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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Sunlight, no flash.

     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!

Concrete Kiss Miss Piggy

            Yesterday, I finally got a chance to change my polish, so I picked this pink glitter that I found at Mandee. They always have the most obscure, random brands. It was a dollar, and I thought it would be a dupe for OPI's Teenage Dream (it's not), so I got it. It doesn't have a real name, but I'm calling it Miss Piggy, because it reminds me of her. I know it's a lame name, but it's better than Pink Glitter, I think. 

Miss Piggy is a mixture of small, pale pink hex glitter and larger holographic hex glitter in a clear base.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

      Miss Piggy is okay. It's really dazzling in direct sunlight, but in regular light, the shade of pink really comes out, and I don't think I like it very much. It's a bit too cool and pale for my skin. So if I keep it, I'll probably only wear it when I know that I'll be in the sun all day. 

     Applying it was a little bit tough, because it was extremely sheer. In the pictures, I used four thick coats, and I had to dab on the polish to make sure that it covered properly.  This is definitely better suited for layering than wearing on its own. Also, it greedily devours any topcoat that it put into its path. :(

   And unrelated to this polish, I went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History on Sunday. It wasn't by choice...I had to go and do a ten-page homework assignment. It was awful...I was trying to do my assignment, and people kept coming over, asking what I was doing. o_O Some of them thought that I worked there and were asking me how to get to all these exhibits. And then there were a million little kids crashing into my legs and shoving me. I will never go to the Smithsonian on a weekend again, amenz. But I did get to see some cool stuff.

Like this sloth...can you believe they were that big?! (there's a fully sized female tourist in the corner for scale.)

And these pieces of jewelry. I forgot who wore what, but this stuff used to belong to rich royal people. 

Bonus? Children have no interest in gems, so the exhibit was so peaceful. No screaming, no crying, no parents begging their children to be quiet and no terrified parents searching for their renegade children. It made everything like...that much more beautiful. 

But the best thing I saw all day?

The Hope Diamond!

I took a million pictures, and they were all bad, so I just took a video and called it a day.

Ahhh, it was so gorgeous....I wanted to like...smash my fist through the glass and steal it.

I know stealing is bad though, so I didn't do it. 

I have a final on Friday, so I've gotta go prepareth myself for that. Thanks for reading, and have an awesome night!

Illamasqua Rampage

           Lol, my eyes needed another break. So instead of my customary glitter or shimmer, I have Illamasqua Rampage, from the core line. 

Rampage is a deep forest green jelly. If you happen to see any sparklies or whatever, please disregard them. My topcoat got contaminated by Black Diamond, ugh.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

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Ahaha my nails look so thick, no?

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     Rampage is extra hot. In the sunlight, you get this gorgeous, pure, leafy green. And then in other lights,  it's dark and dangerous-looking enough to send chills up and down my spine, but never so much that one would mistake it for black. I also really like its jelly-ish finish...it gives the polish this depth and gloss that is just mesmerizing. And as an aside, Illamasqua gets a big high five for how they named this polish. Looking at Rampage, I think of forests and wild things. And not the adorable wild things that will make you king when your mom sends you to bed without dinner for being naughty. I'm talking claws and teeth wild things....like jabberwocky wild. And the word Rampage definitely captures that whole...feeling. I love it.

      Application-wise,  Rampage was pretty good. The formula was an okay thickness and went on fairly nicely. It was a bit streaky on the first two coats, but that is par for the jelly course and nothing that moah polish couldn't fix. By the third coat, things were opaque and by the fourth, Rampage was perfection. My nails did turn out a bit thick, but it's not that noticeable, and I kind of like it. Makes it more...jell-o like. 

     

And that's all I've got for today!! I hope everyone is having a great Saturday!

Petites Black Diamond

        For today, I've got Petites Color Fever Black Diamond, from its core line. 

Black Diamond is a charcoal black base with small, coarse holographic shimmer. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

    Black Diamond is just okay. I appreciate how dark it is, because while it is actually pretty close to being a real black, its cousins are more on the grey or brown side. However, I was pretty disappointed in the lack of holo goodness. There is some, and I think you can see it in the pictures, but I really expected more. In all fairness though, I did use topcoat, so that may have dulled it a bit. But I don't think it would have dulled it THAT much, you know? 

