Blog Still under construction.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Chanel Particuliere

Well, I got the Particuliere bug and went to get it this weekend. Every counter I went to was sold out. I finally found one at a mall by work and called to reserve the last bottle! I had quite a time getting it, as the Chanel sales associate was busy schmoozing the lady in front of me for fifteen minutes...*rolls eyes*

So I finally got my hands on it.....and I don't think it's for me.


Now, the formula was amazing! It applied like a Rescue Beauty Lounge polish. Flawless.

Im afraid the color pulls too brown on me =( I was hoping for a bit more grey. I may hang onto this until the summer an see how it looks when I have a slight tan.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

How About some Taupe love?

I used to look at pictures of Taupe polishes and think "yuk...why would anyone want brown nails?" Well, now I understand. I have developed a love for taupe polishes. It was a picture by a lovely lady named Nihrida that posted a picture of China Glaze Channelesque that started it all. Now I am lemming Chanel's new polish Particuliere something crazy.

Here are a few pics of the taupes I have tried so far...

The one that started it all...China Glaze Channelesque


OPI You Don't Know Jacque matte (with Seche Vite Top Coat)


OPI You Don't Know Jacque matte with Rimmel Savvy on top


OPI You Don't Know Jacque suede


Sephora by OPI Metro Chic


I can't wait to get my bottle of Particuliere!!!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Konad Nail Art

I thought I'd post a set of pics of my konad designs. I love my konad! Adds a professional look (sometimes...lol) to a mani.

Here's one I am most proud of...I used Lippmann Fade to Black as the base and for the flowers, I used China Glaze DV8, 2NITE, LOL and IDK. Konad plate M3. I love the way it turned out! So much so that I wore it for 3 days - which is very unusual for me.


Another one that I loved (however I destroyed it an hour after completion...) Base is Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. Snowflakes are from plate M59 and I used konad white special polish for them. I covered them in a coat of NK Mystical glitter.


I decided to try a multi colored konad here...Base is Illamasqua Jan. Konad is plate M21 using China Glaze Adore & Harmony.


Here is Diamond Cosmetics Sparkling Sherry with plate S9 and konad special polish in silver.



Boggi Brites white polish with pink, light blue & yellow konad special polish. Plate M21. This would be my totally 80's mani that made my mother say "Let me see those nails" - then stare at me like "You are 30 years old, not 14". LOL


Boggi Brites Punky Pink with konad black special polish. Plate M21. Punky Pink is more of an orangy neon red...? I loved this one! The paint splat is my favorite =)


When konad goes bad....

Every now and then, I get a little over excited and my konad designs end up looking like a party on my nails in the worst possible way...


I present to you...OPI Absolutely Alice with plate M59 and M35. I think if I had stopped with just the bow, I'd have been ok...but I did the yellow flowers first. I guess if you knew it was an Alice in Wonderland themed mani, it would make sense. Otherwise, it just looks like a FAIL.


And here is the FAIL to end all fails...
I started with a nice red, then decided to do a zebra print...sounds like a cute idea, right? Well, the konad plate didn't cover my whole fat nail, so I decided to try a black french tip...didn't work out so well....so what do we do?

Add glitter. And when all else fails, mattify.

And here is the hot mess of a result:


oy.

I will redeem myself with a few more pretties...


OPI Green Witch Village with konad plate M21 and special polish in silver


Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas with konad plate M28


Illamasqua Jan with M9 & M28

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Jellies!!!!!!

I do love the jelly polish. I think it's my favorite finish. Jellies tend to look like colored glass on the nails. Here are some of my favorites...

New York Summer Amaranth


Zoya Casey (I added a bit of clear to this one to make it a little more jelly-ish)


Lippmann Rehab. I die. This is one of the most gorgeous polishes I own. It's a lovely muted medium blue jelly. Never looks black, looks amazing in any light.


Zoya Juicy. It's like I dipped my nails into the grape jelly that my Nana makes!


Lethal Franken - Low Tide. I made this little creation using New York Summer Hot Sky Blue, Wet n Wild Clear and a bit of Wet n Wild Black Creme. I stole the idea from Dr. Frankenpolish. Mine didn't turn out exactly like her's but I was pleased with the result.


Misa Cherry Topping. The perfect red jelly. PERFECT.


Essie Pama.


Claire's Chunky Blue (over 1 coat of Nfu Oh 119). Funky glitter in a blue jelly base. I love this one! It applies nicely for a chunky glitter.


Nfu Oh 119. Deep dark blue jelly. This one is a close close twin to Illamasqua Propaganda. It's freakin fabulous. One day I'll get around to a comparison of the two.


Bonus pic...Nfu Oh 51 over 119:


That's all for now folks...see you soon!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Bloom & BYS Polishes from Australia!!!

A lovely MUAer was kind enough to swap with me all the way from Australia. So now I finally own Bloom Polishes!!! Not to mention the most gorgeous teal jelly ever!

This here is Bloom Mena:


This one looks super-fantastically holo-ish in the bottle, but not so much on the nail =(


Here is the lovely Miss Bianca


Bloom Bianca is a gorgeous, super pigmented Teal / Green Duochrome. This is 2 coats


Application was very nice on the Blooms. No streaking or clumping at all...smooth and easy. The brush is a little long and a little thin for my taste...but not bad.

So...if I could dream up a perfect jelly, it would be teal...and wouldn't you know it, the only teal jelly I have ever seen was an Australia exclusive.

So here is my dream polish....BYS Dark Teal (This is 3 coats)


Nice application and the formula was great! It dried pretty fast, but not so fast that I had to hurry to paint my whole nail.


That's all for now....see you soon!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

My Illamasqua Collection

I love Illamasqua polishes. Most have flawless application and the colors are unique. The packaging is edgy and clean looking, which I like. I also like the square bottles which line up nicely in my Helmer =) I feel a little spoiled when I use them. =)

Here are the Illamasquas that I have so far...

Grab - a medium pink / fushia creme. Beautiful application. This is 2 coats.



Rampage - a deep dark green jelly. This is 3 coats.


MILF - a milky light pastel green creme with yellow undertones (which did not work so well with my skintone...)I also had application issues with this one. It was streaky even after the 3rd coat. This is 3 coats.



Baptiste - a shimmery deep dark purple. This one is gorgeous! This is 2 coats.



Smash - UK exclusive - lime green creme. A lovely MUAer was kind enough to get me a few UK exclusive Illa's and she is my forever NP fairy! Thanks Rozie =) This is 2 coats with one coat of NK Mystical on top.



Hectic - UK Exclusive - Total Pea Soup Love - muted green creme. Perfect application. This is 2 coats.


Fern - shimmery light to medium blue. This was my first Illamasqua, so it will always have a special place in my collection =) 2 coats with konad flowers.


And last but certainly not least, Muse. The teal beauty...

OPI You Don't Know Jacque Matte + Rimmel Savvy

So I decided I wanted to try my OPI You Don't Know Jacque matte polish today. I did 2 coats, but it dries super fast, plus due to a plumbing incident, I had a huge box fan blowing in my kitchen, so that didn't help. The polish came out a little uneven. I decided to try a couple of coats of Rimmel Savvy on top and was pretty pleased with the results. Blue & brown is not a usual combo, but it was very pretty!

(Later, I destroyed this mani by digging for a pen in my purse...*doh*)