from MAC

2010-03-21T01:01:00.000-07:00

There is a couple summer collections coming out from MAC. The "To the Beach" (want everything), and a paper mache inspired collection (not that great). Now I would love to buy practically everything from the To the Beach collex but for Pret a Papier I want the Brown Bag nail polish, I think it looks exactly that, just like a brown paper bag so I have to have this, plus the avocado color from "to the beach." Here is pics of both nail polishes.

Brown Bag, MAC

In the Buff (avocado color), and Scorcher. I actually like the reddish-coral one too.

Finals Week Made Me Tired!

2010-03-21T00:53:00.000-07:00

I have been super busy with school and shopping, so here is some haul spam from the new MAC Give Me Liberty of London Collex. I bought 6 l/s (double colors), 4 e/s, 3 l/g, 1 blush, and 2 nail polishes. Here is pics of the lipsticks and nail polish.

From top pic to bottom, the color names are Petals and Peacocks, Blooming Lovely, Ever Hip, and nail lacquer in Blue India (I <3 this color) More to come...

FrOTD: Franken of the day: Wolfey

2010-02-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

I call this strange and beautiful creation, Wolfey. It makes me envision a wolf's fur. Specifically, the gray alpha-male, the one that stands out, fearless above the rest of the pack. This polish tends to make me feel confident. Unfortunately I won't be able to recreate her, because I didn't write the formula down *sad face*. I KNOW I put; Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor and Snow Me White, Charlotte Russe Grape Jelly, WnW's Black Creme, Lastly, Spa Noveau Tranquility. The order to which I mixed this debauched concoction is unknown to me. Will use sparingly, and when I feel motivated I think I may try to recreate her, and toss her in the giveaway pile. I shouldn't really underestimate my skills, I know I can make this again. It's just a darn gray right? No, it is a taupy, purple-gray. Very unique.

Hmmm... no followers yet, someone out there should click the follower button, my first giveaway is going to be great. I am currently working on getting the Chris & Tell lipstick to throw in the giveaway basket. Trust me, you want this color for summer. We will see as my Saks Fifth is pulling a locater for me for that htf l/s. *fingers crossed* Edit: I bought an extra Chris & Tell lipstick, instead I will be swapping it on MUA, because I purchased it on ebay awhile back and the girl was misrepresenting the product as "new in box", but she confessed to the fact that it was not new, and had been swatched on her hand. I didn't feel like sending it back even though it was super costly. I didn't feel like putting anymore money into the process for the return shipping either. I did disinfected it, and now it sits in my storage, waiting for me to swap it away. :(

MAC Haul: Riveting, Spring Colour Forecast, and Viva Glam Lady Gaga

2010-02-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

I recently have been pulled back into the MAC madness. They have been releasing some nice colors I just have to have in my life! lol. I am sure all you make-up collectors out there understand. Below are pictures from a couple different collections including the new Viva Glam Lady Gaga lipstick, Love! Swatch/reviews coming soon.

Close up of the blush ombre, Azalea Blossom. Please click on pictures I didn't buy my camera for nothing! lol j/k....

Blush ombre, Ripe Peach. Please ignore the dents in this I have been using it everyday since I purchased it. Should have bought a backup of this *kicking myself*

LLOve this! My new favorite l/s besides the one I am currently frankening everyday will post a pick soon. Lady Gaga, Viva Glam l/s

This may end up being my new HG liner *thinking....*

Metal Maven. I know this looks pretty unwearable on it's own but I swatched it, and I think it would look stunning with a black and white makeup look. Will try it out in the near future with pictures. BTW looks good over any color to soften your look.

Interesting photo? Hehe

Now this little puppy is my new fave l/g because this is what I wanted the 2N gloss to be from the Warm and Cozy collection (glad I didn't pick that up) edit: I did cave in and bought it as the site said it was a last call. The good news is, is this is not LE so I can repurchase whenever I feel like it. Ember Glow is the name and I think they are releasing it with the summer/spring 2010 collection too. So go try it out if you love peach colors on your lips. This leans orange but is not an outrageous orange, more peachy-my-orange.

