Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Traffic

   Hi guys! For today, I have Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Traffic. 

Traffic is a bright, school bus yellow creme. 

Sunlight, no flash.

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    I'm not sure why, but lately, I've been more and more into yellows, and Traffic is a pretty one. It features a rich and full-bodied shade of yellow and made me want to paint smiley faces on my nails. I also feel like it doesn't look horrible on me, so yay for that.

    However, Traffic had a horrendous formula. And I know that a tough application is par for the yellow course, but Traffic took it to a whole other level. I needed five coats (yes five) to calm the streaks and bald spots, and by then, my nails were so thick and unattractive that I ended up taking this off soon after taking the pictures. So as much as I like the color, I'm going to purge this one. The thought of dealing with it again makes me want to cry. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend! 

Sally Hansen Opulent Cloud

     Hi folks! As some of you may know, I have a slight problem when it comes to rare polish. After painfully lusting after them, hunting them down to the ends of the Earth and finally acquiring them, I can't bring myself to wear them. Instead, I keep them locked tightly in my polish drawer, only taking them out to gently caress them and make sure that they are okay. For today, I have one such polish, Sally Hansen Opulent Cloud.

Opulent Cloud is a silvery-lavender base with lots of golden shimmer.

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  Opulent Cloud is just okay for me. I like the slightly fuzzy finish the shimmer brings to it, as well as how Opulent Cloud seems to shift colors according to the lighting. It just has this really nice ephemeral and soft feel to it that I enjoy. But I don't like the actual color. It seems kind of dingy, and I don't think it flatters my skin at all. I'm still going to keep Opulent Cloud though, because it's not ugly and I put in way too many hours hunting it down. Letting it go would be like capturing a unicorn and then setting it free because it kicks you. Just silly, you know?

   Opulent Cloud's formula was also okay. It needed three coats to be perfectly opaque, and went on pretty smoothly, without bubbling, dragging, or brushstrokes. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and enjoy your Labor Day!

I'm Not Dead!

Hi guys! Sorry for dropping off the face of the planet! My family and I went to Florida and for whatever reason, the hotel has no internet. I can use my phone to do some stuff, but all my nail photos are on my computer. So I just wanted to check in and say hi and things of that nature. Until we go somewhere with internet, here is a picture of the cute towel swans at our hotel. Thanks for reading and I hope everyone is having a good weekend!
P.S. Shark week!!!!

Barielle Sweet Addiction

         A little bit ago...maybe in May, Barielle had a one day 50% off sale. I'd been interested in their stuff for a while, so when that happened, I went and placed myself a little order. Sadly, it was too early for me to get anything from their new collection, but I still thought it would be fun to make this Barielle Week around here. So to kick it off, here's Sweet Addiction from their Sugar Rush Collection. 

Sweet Addiction is a slightly dusty jade green creme. 

I couldn't get the dustiness to come out on the screen, and I think it may be a bit greener than it looks in my pictures. My camera clearly can't play nicely with greens. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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    I fell in love with Sweet Addiction's color right away. The smoky but still kind of bright shade of green was so pretty, and it looked so cheerful and sweet that I couldn't help but smile when I looked at my nails.

    However, the formula was kind of bad for me. It was very thick and gluey, and it was so hard to get it to level correctly, which I feel comes across in the pictures. It also bubbled like mad. The upside is that Sweet Addiction dried quickly and was opaque in just two coats, or one thick coat if you were a good polisher. 

    Although Sweet Addiction gave me hell, I'm not quite ready to let it go. It's so pretty, you know? So I think I'm gonna drop some thinner in it and try again later. If it works out better, I'll update this post with new pictures. 

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

The Hungry Asian Fender Bender

       Hello guys! For today, I have another franken from The Hungry Asian sale. This time, it's Fender Bender. 

Fender Bender is a ton of tiny lime green, fuchsia, and bright blue glitter in a clear base. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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     Fender Bender is pretty, but it's not quite what I wanted. When worn opaque, it comes out much darker than I thought it would be and I can't see the individual colors as well as I hoped I would be able to. I do love that it's super sparkly, and I enjoy how in terms of the sparkle, you can get individual colors (like you see blue sparkle, green sparkle, etc. all at one time) but that's not quite enough to make me fall in love. Before I relinquish it to the purge pile though, I'm definitely going to try it layered over other stuff to see if I can't bring some brightness to it. 

    Fender Bender's formula wasn't bad though. It needed four coats to be opaque, but the polish went on smoothly and dried fast, without too much grit. One layer of topcoat was enough for it to be smooth and shiny. 

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

OPI Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow Suede

    I actually have Independence Day nails to show you guys, but the weather is pretty suxxors so I can't take pictures. I think tomorrow's weather will be better, so I can put them up then. Or the day after. Because I am lazy in my soul. ;_;

In the meantime though, I have Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow Suede, from OPI's Suede Collection. 

Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow Suede is a matte hunter green base with tons of silver shimmer.

Sunlight, no flash.

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And here it is with some topcoat:

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     In it's matte incarnation, HTAT Suede is actually not that great. The shade of green is pretty, but even with the shimmer, it's a little more flat (why did I first spell that "flatte"?) than the other shimmery mattes I have in my collection. But with topcoat...wow wow wow. HTAT Suede becomes this incredibly lush and sparkly green wonderland. I can't wait to do some Christmas nails with this. Because it looks so awesome with topcoat, HTAT Suede is not a puchase that I regret, but I probably will only wear it matte in a pinch. Which kind of sucks, because generally, you buy a matte to wear it...matte. 
    HTAT Suede's formula was also kind of disappointing. It was really thick and gloopy, and I had a hard time getting it smooth or even. But at least it didn't dry instantly, so there was some time to work with it a little bit. 


And that's all from me today! Have a wonderful Sunday night! ^_^

Sally Hansen Night Lights

    Today, I have Sally Hansen Night Lights, which was a polish that I hunted a long time for. After buying a dud (it wasn't holo at all) I finally found a nicely priced holographic bottle on ebay, and snapped it up.

Night Lights is a bunch of square silver and holographic glitter in a charcoal grey jelly base. I applied it over two layers of China Glaze Liquid Leather, because I was too lazy to build it up.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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Blurred for sparkliness.

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      You know, I'm actually pretty disappointed with Night Lights. It looked so spectacular in every picture I saw and in the bottle, but on my nails, I'm just not really feeling the love. It's not as holo as I imagined it would be, and the color of the base kind of limits the layering capabilities of the polish for me. All of this would be forgivable if the holo effect was linear instead of scattered, but it is very scattered. And since I feel there are more versatile and more holographic glitter topcoats out there, Night Lights has to go. 

     As far as application goes, Night Lights was easy. It went on nicely, dried quickly, and only needed one layer of topcoat to be smooth. However, the base is really thin and I find the color of it rather unappealing, so I would never wear this alone. In the pictures, I have on two layers of Night Lights on top of two layers of China Glaze Liquid Leather. 

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

Sinful Colors Swatches (Summer Color Edition)

       Yesterday, I was going through my drawers looking for stuff to purge and realized that I have a bunch of Sinful Colors polishes, but haven't seriously worn a single one. I don't know why...they just never really cry out to me. But if for no other reason than to know which ones I wanted to purge and which ones to keep, I decided to swatch them. I won't be posting them all at once, so for today, I have All About You, Unicorn, and Rise and Shine.  

All About You is a clear base with lots of flat, irregularly sized antique gold and copper shimmer flakes in it. 

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   This is the oogliest thing I've seen on my nails in a long time. Like after I was all done, I looked at my nails and said aloud, "DAMN this shit is ooglay." I can't even stand how much I hate this right now. It'll probably look much better on someone with a different skin tone or layered, but by itself and opaque, I rebuke and refuse All About You.

    The formula was okay though..it was rather sheer (pictures are with four coats) and the base was a bit too thick, but besides that, no problems were had. There are bubbles, but that's because of the ceiling fan. 

Unicorn is a soft, buttery yellow creme.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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     Even though Unicorn is yellow, I needed to buy it...I don't know. I saw it and just needed to have it. And I really don't regret the purchase, because I love the color, both in general and on me. It's a very wearable and sweet color, and gives me hope for yellow. But despite my love for the color, I can say with 100% certainty that I will never ever wear it again, thanks to the nightmare that was the formula. It took four painfully streaky coats to look like something, and I really can't put myself through that again. But if anyone can recommend a similar shade with a more reasonable formula, I'd love to hear about it! I really do like the color. 

Rise and Shine is a bright teal green creme base packed with crystalline microshimmer. The shimmer shows silver, green, and blue, although you'll probably have to enlarge the pictures to see it at all. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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    Love Rise and Shine! The base color is very fun and pretty, and the shimmer is fantastic. In sunlight, it twinkles so beautifully and reminds me a bit of BB Couture's signature glitter, just crushed up really finely. 
It also went on quite smoothly...the pictures are with three coats of color, and they dried pretty quickly. The only thing about Rise and Shine is that it dried matte, like a neon. So topcoat is definitely necessary to get the most out of it. 


And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a fun fun Friday!
P.S. My giveaway ends today, so don't forget to enter! n_n