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.

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!

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!

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.

Nfu-oh 52

I really wish I had purchased more Nfu-oh now that I'm back, but I'm just glad I was able to score the beauties I did. Here's number 52:

It's a sheer blue-based purple jelly with flakes that shine blue or green depending on the angle and lighting. This is four coats with no base or or top coat. There's still a bit of VNL but it's not very visible when my nails are this short. This color is beautiful, I really could not stop staring at my nails. My only complaint is that it did not dry very quickly, took quite a while actually. Still, the color is worth it and it lasted quite a long time.

Here it is with Essie Matte About You on top:

Mattifying it tones down the shimmer/microglitter and brings out the flakes. Very pretty.

Still have quite a few untried Nfu-oh but so far I have not been disappointed!

MAC Quite Cute Bottle Comparisons

I picked these up on Friday and decided to do some quick bottle comparison pics.

Here's Ice Cream Cake (middle) next to Something About Pink (left) and Diamond Cosmetics Cotton Candy. ICC is a beautiful, blue-toned Barbie pink, and I really don't have anything like it. Definitely a keeper.

Here is Little Girl Type next to Essie Lilacism. This picture isn't the greatest but LGT is paler and a bit more gray-toned than Lilacism. I love pastels so I think it's worth owning both, but if you're not a huge lavender fan you can skip this one.

Mischievous Mint (middle) next to Revlon Minted and Essie Mint Candy Apple. Compared to Minted, MM is a bit darker and more blue-toned. Compared to MCA, MM is more green and just a shade darker. I think I will be returning this one since I have so many mint greens already.

Hope this helps!

China Glaze LOL

Whenever I see swatches of the OMG collection I always regret missing out; I wasn't into nail polish back then. I'm hoping to be able to fill my lemming with Nfu-ohs for the most part, but some of them are pretty unique. I really loved LOL and ended up winning it in an ebay auction for a good price! Here's my newest score, China Glaze LOL:

It's a dark purple linear holo. LOVE! This picture is taken with flash so this is what it would look like in bright lighting, but it's more subtle in low lighting. It looks like a metallic dark purple in low lighting, but I still like that color too! I am wearing two coats in the picture. It was a bit watery and hard to control, but I think this is better for applying a linear holo. There's less chance of bald spots which is a fairly common problem with holos, especially since they dry quickly. As with any linear holo, I skipped the base and top coats. This makes the polish easier to apply and maximizes the holo effect, but the wear is pretty bad. I took the picture less than 12 hours after applying and you can already see a bit of tip wear.

I was kind of worried that the holo wouldn't show up against the dark color, but that is not the case. It is a bit more subtle than it might be against a lighter color, but the holo effect is still strong. I actually don't have many purple polishes, but this was a great first step to expanding my purples!

Someone needs to start making colors like this again!

Cover Girl IceSlicks

I already swatched Anti-Freeze a while ago, but I recently bought a few more on ebay so I thought I'd do a comparison. I did these all over Diamond Cosmetics Crushed Velvet which is actually a dark purple, but it looks blue in the pictures.



All of them go on clear and the glitter is iridescent. The glitter in Arctic ranges from cerulean to teal, depending on the angle. The glitter in Krypton-Ice goes from teal to yellow-green. Orange Slush's glitter goes from red-orange to yellow-orange. Pink Ice has the same glitter as Orange Slush, plus a royal blue glitter. Anti-Freeze has the same royal blue glitter as Pink Ice, but also small specks of pale green glitter (possibly the same as the glitter in Krypton-Ice).

I really love all of these! Even though I only wore the different colors on each finger for this comparison, I loved wearing them so much that I did it on my other hand too. There's a good amount of glitter as a top coat, I am wearing two coats of each color. Not dense enough to wear by themselves, though. As much as I love these, I do have some complaints. First of all, they REEK! I'm sure it has to do with the chemicals (pretty sure these are not 3-free) but whatever the reason, they smell like rotting garlic or something. I don't even mind the smell of most nail polishes that much but these smell gross. The other big complaint I have is that they do not seem to mesh well with 3-free polishes. I put Seche Vite over my mani, but it was still dent-able for at least two days, maybe more. Also, I'm not sure if this is a well-known fact that I am just discovering, but it seems like when you put SV over polishes that take a very long time to dry, small cracks eventually form in the polish. Weird. Still, I love these glitters so much that I am willing to deal with it all; I don't think there is anything similar out there right now.