Rock Out. If you like that sort of sexy industrial look to your face than pick this one up as well. I personally like it because it isn't conventional, makes me think of Mars Attacks, that movie with the sexy alien/robot thing.

Sassy Minerals Haul!

2010-02-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I bought a couple of samples of eyeshadows and blushes from Sassy Minerals online. Sadly, I have so much back log of pictures I will only be posting product pictures. The swatches/reviews for my recent hauls will come later after I am caught up. The photos are below, one grouping is the eyeshadows and the other is blushes. Product names below the pictures. Enjoy!

Beautiful haul picture with my new baby :) The makeup comes packaged like this.

Remember to click on picture to see products better. This is the blushes and eyeshadows together with the label of the names on the lid. I much prefer the labels be on the bottom of products so you can see the colors better. This pic is with flash.

The dreary natural light of the Great Northwest (no flash). I kind of like it better with no flash.

These are the eyeshadow groupings. Names go from left to right, top to bottom. First row: Disturbing the Peace, Shockwave, Fairy Wings, Ruby Slippers. Second row: (full size) Gasoline Rainbow, Secretive, Lyrical, Uplifting, Relax. Third row: Flash of Brilliance (amazing), Taboo, Shocking, and Taste Test.

Now onto blushes, some of these I love and others are a little chalky. Left to right, top to bottom. First row: Over The Garden Gate (just liked the name), We Can All Twinkle, Old Friends, Zealous, Highwire, Optimistic, Tart, Love Child, Carefree.

I like the blushes some can be a bit chalky, like I said before. The light colors are a mystery to me, I don't see the point, until I used them to blend the darker, or more brighter colors, and this made my cheeks look like pinched baby-bottoms. The colors have okay payoff. They aren't as scary as they look in the picture. I don't think I will purchase the blushes again though, there are better brands out there that you can just drive to instead of wait a week to receive in the mail. Full reviews coming soon.

Brand Change

2010-02-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

I previously said I would be doing a review on Senna Cosmetics, but due to the hassle I have had to go through, I will not be doing one. Instead, I will do a review/haul on the MAC products I have already received and will receive. I have gotten a couple blushes from the Spring Forecast Collections and a lipgloss. I already have these but want to wait for all of the others to arrive before doing a full review/haul. I also ordered the Lady GaGa lipstick, and some of the Riveting Collex, so when that comes I will get on with the show. So far I love what I have so it can only get better from here right?

The issue with Senna doesn't have anything to do with the company being terrible, but has to do with my schedule. I asked for free shipping because I planned on buying a lot of products from them, but they didn't send a response to my request for two weeks, this didn't bother me though I am a pretty patient person. Then when they decided I could have free shipping, they told me I could only do this over the phone during business hours (assuming eastern time), and with my current schedule I didn't have time to do this during the day so I would have to order at night. Well...... when I went to the website and tried to order from there, I said screw the shipping, I will just pay for it, they declined my card! Wtf! I had more than enough for what I was buying. Then the website wanted me to contact customer service, which AGAIN was only available during business hours. Well long story short I decided I would just go spend my money elsewhere, and MAC is where I ended up going. I can tell you something about myself and that is that I am not a super MAC fangirl, so that is not why I went there, but it is because of the unique things they were coming out with that led to my decision. In the end I am actually happy I went there instead (online), because I feel I am getting things I know I will use. Anyways hope you enjoyed this will return with product reviews soon. P.S. new camera coming in the mail too yay! No more darn camera phone yack!

Valentines Day!!!! Retro Inspired Mani

2010-02-11T00:21:00.000-08:00

Valentines manicure that looks a little retro in style. Loving this, it took 2 hours to do. Here is a listing of the products used: CC Revvvolution, Konad special polish in white, Nicole by OPI Have a Heart, and Konad image plate m7. First I took Revvolution and used 2 coats only needed 1 but I am a fahreak like that, then stamped the bows on each finger, followed by stamping the teensy hearts one-by-one on each nail. While it was cute as it was I decided to add a silver bead to the center of the bows and ended up fishing out the red hearts from the Nicole by OPI polish. Always top off with SV. Hope you enjoy this I know I did!

Upcoming Product Reviews....

