Water Marble Epic Fail :)

This was my first time water marbling...and I failed miserably. I love how other people's water marbling comes out, and maybe with some practice I will be able to perfect my own technique, but for now, I'm giving that a break!! Anyways..it was fun to give it a try!
I used china glaze "LOL", china glaze "2030", pure ice black (i forget the name of that one) and Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in "white on" as my base coat.

China Glaze Wagon Trail (with a little something...)

The good news is that I was able to fulfil another one of my Scrangie's archive-inspired, long-time lemmings when I purchased this bottle of China Glaze Wagon Trail (from the Rodeo Diva collection).

The bad news is that unless your hands are in full direct sunlight, this is just another one of those black-in-most-lights polishes...and truth be told, I really don't like them much. I was so off-put by the color that I really couldn't wait to take a picture of it before painting over it with something else.

Here's my pic of the above-mentioned offending polish, disguised a bit with a layer of Sinful Colors All About You. At least with the glitter I managed to wear it for a day...

China Glaze Thunderbird

I'm such a sucker for red polishes, and late last year, when I was going through Scrangie's archives and saw her picture of this polish, I knew I had to have one for my very own. Here she is, China Glaze Thunderbird, from last year's Retro Diva collection:



What I love most about this color is how it changes under different light scenarios. The above photo is in indirect natural light, below is direct sunlight.



I tried, but I couldn't capture a photo of when I think this polish is absolutely at it's best, and that's at night under artificial light. It definitely looks like it's on fire; it is so stunning! If you're a red polish lover like me (I know, we're in the minority!), you absolutely must get your hands on a bottle of this!

Oh, and for my favorite pryncss, look at what I have for YOU!

Poolside Safari

For Mother's Day, my boyfriend purchased for me, five of the six of the CG Poolside collection!! Here, my friend and I, (using Sally Hansen "white on" as a base coat) are wearing "Pool Party" (pink), "Sun Worshipper" (orange), "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" (yellow), "Kiwi Cool-ada" (green), and "Towel Boy Toy" (blue). Over which we have applied the leopard and the zebra patterns from the konad M57 plate in black, and SV topcoat x2.

I love the neon colors!! Very 80's like!! :) Although, the blue is a bit off... it shows lighter in the picture than it is in person, but close.

Random Swatching II

So, here is some more, random swatching! Again, My friend had bought some china glaze polishes at Sally's on clearance and I LOVED them!! Here we have (from left to right) Watermelon rind, Strawberry Fields, Emerald Sparkled, and Frostbite. (2 coats of each, no top coat on either of them) I'm so lucky to have friends who share :)

Hidden Treasure

I was soooooo excited when I was cruising the nail polish isle at the store and saw the GIANT display of the new Sally Hansen Complete Manicure polishes!! I had been waiting for Hidden Treasure to be available, and BOOM, there it was!! Honestly though, if I had not seen pictures of "Flakies" on blogs, I would have been completely uninterested by just the bottle. Now that I've seen and used it, I love it! I especially love how the flash changes from a blue, greenish blue to a yellow orangie, almost pink. I couldn't wait to bring it home and put it over a bright blue!!

This is CG sky high tops with Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, one coat of Pure Ice Oh Baby, and one coat of SV: Sorry the pic is slighty dark, I took it using the light of a natural lamp and a piece of white paper to diffuse the light a little bit.


Also along with my Hidden Treasure adventure, my good friend decided to try the fabulous flake over black and mattify it!! I am not at all a fan of matte nail polish, usually with me, the shinier the better!! But, for some reason, Flakies look so cool mattified!! Here is her NOTD :)



And one more pic of our hands together to show the difference using a matte nail polish makes versus a regular clear. Oh and by the way we used CG Matte Magic :)

Random Swatching

So, here is some swatching randomness... A friend of mine come over the other day and brought me some Sally's Beauty Supply, China Glaze, clearance scores!!! On my pinkie was actually a favorite of my friend's and part of her collection.. Ruby Pumps!! Ring finger is Good Witch, and middle finger is Cowardly Lyin', all of which are from the Wizard of Ooh Aah collection. Index is grape juice, not sure if that is from a collection or not. No topcoat either by the way... So, here you have it..some random swatching!!

Yesterday's mani with China Glaze The Ten Man

I'm still making an effort (albeit not a good one) to try to keep my polish on for more than one day before I change it. Sometimes it seems like my attention span is a little too short and I tire easily of the polish and just want something different; other times it's because my job causes my polish to chip so badly that I have to change it. Either way, I'd like to steer clear of changing it daily because I don't think daily acetone is a good thing for my nails and cuticles. I had a tiny chip from yesterday's ChG DV8 mani, so I thought I'd try to cover it up with a little something.

I chose my newly acquired China Glaze The Ten Man (got it at Sally's on clearance for $2.99). I used one coat, and I really like what it does with DV8. It turned it into this beautiful icy blue.



I'm looking forward to trying The Ten Man over some of my other polishes to see what they turn into!

China Glaze DV8 (and a Red Sox mani fail)

This collection was introduced by China Glaze quite some time ago, but I just got my first ChG holographic polishes about a month ago. I was somewhat disappoited by the first two I tried (FYI and TMI), so I wasn't in any special hurry to give this one a go.

Last night I was a little undecided about today's mani, and I pulled DV8 from the bin. I've got to say I'm sorry I waited so long to check it out; I LOVE this one.

