NOTD Pinterest Inspired

I am so excited for Fall and Halloween that I just couldn't wait til October to release the monsters! My friends and I were looking through Pinterest the other night and I saw this one and knew I just had to try it out for myself. For my base I used China Glaze Def Defying and then acrylic paint for the details. I then added a matte top coat which I loved even more. It gave it almost a comic book type effect. Definitely going to be trying some more manis from pinterest soon. I have never really browsed there that much but there are so many amazing nails out there so it's going to be fun!

Rainbow Honey - Heisenberg

Happy Breaking Bad day everyone!! Today is the season premiere of the final episodes of Breaking Bad and I can't wait to see what is in store for Jesse and Walter aka Heisenberg after that absolutely insane cliffhanger of an ending!  Rainbow Honey created a special Limited Edition polish just for this very occasion that in no way resembles a certain blue glass substance *cough* Ummmm yeah....no resemblance at all. This polish is absolutely perfect and  is definitely up to Mr. White's high standards of quality.

Heisenberg is a beautiful mixture of silver, blue, and holographic glitter in a clear base. Formula wise it was good and was not goopy at all. It was easy to apply and the glitter coverage is great. I believe you could get this opaque on it's own in three coats but I chose to apply two coats over Cult Nails Party Time to help give it an extra blue tint. This glitter isn't a topcoat eater either and was smooth after just one coat of Seche Vite. I did add an extra one just in case because sometimes it takes a while for the topcoat to get eaten.

Heisenberg is the Limited Edition polish of the month over at Rainbow Honey and is available on it's own for $10 a bottle or will come free with a purchase of $50 or more. 

NOTD Stamping with Zoya Sunshine

So another obsession I have had lately besides texture polishes is stamping over texture polishes. For this look I started with a base of Zoya Sunshine and decided to go for a romantic scene so I used Sinful Shine Wisp to stamp cherry blossom branches and a cute little couple under a tree onto my nails. The branches and flower are from a Born Pretty Store plate and the accent finger of the tree and little boy and girl kissing is from Winstonia. The pink blossoms of the flower are Zoya Jolene.

Zoya - Sunshine

I have a slight obsession with texture polish but that isn't anything new so when the new fall Zoya pixies were released I kinda had to have them all right that second. The one I knew I had to try first as soon as I ripped open the package? Sunshine! My two favorite colors are sunshine yellow and blue anything for nails so a gorgeous blue Pixie Dust with the name Sunshine? Yeah, that one was made for me! Sunshine definitely didn't disappoint either. It was completely opaque in just two coats and had a quick dry time. Like all pixies it wore like iron and had the same great sparkle you come to expect with pixie dusts.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Butterfly Stroke

Butter-Fly Stroke is a great yellow polish from the Insta-dri line. I found it a few weeks ago at Target on clearance and since I have a yellow addiction I just had to pick it up. Even though Insta-Dri polish formula are usually great coverage in one to two coats this one did take three but still wasn't that bad considering yellows usually suck when it comes to formula. The first two coats were streaky but the third coat fixed it. I topped it off with a layer of Seche Vite. Yellow polishes are one of my favorite colors to wear so I am glad to have found another good one for my collection. I can't wait to try it as a stamping polish either and will make sure to post here the results.

Wet n Wild Pop Art collection swatches

Recently I found the new Wet N Wild Pop Art collection at Walgreens and had to pick up all the colors. Well I picked up everything except the white one because I think I have more than enough white polish for now. As a bonus surprise these were all on sale for $ .69 each! The color names are starting with the thumb and then moving from index to pinky are: Teal Slowly and See, Stand the Test of Lime, The Clock Strikes Orange, Listening to Blue Reed, and What is Ultra Violet? 

Formula wise these aren't perfect. Both of the blues were the best with the orange and purple coming in a close second. Those four really aren't that bad once you get the hang of each formula. The dark blue was the best of all with no issues at all. The others were a touch thin or streaky but corrected after a couple of coats. The green however was thin and sheer and had problems with balding. I think this may be the reason the white was in the collection because I think it would work much better with a white base. Overall I really do like these and for the price they are definitely worth it.

NOTD Cult Nails Riot + Mayhem + Pueen = LOVE!!

Today I still have on Cult Nails Riot but I also added their holographic topcoat Mayhem to it. I will post tomorrow what those two look like on their own together but I just had to share this picture right now. I just got my set of Pueen plates in the mail and immediately had to test them out. I stamped using Mash black stamping polish and Pueen plate 24.

