Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Falling Leaves KOTD mattified



I'm not going to do too much gabbing here. I just wanted to do a quick post of this mani before I head out to run errands. This is the mani I posted the other day (2nd one down), topped with a coat of Orly Matte Top. I adored this shiny, but there's something so pretty about it matted. The colors in the design become much more pronounced and there's a crispness to it that you don't see when it's shiny.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Two Fall KOTDs

I loathe summer. Can't stand it. I hate the sun. Hate the heat. Hate seeing half-dressed people showing their non-sandal-worthy feet. Hate. In fact, I'm pretty much Megan Grumpypants from May to October. And thought it's not yet October, it is finally fall. Yay! So I wanted to do something to celebrate it.


This first KOTD was created using my previous VSB mani. I used ChG Delight and plate m56. M56 is a french plate, but I suck at those, so I just use it for creating diagonal lines. It's easier to control that way.





Unfortunately, after I did it and it had dried, I noticed that my nails were lifing up. :( So I removed them and started fresh this morning.

For this next mani, I used OPI Midnight in Moscow as a base and ChG Passion, Emotion, and Delight as my konad colors. I used plate m20. I wasn't planning on doing a konad on this mani, but I wasn't very happy with MiM. It took 3 coats to reach full opacity and by that point, it was so saturated with color that I couldn't see any of the red sparkle, outside of full sun. So I decided to jazz it up with a konad.




I love this. This is my first time using 3 colors and I just let the leaves be free form. There's no rhyme or reason to my placement other than making sure I had a good mix of the colors on each nail.

If you are interested, MiM is from OPI's F/W 2007 Russia Collection and the ChGs are from the Romantiques collection. MiM is gorgeous in the bottle, but on the nail, it didn't live up to my expectations. However, I love it as the base for this konad.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Dear OPI Vampire State Building...

I'm so sorry for leaving you in my list of untrieds for months. When I found you on eBay for dirt cheap, I bought you just because you were HTF. I liked your name, but I figured you were "just another vampy". I had no idea of your amazingness. You're not brown, you're not red, you're just plain awesome. I'm sorry for not giving you the love and respect you so deserve. Please forgive me. I promise to use you, though not often because you are rare and expensive to replace. LOL.
Love always,
Megan

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Now that I've got that out of the way, let me tell you about this awesome color. I have no idea why I've ignored VSB for months. I guess the reason is 2-fold. 1. I just thought it was another vampy and 2. as it was OF OPI, I thought it would be a bitch to apply (I have MUCH better luck with the PW brush). I was dead wrong on both counts.

First, this color is amazing. I have nothing like this in my collection. Like I mentioned above, it's not brown and it's not red. It's a happy marriage of the 2. It's pretty much the color of molasses bar-b-que sauce. I've seen pics on Nailgal that look a bit lighter, but my pic is 3 coats.

Secondly, this applied better than just about any OPI I have, PW brush or not. It practically jumped out of the bottle onto my nails. It dried super fast, too. It was a bit spotty with one, and even 2 coats, so I applied a third.

VSB is from OPI's 2000 Fall/Winter New York City collection. As you probably know, it's d/c'd and super hard to find. I managed to find mine on eBay for a song compared to it's going price. I paid $11 shipped while most sellers are asking $30-35 for it, and I've read it's been much higher in the past. As much as I love VSB, I have to say that it's not worth $30+. It's a gorgeous color and if you can get it in a swap or for a cheaper price, then I say pick it up. Otherwise, I've heard that Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ is a dupe (though not exact) and you can still pick it up for regular OPI prices. I don't own MO'LBBQ, however, so I can't personally attest to dupeyness, but if you search the NB for VSB dupes, MO'LBBQ is what pops up.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Updated NOTD: Fantasy Makers Black Magic

I don't think I'm ever satisfied with a mani until I've taken it as far as I can. I always end up konadding, mattifying, and/or frenching any mani I have on. Then once that's done, I may keep in on another 24, possibly 48, hours. NP ADD, I tell you. :P

With yesterday's Black Magic/Black Cream mani I was curious to see what the glitter would look like matted. I loved it before, but let me tell you, it's amazing now.



I used one coat of Orly Matte Top and then finished it off with a french in WnW Black Cream. I really like the contrast between the satin finish of the Matte Top and the shiny black french.

