Hunger Games Stuff!!

      Hi guys!!
So yesterday, I got to go see The Hunger Games in IMAX, and it was a super-glorious experience. Like all film adaptions, it didn't quite match up to what I expected from reading the book, but I really did enjoy it. Except for in Effie's case, I think they could have been a little more creative with the makeup and wardrobe, I wish they had paid closer attention to detail (they forgot President Snow's rose a few times for example), and I wish they had stayed truer to the book because they cut out some parts that I felt were important, but despite those quibbles, it was definitely worth seeing.


Also, I was really pleasantly surprised by Peeta! When I heard who was playing him, I was like no no no nooo this shit is not going to work. But Josh Hutcherson did a really good job...once he started acting, I forgot my complaints and started being able to root for him the way that I did when I was reading his character in the books, so that was a relief. Nothing is worse than watching a movie and having this one character ruin it for you LOL. But enough blabbing about the movie...I don't want to spoil it for others. I will just say that it was great, and if you are still on the fence about seeing it, I think you should do it. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.


But anyway, for this momentous occasion, I of course had to do a girl on fire mani. I suck at free-handing or making nice-looking flames (I know because I tried), so I just did a little konad stamp-on thing.

Sunlight, no flash. 

Ottlite, no flash.

Close up of the design.

Sunlight, no flash.

    This was pretty simple to do. I did two layers of China Glaze Electrify (I'll review that by itself soon), and put a layer of topcoat. After letting it dry, I used Color Club Where's the Soiree? to stamp on a vaguely flame-y pattern from one of my random knockoff konad plates. Then, I put a red gem in the gap at the top of the flame-y pattern, sealed it all in with topcoat, and that was it. So yep, very easy. 

    I was also really happy with how it came out. The black flame-y thing pops out great against the glittery base, and the gem pops out nicely from the black. And in sunlight, the base is so sparkly that it really does look like my nails are on fire. I don't really like how the pictures look (toooo much detail lol), but in person, it's beautiful and didn't look like Beetlejuice at all for once. I was so proud of myself ahahaha. I also got compliments all day, and some people were even able to guess that I was going to see/had seen the movie that day, so that was nice. 

I also did my eye makeup like one of my favoritee characters in the whole series, Cinna. I know, I usually don't show makeup and will most likely never do it again, but I was so excited that even with my makeup ineptitude, I didn't come out looking crazy LOL. So I wanted to share. 

Here was the original look:

And this was my version:

This was also really easy. I used a thin liner brush to put some primer and then some Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy close to my lashline. Then I used a little water and glycerin to apply Shiro Cosmetics Triforce  over the Pixie Epoxied part of my skin. On top of that, I did a thin line of Wet n Wild's Creme Eyeliner in black. Then, put some pencil liner on the inner lids, both top and bottom. The last thing I did was to curl my lashes and apply Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume. 

   I was nervous that I would look like a freak, because the gold was very bright and intense, but I actually got alot of compliments, which was nice because no one ever compliments my face lol. So yep, it was an all around good day. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! And if you've seen the movie and want to talk about it, please comment! I'd love to hear what ya'll thought about it. 

Shooting Shoots

       Sorry about missing yesterday! I was languishing in the cool air (heat wave begone!) and literally did nothing all of that day. But today, I have the final installation of Barielle Week. Huzzah! But since I didn't have a new color to show you guys (only had six colors), I decided to do some quick and simple nail art with one of my favorite Barielles, Shooting Star.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

           To do this, I started with two layers of Shooting Star and then used China Glaze 2030 to stamp on the bamboo shoot pattern from Konad Plate m66. I wanted to use a bronze polish, to match with the glitter, but it turns out I don't really have one. *softly weeps* But anyway, even though I feel like this looks a little unfinished (like there should be something else on there), I'm still happy with it and I think it looks pretty darn good.

And with that, Barielle Week is all done! Thanks for reading, and have a happy day!

No Two Are Alike!

            First off, I'd like to give all of you a big hug and thank you, because The Phalanges Files reached 400 readers last night, which is...surreal to me. I'm kind of broke at the moment, so it may take a little bit of time, but I'm going to figure out something that I can do to celebrate the occasion and thank you guys.
        After enjoying Milani Molten Rock on its own for a day, I wasn't in the mood to get rid of it, and decided to mess with it a little bit. Also, I took these pictures on a rather overcast day, so all the pictures are in natural light. 

I used China Glaze 2030 to stamp on the snowflake pattern from Konad plate M20. Then I put in two blue rhinestones in random sunflakes, and sealed everything up with topcoat. 

 

     I really really like how this turned out. But for some reason, I had a ton of trouble getting the whole snowflakes on the stamper...little chunks would just not pick up. I tested it with other paints too, but it just did not work. Maybe my plate is defective or I was scraping it wrong. But most of it got on there, so whatever, I'm happy. LOL. 

Finally, don't forget that today is the last day to enter my Lady of the Lake giveaway! It ends at 11:59 EST, so if you'd like to enter, please go sign up soon! (The graphic in the sidebar will take you to it.)

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

Tagapalooza!