  However, the formula on Black Diamond was pretty good. It was a good consistency, and applied smoothly and easily. It wasn't as opaque as some of its cousins, but it was still nicely pigmented, becoming opaque in two coats. The pictures are with three coats though, because there were bald spots that needed to be filled in. That may have been user error though. It also dried pretty shiny...I don't know why I used topcoat on it. Probably force of habit. It didn't need topcoat.

  Anyway, while this is a pretty polish, I'd actually recommend that you do not buy it. LOL. I got mine second-hand and didn't have to pay full price, but honestly...I feel like Black Diamonds is a rip-off. It's $3.99 for .25 oz of a polish that isn't unique. It doesn't even have a truly spectacular holo to save it, and it's too thin to really be effective as a stamping polish. So unless you just really want it, or you need to fill a hole in your collection, please leave this one in Rite Aid and pick up Color Club Revvvolution instead. It's half the price for twice as much product, it's more holo, amazing for stamping, and way more accessible. The only thing is that it's not as dark, but that's a small trade-off to me. 

And that's all I've got for today! Have an awesome Friday! 

Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore

          Happy December 1st! Before I get on with the polish, I just want to take a quick minute and give a shoutout to Rosa Parks. Today marks the 55th anniversary of her not giving up her seat for a white passenger, which sparked a huge bus boycott, which resulted in a landmark victory for the African American civil rights movement. It's not a real holiday or anything, but I wanted to mention it, because I think it's pretty cool.
     For today, I have Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore, from the Spring Bling Collection. I've been wearing it since Sunday night, just waiting for the clouds and rain to go away, so I could finally get some pictures. So please excuse any chips or tipwear that you may see.

Locavore is small pale peridot green, fuchsia, and turquoise hex glitter in a clear base.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sparkleh. *_*

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

          For a while now, I've suspected that Locavore was the very best color that Ji Baek ever came up with. But now that I'm wearing it on my hands, I'm 100% positive of that. This isn't to say that other Rescue Beauty Lounge colors are ugly or anything, but as far as I'm concerned, none of them can hold an ember to Locavore. It's pure perfection. The shade of green is unusual, and I like how it looks with my skin. I also love the little pops of color from the fuchsia and blue glitter, especially when they happen to catch the light. But most of all, I love like...the overall effect that Locavore has. It isn't one of those glitters that are ridiculous all the time and don't know how to act. Locavore is a classy bitch. When I was in class or at work, it was well-behaved, sparkling just enough to catch the eye, but mostly just showing off all its pretty colors. However, when I got it into the sun, Locavore unleashed it's inner sparkly freak and made my glitter ho heart sing. It sounded like this:

    Locavore's formula was okay. It went on smoothly and dried quick, which I think is typical of glitters in clear bases. My only complaint is that I would have liked even moah glitter, so that the polish would have more even coverage. The pictures are with three coats of polish, and two layers of topcoat (one Gelous and one SH Insta-Dri - don't sleep on that!) and I still have some bald spots. From far away, you can't see them, but close up, you can. And when I hold my hands up, my tips look like this:

     

No bueno.

 Maybe it would have been better to do four coats, but I didn't want to use up my precious. So going forward, I may try to use this over a base of some kind. Maybe a silver. But on the upside, I really like how Locavore wore...I do have some chips and tipwear, but for three or so days (one of them being travel), it's held up pretty well. 

And that's all I've got for you guys today! Have an awesome night!

Okay, So I'm Extremely Tardy For the Party

           But whatever, I'm still gonna say it. Happy Thanksgiving!! ^_^
I know it's been pretty dead around here for the past week, but between fighting with bus coordinators, cloudy weather at home, forgetting my bottle of acetone at school, helping to cook dinner, spending quality time with the people I love and doing my damndest to avoid the ones I don't, there just wasn't much time for nails. However, I do have pictures of the mani that I've been wearing...here it is in all its raggedy four-day-old glory. 

To do this, I used:

1 coat of Rescue Beauty Lounge Under the Stars

1 coat of L.A. Colors Aqua Crystals

1 coat of Zoya Ivanka

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

      I wasn't really going for anything in particular when I put these together. I wore RBL Under the Stars home because I was planning on re-taking the pictures for it on the next day.But the next day was cloudy + I had to go to this party.You can't go to a party with no glitter on your nails, so I slapped on the first stuff I could grab...you can kind of see how rushed this was, because the coverage is so uneven. In any case, I don't really like it. I don't think it's ugly, but I'll still be glad to see it go.

   I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekends!