Yellow and Pink Hearts

Whew, been so busy with school lately! I've mostly been doing plain manis but with Valentine's Day coming up I wanted to do at least a couple of fun ones. Here's what I'm wearing today:

Messy, I know; I was rushing. The base is Orly Winter Wonderland, then I did 3D acrylic hearts and some heart-shaped glitter.

Hope everyone has some nice plans for V Day, significant other or not!

Zoya Kotori, Crystal, Charla Comparison

I did this at someone's request but I thought I'd post it. I don't have Charla, so I used Orly Halley's Comet instead.

L to R: Kotori, Crystal, Halley's Comet

One coat:


Two coats:


Three coats:

At this point Halley's Comet was opaque so I didn't add any more.

Four coats (three coats of Halley's Comet):

At this point Crystal was opaque, so I didn't add any more.

Five coats of Kotori, four coats of Crystal, three coats of Halley's Comet:


With top coat:


As you can see, they are very different. Kotori, the sheerest, is a dark charcoal base with lots of blue microglitter. Crystal is a metallic light blue with lots of gold flecks. Halley's Comet is teal with yellow-green sparkle. From what I have read, Charla is slightly more blue and more sparkly, but they are very close. All of these formulas were very easy to work with and dried fairly quickly.

In conclusion, these three colors really aren't similar at all and it's worth having all three!

I Won!

I just wanted to quickly post that I just received my lovely package from Misa for winning her first giveaway!

The China Glaze Party Hearty pack and Orly Winter Wonderland were the prize, but she generously included lots of extras! There was a mini Orly Top 2 Bottom (base and topcoat), a mini Urban Decay De-Slick in a Tube, Konad nail stickers, and five Beauty Diary masks! I've never tried any of these so I'm really excited.

Thanks again, Misa!

T-Day Weekend Haul!

Hope everyone had a good one!

I did head to Wal-mart on Black Fridy, but not until the evening. It wasn't too busy and I didn't really look for any crazy deals (I was probably too late anyway). I just wanted to look at the Hard Candy stuff and I was so giddy! Maybe it's a little juvenile for some, but I love it all! So much glitter. Here's what I walked away with:

Nail polishes in Envy, Sky, and matte top coat; glitter eyeshadow and eyeliner duo in Ammo. Here are swatches:


The eyeshadow is supposed to be a cream, but it feels more wet, like a gel. It's basically just a lot of green glitter in a clear base. The eyeliner glided on nicely, but I'm skeptical about the staying power of both of these. I guess we'll see.

Sunday, I decided to head to Ross to see if I could find any Color Club sets since I've been hearing that people have been able to find them there. Score!

Electro Candy and Untamed Luxury Covered in Diamonds, $8 each yay! There was another set of glitters, but I resisted because I already own almost all of them, haha. There were also a few incomplete sets.

Oh also, that one bottle in the middle is Orly Shine, which I got for free from Ulta with this coupon:

Click the picture, print it out, and take it to the nearest Ulta to pick from a selection of three colors! Hopefully it's not too late! Shine is a silver foil (bright and shiny, not dark like the picture shows), Oh Cabana Boy is a neon pink, and It's Up To Blue is a pretty teal shimmer.

Very excited to try all the colors!

Orly Cosmic FX

Finally got around to swatching these, and I love all of them! They are really so gorgeous, the pictures don't do them justice, but I tried! Each swatch is three coats, no topcoat.

Galaxy Girl




If I had to pick a favorite of the bunch, this would be it. The base is kind of a dark, prune-y color and it shimmers plum and sky blue. There can also be some orange or green tones, depending on the light and angle.

Lunar Eclipse


This one is a beautiful royal blue with purple duochrome and sometimes you can see some orange.

Space Cadet



I'm guessing this is going to be one of the most popular colors. The base is kind of a goldy green with a champagne pink duochrome, but it could look more yellow or orange, or even almost lavender. The duochrome in this one seemed the strongest (or multi-chrome).

Out of this World



This one was a blackened purple base that shimmered purple and orange-yellow, although the duochrome was pretty weak. It mostly shows up as a very pretty, interesting purple.

It's Not Rocket Science


The base on this one was kind of a dark olive, with gold-green shimmer and apple green duochrome. This one was also pretty weak, but a very cool and unique color nonetheless.

Halley's Comet

This one is a gorgeous, bright teal with yellow-green flash. I don't know if this one is technically a duochrome, but it still holds its own in this collection. Perfect "mermaid" shade.

I can't say enough about these! All the shades are shimmery and glittery at the same time. It seems like they are filled with small flakes, so although they look sparkly, they are smooth to the touch. I think I topcoat would really bring these out more, but they are awesome on their own as well. With every color, I couldn't stop staring at my fingers. Each color is really complex and interesting, and I just loved tilting my hand at different angles in the sun to see what other colors would show. Application was mostly great, although Space Cadet could have used another coat. Drying time was pretty short. Highly, highly recommend these!

Orly Royal Navy

Didn't have time to post this before the trip, but here it is, Orly Royal Navy:



It's a very pretty blue if you're looking for something kind of plain. It looks like a bright royal blue in some lights (like in the picture), but dark navy in others. There's also some turquoise microglitter that didn't get captured in the photo. This is two coats and you can see VNL. I put on a third later and it was a little better. Because the color is so dark it's really not very noticeable.

Here's my recent haul!
L to R: MAC Jade Dragon and Rain of Flowers (from the current F/W trend collection), and Vestral White from the Hello Kitty collection (found it at an outlet).


While I was gone, I received my Orly Cosmic FX polishes from Transdesign:

L to R: Space Cadet, Lunar Eclipse, Out of this World, Halley's Comet, It's Not Rocket Science, Galaxy Girl

I'm really excited to try all of these! I will try to have swatches of the MAC ones w/in the next few days and then the Orly ones after that.

Hope everyone's ready for fall!

Orly Plastix Purple Pleather

My first matte/satin polish:









The formula on this one is pretty good, not too thick or liquid, easy to work with. This is three coats, but I tend to do really thin layers so this is probably the equivalent of two normal coats. The finish is satin, not super matte and not glossy. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, I think the fact that it's purple reminds me of latex clothing, like a latex fetish for your fingers. I think this would look cuter on short nails.

I bought a pack of the Plastix minis, so I'm excited to try the other colors. I think the satin (or latex, as I like to call it) finish would look better on the brighter colors.