Saturday, March 31, 2012

Icing Tiger's Blood

I have another Icing polish for you! This is Tiger's Blood haha. I kept seeing this one in store and passing on it. Then I read it was a dupe for Cult Nails Captivated, which I loved. Since Captivated was out of stock, I bought this. I love this so so much. It's so pretty and sparkly! And it just makes me want to go swimming! This is 2 coats.




I was planning on just swatching this, then removing it, but I loved it so much that I left it one for a couple days. Not anticipating that, I didn't use a base coat and this stained me, so beware. It's not very noticeable though because my nail beds are very very pale white usually, so a slight orange tan just makes them look normal :) Also, after my mom saw this on me, she totally stole it haha.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Icing The Golden Age of Glitter

I have always loved Icing/Claire's. Whenever my polish obsession got kinda serious, I started to love them even more because of their fabulous glitters! They're so pretty and unique, plus it's a big bottle for a really good price. One day my friend noticed The Golden Age of Glitter, but I passed on it because I couldn't find another one I wanted to get the BOGO 1/2 off deal. Next time I went in, I decided to grab it. Holy crap am I glad I did! When I saw it, I thought it was gold micro glitter in a black base. It's actually gold AND BLACK GLITTER in a clear base!!! This is 3 coats.



Oh my gosh. It's hard to tell in these pics how dang sparkly it is!!! It's a perfect party polish. It makes me want to glitter some high heels to match and go to something awesome!!!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Nerd Lacquer Nebula

This is my first indie brand polish! I'm so excited. I saw NerdLacquer Nebula on another blog and pinned it to my wishlist. Then that pin got 93 repins. I knew next time NerdLacquer opened, I'd have to snatch this one up. First impressions of this indie: I was impressed how professional it looked. Had someone just handed me this polish, I'd have no idea that it wasn't made in a factory and came from a store. And it was really full! I was pleasantly surprised. This is three coats.


I got fin coverage in 2 coats, but I was trying to get more red hexes onto my nails. This polish is gorgeous! SO much more so than my pictures can show :/ This next shot I went outside to try and show all the lovely holo particles, but it was cloudy :(



Blurry to show holo particles. After this NerdLacquer, I'm definitely going to be adding more to my wishlist. What other indie polishes should I be on the hunt for?

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Pink Wednesday with Candy Shop!

As a poor college student, I can't really justify buying an $18 Deborah Lippmann Nail Polish, even though they are beautiful. I was really excited when I found out Claire's had made a dupe of Candy Shop for only $4.50! I didn't really like the original, but it gets a whole lot cuter when it's less than $5!


I first had only two coats on and didn't really care for it. I decided to add a third coat. Now, I'm in love! At only two coats, there were quite a few bare spots and the pink was kinda muted and boring. With this extra coat, the bare spots are cover and I think the extra glitter brightens the pink.


I can't stop looking at it. It's like a super fun, super girly party on my nails. I'm not usually into pink, girly things, but this has seriously won me over :D


Do you have the Deborah Lippmann original or dupe? Do you love it as much as I do?!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Teal Tuesday: Animal Print

Whenever animal print was announced as the winner for today's Teal Tuesday theme, I got a really great idea that I was excited about...and then promptly forgot it haha. Luckily, I eventually remembered it :) This mani was inspired by one of my favorite pairs of earrings.


It's a peacock! While teal isn't really the main color here, the teal-ish color on the earring inspired me, so that totally counts...right? Sorry about the black specks. It was really late and I didn't get the chance to clean up.


Colors used: Zoya Apple, L.A. Colors Circuits, OPI Brisbane Bronze, OPI Fly, Ulta Dance Teal Dawn, Julep Marisa. The teal spot is Fly for the opacity+Dance Teal Dawn for some shimmer. I drew the designs with some different sized paint brushes.


I was having difficulties taking pictures of this because it was so shiny. I decided to add a coat of NYC Matte topcoat. It also kinda makes the effect similar to the earring.




