Brucci Typhoon Lagoon + Konad and a Haul!

            Okay, so I lied. If anything, I'm wearing more purple today than I was yesterday. But yesterday, I was le tired. Far too tired to remove nail polish and reapply it and then let it cure. So I decided to do some nail art over it, to keep it fresh. I based the design off the name of one of OPI's new colors, Catch Me In Your Net.

Sunlight, no flash.

Brucci Typhoon Lagoon is the base color, and I used Wet n Wild French White Creme to stamp the fishnet pattern from Konad (yes, real konad!! o_o) plate M57.

Sunlight, no flash.

Then, on my ring finger, I applied a purple fimo butterfly. It's supposed to be caught in the net. lmao.

Natural light, no flash.

Lastly, because I couldn't help myself, I put on one coat of Finger Paints Floatin' on a Cloud, and finished the whole thing with two coats of Poshe. The Floatin' on a Cloud is ten times more obvious in person.

    I'm suprisingly happy with this design. I fear fimo, because in the wrong hands, it can look tacky and gaudy. And yes...my hands are so so wrong. But I like how subtle this is. I think the key for me will be to just use it in moderation, and to cut the stuff as thin as possible. When my nails get longer, I'll probably use more, but for now, this is enough. 

 And I bought the fimo from i_fact, a Hong Kong seller. I paid $6 USD for 100 canes, which I think is a pretty good deal.

   Muahaha, but that is not the haul that I mentioned in the title. I was talking about some stuff that I bought from maytheps-au.com. I don't really have plans for all this stuff, but I'm sure something will come up. 

I've been dying to have a set of these, for when I need to soak off some hardcore glitter. They even have a little scraper on the inside of the liquid receptacles to help with removal. 

I also got a 12 piece set of nail art brushes. ^_^

A set of rhinestone picker uppers. I've used toothpicks, but I hate how the splinter and have to be thrown away. I also have a silicone one from Sally's, but when I try to press in the gems, they like...slide around and mess up the design. I hope these will let me put them in neatly and securely. And they'd be good for decals, which toothpicks and the silicone picker upper does nothing for.

Clear rhinestones, in 10 shapes: round, square, rectangle, teardrop, crescent, heart, star, flower, triangle, and oval.

Oval Rhinestones in 12 Colors, Round Rhinestones in 12 colors.

Gold and Silver Beads.

These things are seriously tiny. And they move in the package by themselves, so I think mine are haunted.

    Demon infested beads aside, I'm really happy with the service I received from this company. The products appear to be of a good quality...the rhinestones aren't the nasty dull kind, the brushes feel sturdy and aren't shedding, and the soakers have good rubber seals. They have scary fast shipping too. I ordered on June 15th, my order shipped out on the 17th, and I received it this afternoon. Considering the weekend and the fact that this stuff came from Hong Kong, that's really amazing. And best of all, the prices are really great. This stuff came out to $20 USD, which is inexpensive to me, considering what I got. 

   They also have an ebay store where the shipping is just as fast, and it's free. I think the ebay store is better for individual or smaller purchases, like if you want a few rhinestone wheels or some acrylic powder or something. But for bigger purchases, I think the storefront is far more convenient, because there's a cart and if you register, they keep track of your purchases. 

   Well, that's enough shameless promotion for today. I hope everyone has a great and relaxing evening! 

Brucci Typhoon Lagoon

           Happy Father's Day!! I know I'm tardy for the party, but I thought I'd say it anyway. Today, I'm wearing Brucci Typhoon Lagoon. It does not have anything to do with my dad, but my sister wanted me to paint her nails with it, and I hadn't used it yet. But none shall use it before me! So I wore it today. ^_^

Typhoon Lagoon is a lovely and glowy pale purple base with a strong blue shimmer. I'm not sure whether or not to call it a duochrome...sometimes, it looks purple and sometimes it looks blue. So maybe it is? 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash. 

