milani 3D - 3D - swatch and review

Hi guys!
I was recently been told that my blog did not work correctly in Google Reader,but you'll be happy to know that I fixed it. :)

This is the last of my Milani 3D polishes, and this is the collection's namesake. 3D.

Coincidentally it is also my least favorite. It is more of a gold foil with holo glitter than a holographic polish.

At 2 coats, this is the most opaque of the collection.
Even in the sun, there isn't much holo:

It's still pretty though.

I'm happy to have the whole collection.
I feel like I should make one post with all the colors instead of the six separate posts I have now.
But nah, I'll leave it like this.

Here they all are together!

HD, Cyber Space, Hi-Tech, Digital, Hi-Res, 3D

I can't really pick a favorite out of the other 5 because they're so dope. Here are links to all the posts:
Cyberspace
Digital
HD
Hi-Res
Hi-Tech

Click to enlarge the photos for more holo love!
Which one is your fave?

blue water marble

Good morning!
I had a hard time deciding what to post this morning, so I'll probably have a swatch post up later too.

The other day while I was staying with my cousin, I water marbled her nails. And then I decided to do mine too!

It turned out lovely!
I used all China Glaze polishes, as I prefer to do with water marbling.
For Audrey, Shower Together, and Liquid Leather.
It took me a while to decide on the colors, I stared at my China Glaze container for a while before picking these three.

I used one coat of For Audrey as a base coat. I really like how Shower Together came out much lighter in the marble - it looks pretty.

Marbling is so much fun but so messy and sometimes wasteful. Haha.

may haul

I forgot to post this earlier! I wouldn't have posted my Revlon's had I remembered to post this earlier. Haha.
Oh well!
Here is this month's haul. As usual, things bought on the same day are grouped.

Revlon - Perplex (giveaway!)
Milani - Digital (giveaway!)
Sinful Colors - Mint Apple (giveaway!)
Sinful Colors - Nail Junkie (giveaway!)
Zoya - Faye (giveaway!)

Joe Fresh - Twilight (now swapped)
Nail Art Diva! - Heartfelt Red (75% off!)

Milani - Hi-Res
Milani - 3D
Milani - Silver Jewel FX

Nail Art Diva! - Violet Dreams (75% off!)
China Glaze - Light As Air (mini)
China Glaze - Something Sweet (mini)
China Glaze - Peachy Keen (mini)
China Glaze - Re-fresh Mint (mini)
China Glaze - Lemon Fizz (mini)
China Glaze - Bahamian Ecape (mini)
Essie - Kisses and Bisses (60% off!)
L'Oreal - Party Hop (50% off!)

OPI - Silver Shatter
OPI - Mermaid's Tears
OPI - Planks A Lot (mini)
OPI - Sparrow Me The Drama (mini)
OPI - Stranger Tides (mini)
OPI - Skull and Glossbones (mini)

Seche Base Ridgefilling Base Coat (5.99 on sale)

OPI - DS Original

Seche Retain
Sally Girl - Unnamed pink glitter (mini)
China Glaze - Fairy Dust (free!)
China Glaze - Harmony

Pre-vacation almost-no-buy begins!

Sally Girl - Unnamed pink glitter (mini) x2 (for more frankens!)

Revlon - Wind Fall (50% off!)

Wet N Wild - Party of 5 Glitters (second bottle for more frankens!)

Wet N Wild Wild Shine - Black Creme x2 (needed backups, mine are getting low!)

After my no-buy started I arranged a bunch of swaps, 5 to be exact... plus I bought 3 for Leslie because she is just awesome.
Also this month I bought 4 polishes for my own giveaway, but that was before the almost-no-buy.

Total # of bottles acquired this month: 50 (+4 frankens)
Total # of bottles acquired for me: 36 (+1 franken)
Total # of bottles for me that I paid for: 30

Yes! 31 days in May and 30 bottles I bought for myself! I made my goal! Hahaha.
May I also point out that 13 of them are minis and 4 were for frankening. AND I got most of them on sale.
(But the price I paid for DS Original kinda ruins it...)

So my almost-no-buy was pretty successful. I only bought one new shade for myself after I started it.
I consider the blacks to be a staple, so I don't mind buying them. And they are less than $2.
And the franken supplies, also less than $2 each. So that's not a big deal.

But... despite not buying much for myself in the no buy, I bought a lot for swaps, plus I had to ship them which cost $26. So I did good with my own spending but not good on spending for others. Which I guess is technically spending on me because I am getting polishes in return. Hah.
Seems like I might also have to go on a no-swap... haha. But more people are asking and it is sooooo hard to resist.
I am buying polishes for one more swap and then I am done for a while, besides maybe a few more bottles of Rebecca Likes Cupcakes for those lovelies who are asking.



I think I might do a new collection post once all my swaps and my giveaway goodies arrive. Or maybe I'll wait until I get my helmer in August so it can be a storage post too.
Or maybe it would be funnier to show you how badly I am overflowing from my current storage.
Oh helmer, you are so close but so far away.

Here's to a successful almost-no-buy June!
I will be buying some for my final swap, and buying very few if any for myself.

Did anyone read all that rambling I just did? Lol.

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!