Monday, September 21, 2009

NOTD: WnW Black Cream w/ Fantasy Makers Black Magic

I first saw this look on Scrangie's blog in a post she did last year. I fell in crazy love with the look of the Black Magic over a black creme. Unfortunately, Fantasy Makers is a line of Wet N Wild cosmetics that only come out at Halloween. Of course, I saw her post in February, which made the wait for this a long one. :S


As you may have guessed, I'm a HUGE internet shopper. I love being able to load up my cart, click "BUY" and get my goodies in a few days. It's like instant satisfaction (when I buy them) and Christmas (when I get them) all rolled up into one. So, having to go into stores to hunt for np is a total PITA for me. I feel like I can never find what I want whether it be at DT, Sally's or a drugstore. Unfortunately, this one of those brands that you can only get by hoofing it into a drugstore. I'd checked a couple of Walgreen's for FM recently, but no dice. So, today when I had to go into CVS to get my son some children's Claritin, I happened to check out the Halloween display and lo and behold... they had them. Despite my no-buy, I had to pick one up. It was only $1.99, and I'd been lemming it since February.


I also picked up a bottle of 99 cent WnW Black Cream, as the only true black I have is Zoya Raven and Zoya and I are not on speaking terms at the moment, so I had to pick one up. I have to say, that I felt like a goth teenager with my bottle of WnW black. LOL.




Holy Smokes, I love this. It was amazing on Scrangie, and while I don't have her cuticles or her nails, I love it on me just as much. Black Magic is tons of multi-colored, non-holo, bar glitter suspended in clear polish. For this look, I used one coat of Black Cream and 2 coats of Black Magic (sorry, I can't abbreviate this one BM... just can't... LOL). I also use 2 coats of OTD TC.

This mani is so festive that I can't wait to use it for New Year's Eve. It reminds me of something from my childhood, though I can't place what. I think it may be a sweater I had that was black with multi-colored marled yarn woven through it, but I'm not exactly sure. At any rate, I adore it and considering it was dirt cheap, I love it even more.

I did try Black Magic over a few other colors, and while it's pretty, it doesn't have the same WOW factor. So, this may be something that only should be used over black. I'll have to try it over some darker colors just to make sure. The bottle only contains .33 oz, which is smaller than a regular bottle of polish, so I may need to pick up a back up before Halloween is over.

I know I've been a bit post happy lately, with swatching and current and previous K/NOTDs, so that should do me for a few days. LOL.

Essie Viva La Vespa compared to Essie Sexy Divide

This is something I'd been meaning to do ever since I got Viva La Vespa a few weeks back. A few blogs had mentioned that SD was a little dupey to VLV, but I couldn't find any comp pics. Since I was getting ready to remove my previous nails, I figured I'd do a little swatching before I soaked them off. I'd already used n-a remover on the nails about 2x at this point, and the texture on the SD nails is testament to that, for some reason, they showed it much worse than the VLV nails. So I apologize for the texturing, but at least you can see the difference in the colors.



Viva La Vespa is on index and ring fingers and Sexy Divide is on middle and pinky fingers.

As you can see, while they are similar, I wouldn't call them dupey. More like, Sexy Divide reminds me of Viva La Vespa. Sexy Divide is a gorgeous color in it's own, though I think I prefer VLV. I'd say that Sexy Divide is a true Tyrian/Imperial purple (though looking up colors on Wikipedia has led me to think this is actually Byzantium purple, but that's so random). VLV is in the same family, but it leans more magenta. Also, SD is nowhere near as glowy as VLV. VLV has the same quality as OPI Kinky in Helsinki in that it looks like it's lit from within.

In terms of application, SD was far superior. The pic is 2 coats of SD and it was opaque at one. I just did 2 to reach bottle color. As for VLV, as I mentioned in my previous post, VLV is thin and a little difficult to work with. It also took 3 coats to reach the above color and there is still a bald spot on my ring finger. I suppose that's the difference between new formula (SD) and old formula (VLV).

If you are lemming VLV, but can't find it, then I say SD should help to calm your lemming. It's not a dupe, but it's in the same purple family and is amazing in it's own right. However, if you can find it (as far as I know, VNS still has it), VLV is a must have for any purple-ite.

ChG Delight Swatch

In yesterday's KOTD post, I mentioned swatching ChG Delight on it's own. It's such an amazing color, and I don't think it's gotten it's due accolades. I don't think the Romantique collection in general has been praised nearly enough, to be honest, and I think I'm part of the problem. I only use them for konadding because they are pretty much flawless when used with a Konad. While I'll continue to use them as my go-to konad colors, I need to start using them as full-nail colors. There are some real winners in the collection.

While I didn't use it for a mani (yet), I did a quick and dirty swatching with Delight. Please see the post linked above for KOTD with Delight. And while I loved it for the konad, it was just as amazing on the nail by itself.






