China Glaze Dripping Wet

Dripping Wet is, without a doubt, the sexiest polish I own. Deep, dark, vampy red jelly. Simply perfection.

Sadly, this polish is now hard to find. I was lucky enough to receive this in a RAOK (random act of kindness) from a sweet girl in return for a kindness that I showed her. That's the kind of karma I love! =)

This is two easy coats. The formula is great, really top notch. I've worn it with three coats before as well, but it tends to look black on me at three coats, while at two it still looks red in most lights.

Just stunning, no?

I hope you all are having a good week. Thanks for stopping by! <3

OPI Smitten with Mittens

I got a package in from my friend Moxie the other day. It had one polish in it that I was expecting, and two that I was not. One of the unexpected surprises was this beauty, OPI Smitten with Mittens.

Smitten with Mittens is from OPI's 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection, and it is hard to find at this point in time. Mizz Moxie found it though (she has a talent for that), and I really almost started crying when I opened the package and saw it in there.

Deep, cool red with gold glitter. It's perfection, seriously. 

Thanks again, Moxie. This baby is so perfect on me, and I love it so, so much. =D

Green to Blue Color Morphing Pigment

So... I ordered some color morphing pigment from a sweet Aussie blogger over at More Nail Polish, and the first of them came in day before yesterday. I frankened a top coat with the pigment, and that's what I have to show you today.

This is two coats of the franken over two coats of NYC Blackula. I love this so much.

It goes from green to aqua to a dark blue that's almost violet. I had a really hard time photographing this polish, and I couldn't capture the darkest shade very well at all.

I made a little scoop by cutting a drinking straw in half, and that's how I measured the pigment. For the franken, I used about 1/3 of a bottle of Confetti Tiara and about 2/3 of a bottle of clear. I started with 3 little scoops of the pigment, but I ended up adding more, so what you see here is 4 little scoops.

Beautiful, no? =)

PSA - Another $50 for $25 Deal for AveYou

8moms.com is offering a $50 AveYou gift certificate for $25.

Additionally, if you use the code PARENTING8 when you sign up at 8moms.com, they will give you an $8 credit to use towards purchase, so it ends up being a $50 certificate for $17.

EDIT:  A couple of ladies I know said they had problems with the box for the code not showing up on 8moms.com. I'm going to leave the code up in case it works for you, and sorry if it doesn't. =\

When you order from AveYou, you should also use the code FIVE for an extra 15% off your order. They offer $1 shipping with a $50 order as well.

AveYou offers SpaRitual, Essie, Layla Magnetic Polishes, OPI and tons of other stuff.

If you feel like using my referral link so that I receive an $8 credit at 8moms, please click here, and thank you VERY much for doing so!

If you don't feel like clicking my referral link, that's okay too! Here is the normal, non referral link.

Enjoy!

SpaRitual Eye of the Beholder

I have a bit of an odd choice for me today - SpaRitual Eye of the Beholder. I've sort of developed a penchant for buying these bright warm-leaning greens, but then I put them on and I can't decide how I feel about them. This one is super, mega-bright on me. I'm on the fence though... not sure whether to keep or purge!

The formula on this one is pretty decent. The first coat was streaky, and I had to apply the second coat with a light hand. It wanted to drag around my cuticles, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Not as great as some of my other SpaRituals, but these yellowy greens can be problematic.

Happy Hump Day! Hope you all are having a good week. Thanks for stopping by!

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

I've been wanting to try hex glitter polishes for a while now, but it seemed like most of the ones I would see had heftier price tags, like the Deborah Lippmann polishes. When Revlon released Facets of Fuchsia, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it without risking a lot of cash. After over a month of searching, I finally found it in stock at Target yesterday for $3.47 plus tax. Bargain!

The verdict is that I love it. It's purple (or I guess fuchsia) regular glitter and hex glitter in a black jelly base. I used three coats for full opacity, and I also used a coat of Gelous and a coat of Pro FX quick dry to smooth it all out.

I have to say that next time I wear it, I'll likely layer it over either black or a dark purple because drying time on this was on the longish side. I've had issues in the past with Revlons drying on me though, so that might not be the case for everyone. I like the amount of shimmer that built up in three coats, but I'm interested to see if it dries better if I layer it over something else. 

I really ended up liking this so much more than I thought I would. Win!

Macro for funsies!

Hope you all are having a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

SpaRitual Greenhouse

Greenhouse is the other half of SpaRitual's Love Your Planet Earth Day duo, along with Earth Matters, which I blogged about here.

While not quite as impressive as Earth Matters, Greenhouse is absolutely beautiful as well. It's a warm, gold-tinged green foil that almost borders on metallic.

As you can see, this is another of those greens that looks really different depending on lighting. Outside it takes on a cooler hue, while inside the gold really comes out.

The formula is good, though a little sheer - which seems to often be the case with foils, so I was prepared for that. It dries super fast though, so doing three coats wasn't a problem at all.

