31dc2012 - day 1

Hello and welcome to Day 1 of the 31 Day Challenge 2012!
I'm happy to see that a ton of people have started this challenge already today and I look forward to seeing all the amazing manis throughout the month.

Day 1's theme is Red.

When I think of red nails, what first comes to mind is Christmas-themed manicures. It's a little early for Christmas...
So I kept thinking about red things, and here's what I came up with!

Apples!

I'm certainly not the first person to do apple nails, but I think they're pretty darn cute!

I love the mini-print. Polka-apples, if you will!

I recently made my blog a little wider to accommodate the x-large photo option. Do you guys like seeing the bigger photos? Or are they too big? I'm undecided!

I wanted to take a picture of these nails with an apple... But we had no apples. I settled for a box of apple juice! Hahaha!

I used my new favorite nude polish as the base color for this manicure: Orly - Decades of Dysfunction.
The red is OPI - Comet Loves Cupid, my favorite red creme.
Finger Paints - Sketchy Character is the brown - finally a time has come for me to use this polish that I have been keeping around "in case I ever need brown."
For the green I used a stamping polish, Nail Art Diva - Wreath Green, just because I didn't have the right shade of green otherwise.

These nails may look difficult but when you break it down, they are very simple!
My friend Jini from MakeUpMom123 asked if I could do a tutorial so I've done quick step-by-step photo montages of both types of apple designs!

I hope you guys like the tutorials! I think they're pretty cute.

One last photo:

This picture is totally over-exposed and weird but for some reason, I like it!

What's the verdict on these apple nails? I think they are cute as hell!

And in case you wanna see what's coming up this month, here's the challenge photo again! Thanks to Sarah at Chalkboard Nails for making this pretty image. See you tomorrow with orange nails!

Finger Paints Flakie Swatches

Hey guys! A few weeks ago, I picked up four of the five Finger Paints Special Effects Flakies. 
I swatched them pretty quickly after receiving them but totally forgot about the pictures until now!
So I'll show you the swatches today.
I swatched the four of these on a wheel so that you could see them next to each other.

Asylum, Flecked, Motley, Twisted

This is two coats of each flakie polish over black.

Finger Paints - Asylum - red/orange and blue flakies
Finger Paints - Flecked - green flakies
Finger Paints - Motley - green/turquoise/blue flakies
Finger Paints - Twisted - red, orange, blue, green and turquoise flakies
(The fifth polish which I did not get is called Flashy and that one is orange/green flakies, and is quite similar to Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, which I have already.)

As with most flakies, these are all duochromatic, so when you look at them on different angles, the colors change. You can see that when you look back and forth between the above photos.

Now let's see close ups of each one!

Finger Paints - Asylum
This is a really unique combo, I haven't seen these colors in a flakie polish before. The blue and deep red-orange contrast nicely. If you look along the edge of the nail you can see how the colors flash to a lighter yellow-orange and a deeper blue.

Finger Paints - Flecked
Flecked is all a bright emerald green flakie that flashes to a bright turquoise. Love this one. Reminds me a little of the color you would see in some Nfu-Oh flakies.

Finger Paints - Motley
This one is my favorite of the group. The flakies are shades of turquoise which get darker on different angles.

Finger Paints - Twisted
This one is basically all the other colors in one, which is a really interesting effect!

I decided to show you three other flakies in my collection over black to see how they compare to the Finger Paints.

Cult Nails - Unicorn Puke, Nfu-Oh - 50, Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure

Unicorn Puke is another mixture of every flakie color imaginable, the Nfu-Oh is strong green (with a dark blue flash) and Hidden treasure is a deep red-orange that flashes green.
50 is similar to Flecked but the color change in the Nfu-Oh is stronger and darker.
Hidden Treasure is not like the others I have shown but as I mentioned above, the fifth Finger Paints one which I do not have (Flashy) is a less-dense version of this.

Check this out...

Finger Paints - Twisted and Cult Nails - Unicorn Puke are basically dupes over black!
UniPuke is obviously different where it has the purple tinted base but over black, it's pretty hard to tell these ones apart.

I wore Twisted over Essence - Just Rock It!

This was a really satisfying combo because the flakies really stood out on the deep blue.

Finger Paints really knocked this collection out of the park because they actually listened to what the customers want, and brought us some awesome flakies at a really good price!
(Now if only companies would listen to the cries for more holographic polishes...)

a few comparisons

Hello to my new followers! (And old, of course.)
Today I was planning on posting some swatch photos of my 2 China Glaze Tronica polishes.
However, I am wearing Electra Magenta today, and when the sun came out for about 5 seconds I realized I couldn't show it to you without getting sunlight pictures. So lets hope that I get some sun in the next few days.
Damn cloudy Newfoundland!

So instead of posting that I thought I would post some comparisons I did on a nail wheel.

The second polish in each set is something I've bought recently, and then realized I probably didn't need it.
So I did some swatch comparisons to see the difference!
None are dupes, but I think some are close enough that you don't need both.

First, we have:
OPI You Don't Know Jacques vs. China Glaze Below Deck.

2 coats each.
As you can see, they are different. In person they look much more similar.
BD is purple-toned, YDKJ is not.
Being that BD was the only shade I bought from the Anchors Away collection, I was a little unhappy when I realized it was close enough to YDKJ that I didn't need it.
See, I probably won't wear these shades often, so I'm sure one would have been enough.

Next up:
China Glaze Shower Together vs. Finger Paints Carnation Creation.

This is what I like to call my "problem color."
I see anything remotely teal or turquoise and I immediately lust for it.
One day I'll post a picture of the swatch wheel I did of all my teals/turquoises. It is sad.
My cousin saw it the other day and said, "Are these all DIFFERENT polishes?! You have an addiction!"
...Anyway.
2 coats ST, 1 coat CC (should have done two, but that wasn't noticeable in person.)
ST has a bit more green in it than CC.
These are for sure some of those "you don't need both" polishes.
At least I'm aware I have a "problem" with this color!! hahaha

Last one:
China Glaze For Audrey vs. Essie Turquoise and Caicos.

More problem color. Lighter this time.
These are noticably different, but still, did I need both?
Probably not, especially where TAC was like 9 bucks.
FA is true blue, TAC is more green toned, but same overall hue.
I love both of these though. I'll just pretend they aren't so similar.
Off in my own little turquoise problem world.


By the way, I have fully given up on nail polish lent. I just couldn't do it!
Since Thursday I've gotten 4 new Milani's, 2 Sinful's, one Joe Fresh and one Covergirl.
I just keep finding new things so instead of feeling guilty about it, I'm calling the whole thing off.
Maybe I'll try again in April! :P

Oh BTW, I won a giveaway today! My first one. It is three shades from Milani Rockstar Heavy Glitter - Purple Gleam, Gold Glitz and Silver Dazzle.
Had I won this 4 days ago it would have been more exciting, but the Heavy Glitter collection just arrived at one of my drug stores and I got Purple Gleam for myself and Gold Glitz for my giveaway.
I'm still super excited though! I'll keep the second Purple Gleam for a swap or a future giveaway!

Speaking of giveaways, don't forget to enter mine!