Monday, September 23, 2013

10:46 AM

Color Club Cloud Nine


    Hello, my lacquer loving peeps, Happy Monday. I hope your week is off to a great start. I decided to start mine off by trimming my nails down to nubbins and breaking out a fun flirty color. I know fall has officially arrived but I'm not ready to put away my pastel colors just yet. Besides holographic polishes are fun no matter what the season is right?

     Today I have a few photos to show you of Color Clubs Cloud Nine from the Halo Hues 2012 collection. I love a good holographic polish and Color Club never disappoints. Even indoors these polishes still know how to shine. I really need to add a few more of these to my collection, especially since Cloud Nine is the only one I have so far.

     I started with 2 coats of Cloud Nine. This polish can easily stand on it owns but I added a little nail art on an accent nail. I even tried a little crystal for the first time for some added bling.

Color Club Cloud Nine, Holographic pink
Photo was taken in Natural Light

Color Club Clord Nine, Holographic pink
Photo was taken in Full Sun
     I absolutely love this color and can't stop staring at my nails. Trust me, it's taking me way longer than it should to write this up because the light hits my nails and I get distracted. It's going to take me a little bit to get used to the nubbins but it needed to be done. I had a little streak there where a corner would break off of a nail and they needed to be uniform again. On the upside, all those dark vampy colors that are coming up look great on shorter nails.

     Which colors do you think are must-haves from the Color Club holos? I need a few good ones for my wish list. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!




Sunday, September 22, 2013

6:13 PM

Essie Wrapped in Rubies


     Today's NOTD post is Essie Wrapped in Rubies from the winter 2007 collection. A deep rich brownish red with subtle golden shimmer. My daughter was actually the one to pick this color out at the store and I was hesitant at firsts to buy it. In the bottle, it looks more brown than red and I wasn't sure I would wear a deep golden brown on my nails. But she begged and gave me her sad puppy dog eyes that I have a hard time refusing so I gave in and bought it.  I owe her a big thanks because this color is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

     Wrapped in Rubies seems more like a fall color to me with its brown undertones. Although in certain lighting it reminds me of a garnet which is more winter I guess. That being said this color will help transition the season effortlessly.

     I used 2 coats of Wrapped in Rubies plus top coat for this picture. The application was nice and smooth. The polish flowed nicely off the brush without flooding my cuticles. The first coat covered pretty well with only a few streaks here and there. Full opacity was achieved with the second coat and it dried to a semi-gloss finish

Essie Wrapped in Rubies
The photo was taken indoors in incandescent light

     As you can see that golden shimmer in the bottle doesn't transfer well to the nail. As I sit here looking at my nails I can get hints of the shimmer as I move my nails back and forth. Once outside the shimmer shows itself a little more but not quite like I was expecting.

Essie Wrapped in Rubies, winter 2007
The photo was taken in full sun
     Now don't adjust your monitors. That picture is unedited (except for the watermark) Full sun gives Wrapped in Rubies a luminescent glow on the nails unlike any I have ever seen. Still no real evidence of that golden shimmer but we can all agree it plays a big part in how this polish looks outdoors.

Essie Wrapped in Rubies, Winter 2007

     And one more shot just because I love how this one turned out with the green grass as a background. I only have a few more weeks of green grass here in Minnesota before the snow starts to fall so I have to take advantage while I can.


     So what do you think of Wrapped in Rubies? Do you think it is a fall or winter color? Once again thanks for stopping by and happy polishing!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

10:02 PM

Glitterfied Nails Part 2 - Team Spirit Polishes


     Today I have for you the second part of my Glitterfied Nails review. If you missed the first part you can find it here. This time around I have 3 glitter polishes to show you. 2 from the Team Spirit Collection and 1 from the Copper Collection. With school being back in session and football season underway it's a great time to sport your teams' colors on your nails. There are 27 polishes in this line but, if you somehow don't find your teams colors, custom requests are available. Now let's get to the polish, shall we... I'll warn you this post is a little picture heavy.

     First up I have Black Out from the Team Spirit Collection. A clear based polish with multiple sizes of superfine, hex, shreds and squares glitters in black, gray, silver and white.

Glitterfied Nails Black Out Bottle Shot


     Here I have 2 coats of Black Out alone. The application was pretty smooth with even glitter coverage on each nail. The white large square glitters were a little harder to get out of the bottle than the rest, but I was able to get some with minimal fishing.

