Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers

            Ahh I'm sorry about the lack of posts lately! Finals are in full swing, and there has been no time to paint my nails and barely any time to read or comment on all the lovely blogs that I follow. But I did get to have lunch with Savvy from Addicted to Polish on Sunday, and it was almost as exciting as it was fun. Deborah Lippman's Ruby Red Slippers came up during the conversation, and she said it was pretty, so I decided to blow off studying for geology and paint my nails with it instead. 

Ruby Red Slippers is small and large jewel-toned, ruby red hex glitter in a black jelly base. 

And I apologize for all the damn bubbles. I repainted my nails twice with different base coats and topcoats before finally giving up. If I can ever manage to not get bubbles on this, I'll retake these.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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     I love Ruby Red Slippers. It really is gorgeous, and all day, I have not been able to stop staring at my hands. Because the glitter floats in the black base instead of being swallowed up by it, the polish has this incredible depth and sparkle. And in lower lighting conditions, it reminds me of dying embers in a campfire.  I'm a little ashamed to love it, because I cannot stand Deborah Lippmann (the brand, I don't know the person) and I think the whole ruby slippers thing is overdone. But despite my personal feelings, I cannot deny this polish. It's the perfect vampy glitter. 

  Formula-wise, Ruby Red Slippers is pretty good. Besides the damn bubbles, I don't have any complaints.It was fairly easy to apply and although the first coat was fairly sheer, it built nicely, becoming opaque in three coats. It needed a few minutes between coats to avoid messing with the glitter, but at least the glitter didn't need to be fished or placed. Ruby Red Slipper will eat your topcoat though...I had to use three coats of topcoat for a glassy smooth surface. 

  However, I do have a big problem with the cost of Ruby Red Slippers, especially because it's not that hard to recreate. I ordered through Beauty.com and got four dollars off and free shipping and ebate cashback, which took some of the sting out of it, but it still cost mad money. Steph from Imperfectly Painted combined Wet n Wild Prancer and Black Creme to get something that looks really similar, and those polishes cost like two dollars together. You may even be able to mix them with some clear polish and get a perfect dupe. But I don't regret buying Ruby Red Slippers...I'm too lazy to hunt down Prancer or something similar and then mess with it and blah. For a lazy like me, it's easier to have it all in one (gorgeous and classy-looking) bottle for my using pleasure. ^_^

And that's all I've got for today! Have a great night!

Hard Candy Lava

           For the past few days, I've been craving red. I hate red, but man...I just wanted to wear it! I tried a few days ago with Zoya Sarah, but that ended with bubbly nails and me in a rage, so I forgot about wearing red. But last night, the desire returned with a vengeance. To appease it, I put on Hard Candy Lava, from what I think is the core collection. 

Please excuse the little white fuzz. Totally didn't see that until editing time.

But anyway, Lava is composed of tons of small, flat, metallic, ruby pieces of shimmer in a sheer ruby red base. The overall effect is that glittery-foil finish that has been so popular lately. In the bottle and in this picture, there are also golden flecks, but looking at my nail, I don't see that at all. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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My hand looks so ashy here, ew.

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      Lava is a really beautiful red polish. And when I say beautiful, I mean back-up worthy beautiful. It has this crazy intensity to it, and in the sun, it looks like its actually on fire. But I like it best in natural and low light, because that's when it takes on this awesome inner luminescence that just kind of comes from nowhere. It's like it's creating its own light. I can't really put it into words, and the picture of it in natural light is not so good, but trust me...it's gorgeous. You can definitely see why they named it as they did.

    I really liked Lava's formula as well. It was smooth, easy to apply, and was fully opaque in two coats. For the pictures, I used two coats of polish and one layer of topcoat, and looking at my nails now, there's no VNL. However, if I orient my hands in a certain way, I can see through my tips... my index finger in the last picture is a good example of that. But that doesn't happen often, so it's whatever to me.

    My only real gripe about this polish is that the bottles are too small...you pay $5 for .34 oz. I don't understand that at all...for $5, the bottles should be bigger. Or the price should be lowered, if the bottles are gonna be so small. This is highway robbery for reals. :(

But that's all I've got for today. Have an awesome night, guys!!

