Candy Corn Mani

Whew, can't believe it's been so long since I posted! Things were pretty hectic for a while with midterms and papers but it's a bit calmer for now. I actually did another mani with spiderwebs but I forgot to take pictures and it didn't turn out quite the way I had hoped anyway, so here's my second Halloween-themed mani:

Yum, candy corn! One of everyone's favorite candies, I'm sure! 

This one's easy to do. I started out with MAC Vestral White as a base, then used Zoya Sienna for the orange, and Milani Yellow Whiz for the tips. It was a bit too many coats though, so next time I'd recommend doing the entire nail orange and then adding the white and yellow on top. 

Of course, I just had to buy some candy corn for the picture and ended up eating almost the entire bag.

Dodgers French

They were giving out Dodgers Hello Kitty plushes a couple weeks ago so I had to go, of course. I did my sister's nails for the game.

It was a collaboration between us, both the design and the work. She did the lettering, I did everything else. The blue tips were done with Blue from Love & Beauty (Forever 21) and red glitter heart was done with Milani Red Sparkle. The letters were done with acrylic paint and we added some jewels and I did a 3D acrylic blue bow. She added Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and an iridescent glitter polish on top for some extra sparkle.

Go Dodgers! :)

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!

Milani Gems over MAC Something About Pink

I did this one a while ago, because I was feeling festive:

Milani Gems over MAC Something About Pink. This is the new version of Gems, with pink glitter. I don't have Lippmann Happy Birthday to compare, but I think they are pretty much the same except for the fact that the small glitter in Gems is hexagonal and the small glitter in HB is square. This didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped; I am wearing three coats of each polish but I think it would have looked better with just one or two coats of Gems. I love the new Gems though! The pink glitter makes it more like party glitter rather than a holiday polish.

Happy Friday!

Milani Rockstar Heavy Glitter

Swatches, finally! This collection is really gorgeous. I'll start with the one-coat glitters.

Gold Glitz:


This one is a mix of gold and orange-y copper glitter. It's a nice warm-toned gold, just a little bit ghetto fabulous! Way better on the nail than I expected!

Purple Gleam:


Mix of dark and light purple? Or maybe purple and black? Hard to tell. It's just a shade darker in real life. I am not normally a huge purple fan but I do adore this one. Then again, I really loved this entire collection!

Red Sparkle:


Red is another color I'm not a big fan of, but this one is so pretty. It's a very saturated ruby red, great for the holidays!

Silver Dazzle:

This one is a steely gray glitter. I would say it's the most subtle of the bunch. Kind of like the glittery version of a dark, stormy gray. Seems pretty unique!

Blue Flash:

This turquoise glitter seems to be a mix of turquoise and light turquoise glitters. I think the "3D" effect I mention later is most evident on this one. Some people have asked if this is similar to China Glaze's Dorothy Who. I can't say for sure because I don't own DW, but it seems like Blue Flash has finer glitter and lacks the silver glitter that DW has.


The collection also includes two "Jewel FX."

Gold over Purple Gleam:


Gold over Blue Flash:

Gold is just a bunch of gold hexagonal glitter suspended in a clear base. There's quite a bit of glitter packed in there, though, so I don't think it would be too hard to layer on the glitter to fill the nail.

Gems over Red Sparkle:

Perfect holiday combo!

Gems:

This is three coats of Gems on my thumb. As you can see, it's a mix of small and large hexagonal glitter in silver, gold, red, green and light blue. I personally am not sure I like the look of this on its own, but it's great for layering.


This collection is really amazing! They are called one-coat glitters and the glitter is very densely packed. With some careful application, you could probably get away with one but I used two for the red and purple. They all seem to be a mix of light and dark versions of the same shade. This combined with the fineness of the glitter really gives them depth. With top coat, they have an almost 3D effect, kind of like those Magic pictures from the 90s. Drying time was quick (even the Jewel FX) and application was a dream! Hardly any cleanup needed at all. These really are the best glitters I've ever tried!

These were on sale at CVS, BOGO half off and they retail around $4.50-$5 per bottle. I read somewhere that the official release date for these is supposed to be in February so if you can't find them, don't worry! I am sure they will be available to order on the website soon.

Milani Rockstar Haul!

Here's a quick bottle pic for now, I will be swatching soon! These are all so pretty IRL, can't wait to try them all!

Top row (L to R): Red Sparkle, Purple Gleam, Blue Flash, Silver Dazzle
Bottom row (L to R): Gold Glitz, Gold, Gems

Milani Disco Lights

Happy Black Friday! I did a little online shopping but I personally hate crowds so no brick-and-mortar stores for me today! The BF and I have gotten almost all our holiday shopping done online as well so hopefully we won't have to shop too much during the holiday season.

Anyway, I wanted to wear something a little special for Thanksgiving yesterday, so why not a glitter?

Blurred to show the sparkly goodness:

This is Milani Disco Lights, four coats with top coat. I love, love this color! I told myself that I wouldn't be buying any more new polishes for a while, but I saw this at the drugstore and couldn't resist. I'm so glad I picked it up! It's a really gorgeous champagne pink glitter. It's still very sparkly and shiny of course, but the face that it's pink lets it blend into my skin a little so it's a bit more subtle than some other glitters. The amount of glitter was pretty average, four coats to cover. Each layer took about five minutes to dry which is on the slow side, but I think this helps to prevent the bottle from getting crusty and makes the glitter easier to work with. You can find Milani polish at CVS and some Walgreens stores.

Hope everyone is getting some good deals, but remember to take care of yourselves!

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!