Happy (Extra Belated) Earth Day! + Maui's Dolphins

Hey guys! Sooo almost one absolutely miserable week later, I finally have the last post for Earth Week for ya'll. 
This time, it's Maui's Dolphins:

I love their nubbly little fins and chubby bodies.

    Maui's Dolphins are a tiny group of dolphins endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. They're a sub-species of another Kiwi species of dolphin, Hector's Dolphin. Like most dolphins, these guys are a really social and clever species and can be observed playing and chatting with each other as they go about their business. They're also really cute, unless you're one of those people who are terrified of dolphins. But anyway, a combination of the Maui's Dolphin's tiny living space and reproductive cycle, which includes waiting like 9 years to have kids and then only having one baby every 2 - 4 years means that its numbers have traditionally always been on the low side, compared to most dolphin species, but they've been steady. But lately, their numbers have been declining at a crazy fast rate with there only being 55 of them left the last time anyone checked. 55! In the whole world. The reason is that fishermen will use nets to catch other fish and will end up catching the dolphins instead. Dolphins caught in a fishnet can't get to the surface to breath, so they drown to death, which is a terrible way to go for anyone, but even more sad for marine mammals like Maui's Dolphins. Of course, an easy way to stop these guys from going extinct is to make stricter rules about or outright ban the use of nets in the dolphins' habitats, but nobody wants to do it. Why are people so mean and selfish to the animals? ;___;

For their vaguely greyish-blackish coloring (which up-close is apparently quite beautiful), I decided to wear Sephora by OPI If You Got It, Haunt It, from their Halloween 2010 Collection. 

If You Got It, Haunt It is a bunch of tiny black and silver glitter in a black jelly base, with larger pieces of blue-green opalescent hex glitter mixed in. It's pretty interesting. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      If You Got It, Haunt It is quite pretty...it looks a lot better in person lol. Sometimes, black-grey glitter comes out kind of dull or bleh-looking even with topcoat, but I find that's not the case with this. It's not super-sparkly or anything, like Milani Silver Dazzle, but it sparkles just enough to get a hint of the glassphalt look. The opal hex glitter is also a nice touch. It's kind of subtle and doesn't come across too well in the pics, but in real life, I can look down at my nails and get little glints of other colors amongst the black, which I love. 

    Formula-wise, I didn't have any trouble with If You Got It, Haunt It. It was opaque in three coats, went on easily, and dried quickly. Cleanup was also a snap because it was pretty easy to control, and I actually found that it wasn't as gunky as some other glitter polishes. So yep, I am a happy camper. 

And that is the end of Earth (Semi)Week! 

Sorry for missing so many days, but I will try to post some pretty things this week to make up for it lol. And I'll be posting a giveaway soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome night!

Wet n Wild Correction Tape

      Hi guys! So it's getting to be Halloween time again, and while I'm not sure that I'll have time to do more hilariously ooglay Halloween nail art for you guys, I figured I could try to wear some of the Halloween-themed polishes that I have in my stash. So in the spirit of that, I have Wet n Wild Correction Tape from their On the Prowl Collection. Also, I've been wearing this for like a million years, so please excuse any signs of wear you see. 

Correction Tape is made of  medium-sized gold, fuchsia, and blue hex glitter in a clear base. There's also some black square glitter. Also, I've layered it over Diamond Cosmetics Concrete Jungle. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     I love love love Correction Tape! The combination of colors is so fantastic, and I especially love the black bits of glitter. You can see the different colors better in regular light, but I still like Correction Tape better in the sunlight. The bits of glitter sparkle so nicely, and I can't keep my eyes off my nails. Apparently, neither could anyone else, because I got so many compliments everywhere I went. And that never happens, so yeah...Correction Tape is kind of a big deal.

    My only problem with this one was the pain-in-the-butt formula. The clear base is way too thick for the amount of glitter in it, so I couldn't just swipe on the glitter like a normal person. Instead, I had to painstakingly swirl the brush in the bottle and then dab it on the nail, which led to bubbles. On the upside, the polish dried fast and wore really well. It's not perfect, but for a rough five days, I think it looks pretty good!