These pics are one coat. One. It was a wee bit brushstrokey, but given the finish, you'd think it would be a lot more difficult. As for the color, I know I sound like a broken record, as this is how I described it yesterday, but it looks like newly minted, uncirculated pennies. And though the collection was released in the spring, this color would be fab for fall.

I don't know if you can still find these in B&M stores, as the collection came out in the Spring. Perhaps at independent beauty supply stores, but Sally's has been out of these for months. I got mine from VNS, but all the big e-tailers carry them. And in the less-than $3 range online, it's perfect.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

KOTD: OPI Taos Twist w/ ChG Delight

I'm sure you all are aware that I'm an eBay junkie. Before I started this cold-turkey no-buy, I had a wonderful, er... bad habit of clicking BIN on rare/HTF OPIs if the price wasn't bananas. Well, one night while the house was quiet and I was feeling spendy, I bought OPI Taos Twist. I've been lemming OPI Hey Vito! Is My Car Red-y, something fierce, and I just can't bring myself to spend almost $40 shipped for a damn bottle of OPI. $10...> okay, $20...? rarely, but okay. $30+...? No thanks.


Since I'm unwilling to pull the trigger on Vito, I've been trying to find other red dupey OPIs. Now, I realize OPI red cremes are like Starbucks... everywhere, but there's something about that Italian Stallion, Vito, that makes me crazy, so I've been trying to find something close and cheaper. That's what lead me to say YES to Taos Twist.


Oddly, enough, TT is much older than Vito, but it's less expensive. Go figure. It's from OPI's 1993 Fall/Winter Alpine Collection. The only remaining, non-d/c'd color from this collection is Deer Valley Spice. Everything else is gone to np heaven, including TT. I'm a sucker for d/c'd, rare, HTFs, so after reading a description of the color, I pulled the trigger. I got it for $13 shipped. As far as I know, you can only find this one either on eBay or at dusties. Here's a pic of TT by her lonesome on my nails:



TT is a true red creme. It's warmish, but it doesn't pull orange, so it looks good w/ my pale skin. The pic is 2 coats w/ one coat of TC. Also, it was a bit of a PITA to apply. It was super thin and runny and I really had to work w/ it. All in all, I liked the color, but I left my nails kind of long this go around, and that coupled with my man-ish fingers gave me tranny hooker hands, so I opted to tone the red down w/ a konad.



For this, I used ChG Delight from the Romantiques warm collection. Delight is the color of brand-new pennies. I'd never used this color before on any konad, but I've fallen in love w/ it. One day, I plan to do a full mani w/ it. It's so pretty. I also did a freehand french with Delight, just because I felt the design needed something to finish it off. Plate is m21.

I'm debating whether or not to matte this one, too. It seems like I have to matte every color on my nails at some point or another. I love it, though. It's a great way to perk up a mani w/o having to redo anything.

So w/ this post, I am caught up on my NOTDs. I have a few manis hiding on my camera that I need to show you at some point, and I hope to do it soon, but being a scatterbrained as I am, no one plan on it. 'k? :P

Previous KOTD: CC Sakura Glow w/ ChG Emotion w/ Orly Matte Top

Goodness gracious, it's been awhile since I've updated. I try to keep it about 2 days between posts, but it's been almost a week. I apologize. My brain's been in a thousand places since last Monday, so I pretty much forgot to blog. Again, apologies all around. :)

Anyway, I'll try to do 2 posts back to back so I will be up-to-date w/ my current mani. Of course, I totally forgot to do comparison pics with Essie VLV and SD, but I will try my hardest to remember to do that, even if I have to do it quick and dirty before I take off my current nails.
Before I get to my current and previous mani, I want to mention a quick note on my nails. I picked up 500 assorted tips from a HK seller, and like an idiot, I ordered white rather than natural. I went ahead and tried them to make sure I liked them before I placed another order for the natural tips. So that's why it looks a little funny at my cuticles. I do like these tips, aside from the color (though I can see that the white would be useful for pale polishes that streak). If you are interested, search full nail fake nails 500 on eBay and you should get many pop up. You'd probably want to get natural, though. If you want the exact auction I ordered my white or natural nails from, just let me know and I'll hunt it down.

