Whoops, I Broke It

Today I have another of the Spider-Man collection, Shatter the Scales. After wearing Just Spotted the Lizard for a day, I figured I might as well spruce it up a bit!

I glopped the crackle on pretty heavily and it may have benefited from a slightly lighter application, but I'm so in love with the color of the crackle that I don't even care that you can't see much of Just Spotted the Lizard underneath.

The one and only downside is that I have the feeling it's going to stain when I take it off, based on my cleanup. But that's a small price to pay!

I still can't say that I'm going to run out and buy every crackle polish out there, but I'm very pleased with this one! I don't want to take it off!

Green is the New Black

Wellllll, we all know about O.P.I.'s new almost-dupe for Chanel Peridot from the Spider-man collection, Just Spotted the Lizard.

I. LOVE. IT.

It sparkles in the sunlight, the color shift is lovely, and it's definitely an attention-grabber. My (male) roommate even asked to look at my nails instead of me doing my normal things of running up to him and shoving them in his face.  Of course, the fact that there was a line of Spider-man nail polish boggled his mind, but still.

This is one of those polishes that I know I'm going to want to wear a lot. It's different, which makes it nice, and there's no way I personally would pay for the Chanel polish when this one satisfies me just fine!

Off right now to buy another bottle... hope it didn't sell out already!

Dance Dance

Quick post today.  Here we have Ulta's Dance Teal Dawn.  And yes, I did ding my ring finger on the door as I was walking outside to take the pictures.  Figures!

At first, I was honestly a bit disappointed.  The color looks super dark in the bottle but was pretty thin.  It did, however, build up to a nice color after three coats, which is what you see pictured.  

It did stain a little bit, but not as much as I was expecting.  

All in all, it's a pretty color, but not quite what I was hoping for.  A fourth color may have been beneficial, but I'll have to do that another time.

Under a Harvest Moon

It figures that as soon as I look outside, see how sunny it is, and decide to swatch something, the sun runs and hides by the time I'm ready to go outside.  Ah, well.  Indirect light will have to do!

Today I have one of the China Glaze Hunger Games series, Harvest Moon.  I love colors like this and I originally picked it up because it reminded me of one of my favorite polishes ever, O.P.I. DS Glow.  They actually look quite different, since Harvest Moon has a lot more brown in it, but I can't decide which I like better!

Three guesses why I like it... Glitter!

You see no staining on my finger, none at all... *attempts Jedi mind trick*

I'll definitely have to get pictures in direct sunlight sometime, because this is just not doing the color justice!

Shatter the Sky

Honestly, I grabbed Pure Ice Celestial off the shelf because I am in a never-ending quest to find the perfect Tardis blue.   This isn't it, but it's still nice!

It's a little streaky, and there are a couple of bubbles, but I was also in a rush and glopped the polish on rather carelessly.

For some reason, I love layering glitter and such over this color.  It's just a good, solid blue.  It does stain a lot though, which I always wind up forgetting about when I wear it.  Boo.

Then, just because I was bored, I put a coat of China Glaze Cracked Medallion over it!

This was the first time I used a crackle polish and I think it went pretty well!  I can't say I'm a huge fan of the trend, but this was on clearance at Sally's for $2 so I couldn't pass it up.  I almost want to go back for the other colors I saw... almost.

I really love the color of Cracked Medallion.  It's gold, but almost antique-y rather than in-your-face yellow gold.  Don't you love my technical terms? :D  In any case, the gold looks really nice against Celestial.  I want to go hunt around for more interesting colors to layer it over now!  Maybe a really dark, stormy grey?

I'm a Fashionista!

I'm not a fashionista, actually, but when I saw Revlon's Fashionista on the shelf, it practically flew into my hand.  It's blue, it's dark, and it's blue!

All pictures are two coats.

It's not a shade I'd normally gravitate to, but just looking at the pictures makes me want to go put it on again.

The pictures I have today are of it by itself, but it practically begs to be stamped on or covered with some sort of sparkly top coat! 

These outdoor pictures are in indirect sunlight (yay, clouds).  

I love Revlon.  Super cheap if you catch it on sale and great quality.  It went on smoothly and I didn't notice any major staining problems.  Win-win!

The Lance

Yes, two posts right in a row, but these polishes all deserve their own!  I've been on vacation this past week, which meant that I got to keep a-england's Ascalon on my nails all week with barely any chipping!  It was actually hard to take it off to put on St. George.

