Vacation Stuff + Spectraflair Nails!

       Hello guys!! As promised, I have a few pictures from my little vacation, including the mani that I wore most of my time there. That's at the bottom, so if you don't care about the trip, go ahead and scroll down now LOL.

 We were there for like two weeks, the first which was spent at whole first week at Universal Orlando, kind of bouncing between Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Both were entertaining, but for me, it was all about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Seriously, if it wasn't for that, I would have stayed home. Shh, don't tell my mom. 

This is the entrance to Hogsmeade.

And the Hogwarts Express. (Duh right?)

And Hogwarts!!

There were other Harry Potter mainstays around, but I suck so...yeah...didn't get any of those. Sorryyy. I did get some pictures from the little demonstration some Durmstrang guys and Beauxbaton girls made.

Very manly, no?

lol, they were very nicely choreographed.

There was also Pumpkin Juice (which I skipped) and Butterbeer, which I definitely did not skip. Instead, I gorged myself upon its sweet, icy, butterscotchy tastiness. 

And I will probably never drink Butterbeer again. 

So if you ever get the chance, I'd definitely recommend heading over there. It's only a small section of the park, but the rides are good, and one of the only places where you know everyone else is just as much of a dork as you are. I mean...I saw some outlandish things. A grown man squealing like a little girl, a mother disregarding the hungry cries of her children as she searched for the perfect wand at Ollivander's, and a couple fighting over a single cup of butterbeer. I believed the boyfriend's exact words were, "Go get your own". It was heartbreaking but hilarious. And totally understandable. 

But anyway, the next week, we went to Busch Gardens Tampa and it started off as the worst experience ever. It rained rats and frogs, and we spent most of our time huddled under the eaves of some building. But they gave us a voucher to return again (nice folks) and the next time was better! The rides were so much fun, and there were cutey cutey animals (my mom's words) everywhere. 

Like this baby flamingo that I wanted to steal.

And this lazy (or maybe bored) cheetah.

I call it lazy because this picture was taken about 40 minutes after the first one, and literally, this was as much as it moved. 

And a lazy kangaroo. 

Albino kangaroo!!

But moving on to the nails, I wore Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe and China Glaze Go Crazy Red as well, but I spent most of my time with this beauty on my nails:

It's a Spectraflair franken created by one of my favorites, Kris from My Lucid Bubble.

Ahh I want to roll in this stuff. (The polish, not the spectraflair. I feel like that would kill you.) It's so beautiful!!

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a great one!

Diamond Cosmetics Plum Pie in the Sky

    Hi guys!! So I'm home from Florida at last and although it was lots of fun, I'm glad to be home. Mostly because I missed internet and blogging. ^_^ In the upcoming week, I hope to show some pictures from vacation and to finally finally do that 400 follower giveaway I've been mumbling about for the last month or so. But in the meantime, I have another Diamond Cosmetics polish from my backlog. This time, it's Plum Pie in the Sky from their Fall 2009 Collection!

Never Glum Plum is a deep blue-based purple creme. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

   I've really fallen in love with Diamond Cosmetics' cremes, and Plum Pie in the Sky is no exception. I love the richness and depth of the color, and the creme finish really helps accentuate the opulence of the shade. It's also nice that it always retains its purple-ness, even in lower light. 

    Formula-wise, Plum Pie in the Sky was really good. It was perfectly smooth and opaque in two fast-drying coats, and didn't bubble or act weirdly in any other way. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Sunday!! ^_^

Color Club Snakeskin

    Hey peeps! For today, I have Snakeskin from Color Club's Untamed Luxury Collection. 

Snakeskin is a slightly frosty green-toned pewter base studded with tons of gold microglitter

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Snakeskin is fab. I really like the slightly grungy quality of the base and the microglitter gives it a luxe feel that really makes it at home with the rest of the collection. I also love how Color Club managed to imbue the shade with a snakeskinness without making it too literal. Like, it doesn't have the visual texture of snakeskin, but you can see where the inspiration comes in. My only sadness is that these pictures definitely do not do Snakeskin justice, so at some point, I'll have to take another run at it. 

