Barielle Elle's Spell

    For today, I have Elle's Spell from last year's Holiday Hustle Collection.

Elle's Spell is a wine red jelly base with tons of multi-sized and duochrome flakes in it. The flakes are the same kind as the ones in say, Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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Natural light, no flash.

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      Elle's Spell is beautiful and totally reminds me of the holiday season. Thanks to the rich color and jelly finish, my nails look like little radioactive cherries, and I just want to nibble them off. My only gripe is that the flakies don't change color on the nail as well as they do in the bottle, but maybe layered over a darker color, one could get more colors out of them. I don't know yet, but if I do that, I'll update with pictures and stuff. 

     In terms of formula, Elle's Spell was fine but for one terrible flaw. It was really really really sheer. This was like four coats over one layer of Essie Limo-Scene (five coats on my index and middle fingers), and I'm still not quite satisfied with the depth of the color on the four coat fingers. So this is one definitely best saved for layering.

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday! ^_^

Nfu-Oh 40

        For today, I have Nfu-Oh 40 to show you guys. This one is a do-over, because I've posted on it before, but those pictures really sucked butt.

Nfu-Oh 40 is a clear base, full of duochrome multi-sized flakes. The flakes show mostly shades of green and blue, although at extreme angles, I've also gotten purple out of them. And I layered Nfu-Oh 40 over Orly Star of Bombay.

Sunlight, no flash.

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     I don't have too much to say about Nfu-Oh 40, except for it's awesome. The way that the greens and blues shift and dance across my nails at the slightest movement is mesmerizing, and I love that the color change is obvious at all times. Looking at my nails, I'm reminded of sea turtles. Sea turtles that have been eating radioactive waste or something, which of course is not a good thing, but if it made them glow or gave them superpowers, would be kind of cool. 

    Nfu-Oh 40 also had a really nice formula. The flake payoff was good without my needing to swirl the brush, and the base was thick enough where the flakes don't fall out of suspension, but not so thick that it was tough to apply. My only complaint is that for a layering polish, Nfu-Oh 40 dries kinda slowly, but that was remedied by a good quick-drying topcoat. And the pictures are with two layers of Nfu-Oh 40 over one coat of Star of Bombay. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a great Sunday! Ahh I can't believe the weekend is over already though.  -____-

Sally Hansen Problem Child

     For today, I've got Sally Hansen Problem Child, from their Complete Salon Manicure Tracy Reese Fall 2010 Collection. 

Problem Child is a dark, red-based purple base with purple, blue and red shimmer and multi-sized copper flakies in it.

Sunlight, no flash.

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Natural light, no flash.

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     Problem Child is a really pretty color. The base color is flattering, and it does a little bit of the bright in the center, dark in the corners thing that I like. The shimmer and flakies also add quite a bit of interest, although you'll probably have to click through the pictures to see them. Although I have something similar in OPI Merry Midnight, I'm going to keep Problem Child. It's like Merry Midnight's twin brother, who decided that instead of doing crack all day like MM, he would get a job and buy a house like a motherflipping adult. Which is ironic, given its name. 

  Further compounding the contrariness of Problem Child's name was its formula. It was quite smooth and only needed two coats for opacity, which is not very problem child-like behavior. I'm okay with that though.

And that's all from me for today! Thanks for reading! ^_^

Sally Hansen Sequin Scandal

        Happy Hump Day ladies! Yesterday, my nails were looking extra jank thanks to cold weather and travelling, so I had to renubbinate. And fresh nubbins always call for a dark color, so for today, I have Sequin Scandal, from Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure Tracy Reese Fall 2010 Collection. 

Sequin Scandal is a very dark and murky olive green creme base packed with golden and copper multi-sized shimmer and some little white/opalescent flaky bits. You don't really see those unless you get close though. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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     I had a ton of trouble tracking Sequin Scandal down. Either the damn display was nowhere to be found, or all the Sequin Scandal (and there were only two to a display) had been snatched up. Just when I gave up on it, I found one in the freezer section, behind some Lean Pockets. o_O People hide things in the craziest places. Anywho, now it's mine and I bet whoever put it back there was so salty when they came back to find it gone.  ^___^

   About the color itself, I likey. It's all sexy and deep, and I love how the shimmer looks when the sun catches it. It sparkles and glows, and is almost hypnotic in its prettiness. In lower light, Sequin Scandal not as nice, but it's still pretty enough. You can still see some of the shimmer, which keeps it from being all the way flat. But I'd definitely recommend wearing this on a sunny day for maximum enjoyment. Ooh, also, one thing that I did not like was the opalescent flaky bits. They don't change color or anything...they just sit there, all white-looking. I don't understand why they're there. And they made a polish that would have otherwise gone on smoothly go on a bit bumpy. 

