Sorryy!!!

          Whee, it's been a while. I hope everyone had an excellent week and is getting ready to enjoy their weekend. I've been MIA because long story short, I got into a huge fight with my mom and it made me really mad. So I started watching Spartacus: Blood and Sand to take my mind off it, and ended up hopelessly entangled in that madness. I have done pretty much nothing this week but watch that show. I didn't even do my nails, so I still don't have anything new to post, but there are some  things (one a polish, the other a fauxnad) that I haven't posted yet. So first, I'll do the polish and then the fauxnad. This is Nubar Prevail, from the Modern Matte Collection.

Prevail is a slightly shimmery, deep eggplant matte polish. It has a little grey in there too.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

    I'm a total fan of Prevail. The shade of purple is really rich and royal, as well as unique. And I really like how it's a true, flat, matte without appearing too chalky or gross like some mattes can. 

   Application gave me a little bit of trouble though. Prevail didn't instantly dry like my other mattes, which in theory should have made it easier to apply. But instead, I had lots of problems with dragging and consequent bald spots. That said, I am not used to working with this type of matte, so it really could just be my inexperience that led to the problem and not so much the formula itself. 

  And I also wanted to show the mani that I ended up wearing to my mom's birthday get-together. I intended to wear China Glaze Cosmic, but it was ooglay, so I had to nix that plan. In the end, I wore this:

The base is Milani I'm Online, and the stamp is the interlocking ring pattern from BM21. I stamped it on with Color Club After Hours and then covered the whole thing with a layer of Essie Matte About You. I did have to double stamp and there were smudgies here and there, but overall, I was really pleased at how it came out. I got a few compliments on it too! ^_^

China Glaze Atlantis (Part Trois)

Happy May Day!! ^_^
     Between looking frantically for a Merry Midnight dupe or an affordable bottle of the stuff since VNS took their stock down (thanks a bunch OPI azzclowns) and studying last night, I didn't have any time to change my mani. So I put on a coat of Essie Matte About You, and left it at that. 

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

   I got a little tip pull when I woke up this morning, but that's okay. This will be coming off after class. Yes, I have class (and a quiz) on a Saturday, courtesy of Snowmaggeddon. And then finals start on Monday...I don't know who thought it would be okay to give students only one full day to study for finals, when normally, we get five. But I digress.

  About Atlantis, I prefer it shiny. When it's matte, it loses some of the depth that makes it so beautiful for me. Plus the glitter can't really do what it does, which is a shame. I'm going to study, and then I may try to konad over this. I think it'll be ugly, but since it'll be gone in a few hours, it doesn't really matter.

Earth Week Day 2: Orly Enchanted Forest

            Okay, no chit chat today...I'm a little pressed for time. So without further ado, behold...Enchanted Forest!!

Enchanted Forest is a deep, muted, blue-based green creme. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

    This is a really lovely color! I think that the name is slightly misleading, because when I look at this on my nails, I think more this:

than this:

I don't know why...I know that enchanted forests can be dark and deep, but I don't know...this color just makes me feel all evil inside. But it's a good feeling. ^_^

I will say that I did not like the formula on this...I think Orly polishes just hate my guts or something, because this was pretty streaky. It was fully opaque in two coats, but I had to use one more, and two more on certain fingers just to even up the streaks. But that said, everything was rich and creamy in the end and it didn't bubble,  so I guess all is forgiven.

After everything dried up, I decided to use some flower decals that I got from Five Below. 

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Out of boredom, I matte-ified this with one coat of Essie Matte About You. It interestingly came out the EXACT color of one of those green chalkboards from middle and elementary school. Brought back some memories man.

Lastly, the tip for today is: Change your lightbulbs from incandescent to fluorescent! They use less energy without sacrificing light, which is a twofold blessing. Less energy use means less strain on the Earth as well as a nice drop in your electricity bill.  And it's very easy to make the switch, because fluorescent bulbs are sold everywhere, for as little as one dollar. Just remember to call your local recycling/garbage disposal place to see how to dispose of the incandescent bulbs safely. They contain lead, so you can't just chuck em in the trash.

And that's all for today! 

Orly Iron Butterfly

           First, I need to have a moment of silence for my right thumbnail. I don't know what happened to it...one minute, I was quietly sitting at my file cabinet sorting mail (because my office is too cheap to give interns tables). Next thing I knew, my fingernail was torn and snagging on everything. I don't remember doing anything to it...it was fine and then it wasn't anymore. I put a piece of tape over it and prayed to the patron saint of fingernails that everything would be alright. Of course, when I got home, it totally wasn't. I had to cut it off, and then file it down to the quick to get rid of little cracks that had kind of...radiated inward. It was like filing my own heart out. 
So a moment of silence, I beg.  ;_;

Sank you very much.

       Hokay, so after filing, I tried to cheer myself up with some decals. I ended up taking it way way way too far and ending up with a flowery, rhinestone-y, glittery monstrosity. I couldn't walk around like that, so I had to take the whole shebang off. By then, it was like midnight, and I was too tired. I decided to throw a nice matte on and go to sleep, which is how I ended up wearing Orly Iron Butterfly today. 

Close look at Iron Butterfly. It's a charcoal black base with lots of silver shimmer in a matte finish. 