2010-02-05T04:07:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I have a review/haul coming up within the next couple of weeks that I want to give the 411 on. In the past, I have used a makeup from the company called Senna Cosmetics for a foundation alternative to Bareminerals. I still currently use BE, because my face is prone to break-outs, and I just don't get break-outs with mineral makeup. The foundation I have used in the past from Senna was called Mineral Mix foundation, which comes in quite unique packaging with a pressed, slightly darker shade of mineral foundation in the flip-lid and mirror. The lid is also connected to a base container with a lighter loose mineral powder. This is great, because you can custom blend the colors to get the perfect color match or use the other for contouring. That is essentially two foundations in one! I can say the foundation is a lot nicer than Bareminerals, but is a little more pricey, costing around 35 dollars a pop (edit: $38). BUT, I find that the Mineral Mix foundations have a lot more neutral shades, where I find Bareminerals has either, too pink, or too yellow of colors. Senna's has a more matte finish as well. If you like a more dewy look this is easily achieved with a sheen finish product of your choosing layered over SF (Senna Foundation). I will be buying some of their makeup brushes, and some makeup palates and products (edit: not anymore). I wanted to purchase some of their brushes because there is a brush company called Hakuhodo selling really expensive makeup brushes that are top of the line, but I can't afford such things. I really wanted to find similar quality without the expensive price tag, and I remembered my Senna brushes. A couple years ago I bought some things off ShopNBC, which carries some of their line. I ended up getting a couple brushes, an eyeliner, eye shadow, and foundation from them, I think came in some sort of packaged deal, but I can't remember the price. All of the products were good.... more than good. I want to focus on the brushes though. I will tell you I always go for my Senna brushes! They are divine, so when I was thinking about updating my brush collection I figured I would do some research on makeup brushes. I liked all the different brands that are out now like Sigma, MAC, E.L.F., but I really don't like to climb on the bandwagon. In other words, I thought real hard, and I remembered my Senna brushes (I only have two now, one was a fab eyeshadow brush but someone stole it :( the other is a blush brush) so why not look at the rest of their selection right? So I did, and I want to say I am super excited, not only do they have very unique and practical brushes but they weren't super expensive either. They are mid range from 16 to 35 dollars a piece. That is not all though, the quality of the brushes that I was checking out looked almost as perfect as those Hakuhodo brushes... double plus! I won't know for sure until I purchase them of course. I did send them a request for free shipping since I will be spending a pretty penny, I am awaiting their reply. Until then, happy shopping. Edit: I didn't end up purchasing these products please refer to my posting titled, "Brand Change".

Explosive!

2010-01-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

Nfu Oh # 39 over Grape Jelly by Charlotte Russe.
Daylight setting on my camera.
Auto setting.
Daylight setting.
I am going to a birthday party tonight and decided to do something different. Originally, I was just going to wear the Grape Jelly color that I picked up at my local Charlotte Russe, it was the last one left and it wasn't even found in their system. I thought it was a good find. The color is a deep purple jelly, hence the name Grape Jelly. I am in a bit of a hurry so I need to make this quick. Anyways I decided to put the Nfu Oh # 39 over the jelly and an explosion occurred! Tehe just kidding, but the color is super bright and seems to glow and beam on the nail, light seems to glissando across the surface. Perfect for the musically atmosphere of tonight. In less poetic terms the color shifts from a true ultramarine blue, to a neon lime green. I noticed it looks way better in low light which is also perfect for where I am going tonight. It seems every club is a little dark in places right? Thanks for reading I just wanted to show this awesome combination off. I am sure this flakey polish will work over any dark color of course. Oh, before I forget, I have on 2 coats of Grape Jelly on under 2 coats of Nfu Oh # 39 with no top coat. If you look back at a previous posting I have this color over a french manicure and it looks totally different. My husband said it reminded him of a chameleon which is a perfect description, he always comes up with the perfect words to describe my nails. Well, I am off to get ready, again, thanks for looking.

Mega Maybelline Haul! Warning this posting is heavy....

2010-01-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

Dollar Tree Haul/ Maybelline

I was reading a blog the other day about how this girl went to the dollar store and she found all these awesome Maybelline polishes, even Twinkle, Twinkle, a SSN dupe, and I thought how lucky! I couldn't remember the blog name, because I read so many random blogs online, some I am subscribed to, and others that I am not, but I couldn't remember which one. I didn't want to write about it without giving her credit so I did a search on trusty ol' google, and found the blog I had read! It is called, "My Latest Obsession," so if you want to check it out you can search it too. Now back to my haul. I too went to the dollar store and found these Maybelline polishes I am most excited about the HOLOS I found.... so awesome. I bought a couple extra because once I have 20 subscribers I am going to do a give away and I will give two lucky ladies these holo polishes plus others things. That might be a while so I will keep them safe and put away. I kinda went berserk at the Dollar Tree and I ended up going home with like 33 polishes! You have to love the Dollar Store. I feel a little dizzy from looking through all of them. Oh well, I couldn't pass this up, after they are gone, they are gone forever. Where else can you find vintage polishes from the 90's? I went to four different dollar stores because I thought I might be lucky, and find the Twinkle Twinkle too, but no luck. I am still really happy with what I found, especially the holos. Oh yeah, before I forget, I also want to tell you all that I also got some L.A. Colors nail art polish too! I want to forewarn you, this is a heavy posting with a lot of pics sorry.
The huge pile I came home with. ;) This is so ridiculous, I should be embarrassed, but I'm not because this is what you do when you collect something right?
Close up of the pile. You can see a couple of the nail art colors I found with those holos on top.
Here they are lined up under my orange lamp that leaves everything looking orange.
I think I might have all but one of the matte collection.
So here is the holo-glitters called Shooting Stars. This has fine holo glitter with bright blue bar glitter in it!
I did a blurry pic so you could see the rainbow of colors it looks like that silver wrapping paper you can find for gift wrapping birthday presents, this is so pretty.
Here you can see the colors, even with the camera focused this stuff is intense.
Here it is on my thumb I actually have this over Twinkle, Twinkle which I got from an MUA girl she so sweet. You can't see it so much here because my lighting is terrible, they are the save energy lights which I hate.
This picture you can see the blue bar glitter, it's all those squiggly blue marks on my nail. You can also see all the rainbow of colors.
Here is the other holo I found called Planet Pluto, and this is mixed with holo glitter and holographic bar glitter as well! This is more chunky on the nail than the other but still very bright.
See all the green, blue, and orange glimmers? It is awesome. If you have a dollar tree nearby, I would go check them out, they may still have some.
(left to right)Planet Pluto, Shooting Stars, Planet Pluto, and Shooting Stars. I have two coats on each nail.
This is a single picture of the Planet Pluto. I have disco ball nails.

Another Possible Dupe!? Peach Nectar for Seasonal Peach

2010-01-21T22:35:00.000-08:00

Before I get excited, let me tell you what I found. It is a new Revlon nail enamel called Peach Nectar. I got this about a month ago, and was looking for another possible dupe for it, because I think it's kind of sexy, but then I realized this polish may be a dupe for MAC's Seasonal Peach. I looked at multiple swatches of MAC's SP, and every swatch looked different. One looked more peach, another more pink, one bright, one dusty. How odd! Why does this color look so different on everyone's blog or skin, I can't tell if it is the difference in their camera's and lighting, or if it is their skin tone that makes a difference. I read the descriptions and even those vary, so this may or may not be a dupe for SP. I'll show you the pics and let you decide. If you have SP, and find this at your local CVS pick it up and let me know if they are close in tone and what not. I would love to officially know for sure. I want to let you in on the fact that I this color is very unique (Peach Nectar) for a peach polish. I love peach and melon colors, so when I found it I thought it would look good on me as do all peachy colored things. Because I am such an impatient polisher the formula seemed a little streaky, but I did not wait for each coat to dry before adding another. The nails below have three coats, a little bit on the thick side. I am not very snooty when it comes to nail polish. I am more interested in the color of the polish than the formula. If a formula isn't extremely terrible, and the color is pretty or unusual I most likely will be satisfied with the polish. The brush is a tad small but I didn't have too much of an issue with extra polish dripping down, because of the smaller brush. The color is something I loved. I don't have many like this in my collection, so I am glad to have it as an addition to it. I ordered a lot of CG's Up and Away collection so when Peachy Keen arrives I think I will compare these two. I buy all my nail polishes out of my own pocket, so I don't usually buy full collections for reviews and swatches unless I like every single color in the bunch. Which I felt China Glaze did pretty well this season coming up so I bought practically all of them except a few berry colors. Well look at me getting way off track! Anyways those are coming soon. On to the sexy Peach Nectar.

Excuse the writing on my hand that is a bad habit of mine.
Peach Nectar by Revlon

Try to ignore the underlining in my text above, it was in the wrong place and when I copied it, it ended up underlining for some reason. I am such a noob lol.

DUPE, There it is!/ Nfu Oh #569 for Zulu

2010-01-19T22:53:00.001-08:00

Nfu Oh # 569 is almost a spot on dupe for NARS Zulu! Unfortunately I do not own Zulu, but from the swatches I have seen online it looks almost exactly alike. The downside is the formula. I really don't know why their jellies are so streaky, but I have two jellies of theirs and they both were similar in formulation. The drying time isn't very good either, but seriously I do not give a wink, because I have not found one this similar to much coveted Zulu. Now my pictures of the bottle are not an accurate color at all, but if you scroll down where I have pictures of it on my nails you can see it is a little more accurate. The first picture of the bottle is coming out way too yellow, and the second one came out too blue. On the nails this color is almost black with that dark forest green, just.... like.... Zulu. I came to a point of realizing that I will never own the NZ, but now that I have found this I the lemming is squashed. I am cured. So my advice to you ladies is to go buy this NOW before it gets around, and they are sold out. These are a little pricey at 12.50 a bottle, but I get them for 10 because I am an MUA member. So if you email them, ask if you can get a discount for being an MUA member, they should do it. I am not entirely sure so don't quote me on that, the best thing to would be to email them yourselves. I do have a link to their website on the side of my blog, it the fabuloustreet.com link.#569/ Nfu Oh
#569
Please excuse my messy cuticles I was so excited about testing this out! Also there are a few bald spots because I did not wait for the first coat to completely dry before I added another coat. You definitely need to wait between coats for it to dry completely. This is two coats. The first was thin and the second was thick. The brush is smaller so you have that problem of extra polish dripping down the brush, but if you wipe the edge of the brush off it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Maybe one of these days I'll let you see it what that weird blurry thing is on my index finger. I like it but it definitely needs fixing.
This pic is a little better, not by much, my phone camera is not so good. I am officially in love with this, I can't stop looking at my nails hehe. I do have the "change your life" top coat SV over the top, but this stuff is really shiny on it's own. Yes, these are my real nails, I think fake nails are a bit tacky. If you need them that is totally different though.
I hope you guys found this useful enough. I know I am happy to know of it, but then again I am easy to please. If you get this color go ahead and tell me what you think. I would love to know how you guys felt about it. One last thing if any of you have NZ and you buy this tell me how close they really are. Thanks.

This is a spam of Zulu for a comparison picture of my pics, which are not accurate. If you want to see a good swatch of Zulu visit either Scrangie.com or polishaddict.com they have really nice swatches of practically any color. I love them.

Can't Wait...

2010-01-16T00:59:00.000-08:00

Today I decided I needed to get a Cosco account so I went there to sign up and started looking at which camera I wanted. Let me tell you I found a nice one with 12x zoom, yay! I can finally have better pictures for my blog, and with that kind of zooming capabilities I will be able to better capture details of my nail polishes and colors, especially glitters.

One other thing, I found this website during the Xmas season called thinkgeek.com and they have a lighting setup called "portable photo studio" for photography and things of that nature, I think I will get that too. It only costs $49.99 and it comes with a 16 inch collapsible photo lightbox, 2 tabletop 35 watt photo lights, a six to seven inch extension mini tripod, and a nylon carrier to put it in. It is a good deal considering similar light box setups.When I buy it I will let you know if it works good. The website is really awesome as well, it has a lot of nerdy things that I am into. I am a bit of a geek on the inside. I put a link to the site on the side of my blog if you want to visit it. Thanks for reading, will be back for more blogging soon.

Nfu Ohs Back in Stock!

2010-01-15T01:23:00.000-08:00

So here I am at 1:oo o clock in the morning and decided to check in with fabuloustreet.com to see if they had any of the flakies back in stock that I wanted. As I was checking out which ones I wanted to buy, I stumbled across a dark green jelly, #569, and it looked a lot similar to NARS Zulu so I quickly added that to my cart. Then as I was trying to debate on which flakey to get I decided to search some swatches of a few I was interested in from other bloggers and when I found one I liked I went back and the one I wanted, number 60, was sold out. That quick?!! Argh!!! I had a feeling a lot of others were on the site as well because my computer was loading really slowly for 1 o clock in the morning. I was so sad:( but I ended up picking number 2 on my list which is another green (what is up with me lately and greens?) any way I ordered number 56 instead, which is a dark jungle green with light green and blue flakeys in it. This isn't a bad thing since I already have 51 and the black one has flakies in it that are similar to 51 but they are in a black base instead of a purple base. Well I am definitely excited and can't wait to get these home I am especially excited about #569 because Zulu has been a huge lemming for me for a while now and this might tide me over until they decide to rerelease her. Which will probably be never. I don't understand why they don't..... did they lose the recipe or something or is it because they don't know how to make her as a big 3 free? Oh well I'll save this rant for another post. Goodbye for now.

2010-01-14T02:27:00.000-08:00

Russian Navy by OPI and another glitter franken of mine. I also put a konad stamp on the tips for a twist on a french mani.

I applied two coats of Russian Navy and one coat of my blue glitter franken in a clear top coat.

Again really bad photography, but below you can see the blue and purple flash in the bottle. I really love this OPI color, it is more of a denim blue. The bottle is a little deceiving because it looks as though it would go on purple with a blue flash, but it is blue with a little purple flash, you can barely see the purple shimmer on the nail but it is there, subtly.

2010-01-14T02:16:00.000-08:00

Sparkling Stratosphere/LA Splash

I apologize for my terrible pictures, but I have to use the camera on my phone because my digital camera broke. I will be getting a new one very shortly. Now onto the swatches, these nail polishes are great. The glitter is intense and these were the last two on the shelf so I had to grab them. I have a nude pink polish underneath the glitters with a Konad fishnet stamp over the pink. I thought the nail art looked interesting under these polishes. I wouldn't normally wear this in the winter but I had to try them on asap. The blue one is called Sparkling Stratosphere, and is a mid range blue glitter that I don't see very often in polishes, and the purple is Sparkling Lavender which is more of a pinky toned purple, it is a darker toned lavender glitter by LA Splash.

Sparkling Lavender and Sparkling Stratosphere/LA Splash

This is how they look in the bottle but my camera doesn't pick up how sparkly they really are. I think I am in love with these at the moment.

American Apparel/ Hunter and Office

2010-01-13T12:57:00.001-08:00

I saw these on the polishes on the American Apparel website and quickly fell in love with Hunter. It was on back order on the site, so I ended up driving my behind over to my local AA store to pick up a couple. I got Hunter and Office. I personally love the bottles. I think I like the way they feel in my hands and fit in my nail polish storage center. On the other hand the function of the bottle isn't practical, I felt if I bumped it slightly it would topple over. I really wanted the gray polish too but the girl in front of me snagged the last one right when I walked up to the polish counter. She went on to tell the clerk that she had been looking for that particular color at every AA store in the area, and they were the only one's who had any in stock. I know how it is when you look every where for a certain item and can't find it. I am kinda glad I didn't grab it first I would have felt horrible but then again I probably would have gave it to her anyway. I'll save it for another purchase. Let me mention the formula isn't great it is a bit streaky. I am not sure if it was how I was applying it, but when I feel like putting it on again I will update this info to see if it was just an off day and not the formula. I didn't see many others swatching these yet but we will see. Edit: the formula was the same as the others and sadly these don't hold up on my nails.

This is my franken on my ring finger below, my daughter named it Pretty Girl.

Hunter/AA Nail Lacquer

This looks absolutely horrid but I can deal. This was the dark green polish by American Apparel called Hunter. On my ring finger is a franken I used a clear top coat and just added tons of green glitter to it.