Last week I went to see Wicked!  First time actually seeing it, though I know the soundtrack backward and forward.  It was so amazing!  It was also a chance to get all gussied up in a fancy dress and fun makeup... and great nail polish!  My dress was white with black stockings, boots, and belt, so Ascalon went perfectly!

I shall now stop talking and let the pictures speak for themselves, other than to say to ignore the state of my cuticles.  Someone's been slacking on their care lately.

And my a-england collection so far:

The Saint

It seems like every a-england polish I put on makes me love the brand more and more!  I'm sure my roommates and co-workers are tired of me running up to them, shoving my fingers in their faces, and demanding they ooh and aah about my polish. :D

Ah, yes.  Everyone has swatches of this, but I don't care! Covered in one coat, looks amazing in the sun.  I was having trouble getting pictures that really do it justice, but at least you can see the holographic effect on some of the nails.

This polish had better never become discontinued or I might cry.  I at least want some warning if it does so I can order a whole bunch and never run out!

The princess is in!

When the sale hit, I finally caved and ordered three of Adina's beautiful polishes... then, when the pre-order for Dragon and St. George went up, I ordered those, too!  I'm addicted!

First on the docket is Princess Sabra, a.k.a. Tristam Eyes. It looks like an olive-y taupe indoors, but as soon as the light hits it up close it flares into life.

As everyone else who has swatched these polishes has noted, the formula is wonderful. My brush did have an untrimmed hair sticking out, but it took all of three seconds to find scissors and trim it to the proper length.  I did two coats on this hand in all the pictures; with three coats, the green comes out even more.

The holo is mesmerizing in the sunlight!  Even under light inside you can see the rainbow shifting over your nail.

It's so fantastic even in shade!

Seriously, I am a fan of a-england for life.  I want to try on the other two I have while waiting for Dragon and St. George to arrive, but I can't bear to take Princess Sabra off!

Double Mani Catch-Up!

I'm getting a little behind on the posting! For some reason uploading the pictures seems like more of a hassle than actually doing the manicures in the first place!  Long-ish post here and then I'll do another tomorrow with one of my new a-england beauties!

First up is... China Glaze Liquid Crystal!

If Ray-diant is like a crushed gold ring, Liquid Crystal is like a silver sapphire ring crushed up and sprinkled on my fingers.  Above is three coats by itself.  I feel like the polish is thick and I'll go through it fast, but the sparkle alone is worth it.  Work has been stressful, but looking at this polish makes me happy and I feel like the richest girl on the block! :D

And finally... O.P.I. It's My Year.

So I finally decided to give in and get a bottle of Seche Vite (LOVE IT, by the way--makes my nails feel so smooth that I keep petting them!) at Target, looked up two shelves, and spotted It's My Year.  It took all of about a half second for the bottle to be in my hand.  Just the night before I'd been combing the interwebz for a dusky rose polish with gold and given up without finding one that I liked, and then here it was a few hours later right in front of me!  Funny how that works!

In the bottle it's one of those I could just spin round and round forever watching the light play off the sparkles.  Looks great on the nail too, though my camera picks up a bit more purple that it appeared in person. The last picture is probably the most representative of what I see in person.

Bonus pic of my Ulta haul:

That store is dangerous!  I went in just to get a bottle of Butter London West End Wonderland for my mother, who saw it last time we were in and said she'd like it for Mother's Day.  After wandering around the store and deciding to buy one Zoya and some Rimmel eye shadow, I made it to the BL display... and promptly grabbed Knackered, Tart With a Heart, and The Black Knight.  THEN I decided that I just HAD to splurge and get the Too Faced palette that I'd been drooling over the last time I was at the store.  I'm off to see Wicked next week with my mother, and I have a fancy dress, so I needed fancy makeup to go with!  Right?  Right?

I was really surprised to not love Knackered when I put it on, at least alone.  I've been drooling over the swatches and I adore it in the bottle, but when I put it on it just wasn't working.  It took four coats to get it the way I wanted it (no pictures since it was evening when I did it), though it went on nicely.  I just need something a little more... bold on my nails.  Something that draws my gaze when I see it out of the corner of my eye.  I may not have liked it on me by itself, but you'd have to pry it out of my cold dead hands--it's going to look great layered over other things.  I don't regret the purchase at all.