NOTD Cult Nails Tempest & Stamping

 I was just playing around with my new Cheeky jumbo plate Happy Nails and loved the way this stamp looked so I decided to use it on all of my nails. This is Mash stamping polish in black over Color Club Eternal Beauty with a layer of Seche Vite topcoat.

Color Club - Eternal Beauty

Eternal Beauty is an amazing purple holographic from the Color Club Halo Hues 2013 collection. I bought it forever ago but just got around to trying it recently and am now kicking myself for taking so long. It was a great formula to work with and only required two coats. Dry time like most holographics was super fast. I have found that these hold up a lot better on my nails than most other holographics I have tried though. I am going on about three days with it on my hands and only have minimal tip wear and one tiny chip and that is with no top coat on at all. Pretty impressive!

American Apparel Sunshine State

I love yellow nails! I don't know what it is about yellow polish that just makes me insanely happy every time I wear it or even see it on others but I just love it. Recently American Apparel had a great deal and I was able to snag this polish for a little over $1 but it was hard narrowing it down to just one polish. Yellow is a color that is hard to get right because for some reason the formula is just never really great on them. My favorite yellow is Cult Nails Feel Me Up and even that didn't have a perfect formula. I think I might just like this one even better!

Sunshine State is a great sunshine yellow color that is opaque in three coats. The formula is a little on the thin side with a tendency to flood the cuticles but after learning from the first coat it was easy to control this. The first coat went on sheer and a little patchy but at two coats it was nearly opaque and in three it was perfection. Dry time between coats was great and I didn't experience any problems with dragging or bubbling. My only issue is that it freaks my camera out a little and photographs a little on the neon side which it isn't. I think I have my new perfect yellow!

Pictures below are shown with three coats of Sunshine State and one coat of HK Girl top coat. I did some pictures indoors with and without flash to try to get it close to actual color of the polish. I think it is pretty close just think a little less neon and you got it!

American Apparel polish can be purchased from there website here for $6 a bottle. 

Zoya Reagan and Lara Stamping

Lately I have been really obsessed with pictures of stamping that show two colors together that are so close to each other but contrast perfectly for an effect that is just stunning. I never had a clue how they came up with the combinations and hadn't yet tried it but then a combination finally hit me. I was organizing my polishes today and came across the Zoya Beach collection that was actually still in the plastic box it came in. Lara and Reagan were sitting right next to each other and I thought they would make the perfect first attempt at the effect I was wanting. I absolutely love how the combination turned out and can't wait to try out more color combinations now that I think I've got it.

For this I used two coats of Zoya Lara and then added a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast. I then stamped using Zoya Reagan and Cheeky plate CH6. Reagan was so easy to use for stamping and came out great on the first try.  I finished it all off with a coat of Seche Vite and am just amazed. I really really love this combination!

Butter London Wallis and Hampstead Heath Comparison

This is just a quickly little post where I wanted to show the different between Wallis and the new GOOP limited edition polish from the Bespoke Collection, Hampstead Heath. In my head they were very close when I purchased the set online. I know other people thought the same thing because that was one of the first questions I was asked when I posted a picture to one of the groups I'm in on Facebook about how they two compare to each other. It's good to know that they are really nothing alike so you could get away owning both completely guilt free! Wallis is a more goldeny green and Hampstead Heath is a dark hunter green polish that is full of flecks and just gorgeous. I plan on fully testing out this color very soon. It will be perfect for the holidays! If you are interested in Goop exclusive collection of Trifecta Bespoke Lacquers they can be bought here for $36. I will also include a picture of the entire set so you can check out the lovelies.

Zoya Julieanne

Zoya Julieanne is a beautiful royal purple with purple flakes that also shine to gold if it just the right way in the light. Formula on this was great and was not too thick or thin. It was fully opaque after just two coats and dries to a glossy shine. It is really an amazing color and so easy to work with. If you are looking for a great purple with a little something extra then I definitely recommend checking this one out!

Nfu-Oh 61

Nfu-Oh 61 is an amazing polish that I received this week in a swap. I was so excited because I never thought I would own one of their amazing holographic polishes so needless to say it was going on my nails within minutes of pulling it out of the package. I have heard that you are supposed to use Nfu-Oh Aquabase or any basecoat that is tinted blue to get the holographic glory to really pop. I didn't use a basecoat at all and had absolutely no problems with it being any less wow. The formula is so easy to work with and I used three coats for the photos below. I also didn't use a topcoat for the pictures either because I was worried that it may ruin the holograph but have tried the topcoat since and it doesn't change the polish at all. I literally could not staring at my nails they just didn't look real any more. If you have a chance to buy or swap for this polish - take it!