This first post of the 2 is a mani I did a couple days ago. It's CC Sakura Glow which is one of the new limited edition Japanese glitters that I've only seen at VNS. H2T may have them, too, as they sell CC, but I haven't checked. Here's a pic of the final product and then I'll ramble on for a bit more:



I like this color, it's a very pretty soft pink with holo glitter. I paired it ChG Emotion from the Romantiques warm collection for a tonal konad. I used plate m64 (I know, I use this one all the time). And then... because I'm a nail polish Border Collie, I added the matte top coat. While I liked it shiny and glittery (no pics, I always forget to get the transition pics), the look of it mattified is awesome. It captures the color in the holo, so it looks like I have a smattering of blue, green, and pink dots under my konad. Matte glitter rocks the house.
As for application, Sakura Glow took 3 coats to reach bottle color. It made a pretty, glitter wash at one coat though, so I think it would totally rock over black.

All in all, I really liked this look. It was a pale pink that didn't look assy on me, and that's a big feat. :P

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

KOTD: Essie Viva La Vespa w/ ChG Devotion and Harmony w/ Orly Matte Top



To acheive this, I used my Viva la Vespa mani from yesterday and applied a konad design using the butterfly and stemmed flower from plate m21. I used ChG Devotion (silver) and Harmony (purple) from the ChG Romantiques collection. I applied my regular top coat to set it, then about 10 minutes later, I applied 2 coats of Orly Matte Top. I like this a lot, but I think I prefer it shiny (sorry for not taking a pic of it while it was still shiny), or maybe not (as I'm staring at it trying to decide), this satin look is fab, too.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

NOTD: Essie Viva La Vespa

I was in a rotten mood, given yesterday's bad news, and I was in desperate need for a little cheering up. I decided to try a recent acquisition, Essie Viva La Vespa.

I have no clue what collection Viva La Vespa is originally from, but it was rereleased, along with SSN, in late 2007. Now, it's not as rare nor as sought-after as SSN, but it's still relatively HTF. There are a few bottles on eBay, usually in the $15-20 range. However, I got mine at VNS for $5. As far as I know, they still have them. If you are interested, you'll need to email them as they don't have d/c'd Essies or OPIs listed on their website.

Here's a pic:




Isn't this the most gorgeous color of purple you've ever seen? I know it's been compared to Essie Sexy Divide, but IMO, while SD is a beautiful color, but it's no VLV. If you are lemming VLV and can't find it, SD will do in a pinch, but if you can get your hands on VLV, it's totally worth it. It's a deep, rich, grape-y purple (that leans slightly blue) with fine magenta/red shimmer. There's no black in this. Thus, it's a beautiful deep color, but not what I would consider vampy.

I did have a few application issues w/ this, but nothing that wasn't easily handled. The formula was thin and it was streaky on the first coat. I had to do 3 coats on my left hand, but only 2 on the right.

I plan on taking comparison pics between this and SD, but I've been so flakey lately, I may not get around to it. I'll try, though. :)

Monday, September 14, 2009

Bad News

As you may know, I'm a SAHM. Thus, my husband is our only source of income. I realize that given the times, me telling you all that he got laid off today shouldn't come as a huge shock, but considering his employer kept telling him that there were no worries, it definitely was blow. He's devastated (it was his first real job after college), and I'm worried sick about what to do now. I haven't had a job in 2 years and I was my previous employer since 1999, so job hunting is a little daunting to me. He's a test engineer, so finding something in his field is going to be difficult. I keep hoping we are going to wake up and this is going to be a horrible nightmare, but no dice. I had to send my daughter to stay w/ my sister for the rest of the day, and she'll probably go over there after preschool tomorrow, as she is sick over the fact that mommy and daddy are upset. She didn't stop crying until my sister came and got her. :'(

So, I hate to do this, but I think I'm going to have to cancel my giveaway. Given the fact that our financial situation is grim ATM, even spending a few dollars to mail a package is definitely out of our budget. I tried to call and cancel the Philosophy order I place yesterday, but unfortunately, it was already in the process of being shipped. Not sure what I'm going to do there. So my personal money is of course, going to be nil for awhile, so no new collections for Meg. :( It's okay. I just pray this gets resolved soon. I plan on reinstating my giveaway as soon as I can justify the shipping costs. I'm also having to put the other giveaway I had planned on hold.

I hope you all understand. I appreciate you reading and following my blog over the past 8 months. I still plan on being here, and posting N/KOTDs, but that's going to be all I can do for awhile.