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic hump day! Also, I'm curious...do you guys have any nail plans for Halloween? If you tell me, I promise not to copycat. ^_^

A-England Sale!! Also, A Bit of Spam

Hi guys!! Sorry for poofing again, I've been really sick and then had midterms to boot. As a result, my nails look like absolute crap. So instead of showing you guys something new today, I thought it would be fun to be a polish pusher instead.


So to that effect, A-England is having a sale!! They recently got to 7000 fans (yay!) and because Ms. Adina loves us so much, she's reducing her gorgeous creations to 7 pounds (about $11 if you're American) for one glorious weekend. I might not be getting anything because of some unforeseen expenses, but it's a really good opportunity to test out the brand or pick up some lemmings.


Now for some spam. 
First is King Arthur:

Next is Merlin:

Then Lady of the Lake. I was hoping reswatch this sometime this weekend, but for now, this will have to do:

And my personal favorite, Tristam!

In summary, A-England makes awesome stuff and they're selling them for less this weekend, so if possible, you should get some. Yeah. 

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

Nina Ultra Pro Swatches

      Ahh these past few days have been such nail fail. I don't know why, but it's like every swatch and every picture is doomed to be terrible. And I found a split in my nail, which made me mad because I haven't gotten one in ages. So I think I'm just not gonna bother with my nails until Friday, and then I'll try again. In the meanwhile, I have a couple of Nina Ultra Pro colors from the backlog. 


First up, there's Never Glum Plum.

Never Glum Plum is a slightly dark purpley-grey creme. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      lol, I kind of miss these nails. But anyway, Never Glum Plum is a great color. It's a little dark, a little smokey, a little purple-y and a little grey, all of which I like. I also think it's very flattering and chic, especially as a fall and winter mani. 

     Never Glum Plum applied well. I only needed two super smooth layers for opacity, and the formula was pleasantly thin. 

Next is Emerald City. 

Emerald City is a straightforward shimmery emerald green.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I applied Emerald City fulling expecting to not like it. It seemed like it would be generic and a little blah, but I think I was wrong about that. In sunlight, it turned out to be much richer and deeper than I expected. However, when I look at Emerald City in comparison to other shimmery greens that I have, I probably won't want to wear it much, just because the actual color isn't as interesting as the others. So it goes in the purge pile. 
    Formula-wise, Emerald City was okay. It was a bit thin, so care was required, but it was opaque in three coats and dried quickly.


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

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.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Blurred for sparkliness.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      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 (Winter Color Edition)

   First off, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in my Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat giveaway! I was able to finish validating and tabulating entries this morning, so I figured that I would just draw and announce winners today instead of waiting. So the winner of Prize #1 was Vedra and the winner of Prize #2 was Ulmiel!
Congrats ladies!! 


   On the nail polish front, I have a couple more Sinful Colors to show you guys today. These ones are Secret Admirer and What's Your Name. 

Secret Admirer is a graphite base with tons of round silver speckles. It's kind of reminiscent of Finger Paints Winter Whisper. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Although I compared Secret Admirer to another polish that I owned and did not like (Finger Paints Winter Whisper), I really like Secret Admirer. It's just a very cool color, and because the shimmer is more individual, I think it has more depth than Winter Whisper. I will say though that if I had a secret admirer, this is not the type of color that I'd want him to be associated with....this is like a serial killer's color or something. *shudders*

The formula for Secret Admirer was fine. It went on pretty smoothly, dried quick, and needed two coats to be opaque. 

What's Your Name is a black jelly base with tons of glassfleck shimmer. The shimmer is teal blue, but it has a tinyy bit of a duochrome thing where it goes violet.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Okay, so the pictures kind of suck, but I love What's Your Name. It's all dark but still sparkly, and reminds me a bit of the ocean at night. However, it's not the most unique color, and I'm pretty sure that I have a dupe for it in Nicole by OPI Blues in the Night. So I'll probably be kicking What's Your Name out. Boo hoo. 

But anyway, What's Your Name's formula was okay too. I used three coats for full opacity, and although it was a little watery, I didn't find the polish too hard to work with.

Also, did ya'll see how they didn't punctuate the name?

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