MAC Bad Fairy

     I can't stay long for today because I have to study. But I wanted to quickly pop in and spam the blogosphere with a behemoth post,  full of pictures and words. Ohohoho...is evil, no? ^_^ 

I must be feeling the effects of my current mani, MAC Bad Fairy from the Venomous Villains Collection.

More pictures after the jump!

OPI DS Tapestry

            Good afternoon guys! Today, I've got on the only OPI Designer Series polish that I own, Tapestry. I'm not sure why out of  allll the possible colors, I chose this one. I remember wanting to buy it and being excited when it showed up, but for the life of me, I cannot remember why. smh.

Tapestry is a slightly dusty rose creme base, densely packed with small, slightly weak holographic shimmer. It gives the polish a very scattered holographic effect. The color here isn't accurate though...it's too pink and too bright. But it's better than the orange color that I started with.  The others are much more accurate though.

Sunlight, no flash.

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This is one of the few that I didn't have to correct, and I actually think it's perfectly color-accurate.

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      Even though I really cannot remember what made me want Tapestry, it's not bad. The base color is a little  common to me, but it's pretty and will flatter alot of skin tones. I rather like it against mine as well. But my favorite part of the color  is the holographic shimmer. It's on the weaker side, but because there's so much of it, it still makes a nice impact in sunlight. In the shade, of course the holo goes away, but the silver shimmer is still very visible and lends interest to the polish. Tapestry isn't a polish that I would want to wear very often, because I just don't like red. But if I need a polish that is office-safe but not dead boring, then it would probably be one of my first picks. 

   But probably the very best thing about Tapestry is its formula. Ahh this formula is so freaking fabulous. It's the perfect consistency, well pigmented (opaque in two coats), and went on like butter. There was no dragging, bubbling, streakiness, or tomfoolery of any kind. It also dried pretty quickly, and didn't need topcoat because it was super smooth and glossy alone. I used topcoat anyway because it's like..weird not to, and the topcoat made it look extra good. Just looking at my nails right now, man, they look so freaking good. If only the base color was not RED...if it were blue, purple, green, or black, I would be so freaking happy.  Damn OPI's sick obsession with red!

  But that is all I've got for today. Have a great evening, everyone!

Nina Ultra Pro Molten Ruby

           Bleh more horrible weather today. Which means more horrible pictures of my current mani, Nina Ultra Pro Molten Ruby. I was planning on putting MAC Bad Fairy on top, but with the weather being what it is, I figured that would be a waste, and decided to just wear this alone instead. I'll probably have to revisit it too.


      But before I get to the pictures, I wanted to talk about something actually important. As we all know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm not going to give a big speech, because a bunch of other blogs have talked about how important this month is wayyy better than I ever could. But for my part, I'm going to place a special emphasis on pink polishes this month, and I will also have a link at the top of every page that I am seriously begging everybody to click once daily. For every 45,000 clicks at that site, one woman will get a free mammogram that could save her life. Just think about that...you could help keep one less mother, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, niece, wife, grandmother, and woman from being lost to this horrible disease. All you have to do is literally lift a finger. It really only takes a second, so please click it. And if you have a blog or facebook or whatever, please put the link somewhere on it, so as many people can get access to it as possible. Thanks!!

  Okay, here's Molten Ruby:

Molten Ruby is a shimmery magenta duochrome that flashes an orangey-copper color. However, in most lights and at most angles, I didn't see the duochrome. 

Artificial light, with flash.

This is the magenta that I saw most of the time. It's pretty, but not particularly exciting. 

Natural light, no flash.

And here is when the more duochrome-y look comes out, which is pretty and exciting. I noticed this more in lower lighting. 

Natural light, no flash.

