KoFauxnad + New Children!

            I have only a quick post today, because I have a test tomorrow and I am soo not prepared. I've been studying, but I feel like I know nuftin. LOL.  So first, I'm gonna show my NOTD, and then I'm gonna show the goodies that Jesus, USPS, and Fed Ex collectively dropped upon my doorstep today. And then I'm gonna go run, study, and pray a little. 


  So first, the slight ooglayness:

Yesterday, I didn't have time to do a whole color change, so I just did a quick konad + fauxnad (kofauxnad?) job over Emerald Sparkle. First, I stamped on a full nail floral pattern from BM16, using Nubar Conserve. It looked really good at that point, and I should have left it alone, but noo...not I. So I used China Glaze Robotika to stamp more flowers from Konad S9 at the tip.

Sunlight, no flash.

The little girl from S9 also came out to play. And so did a little bow-shaped gem that I go from Rite Aid. I don't remember the company though.

Sunlight, no flash,

Detail on ring finger.

I stamped her on with Color Club Pretty in Platinum. 

     I kind of like how this came out. The background was my favorite part, and the flower tips were my least. It probably would have looked better on some longer nails...on my little ones, it just looks cramped. Or what would have worked better is if I started the flowers closer to the edge. Whatever though. It wasn't really ooglay, so I'm happy. 

   And any unhappiness I may have felt was washed away at the sight of the emails from the package depot. Look what finally came!

Ahhhhhhh!!!! *swoons*

I do have to say that I'm getting a touch of cold feet about Mash...it's more brown than I expected. I'm just hoping that enough gold comes out to where it doesn't look crazy on me. And Zulu looks like perfection. 

And this is a minor complaint, but sheesh Nars. Tree killers much? They use so much unnecessary packaging...there was like a booklet in each box of polish that had some advertisement about their topcoat and basecoat. And they had the nerve to print that little advertisement in every language known to man (I'm pretty sure they had heiroglyphics and cuneiform too), so the booklet is huge for no reason. And then there was a random square of paper with some quote from Francois Nars about makeup. Okay, whatever, I don't even wear makeup like that, soo....why did I need this? They could have printed it on the box if it was that important. I'm ranting now, but seriously...unnecessary packaging just gets on my nerves. 

And then my swap came in!

Ahhhhhh!!! *swoons again* I had to give up two of my children for this little guy (girl?) but it was worth it!

So pretty! I took these in the dying light of the evening, so it doesn't look all the way right, but in person, it's super spectacular. Love!

And a big shoutout to Steph from Imperfectly Painted for encouraging me to find someone to swap with, because truth be told, I had kind of given up on this one.

What is that noise, you ask?

Ohhoho...tis the death rattle of lemmings. Such a magnificent sound, no? ^_^

OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow + Konad

            I have a test I'm supposed to be studying, so I'm gonna be quick. But in the interest of trying to post once a day, I just wanted to pop in and show what I wore on my hands today. Yesterday night, I only had about thirty minutes to spend on my nails and that wasn't enough time for a full color change. But I didn't want to do nothing, so I did some stamping, which turned out nicely, if I do say so myself. It was supposed to be like a garden at night, and it looked fine. But me being me, I just had to put a gem in there too, which is where things went horribly awfully wrong.

I used Konad Plate S9 and China Glaze Millenium for the stamping. 

The gem came from maytheps-uk on ebay. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

I think I should have just stamped some more stuff instead of sticking the gem in there. Or I should have quit while I was ahead. The good news is that I don't think anybody noticed.  LMAO. 

Have a great night everyone! ^_^

Vampy Week: OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow

            I love vampy nail polish. It's kind of funny because in real life, I have zero sex appeal. Like, when I was a kid, I imagined that I'd grow up into Jessica Rabbit or Betty Boop, but I ended up more like:

LOL. 

Even so, something about those colors just make me happy. So when the lovely nail fanatics at the hair board that I frequent declared vampy week, I literally squealed in delight, and began planning. I may have to skip Tuesday and Thursday, but I'm going to try to wear as many vampy colors as possible this week. To start, I put on one of my more recent acquisitions, Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow, from OPI's Coleccion de España. 

Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow (HTAT from here on out) is a blackened blue-based green creme with a super secret shimmer. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash. 

Natural light, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

          Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow was one of those colors that I'd been going back and forth on. Like one of those that you keep on taking out of the basket before checkout. Finally, I caved and bought it, and in some ways, I'm really happy that I did. HTAT's shade of green is absolutely lovely. It's very deep, sexy and mysterious, and I can see it flattering a ton of skin tones. But if you aren't wearing it in the sunlight, most people will think that it is black, which for me is a bit of a drawback. I wear polish for my own benefit, and not for others, but still...it kind of sucks when a color doesn't look like what it is.

      Application-wise, HTAT also turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. The first coat was terribly streaky and difficult to apply. Second coat was better, but it still looked a mess. Third coat got it opaque, but bald spots and uneven-ness remained. The fourth coat finally made everything smooth and perfect, so I congratulated myself on a job well done, slapped on my topcoat, waited an hour and then went to bed. Please, someone tell me why I woke up to bubbles and sheet marks. 

     So even though I'm in love with the color (minus the whole black thing), the horrors of application will probably be enough to keep me from wearing this very often. Que tragico. 

   

    Do you guys like vampies? What are your favorites? 

OPI Princesses Rule!

