Color Club - Alter Ego: Reveal Your Mystery Collection - swatches and review and comparisons

Hi everyone!
You may know by now that Color Club sets are one of my favorite things to buy because when they are available here it is only $12.99 for 7 polishes.
At that price, I buy every set I can get my hands on!
(I once passed up Glitter Vixen and Pardon My French and have since learned not to control my polish hoarding when it comes to things I won't get a chance to buy again!)

Anyway, I had seen on other Canadian blogs that this set was popping up at Winners, so I started faithfully checking on my break at work because luckily for me, I work in the same mall as Winners.
A few days before I went on vacation, I found it!

Mmm, pastels!
I wanted this set really badly because I have had a thing for pastels lately.
I ended up not being blown away by the set because 3 are not very unique but the other 3 are lovely, and I'm very happy to have the set!
And for $12.99, only adoring 3 shades is acceptable.

This set comes with a bottle of Milky White Base Coat.
I have now learned that if a set of polishes comes with a base coat, you should probably use it under those polishes.
I had a bit of a hard time getting the polishes to cover evenly, except the last 2, which I used with the base coat.
Lesson learned. Use the base coat. It really helps the polish level out and be less streaky!

Get A Clue. Pale pink. A bit more gray-toned than other pinks but not by much.
This was 4 coats - these polishes are sheer. Which is why you are "revealing" your mystery with this set I guess! But I wanted to go for complete opacity.
I didn't use the base coat with this one but if I had, it probably would have only taken 3 coats to even out.

Recently I showed you the Catwalk Queen set which included this pink - Vintage Couture.
This comparison shows you the slightly gray tone to Get A Clue.

Get A Clue is also similar to China Glaze - Light As Air, but LAA has a bit more white in it, if you know what I mean.

Revealed. My favorite from the collection! I hate orange but lately I love peach.
Super pretty peach shade with warm pinky peach shimmer. More opaque and creamy than the others, 3 coats.
Totally unique in my collection.

I have another peach with shimmer, Revlon Peach Smoothie, but as you can see it is a more nude peach. Not nearly as flattering.

Speaking of nude colors...

This is Incognito. The absolute closest to mannequin hands that I will ever get. 3 coats.
The flash picture doesn't really show it very well but this matches my skin perfectly. The next picture shows it better:

And it's a jelly so it is even more nude looking than an opaque creme. Very happy to have this in my collection! You never know when you'll need to go nude!
(And my goodness, my nails are so stained that it would be impossible to go actual nude! I honestly think my nails are the worst stained nails ever. I've never seen anything so bad. That's what I get for swatching so much!)

Previously I thought this nude, LA Girl - Secret, was the best nude for my skin tone, but I was very wrong. As you can see it is far too yellow!

Secret Rendezvous. Light purple creme, a bit more blue-toned than others I have. 4 coats, again could have been 3 if I used the base coat.

Hard to tell in this photo, but it is more blue than the others, and a tiny bit lighter.

Sheer Disguise. Blue-toned gray! Very interesting color, unique in my collection. 3 coats over the Milky White Base Coat.

Give Me A Hint. Same old "purple taupe" we've seen a lot in the last year.
Very popular and somewhat flattering shade, but not unique.
3 coats over the base coat.

You may remember that in my Every Shade of Indulgence swatches I showed you that Positively Posh was a dupe for OPI - You Don't Know Jacques!
And once before I compared YDKJ to China Glaze - Below Deck.
Well... here they all are together.

Below Deck, Give Me A Hint, Positively Posh, You Don't Know Jacques!
Two sets of dupes. The Color Club versions are more sheer than the others, but the shade is the exact same.
Never buying a shade like this again! Haha!

Overall, I'm really happy to own this set.
3 of the colors are unique and lovely, but the other 3 are not unique.
And despite the fact that the pink and purple aren't unique, I still like them because I like all pinks and purples.
The taupe/brown just isn't my thing. I didn't like Below Deck after buying it and I don't care for this one either.
The base coat is a bit watery but really does a good job at holding these polishes and making them apply better.

Do you have an addiction to Color Club sets like I do? I want them all!!

from the vault part 2: slightly improved nail art

Hi!
Everyone seemed to love my last "from the vault" post, so here is the second half!

I will remind you, these photos were taken long before I was "good" at nails, and also before I was good at taking pictures of them! These are mostly from around 14-16 months ago.
Some of these are actually good but some are still laughable.