In regular lighting, it's what I was hoping O.P.I.'s Suzi Says Feng Shui was going to be; a lightly dusty blue. Here it is, in natural lighting, but not direct light.



In direct lighting, especially sunlight, this polish becomes absolutely stunning. My pics really don't do it justice, but they're the best I got, so here goes. All taken in various degrees of sunlight.







What can I say, other than I absolutely adore this polish.

And for a good laugh, here's a mani I *actually* wore to a Red Sox game yesterday. I'll give myself an "A" for "Intent to display team spirit", but I think it's a giant fail for execution of said effort.



A bit much, huh?

China Glaze Free Love (and Konad)

This is a color I picked up on clearance at Sally Beauty Supply for a big 99 cents. Even with its tiny price tag, I must have picked it up and put it down about 12 times before I finally reminded myself that it was only 99 cents. I was really concerned that I would hate this color, but it turns out to be quite the opposite...I LOVE this color!

Free Love is/was part of the Retro Diva collection released last year and it's a bold burnt orange shimmer that makes it look like it's somehow lit from within. I find this color extremely pretty.

First picture is in natural indirect light; second picture in full, glorious sunshine!





Since I'm starting a new job tomorrow (yay...GO ME!), I wanted to have kind of a snazzy first-day manicure and decided to do a little Konading (like I need a reason to Konad). Since I didn't want to have a halloween/fall look, nor did I want to have a NY Mets look (that will come later), I chose the only other option that I could think of: white. I also chose the paisley pattern from plate m64.

Here she is in indirect natural light, and in direct sunlight.





Kind of reminds me a bit of a Creamsicle. Hmm....now I'm hungry. Pardon me while I have a snack...

China Glaze FYI (not so) holographic polish

Pryncss has been wanting to see some of my new NP haul and FYI was the one she most wanted to see. It's a subtle, nudish taupe/beige with a hint of holographic shimmer. This isn't quite what I expected it to be (I expected the color to be a little deeper, richer maybe).

First pic, taken in a shady area:





Next up, a couple of pics taken in full sun:






When I first put this on, I wanted to cry out of sheer boredom, but I have to say I'm liking it a little bit more. I can see where this might be a good polish to have in your stash if you have to play a little on the conservative side of the nail polish spectrum. What are your thoughts?

Sound the bell...Dorothy Who vs. Absolutely Alice

Today's "fight" is a comparison between China Glaze Dorothy Who and O.P.I. Absolutely Alice.

In the left corner, weighing in at .5 oz, we have China Glaze Dorothy Who, a dazzling blue glitter suspended in a blue jelly base from the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection. Pictures show three coats of the Godess she is, no top coat. Both pictures taken in indirect natural light (we have no sun today..)





In the right corner, also weighing in at 0.5 oz, is O.P.I. Absolutely Alice, from the Alice in Wonderland collection, who is a clear base combining very dense glitter that is mostly blue with some silver and what looks like a tiny touch of gold for good measure. Again, three coats is what we have here, but this one was taken two days ago and it is in direct sunlight.



Lastly, here's both on one hand. Took this photo today, so this is in indirect natural light. Each finger has three coats and the layout goes like this:

Pinky and Middle Finger: Absolutely Alice
Index and Ring Finger: Dorothy Who





So who wins the battle? The difference between the two is relatively insignificant. I don't think that if you have one, that your collection really needs the other. Since China Glaze retails at a significantly lower price than O.P.I., I'd have to say that if you had neither, but want one, go for the ChG!

China Glaze Lubu Heels & my Nfaux Oh franken

Let me start by saying I loved the idea of ChG Lubu Heels...what's not to love about red glitter suspended in a black jelly base? I thought it would be similar to ChG Fortune Teller, that bottle of black jelly with those gorgeous orange glitter flakes floating in it.

Unfortunately for me, after painting on three coats, what I saw is a black mani. Those gorgeous red microsparkles barely transferred to the nail. In most lights, all my eyes see is b-l-a-c-k, and it's not even a stunning black at that. Oh China Glaze, you had the right idea (high marks for originality), but you failed in execution. I don't need another black (or too close to black to call it anything other than black), I need a black jelly with big, brazen red sparkly glitter!!!

In all fairness to China Glaze, I shouldn't have expected so much. The glitter in Fortune Teller is much larger than that of Lubu Heels. Still, I wanted to see a much bigger flash of red than what I got.

Here's the (very disappointing to me) mani...




Now, on another note, I have been lusting after those Nfu Oh polishes I've seen the ladies on NB and fellow bloggers posting pictures of, especially the flakies. They are all just so freakin' gorgeous. But for some reason, I just can't plunk down the bucks for it. OPI prices tick me off most of the time, but I'll still buy them. However, I refuse to go over $9.00 on a polish...flat out refuse. I'll spend $18 (or more) on a single eyeshadow, but on a polish, NEVER. I know, I don't get my own logic sometimes, either.

So anyway, I'm crusing the aisles over at Sally's when I spot these little jars of flakies, and the inspiration comes to me. Screw Nfu Oh, I'll make my own flaky polish. So I do. Here's my NFaux Oh, over my Chg Lubu Heels.



It is much prettier in person because the reflection of the light changes the color of the flakies, but it still needs a lot of tweaking. I guess Nfu Oh doesn't need to be afraid after all.