china glaze - harmony - swatch and review and stamping test

Hi lovlies, short post today before work.
Today I'm going to show you Harmony, from China Glaze's Romantiques collection.
This is the only one I have from the collection but it was very hard for me to leave the others at the store. Haha.
(I really want the pink/blue/green/dark gray)

Harmony is a metallic purple chrome polish. Lovely in 1 coat.

It was hard to get the right color. I think it is really somewhere in between the two pictures.

So of course, this polish is awesome for stamping.

Great over all colors.
I used it in this manicure for stamping.

I can almost hear the other Romantiques calling me from Chatters.... hahaha.
I have displayed such willpower it is ridiculous.
Last night I found Essie's Brazillant collection at Shoppers and somehow managed to not buy Smooth Sailing and Absolutely Shore.
What a good almost-no-buy I have been having! Such willpower!
(Not buying the Essie's was moreso due to their 11.99 price tag. I wonder if I can get them cheaper online...)

Off to work, and then back to work on the zebra wall I mentioned yesterday!

It still needs another coat but it is awesome.

zoya - faye - swatch and review and sponging nail art!

Good morning! Today I have another polish that Leslie sent me :)
This is my first (and still my only) Zoya polish.

Leslie included this polish in her package to me because she wasn't sure if she liked it on her skintone, and I'm not sure if I like it on mine either.
Is it possible for a polish to have too much shimmer? Haha!

I found the formula a bit hard to work with. Normally when I paint my nails, I do all 5 fingers on one hand and then do the second coat right away, and then the third if necessary. But with Faye, while I was doing the second coat, the polish on my tips decided to all just smear off. So I had to blob more on and it got messy.
So I let it dry longer before the third coat, and it still kinda dragged at the tip.

Anyway, so I don't really dig it on it's own. (My mom loves it, however.)
But then I saw someone use Faye for sponging. (The Polished Perfectionist.)
And it was beautiful. So naturally I had to try it out too!

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Trouble Maker. You may remember that this is one of my favorite polishes. (Speaking of favorites, someone suggested in my giveaway form that I do more favorites, and I realized that I really do need to update that!)

2 careful coats. 3 if you're sloppy.
(Trouble Maker did not want to photograph on its own, the picture of it with Faye is more color accurate.)
So then I got to spongin'.

Beeeeautiful!
I think that if you have more of the Sunshine collection from Zoya you should try them over a shade similar to the base. Like Apple over something green. I think that would be fab.

So pretty.
And then I decided to add some girly stamping because it was looking pretty girly already.

The stamp made it sorta classy, I guess. My mom LOVES it.
It's definitely different from what I usually do but I like it!

The stamp is from an ebay fauxnad set, and I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep.

:)
That's all for today!
I'm staying with my cousin for the next few days, so I don't know how much I'll be around.
Today we're painting one of her walls zebra print! Haha. Using my nail talents on a wall ;)

sally hansen nail prisms - lapis amethyst - swatch and review

Hey lovlies, second post today, this one for my friend and fellow blogger Ame from GiMiKd Girl.
Ame loves Sally Hansen Nail Prisms. She loves them so much, she has a page dedicated to them!
In looking at her page of them, I noticed that my one Nail Prisms polish did not look like the version she posted of it. So I told her I would show her mine! So Ame, here you go!

This was done after I swatched a bunch of red polishes so of course macro picked up my slightly red cuticles. Ignore that please!

This is FIVE coats. It is really, really thin. Not just sheer, but thin. I knew I wouldn't be trying to keep it on my nails, so I didn't care about the dry time of five coats. I just wanted to build it up enough to show the color.

This is just a light blue sorta metallic sorta shimmery polish. There is a purple flash in the bottle which you can see in my pictures, but it does not come out on the nail.

I'm not a huge fan of it. I think 10-year-old me bought one of the least interesting polishes in the collection. Typical! (But this also proves that lacquer does not die after a year.)

I decided to try layering it over black, because I figured that would be awesome, and maybe end up sort of like the HD polishes over black. And I was right!