I don't know what polish this is anymore, but I remember this really impressed my friends. Haha. As you can see I was not good at placing stamps!

China Glaze For Audrey.  That little stamp image is so cute!

Improving! Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Power Pink and Blue Me Away!

I am still not good with this stamp image! Haha.

Tried to do the WAH Nails stripey mani thing... big fail. I want to try again though.

Don't like these.

French mani! First one I ever did I think. China Glaze Purple Panic.

Every zebra mani I did made me so impressed with myself! Haha.

Gradient! And some glitter! This could have seriously used some topcoat but at the time I didn't have any!

Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink over Gunmetal. My first glitter mani.

Seeing this photo reminds me of how much I love this stamp! I need to use it again. It's from the first Bundle Monster set.

Big improvement! Joe Fresh Faded Violet and Powder Blue. I LOVE this color combo.

Stripey nails are just too cute.

How did I keep my nails that short all the time? It seems so strange now! These are super cute, I should do them again with my improved leopard skills.

That is all for my archive of photos. I hope this half is as interesting to you guys as the last half was!

Remember how last night I said I had a cold? I went to a clinic this morning and it turns out I actually have a "raging" sinus infection and now I am on a huge dose of antibiotics. What a lovely vacation souvenir.
Even one of my teeth hurts... Apparently your upper incisors are connected to your sinuses.
Yuck!

i have returned from vacation!

Hi guys!
I really enjoyed my vacation, but I'm happy to be home and back to blogging for you wonderful people again!

We had a crazy week, and my feet were killing me almost every day, but it was worth it.
I didn't get a ridiculous amount of polish like I was expecting/hoping! I ended up only getting three bottles.
I didn't get a whole lot of anything, really.
Some friends wanted to see everything I got, and I don't have anything better to do, so I took photos of everything!
I'll babble a little about the trip first. I'll start with some nails!

These are the nails I wore for most of the trip. I did them like an hour before I went to bed the night before I left. I didn't get a good photo - just an iPhone one on the Greyhound.
I copied Dollface's Katy Perry nails modeled after Katy's from the Last Friday Night video. See her version here.
I used Color Club's Space Case and Glitter Envy from the Starry Temptress collection.

We flew to Montreal, but first we took a bus to Ottawa for Canada day. It was pure madness. There were 300,000 people there at last estimate. It was impossible to see anything and impossible to move! We did get to see the fireworks though which were awesome.

Then it was back to Montreal.
The Katy Perry show was awesome. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to, and I've been to a lot of concerts!

She played for almost a full 2 hours. All the songs were awesome and the show was just great in general.

She even came out on this cloud over the audience and was super close to us!

My pictures suck because I didn't bring my big camera with me, it's too expensive to drag around. My friend Susan got better photos, I'll include some from her if she doesn't mind once she uploads them.

The Weezer show was the next night. We weren't allowed to bring cameras in but I got a few pictures on my iPhone.
They played for 45 minutes, took a break, and then played The Blue Album in its entirety. That is my favorite album and I know basically every word, so it was just amazing to see it all.
That was my third time seeing Weezer and they never disappoint! Rivers even climbed off the stage and walked around in the crowd and up into the stands, all while singing. It was great.

Other notable activities - the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Rideau Mall (Cinnabon!!), and just general shopping and sightseeing and of course, eating! Haha. So much food.

Now for the good stuff - the purchases.

Polish!!
Urban Outfitters - After Hours (holo glitter!)
Color Club - Age of Acquarius (wishlist!)!
Color Club - Crush On You (also from my wishlist!)
And the bracelets you see are from Forever 21. I love the roses! They match earrings I have.

I had expected to get a lot of polish - I even brought bubble wrap for transporting them home - but there really wasn't much selection. I couldn't find any at H&M, Forever 21 did not have a large selection in store, Urban Outfitters only had about 7 colors which were just plain cremes that were not unique (except for the one I got,) and the only other stuff I could find was overpriced OPI, Essie, and Color Club.
I got the 2 Color Club's for 8.99 each which is crazy, but they aren't available here and I really wanted those two. They had a bunch of the Poptastic colors, the ones not in the 7-piece, but for 8.99 I only let myself buy one. (I wanted Edie too but I decided it was too much like China Glaze Four Leaf Clover. Age of Aquarius is probably a dupe for something else I have too, but oh well!)

