A-England Lady of the Lake

           Hey guys!! My computer issues are finally over, and I finally got some sunlight and time, so to celebrate, I have on Lady of the Lake, from A-England's Mythicals Collection. 

Lady of the Lake is a dusty, blue-based purple with a scattered holographic effect. 

Sunlight, no flash. 

This is the one picture where the color came out accurately, so just imagine that all the pictures are this color. ^_^; 

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       I really like Lady of the Lake. I find the dusky shade of purple lovely and unique, and of course, I love the holo finish. It's not particularly strong, so you won't see it all the time, but in the right light, it's beautiful. 

       Lady of the Lake's formula was also beautiful. It was the perfect thickness and went on  ultra-smoothly, with no streaking or dragging. The polish was also excellently pigmented, only needing two thin coats to reach opacity. And like many other holo polishes, it dried fast and shiny, without the assistance of topcoat. 

   Really, the only bad thing about this polish is the price. They're 9.5 pounds a pop, which translates roughly to 15 -16 USD. So yeah, it's expensive. Just as costly as some Lippmanns and almost as costly as RBL. But with the quality of the polish combined with the beautiful color, great holo effect, and excellent customer service that I received, I felt like I got my money's worth.  Plus it was my birthday. So if you have a splurge coming and can swing it, I'd definitely recommend picking up Lady of the Lake.

And that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading, and have a happy Saturday! ^_^

Burning Hearts

         Happy Valentine's Day!! 
        I actually don't really like Valentine's Day. Back when I was adorable, I was obsessed with it. But as I got older and more....facially challenged, my enthusiasm sort of died down. If I were boss of the world, I would cancel Valentine's Day and just have Christmas twice a year. I feel like that's a much better use of everyone's time.  
        But since it's Valentine's Day and not Christmas Part II, I did some appropriately themed nails anyway.

I started the party with three coats of Color Club Worth the Risque.

Then I stamped on one of the patterns from BM11 with Color Club Where's the Soiree? 

Next came a layer of Gelous, and the heart gems, which I got from Rite Aid. I don't remember the name of the manufacturer though. 

I finished everything off with a thick layer of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, and that was it. 

This was the plate, and I used the pattern on the far left in the bottom row. 

Photo courtesy of http://moriesnailart.weebly.com

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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  This could have been way better if I had made more of a tip, or could have found smaller heart gems. Also, actually putting the gems in straight would have been good. -__-

What also would have been good was if I could have used something more holo...Worth the Risque is already on the weak side, and all the topcoat layers extinguished what little was there. 

     But even with that stuff, I think it's okay. I didn't want to do anything too Valentine's Day-ish, because I'm gonna have to wear this for like three days, so I like how this mani doesn't scream Valentine's Day. It more whispers it in a firm voice. I also really like how the gems look. They catch the light and glow so nicely, like they have little embers in them. 

And that's all I've got for ya today! I hope everyone is having a beautiful Valentine's Day! ^_^

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.

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     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

Happy Holidays!!

            Happy Christmahanakwanzaa guys!! Unfortunately, I don't have any holiday or snow-themed nails (I know, booo I stink) but I do have pictures of snow! We got like fourteen inches, and the wind was going like 60 mph! So crazy. 

The backyard.

And the street! People had to walk in the center of the road, because the sidewalks were so full of snow. 

This is the little path we managed to shovel. 

My little brother tried to free my parent's car from the backyard, and faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of the snow.

But you know what I always think about when a ton of snow falls? 

I think about how no two snowflakes are the same, and about how many snowflakes are necessary to create such a huge mass. It just like...blows my mind. There are so many flakes, and they're all different! It's so crazy! 

And just to keep things relevant, I grabbed a few shots of my current mani, Color Club Magic Attraction. My hands are ashy and gross here. I blame the hard labor, cold weather, and rock salt. 

   And that's all I've got for today! I hope everyone had/is having a great holiday and are gearing up for the new year! I can't believe 2010 is thisclose to being a thing of the past. Where does the time go? x_x

Petites Black Diamond

        For today, I've got Petites Color Fever Black Diamond, from its core line. 

Black Diamond is a charcoal black base with small, coarse holographic shimmer. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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    Black Diamond is just okay. I appreciate how dark it is, because while it is actually pretty close to being a real black, its cousins are more on the grey or brown side. However, I was pretty disappointed in the lack of holo goodness. There is some, and I think you can see it in the pictures, but I really expected more. In all fairness though, I did use topcoat, so that may have dulled it a bit. But I don't think it would have dulled it THAT much, you know? 

  However, the formula on Black Diamond was pretty good. It was a good consistency, and applied smoothly and easily. It wasn't as opaque as some of its cousins, but it was still nicely pigmented, becoming opaque in two coats. The pictures are with three coats though, because there were bald spots that needed to be filled in. That may have been user error though. It also dried pretty shiny...I don't know why I used topcoat on it. Probably force of habit. It didn't need topcoat.

  Anyway, while this is a pretty polish, I'd actually recommend that you do not buy it. LOL. I got mine second-hand and didn't have to pay full price, but honestly...I feel like Black Diamonds is a rip-off. It's $3.99 for .25 oz of a polish that isn't unique. It doesn't even have a truly spectacular holo to save it, and it's too thin to really be effective as a stamping polish. So unless you just really want it, or you need to fill a hole in your collection, please leave this one in Rite Aid and pick up Color Club Revvvolution instead. It's half the price for twice as much product, it's more holo, amazing for stamping, and way more accessible. The only thing is that it's not as dark, but that's a small trade-off to me. 

And that's all I've got for today! Have an awesome Friday! 

Beauty Treats Jingle Bells

    For today, I have another glittery confection. Glitter is like...pretzel M&Ms.  Both are super delicious, and you can never ever ever have too much. ^_^

This one is Beauty Treats Jingle Bells. I don't know much about the brand, but I think you can find it in some beauty supply stores and I've seen it sold in Mandee.

Jingle Bells is small silver and holographic glitter in a clear base. 

Sunlight, no flash.

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Natural light, no flash.

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I blurred it a little to show the bling. I wanted to make a video, but my camera kept on turning itself off, so I gave up. 

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     Jingle Bells makes my heart so happy! It's really blingy and loud, and especially on a sunny day, it should be used with extreme caution. I can definitely see someone causing a traffic accident, blinding people, or accidentally walking off a cliff because of it. Can you imagine trying to explain that to the authorities though? Omg awkwardd. 

    Jingle Bells' formula was okay, except for that it was a bit thin. In the pictures, there are four coats, and while the coverage is thisclose to being full, I could have gone for another one. I can still kind of see my nail through what was there. Next time that I want to wear this, I'll probably layer it over a chrome polish, like China Glaze Millenium or a smooth silver holo, like China Glaze OMG. And the polish settles out really fast..I don't know if you can see it, but in the second picture, it's already settling. So frequent shaking is advisable in this case. On the upside though, it dried lightning quick and applied smoothly. Overall, I was well pleased, yea verily. ^_^

 Now, I have a test to study for, so I'm gonna run along. Have an awesome night, guys!