Thank you so much,
Megan

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Guys, I think I OD'd

:S

I'm starting to look at polish the way someone looks at food after they've eaten their weight in sesame chicken at a Chinese buffet. I recently placed an order at VNS for about 10 polishes and a handful of empty bottles. I was interested in trying my hand at frankening. I also place an add-on order for a bottle of Essie Viva La Vespa (yes, they still have them if anyone is interested). So in my email correspendence with Yen regarding my add-on order, so mentions that ChG OMG is OOS, and that "if I like I can order another polish to replace it... oh and they will have the CC Japanese glitters and CC Wild At Heart in stock w/in the next 2 days". Bestill my beating polish junkie heart. So of course, I have her add a set of the glitters and 2 from the WAH collection on to my order. Yay!!!

Then the order comes. I tear into it like a woman possessed. Start frankening w/in 10 minutes. Created an awesome teal by using ChG Shower Together and Sation Black and a gorgeous black/gold like the one Dr. Frankenpolish created earlier in the year. Then something happens. NP overload. I like everything I got, but I'm not excited anymore. I can't even get myself to add all the bottles to my stash. I look at my polish stash and it's like I just discovered Santa is really my parents. The wind has officially been taken out of my sails. BeautySak was offering a new code and I could finally try my RBL lemmings, but I wasn't even interested. Wha? Aaaaand, rather than getting polish w/ my personal money for these 2 wks, I bought 5 Philosophy 3-in-1s (dang Philosophy code).

Oh, I still plan on doing my nails and blogging about it and I have a pretty decent stash with which to do so, but I think for now, my wallet can breath a sigh of relief (I say that having splurged on Philosophy, LOL). Maybe when OPI's new Holiday collection reaches the e-tailers (certainly this won't last until Wizard of Oohz Aahs makes it's redux), I'll be ready to fall back off the wagon or jump back on it... depending on how you view the situation. LOL.

Has this happened to any of you? Am I broken forever?

Previous NOTD: OPI Red Like Roses w/ ChG Poetic

This was my KOTD about 3-4 days ago, so I apologize for not showing it to you sooner. :)
Anyway, as last week was HTF week on the MUA NB, I figured I'd use one of my (few) HTFs. Red Like Roses is from OPI's 2007 Valentine's Day collection. You can find it on eBay sometimes in the $10-12 range, though there are 3-4 sellers charging $22-25 for it. However, I got mine at TD for $4.99. As I am writing this, they still have them. RLR is a pretty metallic red with a gold tinge. The closest thing I have in my collection is OPI An Affair in Red Square, but AAIRS isn't nearly as glowy as RLR, and the gold in AAIRS is much more pronounced.

I went w/ ChG Poetic for the konad design and I used plate m64. I've used this plate 2-3 times since I got it, which was just like a week and a half ago. I love it that much. I think the golden metallic Poetic plays very nice with the golden highlight in RLR. Here's a pic:



I wore this for 2 days and then I got Orly Matte Top in my my VNS order, so I figured I'd use it to freshen up my mani.



I'd been interested in trying Essie Matte About You, but I didn't want to go to eBay or pay retail at VNS, so I opted to try Orly's Matte Top instead. Have you heard anything about Matte Top? Me neither. I'd heard about Nubar's matte top coat and Essie MAY is all the rage on the NB, but it seems Matte Top had fallen through the cracks. Now, I don't have any other matte TC to compare, but I'm in love with Matte Top. While it's called Matte Top, the finish it creates is more similar to a satin finish, but I think in that regard, it's much more user friendly. I have a couple OPI mattes and I don't really like the finish on them. It's so chalky. I think when I try my mattes in the future, I'm going to add a coat of MT. I think I will much prefer the satin finish to the "totally devoid of light" finish of a true matte polish.

If you are interested in trying a matte top coat, definitely give Orly Matte Top a try. It's cheaper than Essie MAY as VNS had it for $4.50 and the satin finish it creates would be fantastic over just about any type of polish, konad, or nail art.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

New BeautySak Code

I follow BeautySak on Facebook and they posted this code yesterday. It's for $20 off a $100 purchase, which is essentially 20%. The code is TWENTY and it's good through the 13th. BeautySak offers RBLs for $18, with a few occasionally on sale for $15-$16 and Lippmanns for $15, with the occasional $11-$12 sale price.

I was all set to jump on this bad boy. Started loading my cart down with my RBL lemmings when an OOS Teal stopped me in my tracks. Grumble. It was there 2 weeks ago. Oh well. If it doesn't get back in stock before the 13th, I'm just going to have to sit this code out and wait for the next one. Bummer.