One of my favorite purchases, a Nixon watch. I only paid $40 for this! That's half price, or even less than half price when you're buying them here. Good deal.

Vans glasses! On sale for $9.99!

Vans socks! Haha! They are made to go into your Vans without seeing the sock. It was $14 for 2 pairs which is really expensive but I wanted them especially for my Hello Kitty Vans.
(My pedi color was Essie Smooth Sailing.)

 
Hello Kitty cupcake tin with little candies!

At the Weezer show I bought the above shirt. And I bought this shirt at the Katy show:

Concert shirts are expensive but a necessary souvenir.
Now for the rest of the clothes. I looked for stock images of the clothes I got but could only find one, so I took pictures of them on myself, which is a little awkward. But I'll show them! No judgements!

This was $16.80 at Forever 21.

Clearance at Urban Outfitters! I think it was $40 originally but I got it for around $15.

H&M. $14.95

Also $14.95 at H&M.

Cardigan, H&M, $19.95. I love the elbow pads!

The absolute cutest dress ever. $19.95 at H&M. The only one on the rack, and it fits like a glove. And it has pockets!

So cute!

Towards the end of the trip, I redid my nails. I used my new Color Clubs!

Such an awesome combo! I love the way it crackles.

It turned out much more purple over the turquoise than it looks in the bottle because it is a bit of a jelly formula. Totally lovin' it.

Well, that is all for my trip.
I managed to catch a cold at the end and I spent the whole last day with my sinuses really bothering me, and the plane ride home was a bit uncomfortable because of that.

Anyway, I'm going to go reply to any questions left in comments now, so if you asked something in a comment since I was gone, expect an answer soon! All emails have been answered. And then I need to check out my Facebook notifications... Yikes!

One more picture! That's me and my (crazy) friends!

I missed all you guys! See you tomorrow and every day after that until my next trip in August! Haha.
(P.S. Almost 1000 followers!)

guest post: my friend Laurie

Hi guys! I have a special scheduled post for you today. My non-blogging friend Laurie agreed to write a blog post to help fill my blog while I am gone! Laurie is great at nails and at frankens, and she's going to show you some now! I hope you enjoy this change of pace.
Take it away, Laurie!

Hello readers! The wonderful Rebecca is enjoying a fantastic vacation so today you get stuck with me! My name is Laurie and I live in the states but I have some favorite Canadian things! The Trailer Park Boys--omg I cannot believe how funny this series was; the super hunky Roy DuPuis (who really should come back to the states to make another TV series please) and of course the best thing about Canada is my friend Rebecca!

Rebecca and I first met during a Bundle Monster nail stamping contest. She is also the first blog I followed and I have gotten many a fantastic mani inspiration from her!

I wasn't the best in the beginning but I feel practice makes perfect. Here are some of my favorite mani's I've done.

This is my Bundle Monster winning mani I was in the top 25 for the contest. This is Called Cassie's Cupcakes

This was my first scotch tape mani

One of my very favorites ever! I call this "skelly" fish

This was inspired by a gift bag!

As you can see I have gotten better lol! When I'm not painting my nails I dream of making dupes and franken polishes too!

Here's a pic of some of my lastest dupes and frankens of Lippmann's. From thumb to pinkie is Glitter in the Air, Bad Romance, Happy Birthday, Lady Sings the Blues and Across the Universe--clearly you can get the look for less!

Thanks for viewing readers! If any of you see Roy DuPuis tell him Laurie in Wisconsin still hearts him and misses him on TV!

Wasn't that fun? Make sure you leave Laurie some nice comments! If you have anything to ask her she will answer your questions in the comments, her GFC name is lnievin. 

Thank you, Laurie!

Just 2 more days until I'm home! :)

mega nail fail

Scheduled post #2.

I do not know why I have chosen to show you this mega fail of mine. Maybe you will get to laugh at it like I did!

My friend Leslie did this manicure, which was a Robin Moses mani, and I saw Leslie's post, and fell in love.
I watched the video tutorial... followed along... and this happened.

...Sometimes I fail. Really hard.

You might think they look good... but go look at Leslie's. It's perfect.
Apparently you all should be following her and not me!

I hope you guys had a laugh. I did!
Tonight I'll be seeing Katy Perry... I wonder what mani I'll be wearing!

I have one more scheduled post for you on Monday, and it's a good one! Keep an eye out for that.
I'll be back to normal posting on Wednesday. :)