I am head over heals for this mani! I love it a lot and don't want to take it off!

Check out these other Teal Tuesday blogs!
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Kirsten at Geeky Owl
Amanda at Mandy's Polish
Nat at No Holos!

Monday, March 26, 2012

NOTD: Pure Ice Layering

After seeing this post on Caitlyn's Creative Corner, I decided to get some of these awesome Pure Ices and layer them together :)
L.A. Colors Circuits, Pure Ice Heartbreaker, Tease and Oh Baby!
I started with two coats of the awesome L.A. Colors Circuits and then layered these shimmers over each other.


It has a really pretty look, but Oh Baby! is definitely my favorite. I think it has the best contrast against the black and has the clearest base, so it doesn't make your nails look cloudy. Also, the purple/blue of the Oh Baby! is my favorite color shift out of them all :)



Do you have any of these awesome Pure Ices?

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Giveaway Time!

Remember when I promised you a giveaway oh so long ago? It's finally here!

I initially was doing this giveaway to celebrate 50 followers, but now I have 66! Thank you all that follow! Also, my birthday is next week and I wanted to giveaway something for that as well :) I decided to giveaway a few of my favorites. I LOVE the Jordana glitters. They're so pretty and cover really well. And Cinderella is sooo pretty! I hope you enjoy! P.S. This is open internationally, if I can send polishes to your country :)


Friday, March 23, 2012

Hunger Games!

Remember when I got my Hunger Games Nail Mail? Well I've swatched ten of them here for you! When I first saw swatches, I wasn't really blown away by these colors, but I had to have them all since I love the books so much. A lot of these are kind of what I'd call "grown-up" colors, but I was really surprised by how much I liked the colors I thought would be really boring. I had already used Mahogany Magic and Luxe & Lush but didn't photograph them. I couldn't decide what to layer Luxe & Lush over for this and Mahogany Magic was kinda boring lol.

Fast Track
First up is Fast Track. This shade is super pretty, without being in-your-face flashy. And is covered really well in 2 coats for such a light shade. There's a little bit of stubborn green left in my cuticles from the green I wore before this :/ Sorry about that.


Dress Me Up
This is the type of shade I avoid like the plague. I was SO surprised that I couldn't keep my eyes off of it during class. This covered in one coat I believe.

Foie Gras
 This one covered in one coat. I was on the more favorable side of neutral for me lol. Neutral=meh to me, and this was better than that. I wasn't really wowed though. And 1 coat! That helped pushed it away from meh.

Hook & Line
 I really thought I'd hate this one. To me, the frosty finish wasn't noticeable in real life. Plus, it's a gray, so I loved it a lot. This was 2 coats and I see myself wearing this again and again.

Stone Cold
This one kinda disappointed me. It is such a beautiful polish, and was the easiest matte to apply I've tried yet. My issue with it is that I think it shows off every imperfection in my nails. It's like when you find a gorgeous dress, but on you it just accents all of your least favorite qualities? This is that in polish form. I apologize for the tip wear. I painted my nails for this and the next swatch, then went to bed. Then after I woke up I cooked lunch and then took pics.

Smoke and Ashes
This one was probably the most disappointing :( This isn't super original and I feel like it's not the best version of this. I much prefer Sinful Colors What's Your Name. I wore What's Your Name under my Firework Mani. Before I painted the fireworks I wore it to church and could not stop staring at it. I didn't get that same interest from Smoke and Ashes. Note: I remember one blogger saying this was as difficult to remove as a glitter. I used felt and pure acetone, and it removed like a creme. My felt didn't fray at all.

Agro
 This was 2 coats to even everything. I liked this, despite thinking that I wouldn't. Really pretty, even if somewhat Fall-ish.

Harvest Moon
Gorgeous! This was two easy coats and it was so stinking pretty and shiny! This is one of my favorites of the collection.