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

         Typhoon Lagoon is a gorgeous and thoroughly engaging color. My pictures don't do it justice at all, but it really is intriguing. It looks a little metallic, but at the same time, looks dreamy. Nice and soft and nebulous. In different lights, it shifts between blue and purple, often appearing to be both at one time. I could really stare at Typhoon Lagoon for days. 

       But Typhoon Lagoon has some application issues. It's watery and on the sheer side, and the first coat was a horror to put on. It streaked and dragged and was just painful. It did get better with every coat, and by the fifth coat, it was very smooth and easy to apply. Even though it took five coats to achieve bottle color, dry time wasn't too bad. But in the future, I'll be trying to layer this over black, and when I want it to just look normal, I'll put it over a white.

    And even though I really enjoyed wearing this color today, for tomorrow, I'm going to try to find something not related to purple. I've been wearing a ton of purple, and I'm all purpled out.  x_x
Have a good night, everyone!!

Nubar Violet Sparkle

              Fwee it's Friday again!! Has this week been uber fast, or is it just me? The days seem to just be flying right by...I feel like tomorrow, I'm going to wake up, and it'll be time to pack back up for school. Or even worse, I'll be a little old lady in a house full of cats and nail polish and nothing more. Spending my days throwing rocks at kids, telling them to get off my lawn. Even though there are no kids and no lawn. :( 

       But I digress. In celebration of Friday and because the sun was shining like mad, I wore Nubar's Violet Sparkle.

Violet Sparkle is as simple as its name. It's a ton of small square and round violet glitter in a clear base. The shade of violet is pretty even... it doesn't lean towards either blue or red. Or at least not to my unprofessional eyes. lol!

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

     Violet Sparkle truly surprised me with how much I loved it. I'm the kind of person who likes more complicated nail polish....I like for a polish to be holographic and to have like ten different kinds of glitter and to be duochrome, with a secret shimmer, and maybe some flakies in there too, all at the same time. So I hemmed and hawed when it came time to put this in my cart, because I thought it would be boring. But I was wrong!! Violet Sparkle is so glittery, and the shade of purple is so saturated and rich that it's hard to keep my eyes off it. I found myself walking down the street moving my hands and watching the glitter dance in the light. I don't think I'd go as far as to call it one of my favorite purples, but it's not a purchase I regret in the least. 

    Application was easy and fuss-free. The polish slid right on, and was opaque in three, moderate thickness coats. It did have a matte-ish and rough finish, which took three coats of Poshe to get fully smooth and shiny. I have lots and lots of bubbles on my nails (I turned back on my fan too soon, I guess)....when I tilt my hand just right, I can see them. And I nicked the surfaces of some nails when I was cutting something. But Violet Sparkle really hides such imperfections, which is nice. 

   And that's all I've got for today! I hope everyone is having a lovely Friday evening!

Urban Decay Cosmopolitan

           There's a bajillion stuff to do today and not enough time to do it all, so today, I have a quick post about another Urban Decay polish, Cosmopolitan.

Cosmopolitan is a purple-leaning burgundy jelly base, stuffed with small silver and pink square glitter. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash. 

     Cosmopolitan is a really pretty polish.  It has a ton of depth and richness, and really looks amazing in sunlight. The jelly base is all glossy and the glitter twinkles from inside the jelly and just gives it an incredibly appetizing look. Like, I really wanted to eat my nails. Funnily enough, bottle Cosmopolitan really fails to impress. It only looks good on the nails, which is better than the other way around, I guess.

   The formula on Cosmopolitan was wonderful too. There were no problems with application at all, and it was opaque in three coats. Cosmopolitan also dried smooth and shiny, but I did use one coat of topcoat just to really enhance the shine.

   And that's all! Have a great day, everyone!

Urban Decay Bruise

            I'm so mad at my nails...they just refuse to obey me. I had another break and a split on my left hand on Sunday, and instead of fixing them, I opted to cut everything off and start fresh. So pretty much, right now my nails are rightt back to where they were in March. I'm trying to be optimistic, because it is easier to do things now, and I can enjoy the Bundle Monster plates more easily. Plus, now my nails can grow back strong and healthy. But I can't help but still be mad. Maybe if I baby them, they will be back by August? Bleh, idk. 
       But that's enough whining for today. I'm going to move on to what I reallyy wanted to talk about, which is Urban Decay Bruise, the first in a trio of beautiful, but very sadly, discontinued colors. 
Also, please excuse my disgusting hangnail. 