I was afraid this would be too warm on me, but I really ended up loving it. It's always a nice surprise when that happens. ^_^

Happy Friday, hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Milani Fairy Tale

I almost forgot to post this since it's 9:00 p.m., and I'm still busy working. I swapped with a sweet friend of mine for this polish. She actually suggested it because she thought I would like it, and she was wrong... I love it! =D

Black jelly absolutely brimming with beautiful fine blue glitter.

Great formula, though a tad sheer. This is three coats.

I didn't get a chance to take any pics of it indoors. It's not quite as crazy looking indoors, just because it really is such a dark polish. But still, I can see the tiny blue glitter winking up at me as I type, and that makes me a happy girl.

Thank you, sweet friend. You know who you are! =)

FingerPaints Cordur-Orange

We had our first blast of fall last week, which is actually kind of early for the deep south. It's warming back up again, but I've been in a fall mood ever since. I don't normally feel a desire to match my polish to the seasons (I wear what I want!), but this polish just screams fall. =)

It makes me want to go and pick apples and drink cider. It makes me want to drink pumpkin lattes. It makes me want to eat pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and wear a jacket and closed-toe shoes instead of flip flops... it makes me want to do all the things that mean fall to me.

I never buy orange polish, seriously. But I just fell in love with this when I saw it at Sally's. It doesn't disappoint either. It's a little thick, but that's often the case with FingerPaints' cremes. About 4 drops of thinner and all was right with the world. This baby is super pigmented and all around awesome - I did 2 coats, but it was honestly fine with one.

Maybe wearing this will conjure more of the cooler weather that was so nice last week!

Happy Hump Day and, as always, thanks for stopping by!

China Glaze Skyscraper

Skyscraper was released as part of China Glaze's Metro collection for fall of 2011. I resisted this polish at first. "Another blue glitter," I said. "I have Dorothy Who?" I said. "I have Absolutely Alice," I said. And as so often happens, resistance turned out to be futile because this baby is really nothing like any of those.

I guess I would call Skyscraper indigo. It isn't navy. It isn't royal. It's not purple. I've read that indigo is no longer considered a separate part of the spectrum by modern color scientists. I guess it's an orphan like Pluto now.

I'm still going to call this indigo. So Skyscraper is an indigo jelly that is positively PACKED with silver glitter. I cannot believe how sparkly this is.

The formula is pretty standard for China Glaze glitters. It was a tad on the thick side, but a couple of drops of thinner fixed it right up. I didn't even try it with just a coat of top coat to test if it's a hungry glitter or not - my assumption is that anything this sparkly will eat top coat, so what you see here is 2 coats of polish topped with one coat of Gelous and one coat of Pro FX quick dry. It's completely smooth and shiny.

I am so glad that I acquired this polish. It's completely stunning. No regrets whatsoever!

Hope this Tuesday finds you all well. Thanks for stopping by!

Catrice Up In The Air

I'm too tired to wax too poetic about this baby. It's not that I don't love it - I really do. Up in the Air is a lovely dusty medium blue creme. I'd seen a few posts of people having trouble with the formula, but mine was the same great formula I've seen in my other Catrices. I'll just let this one mostly speak for itself. =)

Thanks for stopping by!

Layla Magneffect Magnetic Polish - Turquoise Wave

Magnetic polish is like... magic!

See? Magic! Seriously though, magnetic polish has been one of the most sought after things in the polish world for the last few years, ever since L'Oreal and Lancome had both introduced magnetic polishes in a very limited (from what I understand) fashion. It's making a comeback though, and brands like Nails, Inc., Essence, LCN and Layla are all producing magnetic polishes now.

Apparently some brands of magnetic polish require you to buy the magnets separately, but the Layla polishes come with a magnet attached to the cap. The idea is that there are metal particles in the polish that react to the magnet when the polish is wet. The polish dries super fast, so you have to work fast and you have to do one nail at a time. You apply the polish, then hold the magnet very close to the nail for 5 to 10 seconds, and the pattern appears on your nails.

There's a bit of a learning curve, but I did a full mani with this one with very little trouble. You should also let the polish dry completely before adding your topcoat because if you put it on when it's wet, it will pull the design.

I'm hoping that as this trend continues, we'll start seeing different shaped magnets. One of the most coveted shapes is the star magnet, which creates a design that looks like star sapphires on your nails. Do want! ^_^

I ordered these from AveYou with my KGBDeals coupon deal. They retail for $15.50 per bottle. I have to say for as cool as they are, I probably wouldn't pay that much for them. The bottles are on the smaller side at 10ml, which makes them quite pricey. However, AveYou has these coupon deals relatively often, and there's almost always coupon codes floating around for them too, which makes getting your hands on these a little more practical.

All in all, I'm really pleased with mine. Pretty easy to use, interesting effect, and the fast drying time means that  it really does make for a quick and interesting mani once you get the hang of using the magnets. I'd love them in more colors, so I can sense another haul of these coming in my future. =D

Happy Saturday, and thanks for stopping by!