Milani Hi-Tech

     Hi guys! So as some of you know, I've been trying to clean out my stash to make room for more children for the sake of my sanity, and I'm happy to announce that I'm finally ready to have my blog sale! I made a little tab up there for that, so feel free to check it out!

On the nail polish front, today, I have Milani Hi-Tech from their 3D Holographic Collection. 

Hi-Tech is an electric lime green polish with a strong holographic effect. I know the pictures all look more celery green, and I reallyyy do not know why or how that happened, but it's brighter and more yellow than it looks here. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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     Okay, so since I have bombarded you with a million pictures, I'll keep the writing portion short. Hi-Tech is amazingly beautiful, and is a really good example of why you can't count drugstore polish out. The color is so bright and lovely, and the holo is uber strong....my camera dulled it, but in person, it's stunning. If you love holo greens, you gotta pick this one up.

     However, Hi-Tech's formula gave me a tiny bit of trouble. It was a little gluey feeling, and initially, I had trouble with bald spots. But after three coats, everything seemed to be okay. Next time I wear this, I'll have to try it over some kind of Aqua Base. And I used Seche Clear Base as a topcoat. It didn't dull the holo at all, so huzzah. 

And that's all from me today!! Thanks for reading, and have a beautiful Saturday! 

No Two Are Alike!

            First off, I'd like to give all of you a big hug and thank you, because The Phalanges Files reached 400 readers last night, which is...surreal to me. I'm kind of broke at the moment, so it may take a little bit of time, but I'm going to figure out something that I can do to celebrate the occasion and thank you guys.
        After enjoying Milani Molten Rock on its own for a day, I wasn't in the mood to get rid of it, and decided to mess with it a little bit. Also, I took these pictures on a rather overcast day, so all the pictures are in natural light. 

I used China Glaze 2030 to stamp on the snowflake pattern from Konad plate M20. Then I put in two blue rhinestones in random sunflakes, and sealed everything up with topcoat. 

 

     I really really like how this turned out. But for some reason, I had a ton of trouble getting the whole snowflakes on the stamper...little chunks would just not pick up. I tested it with other paints too, but it just did not work. Maybe my plate is defective or I was scraping it wrong. But most of it got on there, so whatever, I'm happy. LOL. 

Finally, don't forget that today is the last day to enter my Lady of the Lake giveaway! It ends at 11:59 EST, so if you'd like to enter, please go sign up soon! (The graphic in the sidebar will take you to it.)

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a great Monday! 

Milani Molten Rock

        Happy Father's Day guys!! Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make a Father's Day mani, but I do have something that I ended up liking quite a bit. This is Milani Molten Rock, from last year's Liquid Metals Collection. 

        

Molten Rock is a saturated and rich ocean blue foil, speckled with lighter blue flecks. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

       I have no idea what molten rocks have to do with this color, but I love it alot. The light blue flecks sparkle in the sunlight, and in the shade, Molten Rock creates this pretty metallic glow. I also really like the shade of blue that they chose for this color...it's so saturated and rich, not frosty at all, and I think it would flatter a variety of skin tones. 

      The formula for Molten Rock was also really good. It was opaque in just two coats, and dried quickly. The only thing to be careful of was letting it dry well between coats or else I got some dragging, but besides that, everything was nice and easy. 

And with that, I'm all done for today!! Thanks for reading, and don't forget to be nice to all the fajahs in your life! ^_^

Milani Cyberspace + Blue Iguanas!

  Firstly, Happy Happy Earth Day to everyone! I hope everyone is wearing their party pants, because it's a celebration! 

I sure am. n_n

Today's animal is the Blue Iguana. It also goes by the Grand Cayman Iguana.

    Blue iguanas can also be grey, green, or brown, but the blue ones are the prettiest, I think. They live on Grand Cayman island in the Caribbean, and were being wiped out because their homes were being used to build roads and houses. They also get killed by cats, dogs, and people driving in their cars. The good news is that people are working hard to keep the left over ones safe. But there are still very few of them on Earth and they have to live on preserves, which is sad. 