Bruise is an interesting fusion of blackened eggplant and peacock blue, with a strong green shimmer. In the picture, the shimmer is showing blue (my camera is obsessed with blue) but really..it's green.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

      I realllyy failed at capturing the aptly-named Bruise. Aptly named because it really does remind one of a bruise.Both have that slightly sickening but oddly fascinating quality where purple, blue, and black morph together to form an ugly-beautiful color that sort of defies description. The green shimmer is a great detail and elevates the overall look from just being a bruise to being a bruise-colored beetle sitting in the sun. Very pretty.
    Application was okay too. The first coat was a little streaky, but it got much smoother and easier as I put on more coats. The pictures are with three coats, and one layer of topcoat. Drying time was exceptionally good too, because normally, I can just use an orangewood stick to push the polish off my nail after I'm done swatching it. Polishes usually come off in one big, plastick-y lump. But with Bruise, I couldn't do that because it had completely dried in the ten or so minutes that it took me to take my pictures.
    Even though they don't make Bruise no more, it's happily not so hard to find! It's still available through ebay for a reasonable price. I purchased mine from sledgely76, and got fast shipping and awesome service from her. 
  And finally, I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help me hang on to my nails. Right now, I try to keep my hands moisturized, I use a glass file, I clean under my nails with a brush, I never use my nails as tools, I don't pick at things, I use Duri, and I take biotin. I'm also going to switch back to Beauty Secrets remover, as well as making sure to scrub my nails before painting. Maybe residual nail polish remover is drying them out and making them break? If there's anything else I'm forgetting or if there's something that you do or use that works well for you, I'd be super happy to hear about it. Thanks! ^_^

Nina Ultra Pro Purple-Xing

            I've been wanting to do a post about Nina Ultra Pro Purple-Xing for a really long time. I've actually worn it about three or four times, but there was always something interfering with the picture taking...not enough time, dry ugly cuticles, bad weather, couldn't find my camera, a chipped nail, etc. But today, everything happened to work well enough together that I could take pictures. My cuticles still look kind of busted, but that's okay.

Purple-Xing is kind of complicated. It's a mid-range purple jelly base packed with a riot of multi-sized glitter. There's round, square, and hex glitter, and they're silver, violet, and holographic, with some of the larger hex glitter being that like...transparent, opalescent stuff. And then running beneath all that stuff, there's a electric blue shimmer thing going on. It's ridiculously entertaining to look at. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

The second one is blurred a bit to show a little bit of how Purple-Xing sparkles in the light.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

I think you can see a little bit of the blue shimmer thing I mentioned earlier.

      Purple-Xing is one of my favorite purple polishes in my collection. I can't really give it a solid rank, but it's definitely up there. It's just so flashy and fun, and I really appreciate all the thought and work that I'm sure must have gone into this color. And for the money, it's a great value. 

   Application was just okay. Purple-Xing seemed on the watery side to me, so it was a little difficult to control, but that aside, there were no problems. It was perfectly opaque in three coats, but dried a little gritty. I used two coats of Out the Door Topcoat and one layer of Poshe on top to get it perfectly smooth and shiny. Dry time was reasonable as well. I went to sleep 30 minutes after application, and there were no sheet marks, wrinkles, or dings that I could see or feel. And as far as I can tell, it wears fantastically. I wore it for five days at one point, and when I took it off, there was no chipping and barely any tipwear. 

  My only solid gripe about Purple-Xing is the name. Why though? Why name it that? How do you even say it? Purple Crossing? Purple Shing? Purple Exing? Purple Christing? How? I would have been happier if they had named it Purple Glitter. Or even the terrifically overused Purple Rain would have been better. Or Barney's Tweaking. Anything but Purple-Xing. 

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! ^_^