Graduation Nails! (Zoya Phoebe + Jordana Funky Gold Town)

Hey guys!
Firstly, sorry about disappearing again. The past two weeks have been taking care of last minute things, prepping for graduation, and going to senior stuff, and it was way busier than I could have imagined. Don't worry though...school is over for real for real and I'm not employed (working on it though), so I will probably be a much better blogger for the forseeable future lol.


But anyway, Saturday and Sunday were my graduation dates (yes, I had two graduations lol), and of course, I had to wear something festive on my nails to celebrate. Since my school colors were buff and blue and time was short, this is what I ended up with:

I started with two coats of Zoya Phoebe, and then applied one layer of Jordana Funky Gold Town on top.

Then I applied a layer of BYS's Matte Topcoat to finish it off.  Super easy and quick. :D 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      Even though it wasn't what I originally wanted, I really liked how this came out. The glitter looked pretty against Phoebe's shade of blue, and I appreciated how easy Funky Gold Town was to put on. With chunky glitter, there tends to be placement issues, but in this case, I swiped on the polish and the glitter went exactly where it was supposed to, which was nice. However, I need to go to one of these meetings where they decide the names for polishes. Funky Gold Town? Clearly, everyone there was drunk.  

And unrelated, but I think I'm gonna go back to square nails. The pointed ones were fun, but I've been scratching the hell out of everyone (never myself though oddly enough), and soon, nobody will want to be my friend anymore. Plus, I think they look prettier on my hands. So back to squares I go. 

But that's all from me today! 

Thanks for reading, and have a happy hump day!! 

California Condor

Hello people! The animal we're gonna look at today is the California Condor. Warning, there's nothing cute about it.

Except for the baby. The baby is kind of cute. 

     The California condor is a gigantic bird that lives in Arizona, Utah, and of course, California. It's a carrion bird, so it pretty much only eats things that are already dead, being particularly partial to the bodies of large mammals like livestock, coyotes, and deer. The California condor is perfectly content to live its life minding its own business and peacefully eating dead things, but it is facing extinction today because of dumb people. Dumb people killing them to put them in museums and dumb people hunting them out of fear that the condors were killing domestic animals. A quick trip to the library would tell you that these animals are lazy and don't even like to hunt. Finally, the condors were dying from other things like lead poisoning, flying into electric wires, and eating meat poisoned by pesticides The government has been trying to bring their numbers up by breeding them in captivity and teaching them to avoid dangerous things, but these birds are still very close to extinction right now, which would be sad because in a way, they're the last of their kind.

 For my California condor nail look, I did this:

This was about as easy as it looks. I did two layers of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Radiate, and then put one thick layer of Zoya Loredana on top, in a v-shape. Lastly, I put a little yellow gem at the bottom of the V. I didn't use any topcoat, because I wanted to keep the flatter texture of the colors. 

This time around, I didn't want to do a literal thing for the bird, but more wanted to represent the colors on the condor in the same proportions that they appear on the actual animal. My index finger came out kind of janky and the lines on the other fingers are not straight (I should have used tape), but all in all, I'm happy with how this turned out. In real life, you can't see the imperfections, so it looks a little smoother. I also like the contrast of Radiate's brightness against Loredana's darkness and the flatness.  So I'm a pretty happy camper.

And that's all from me today!

Thanks for reading, and have a great Monday!

Revlon Emerald City

     Hi guys! I was organizing my computer files and found these pictures hanging out, so I thought it would be good to post them. If for no other reason than to signify that I'm still alive LOL. So here's Revlon Emerald City!

Emerald City is a forest green base with tons of emerald green shimmer, all in a semi-matte finish.

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     Emerald City features a pretty and rich shade of green, and I always love matte shimmers. What I don't like is the waxy finish. I know that some people prefer their mattes to have a hint of shine, but I love mine chalky and dry looking. No shine at all. With Emerald City, I'd have to apply either a matte or shiny topcoat, because I wouldn't be able to just wear it on its own. And since I generally reach for mattes when I'm pressed for time or energy, the need for topcoat totally defeats the purpose.

   Formula-wise, Emerald City was interesting because objectively, it was fine. Went on smoothly, became opaque in about three coats, and dried fairly fast. But for a matte, it was kind of terrible because I expect my mattes to be much more opaque and to dry almost instantly. With Emerald City, there was an actual period of waiting. Like about thirty minutes before it was completely dry and undentable, without the use of topcoat. 

   So while I like the color, Emerald City has to go. I like my mattes convenient and this one is5 kind of not.

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

P.S. I haven't forgotten that I promised you guys a giveaway. It's coming, I just need some time to get everything ready. ^_^

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.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

And here it is with some topcoat:

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     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! ^_^

Zoya Phoebe + China Glaze Lightning Bolt

         Today, I have Phoebe from Zoya's recently released Mod Mattes Collection. I was actually wearing it yesterday too, for Autism Awareness Day, but the weather sucked, so I couldn't take pictures. But better late than never, right? 