I know people have been able to find these at their local Dollar Tree locations, but I bought these on ebay. If you are lucky enough to find some, pick them up!

Chameleon Calypso

I was at Rite Aid the other day and came across this brand, Chameleon. Most of the colors are duochromes (if not all), but I was afraid it might be too brushstroke-y so I just picked up this one. Well, I think it's amazing! I promptly went back the next day to pick up a few more colors. Here is Calypso:





Isn't it amazing? The primary base color is kind of a metallic pinkish lavender that changes to a pale bluish silver, but in between there's dark blue, gold, and maybe purple? The duochrome effect is very strong. The finish actually wasn't frosty, it kind of reminds me of the Sally Hansen Chrome polishes; metallic, but no brushstrokes. The only thing is that it really shows every imperfection on your nails, so it might be good to use a ridge-filling base coat. Also, I added Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat but it didn't seem to have any effect at all, almost as if it had been absorbed into the polish. Weird. Other than that, the formula was pretty good. It was pretty easy to work with, but it dries very quickly, almost as quickly as a matte. You have to work fast with a fair amount of polish to prevent bald spots. I am wearing three coats in the pictures and you can actually still see through my nail a bit when I hold my hands up to the light, but the metallic finish really hides the sheerness.

Chameleon polish is made by Scherer, same company that makes CQ and petites (they were all in the same display when I found this one). According to the company's website, you can only find these at Rite Aid and they were $2.99 for .4 oz. There are some on ebay, but they're pricey.

I really love this color, can't wait to try the others!

China Glaze Cracked Concrete

Today I'm wearing CG Cracked Concrete (gray cracked polish) over Nicole One Less Lonely Glitter (hate the name-lavender glitter):


I used pretty thick coats of Cracked Concrete so the pieces are large but you can use a thin coat for finer cracks. Underneath is three coats of OLLG, but it's not opaque. I think I didn't apply as much to the tips as I did to the rest of the nail, though. I hate the name of OLLG but it's a very pretty color, super sparkly small hex and fine lavender glitter.

I love wearing these Crackle polishes over glitters! The glitter kind of peeks through without being overwhelmingly sparkly (not that there's anything wrong with that!). I really like this combo, it's edgy but spring-y at the same time. I have to admit that I wasn't crazy about the cracked polishes at first, but they're really growing on me! I guess it's just about finding the right combinations.

Chanel Pastel Skittles

I knew I wanted to try one of the Chanel pastel colors I have but I couldn't decide which, so I did all of them!


I thought the combination of colors by itself looked a little random, so I added some square rhinestones and little beads to pull it together a bit more. I think it's a nice, subtle way to add a little something without getting too complicated. The colors I used were Riva, Lilac Sky, and Pêche Nacrée.

Riva is a light blue cream with blue "hidden shimmer." The shimmer really isn't very noticeable. I found the polish to be rather sheer, but not too streaky. I am wearing four thin coats.

Lilac Sky is a lilac cream with a white shimmer finish. I found this one to be a bit sheer and also rather streaky. I am wearing three coats.

Pêche Nacrée is a peach frost. I found this one to be sheer, streaky, and you can kind of see the brushstrokes. Four thin coats.

I'm surprised at the formulas of these colors because the Khaki collection colors went on like butter! In any case, I'm sure these colors have lots of dupes out there and the money might be better spent on those. They certainly are pretty, though.

China Glaze Fault Line Over OPI Bring On The Bling

I received my China Glaze Crackle polishes today! I played around with them a bit, just painting them over my current mani:

I messed up the purple one a bit, tried to apply it differently but it didn't quite work out.

I also did a comparison of CG Black Mesh next to OPI Black Shatter:

Black Mesh on pointer and ring, Black Shatter on middle and pinky. It seems like you can get either more or less cracks with both, it just depends on how you apply it. Black Mesh dries a bit more slowly, though, so it's easier to work with. I'll have to do a bit more experimentation.