           A few days ago, the lovely Li Lian from Shortwidenails asked me to swatch OPI Princesses Rule! from the Princess Charming Soft Shades Collection. I had some time and light this past weekend, so that's what I did. Here it is:

Princesses Rule! is a sheer rose pink base with a ton of fine crystalline silver shimmer in it. There's also pink and green shimmer scattered in, although they didn't show up in the picture. They do on the nail, however. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

When not in the sun, the shade of pink tends to cool down a bit.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

        Princesses Rule! is a color that perfectly fits its name. It's delicate, girly, demure, bright, and above all, very very pretty....essentially, it's a princess in a bottle. The shimmer is amazing...indoors, you can see all the different colors, and in the sun, Princesses Rule! is sparkly and dazzling. It just looks very...sweet. Like a cupcake covered in tiny sugar crystals. 

     On the application front, Princesses Rule! did not disappoint. Being a sheer polish, of course the formula was on the thin side, but the coats went on fairly easily and dried quickly. The pictures are three coats of Princesses Rule! with one coat of Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage, and there's still a good amount of VNL. But it somehow adds to the beauty and charm of this polish, so I wouldn't want to keep applying to opacity. 

     Overall, I'd definitely say that everyone needs to own this color. It's just so gorgeous, and can be worn by itself, layered over other shades of pink, layered over corresponding shades of pink for more opacity, layered over black, and used for french manicures. I can definitely see it creating a gorgeous french mani, especially.

   After I was done with the picture taking, I wanted to compare Princesses Rule! with some other pale pink shimmers, to see if I had any dupes for it. Here's the cast of characters:

L-R: OPI Princesses Rule!, Zoya Bebe, Sinful Colors Glass Pink, and Sally Hansen Pink Promise

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: OPI Princesses Rule!, Zoya Bebe, Sinful Colors Glass Pink, and Sally Hansen Pink Promise

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: OPI Princesses Rule!, Zoya Bebe, Sinful Colors Glass Pink, and Sally Hansen Pink Promise

     Clearly, none of these are the same. They aren't even similar to one another, each featuring a distinct shade of pink and type of shimmer. But out of these, I like Princesses Rule! the best, followed by Bebe, followed by Pink Promise, and then Glass Pink brings up the rear. 

    And with that, I am done for today. I hope you all had good Mondays!

Psuedo-Franken

       Omg, this afternoon I had a nightmare about my nails. I took a nap, and dreamed that I added some topcoat to my current mani, to spruce it up. After adding the topcoat, I started doing something or another, and when I looked back down, the topcoat had eaten through my nail polish and was demolishing my fingernails and nail beds. Like, my fingers looked like sausages...all puffed up and bright red. And my fingernails were itty bitty things...I could barely even see them for all the swelling. Ugh, I'm getting chills just thinking about what it looked like. Anyway, I woke up in a cold sweat, thisclose to screaming bloody murder. Like, when I woke up, my mouth was opening to scream. Does anyone else have nightmares about their nails? Sometimes, I really feel genuine concern about my brain. And even worse, for the rest of the day, I kept on looking down at my nails and shuddering. Behold...the face of fear:

Okay, so I've wanted to make a glittery franken for a long time. But I'm too scared of unforseen chemical reactions and explosions and glass flying in my eyes, blinding me forever or at the very least causing me pain.  So I decided to take the stuff that I was going to franken with and layer them instead. Which to me seemed completely safe and non-dangerous. I guess my subconscious didn't get the memo.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

I blurred a little to show glittah.

      

To make this look, I used (in this order):

1 coat of Orly Star of Bombay

1 coat of OPI Absolutely Alice

2 coats of Finger Paints Sapphire Shimmer

1 coat of China Glaze Atlantis

1 coat of Poshe Top Coat

    I tried to keep the coats thin, because after six coats of polish, nails can get disgustingly thick. I ended up having to let the polish dry a little bit and then gently pressing it down into the nail to better integrate the layers and to thin out the polish. I wouldn't have tried it with regular polish because there would be unevenness and fingerprints, but thankfully, glitter is very forgiving.

   And even though it was a ton of work and gave me a horrible nightmare, I really love how this looks. It's so loud and sparkly, and it has a really cute jelly finish. I wish that I could see more of the golden specks from Absolutely Alice though. Maybe if I try this again, I'll add a thin coat of Nubar Angelic Glitter somewhere in there.

  The only problem with this is that I really don't know how I'm gonna take it off. Frankly, I'm a little scared. 

But that's all I have for today. Have a great night! 

OPI Concord Grape

           Good afternoon, everyone!! Today, I am excited, because I'm wearing a polish that I've been anticipating for a long long time, and I really want to show it to you guys! It's called Concord Grape, and is from OPI's New England Collection.

Concord Grape is a dark, shimmery and smoky blue-based purple. My camera over-exaggerated the shimmer. In real life, it's much more subtle. 

Sunlight, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Throwback label. 

        I really truly love Concord Grape. It's such a pretty and complex shade of purple, sometimes looking straight up purple and other times, looking closer to silver/grey. I couldn't capture that because the light in my room sucks butt. But yeah, it's pure gorgeousness and I definitely consider it one the top five purples in my collection.

       And the perfection did not stop there. Concord Grape's formula (chock full of chemically and toxic goodness ^_^) glided on like butter, which made for an effortless application. The brush was a good width too. I was able to paint my nails in three easy strokes, without getting a ton of polish all over my cuticles and stuff. Sadly, dry time left a little to be desired. I painted my nails and went to bed about an hour later, but there were still sheet marks when I woke up this morning. But that could be because I used a Big 3 Free topcoat. 

     Concord Grape was released in Winter 1998, which means that they don't make it no more. But it's still available for a relatively reasonable price on eBay and some other online retailers. 

     And that's all I have for today. Have an awesome Saturday!