Office and Hunter/AA Nail Lacquer

I thought the formula was kinda fussy it was a little streaky on the first coat and the second was still a little streaky so I would recommend three coats. The opacity is fine, due to the formula I had to do three. The Hunter is similar to Orly's Enchanted Forest, but it is a true hunter green and EF is more evergreen. Office is the one I am in love with, it is a mint green but has more of an antique feel to it by being a dustier mint green, a little milky but not chalky at all. I noticed a lot of the mint green polishes nowadays are very conventional either leaning more toward blue or green and this one is right in the middle. It is a little off-the-beaten-path mint green, I can vouch for it's uniqueness. The formula is the only downside, it's not terrible. I will try them again, I might have had an oil on my nails, that could have caused the streaks. The wear was not great either it chipped right away but I don't believe in base coats at the moment, I don't know how it would be with one of those. I did use SV for top coat though, and it did not help the wear. I really liked Office and I am easy going... who cares!

Randomness

2010-01-13T12:41:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the funky layout I don't know what

I was doing here. This is Nfu Oh's # 39.

#270 and 51/Nfu Oh

This is # 39 which I spoke about in my first blog

post. This is my blush franken with Konad in white

with the 39 over the top as a layer. I love this

it has such a sweet look to it.

Number 51 by Nfu Oh

#51/Nfu Oh

# 270/Nfu Oh

The pictures above are Nfu Oh #39,#51 and #270. I had Wet n' Wild Black Cream on under #51. On my ring finger I put tulle over the polish when it was wet and cut the excess off after it dried and placed Seche Vite over the top. It ended up looking a like snake skin. It was a bit of a process, doing that to all my nails would take some skill especially for my left hand, but it definitely was an awesome affect. I love these colors. This brand has really unique nail polish with flakeys floating in them. If only they had them in stock more often, but then I would end up buying them all at once, not good when I need to be on a strict "no buy" soon. The formula for the 270 was tricky, the 51 was fine because it is easily used as a layering polish, it can also be worn alone but with lots of coats, due to the thin consistency.

New Nail Blog?

2010-01-02T02:10:00.000-08:00

Welcome, and thanks for looking at V's blog, I am venturing into the world of blogging. I have been reading a lot of nail and beauty blogs lately, and find them to be fascinating as well as creative. I possess a very creative nature myself and am also in love with nail polish and make-up. My family have all to do with the arts and music genres, and I think of nails and polish as sort of an art in an unimportant kind of way. I know some may say this silly to think this way, but I have found that I love the process of buying new colors and swatching them on my nails. To think of all the different hues under the sun that could be made into a polish seems interesting to me. I like to do unconventional things with my nails like putting lace on top of the lacquer, applying chunky crafts to them, or just painting them a pretty color with a shiny top coat. I am like a lot of girls out there, we are an underground community that obsesses over polish and make-up like it's existence is something of extreme importance to the world. It isn't of course but don't tell us that.

I have a lot of nail polish and make-up, but no where near the caliber as some. My collection continues to grow each month. Which brings me to my next topic which is my New Year's resolution. I figured since I am totally obsessed with nail polish and make-up, dreaming, and drooling over it (figure of speech), that I better just do a blog of my own about nail polish and beauty products for the year of 2010. As if talking about it and reading about it all day (not literally) isn't enough why not write about it as well! So I am here to all that want to read me. If you have any requests or suggestions let me know. I am very open to feedback.

I also like making frankenpolish muahahahah! Anyways, back to reality... so on with my 2010 blog year. Maybe if this goes well I will continue this blog, which is also something I love, writing.

I just bought a couple Nfu Oh nail polishes, #39 (coming in the mail), #270 (have now), and #51 (have now) and when I get my camera I will post pics of the colors. I put tulle over the polish (#51) on one nail and it looks like snake skin! I have to perfect the process before I tell you how it's done because I don't want it to be a difficult thing for others to try. Below I will describe the colors but I am sure you all know them.

