Royal Flakies

Yep, it's another cheesy layering title, stemming from my combination of Orly Royal Navy and an accent nail topped with FingerPaints Twisted. Not really much to say about this one except that it's awesome and my pictures are kind of crappy and I'm sorry about that, so I'll just let you look:

 natural light

sunlight

Isn't it preeeetty? My nail line wasn't quite as visible in real life as in the second picture, but I included it anyway because I couldn't manage to get a picture in just natural light that wasn't a little blurry. Oh, the mutability of my camera's moods...

Note: As this posts (I'm writing this on Thursday the 7th), I'm going to be starting my first of a month of 8:00, four-hour, daily geography classes. So, um, have sympathy. Or something.

Teal and Purple Ruffian

Hi! It's been a while...I didn't realize until I thought "Oh, I should probably do a post" and logged on to Blogger that it'd been a week and a half since my last non-PR post. Whoops. I guess I wasn't too motivated to do anything but read and see friends over spring break, which I suppose is understandable. Anyway, today I have my first attempt at a ruffian manicure. I used Orly Purple Pleather and and Viridian Vinyl. I wore Purple Pleather on its own for a couple days, then added Viridian Vinyl and top coat. Unfortunately, I broke my ring nail fairly badly right before I was going to take pictures, so I decided to leave it be and cut it after I took the pictures so you could get a better idea of what it looked like originally.

natural light

I was pretty happy with how I did, especially considering I did the ruffian part of the manicure in an Arby's on my way back to college. Yeah...it happened. I'm also definitely excited to do more ruffian manicures, perhaps including some spring-themed ones, since it is now officially spring. I'm also interested in adding other nail art to ruffians - have any of you experimented with that? I'm not sure if it would look good or be a nail fail, though I suppose it would depend on what design I did. Anyway, happy spring!

Mardi Gras Nails

Happy Mardi Gras! It's a day of indulgence, and while I haven't been indulging myself too much today, I did give my nails a special Mardi Gras manicure this past weekend. I wasn't even really planning on doing Mardi Gras nails until I thought of this and decided it was too good to resist. Who could resist having their nails dripping with gold?

indoors, artificial light

For this manicure, I used Zoya Veruschka on most of my nails, Zoya Savita on the ring fingers, and Orly Luxe for the dripping gold. Though my left pinkie nail was a bit of a mess-up, as you can see, I was really happy with the way the rest of them turned out. In fact, I actually got a "that's really cool" from a straight male, so perhaps that's one way to define manicure success. I meant to add top coat and see how it looked after some wear, but after a couple of days one whole nail peeled off before I had time to do so. I have to say, though, I was impressed with how long it stayed on! I'm really going to have to try to use drip nail art more often.

Again, have a great Mardi Gras - and let me know if you're doing a Mardi Gras manicure!

Day 6: Violet - Layering with Orly Love Each Other

I have a feeling this is going to be the month of long post titles...ah well. Today, like yesterday, I had a really hard time choosing what manicure I wanted to do. I had originally planned on Wet 'n' Wild Back Alley Deals, but after yesterday, I didn't really want to take off another glitter after only wearing it for a day. I vacillated for a while before finally settled on a layering manicure with Orly Love Each Other, which I picked up at Ulta on clearance a little while back. I decided to layer it over black, but to add Nubar 2010 in there for some extra oomph. So, I used one coat of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme, one coat of Nubar 2010, and four (I think) coats of Orly Love Each Other. The result:

natural light

natural light

 natural light

sunlight

sunlight

Sorry for being a bit picspammy, but I really wanted to show this off - it deserves it. Love Each Other is a purple/pink duochrome glass flecked shimmer in a ever-so-slightly milky base, though as you can see, the pink doesn't show up in this manicure. I'm curious to see if it would over other colors, so perhaps you'll be seeing quite a bit more of this lovely polish before the month is up. I still can't figure out why I'd never heard of it before, as it's a truly lovely polish. Perhaps a few more people will learn about it from this post - at least, I can only hope!

