Milani I'm Online

I think (with the exception of the fact that Hidden Treasure is still, alas, hidden) that the local CVS from where I picked up this Milani is a particularly well-stocked one.  I found my first few dusties there, the Milani holos for swaps, the Neons, and now the foils. I saw the rose gold one and decided that I needed to have it. Thank goodness that I did, because this shade is absolutely gorgeous and so wonderfully shiny. The pink helps it become less stark on my skin too, I think.

See how shiny that is in the sun?

Oh yeah--this is one coat. Yes. One.

And here, again, in shade.  I found also that it dried quite quickly with a dollop of SV, but I'm Online chipped in less than a day. 

And a picture far off, of course, because who would I be if I didn't do these things? XP I

Anyway. Gorgeous polish, but I don't know how I feel about its wear at all.

Sally Girl, Pink Glitter

:D

Say hello to Sally Girl's Pink Glitter (which, by the way, was unnamed in my local Sally's.  I had to go around ID-checking it in order to find out what it's called, which kind of makes me feel like a creeper. I know it's a polish. The fact remains creepy nonetheless. Also, this isn't glitter--well, okay, it's a glitter, but it's HOLO glitter. Surely that makes a difference?), which is absolutely glorious and absolutely put on at the wrong time. One would think that living in Mediterranean weather would allow for regular sunlight, but apparently I have to take that into consideration without assuming that, uh, it'd be sunny every day. I don't know how the girls living under grey skies do it.  Kudos to you all for your wonderful pictures!

Anyway, that's just the long way for me to say that the holo in this Pink Glitter just ain't holo enough.

I think it does the polish credit that I can say you see flashes of its holo even under the gloomy weather, and I wish that I could say that the next day (sunny) it was just blinding with holo goodness, but to be honest, I don't know.  I put on something else. At the state that it was in, however, it reminded me of Chainmail Charm, which only bodes well. Holo can only get holo-ier, right?

The technicalities:  the polish is opaque in two coats, although I think the third coat increased its depth by a little bit and also got rid of the booboos I make due to subpar application skillz. It is smooth to the touch, easy to remove, but quick to chip. I don't know how I feel about that, but Sally Girl lets out minis and they're cheap thrills, so I guess it's fine. :) I really like it, for what it's worth! I--dare I say it?--think this is a work appropriate color under the office, so it'd be nice to have something really surprising in the work-appropriate repertoire.  A, um, day to night polish, if you will. :)

Sparkley!

NOTD feat. two coats of RBL Recycle and two of pa a125, my favorite glitter topcoat to date. It's lovely! And I like how on a dark base the various shades of the glitters really come out.  This particular mani is reminiscent of Christmas trees. :)

I've been feeling a little off lately, and I'm afraid it shows in the weird pictures and the most recent postings.  I'm really sorry for that.  Also, this last pic makes my hands super red, but I think I've fixed all camera issues for now.  I hope that things will get better on from here!

BB Couture, Erotic Night

This is a horrible picture, but it's the only plain one I have of Erotic Night, so bear with me here! I'm so sorry.

Anywoo, this is a discontinued BB Couture polish and the most perfect blood-clot red jelly that I own.  It takes three coats to look the way it does, although one should put on regular topcoat and then proceed to knock their hands gently against virtually anything in the way in order to get that particular texture. There is no VNL, although I did note that adding coats seemed a little bit more difficult in application than the first.  This is a polish that will most definitely need thinner after the first few uses!

Anyway, because of all those boo-boos, I decided to cover it up with these:

I used a That's It? rubons in gold stars and topcoat. 

Hello!

Happy Earth Day! :D

(notd is RBL Recycle, my second favorite polish of ALL TIME. also, sorry about the... really weird color that's happening with my camera lately. I'm trying to fix it!)

OPI Hollywood Blonde

Okay, first things first--this polish is almost impossible to capture on camera.

Secondly, it's gorgeous in a way that I can't get to translate into pixels.  I was quite fortunate to run into Hollywood Blonde in my local CVS--they have a rack of OPI polishes, some of which are discontinued and/or black label--and snatched it up because I'd heard that it was essentially a beige Princesses Rule! I LOVE Princesses Rule!, but the warm pink translates to a pale color on the nail and is sparkly-stark on my skintone, so I figured that the warm, champagne version would be way better.

Do you see what I mean about the similarities between this polish and the formerly-swatched Princesses Rule!? (that looks funny.)  They have the exact same finish, and it shows; it has a sugar-sprinkled effect in sunlight and a stark textured effect in shade. Both polishes take three coats and still have VNL, although because the polishes are so shiny I don't particularly mind. It is--actually--almost a mannequin hand color, but it probably seems that way because it's sheer and it's difficult to judge because it's sparkly.