Here's my first Crackle mani:


Fault Line over OPI Bring On The Bling. I was dying to use this over a glitter, and I thought a multi-colored glitter base would be really interesting. I love this combo! I did two coats of BOTB; I wasn't worried about it being completely opaque, but coverage was good.

I wasn't sure at first if I really liked these cracking polishes, but I guess it just takes the right combination!

Recent Nail Polish Hauls

Bought these in the past ten days or so:

MAC Wonder Woman Spirit of Truth and Obey Me


Hello Kitty Bubble Gum and Purple Sprinkles


pa A113, OPI Black Shatter, Last Friday Night, Teenage Dream, and Castledew Purple Miracle. Here is one coat of each over Hard Candy Sky:

Thumb to pinky: Black Shatter, Purple Miracle, Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night, A113. I will definitely need some practice applying Shatter. Last Friday Night kind of reminds me of Purple Sprinkles, I wonder how they compare?

I love playing with all of these, can't wait to really test them out!

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Purple Diamond LE and Pink Rose Diamond

So I heard about SH Nail Prisms on Scrangie's site, and I was really curious so I did a Google image search. They looked amazing! Of course, when I looked for them on ebay most colors cost an arm and a leg, especially popular ones like Garnet Lapis and Diamond (not LE). The following two colors you can usually find for a reasonable price ($5-7) so I decided to buy them.

First, Purple Diamond Limited Edition:


It's kind of a dusty purple holo. From what I understand, this bottle shape means it's limited edition, but I would recommend looking for the regular bottle (as follows). I believe the polish that comes in the regular bottles have a much stronger holo effect, you can't even tell this is a holo from the bottle alone. That said, under the right lighting it is very pretty. Formula kind of sucked, it was thin, sheer (this is four coats), and never dries. I wonder if all older polishes are like this? Again, I would look for the regular bottle.

Pink Rose Diamond:


This one comes in the regular bottle and the holo effect is pretty strong. It's more of a linear holo whereas the LE is a diffused one. It's a beautiful magenta holo, and even in low lighting it's sparkly. In the right lighting the holo effect is very strong. Same formula problems, but it's such a gorgeous color! I waited about an hour for it to dry before I got frustrated and added a coat of Seche Vite, but it never fully dried (I can still make dents if I press my nail into the polish).

Overall, it's probably better to invest in some Nfu-oh but I thought these were pretty different from their offerings. Why don't they make colors like this anymore??

Valentine's Mani with Hearts and Pearls

I am starting off my V-Day manis (hopefully one of at least a few) with something very girly and cute! Here's the inspiration:

I think this is from Nail Up, though I can't remember which issue. I like the balance between whimsical and pretty; the hand-painted hearts are fun and unpretentious but the pearls add a bit of elegance.

Here are the tools I used:

Just a small brush (to paint the hearts) and some plastic flat-back pearls. You can find both of these things for very cheap on ebay.

The colors:

L to R: Essie Petal Pink, Essie Neo Whimsical, Catrice Lucky in Lilac

I started off with two coats of Petal Pink (sheer pink) just to correct the color of my nails (there is some staining) and to blur out the lunula a bit (the little white half-moon part at the cuticle). For the thumb and middle finger you can just paint the very bottom and skip the pinkies altogether. The sheer nail polish base will also make it easier to stick on the pearls. I then added three coats of Neo Whimsical, painting only the tips of the index and ring fingers, not painting the bottom part of the middle fingers and thumbs, and completely covering the pinkies. Next, I painted the hearts with Lucky in Lilac, which was the hardest part. It might be easier to use acrylic paint for this step instead of a polish, I'll have to try it next time. Finally, I used topcoat to stick on the pearls and then covered it all with more top coat.

Here is the finished product:



In hindsight, I should have painted on the hearts after adding the pearls instead doing the hearts before. I also planned on having smaller hearts (more like the original inspiration), but they were much harder to paint than I anticipated. Still, I am very happy with the result!