And here are the lovely ladies doing this challenge with me (I forgot to do this yesterday and didn't realize I forgot until this morning...fail):

Aly Loves Lacquer

Manicure Addict 

Dees Polish Endeavours

Bright Lights, Big Color

Life and Polish

Blue & Brown Plaid

Remember how I said in my last post that I've only done two manis since I got to college that didn't have blue in them? This is a continuation of that trend. I honestly do consider other colors, but I seem to always end up picking blue. Today's post is a result of my thinking that I hadn't done proper nail art in a while, so I did a plaid pattern with Sally Hansen Blue-Away, Maybelline Natural Beauty, and Orly Prince Charming.

indoors, natural light

indoors, natural light

Again, no sunlight pictures because the ones I took turned out like crap. In case you're wondering how I did this, I pulled the brush out of a gold glitter Kiss striper, wiped it off, used it, cleaned it, and put it back in the bottle. It's my cheap way of avoiding actually buying a proper striper brush, and so far, it's worked pretty well for me. Also, is it just me, or would a fuzzy plaid blanket in these colors be totally awesome?

Unoriginal Crackle

This is pretty much the least original crackle manicure that I've done - black and gold. I tried it out quite a while back when I first got my crackles, and unoriginal as it may be, I really like the combination. I used Orly Luxe and China Glaze Black Mesh.

indoors, artificial light

I know you've probably seen this look ten zillion times by now, but I figured I had worn it and might as well post it. So, now you've seen it ten zillion and one times! :) Sorry this is such a short post, but there's really not much to say about this combination except that I really, really like it - which I already said. Until next time!

Random Mani Challenge

Tuesday, Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes posted a challenge tag, and I chose to participate. The challenge is as follows:

1. Go to your lacquer stash
2. Close your eyes and pull 3 random items - JUST 3
3. Create a mani from them
4. Post your mani when you post the tag
5. Tag 3 bloggers

So, I did! The three random polishes I picked (knocking several others over in the process, since I had my eyes closed) were OPI Glow Up Already, Orly Happily Ever After, and BB Couture Pina Colada. At first, I had absolutely no clue what to do with them, but then my wheels started turning. Here are bottle shots of the three polishes in case you don't know what they look like (they're in the order above from left to right), and then the mani I came up with:

indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

While I didn't actually end up wearing this, I'm not unhappy with the way it turned out. I painted my nails with two coats of Glow It Up, then added one coat of Pina Colada and some dots (I used a dotting tool) in Happily Ever After. I like the muted look Pina Colada gives the glitter, and I'm definitely getting an Easter vibe. Sorry for the extra bits of pink on my ring finger - I messed up and was too lazy to start all the way over, so I just wiped off the pink. Or so I thought. I'm really glad Chris came up with this challenge, because I never, ever, ever in a million years would have combined these polishes on my own, but I quite like the result. I think I'll have to try something similar soon, with polishes of my own choosing. Here are my three tags:

Glitta Gloves (Kirsten and Nicole, I think you should both do it!)

!Kendal

Acetone and Old Lacquer

However, if I didn't tag you and you want to do this, consider yourself tagged! Also, please feel free to leave links to your challenge manicure in the comments on this post - this is one time I won't mind link spamming, as I am really curious to see what everyone comes up with.

Gold-Tipped Jade

A little while back - I believe it was sometime last week, but don't hold me to that - I decided to wear OPI Jade is the New Black from the Hong Kong collection, which is my favorite OPI collection to date. After a couple days, it was showing some tipwear, but I didn't want take it off yet. The solution? Gold tips, of course! I used Orly Luxe and Nailene tip guides, but because I was in a hurry and didn't stick the tip guides down well, my tips were a bit uneven.

outdoors, shade

Sorry for my dry fingers and hangnails! Eurgh. I do like the look, though, which is no surprise seeing as I love green and gold together. The combination also makes me want to try the same thing with OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui and Icing Spotlight (a dupe for Orly Shine). I'm still wearing my leopard print nails right now, but I got four of the China Glaze Anchors Away nail polishes in a giveaway and they arrived yesterday, so I imagine that's what I'll be wearing next. Which would you like to see first - Knotty, Starboard, Lighthouse, or Below Deck?