To really see the duochrome, I had to tilt my hands alot.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

             
         Hmmm....Molten Ruby...what can I say about it? It's a pretty polish, although I don't think it looks good on me. The dominant shade of magenta isn't as vibrant as I wanted, and I just don't think it flatters my skin at all. Additionally, it's disappointing that Molten Ruby wasn't a stronger duochrome, because I actually really liked the coppery color. It's so sad that my favorite part of the polish is AWOL about 85% of the time. For these reasons, I probably wouldn't be too keen to wear it by itself...it's quite far from ooglay, but it's not one of my favorites, either. However, I do feel more confident that Molten Ruby will serve as a nice base for Bad Fairy, and it would look great under a Konad pattern. I also think that a thin coat of this would be pretty layered over a black or some other darker color. 
       Application-wise, Molten Ruby was really nice to me. The formula was quite smooth and thin in a good way. Like, it was thin enough to spread easily, but not so thin that opacity was an issue. On the contrary, Molten Ruby was opaque in only two coats, which makes me think that it would also be good for stamping Konad, and not just as a base for a design. 
         
    And that's all I have for today! Have a great night! 

Vampy Week: Confetti Masquerade Ball

            Woww, this has been the wackest vampy week ever, huh? LOL. Foolish life, getting in the way of all my  hopes and dreams. But anyway, for today, I tried to pick a good one to end the week on, and (if I do say so myself) I think I did a pretty good job. Behold, Confetti Masquerade Ball:

Masquerade Ball is a thin black base with a crapload of coppery-red microshimmer. The shimmer is like the colored of freshly dried blood. The overall effect is a glowy, blackened burgundy polish. 

Sunlight, no flash.

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          Masquerade Ball has to be one of the best reds I own. To be fair, I own like pretty much no reds because I tend to hate them, but still...this color is seriously hot. The shade of red itself is super rich, very pretty and flattering. And the overall effect of the polish is gorgeous...there's a ton of depth, and it does that thing where the center of the nail is red and the edges are black. It's not the most unique thing out there...I'm sure you'd be able to find a dupe for it. But but but...Masquerade Ball was only $1.99 so I think you'd be hard pressed to find a cheaper dupe.

         Masquerade Ball's formula was pretty middle of the road. It went on okay, but was a little thin, so I needed three coats to get it to bottle color. Dry time was pretty good though. 

        And as a reminder, this is the last day to enter my wittle giveaway. So if you'd like to enter, please leave your comment by midnight, EST. 

        Have an awesome Saturday, guys!

Nubar Unfaithful Red + Fauxnad

            Man...today was one of those days where halfway through, I had to stop and ask Jesus to take the wheel, because if not, I would have driven the car right off a cliff. I'm so le tired. But I just wanted to write a quick post about the konad that I did on my mani from yesterday, because I actually like this one. 

I used the little scrolly pattern from BM12, and stamped it on with China Glaze 2030. 

Then I put a little clear gem where the scrolly part was skinniest. 

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Natural light, no flash.

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      Lol, in all the frustration, embarrassment, misery, confusion and despair of today, my nails were the one thing that kept a smile on my face. And really, isn't that how it should be? 

Have a good night, everyone!

Vampy Week: Nubar Unfaithful Red

           Today, I'm wearing Nubar Unfaithful Red, from the Liquid Metals Collection. I'm not sure if it really counts...it ended up brighter than I expected, but whatever. I'm still counting it. lol!

Unfaithful Red is a bold, saturated, and slightly deep crimson red in a metallic finish. There's also an undercurrent of gold shimmer throughout, although the gold is way more evident in the bottle than it is on the nail. 

 

Sunlight, no flash.

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Natural light, no flash.

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      Unfaithful Red is super hot...I'm looking forward to wearing it again when my nails are longer. It has a little bit of that awesome quality where it's bright in the center and darkens at the edges of the nail, and the faintly gold shimmer is a wonderful little detail. I felt so grown up (in a good way) wearing this today...much less like the Zoloft blobby. I'm only a tiny bit sad because I would have preferred something darker. Maybe a little closer to burgundy. 

     The formula was also very agreeable. Unfaithful Red was opaque in one smooth, buttery, trauma-free coat. I used two coats for security and out of habit, but I think I would have been able to get away with just one. It was already glossy, but I put one layer of topcoat anyway. It also dried really fast...thirty minutes after application, it was just barely dentable. So yay for Unfaithful Red! 


Oh yeah, and there are only three days left to enter my giveaway!