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

        I like this one. It's not super pretty or eye-catching, but it's easy and I think it looks good on me. The formula was good for a matte...it didn't dry ridiculously fast or anything, and was easy to control and spread. There was no shrinkage at the tip or crackling either. In these pictures, I have on two coats, with no topcoat of any kind. 

       The weather today is pretty rainy and dismal, so this color was a good choice for me to make. It's not reflective of my mood, because I adore the rain and am in pretty high spirits today despite my loss, but it works well with the current weather. It probably won't see much use in the summer, but I'd wear this more in the fall and definitely in the winter. 

       

    

NOTD: Milani 3D + Konad

    After I had a few hours with Milani 3D alone, I couldn't take it anymore. In the throes of dissatisfaction and boredom, I got my little envelope of Konad stuff. I need to find better storage for these thingies. But anyway, I got out my envelope, and started Konading it up. I decided to take advantage of the tawny gold and to create a cheetah-leopard-ish look. It's not cheetah because the spots have holes...and it's not leopard because the spots don't have brown in them. I'm very nitpicky about that...I hate when people call leopard print cheetah!! But I digress.

This is the plate (m57) and pattern that I used. 

I used Wet n Wild Black Creme to stamp this pattern on, and then used a thick layer of Poshe to seal the deal. Excuse the cotton strand. I didn't even realize it was there.

Natural light, no flash. 

Artificial light, with flash. I was trying to get some of the holoness to come out. :(

    Once I came to terms with the fact that this would never come out the way I wanted it to (black spots against a strong holographic gold) I decided to go ahead and matte-ify the whole thing. 

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash. I used one coat of Essie Matte About You. 

Natural light, no flash.

      

    I'm glad I opted to go matte with this. I really love it so much more. And the matte-ness does something interesting to the little particles in the base polish. I think it shows more when the pictures are enlarged. Anyway, I had a good time with this! It was really easy to do this look, and although it isn't perfect and is super simple, I still like it and will wear it with pride. 

    See...if this was a lion mani, that would be best pun ever. Get it? Pride?! Ohohoho!! I'm putting that one in my back pocket to use in a lion-related situation. Because you never know when such a situation will arise. Lions are everywhere. And I'm rambling. And I have class soon. So I'm off! 

Bus Blues

          Yes...bus blues. I am sitting on a bus that smells oddly like blueberry muffins, purel, and stale air. The bus driver thinks he's Barry White, and the lady sitting near me thinks that we're friends. I think that I just want to be left alone, because I'm tired. So I decided to open my computer and take advantage of the awesome free internet. I remember when internet first entered my home. I was a little kid, and we had to sneak on the internet at night. My mom never let us use it in the day unless for schoolwork, because the phone wouldn't work at the same time. And it made that horrible dialing noise, that if we were sneaking on at night would wake up my mother and get us all in trouble. And now it's on buses. Astounding. 
         But I'm not writing to talk about bus wi-fi, I'm writing to talk about the OPI Suede Collection. While this collection is old news, the polishes are new to me, and I wanted to write a little something something about them. Of course, I did not purchase the entire collection. As I am fond of saying, I am not big balling like that. But I did pick up and try out the suede versions of Ink and Lincoln Park After Dark, and now I have pictures to share!

This is a close look at Ink Suede. It's blurple with a silver shimmer, in a matte finish. Sorry for the dry cuticles. 

And here it is in natural light, no flash. 

Sunlight, no flash.

This is OPI Ink, with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust on top. This is natural light with a flash, because there was no sun. 

And this is Lincoln Park After Dark Suede. It's an eggplant with silver shimmer, in a matte finish. 

In natural light, no flash.

In sunlight, no flash. This picture is truest to color..idk what I did with those first two pictures. They're really washed out.

      First and foremost, I love these guys. It was kind of hard to put them on at first, because of how fast they dried, but once I got the hang of  applying them, it was much easier. The polishes are richly pigmented, and were perfectly opaque in one coat. In these pictures, I had to use two coats, to get rid of any bald spots or streaks from where I messed up. But if I did a perfect job on the first coat, that would have been enough. In these pictures, in both cases, I have on one coat of Barielle Growth Activator, and two coats of color. No top coat. I didn't have any trouble with crackling or shrinking either. I just made sure to let everything dry before putting on another coat. 
     I'm also a big fan of the texture on these. When they dry, they take on a velvety, smooth texture. I like to just sit here and run my fingers over my nails when I have these on, because the texture is so pleasing. And the way that they look on the nail is great. The silver shimmer give the colors a certain amount of depth and character that I don't see in other matte polishes. 
    But even though I love them both, only one can really be my favorite. That honor goes to Lincoln Park After Dark. Ink is pretty too, but LPAD really sets my heart to pitter pattering. I just feel like it glows in a way that Ink doesn't. And the shade of purple makes it look so rich and luxurious. 
    I definitely see myself rocking these colors really often. I live in a perpetual rush, so to have polishes that look so good but are so quick and easy to apply are a Godsend. Trust, I will surely be taking full advantage. And although these colors are more fitting for fall and winter, I plan on wearing them through spring and summer, with no shame. 


Unless I can get my hands on the matte version of La Paz-itively Hot.