EDIT: Some awesome new nail blogs I've come across! Why do I always forget to do this?
Peace Love Polish
Gotham Polish
Josie's Nails

NailenePerfect Tips and Toes were sent to me for review. For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Gems

I swear, I must have nail polish ADD or something...I couldn't stand to go a day without adding something else to Purple Diamond! So, I used one of the stickers from the Nailene Bedazzled pack*, outlined it in Orly Luxe to match the stripes on my thumb, and added a coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment. In the process, I used far more top coat than was really necessary, so I got some shrinkage on my ring fingernail. But I think I had three coats of Rush on that nail in total, so I'm pretty sure that wouldn't happen normally.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, artificial light (it looks cooler than normal in this...not sure why)

outdoors, sunlight

I ended up pretty happy with this. I think "luxe" would be a good descriptor for this whole mani...pearls, gold, bling. Yep. :) Unfortunately, my index finger chipped, so I'll be taking this look off. You can't see the chip in the pictures because it's along the side of the nail, but it's enough to bother me. Ah well, every good thing must come to an end! Until next time!

*The Nailene Bedazzled pack was provided to me for honest review.

It's Finally Fall!

Studies are increasingly linking more illnesses to depression, including: osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, some forms of cancer, eye disease and back pain.

It's finally beginning to feel like fall here, so I decided to do a celebratory fall/NDAM manicure. I used Orly Enchanted Forest for my green, Hard Candy Mischief for the orange glitter (I'll show it on its own soon - it's a dupe for China Glaze Ick-a-Body), and an L.A. Colors gold striper for the gold stripes (duh).

outdoors, sunlight

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I'm very fond of this manicure - the glitter is much sparklier and brighter in real life, and it's very easy to do, especially with the striper brush on the gold. Also, I would like to bring something to your attention. See how opaque that orange glitter is? Yeah, that's one coat. If only every glitter was that dense!

That's all I have for today...I am absolutely exhausted, and it's not even 6:00. I hope your week is off to a good start!

Ulta In the Mood

I was out of town yesterday and had the chance to go to an Ulta, so of course I did...and I only bought one polish! I was pretty proud of myself - though I have to confess that my small purchase was partly due to the fact that I only had $10 and wanted to stop by Sally Beauty Supply to get a dotting tool. Which I did. But anyway, the polish I chose was Ulta In the Mood, which was on clearance for $3. Yay! Even better, I love the color - it's a gorgeous purple-tinted greige creme. I used three coats, then added some dots (using my new dotting tool, of course) using Orly Enchanted Forest and Rimmel Hypnotise.

indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

The first picture makes the polish look darker than it really is, but the third picture is fairly accurate, and the second is dead-on. Sorry my pictures aren't the best - I didn't think the sun was going to come out today, but when it finally did, I ran outside and took pictures without using cuticle cream...so forgive the frazzle? :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

WASP

I set out yesterday to create a franken of Chanel Khaki Vert, which is part of Les Khakis de Chanel. After experimenting with several different combinations on an index card, I finally came up with the following: 1/2 Orly Prince Charming, 1/4 Orly Enchanted Forest, and 1/4 Revlon Minted. The fractions are very approximate, though, so if you decide to do this yourself, mix small bits at a time (and really, that's a good idea anyway). I used an old Bon Bons bottle because I didn't want to use too much of my base polishes, and because they have one ball in each bottle - not two, but better than none. However, their small size does make them difficult to take photos with...oh well. I don't have any of the Chanel khakis, so I can't compare them in person, but I think my franken is a bit greyer than Khaki Vert. Here are two coats with top coat:

outside, shade

outside, sunlight

indoors, artificial light

I decided to name my franken WASP after the Women Airforce Service Pilots from World War II. I've always been rather interested in that period, and particularly interested in WASP after reading Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith earlier this year. Anyway, I thought it was kind of a good name, and I'm very happy with the polish itself. I may even make franken-dupes of the other two khakis...hm...


