revlon swatches

Hi guys, second post today to help move along my swatch project.
During my swatch marathon last week, I swatched my remaining 3 Revlon polishes.
(See the first one I swatched, and loved, here.)

First up is Peach Smoothie.

I bought this polish before the explosion of scented Revlons. It was like 7 or 8 months ago, on clearance for $1.99 at dominion.
I bought it because I didn't have any nudes, but I hadn't tried it until now, and I don't really like it. 3 coats.

I don't think it looks great on my skin tone. It is too pigmented and washes my skin out.
Here is a bottle comparison between this and the nude I own that I think suits my skin tone, Secret.

Peach Smoothie is much more peach. Hah.

It has very pretty shimmer though!
I like this polish but I don't think I'll wear it, it just doesn't seem to suit me.

Next up is Violet!

This one was a bit difficult to capture - the shimmer just wanted to look blue.

The above photo is more color accurate. Sorry about the non-wrapped tips! I never do it but usually that isn't visible.
This was 2 easy, fast drying coats. I'm actually wearing this today in my full mani and didn't even need to use SV.

Party Of Five Glitters was nearby so I added a coat of that for fun. It looks so good against the purple!

Next up is the amazing Perplex.

I'm sure you've all seen this before. This is the last polish I have to show you from the lovely Leslie.
Perplex is probably the most popular Revlon polish around. It is a dark gray with pinky-purple shimmer, and it's a dupe for Chanel's Paradoxal, which makes it so popular.

The first photo shows the gray better, while the second photo shows the true color of the shimmer.
This is almost perfect in one coat! But you probably need two to make it totally even.

The shimmer is just lovely. Looooove this polish.
Thanks again, Leslie :)

3 more polishes down, tonnes to go...

OPI - DS Original - swatch and review and comparison

Hi everyone! Exciting swatch today :)

We got some sun today so it was holo time. (Despite the sun, it is still FREEZING. First of June, wearing my winter coat.)

Luuuuuuuuv this polish. I took a million pictures.

I bought this on ebay, and with shipping to Canada it came to $23. I felt guilty for spending so much on one polish but I did it to try and cheer myself up after my crappy few weeks.
It came in the original box which I thought was cool!

So much rainbow trying to escape the bottle! Haha.

And so much rainbow on the nails.
DS Original is a linear holo, but it is a bit scattered.

I'm so in love.

Holo pic spam is always good.

As always I used both my cameras to capture the right color.
The above pictures is more color accurate than the others.
My SLR likes to capture true colors while my point-and-shoot gets the holo better.

This is 4 coats.

Anyone know what polish would be good underwear for this so it wouldn't take 4 coats?

That's what it looks like out of the sun.

I had heard that topcoat dulls holo polishes, so I put Seche Vite on my middle and pinky fingers to test that idea.

I couldn't really see a difference.

I'll probably use SV when I wear this. The difference is negligible if not non-existent.


You might remember that recently I swatched Milani 3D Hi-Res. I mentioned that it seemed very similar to DS Original and that I would do a comparison. Here it is! Hi-Res is on my middle finger and pinky.

Hi-Res is more scattered and also has silver glitter.

The above photo is color accurate. As you can see, they are very close in color.

I had my purple wheels nearby and realized that these are also similar to China Glaze's Gamer Glam from the Tronica collection.

All similar shades of purple, but they all have different holo effects.

Overall, I'm so in love with this polish. It's sheer but not hard to apply, I had no dragging issues.
Topcoat doesn't seem to dull it. Just a really special polish.

I bought it from this listing on ebay. The seller still has 9 left, and he has already sold a bunch. I have no idea how he has so many, but it is legit.
It doesn't have the serial number engraved in it or embedded in the bottom of the bottle, but I'm guessing that is just the way the older DS polishes are.
I can't see how this would be fake, it's too perfect.

:)

In other news, I just bought these awesome shoes:

Hello Kitty Vans. I love it when my favorite things come together!
Last night a girl on Polish-aholics Anonymous on facebook posted a picture of her nails with these shoes, and I needed to have them.
After some googling, I discovered they were set to release online today. But they only ship to the states.
So I contacted my mom's friend in the states, and now they are on the way to her, and then she is going to bring them home to me later in June. Perfect! :)
They were 60 bucks and change, shipping and tax included, but I don't mind paying that for sneakers that I am in love with. There are more HK styles too. Check them out on vans.com

Oh, and, it's June! Which means my trip starts this month! Haha. Excited!

