Illamasqua Phallic

          Happy Veteran's Day!! Although I personally believe that war is a terrible waste of time, resources, and human life, I actually like Veteran's Day. People who were/are in the armed forces are so brave and sacrifice so much, and I love that there is a day dedicated to thanking and appreciating them for what they did and what they continue to do for this country. I don't have any war-themed polish in the backlog, but I thought a blue would be fitting,  being on our flag and all. This is Illamasqua Phallic, from the core collection. 

Phallic is a deep, jewel-toned navy blue creme base with multi-sized sapphire blue shimmer. 

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       Phallic is extremely hot. In natural light, it doesn't really look like much, but in the sunlight, it's wow. The base shade is all sexy and deep, but the shimmer sparkles from it like crazy. The contrast between the two elements is absolutely mesmerizing, so Phallic kept a smile on my face all day. And  best of all, it never looks black. Even in low-lighting conditions, I think it's still pretty obvious that this polish is a glorious blue. However, I won't lie to you...as beautiful as Phallic is, it's not especially unique and costs alot of money ($14). I don't regret buying, because it was on sale and I love this color, but I wouldn't call this a must-have for everyone. Unless you love blue shimmer polishes, illamasqua items, penis-themed items, or  know in your heart that you need Phallic in your life, then feel free to skip this one.

   Formula-wise, Phallic was pretty good! It was well-pigmented, applied smoothly and easily, and leveled itself quite nicely. My nails definitely did not paint themselves, but it was about the quality that I'd expect for $14. In the pictures, there are two coats of color and one coat of China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat. And as a side-note, I'd recommend using the shiniest topcoat you've got on this one. The ChG topcoat was not that shiny (for me) and it took alot away from the polish. I put on another layer of Poshe, which was way shinier, and bam...Phallic came to life. Heehee. ^_^

Beauty Treats Jingle Bells

    For today, I have another glittery confection. Glitter is like...pretzel M&Ms.  Both are super delicious, and you can never ever ever have too much. ^_^

This one is Beauty Treats Jingle Bells. I don't know much about the brand, but I think you can find it in some beauty supply stores and I've seen it sold in Mandee.

Jingle Bells is small silver and holographic glitter in a clear base. 

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I blurred it a little to show the bling. I wanted to make a video, but my camera kept on turning itself off, so I gave up. 

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     Jingle Bells makes my heart so happy! It's really blingy and loud, and especially on a sunny day, it should be used with extreme caution. I can definitely see someone causing a traffic accident, blinding people, or accidentally walking off a cliff because of it. Can you imagine trying to explain that to the authorities though? Omg awkwardd. 

    Jingle Bells' formula was okay, except for that it was a bit thin. In the pictures, there are four coats, and while the coverage is thisclose to being full, I could have gone for another one. I can still kind of see my nail through what was there. Next time that I want to wear this, I'll probably layer it over a chrome polish, like China Glaze Millenium or a smooth silver holo, like China Glaze OMG. And the polish settles out really fast..I don't know if you can see it, but in the second picture, it's already settling. So frequent shaking is advisable in this case. On the upside though, it dried lightning quick and applied smoothly. Overall, I was well pleased, yea verily. ^_^

 Now, I have a test to study for, so I'm gonna run along. Have an awesome night, guys!

OPI Absolutely Alice

           Well...it finally happened. I went to turn on my camera this afternoon, only to discover that sometime in the night, it quietly shuffled off this mortal coil. I'm a little sad, because we've been through some thangs together...it was a good camera until it went senile. There's no replacement yet, but until that happens, I have some stuff in my backlog that I can post. Stuff like Absolutely Alice, from OPI's Alice in Wonderland Collection.

Absolutely Alice is a clear base, densely packed with small, square, medium-blue glitter. The blue glitter is interrupted by scattered small, gold glitter. There's kind of alot of it, but in relation to the blue glitter, there isn't. If that makes sense. 

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This picture is color-wise, the most accurate. The others are a bit too bright. 

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I blurred it a little to show how Absolutely Alice sparkles. 

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      This was my fifth time wearing Absolutely Alice, which is pretty telling of how much I truly love this polish. It's so beautiful and sparkly...I never get tired of it. ^_^

    But something that I've noticed is that the formula like...progressively gets worse. The first time I tried it, it applied smoothly and nicely. But each time I've tried it since, it's gotten thicker and more difficult. This last time was like...torture. It was so thick that it was opaque in two coats, and kept on gooping up around the neck of the bottle. I'm guessing that the base has been evaporating, but I don't see how, since I've placed my drawers in a place where they are never touched by sunlight and I close my bottles extra tight after every use. In any case, next time I want to wear it, I'll just keep some thinner at hand. 

  

But that's all I've got for tonight. Have a great night!!

Orly Space Cadet

            For today, I have Orly Space Cadet, from the Cosmic FX Collection. I'm like the last person in the universe to post this polish, but whatevah!

Space Cadet is made of small, flat, metallic duochrome shimmer in a thin, sheer dirty-blue base. You can't see the base once the polish is fully opaque, because the shimmer comes together to form a sparkly-foilish finish, but you can see it in the first few coats. And the shimmer is mostly a dark silvery-purple, but will change to gold, green, and pink, depending on the light and angle. 