Here are links to the swatches I used in creating WASP: Frazzle and Aniploish, The Nailphile, My little world of polish by Lily Nail, All Lacquered Up, and Lacquerized. Thanks, ladies!


So, how close do you think I got?

Orly Purple Pleather

Purple Pleather is the last polish from the Plastix collection. It seemed to me like it was slightly more matte than the other polishes, but that could have been entirely my imagination. As with the other Plastix, it covered very well in two coats, and I probably could have done one if I used thicker coats. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture in artificial light before I took my polish off, so I just have two pics for you all today.

 outside, shade

outside, sunlight

Please excuse the wear on this one - satin finishes wear faster (in my experience) because you can't put a top coat on them without changing the finish. The true color of Purple Pleather is somewhere in between these two pictures. It's not as blue as the first one, and not quite as red as the second. However, it is a very pretty color, and, as with all the Plastix, I love the finish. Purple Pleather is also like the other Plastix in that it is not a particularly unique color, so if you're not a big fan of the satin finish, you probably don't need to rush out and buy this while you can still find it. If you ARE a big fan (like me) of the satin finish, though, rush out and buy this. :) Have a great Sunday!

Orly Viridian Vinyl

I know I said I'd be showing you more of the OPI Hong Kong collection...but then I finally found the other half of the Orly Plastix collection, and of course I couldn't resist! I already had Retro Red and Old School Orange, but all the displays I'd seen were out of Viridian Vinyl and Purple Pleather. Tuesday, though, I was out of town and decided to stop by a Sally Beauty Supply, and there was one bottle of each left!

It's been raining, so I only have inside pictures for this one...however, the color is very accurate. All of the polishes have a "plastic" or semi-matte (or satin) finish, which I absolutely love. I really like matte glitters and shimmers, but I'm not a big fan of most matte cremes because they just look so flat and make my skin look so shiny and greasy. Plastic finishes, however, are in my opinion absolutely gorgeous, and I really wish that some company made a satin top coat, because I would be all over that. Anyway. Aside from the finish, the color of Viridian Vinyl is very pretty. I don't think it's that unique - Sally Hansen The Real Teal, for example, looks very similar in the bottle - but the plastic finish makes it special. It's also very opaque, which is nice. I barely needed two coats. 

In conclusion, if you don't like plastic finishes, stay away, because you can find the color itself elsewhere. But if you're like me and love a good semi-matte, get your hands on this one.

P.S. Oh, and I added some glitter on the second day...because I just can't help myself. :) Sorry for the bad picture.

Orly Old School Orange

Old School Orange is slightly less opaque than Retro Red - I still had faint VNL and a couple bald spots after two coats, so this is three, and the pictures are color accurate.

 indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

Um...if you could just ignore the hangnail on my thumb in that last picture? Yeah. That'd be great. *cringes* Anyway, I like this color a lot. I'm not a huge orange person, though I like the color, but I think this one looks really nice on my nails. Application was very good, as it has been with all the Orly polishes I've tried, and I don't have a dupe for this in my collection. At first I thought maybe Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed might be a match, but it's a shade or two lighter and more yellow. I'm very glad I got Old School Orange, and I can definitely see myself wearing it again!

Orly Enchanted Forest

Enchanted Forest is a medium-dark forest green polish that came as part of the fall 2009 Once Upon a Time collection. Unlike Happily Ever After, another polish from the collection which I reviewed, there is no hidden shimmer in Enchanted Forest - it's just a plain, albeit pretty, green creme. Application was very good as with all of the Orly polishes I've tried, and I used two coats.

indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Sorry for the poor-quality pictures - the polish was so shiny that I had trouble not getting tons of reflections in my shots. Nevertheless, I do think the color is represented well in these pictures.