Left Hand: Riveting and Electrify

Right Hand: Riveting and Electrify
These are my favorites and this is what I'm wearing to see the movie (tonight at the drive-in!). On my left hand, I used 3 coats of Riveting and then 4 coats of Electrify on my ring finger. The only difference on my right hand is that I did one coat Riveting and 2 coats Electrify on the ring finger. I liked using Riveting as underwear better. This is so bright and pretty! I really love these two! :)

Overall, I'm so so so happy I got this whole collection. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, and they were really really great to apply! I highly recommend most of these. I'd only leave behind Smoke and Ashes, I think. Do you have any of these? How do you like them?

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Teal Tuesday: Glitter Freestyle

This Tuesday's Teal Theme is Glitter Freestyle! I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I remembered I had a really pretty glitter that would work!


I started with one coat of a teal L.A. Colors polish. I don't know the names because they're not on the bottles :/ Then I did two gloopy coats of the glitter. It wasn't the best to apply. I think next time I use it I'll add in some polish thinner. I had trouble getting the polish to the tips.


This combo was gorgeous! The pics do not do it justice. And in the sun, I was mesmerized. It reminds me of a mermaid :) I love all things mermaid because I desperately wish to be one lol. Best part? I paid a total of $3 for BOTH POLISHES!



Make sure you check out the other ladies blogs! They're linked in my last Teal Tuesday post, but I'm on my phone and can't link now.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

St. Patrick's Day!

For St. Patrick's Day, I went with something simple, but I still love it. I couldn't stop staring at it. Or shoving it in my brother's face and making him look at it. It's seriously pretty.

I started with three coats of China Glaze Cowardly Lyin'. This polish is seriously really pretty. The micro glitter in it just makes me swoon. Then I added a coat of Icing Happy Go Lucky. The green shininess. Oh my gosh. LOVE IT! Who knew I'd gush so much about a simple layering?



How'd you do your nails for St. Patrick's Day?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Giveaway Alert!

Glam Polish is giving away 3 OMG polishes to celebrate 100 followers!!!

http://glam-polish.blogspot.com/2012/03/glam-polish-1000-follower-giveaway-omg.html?showComment=1331868766972#c1469303099745688894

Spring PCFC Day 18: Lambs

Baaaaaaaaaaa! Here are my sheep :) Aren't they cute? I started with two coats of China Glaze Starboard to make a pasture. Then I used NYC French Tip White and L.A. Colors Circuits for the sheep. I used a dotting tool for their wool and faces and then a small brush for their ears, eyes and legs. The middle finger is my favorite :) I put a black sheep on the thumb because it gets left out of nail pics a lot. 




Oh! I remember why I was so proud of this! If you'll notice, this is my right hand, meaning I painted everything with my left hand! 

Please visit these other fine PCFC Blogs for more amazing challenge manis!


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Pink Wednesday with Shocking Pink

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but I gave up polish buying for Lent. It's been really hard. Fortunately for me, Sundays don't count as part of Lent. Sundays are feast days celebrating Christ's resurrection, so it is inappropriate to fast on these days. That's why they aren't counted in the 40 days of Lent. Shopping only on Sundays has made the sacrifice more bearable and still kept me from buying too much polish. Before this past Sunday, I'd gone two weeks without buying a polish. That's HUGE for me lol. In my mini shopping spree on Sunday, I went to the mall. Someone in PAA mentioned that Hot Topic polishes were buy 1 get 1 free. My Hot Topic had them for half off, so different words, same savings. I picked up Shocking Pink. This is two coats Icing Chic Chic Horray (white) and two coats Warpaint Beauty Shocking Pink.



It's a lot brighter in person. One of my earliest polish memories is of a neon pink I got at the $.98 store in high school. It covered in 1 coat and was super bright and shiny. I lost it and since then I've tried to find a neon that compared. I was always super disappointed because I didn't know the best way to show neons is over a white base and with a topcoat to make them shiny. Oh the things the Internet can teach you! I then stamped over it with L.A. Colors Circuits and Cheeky plate CH16.




I've been obsessed with this squiggle design and have been waiting for the best time to use it. I absolutely love this!