Short Absence

Hey ladies!  Sorry I haven't been posting :(  My computer died and I haven't been able to load pictures or post.  I'm expecting my new computer tomorrow so I should be back to regular posting by thursday or friday, depending on how long it takes me to get all my pictures transferred and everything re-organized.  Thanks for being understanding!

I miss you ladies!
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Wet n' Wild-I Need a Refresh-Mint

This is one of Wet'n'Wild's polishes from the Megalast collection. I haven't been able to find these anywhere near where I live until this past week when they showed up in my local Walgreens. I was really excited, too, because they were on sale buy 2 get 1 free. So, naturally, I picked up three. The colors I got are On a Trip, Candy-licious and I Need a Refresh-Mint. Today I have the last one for you guys :)

This color is almost and exact dupe for For Audrey from China Glaze.  For Audrey is the slightest bit more green, but if you have FA, I would skip on this one (or vice versa).  I have no complaints about the formula, but the brush...the brush is...giant.  On the cap it says it has a "manicurve pro brush" (perhaps trying their hand at the Pro Wide?).  It's humongous.  I have pretty wide nail beds and the brush is almost too wide for them.  If you have more narrow nail beds, this brush will not work for you.  It took me quite a few tries to get used to the shape and size of the brush.  Also, it barely fits in the neck of the bottle, so going back for more polish is kind of a pain.
Let me know what you think about the brushes in these particular polishes!

Thanks for stopping by!
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Happy Valentine's Day!

Hey everyone!  Today is Valentine's day, and I had to do a mani for the occasion.  I wasn't too inspired, so I decided to go a little out of my comfort zone and do a shatter manicure.  I almost never wear shatters, but I just got this lovely red one from OPI and I figured what better occasion than Valentine's to use it?  I think I have a love-hate relationship with shatters because they never work out for me formula wise.  This one is actually really good, and was really easy to use.  I used the shatter over Orly Cotton Candy.

Please forgive my lack of posts lately.  It's really hard to keep up with a blog when I'm working full time and going to school.  I always say I'll do better, but there's no way to guarantee when I'll have enough free time to swatch and post.  I really do try, though :)

I love all of you!  Hopefully you have something fun planned for today/tonight!  (A date with some bottles of polish wouldn't be half bad haha!)
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China Glaze-Strawberry Fields

Today is day two of me feeling ultra girly.  Not sure why I feel like wearing pink lately, but here's another gorgeous one!  Strawberry Fields is a wonderful bright pink jelly(ish) base with lots and lots of lovely gold shimmery goodness.  I actually like that this one isn't completely opaque after two coats.  It adds to the girlyness I think :)  These photos are two coats topped with SV:

Ultra pretty, yes?  Reminds me of Essie Your Hut or Mine? but a bit brighter and less opaque.  Definitely an awesome shade to be wearing while I'm wishing for an early spring :)  Not that I really need to ask, it's basically been spring here all winter.  Are any of you ladies experiencing the same thing?  We only got a touch of snow and it's been pretty nice other than that...weird.

Thanks for stopping by!
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Color Club- Foil Me Once

I've definitely been feeling a more girly vibe for the last few days...hence the super girly pink and purple polishes that I usually don't go for.  Today I have Color Club's Foil Me Once, a lovely pinky purple foil from their Foiled collection. (How many times did I say foil in that sentence?!?)  This is two coats topped with Seche Vite:

Definitely fulfilled my girly polish craving for the day.  I love all of the polishes from the Foiled collection.  Color Club did such a nice job with them :)

Thanks for reading!
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China Glaze-Four Leaf Clover

That's right, ladies, I'm finally going to post Four Leaf Clover.  As I'm sure most of you know, this polish is notorious for being impossible to photograph.  First, I'll start with a color description.  FLC is a kelly green that is quite bright and leans the slightest bit neon.  For some reason, the combination of these traits result in the most difficult to photograph polish in the world.  I've never seen a swatch that really shows the true color, and mine are no exception.  With color correcting, this is as close to the real color as I could get.  You really have to see the polish in person to see how gorgeous it really is :)

This polish photographs a lot lighter than it actually is, so picture this a bit darker as well as a bit more vivid.  The formula on this beauty is wonderful as well.  Virtually perfect application in two coats.  It self levels perfectly as well, leaving a glassy finish.
Overall, I highly recommend this polish if you're looking for a unique green.  Definitely nothing else like it that I've come across!

Thanks for reading!
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Ulta-Smoke Screen

I was in the mood for something dreary on my nails yesterday, and this was the winner.  Smoke Screen is a gorgeous dark gray creme that leans a bit purple.  I love the formula on this one, you guys.  Thin, even, and covers great in two coats.  Even before topcoat, it's superbly shiny.  These are second-day nails, so they're a bit more dull than I would like, but you guys get the gist :)

This color does dry darker than the color in the bottle, but I still love it every bit as much.  This one is tied with Femme Fatale for being my favorite polish from Ulta :)

Thanks for reading!
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Essie-Shine of the Times

I'm sure all of you have seen Shine of the Times around multiple times, but I just had to get my two cents in :)  It's a gorgeous gold/green/orange/multi flakie that is really saturated with flakes.  Compared to my Finger Paints flakie of the same color variety, this one seems to have twice the amount of bling.  I didn't want to layer it over boring black, so I decided to go with China Glaze Ingrid (not sure why Ingrid doesn't have her own post yet, I'll get working on that ;))

Let me tell you, it is super hard to get the green flash of this polish on camera without the photo being really blurry.  You can get a glimpse of it on my pointer finger and ring finger, but otherwise the orangey-red and gold are prominent.  Like I said, the glitter is really dense, and this was only one coat of SotT over two coats of Ingrid.  I topped off everything with Seche Vite.

Thanks for reading!
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Funky Cloud Mani

I decided to try my hand at a cloud manicure a la Nailside.  I always admire her manicures, and while I can't get anywhere close to her talent level, I can't resist trying out one of her tutorials every once in a while :)  So here's my interpretation of a funky cloud mani:

You guys would not believe how time consuming this is!!  It takes ages to layer all the colors, get the shapes right, etc.. but I like the end result.  Because of all the layers, this took AGES to dry and I got tipwear/shrinking right away.  I had to wrap my tips again right before I took these photos so it wouldn't look gross.
Anyway, the white is Zoya Purity, the orange is CG Life Preserver, and the purpley gray is Ulta Smoke Screen.  I like the color combination.  It even looks kind of tribal-ish to me.  Let me know what you guys think!  What color combos would look nice with this mani?

Thanks for reading!
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Sinful Colors-Nirvana

Nirvana is a really nice taupey-brown creme.  It has really nice application, but for some reason doesn't agree with ridge filling base coats.  It kept pulling like crazy until I used it over a regular base coat.  This is two to three coats with no topcoat:

Quite an interesting color.  Not quite brown, but not quite taupe either.  And it's not really a "greige" either.  I like this better than a regular brown on my skin tone, however.

Thanks for reading!
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Zoya-Purity

Sorry if this post is kind of scatterbrained...I had to take my dog to the vet at 3:30 this morning because she ate over half of a devil's food cake.  Scared the holy living poo out of me, but she's doing fine after some treatment :)

Purity is supposedly one of the best white polishes available.  After hearing all the hype, I had to get my hands on it when Zoya was having their two free polishes promo.  I have to say, it is the best white that I own.  I have another one by L.A. Colors that's pretty good, but the formula on Purity is smoother.  The first coat goes on kind of streaky, but the second coat evens everything out.  Usually with a white polish, it's nearly impossible to get even coverage.  These photos are two coats with no topcoat:

The photos are similar, just with slightly different coloring.  As you can see, it's glossy enough on it's own to where you don't get the "white out" look.  Since I've gotten it, I've loved it for layering under sheer polishes to amp up the color.  I also really like it on it's own.

Any suggestions for a perfect white?  I'm always on the lookout!

Thanks for reading!
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Zoya-Trixie

Trixie is a PERFECT silver foil.  I love silver foils, and I can never resist them!  Especially when Zoya was having a two free polishes promo!  This applies really nicely in two coats and is really shiny even without topcoat.  You don't see that too often in foil polishes.

I love her.  So flashy and gorgeous.
What do you guys think??

Thanks for reading!
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NYX Girls-Indigo Blue

Indigo blue is a nice medium/lightish blue with lots of shimmer.  It's really sheer, so I layered it over Zoya Purity to show the true color.  The other thing that I didn't like about this polish is that it's kind of streaky.  This was three coats over two coats of Purity, so it was kind of a pain to apply.  But after three coats, it came out smooth.  Because of the many layers, I completely jacked my pointer finger and didn't feel like taking the time to re-do the whole thing, so I just left it out of the picture.

Pretty color, overall, but not worth the effort of all those layers.  I really like how it looks over white, but I'm not sure if I'd like it on my bare nail.

What do you guys think?  Anything similar out there that's easier to work with?
Thanks for reading!
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Mattified Flakies! Finger Paints-Asylum

Again, long time, no see!  I've been crazy busy with work and school :(  Anyway, here is Finger Paints Asylum over W'n'W Black Creme.  It's a gorgeous flakie with orangey/green and blue flakies!  I layered it over black and then added the matte topcoat to show the flakies in all their glory.  I kind of wish that I had used a second coat of the flakies, but I like how it came out, anyway:

The orange flakes turn to green at certain angles/lights, but it was super hard to capture in photos.  You have to look really hard!  And the blue flakies are just breathtaking.
Next time I'll use more than one coat!

Thanks for reading!
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Sally Hansen-Wedding Crasher

Wedding Crasher is a beautiful pink glitter in a fuscia jelly base.  Believe me, you guys, this is definitely one that you'll want to pick up :)  It's definitely one that needs to be layered unless you like the look of a jelly glitter.  I took so many pictures of this one, but just COULDN'T get one to come out right.  My camera would not focus on this one no matter what I did!  Anyway, here she is with no topcoat:

I layered her over ELF Cranberry to up the base color.  So overall, this is two coats of Cranberry and three coats of Wedding Crasher.  While it's a lot of coats, I think it's totally worth it.  So, so pretty :)

I should try layering this beauty over black, that would be sassy!

Thanks for reading!
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Gel Manicure! Red Carpet Manicure-The Night is Young

So a few months ago, I discovered a brand called Red Carpet Manicure at my local Ulta.  I thought it was such a great idea!  Who wouldn't love to have a gel manicure that you can do yourself at home?  Well, I ended up getting the starter kit for Christmas, which came with a nice red.  I went and picked up a couple of other colors, including this one! The Night is Young is a gorgeous gunmetal grey with tons of beautiful shimmer.

I think it's just beautiful.

The thing that I love about gel manicures is that they last for weeks without having to touch them up.  Because of their flexible nature, they don't chip, flake or scratch like regular nail polish.  Gel nails are extremely resilient.  I can also swatch over these if I wanted.  They don't come off with non-acetone nail polish remover, so if you swatch over them, just use non-acetone remover and they'll be good as new underneath!  The only downside to gel nails is that they take time to apply.  This mani took me about an hour and a half in total.  I guess it's worth it if you think about how long they'll last me :)

If you guys would like a tutorial on how to do these gel nails, let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!
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ELF-Cranberry

I love this color, you guys.  It's so sexy and deep and winter-y.  It's really rich, and I can't stop staring at it!  Pretty good for only a couple of bucks.  This was two coats, but I could have gotten away with one.  So far, all of the polishes that I've tried from ELF have been awesome!

Again, I'm still adjusting my new lighting, so bear with my photos :)

Thanks for reading!
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China Glaze-Starboard

In my opinion, Starboard is the most perfect color of green.  I absolutely love this polish and how beautiful the shade of green is.  It seems pretty standard at first, but after looking at it for a while, I fell in love.  It's a bit dusty/dirty, which adds an interesting touch.  Application is pretty good.  The formula is pretty thin, so I used three coats.  I think I could have gotten away with two, though.  No topcoat:

Pretty, yes?
Like I said yesterday, I'm experimenting with some new lighting, so I'd love some feedback on what you guys think.  Any suggestions as to what light bulbs to use to minimize orange/red cast in photos?  That's the main issue I'm having right now.

Thanks for reading!
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Finger Paints-Catwalk Queen

Catwalk Queen is a mustardy yellow creme.  It's one of those polishes that is "fashionably ugly" and supposed to be all the rage.  Usually, I don't go for colors like this one, but I quite like it.  Not only is it a nice color, but it goes on completely smooth in two coats!!  For all of you nail polish junkies out there, you know how rare it is to find a yellow that cooperates...it's nearly impossible!  Well, this one is spot on with the formula :)  I used two coats here with no topcoat:

I'm trying out some new lighting, so bear with me while I figure out how to get my skin to not look so red.  The color is accurate, though.

Anyway, I think she's a beauty.  Definitely something that will have you standing out in a crowd :)

Thanks for reading!
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Sally Hansen-Glass Slipper

Glass Slipper is a polish that I grabbed up the fist time I layed eyes on it.  It's a beautiful white/silver flakie polish that looks super pretty.  I put it over black to really show the flakies.  This is two coats over W'n'W Black Creme.

For some reason, I had the hardest time getting an in-focus shot of this polish.  The flakies confused my camera, I think.  Anyway, I'm super happy that SH released a couple of flakies for us to work with.  I know how all you ladies out there love them :)

Thanks for stopping by!
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Zoya-Holly

I know this is a little late to be posting Holly, but it's such a beautiful color and I couldn't resist it.  I got it in a swap from a girl from Reddit Lacqueristas :)

Isn't she pretty?  Perfect application, too.  I love how vivid the green is and how shimmery it is :)

Thanks for reading!
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Best of 2011!

I honestly cannot believe it's 2012...seriously, where did 2011 go!?  I have a lot of big plans for 2012 including graduating from college!  I'm excited and nervous for what lies ahead of me.  But, like all good things, 2011 has to come to and end, and I'd like to share with you guys the most popular posts on this blog from the year!

1. Minecraft Nails

2. It's Raining, It's Pouring

Sally Hansen, Disco Ball

Sally Hansen, Time to Shine

Essie, Lady Like

Orly, Moonlit Madness

Those are my top 6 most viewed posts, but I also wanted to throw in a couple of my most favorite posts that I did :)

It was a Dark and Snowy Evening...

Splatter 1.0

So there you have it, ladies.  The 6 most viewed posts and my two favorite posts from 2011.  I've loved seeing all of yours, as well.  If you don't want to make a post, let me know it the comments what your fave polishes from 2011 were, I'd love to know!

Thanks for sticking with me!

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