I don't have that many forest greens, so the closest thing I have to Enchanted Forest is Sula Paint & Peel Moss, which you can see here. However, Enchanted Forest has more blue in it, while moss is slightly more of a yellow-brown, mossy green (which is appropriate, considering the name). I like both colors, but I slightly prefer the color of Enchanted Forest - I find it is less likely to look black in dim light. However, I'm glad I got them both, and I would definitely recommend Enchanted Forest if you're looking for a non-peeling or more widely available alternative to Moss.

Stay tuned for Hidden Treasure later today!

Orly Retro Red

Retro Red is not red. Nope, it's actually a red-orange coral. However, I do still like the color, and I love the finish. This is two coats, and all three pictures are pretty color-accurate.

 indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I love using matte top coat over glitter and shimmer polishes, but while I like the look of matte cremes, I usually think they make my hands look oily or greasy. However, the satin finish of the Orly Plastix collection gives a semi-matte finish that does not look my hands look oily at all. I really like the satin finish, and I wish there were some kind of satin top coat.

Aside from the finish, I quite like Retro Red. It covers very well and I like the color, though I wish it was actually red. If you don't like the satin finish, a similar color is Sephora by OPI Cover Me in Petals. Here are the two bottles side by side, and then my nails in Retro Red next to the $OPI bottle.

While I haven't swatched these side-by-side, I think they are quite similar, though they look quite a bit different in the bottle (probably due to the frosted glass of the Retro Red bottle). If you have Cover Me in Petals and you're not particularly fond of the satin finish, you probably don't need both. However, I'm glad I have both.

Orly Happily Ever After

Orly Happily Ever After is from the Once Upon a Time collection from fall 2009. It's a dark reddish purple plum color with a very, very hidden pink shimmer - in most lights, it looks like a creme, so that's what I'm calling it. This is two coats with top coat, and I used a butterfly sticker from the Nailene Bedazzle pack* on my index finger. For some reason I completely forgot to get an indoor picture, though I did get an indoor bottle shot to show how the shimmer looks in the bottle!

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

That last picture is definitely the accurate one. While the polish does look more red in the sunlight, it is definitely not that red. While I wish the shimmer was more evident, it's still very pretty and a great fall color, and maybe it will make me feel a little better about not yet getting my hands on any current fall collections. Maybe next week when I'm out of town I'll be able to find some...here's hoping!
*A product in this post was furnished by the company for my honest review. See my disclosure policy for details.

So this is what happens...

...when I go to Ulta.

I was out of town today for an appointment with my optometrist, and while I was in the area I thought I'd go to an Ulta because there isn't one where I live. Of course, I picked up nearly every polish in sight, but I managed to narrow it down to seven: Orly Enchanted Forest, Orly Happily Ever After, Orly Retro Red, Orly Old School Orange, Sula Paint and Peel Moss, OPI My Private Jet, and Piggy Polish Just Before Dawn. I was absolutely thrilled to see that Ulta had an Orly Plastix display, because for some reason my nearest Sally's doesn't have them. Unfortunately, all the Viridian Vinyl and Purple Pleather polishes were gone...I guess I wasn't the only one who liked them best. Anyway, you can look forward (or not) to seeing these soon!

Orly Luxe

Luxe is another polish from the Orly Foil FX 2010 collection consisting of Rage, Luxe, and Shine (I won't be showing Shine, because my local Sally Beauty Supply didn't have it for some reason). Luxe is an incredibly shiny, cool-toned gold with bits of silver shimmer running through it. While the silver isn't as evident as in Rage, it is still obviously there.

Instead of wearing Luxe on its own and then with a matte top coat, I did matte French tips using Essie Matte About You.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I love Luxe! It's glitzy and shiny and gorgeous, and while it doesn't complement my skin tone as well as most of my other golds, I still love wearing it, and I can't stop staring at my nails. My pictures are actually fairly color accurate for once, and the picture taken in sunlight is spot-on. The matte tips are slightly more evident in real life, but they are subtle.

The next couple weeks are going to be pretty exciting - I've got several nail polish and nail-related packages coming in the mail fairly soon, so be prepared! :)