Also, I've just updated my stash/swatch list - I added a diamond (♦) to the end of polishes that work excellent for stamping. :) I hope that is helpful!

L.A. Colors Color Craze and Art Deco swatches

Hey guys! I meant to post way earlier but I got caught up doing submissions for More Nail Polish's franken contest and Swaafie's nail art contest! And tomorrow I'll be doing a submission for Leslie aka Nail Polish Art Addiction's nail art contest!
Everyone check out those contests.
When voting begins I'll be sure to show you my submissions :)

I also got caught up making swap packages! Swaps are fun but I am done swapping for a while, it got a little out of hand. Haha.

Today I'm going to show you all my L.A. Colors nail polishes.
This does not include L.A. Girl. (They are the same company right?)
Anyway. I have 5 Color Craze polishes and 2 Art Deco polishes.

 I'm going to start with my favorite - Sea Siren.

You might remember this polish from my 10 favorite polishes post.
Sea Siren is an awesome one-coat teal polish. It seems a bit streaky in the photo but it isn't. Beautiful polish. Still one of my faves for sure.
It is a bit hard to capture the color.

It is almost neon, and has a bit of lovely shimmer. I think my picture from the favorite nails post is the most accurate so I'll post it again here:

Love love love.
The rest of the Color Craze polishes I own are jellies.

Atomic is a teal jelly. VNL after 3 coats. Really pretty color though!

Static Electricity is a royal blue jelly, still sheer at 3 coats. Really nice color though.
I think these shades are better on short nails because the VNL is not as obvious.

Nuclear Energy. Again, sheer, 3 coats. Nice deep-but-vibrant purple.

Hot Blooded. I cannot refrain from singing the song Hot Blooded when I see this polish/talk about it.
Hot blooded, check it and seeeeee.
Okay. This one is only 2 coats but still sheer. True red jelly.

That's all for Color Craze!
Everyone should buy Sea Siren. If you can find it. Since I bought this bottle I have never seen another in any L.A. Colors display.
The rest aren't great, and they take a while to dry because of the 3 coats. But jelly lovers will love them!

Now for Art Deco. These aren't really swatches I guess but showing what they are.

I only have 2 Art Deco polishes. Black and Silver Glitter.
The silver one is great but the black one sucks now.
After you use these for a few weeks, doing things like zebra and leopard, they get super gloopy and unusable because when you do detailed patterns you end up leaving the bottle open for too long.
I don't use the black one anymore, I should probably throw it out. No amount of thinner makes it useable really. I started using this brush in Wet N Wild Black creme but now that I have nail art brushes, this one is not needed anymore.

The brushes are really thin and good for nail art. But not excessive nail art, because like I said, they dry up.

The silver glitter is all small silver glitter, all the same size, no holo. Nice for detailing.

That's all my swatches for today!
Now here is a sneak preview of my upcoming DS Original post.
(If we ever get sun. Tomorrow is June, yet today it was so cold I had to wear my winter coat. Pathetic.)

Soooooo holooooooo.

the A-Z of me! + Stylish Blogger Award

Hey guys, second post today because I'm at work and bored.
Yes, I have internet again! :D
So I decided to do this tag even though no one really tagged me. I have an hour left to kill!

A. Age: 20
B. Bed size: Queen. My dad owns a mattress store so I am very spoiled in the bed department.
C. Chore you hate: Basically the only thing I have to do is swiffer... and I hate it. Haha.
D. Day: Every day I'm not working, so, Wednesday-Saturday, and every second Sunday.
E. Essential start to your day: Toast.
F. Favourite colour: You should know this if you've been following me for a while. Teal and purple.
G. Gold or Silver: I prefer silver jewelery but gold nails. Lol.
H. Height: 5'6"
I. Instruments: I play a bit of guitar and bass, a tiny bit of drums, and I can sing! I was in a band in high school. And I miss it a LOT because I should be a rock star. Haha!
J. Job title: Manager/Sales Representative/Refill Technician... haha
K. Kids: Nope.
L. Live: Newfoundland!
M. Mum’s name: Cathy. This is a strange question.
N. Nicknames: Beck, Becka
O. Overnight hospital stays: A week when I was 4 and a week in 2009.
P. Pet peeve: I was thinking about this earlier - when people have word verification on their blog. I haven't ever had it, and I have never received one "spam comment." It's such a waste of time!!
Q. Quote from a movie:

I Love You Man. One of the funniest movies ever.

