Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Untried Polish Challenge 13: In Season

Ugh...I've been sick with a cold all weekend. I'm so done with this =(
It's going away now, but I've still got a sinus infection and seriously stuffed up. My ears hurt...
The worst part is the aaallllmost sneezes. The sharp intake of breath, ticked nose and then...nothing. And then my eyes water like crazy. =/

Lighter news!!
This day of the challenge is 'In Season'. Here I picked a nice coraly-pink color. I am not sure about this polish, though.


 This is a Claire's mood changing polish. 3 coats. Can I say it? Im going to: Shitty formula. There is no other adjective that can describe it! (Goodbye, family friendly blog!) It dried with a rubber finish, which is fine, but not what I wanted at all. Even after 3 coats there is still drag. It's just...bad! This is at room temp. Just sitting on my nails a while. Definitely more cold than not.

 Here it is after running it under hot water.

 Cold water. Basically the same as the first pic. I'm really thinking room temp is the same as cold just because I was cold for the first pic. Yeah, probably it!

 I wanted that natural gradient look you see with most mood polishes. I had to cheat and use an ice cube on the tips after hot water. I had to move fast so I couldn't even dry my hands!


This is after a few pats on a towel and a few snaps of the camera. Probably all of 15-20 seconds after the previous pic. As you can tell, the darker is already fading to light. Sitting here typing this i do notice a TINY color difference. My fingers are no longer icy cold, so that helps I'm sure.


Other lovely participants! ♥
Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Amanda at Designer Nail Accents
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Isabel at Little Fairy
Raux at Raux Polish
Alison at UKNailRunner

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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Untried Polish Challenge 12: Prettiest

Yay! Back on schedule...The one day late schedule, I mean. =D

Today is prettiest untried. Of course I have a holo that I've never used so that wins!I almost used this as most expensive, but it wasn't. Also it's the prettiest!

Butter London Fishwife is simply STUNNING! This takes 3 coats to get to this opacity. That's not terrible for a beautiful holo. The formula was a little inconsistent, but the finished product is so worth it!

 What's this?? I was blogging during the middle of the day? What is that strange natural light outside???

 Here it is in the lightbox, just so you can see it NOT in the sun!

The sun sure shows off the beautiful holo effect. Don't have any holos? Get down to Ulta and get this one! =D


Don't forget to check out the other participants getting ready to show off their prettiest untried polish!
Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Amanda at Designer Nail Accents
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Isabel at Little Fairy
Raux at Raux Polish
Alison at UKNailRunner

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Untried Polish Challenge 11: Ugliest

Hey all.
late, yes. It's okay! This is for the ugliest untried polish. I'll keep it short, since I'm tired and should probably sleep soon!


Bar glitter is...Meh. The red is Nailtini Bloody Mary and the gold is Nailtini Millionaire. Both of these were in different Ipsy bags in the past. No no, the red isn't ugly at all. I rather like it! But this gold bar glitter is crazy. There are tiny little gold glitters init, as well as gold and blue/green (as in duochrome ish) bar glitters. Ever since I got it I've kind of hated it. Wearing it for a day has only a tiny bit changed that. Bar glitter isn't the worst thing in the world, but I definitely would pick something else!!

Anyhow, be sure to check out the others participating in this challenge! Good night! Or...Morning.

Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Amanda at Designer Nail Accents
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Isabel at Little Fairy
Raux at Raux Polish
Alison at UKNailRunner

Little update: I am STOKED to see this challenge is being used by others across the blogosphere! YAY!
However, I am kind of bummed...Some of the images being used are cropped down to just the challenges. =( The credits and "rules" (guidelines!) have been removed.
So, as you original challengees: I deem thee the rightful knights of protecting this challenge! If you see it being done by a blog but they are using a cropped or redone version of the challenge, link them back here and to the original picture!
Most likely they won't be the one who edited it. They'd likely enjoy having the full and credited version. ♥♥♥
Thanks so much for keeping the challenge going!

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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Untried Polish Challenge 10: Most Expensive

Yay, I managed to get this one up still only one day late! See how it's not midnight yet at my house? Yup, that's a thing.

Anyway, today is the most expensive untried I have. Masha picked this up for me in New York a while back. It's so pretty!




 This is a beautiful holographic purple. Fascination Street by Cirque. It sells for $15, and incredibly well worth the splurge! Support indies!!

The h9olo effect was hard for me to capture, but you can see it in the bottle fairly well. And OMG the sun. Do I have a sun pic? No, because it's midnight. But I did have the bottle in the sun, and like most holos, its absolutely gorgeous!!

So here I thought I'd do some underwater shots to get the effect. They didn't work so well, but this one turned out alright!