Lol my hand looks creepy and dead in here, but please try to ignore that for the quality of shimmer I FINALLY managed to capture. :)

Anyway, I think I need to try this polish a few more times before I decide whether or not it's awesome--but I like it! Definitely a work appropriate color that I could wear to the office, if I ever go to the office.

Pretty Ugly NOTD! :D

Do you guys remember that Blush mini set that I'd reviewed?  Remember that yellow one, that I said looked like plague?

I looked at it and decided that the main problem with it was its ridiculous, unbuildable sheerness.  I figured that once it became more opaque, it'd look okay! So I threw in some white and mixed it in and hoped for the best, and it turned into... this.

The pictures are slightly inaccurate; the color is a mid-way between a mustard and a green. It is... interesting, to say the least.

Then I said, 'To hell with it,' and threw glitter on top. This is what it looks like.

A close-up of the glitter, which, btw, is pa A125.

The yellow took three coats in order to make opaque, and that's two coats of pa's iridescent, hexagon-shaped glitter interspersed with iridescent microglitter.  It's truly something marvelous to behold. I can only imagine that it'd come alive against darks, which I hope to try soon.  As it is, this polish glittered like nothing else. It's lovely, and even better in real life. I think I'll be playing a little more with plague--er, yellow--a little more.  I've decided to make it a little browner, a little more 'Pea Soup' and a little less 'Pea Soup Horf'.

So, what do you think?  Pretty? Fug? Both? 

Sally Hansen, Purple Pizazz

An old NOTD that I'd taken pictures of before the camera fiasco, then never uploaded onto my computer. Man, I've forgotten how gorgeous/cheap/well-applied this is!

Anyway, this is Purple Pizazz, the deep violet jelly that I'd said I had decidedly not bought although I found it. A couple days later, I did, because I have no sense of self-control. On the plus side, it seems to be cooler rather than warmer against Milani Totally Cool (I will do a comparison once they are in the same place:  also, Pizazz has pink shimmer while TC has a pink shimmer that turns bronze) and, um, absolutely gorgeous.

Here it is in direct sunlight.  This is second-day wear, so please ignore the tipwear!

Aaand from the side, because I can't help myself.

This is four coats, which is generally a little too high-maintenance for me but the color was so pretty and the application so easy that it didn't bother me at all.  It's lovely.  I really like it. :)

I found my camera! NOTD: LA Girls Rockstar, Punk

I found my camera! Found the camera! Yaaaay! My swatches are not gone! My blog isn't dead! Everything is Okay!

*ahem* Anyway. Sorry about that.

This is Punk from the LA Girls Rockstar collection, and she is absolutely gorgeous.  The images that I have taken seem to indicate that it's a black jelly base with blue microglitter, but I think it's actually a dark blue jelly base with.. yes, electric blue microglitter that is also a duochrome.  (I know. What?)

These pictures are, unfortunately, a little bit unsatisfactory.  Punk is vibrantly blue. It glints and glistens and sparkles in the sun and in darkness. Moreover, although the oilslick duochrome present in the bottle isn't exactly rainbowrific on the fingernail, it does shift from blue to violet in angles.

This is just about the best picture of the purple flash I could get. I wonder why my camera's colors aren't vivid today... oh well! I have a camera!

Here's some bottle love:

Still a faded picture, hm.

I call this a glitter polish because I've yet to see how this is different from the Emerald Sparkle that I own, which has the same finish. Y'know, other than the color, or the brand, or the duochrome, or the application.

Oh jeebus the application of Punk was ridiculous.  This is three coats--two is probably enough, but I wanted to know if three would deepen the color. It does, but after a coat of perfectly good Seche Vite it gave me horrible shrinkage and some of my fingernails are still not dry.  It was runnier than I like my polishes to be, although not entirely uncontrollable, and there was also major, major, major cuticle drag.

Note to self:  apply either extremely thinly or a little thicker than normal, and use regular topcoat under the SV. I can only imagine that it'd be much easier to maneuver this time around.

Anyway. It's good to be back. :)

I'm not dead.

Lent is over, and I have a ridiculous amount of polishes (still) to swatch and review for you all, but my camera is missing! It is not in my apartment, nor does it seem to be at my parents' home... which could indicate tragedy:  I lost it and some chump is going through a bunch of pictures of fingernails, wondering who the crazy owner of the camera was.

If I find it, I'll start posting asap--I tried taking pictures over the camera phone and it is just NOT okay--and if not, I'll be buying a new camera. Either way, posting will start soon! I hope.