Purple Tips and Lunula (with Bling and Bow!)

Finally, I had some time to do some proper nail art! Here was my inspiration:

Unfortunately, I still need quite a bit of practice when it comes to doing ruffles. Here are some of my practice attempts:

Getting there, but definitely not there yet. So, I decided to tweak the design a bit. I started out with Orly Bonder base coat and then, alternating tips and lunulas, did two coats of Essie Lilacism and Catrice Plum Play With Me (less red IRL).

Then I added rhinestones, a tiny pop ball chain, and a couple acrylic bows:

Ta-da! My bows still need a bit of work but I'm happy with the look overall. Obviously not the same as the picture but I still think it's super cute and got lots of compliments! Now I'm all ready for the weekend.

French with Catrice Mona Lisa Is Staring Back

It's been a while since I did a nice, plain French and I really wanted to try out a new Catrice color I received in a swap so I went for it.

This is Mona Lisa Is Staring Back (with MAC Vestral White on the tips). It's a sheer, peachy nude with gold flecks. I am wearing two coats, one more would bring it to full opacity or you could stop at one for a sheerer look. I actually like this color a lot more than I anticipated. I am not usually a fan of sheer nudes but the gold in this one makes it more interesting.

One more reason to wish that Catrice was sold in the states!

The Best Chanel Jade Dupes Head To Head: Catrice vs. Milani

My recent obsession with nail polish is fairly recent, and my willingness to pay for high-end polishes is an even more recent development. So, of course, I missed out on last year's Chanel Jade. I honestly don't have a strong preference for Chanel polishes, but I do love mint greens, so I was pretty disappointed to see that it sold in the hundreds on ebay. I was pleased, however, to find out that there were some great dupes out there! I first found out about Catrice Sold Out Forever here: http://www.lushiousbeauty.nl/2010/04/catrice-nieuwe-nagellakjes-chanel-jade-dupe/
SOFE is the closest dupe in the comparison picture. It is not readily available in the US, but a friend of mine from Belgium was kind enough to send me a bottle.

Recently, though, Milani came out with a color called Dress Maker, and after seeing the comparison pics on Steph's Closet, I had to have it. It's available at CVS in a special display (or wherever Milani is sold), and also on their website. If you can't find it in a brick-and-mortar store, I highly recommend ordering it from the website as it is selling for quite a bit on ebay.

So, after buying both, I had to do my own comparison of course. Here they are, side by side (please ignore the lumpiness on my pinky, I broke it and had to use the tea bag method):















Yikes, my hands look so red in the bright sun! I have an olive skin tone so "lobster hands" usually isn't a problem for me, but these pictures would have you believe otherwise!

In the bottle, SOFE is slightly more on the sage side while DM is more minty. DM has more shimmer, SOFE's shimmer is more subtle. DM is slightly more sheer; in the pictures I am wearing three coats of DM and two coats of SOFE. Both formulas were easy to work with, but SOFE comes with a wide brush while DM has a thinner, standard brush and took a bit longer to dry (probably because it required more coats). On the nail, it's really hard to tell the difference between them except for the shimmer.

Overall, I love both colors and formulas. Of course, most people will not have to worry about which to choose since it's hard to find a place where both Milani and Catrice polishes are easy obtainable.

Hope this helps!

Catrice - Sold Out Forever

A friend of mine from Belgium kindly sent over some Catrice nail polishes! I had to try Sold Out Forever since it's a very close dupe of the famed Chanel Jade. It's a lovely, minty green with a very subtle shimmer (wish I had been able to capture it in pictures).

This is two coats. I love the color in the bottle, but I'm not completely sure if it works with my skin tone yet.

The formula seemed pretty typical of my experience of creams so far--a bit thick and streaky, but really not too bad. Can't wait to try the others, I really should have asked for more!