     I was recently (jk, it was like months ago smh!) tagged in a few stuff and have been meaning to complete them and pass them on. This past weekend, I finally finally got off my ass and got them done, so let's get right into it, shall we? n_n


First, I was given a handwriting tag from Anna over at Loodie Loodie Loodie. Which btw, if you haven't been reading, you should definitely start. My nails are like 10x healthier because of her.
But anyway, for the tag, I had to handwrite the answers to the following questions:


1. What is your name/blogger name?
2. What is your blog's name/URL?
3. Write,"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."
4. What's your favorite type of food?
5. What are some of your favorite makeup brands?
6. What are some of your nicknames?
7. What are some pictures you like to doodle?


And here are my answers:

 Yes, I know. My handwriting looks exactly like an one-armed fish wrote it while being electrocuted. I know.  

I also know that I'm like uber tardy for the party with this tag and consequently, I'm 99% sure that everyone has done this already. But if by chance you haven't, consider yo'self tagged. 

The second tag came from Rory at Varnish Vixen, and it was for a nail art challenge.
The rules were:
1. go to your lacquer stash
2. CLOSE your eyes and pull 3 random items - JUST 3


And from those three polishes, I had to create a mani, presumably a non-ooglay one. 
Because I am the polish gods' favorite joke, I ended up with:

China Glaze White Cap, L.A. Girl Punk and Nubar Earth. -____-

And here's what I made out of those:

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     To create this, I started with a layer of milky basecoat and then applied three coats of China Glaze White Cap. I used topcoat on it and let it dry for an hour, before proceeding to stamp on the ivy-ish pattern from Bundlemonster's BM20 plate, using L.A. Girl Punk. Punk is so thin that you can barely see it, but it's there. Finally, I used Nubar Ocean to randomly stamp on the little flower thingies from Konad's M20 plate. I was surprised at how much I liked this. Too bad the tip shrinkage ruined it. ;_;

The last rule is that you have to tag 3 bloggers, so I'm going to tag Another Bottle of Polish?!, Concrete and Nail Polish, and anyone else who wants to do it but hasn't been tagged. If you do choose to do it, please send me a link or leave it in the comments! I love seeing the stuff that people have come up with for this challenge. n_n

And the last tag was for the Top 10 blog award, and came from Beauty Shades! Thank you for the tag, girl! I really appreciate it! 

Purpley. n_n

The rules of this tag are that I have to name 10 of my favorite cosmetics and tag 10 other bloggers to receive the award. 

So my top 10 cosmetics would be:

1. Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

2. Shiro Cosmetics Eyeshadows (I own most of them and love all the ones I have)

3. Fyrinnae Eyeshadows

4. Reviva Labs Makeup Primer

5. Covergirl Lash Blast Fusion

6. Wet n Wild Cream Eyeliner

7. Wet n Wild Palettes

8. Milani Color Brilliance Eyeliners

9. Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation

10. Maybelline Volume Express Falsies Mascara

And in no particular order, I shall tag:

Silence is Loud

Loodie Loodie Loodie

Spaz and Squee

Maricza.com

C's P's

My Lucid Bubble

Nailtastic

Spooky Nails

Candy Coated Tips

Haute Lacquer

Wooh that was long, huh?

Lesson learned though....noo more procrastinating on tags.  x_o

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!!

Zoya Kimmy vs. Hard Candy Lava (Plus Konad)

      Okay, so in my post about Kimmy, I mentioned that it could possibly be a dupe of Hard Candy Lava. While procrastinating on life (*in Rajiv from Outsourced voice* because that's how I do it) I was able to get together a quick comparison of the two, so here it is:

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Kimmy, Lava, Kimmy, Lava

Natural light, no flash.

L-R: Kimmy, Lava, Kimmy, Lava

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Kimmy, Lava, Kimmy, Lava

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Lava, Kimmy

Sunlight, no flash.

L-R: Lava, Kimmy

    Okay, so they aren't dupes. Lava is more vibrant, warmer, and more orange than Kimmy, and the shimmer is more spherical and less distinct. But really, you only see a true difference in bright sunlight and certain levels of shade. Under florescent light, they look much much more similar. They also have similar formulas, with both reaching opacity in three coats.

    So I don't really think that a person would need both. If you did get both, you'd be able to justify it, but both are probably not necessary unless you have a thing for these types of colors.  As to which one is better,  idk. I suppose that depends on access and personal preference. I like them both the same. 

I also did some Konading on Kimmy. 

I used Color Club Revvvolution, with Plate M57.

Sunlight, no flash.

   It's not the most creative combo, and I don't even think I really liked it, but it was okay to wear for a day. Can't go wrong with leopard print. ^_^

NARS Mash + Konad

           With all the homework yesterday, there was no time to change my polish. Not that I really wanted to...I love Mash. But because I get bored easily plus I didn't want to cover up the color, I matte-ified Mash, and then did some konading on top with clear polish, a la Michèle from Lacquerized. 

This is NARS Mash, with one layer of Essie Matte About You. 

If you use this matte topcoat, do you ever notice that sometimes, these white speckles come on your nails after applying it? What the heck are those? 

I used Duri Rejuvacote to stamp the leopard print pattern from Konad m57.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      When it was fresh, I really liked this! It didn't look anywhere near as good as Michèle's did, but it still looked cool. The only sad thing is that it wasn't very visible, unless my hand was tilted in a certain way. And over the course of the day, as the matte topcoat became more satiny, the contrast between the shiny spots and the base wore off a little. Then it was really really hard to see the pattern. But at least the spots didn't rub off, like they did when I tried to konad on top of a matte-ified  China Glaze Atlantis.

    

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

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? ^_^