R. Right or left handed: Right.
S. Siblings: Nope. Thankfully.
T. Time you wake up: Usually around 9.
U. Underwear: Currently navy blue with a big silver guitar. Told you I was a rock star. (P.S. I am planning on an undies-inspired series after the success of that post! Haha.)
V. Vegetables you dislike: This would be easier to answer the other way. Vegetables I DO like: Lettuce, potato, corn.
W. What makes you run late: Nothing really. I'm pretty punctual. Other people make me late if they're picking me up.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Everything. I literally cannot think of a body part that has not been x-rayed or CT scanned. I even have pictures on my cellphone from my head x-ray. I like to show people my skull. Lol.
Y. Yummy food you make: Baked goods. Cookies, cupcakes, cakes, cake pops, banana chocolate chip muffins. I also make a mean ice cream sundae, and peanut butter toast.
Z. Zoo: I've never been to a zoo!

Secondly, I was recently tagged with the Stylish Blogger Award from Moondancerjen.

Thanks, Jen! I don't think I can come up with 7 things about myself after the last tag, haha. But I did just want to mention that she gave this to me! Girl has some cool nails, too.

I tag all of my followers with blogs of their own ;)

My mom just called me and told me that my DS Original just came in the mail! I can't wait to get off work and go get it!
Swatches tomorrow if there is sun! :D

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri swatches and stamping tests!

Good morning! I am so tired this morning, I don't know how I'm going to get through 7 hours of boring work.
When I'm not sleeping in my own bed, I never get enough rest. 2 more nights of staying with my cousin. When I get home from work tonight we're going to finish painting her zebra wall!
Thanks for all the comments about the wall! I painted it, but unfortunately it isn't my wall. I wish it was! Maybe I'll make mine leopard print...

Anyway. Today's post is about my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's.
In my swatch marathon the other day, I swatched the remaining 6 shades, and did a stamping test with all of them.
I have 2 others from this line that were swatched and stamp-tested here.

I'll do them in the order of the picture :)

Lickety-Split Lime. 2 coats for even coverage. 1 thick one could be fine.
Not a big fan of this color on it's own.

Presto Pink. This should be called Pepto Pink because it looks just like Pepto-Bismol.
Again, this is 2 coats, but one thick one would work.

Brisk Blue. Same story, 2 coats or 1 thick one.
Do not wear this without base coat. I have some yucky blue nails now after swatching it.

Rapid Red. 2 coats. This is the older formula, it's not as opaque and does not stamp very well.

Silver Sweep. Love this one. One thin coat is all you need. Dupe for China Glaze - Millennium, I compared their stamping ability, seen here.

Whirlwind White. 2 coats to avoid streaks. Looks like I forgot to watermark this one but I'm too lazy to do it now!
This is the best white I own. It's more opaque than China Glaze's White On White, so I prefer this one.

When it comes to stamping with Insta-Dri's, I have found that the ones with the name on a sticker on the top of the bottle work best.
If it does not have a sticker on the top, it is much thinner and doesn't work for stamping.
My Rapid Red is the old formula with no sticker, and it does not stamp well.
Here is the stamping swatch:

 As you can see, the red is good over white but not black. Everything else is good over white/black (except white which is obviously not good over white, so I swatched it over pink.)

Whirlwind White is almost as good as Konad Special White. Once it thickens up a bit I imagine it will be more like Special White.
When I got Whirlwind White, I first got a non-sticker bottle. In this post, I showed the difference in the two.

This morning I got an email from a reader, Analy, who asked if I could do a stamping test with Insta-Dri - Brisk Blue and Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away.
Here you go, Analy!

I mentioned before that these colors are dupes. But do they both work for stamping? Not really.

Blue Me Away is not nearly as opaque for stamping, despite the fact that basically covers in one coat. It just is not quite as pigmented.
I hope this helps, Analy!

Overall, I love all these polishes.
I love the brush in Insta-Dri polishes, I find it really easy to work with. However, I did not buy these polishes for full manis, I use them mostly for stamping.

I would definitely recommend all of these colors, except Rapid Red.
Go get yourself some Insta-Dri and get stamping!