Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Nubar Shock: Peacock Feathers revisited

Say it isn't so! I've heard that Nubar has discontinued Peacock Feathers?? So in honor of this classic duochrome, I've decided to post some new swatches. Straight on, Peacock Feathers is a very pretty blurple color....



...but once you put it at an angle, you can start to see a color shift:


and hello green!


Thanks for looking!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Diamond Cosmetics: Chainmail Charm

I adore holos! My last swatch of Chainmail Charm didn't do the polish justice, so this time, I think I was really able to capture the color nicely. CC is a charcoal gray holographic color from Diamond Cosmetics. It's more of a scattered holo than linear, but still beautiful. Re-wearing this color really makes me want to grab Zeus from the Hits No Olimpo collection. Check out some picks:








Thanks for looking!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Maybelline Express Finish: Merlot Magic + Kleancolor Chunky Holo Poppy

Merlot Magic is an old school Maybelline Express Finish I picked up from the Dollar Tree a couple of years pack. I just love darken reds and this color is awesome, just on the edge of being a vampy color...but not quite.



Than I decided to add one layer of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Poppy overtop to give it a bit more umph....perfect!



Thanks for looking!

Friday, February 24, 2012

Color Morphing franken - fail

Remember my Revlon Royal post the other day? I mentioned that I decided to franken a top coat using all three of the color morphing pigments mixed together. Well here is the result. I was hoping for some color shifting fabulousness, but instead, it was just a sparkly mess. Not terrible, but it lost it's shifting ability, there was just too much going on.

Shade


sunlight


Oh well, it was worth a try I guess ☺

Thanks for looking!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Toma Metallic Illusion: Heavenly Body

Heavenly Body is a purple / green duochrome polish from Toma's Metallic Illusion collection. I'm not sure when these came out, but I know I've had mine for about 3 years now, and it was old when I got it 8-) Head on, it's purple, but once you put it at an angle, the green really comes out.







Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

NYX: Purple Ave

So, I thought a flakie would perk up my IDGAR mani from the other day, and since I've not swatched it yet, I decided to try out NYX Purple Ave. Purple Ave is a sheer purple base with sparse amounts of green/blue flakies. There aren't that many flakes in the bottle, you have to really apply a couple of thick coats to really notice them...but I do like the two colors together.




Thanks for looking!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Revlon Top Speed: Royal

So, the other day I decided to franken a topcoat using all three of the color morphing powders mixed together. When I was thinking of what color would make a good base, I pretty quickly thought of Revlon Royal....then it dawned on me. I've only used Royal as a base coat, I've never worn it as it's own mani. So, I decided I needed to fix that. Royal is a perfect cobalt blue jelly polish, I used two coats for this mani.



Thanks for looking!

OPI: I Don't Give A Rotterdam

These names are just cracking me up! Love it. IDGAR is a periwinkle blue with gold glass fleck shimmer. It's the lighter version of I Have a Herring Problem - but this has the better name ☺

My only bummer is that mine didn't have the black flecks like I've seen in some other swatches. Did anyone else get the version with the black flecks in it?





Thanks for looking!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Milani Jewel FX: Lavender

Lavender is the last of the Jewel FX polishes I picked up. It's a mixture of purple micro glitter and chunky purple hex glitter in a clear base. This is one coat over OPI Vampsterdam. I wonder what's up with all the chunky hex glitters lately, you know, the kind that don't quite lay flat on the nail? I don't mind it, but I really miss "normal" hexes....



Thanks for looking!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

OPI: Vampsterdam

Ha! I love the name of this polish! I actually wasn't going to pick this one up, but I got it for the name alone :) I was surprised, it's got a bit of a frost finish to it, you can see some brush strokes - but what I do like is that it's a nice vampy dark purple that doesn't look black.



Thanks for looking!

Friday, February 17, 2012

OPI: Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?

I'm really impressed with the shimmers in the Dutch collection. DYJLO is a not quite dusty purple shade with some amazing orange shimmer. Once I started to see swatches of this color online, I knew I had to order it. I don't usually talk a lot about the formula of a polish, but I just have to mention that this one was perfect, it applied beautifully.



Thanks for looking!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Pretty Woman Magnetix: Silver Glitter

This silver glitter magnetic polish is another in the Pretty Woman set. There isn't much contrast in the designs, it's more of a subtle magnetic polish, but the addition of the glitter makes it different and worth picking up.

I used the China Glaze bar magnet for these picks.




Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

♥ Happy Valentines' Day! ♥

Happy Valentine's Day! The base color of here is Gouda Gouda Two Shoes from the OPI Holland collection. It's a nice warm rose color with orange shimmer. So, for V-day, I decided to break out the Konad. Every year I do hearts, so for something different, I chose the rose design from plate M65. I used Ulta Baby Doll to stamp with. Baby Doll is a very pale pink cream. I love the two colors together and I really like how Baby Doll is kind of subtle against GGTS. I was going to go with white, but I think the design would take away from the base color too much, so I'm pretty happy with how this turned out ♥



Thanks for looking!