EDIT: I received a notice in my inbox that Teal is now available. I frankened a pretty awesome teal today, so I don't know if I'll get these RBLs or not. I kind of OD'd on nail polish with my last VNS order, so I may still pass. *feels forehead*

Monday, September 7, 2009

NOTD: OPI Who Needs a Prince? w/ "nail jewelry"

About 2 weeks ago, I ordered some "nail jewelry" decals from a Hong Kong based eBay seller. The term "Nail Jewelry" is what's on the package. I'd been watching them for awhile, but finally decided to take the plunge. It was a set of 24 packs of full-nail decals with rhinestones for a tad more than $10 shipped. When it finally arrived (I say finally, but considering it came from HK, shipping was fine), they weren't what I expected. I'm not sure what I expected, 3-D full-nail stick-on decals, I think, but these weren't it. But, the designs were really cute, so I figured I'd give them a shot. I'm going to describe my application process first and post pics later.

I chose a pink tribal/flame design and paired it up with a base of OPI Who Needs a Prince?. I chose this particular design because it wasn't one of my favorites. I wanted to save my favorites for when I knew what to do. LOL. WNAP? is from OPI's Spring 2006 Princess Charming Soft Shades Collection. You can still find it readily available on eBay and at e-tailer sites. For all intents and purposes, it's a soft pink, but in actuality, it's an off-white base with fine red shimmer (thank you, Scrangie, for that description). But since it looks like a soft pink, it's what I went with. I thought I was using Makes Men Blush, but I must've grabbed the wrong one and didn't feel like changing 1/2-way through base color application. But now that I'm looking at both bottles, WNAP? works much better.

I applied 2 coats of WNAP? and a coat of OTD TC. Waited about 20 minutes and then started to apply the decals sheets. Rather than being stickers, these were full, thin plastic sheets that covered the nail. They were a little tacky on the back, but not sticky. Since I have wide nail beds, I centered these on my nail, as I couldn't totally cover my nail w/ them.

The process went as follows:

1. Remove nail sheet from plastic with tweezers. Go kind of slow, so the sheet doesn't tear. Rhinestone will be left on the plastic, so don't freak out (you'll get to them later).
2. Center sheet on nail. You can use tweezers or your fingers for this. It's okay to touch these on the back, until sticker decals.
3. Once it's centered, tap it down on the nail w/ your finger just to make sure it's stable, and apply a coat of top coat. Don't worry if the decal hangs over the free edge of your nail. It will shrink and draw down after the TC is applied.
4. Lather, rinse, repeat on all nails.
5. Remove rhinestones from plastic and apply to nail. I placed them in the same place as the manufacturer had placed, them but you can do whatever you like. You don't even need to use them. The look w/o the rhinestones was just as cool. I just used them to test the entire process. REMOVAL/APPLICATION TIP: Remove them from the plastic with your tweezers. Be careful not to rip off all the sticky. Apply them by using the pointed tip of an orange stick (I used of the small ones I got in a pack of fake nails).
6. Apply another coat of TC.
7. Take your tweezers or an orange stick and remove the decal from behind the free edge of your nail. It should peel right off.

I have no pictures of this process, just of the finished process, but I plan on taking some my next go-around. It's involved, but not hard. And it will definitely go faster w/ practice. This time took me around 2 hours, but I took my time.

Okay, enough gabbing. Here are pics:
I apologize about the sad state of my cuticles. I was tired and not as careful with the glue as I usually am.






And here's one of a couple more packages, these are just 2 I grabbed, I have cuter ones:



All in all, I really like these. It was fun to try a new product and I was happy it went much better than I expected. There's not a huge learning curve on these, either, which I like. If you are interested, you can get them from eBay seller, HoneyPlace (gah, that sounds dirty). Click for the item. Fair warning... I did not get the 2 designs pictured in the add. I do like what I got, however, and I can take pics of the 21 I haven't shown you if anyone is interested, but keep in mind, you will get an assortment from their inventory. Hope you guys like these. :)

Previous NOTD: Misa A Sin Worth Committing w/ ChG Awaken

I had to sing a solo yesterday at church, something that makes me very nervous. So I decided to take off Atlantis Saturday morning and put something on that made me feel confident. I had a bit of a fiasco with OPI If the Fuchsia Fits, so I had to completely soak off my new set of nails and reapply another set. That's why my cuticles look ragged in this pic.


A Sin Worth Committing is from Misa's Fall/Winter 2008 Poisoned Passion Collection. It's a brilliant dark blue shimmer, but it's not navy. It was opaque in one coat, but I did 2 just to make sure. I decided to apply ChG Awaken using plate m64. Awaken is a lighter charcoal grey shimmer. ASWC is still available at TD, and so is Awaken for that matter, but I got mine from VNS.