Indoors photos with flash

 

Outdoors with no flash

Finger Paints Blue Raspberry Taffy

So basically all summer long I was searching for a color by Finger Paints called Blue Raspberry Taffy. I don't even remember where I first saw it or why I wanted it in the first place but I knew I just had to have it. You know once you get that lemming it won't stop til you have it or a cheap dupe lol Anyways, that color is seriously the hardest color I have yet to track down! But thanks to a wonderful swap group I am a part of it is now all mine.

I was so worried that once I had it in my possession it would just somehow not live up to the hype. You know, the hype I created all in my head! Thankfully it did and I love this polish even more now! Let's get a few more exclamation points in there!!!! This polish was super easy to work with and was opaque and just two coats. I didn't top coat it because I was planning on doing a saran wrap mani that I will include a picture of. I also didn't do any clean up which shows you just how great and easy the formula is to work with.

With Flash

Without flash and closer to actual color

Added Cult Nails Time Traveler on top

Butter London Slapper

Yet another color I got in the Butter London trio from the GMA sale is Slapper and like all the other Butter London colors I have tried so far it is amazing! So far when it comes to Butter London I have zero complaints. Well...maybe the price but like I said before they are completely worth it.I can't wait to get my colors from the Butter London sale yesterday so I have a few more to try out.

Slapper is a beautiful turquoise cream that is a little darker and real life than I could capture in my photos. Two coats and it was completely opaque. Formula was absolutely perfect I didn't have any streaking or globbing it just went on liker butter.  I top coated with one coat of Seche Vite and I was good to go!

Deborah Lippmann Strange Love

Strange Love is another color that came in the True Blood mini bottle trio from Deborah Lippmann. This is only my second experience with a DL polish and after my first experience with New Flesh I was expecting great things. Unfortunately, I was greatly disappointed.

Strange Love is described as "a vampy magenta" and ok I see that but it is more of a berry/wine color to me and not quite vampy enough.It also seems to be a little bit of a cream and a little bit jelly which could have been nice if it wasn't for the formula. Application of this was a nightmare! The first coat went on very thick, streaky, and patchy while still being on the sheer side.Then after a few minutes of waiting for that to dry I applied a second coat but the polish was not dry enough and it caused some dragging and balding. Pictures are shown after three coats and in person they still do not look that even . There are also some spots that are noticeably lighter than others due to the dragging and balding. I also experience some micro-bubbling after each layer but it wasn't very noticeable after top coating it.

Overall you can see I am not very happy with this polish especially for the price. I will be trying the other polish in the set, Bad Blood soon and hopefully that will work out a lot better.

Indoors - you can see some of the bubbling

In sunlight

In sunlight

NOTD Deborah Lippmann + Stamping

I still love love love New Flesh by Deborah Lippmann but wanted to add a little something to it. I decided it was a great time to try out some french tip stamping so I used the new set of Bundle Monster plates and Maybelline  Bold Gold to stamp with. This is what happened. Not perfect but not bad either in my opinion. Definitely would help if my nails were nubbins!

Deborah Lippmann True Blood Collection New Flesh

Two of my favorite things in the world are nail polish and True Blood (the books and tv show) so when I saw that Deborah Lippmann was creating nail polish for the Forsaken collection inspired by True Blood I knew I had to have it. New Flesh is part of a mini trio of polishes and for some reason I gravitated to this one first. So unlike me to go for the nude color but I am starting to appreciate them. There is just something so chic and polished about it that is starting to really draw me in and I like it!

New Flesh is a sheer color but builds up nicely. Pictures are shown at three coats and without top coat! This is super shiny all on it's own. The formula was super easy to work with photos are shown with ZERO clean up which I am starting to notice is a trend with these higher end polishes. They are much easier to work with and have much nicer formulas. This applied like a dream and I can't wait to try the rest of the trio out this week.

Urban Outfitters Sea Dust AKA Deborah Lipmann Dupe

All summer I have been wanting Deborah Lippmann's mermaids dream but I just couldn't bring myself to spend $18 for just one bottle of nail polish. The lemming was getting seriously out of control though until I found pictures of a possible dupe to mermaid's dream! The pictures make it look close enough that I thought it was worth a chance at least and at $5 it is a lot more manageable.

Urban Outfitter's Sea Dust in person is just gorgeous and goes on really well. You really need to let it dry a few minutes between coats or you could get some dragging. I used three coats but I really think it would have been ok with two I am just crazy like that. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite. I absolutely love this polish and in person it looks just like the swatches I have seen online of DL Mermaid's Dream. It is definitely close enough even if it isn't an exact dupe that I no longer feel I need to buy the Deborah Lippmann version so to me this is a wallet saver!