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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