I did like this mani, and it did make me feel confident, but it looked so similar to a Maybelline Twinkle, Twinkle/Misa Got to be Real mani that I did a month or so ago, that I didn't keep it on long. I soaked it off last night. It didn't help that one of my nails never fully dried, and was still dentable last night, 24 hrs after application. Thus, I had a big knick in the nail.

Right now, I'm wearing OPI Who Needs a Prince? topped with some "nail jewelry" decals I got on eBay from HK. I plan on doing a post on these later tonight.

Hope everyone in the states is having a safe and happy Labor Day and if you aren't in the US, I hope you are just as safe and happy. :)

Thursday, September 3, 2009

KOTD: ChG Atlantis with ChG Adore

I'm going to start with pics first and yakking later.

Pics:

Atlantis alone

Inside


Outside


Out of focus to show off the sparklies

Konad

Left


Right
Isn't this kah-razy? Like nuts, right? I love this color. I mean, I have turquoise glitter on my nails with a design on top and it doesn't feel weird. It's that awesome.

Okay, back down to earth. Atlantis is from the new ChG glitters collection. I'm not sure of it's official name because I have seen any real PR stuff concerning it. I saw the display at Sally's (where I got this) and VNS has about 6 colors in stock (but not Atlantis). I think they are calling the collection Glitters, Shimmers, and Cremes, but I have no clue if that's the official name.

Anywho... Atlantis is dusty turquoise base (well, as dusty as it can be with a shitload of glitter) with uniform, square glitter in turquoise, silver, and holo (which look like little disco balls on your nails). The glitter in this is fairly dense and the base is opaque at 2 coats, so there's no need for a base color. I'd say this is a stand-alone glitter, more than say, a glitter topper (like a lot of the Sinfuls and Luv My Nails I own). My nail was almost completely covered in one coat, but I did 2 just to make sure there were no bald spots or streaks.

The one thing I didn't like about this polish was it had that annoying glitter application problem where the polish has a tendency to pull out past the free edge of your nail, especially if you are trying to apply too much at once. It's easily rectified by simply pressing the free edge of your nail straight down on to a flat service. If you go slow and do thin coats, you will lessen the chance this. Plus, it's not a problem that's exclusive to Atlantis. I happens to me with all glitters.

Also, it's bumpy. Like cobblestone, bumpy. It took 3 coats of TC (over the coarse of today) to even it out. There are still places where it's not super smooth, but since it's a glitter, no one can see the uneven-ness. It's just a problem for the wearer. I could see this driving me crazy if I was OCD about my polish being even. However, as long as no one can tell... I'm cool.

Annnnnnnnd, because I have ADD and am never content with anything, I added a konad design. This is a full-nail design from plate m64. I used ChG Adore (blah, blah, blah Romantique, blah, blah, blah perfect Konad application... LOL) which is a pretty turquoise metallic. I wanted something subtle and yet not subtle at the same time. Meaning, that it's not "in your face" like say a silver or a white would be, but it's not like a secret konad either, like a deeper turquoise creme or shimmer would be. You can definitely see this design.

All in all, I am so pleased with this mani. I think I'm part parakeet because I keep looking at it. It was difficult getting anything done today because I wanted to keep staring at my nails. LOL.

Lastly, you may notice that my nails are still short. I opted to use Nailene nails this go around. 1. I was in a hurry and using the tips requires a bit more time due to cutting and filing, and 2. it's so much easier to type with shorties. I'll probably go back to long nails for my next mani (I may have some cool nail art decals to show you... we'll see how they turn out).

That's it for now. Hope you all like this one. Don't forget to register for my WnW giveaway. See above for info and link.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Another WnW Craze Contest (not mine)

I just wanted to share about another WnW Craze Contest that is going on. Nicole, at MagicXMaid, is giving away an entire WnW Craze collection to celebrate her 100th follower. Click here to go directly to her contest.

Also, Nicole is organizing a Nail Bloggers Christmas Exchange. Deadline to sign up is September 14th. I still need to sign up, but plan to do so soon.

Revlon Runway Collection Nails Part Deux

I posted about 2 of the Revlon Runway Collection Artificial Nails last month. I had plans of using another box sooner, but alas, I got caught up in other things. A few days ago, after my latest unfortunate incident with Zoya (the one that sparked my Dear John letter), I decided to try another set.

I tried Minx this time, and lemme tell you... it's my favorite thus far. This is the only one that has received compliments from strangers (thank you, girl in Target). She was shocked when I told her they were Revlon rather than spendy salon nails. Here's a pic of them:



I just took this, and since I've had them on a few days, they don't look as good now as they did before. Also, as the base of the nail is sheer, and I have damage to my natural nails, you can see the damage. Thankfully, this is something that you only see if you are looking at unforgiving macro photos, or if you were to stare at my hands for awhile.

The design on these is different than any other funky french (is it just me or does the phrase "funky french" make you giggle a little, too? LOL) glue-on I've tried. Thus far, it happens to be the most flattering on my hands. The nails is a peachy-pink base, with a white french tip. On the white tip, there is a black fishnet design, and between the french and the base is a thin silver glitter line. One thing I really like is that the design isn't the same uniform size. It varies based on the size of the nail. I thing that really helps in making these look like expensive nails.

The length is very short, though I think the package labels them as "medium", but these are far from medium. I kind of like this length, though. One of the fortunate things about wearing glue-on nails is that I can go from long to short to back again without any effort. I'd been wearing my nails pretty long, and I'm finding with these Revlons that typing is much, much easier. LOL.

It did take me 3 boxes before I was able to apply them without getting glue all over me, so there is a learning curve (as there is with just about any new nail/nail polish related product), but they are a great product. Plus, I'm a spaz, so you may have no problems. Speaking of the glue, Revlon glue is the best glue I've tried. Seriously. It's the only glue I use now. I wish I could buy the glue on it's own. I love it that much.

I'm really pleased with these Revlon nails. I especially love Minx. I may even buy a box of these to have on hand. Also, after trying these, I'm eager to try a few more of Revlon's Artificial Nails (the Color Allure nails in Revlon Red look awesome). I may pick up a pack of these next time I scout for np at CVS (the only place I've seen the Color Allures).

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

WnW Craze Giveaway

UPDATE: I've had to cancel this one for now. I apologize for having to pull it. :(

Hi all, I have some exciting news. I happened to be strolling around my Walgreen's and I found some WnW Craze polishes. I didn't even realize this Walgreen's had a WnW display, as it's tucked away from the rest of the cosmetics, but they do. And tucked in this tucked away display were the WnW Crazes. I know that they getting easier to find, but I know that they may still be HTF in some parts of the country, and I don't even know if these are available outside the US. I highly doubt it.

Anyway, I really have no interest in these for myself. The bottles are on the small side and the brush is teensy, which means I'd make a hot mess with them, but I wanted to pick up a few of these to pass along to my readers and fellow nail bloggers, since they are a bit HTF. So I've created a little contest. This is my first, so let's hope it works out okay.

I got WnW Craze Jade, Lust, and Morbid. I basically got the ones that appealed to me, and those were these three. Here's a quick pic of the bottles:



Jade is a light yellowy green shimmer. Lust is an gorgeous bright pink (if I was going to keep one, it would be Lust), and Morbid is a black with teal shimmer. I don't have swatches,as I didn't want to gunk up the bottles, but I'm sure you can find them online. I know Scrangie had fab swatches of these nail polishes.

To enter, simply fill out the contest box below. All I ask is that you are a follower of my blog. I'm going to keep this contest running until the 16th, which is 2 weeks from today. Also, I'm opening up this contest to everyone, both US and international. Though, if you win and you are not in the US, I ask that you please tell me the best way to get the package to where you are, as I've never shipped to anywhere other than Canada.




I plan on having another giveaway in a few weeks, so stay tuned.

Breaking up is hard to do...

I think I'm going to have to end my relationship with Zoya. I have about 9 of them currently and I have had more of them in the past, but I've already given those away, because of formula issues. I wear fake nails, so I know the problem isn't my body chemistry. Maybe they just don't play nice with glue-on nails. I've used Indigo and Roxy in the past with success (which makes me think that it's not my fake nails), but every Zoya I've tried since then (Erika, Tosca, Kiki, Sienna, Raven, Evangeline) has been a nightmare. They just DO NOT DRY. It's not just that they don't dry, meaning they would still be dentable after hours. Nope, these bitches do not even set up a little bit. They are still gooey and peelable after hours. It's a mess.

I know I could try their color lock system, but hell... I'm not paying $50 for something just to make their polishes work for me. Especially when all the other hundred some-odd polishes work just fine. I've never had a problem like this with any other polish brand.

So, Posh, Kotori, Kiki, Sloane, Suvi, Raven, Anaka, Roxy, and my franked-up Indigo, I think I'm going to have to find you new homes. Some of you and I never even got to play. I may give you a chance to be good, but if you act up... you're gone. I don't need any problem children.