It turned so turquoise! Total surprise. A good surprise.
I'll be rockin' this baby over black for sure.

I hope you liked this, Ame! :)

china glaze atlantis vs. sinful colors nail junkie

Hey guys, I have a comparison for you today!
On another blog I saw someone say that Nail Junkie is a dupe for Atlantis, and I am here today to prove that wrong. Haha.
(These are both swatched on my right hand so the pictures are a bit awkward.)

They are similar, but not near dupes.

Atlantis is a green base, slightly blue tint, with silver and holographic glitter. Three coats for full coverage.

Atlantis is pure gorgeousness. I am so happy that I got my hands on this when Sally's had that Treasures collection.

Now for Nail Junkie. This was one of the polishes on my wishlist that Leslie got me! Thanks Leslie!

Nail Junkie is a blue jelly base with a bit of a green tint, and iridescent glitter.
This is 4 coats. This polish is really thick and gel-like, I don't think it was designed to wear alone. (Unlike Atlantis which builds well and is not gel-like.)

I wasn't sure if Seche Vite could even dry 4 coats of this, but it did eventually.
Despite the thickness, I love this polish too, but I don't think I'll wear it on it's own again. Like I said, I think it is supposed to be layered!

It has the same sort of glitter that is in polishes like OPI's Last Friday Night.
Actually, this is a loooot like Last Friday Night in glitter and formula, but the shade is much different.

I think this comparison photo is the best for seeing the difference! One coat on paper.
Blue vs. green and small silver/holo glitter vs. iridescent.

Which one do you like better?
I prefer Atlantis alone, but I know Nail Junkie will be awesome for layering!

I'm going to go do some crochet! Only working 2/3 days a week and not being in school is lovely.
I'll probably post another swatch later :)

Have you entered my giveaway yet?

my friends like nails, too

Hey guys, another late night post from me, but not quite as late this time.
I just have so many things to post that I feel like doing multiple per day.

Between last night's swatching session and the one I had today, I swatched 24 polishes. Ridiculous. If only that made a big dent in my stash...
I'm really into this swatch project thing.
I have sorry cuticles now, but I enjoyed it. I'm trying to do everything I own by a brand at once. So I'm starting with smaller sets of things I have, like L.A. Colors and Revlon. I'll be posting them in sets I guess!

Anyway, so because I have so many things to post, I wanted to show you guys 2 sets of nails I did for my friends this past week!

I did my friend Nicole's nails on Sunday.

Thumbs up for cupcakes!

Cupcakes and leopard print! Enlarge the photo to see it better.
The colors I used on Nicole's manicure were Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue, Presto Pink, and Whirlwind White. The cupcake detailling was done by mixing the colors with white.
I did the leopard with my black nail art pen.
Add bullion beads for sprinkles and a red rhinestone as the cherry on top! :)

Tonight, my bestie/soulmate Emma and I went to The Hangover 2 with our new friend Nina! It was pretty awesome. Not quite as good as the first but still hilarious.
Before the movie, I did Emma's nails.
She was already wearing a For Audrey dupe and we made it much better!

Enlarge the photo to see all the awesome!

I have nothing better to do so I'll tell you what I did on all her fingers.

Her thumbs consist of one cupcake, done the same way as Nicole's, and a floral nail!
Her index fingers are plain but use cool polishes - China Glaze Senorita Bonita with Hidden Treasure layered over it (which looked super cool in low light but I didn't get a photo) and Milani 3D Cyberspace over her For Audrey dupe
Her middle fingers have cute lacey/finial/whatever patterns from the new BM plates. OPI - Dim Sum Plum is the pink.
Her ring fingers? Milani Jewel FX in Silver and For Audrey dupe with OPI - Last Friday night layered on top.
One pinky is a fishtail with the F.A. dupe, Dim Sum Plum, and Milani Nail Art in Purple Outline.
Her other pinky is special - a black cat in memory of Emma's cat, Miss Puss! From the original BM set.
(Black stamping was done with Wet N Wild Black Creme, of course.)

Emma loves everything so we did everything. Haha.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my art on other people's nails for a change! Nighty night.