Monday, February 13, 2012

China Glaze Magnetix: You Move Me

I have another brown magnetic polish to show off today, You Move Me from China Glaze. I used only one coat of color overtop OPI Nail Envy and the China Glaze star magnet....and wow! I've never gotten such a vibrant star pattern before, and they look soooo cool in person! I put this one Saturday and I may never take it off ♥





Thanks for looking!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Tigers Eye nails

This is another nameless Pretty Woman Magnetix polish from Rite Aid. I used the swirl magnet that came with it and I think it looks pretty close to a Tigers Eye. Soooo cool!! My only beef with these colors are that the magnets aren't that strong.





Here's a comparison of the Pretty Woman bar magnet to the China Glaze bar magnet. See how much more vibrant the pattern is on the China Glaze one?


Thanks for looking!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

China Glaze Magnetix: Pull Me Close

Man, I still can't get enough of these magnetic polishes, I don't think I'll ever get sick of them. This is Pull Me Close from the China Glaze Magnetix line. It's a gray-ish blue color. I used the China Glaze magnet arrow design for this mani. I'm a bit disappointed in the pattern, it's not really an arrow, but it still looks cool. The magnet is nice and strong, so I got a good clear pattern.





Thanks for looking!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Milani Jewel FX: Hot Pink

Hot Pink is another one of the new Jewel FX polishes that Milani just released. It's a mixture of dark pink and holo silver hex glitter in a clear base. I decided to layer it over my Pure Ice Heartbreaker mani from the other day.





I just got this email from Milani:


I've picked up Red, Hot Pink, Teal, and Lavender. I've seen Fuchsia, but have not seen any of the others yet.

Thanks for looking!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

OPI: Metallic 4 Life

Metallic 4 Life is from the Nicki Minaj collection. Here's what I did and didn't like about it.
Likes:
I adore all the different sizes of glitter
The glitter is very visible, it doesn't get "lost" in the black base
Dislikes:
It's very chippy, like I'm lucky to get an entire day out of it without at least one nail chipping on me.
My Verdict
The color, even though annoyingly chippy is still a win. I just love the different shaped hexes!




Now to me, the 1st thing that popped into my head when I wore it was that it was the silver version of Fortune Teller. I'm not totally off base, but they are definitely different. Here's a comparison of the two:


Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Pure Ice: Heartbreaker

I have been after this color ever since I saw this post from The Swatchaholic. Heartbreaker is a shimmer suspended in a milky clear base, the shimmer shifts from blue to green. It reminds me of the color morphing pigments. Check out in the picks how my index finger is blue but by the time you get to my pinkie its green. Love this! This is one coat layered over Eleese purple.





Thanks for looking!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Milani Jewel FX: Teal

Here's another new Milani Jewel FX color, this is called Teal. Teal is a mixture of teal micro glitter and larger blue, green and silver holo hexes in a clear base. This is two coats over LA Girls grey cream.



Make sure to click to enlarge the photo ☺


Here's a closeup:


Thanks for looking!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Pretty Woman Magnetix: Green Glitter

I'm soooo obsessed magnetic polish right now. I've always ♥'d the Star Magnets, but I'm so happy that they've come up with different designs now. This poor guy doesn't have a name, it's a mixture of gold glitter in a green base. I really like the addition of glitter to a magnetic polish.

For this pick, I actually used the China Glaze magnet because the bars were closer together.




Thanks for looking!

Friday, February 3, 2012

LA Girl Glitter Addict: Celebrate

I so ♥♥♥ this color! I found this puppy at Rite Aid and I just had it get it. It's a mixture of silver, red, pink, teal and blue hex and micro glitters in a clear base. Awesome! and I'll be using this for 4th of July mani for sure. I used Milani Black Cherry as the base. I love the vampy red base with this glitter.



Here's a closeup:


Thanks for looking!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

OPI: Save Me

So, do we know? Did the grounghog see his shadow? It's been a pretty mild winter in Michigan so far, so I can take the news ☺

Save Me is from the Niki Minaj collection. It's a clear base filled with silver micro glitter and different colored holo bar glitter. There's blue, yellow, green, red, orange...I'm not a huge fan of bar glitter, but when I saw this in person, I was surprised how much I liked it. The bars are nice and thin and don't overpower, and I think that's what I like about it.



Here is a nice closeup:


The base color is Fresh Paint Olive You. I found this color at 5 Below, I've never heard of the brand before....


Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

NYX Girls: Super Funk

So, I hate it say it, but this color disappointed me. Super Funk is a mixture of different sized fuchsia-y purple glitter in a clear base.....sounds awesome on paper, but the issue is the glitter is so sparse that you have to D I G just to get any onto the brush. I added SF to my previous Funky Fingers mani here. If there were more glitter in the bottle, I'd really like it....



Thanks for looking!