Glitterfied Nails Black Out, Black White Glitter

      And a macro shot of Black Out. I love the flashes of color the glitters give off when the light hits it. I saw greens, blues, purples and, pinks while trying to photograph this.

Glitterfied Nails Black Out Macro Shot
     
      I wanted to see how Black Out would look layered over different polishes. So I tried it over black and white.

Glitterfied Nails Black Out

     I should have chosen a regular black instead of a matte finish one. I actually liked the way Black Out looked over the black better when it was still wet. The matte polish seemed to cause a hazy finish. I'm sure a quick layer of top coat would have fixed that.


Glitterfied Nails Black Out

     A quick macro shot of all the glitter sizes in Black Out. And look at all the colors I was able to capture in the iridescent glitters! 


     Next up I have Astro Turf, the second polish from the Team Spirit Collection. A clear based polish with multiple sizes of superfine, hex and square glitters in green, yellow and gold.

Glitterfied Nails Astr Turf

     A great polish for the avid Green Bay Packers fan like myself. No fishing for glitters needed for this one although some slight glitter placement is needed for full coverage. This is 2 coats of Astro Turf on its own.

Glitterfied Nails Astro Turf, Green Gold Glitter


     And a macro shot of Astro turf. Just look at all the different sized green glitters that are packed in there.


     And a few pictures showing Astro Turf layered over white. The white base really allowed the gold hex glitters to show through. 

Glitterfied Nails Astro Turf

     Now for the macro shot. Love all that glitter!   I wonder how this would look over yellow? I just might have to try that out for game day. I have a friendly rivalry with my boyfriend on Sundays during football season. He's a Vikings fan and a die hard one at that bless his soul. I can just imagine the look on his face when I show up in my jersey with nails to match!  


     And last but not least I have Patina from the Copper Collection. A clear based polish with teal  micro and diamond glitters, with copper bar glitters.


Glitterfied Nails Patina
     Patina gave me the most trouble as far as application goes. It doesn't seem to be as packed full of glitter as the other polishes but, you can see from the bottle shot my bottle had tipped on its side. I did mix it up before application, but only a little. Had I taken the time to properly mix it I may not have had any issues. The following picture is two coats of Patina alone.



Glitterfied Nails Patina

     Not a lot of coverage on the nail after 2 coats. And those larger diamond glitters were pretty hard to get on the brush.  I remixed the polish after this application before I layered Patina over white and my results were better. But first a macro shot of Patina alone. I wanted to include this shot because it allows you to clearly see the different glitters that are in Patina. Sometimes the different glitters can get lost when they are all piled on top of each other.


Glitterfied Nails Patina

     Here is 2 coats of Patina over white. As you can see I was able to get better coverage this time around. There was some glitter placement needed for the larger glitters. And a little fishing was needed to get them on the brush.

Glitterfied Nails Patina
    
     And of course I had to include another macro shot. It really is a pretty polish. And I think the name fits it perfectly. I plan to layer this one over my bottle of Polished Copper the next time I wear it. Wouldn't that look cool?!

    

     Glitterfied Nails polishes can be purchased for $8.75 a bottle on Etsy. Each polish is hand mixed and made with a 3 Free glitter suspension base, and all glitters are solvent resistant to prevent curling and discoloration.

     Be sure to check out the Facebook Page for more information on these and other polishes.

*The products shown were sent to me for my honest opinion. All photos and opinions are my own*
   

Sunday, September 15, 2013

5:06 PM

A little Nail Art- A Vintage Rose Manicure


    Hello, my fellow lacquer lovers. Today I have some nail art for you that I have been wanting to try for a very long time. I finally attempted a vintage rose manicure. This one intimidated me a little bit but, I finally decided to just go for it. Besides, if I really screwed up there's always acetone, right?

     I started with a base coat of Revlon's Enamor. A vibrant shade of pink. I would say it's slightly darker than a bubblegum pink but not by much. The following picture is two coats of Enamor plus top coat.

Revlon Enamor

     Turning to my striping tape I added a coat of Revlon's Provence and one nail of China Glaze's For Audrey. The roses I made out of Revlon's Vintage Rose, Enamor, and my white striping polish. How appropriate is that name, Vintage Rose! I knew when I picked it up on Friday that I had to use it with this mani.

Vintage Rose Manicure, Nail Art, Striping tape


     Ironically my right hand turned out better than my left, and I'm right-handed. I wasn't able to get a good picture of it, but I was able to get a close up of my right thumb. It's actually the nail I'm most proud of and had to share it with you. 