I will start with #51, this color looks like an oil slick just plain and simple it looks like an oil slick, but it has a sheer purple base, I would layer it with other colors. I just did it over basic ol' black. When I say oil slick I mean the spectrum of colors that pan out when oil and wet pavement marry each other. Hope this helps you understand the fascinating colors it contains.

Next is #270, now let me tell you a story. I was on a witch hunt after going to a garage sale in the summer, and I picked up this gorgeous cobalt blue bottle (I like collecting old glass things, well anything old really), but this glass was so intriguing to me, it was a deep indigo-blue with a rich, deep purple undertone to it. I looked at the color and wanted it on my nails. I rushed home opened my nail polish collection center and looked hard for a color to match the magnificent color of the bottle. Surely I had to of had a color like it somewhere in the jumbled stash. To no avail there was none. :( So I went searching the stores, and online on a certain witch hunt but nothing came close enough for me. I gave up after 3 months of looking around. Soon I stumbled across a certain nail blog in December, 2009. What I found on her site was this woman's nails painted in a cobalt-blue "old bottle" color just like the one I had found and placed on my shelf months ago. I read on, and found the brand and number of the polish she had on her nails. Of course you can only buy this brand online. Well when it got to my house I opened the shipping box all crazy and took off the varnish that was currently on my nails, and put this one on immediately. The application was a little challenging, but I did not care I had found my needle-in-the-haystack-color I guess you could say, and that was all that mattered at the time (I had such focus then, lol).

The last color, #39, I haven't got yet but I will definitely do an update of my Nfu Oh polishes as I get them. I can describe the color to you as I had seen it on the website, but it's probably not all that accurate, the site showed a light cream colored polish with light green flakeys in it, but the flakeys color shift to pink, very subtle but still beautiful.

The website you can get these nail polishes from is fabuloustreet.com. Well goodnight everybody my bed is calling.

AlabasterLacquer

Givaway Winners are....

Update: Giveaway winners

Yay! It's Giveaway Time! Closed

Supreme List of Nail Polish

NOTD: Attempt at the "Galaxy Nails" by Asami

Mythological Franken Collection

Almost There!!! Giveaway!!! Ever Hip and Marine Life

NOTD: Mad as a Hatter and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

Lil' ol' Haul

NARS Zulu is Bringing Along Some Friends

Sainte-Chapelle Inspired Nails

NOTD: Borghese

NOTD: Sew Psyched

NOTD: Apple Of My Eye

NOTD: Naughty

My Private Jet Franken

The 90's NP Gods Have Smiled Upon Me

Mother Load of a Haul

LA Splash Swatches

Giveaway Scout

LA Splash Sparkling Torpedo

Petites Color Fever Swatches

NOTD: Across The Universe and Happy Birthday

The New Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears: Purple Gala, Mystic Lilac, Concrete, and Fireberry Red

Franken Swatches Part 1...The Greens and Neons

Lohanicure

I'm back :)

Update: I will be back soon...*dies*

Google Paints Series: Art 3: Wild Flowers

Google Paints Series: Art 2: Water Iris

Google Paints Series: Art 1: Japanese Fighter Swirl

To The Beach/ Make-up Look/ Possible Giveaway???

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure/ Haul

Hey MAC why don't you come here so I can whisper a little something in your ear....

Mani Spam 2

Loreal Passport to Paradise or is it Essie's North Fork 2009?

Paper or Plastic... Paper Please!

YSL Rouge Volupte Madness!

Gaga/Cyndi Viva Glam Review

Mish Mash of Mani's!

Spam from MAC

Finals Week Made Me Tired!

FrOTD: Franken of the day: Wolfey

MAC Haul: Riveting, Spring Colour Forecast, and Viva Glam Lady Gaga

Sassy Minerals Haul!

Brand Change

Valentines Day!!!! Retro Inspired Mani

Upcoming Product Reviews....

Explosive!

Mega Maybelline Haul! Warning this posting is heavy....

Another Possible Dupe!? Peach Nectar for Seasonal Peach

DUPE, There it is!/ Nfu Oh #569 for Zulu

Can't Wait...

Nfu Ohs Back in Stock!

American Apparel/ Hunter and Office

Randomness

New Nail Blog?

Update: I will be back soon...dies