Since these iguanas come in so many colors and today being what it is, I went with Cyberspace, from Milani's amazing 3D Holographic Collection.

Cyberspace is a cornflower blue base with lots of flat and kind of flakey holographic particles in it. The particles come together to form a fairly strong and shattered but linear holo effect. If that makes sense. And as always, my camera dulled the holo some. Hater. -____-

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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Gratuitous thumb shot. 

I like thumbs. They give you the power to tie your shoelaces and text.

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    Well, I have little to say about this guy. Clearly, it is gorgeous and fabulous. If holos get your motor running, I highly suggest waiting for a Milani BOGO and then marching to your nearest drugstore and picking Cyberspace up.  

    Formula-wise, Cyberspace was okay and application was straightforward. All I needed were three easy coats and a thin layer of topcoat for a perfect look. 

Then I had the brilliant (read: stupid)  idea to put some China Gaze Black Mesh on top. I like the color combo, but the holo-ness was ruined. *sad horns*

    I really hope that we can take out some time today (and every day) to really appreciate our spectacular planet. It truly is special...it's the only one in our solar system and most likely in our galaxy that can support life as we know it. So if we mess this place up, that's it. There really isn't anywhere else for us to go, and even if there were, it would suck butt. It would be like Wall-E or Pandorum or Bladerunner. Or even The Matrix. I don't want my descendants to live messed up lives because my generation couldn't get our shit together. So we should all do our very best (even if it's kind of inconvenient) to be nicer to the Earth and to get others to be nice as well. 

Also, if you have some extra time today, I urge you to calculate your footprint. And watch Planet Earth! It's fun and  educational too! ^_^)

Okay, I'm done now. Thanks for reading, and have a most beautiful Earth Day!!

Milani Silver Dazzle

           When Milani released a line of what they called "one coat glitters" late last year, I was simultaneously skeptical and elated. Elated, because I love me some glitter and to get it opaque in one coat has always been a dream. But skeptical because it kind of felt like...the Loch Ness Monster. Like, logically, you know it shouldn't exist. But there's always the chance that it really is out there. So when CVS finally had a BOGO on Milani, I strapped on my boots and walked for hours until I found a display with the colors that I wanted. One of them was Silver Dazzle. 

Milani was really innovative with how they formulated this. Basically, Silver Dazzle is a shitload of teeny square black and charcoal grey glitter in a clear base. That stuff essentially comes together to form like...glitter soup. Then, in the glitter soup, you have lots of small square silver glitter. So the whole entire polish actually sparkles, but the silver glitter on the top sparkles the hardest. It looks really cool. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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Natural light, with gentle flash.

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     So the name isn't the most creative, but Silver Dazzle is amazing. I love love love how the silver glitter looks against the charcoal base in natural light. And in sunlight, I love how Silver Dazzle like...explodes. The silver glitter is so uber sparkly, and then in the background, you have tiny flashes and stuff from the mini-glitter in the base picking up on the light. I couldn't get a good picture to express it, but if you look at some of the nails that aren't in focus, you can see a bit of what I'm talking about. It's like wearing glassphalt on your nails. Love this one!

    Formula-wise, I had my issues with Silver Dazzle. It had a bad habit of gunking up at the neck of the bottle, and I couldn't really get it smooth at the edges. You can see some of that on my pinky in the last picture. However, Milani did not lie...Silver Dazzle is essentially a one coat glitter. I ended up needing two to even out thinner spots, but someone could get away with one thick coat, if they were careful. Silver Dazzle dried matte (which actually looked kind of cool) and ultra gritty,  so you will definitely need to use a topcoat here. But because the whole thing is glitter, Silver Dazzle eats topcoat the way that I eat cake. I used three coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, and I can still feel some texture on my nails, so for a really glassy finish, you'll need lots and lots of topcoat. On the upside, it dries really fast and looks kickass. 