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And that green on the side is not a reflection...'tis the power of the duochrome, yea verily.

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    Space Cadet is a funny one. On one hand, it's kind of an unattractive color. I got some compliments on it when I wore it, and not one single person called it "pretty" or "nice". I got plenty of "cool" and "unusual" though, which is precisely what Space Cadet is. It's not pretty in the traditional sense of a pretty polish, but it is quite intriguing. In bright lights, it sparkles with a pink flash and in lower light, you see lots of the strong purple-green duochrome. And at all times, there's this weird alien-esque green glow that lurks right around the edges of the nail. Like even though my pictures are not so good and don't really capture this one, all of them feature at least a hint of green. But as cool as Space Cadet is, in my eyes, it is not the crown jewel of the Cosmic FX Collection. That title is reserved for Galaxy Girl, because not only is it damn cool, it's also beautiful. But  Space Cadet runs a very close second. 

   Formula-wise, I have no complaints about Space Cadet. It was a little thin, so this is four coats of color with one layer of topcoat. But it was well worth the extra coat, and the polish went on smoothly and easily, so I don't particularly mind.

    And I know I said that I was gonna not show my RBL's but I'm just too excited not to. Here they are! The pictures were taken in the dying evening light with flash,  so they're lame. But when I wear these gorgeous guys and girls, I'll take better bottle pictures.

R-L: Starfish Patrick, Look Rich Be Cheap (ohh the irony), Frugalista, and Recycle

L-R: Scrangie, Catherine, Anne, and Under the Stars

Tiny comparison between Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie and Sally Hansen Grape Going

I'm going to do a real one later though.

  I'm so excited to wear them!! Maybe this week, if weather permits.

But that's all I've got on this gorgeous Friday afternoon! Have a great day! 

OPI Pink Me, I'm Good + Goodies!

           Happy hump day! This has been such a rough week already...I'm le tired. But let us speak of happy things. Like my current color, OPI Pink Me, I'm Good. And goodies!! But color first. I don't think Pink Me, I'm Good was part of any official collection, but it was released for Valentine's Day 2010, and was only available at Ulta. I was planning on wearing it for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and then just never got around to it. But while we're on the subject, I wanted to mention that the Breast Cancer Site has extended the challenge to fund 500 mammograms through November,  so please take a moment to click the link at the top of the page. They're almost there! ^_^

Pink Me, I'm Good is a medium strawberry pink jelly base with a ton of medium-sized hex and square opalescent gold glitter. Some of the glitter looks a little coppery, but I'm pretty sure that's because those ones are partially submerged in the jelly. 

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Please excuse the carnage on my thumb...I had a crack in my nail there and it finally gave out. But it could have been worse, so no complaints here. 

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You might have to make this one a little bigger to see what I'm talking about, but at the top of the nail, the glitter is a little bit green and blue, which is why I called it opalescent. Or iridescent. Whatever. 

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Why yes, that is a chip there on my fingah. 

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      You wanna know what sucks worse than a living lemming? A dead lemming whose ghost taunts you from the great beyond. And that's exactly what Pink Me, I'm Good is for me. I wanted it really bad, and I got it, but now it's laughing at me, because you know what? It's not really all that. Yes, there's jelly goodness, and I love it. Yes, there's glitter and I love that as well. But the glitter doesn't sparkle properly. And it's a little...much for the base. Maybe if it were sparser or smaller, I would like it better.

    But what really makes me mad about Pink Me, I'm Good is the formula. This formula is stunningly bad. I'm not even lying...like I made that first stroke and stopped dead in horror and disbelief. What kind of jelly be this?! It was goopy, thick, and streaky...more like applying old oatmeal than liquid gelatin. So I added thinner, but it didn't help at all. I ended up just globbing on three coats and throwing on topcoat to cover the extreme grittiness from the glitter. And then it had the nerve to to show VNL. Ooh, I was too upset.  I threw two of my children (with perfect formulas) out into the cold (well, not really...they went to a loving home). For this! Oh, my poor lost babies...will you ever forgive me? ;__; 

But on a more positive note, I have goodies!! A few days ago, a sign of the apocalypse appeared: I won a giveaway at Lunatikitty! 

I got some macadamia nut stuff! And yes, that package on top is opened, because I was munching it and then I realized that it should probably be in the picture. I've never eaten a macadamia nut on its own before, but they're delicious! They taste like the lovechild of a peanut and cashew.

But even better than sustenance, I got nail polish! All the glitters from the Revlon Throw Some Glitter on It Collection are mine! Oh, how my glitter heaux heart sings.

So a giant thank you goes to Elen (she owns Lunatikitty)! I love all my new children. And as I type, the snacks are sitting on my desk trembling in fear, for I mean to devour them one by one.  And they know it in their little nutty hearts.  n_n

Also, my order from the RBL sale came! I'll skip those pictures though, because this is getting too long already.   

And that is all I have today! Have a great evening, ladies!