Burning Hearts

         Happy Valentine's Day!! 
        I actually don't really like Valentine's Day. Back when I was adorable, I was obsessed with it. But as I got older and more....facially challenged, my enthusiasm sort of died down. If I were boss of the world, I would cancel Valentine's Day and just have Christmas twice a year. I feel like that's a much better use of everyone's time.  
        But since it's Valentine's Day and not Christmas Part II, I did some appropriately themed nails anyway.

I started the party with three coats of Color Club Worth the Risque.

Then I stamped on one of the patterns from BM11 with Color Club Where's the Soiree? 

Next came a layer of Gelous, and the heart gems, which I got from Rite Aid. I don't remember the name of the manufacturer though. 

I finished everything off with a thick layer of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, and that was it. 

This was the plate, and I used the pattern on the far left in the bottom row. 

Photo courtesy of http://moriesnailart.weebly.com

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  This could have been way better if I had made more of a tip, or could have found smaller heart gems. Also, actually putting the gems in straight would have been good. -__-

What also would have been good was if I could have used something more holo...Worth the Risque is already on the weak side, and all the topcoat layers extinguished what little was there. 

     But even with that stuff, I think it's okay. I didn't want to do anything too Valentine's Day-ish, because I'm gonna have to wear this for like three days, so I like how this mani doesn't scream Valentine's Day. It more whispers it in a firm voice. I also really like how the gems look. They catch the light and glow so nicely, like they have little embers in them. 

And that's all I've got for ya today! I hope everyone is having a beautiful Valentine's Day! ^_^

Illamasqua Baptiste

     For today, I've got Illamasqua Baptiste, from their core collection. 

Baptiste is a royal purple base with blue and reddish-purple shimmer. I also feel like there's some iridescent micro-shimmer in there somewhere, but it's entirely possible that I made that up.

P.S. These pictures have been corrected for color accuracy.

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     Ahh, Baptiste is such a perfect purple. It's just so glowy and pretty. In sunlight, the shimmer really dazzles and in lower light, Baptiste takes on a darker, vampier shade without ever looking black.  When I saw Baptiste in the bottle, I was a little bit mad because it looked like a regular purple shimmer. I was scared that it would end up as another dupe to China Glaze Let's Groove, but it turns out I was happily wrong.  It doesn't look like much on the bottle, but once on the nail, Baptiste really impressed. Iwould like to do a comparison (they're so much fun! n_n) but I can already say that I own nothing quite like Baptiste.

     Formula-wise, Baptiste was easy peasy and lived up to my expectations for a $14 polish. It was opaque in two easily-applied coats, and with the help of some topcoat, it dried pretty quickly. 

But that's all I've got for today!! Thanks for reading!

NARS Tokaido Express

           For today, I've got NARS Tokaido Express, which was released with their Fall 2009 collection. I hadn't heard of it until Sephora had their F&F Sale last year, and I had to go hunting for something to buy. But once I saw it, I knew it had to be mine. 

Tokaido Express is a vampy plum creme base with a ton of small gold, amethyst, blue and red shimmer. In person, you see mostly the gold, although you can see the other colors in sunlight. 

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This one shows the shimmer colors a bit better.

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Ugh, I really over-filed my ring finger. It looks so crazy. ;_;

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          I really like Tokaido Express...it's pretty much what I wanted Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine to be. It has this beautiful plum base, with just a hint of brown to it, and the shimmer perfectly accents the base coat. It's not flashy shimmer, but you can always see it. In sunlight, it shows different colors and in lower light, it just looks gold. However, it still looks awesome, because it kind of floats on top and gives the polish this gorgeous depth and sense of luxury. Like really fine velvet.

         Formula-wise, Tokaido Express was problem free. It was opaque in two ultra smooth coats, and dried quickly, with no bubbling or other such polish tomfoolery. It had a glossy finish on its own, but I'd still recommend using a really glossy topcoat to get the most out of it.

And that is all I've got for today. My professors are determined to kill me with homework this weekend, so I'm gonna go to the slaughter now. Thanks for reading, and have a great Saturday! I know I won't. :(

Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle Comparison

     So, we're having some really shitty weather here in DC. It's cold (which I like) and super cloudy (which I don't like) and it's not even snowing or anything (which I hate). What the point of cold and clouds if there's no snow? Smh!
    But anyway, without any sun or a lightbox, pictures can't happen. So I'm just gonna post a comparison that I did a little while ago between Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle and some other greens in my collection. No one requested it or anything, I was just curious. ^_^;

First, we have the cast of characters: Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle, Illamasqua Rampage, Nubar Forest, and Orly Enchanted Forest.  