But that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading and have an awesome night! ^_^

And So The Lion Gobbled Up The Lamb, Like It's Supposed To

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I don't care about Halloween, but everyone makes such pretty manis for the occasion that it's hard to not want to join in. One of my favorite blogs for Halloween-themed designs is Deez Nailz. Her nail art is always so neat and freaking adorable, and I especially like her Dracula post. So I went ahead and copied it. Or tried to, with disastrous results.

Please don't laugh!!

I started with two coats of Color Club Pretty in Platinum. To make the faces sparkle, I applied a thin coat of Nubar Angelic Glitter over each nail. Then I used the Kiss Brush-On Nail Art in black to put on the hair and mouth. The fangs were done with Kiss Brush-On Nail Art in white, and then tipped with Milani Ruby Jewels. I then used a red oval gem for the eyes, and put a dot of black in the center of each gem for pupils. I put angry eyebrows above the gem-eyes, and that was it. No topcoat or anything.

I wish I had used Icing Peacock for the base though, because I think you can't really see the fangs.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I meant for them to look menacing and evil (as vampires ought to be, vicious bloodthirsty creatures that they are), but they just look....special. Especially the pinky one. Its eyes are so crazy, among other things. I feel like if I were accosted by a vampire that looked like this, I instead of dying of fright or exsanguination, I'd die of laughter. Smh!

On a more cheerful note, there's a blog award!! I was tagged for it by the lovely and talented Varnish Vixen, so a giant thank you goes to her. The rules are that I gotta answer some questions, so here we go:

I love Spongebob so much.

1. Why did you create the blog?
 Well, firstly, my polish stash was getting out of control, and I needed a place where I could keep organized pictures and detailed thoughts about each polish. I considered fotki and flickr, but ultimately decided on Blogger. Plus, I wanted to make friends with other nail bloggers because this seemed like such an awesome community (it really is), and I wanted another hobby, because crocheting was getting boring and obsolete since spring was coming. 

2. What kind of blogs do you follow?

Mostly nail blogs. I also follow some weight-loss blogs, some hair blogs, and one very special and hilarious blog, Hyperbole and a Half. 

3. Do you have a favorite make-up brand? 
I like covergirl (hate their animal testing though) and milani. 

4. And a favorite clothing brand?
Nope! If it fits and looks okay, it's good enough for me.

5. What make-up products are essential for you?
I don't really wear makeup, but I need to have my Wet n Wild liquid eyeliner, Maybelline Dream Matte Mouse foundation, and Covergirl Lash Blast Luxe or Volume. They make me look human. ^_^

6. What’s your favorite color?
 In general, blue. For nail polish, it's a tie between purple and green, although blue is a close third.

7. What’s your favorite perfume?

Britney Spears Fantasy....don't look at me like that. 

I'm extremely partial to Hidden Fantasy, with Midnight Fantasy running a very close second.

8. What’s the film you liked the most?

Bleh....too hard. But a rule of thumb is if Tim Burton made it, I love it. With the exception of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Favorites specifically are Big Fish, Pan's Labyrinth, Constantine, Zombieland (great Halloween movie), Memoirs of a Geisha, 300, Wedding Crashers and a Beautiful Mind. 

  
9. What countries would you like to go to?

Heehee...you don't even have time to hear this list. I'd love to visit Egypt, South Africa, Australia, Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, India, Slovenia (Slovenians seem so sweet and friendly), Ecuador via The Galapagos Islands, Peru, Spain, Italy, Russia, The Phillipines, South Korea, Tunisia, Greenland, Brazil, Norway, The Maldives, Tibet.....I just want to go everywhere. ^_^


And now I get to tag people, but I'm gonna be a little unorthodox with it and tag all the blogs I follow. Is evil, no? I blame the Halloween spirit. (n_n)
So if I'm your follower, and you haven't been tagged with this award yet, then consider yourself tagged. Muahahaha! (That's an evil laugh, not a mirthful one.)

Wishing you ladies and any munchkins in your lives a safe and happy Halloween!