Nfu-oh 65

So I think my laptop is fried but at least I'm able to use my old PC for now. It's slow but it works!

On to the polish. Finally got my hands on this one! It wasn't even in stock when I was in Korea so I had to wait to order them from fabuloustreet.com.

Nfu-oh 65 is a light blue linear holo. I like it, but it's not as holo as my 61, I wonder if this one is a dud? Still very pretty. The formula was the same as all the linear holos I've tried, a bit liquidy but easy to work with. I wore one coat of Aqua Base, then one coat of polish, then another coat of AB, then another coat of polish (no top coat). I heard this would make the mani last longer but I didn't notice much of a difference. Also, maybe that would account for the polish not being quite as holo as it should be? In any case, still a very pretty color!

Computer Broke!

Yup, my computer is broken. I am using the iPad for now and I should be able to post again soon but I just wanted to let you all know.

Glitter Bindhi Mani

I saw this design in a magazine and it really caught my eye:

I love the way it looks like a beautiful, intricate bindhi design, so sparkly, feminine, and elegant. It also didn't look too hard (no time-consuming florals!) so I thought I'd try it out.

Here are the polishes I used:

Top row L to R: Milani Blue Flash, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau, OPI Last Friday Night
Bottom row: no-name fuchsia glitter polish from Transdesign, Essie Splash of Grenadine, OPI Teenage Dream

First step was to paint little crescents with the glitter polishes, then shape them while the polish is still wet. I used a popsicle stick but an orange stick would be ideal.

Next, I painted French tips with the cream colors. I did this freehand but you can always use sticker guides of course.

Then, I added the sheer glitter toppers. As you can see the tips got a bit smeared so I would advise that you kind of pat the glitter on the tips rather than paint them on. This will minimize the smearing.

Last step was to add the pearls and rhinestones and a thick layer of topcoat:

After I had finished I realized I should have used a slightly darker blue but I still love the results! Rhinestone designs are a fairly easy way to make seemingly ornate designs without much effort. If you're not sure what you want I recommend buying one of the multi-sets on ebay for cheap. Born Pretty Store also has a whole kit you can buy with various rhinestones, orange sticks, dotting tools, and nail glue (link is my referral link).

If you're looking for nail art that is fairly easy but impressive, try this one!

Marble Confetti Mani

I've always thought that water marble manis looked cool but I had no idea how difficult it was! I had to experiment with a few different polishes before I got it right and also messed up a few nails before I got some decent patterns (decent, not great!).

I started with a white base, MAC Vestral White:

These are the colors I used:

L to R: Diamond Cosmetics Orange Blush, Color Club Almost Famous, Nfu-oh 553, American Apparel Office, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau

Here is the first nail:

I couldn't find tape so I had to clean up all the polish from my skin later (didn't want to use Vaseline or something oily b/c it might leave a film in the water, preventing the drops of polish from spreading correctly).

Afterward, I added some heart-shaped glitter and colorful rhinestones. Here's the finished product:

It's not quite what I hoped for but I still think it looks fun, like birthday party decorations!

For more detailed instructions on water marbling (and better designs) check out this blog:
http://mysimplelittlepleasures.blogspot.com/
She's so pro! Hopefully I'll be just as good some day!

WnW Gray's Anatomy

If you haven't checked out the selection of Wet 'n' Wild polishes at your local drugstore yet, you should! They've come out with a lot of great stuff lately.

This is Gray's Anatomy which is supposedly very close to Lippmann's Wicked Game. I do know that this one is much sheerer though, I am wearing four coats in the pictures. Nonetheless it's a very interesting color, silver with green and magenta duochrome. I am sure the Lippmann has a much better formula and if you really love the color, I think it's worth the $16. I personally was not super interested so a few coats of a $2 nail polish was fine for me!

Urban Decay 24/7 Haul!

So I totally missed out on the 15th anniversary eyeliner set but I decided to buy the colors I really wanted on ebay. They're not too bad, usually around $7-10 shipped, except Perversion which is usually $18-22.

Top to bottom: Honey, Perversion, Asphyxia, Electric, Mildew
I actually had changed my mind about buying Perversion but I forgot about the snipe I set and I ended up winning it on ebay.

Then, I saw a bunch of 24/7 Shadow Pencils for a great price on ebay! I got them today.

Top to bottom: Mercury, Barracuda, Wasteland, Rehab, Lit, Morphine, Delinquent (Morphine I purchased a while ago and Mercury I received in a swap but I really wanted to take a pic of them together!)
I love these! They really last forever and they come in lots of great colors. Just a few more and I'll have them all, haha. I do tend to be a collector when it comes to things I like.

Happy weekend everyone!

Pink Nails with Jewels and Floral Accent

I was looking for a simple nail art design to try and found this one:

I thought it was really cute, I love the contrast of the navy nail against the pink nails, and that the flowers on the accent nail match the pink of the other nails. I didn't quite execute it as nicely, though; I need to work on my florals! Here's how it turned out:

I used Hello Kitty nail polish in Bubble Gum for the pink, Diamond Cosmetics Midnight Blue for the navy. The flowers were painted on with acrylic paint using a small brush and a toothpick. I attached a mix of rhinestones, bullion beads and hex glitter on the sparkly nails.

Looking at the design now, it kinda looks random, not as cohesive as I thought. I still like it though! Nail art is always fun!

Wet 'n' Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer

Here's a quick swatch for today:

I actually wore this a couple of months ago. It's a very pretty blue-based purple frost. Easy to apply, I believe this was three coats. WnW has really been stepping up their game! They've come out with some great polishes and I've been loving their eyeshadows as well. So cheap too, the polishes and eyeshadow trios are $1.99 each! Yay for quality makeup at cheap prices!

Fyrinnae Haul

I've never tried loose eyeshadows before but I really fell in love with lots of Fyrinnae swatches I saw online so I decided to give them a try. I am definitely not disappointed! The colors are complex, unique, and beautiful. Make sure to enlarge the pictures!

Without flash:

With flash:

(AM = Arcane Magic)
AM Evocation, AM Madame & Eve's, AM Dragonmagic
AM Greenman's Forest, AM Glitterboi, AM Sequined Master
AM Feline Familiars, Immortality, Catrina Cabaret (free sample)

These are all sample sizes, I believe they are $2 each. I think the Arcane Magic colors come with a bit less than the regular colors and Catrina Cabaret came with a lot less because it was free. I didn't include swatches because you really need an eyeshadow adhesive like their Pixie Epoxy, which is on its way to me. I have the LASplash one but I find it a bit hard to work with, I think it dries too quickly. You can also apply them wet, but I haven't tried that yet.

I also bought one of their full-size Glow Blushes in the color Charm:

It actually looks more like hot pink IRL but it shows up as a bright pastel pink on me. I like it a lot but I still have to learn how to put it on correctly. I feel like I always put on too much or too little. I like that it's not peachy though; not that there's anything wrong with peachy pinks but I just really wanted a pure pink pastel blush.

I think there's definitely a learning curve for applying loose powders and I haven't quite mastered it yet. Still, I'm really happy with my purchase and looking forward to ordering more!

Nfu-oh 51

Here's another color from my Korea/Nfu-oh haul!

Nfu-oh 52 is a purple jelly base with multi-chrome flakes and mini glitter. They flash pretty much every color from red to teal. I tried to show it in the pictures but it's hard to capture. I am wearing two coats and the VNL in the pictures is much worse than IRL, where it was actually very hard to see. Formula was great to work with and the polish lasts a long time; I believe this picture was taken three or four days after I did my mani and there's only a bit of tip wear, no chipping. It does take longer than average to dry but it's not too bad.

This polish is said to be a Clarins 230 (a.k.a. Unicorn Pee) dupe. It's clearly not a true dupe as 52 is a flakey and Clarins 230 is a shimmer, but there are definite similarities. I will have to do a comparison sometime.