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L-R: Recycle, Rampage, Forest, and Enchanted Forest. 

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L-R: Recycle, Rampage, Forest, and Enchanted Forest. 

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L-R: Recycle, Rampage, Forest, and Enchanted Forest. 

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L-R: Recycle, Rampage, Forest, and Enchanted Forest. 

     Clearly, there are no dupes here...everyone is different! n_n

     Overall, my favorite here would definitely be Rampage, followed closely by Recycle, then comes Enchanted Forest, and Forest brings up the rear. Also, it's kind of funny how colors look next to one another...back before my addiction spiraled out of control, I thought Forest was a dark green, and it's really not! And Enchanted Forest is so grey! I never noticed how grey it is.

    In terms formula and application, Recycle was the clear winner. It needed the fewest coats (two), was the most controllable and dried the fastest. Forest and Enchanted Forest tie for second place as they essentially have the same formula and needed three coats to look perfect. And Rampage comes in last, needing four coats to be opaque and streak-free. 

  But even with the application issues, I love Rampage the best out of all these polishes. You get the most bang for your buck with the generously portioned Enchanted Forest, the most cheerful color with Forest, and Recycle boats the highest quality and the most wearable color. But something about Rampage, man...it just speaks to me, and I can't say no. 

Which one do you like best? ^_^

     

Zoya Luna

          I've been wearing Across the Universe since Wednesday, but because of tipwear, it finally had to come off. So I replaced it with another glitter-fest, Zoya Luna from the Ultra Glitter Collection. 

Luna is a sheer dove grey creme base, packed with small silver hex glitter.

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     Luna is such a strange polish. It's quite unique and definitely won't appeal to everyone. When I first put it on, I didn't like it...the texture after drying was lumpy and tummy churning. But after a couple coats of topcoat and an hour or so, it really began to grow on me. There's just something so pretty about the sheen of the silver glitter (it doesn't sparkle) combined with the pale color of the base. It definitely reminds me of the moon. 

    Luna's formula really surprised me...I thought it would apply like cold oatmeal, but it was the exact opposite. The formula was actually quite thin, went on smoothly and was reasonably pigmented, becoming opaque in three coats. I needed to wait between coats, or else there was dragging, but besides that, there was nothing troublesome about applying Luna. Luna did dry gritty and rough, but two coats of topcoat made it shiny and considerably smoothed the roughness. 

And that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading and have a great Sunday! 

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe

           Yesterday was my birthday...it was pretty lame. I went to work, went to class, and then collapsed into bed. But before all that happened, I wanted to pick a really festive and gorgeous color to celebrate what was gonna be a glorious occasion. My first thought was Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, but that stupid polish miser in my heart was like...no...you should save it for a special occasion. I don't know why I thought that....if 20 years on Earth isn't a special enough occasion to bust it out, then I don't know what would be.

Pictures and opinions (I'll keep it brief) after the jump!

Zoya Jules

         For today, I have Jules, from Zoya's recently released Intimates Collection. 

Jules is a taupe-champagne and slightly frosty metallic base with tons of fine gold and silver shimmer. 

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      Jules reminds me of elderly people. I know that can be construed as an insult, but I don't mean it like that...just when I looked at it, I was like omg, this looks like an old lady. Maybe because of the frostiness...it just looks really old-fashioned and vintage-y. But anyway, Jules is a pretty one. In sunlight, it's very shimmery and in lower light, you can see all these little gold and silver speckles in it...it kind of makes me think of brocade cloth too:

    Alas, Julie looks a hot mess on me. It would look great on someone with lighter skin and incredible on someone with darker skin, but unfortunately, I feel like my skin is that perfect tone for it to just look a hot mess on me. 

    Formula-wise, Jules was okay. A bit thick, but workable. I would suggest using as few strokes as possible and waiting a little bit between coats for the smoothest finish. I actually had to apply Jules twice because I had crazy brushstrokes and bubbles the first time, and the above modifications to my technique helped a ton. Jules was also very well-pigmented and was opaque in two coats, which is what I used in the pictures. 

And that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day! ^_^