  But aside from the thingy with the flakies, applying Sequin Scandal was very easy. I only needed two coats of color for full coverage, and the polish was drying nicely even before I added topcoat. The formula was also a nice consistency and very controllable, making cleanup minimal. 

And that is all I've got for today! Thanks for reading, and have a nice night! :D

   

Sephora by OPI 212

          Happy New Year's Eve!! I know I said this already, but I just can't believe that the year is almost over. I made my resolutions and cleaned some stuff, but it's still so crazy to me. I'm a little sad too, because I hate odd-numbered years...terrible, awful things always happen to me in odd-numbered years. Except for that time I was born. But on to more relevant things, like the color I've been wearing for the past couple of days, Sephora by OPI 212. 

I know this is not the best picture...with the snow, it's hard to take pictures outside, and the lighting inside is kind of...iffy. But anyway, 212 is a hazy black creme base with lots of gold microglitter, lots of multi-sized duochrome flakies, and a little small holographic hex glitter. The flakies shift from orangey-gold to green, a la Nubar 2010. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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In this one, you can see a little bit of the holo glitter.

Sunlight, no flash.

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Natural light, no flash.

     Even though 212 leans extremely brown on me, I love it. The base is perfect in color, and instead of swallowing up the elements, it showcases them. In all lights, you really get to see the shimmer and flakies, and because the glitter is so spaced out, it completes the look instead of taking it over the top in a bad way. 
  Additionally, I love it as a representation of Manhattan (which it was named for). Manhattan is a cool place in that it really has split personality disorder. Sometimes it's Ru Paul and sometimes it's Jack the Ripper, if that makes sense. And I think this polish did a good job of displaying both of those sides. So claps and snaps for Sephora by OPI. 
  212's formula was okay. It went on smoothly and dried pretty quickly. I did find it a bit thin and runny, but it wasn't uncontrollable. And it was opaque in only two coats, although I ended up using three to get a bit more depth. Additionally, I only needed two layers of topcoat for a glassy finish, which is better than I expected. 212 did eat the first layer, but the second did the trick. 
  Even though I generally don't mess with $OPI, I would recommend 212, if it's your thing. The color is so utterly unique, and for me, worth the price.


I hope everyone has an amazing and safe New Year's Eve!! :D

Layering Fun Deux

           So yesterday, I had to take off my underwater dragon cave mani, because it was chipping, and I hate chipped nails. I was a little bit stumped with what to use next, but ultimately decided to recreate yesterday's mani, using purple versions of the same polishes. 

This was made with:

1 coat of Color Club Groove Thang

1 coat of Zoya Mimi

1 coat of Sinful Colors Hottie

1 coat of Nfu-Oh 51

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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Natural light, no flash.

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    I think it looks okay...it reminds me a little of OPI Merry Midnight. Maybe this one is a little more crackhead-y. In any case, I liked the green one way better. 

  And unrelated, I just wanted to give a quick heads up, to let you know that the Rescue Beauty Lounge sale is about to be on. It's on Monday, from 11am - 4pm, and more details are available on Rescue Beauty's facebook page. Ji already sent out emails about it, so if you want in and haven't gotten an email yet, make sure to go to the website and sign up, so you can be included in the second round of emails. Even if you already are signed up for newsletters, she said the software is acting crazy, so if you haven't been emailed yet, just sign up again. You're gonna need the email to get the code. 

  If you're gonna participate, what are you planning on grabbing? I'm still working on my list...there's so much that I want, and this budget is killing me. Damn you, fiscal responsibility and self-reliance. ;__;

  Have a great night, guys! (And don't forget to click the link at the top of the page! ^_^)