   But anywho, Snakeskin wasn't particularly tough to apply. I did have a bit of an issue with brushtrokes and bubbles, but I'm willing to chalk that up to user error because I rushed this swatch a bit. Next time, I'll just take more time and it'll probably turn out better. On the upside, Snakeskin was really opaque...I only needed two coats to get full coverage, and it dried quickly to boot. ^_^

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading and have a happy Friday!!

China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald

    For today, I have China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald, from their Vintage Vixen Collection. Can ya'll tell I'm ready for fall to be here already? ^_~

Emerald Fitzgerald is a rich blue-toned emerald green base with tons of lighter green shimmer in it. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Emerald Fitzgerald is another stunningly beautiful polish. The shimmer gives it the depth, lushness, and opulence that I look for in these types of greens, and it looks great in both sunlight and natural light. It also gets extra points for being super flattering and having such a cute name lol. 

    China Glaze also managed to knock it out the park with the formula on this. It was opaque in two coats and went on very smoothly. Dry time was also very good, even without the assistance of topcoat. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading! 

China Glaze Orange Knockout + Lightning Bolt

      You know, one thing The Phalanges Files has been missing this summer is neons. I have very few neons, probably because I don't really buy polish in the summer and that's when all the neons come out. But one of the few that I have are China Glaze Orange Knockout, and I'm going to show that to you today. Yay!

But sorry about the craziness that is my skin...my camera just freaks out man. 

Orange Knockout is a neon, traffic-cone orange creme.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    Orange Knockout will always have a special place in my heart because it was a gift from my friend Sayra. She's an awesome nail tech and used to blog at Totally Nailed It!, but stopped a few months back, which was sad. But yeah, she sent me this and even though it's not the most unique thing in the world, I love it! It's such a pretty and fun color to wear and there really is nothing like burning out the retinas of innocent bystanders with your nails. 

      It was also very easy to apply...I went with three coats for full opacity, and Orange Knockout went on nice and easy with no tomfoolery of any kind. 

After enjoying Orange Knockout for a while, I used China Glaze Lightning Bolt on top, and followed that with a layer of Essie Matte About You. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      Orange Knockout was great on its own, but with Lightning Bolt, I really love it! It's like a radioactive creamsicle and me gusta! 

And that's all I've got for you guys today!! Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is having a great weekend! 

Diamond Cosmetics Under the Willow Tree

    Hi guys! I'm still in Florida and am having a great time, but unfortunately, I am also still at the hotel of death/no wi-fi. Happily though, we were able to find an internet cafe nearby, and I finally got to set up some posts to publish automatically. So if everything goes as planned, it shouldn't be so dead around here. And even better, we're going to a different place on Saturday so fingers crossed for internet!

For today though, I have Under the Willow  Tree, from Diamond Cosmetics Fall 2010 Collection.

Under the Willow Tree is a rich and deep midnight green creme. 

It actually looks more blue than green to me. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     Under the Willow Tree is stunning, and I'm expecting to have it in heavy rotation this fall and winter. The shade of green is unique, chic and sophisticated, and I love its ultra-smooth creamy finish. I also love how it looks on my nails and can see it flattering a wide variety of skin tones. 

    Under the Willow Tree also has a perfect formula. It applied like a dream...smoothly and easily, with no dragging, bubbling or other such things. It was also pretty much opaque in one silky coat, but for the sake of security, I went with two.

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic Friday! ^_^

I'm Not Dead!

Hi guys! Sorry for dropping off the face of the planet! My family and I went to Florida and for whatever reason, the hotel has no internet. I can use my phone to do some stuff, but all my nail photos are on my computer. So I just wanted to check in and say hi and things of that nature. Until we go somewhere with internet, here is a picture of the cute towel swans at our hotel. Thanks for reading and I hope everyone is having a good weekend!
P.S. Shark week!!!!