Vintage Rose, Nail art, manicure



     While I still need some practice with my free hand nail art I like how this turned out. It has encouraged me to try doing more manicures like this.

     I hope you enjoyed this post and as always I love hearing your feedback. Happy Polishing!

Monday, September 9, 2013

12:18 PM

He picks my Polish-September Challenge


     Today I have a very quick NOTD post for you. As some of you may have read, some bloggers are doing a series called #hepicksmypolish where the boyfriend or husband picks the nail polish colors used for that manicure. I enlisted my 7 yr old son to help with this. He was not overly enthused, to say the least, but did it anyway.

     The polishes he chose for me are Cult Nails Manipulative and Girly Bits Crunchy Leaves. Two indie polishes that I had yet to use so I was able to knock out 2 untrieds with this also. Double score!

     Manipulative is a robins egg blue with iridescent shimmer while Crunchy Leaves is brown, red and, black glitters in a dark grey base. Here I show two coats of each plus top coat.

Girly Bits Crunchy Leaves
The photo was taken in direct sunlight
     No matter how hard I tried my camera just wouldn't pick up the shimmer in Manipulative. Even when taking photos in natural light like in the next picture.

Cult Nails Manipulative
The photo was taken in natural light

      For this manicure, I also wanted to try out the two accent nails look. I'm not sure I would pair these colors together again. Maybe if there was a little less red in Crunchy leaves or if Manipulative was a slightly deeper blue I would like them together more. All in all, it's not a horrible combination though. I wonder if I can get my 9 yr old son to pick colors for me next time?

     Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the experiences bloggers have had with this challenge.

Friday, September 6, 2013

9:55 PM

China Glaze Infra Red


     Today's NOTD is China Glaze Infra Red from the 2013 Holographic Collection. I've had this in my collection for a few months now. All of a sudden the other day I had an urge to use it.

     Infra Red reminds me a lot of Orly's Miss Conduct. It's not quite as in your face and Miss Conduct though. Infra Red is a deep, rich pink with flashes of purple, orange, yellow and blue. The following picture is two coats of Infra Red plus top coat.



China Glaze Infra Red
The photo was taken in full sunlight

     The next picture I wanted to show you the more subdued side of Infra Red. Even without all the holo goodness, I think it's still a pretty color.

China Glaze Infra Red
The photo was taken in natural light

    I wanted to keep my nail art simple for this. I didn't want to take away from Infra Red with an elaborate design. And lately, I've been reminded that simple lines or dots can make a big impact.

China Glaze Infra Red with nail art   

     I love how this turned out. I thought about adding a few stripes to the other side of the nail and I still might for an accent nail. The jury is still out on that one. Would you add the extra lines?


     Thanks for stopping by and as always, Happy polishing! 


     

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

6:47 PM

Glitterfied Nails


      Recently I discovered Glitterfied Nails and placed a small order. Andrea was wonderful and added in a few polishes for me to review. I decided to split this up into two posts with the first one focusing on the great fall colors I received. All of these polishes can be purchased in her Etsy store. Each polish retails at $8.75 for a 15 ml bottle.

     Glitterfied Nails nail polishes are as Andrea describes them:
"Custom blended glitter nail polish made with a 3 Free suspension base, cosmetic grade pigments, and solvent resistant glitters. Wear alone or over a colored polish for maximum sparkle."
    
*All photos are taken in iridescent lighting and without top coat*
  Carnelian is from the Fall/Autumn collection. A red shimmery polish with an orange undertone.

Glitterfied Nails Carnelian   


     The application was smooth and even with full opacity in 2 coats.

Glitterfied Nails Carnelian

   I was surprised how much I liked Carnelian on me. Normally red polishes make my skin look very washed out and pale. Check out that sparkle and shimmer.

Carnelian


 Polished Copper is a part of the Shimmer Collection. A striking orange/copper with a hint of gold. 

Glitterfied Nails Polished Copper   

Just like Carnelian, Polished Copper has a smooth, even application with full opacity in 2 coats.

Glitterfied Nails Polished Copper

     Polished Copper has just enough golden shimmer to make this polish glow on the nails. It has that lit from within feeling that I love in a polish.

Polished Copper


     Ablaze is also from the Fall/Autumn collection.  This polish along with Polished Copper are the colors that made me want to place an order. A mouthwatering glitter bomb packed with micro-fine gold, red, orange and copper glitter. Red, yellow and brown hex glitters are reminiscent of the changing fall leaves.

Glitterfied Nails Ablaze 

   Application of this polish was surprisingly easy. There was no fishing for glitters in the bottle. I didn't have to play around with the glitter placement on the nail. Everything just seemed to flow off the brush with ease.

Glitterfied Nails Ablaze
   
     Check out that coverage in 2 thin coats! I'm still stunned by the number of hex glitters I was able to get just by dipping the brush into the bottle.


Ablaze

     I placed my order for the purpose of layering Ablaze over Polished Copper for a fun fall manicure. I think the two colors compliment each other is just the right way. Here is a photo with one coat of  Ablaze over two coats of Polished Copper.

     Of course I have to include a macro shot of this combination.

Polished Copper Ablaze

     Overall I was very happy with these polishes. All three colors have easy, no fuss applications and great coverage. Carnelian is my favorite one in the bunch, and that isn't even one of the one's I ordered. I couldn't be happier that Andrea chose it as one of the one's to review.

     Thanks for stopping by my blog. Part two of this review will have some more glitter polishes from the Team Spirit collection. Happy Polishing!


*This review is a mix of items purchased by me and sent out for review. All opinions and photographs are my own*


Tuesday, September 3, 2013

9:10 PM

Put Up Your Dupes! OPI Down to My Last Penny vs. Revlon Captivate


     Today I have a comparison of OPI's Down to My Last Penny and Revlon's Captivate. Both polishes are great colors for the upcoming fall season. Last Penny is a HTF Black Label polish that I was only able to get my hands on through a bog sale. I have found it listed on eBay for the hefty price of $65. Captivate is from Revlon's 2012 fall collection but I still see it in stores so I am assuming they have merged it into their core line. Captivate can be purchased for around $5 depending on the retailer. So how do these two compare? Will you need to shell out the Big bucks for Last Penny or be a thrifty polishaholic with Captivate?

     Well, we are about to find out. Let's start by comparing the two polishes in the bottle.



      As you can see both colors are extremely close to each other.  Both colors are a warm copper with golden shimmer.  Last Penny has more golden shimmer which makes it appear more lit from within in this shot. But will that make a big difference when applied to the nail?

2 coats of each polish no top coat.


     My official opinion is that these are not dupes. They are, however, similar enough that you don't need both in your collection. Last Penny has just a hint more orange than Captivate. I guess all that golden shimmer did make a little difference after all. Both polishes have a smooth application and full opacity with 2 coats. I am having a hard time picking a favorite because they are just too close in color, application, and coverage. The only real deciding factor would be availability. And Captivate wins that category hands down.

     Are you able to choose a favorite between these two? Thanks again for stopping by and as always, feel free to leave a comment. Happy polishing everyone!

Monday, September 2, 2013

9:19 PM

Revlon Captivate


     Today's NOTD is Revlon Captivate from the fall 2012 collection. A gorgeous copper with tons of shimmer. When I firsts saw this polish in the store I was in love. It was one of those bottles that practically jumps off the shelf into your cart. I'm really not sure why I waited so long to use it.

   
Revlon Captivate Fall 2012


     Here I have 2 coats of Captivate plus top coat. The application was smooth and flawless. I was expecting to get a bunch of brush strokes in the finish but to my surprise they were minimal. Speaking of application, I absolutely love the brush on this polish! It's not too big, or too small. Id say it's on the smaller side of the middle maybe? No matter how you want to describe the size it was perfect for my nails.  I was able to control exactly where the polish went, two swipes with the brush and I had my nail covered, and without polish leaking onto my sidewalls. This was by far the easiest time I have ever had painting my nails and there was no clean up needed.


     Even with as much as I love this color I still wanted to dress it up at bit, but I didn't want anything too flashy.  So I decided to pair it with another color from the same collection and make a gradient.

Revlon Captivate and Fall Mood Gradient


     What better color is there to use with Captivate than one called Fall Mood? A shimmery Gold with flashes of red and green. I love how well these two colors flow together without getting lost in each other. I'm still getting the hang of a proper gradient, but I'm pretty proud of this one. I keep staring at my nails thinking how pretty they look. I'm not looking forward to taking this manicure off but I will have to tomorrow. There are polishes waiting to be swatched and reviews that need to be done. Including comparing Captivate with OPI's Down to My Last Penny.


     What are your favorite colors for the upcoming fall season? I've got a glitter polish coming up on the blog soon that may just make the top of your list so keep your eyes open for that. Until next time, please feel free to leave your thoughts on this mani, any must-have polishes for fall, or a link to a fall inspired manicure you've done. Thanks for reading. 

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