Phoebe is an electric azure blue polish with really fine silver shimmer, all in a matte finish.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

And some shots of her with topcoat:

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     Okay, I love Phoebe. The shade of blue is bright and fun without being too much. And the silver shimmer is a beautiful touch. Phoebe is unmistakably matte, which is good in my book. I mean, if you're gonna be a matte, commit to it. But the silver shimmer cuts the finish a little, giving Phoebe a nice bit of dimension. With topcoat, Phoebe perks up a bit and the shimmer is more prominent. It actually reminds me a bit of China Glaze Blue Sparrow with topcoat.

    Applying Phoebe was hellish. The consistency was fine, but it was so streaky! After four tries, I managed to get a relatively smooth finish by using really generous coats, working fast, never going back to correct a brushstroke, and using a very light hand with the brush. Also, Phoebe was surprisingly sheer for a matte, needing three coats to be fully opaque. On the upside though, it didn't dry as fast as most other mattes I have, which gave me a bit of time to work with it.

But today, Phoebe was struck with a Lightning Bolt, courtesy of China Glaze. 

Ahh, how I yearn to call this polish White Lightning. 

Self explanatory. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I really like this combo...it reminds me of acid wash jeans! I really wanted them when I was a kid, but my mom wouldn't let me. She always bought the boring Wranglers from K-Mart. The ones with the tapered ankles that give you diaper butt. :(

   

And that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

ETA: For the love of all that is good and holy, please wear a good base coat with Phoebe. I lazily skipped it and now my nails are a disgusting shade of green-blue.  ;_;

China Glaze Crushed Candy (Quick and Dirty Edition)

         Oh man, I am sick of crackle polish. I feel like that's all I've been hearing about for like the past month...even Oprah is talking about it. Ahh it's driving me crazy. So when my own China Glaze Crackle Glaze polishes arrived yesterday, I felt annoyed with them and tossed them unopened into a corner of my room. I woke up in the middle of the night, and couldn't go back the sleep, so I decided to open the box and try out Crushed Candy. Instead of studying for my midterm. 

Crushed Candy is a Tiffany-blue crackle polish in a creme finish.

Underneath, I have on three coats of OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte.

Florescent light, no flash.

Florescent light, with flash.

Florescent light, no flash.

Doesn't it kind of look like sunlight though?

Florescent light, no flash.

Florescent light, with flash.

The color in the bottle is accurate...the color on the nail is a bit too sky blue. 

     Even though I'm sick to death of this stuff, I have to admit that I really really like Crushed Candy. The color is pretty, and will make for lots of great color combos. I really want to try it over China Glaze Lighthouse...yellow and blue look so nice together. I was also pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the pattern that it made...I thought I preferred the look of the ones from Born Pretty, but this pattern looks really cool too.  

   As far as formula goes, Crushed Candy was not bad...it was fairly thick, but that's okay, because you don't really want a smooth finish with Crushed Candy. It's just gonna crack up anyway, so streaks and stuff don't matter. What I did was just to put a little bit on the brush and focus on covering the whole nail in one go, without overlapping. It dried almost instantly, and I gave it like ten or fifteen minutes to crack up all the way before applying topcoat. I wanted small chunks, so I tried to make the coats as thin as I possibly could and I liked how it came out. On my right hand, I used thicker coats, and ended up with thicker lines and larger chunks. It also looks nice, but I like the smaller chunks better.

And that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Thursday! ^_^

OPI Bling Dynasty

           Last night, after fixing my messed up nails, I put on OPI Bling Dynasty from the Hong Kong Collection. I passed on most of the collection, because I felt they were a bit boring. But Bling Dynasty was one of the few standout colors for me, and I loved the name, so I scooped it up. 

Bling Dynasty is an old gold polish with gold and copper shimmer. The shade actually reminds me of mustard...I'm not a mustard eater, so I don't know exactly what mustard I'm talking about. But it's one of the darker ones. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

         I really like Bling Dynasty. The shade of gold is pretty unique in my opinion. Instead of being that cooler, brighter shade of gold that I think is more common, this one is warmer, darker, and it looks positively ancient. Like the kind of gold that you'd find on the death mask of a pharoah. In sunlight, the shimmer comes to life and gives the polish a subtle sparkle and shine. I wouldn't call it a must-have, but I'm a big fan of this color, which is strange, given how I feel about yellow. 

        The formula was fine. It was easy to work with and spread smoothly and thinly with no dragging or streaking. Bling Dynasty reached opacity in three coats, and dried really quickly with the help of topcoat. I think it's a tad bit brush-strokey...if I'm looking for them, I can see some of the strokes. But it's not very noticeable, and maybe someone with more skill wouldn't get them at all.

   In the interests of procrastination, I later decided to mattify this:

Sunlight, no flash.

I used one coat of Essie Matte About You.

Sunlight, no flash.

I love how it turned out. I think it looks just as pretty matte as it does shiny. 

Have a good night, guys!