 Why is the surface of the water all ripply and covered with hair?

This. This is why.
Dr. Frank N. Furter is ON IT when he hears running water. He'll never go into it, but boy does he love to drink his water...



Other participants of the challenge. =)

Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Amanda at Designer Nail Accents
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Isabel at Little Fairy
Raux at Raux Polish
Alison at UKNailRunner


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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Untried Polish Challenge 9: Cheapest

Wow. I really thought I would be on time with this one! But no, I actually am scheduling myself around being late, apparently. I thought today WAS the right day!! Oh well. Still just one day late, no biggie!!

Today I am showing my cheapest untrieds. This one was pretty hard, but I settled with a polish from the dollar store and a Wet n Wild. These are so untried, I haven't even used either brand on this blog.

This actually turned out really great!! I am very pleased with the results!




This is Wet n Wild Tickled Pink and L.A. Colors Pink Sizzle. I bought the WnW for a grab bag last year for my first nail polish party. I put a little WnW in everyone's bag, and this was a leftover. It's a cute pink, but it kinda clashes with my skintone, I think. These pics look fine, but IRL it's meh.
The L.A. Colors was during my phase of "Don't care what brand, GOTTA BUY!". Pretty sure I bought it at the little market next door to my mom's house. These are actually both really decent polishes, other than they both stink and for sure cannot be 3free! Well, maybe the WnW is, but still. I have yet to figure out why I discriminate against cheap polishes, I just do. I can't be the only one, right?? Other than they both needed one too many coats for my liking.

This mani was suuuper simple. Base of Ticked Pink, then I free handed the tips and covered the bad line with the holographic mirrored stripe tape(I have a hoop tape like that!). The accent was simply random striping tape covered with the Pink Sizzle.

Don't forget to check out the others participating in this challenge as well! I'm sure they are on time, too. =D
Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Amanda at Designer Nail Accents
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Isabel at Little Fairy
Raux at Raux Polish
Alison at UKNailRunner

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Monday, May 13, 2013

Untried Polish Challenge 8: Newest

Hey! Day late again. Oh well, at least I'm consistent!
Today I decided to recreate a mani that Missy from Gnarly Gnails had on. Only after I did it did I realize It could be way better. But it is still a fun design!! Hers are spaced much better than mine. Mine is super busy. Kind of a lot going on in the design with how many stripes I did.





You like blurry photos, right? :D
Here it is! This is Zoya Farrah and Josie. Farrah is a beautiful neutral, I love it so much! I just got it and Josie with the Zoya earth Day exchange. I only bought 5 bottles for myself with that. Crazy right?!

Anyhow, I will be redoing this mani again someday. I'll make less happeneing though. Also I'll use tape for the final coat over the stripe tape. That will make it look quite a bit better, I'd say.
I really love this tape design!!!



Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Erica at Coat of Mani Colors
Isabel at Little Fairy
Raux at Raux Polish 
Alison at UKNailRunner

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Friday, May 10, 2013

Untried Challenge Number 7: Oldest

Oh no! I'm late again!

Oh well. I still present you with a manicure!
Although, it's not  much to behold. xD


Bluuuurrrrrr......

Revlon Touch of Mauve is this nice neutral peach tone. It does have a slight shimmer finish , but the pics don't show that very well. It's sat since I bought it probably over a year or so ago. I've been missing out, yes?!?
To top it all off, I am using Orly Shine On [you] Crazy Diamond. I had a bottle of this that I messed with all over a fake nail trying to get a holo look. I swear I remember it more glitter dense. Perchance this bottle is older then the one I originally had. What I mean is that I had this polish, and swapped it out in a swap basket (Now my lovely roomie owns it, I'll have to invade her stash to compare the formulas). I got it back from someone else in the swap. Also it smells more chemically. So yes, I'm thinking it's an older bottle! No big deal. I feel like I have to own this polish for the name! =)

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure these two polishes aren't exactly the oldest bottles I own, but this challenge was super hard!! In the end, I'm sure I have a few Sinfuls that are much older and unused. But there you have it. =D

♥♥

Other beautiful participants!
Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Erica at Coat of Mani Colors
Isabel at Little Fairy
Raux at Raux Polish 

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Untried Challenge Number 6: Cool

Hey! A day late on this one, my internet was down yesterday after work. Boo.

I'll keep this post short seeing as I have to be to work in a few minutes.

The bottle I'm holding is Cirque Planet Caravan. I have always felt that purples are cool colors, because it's a secondary color of blue and red, it could really go either way. So to make it more cool I've added Essie Dive Bar gradient. Now there is no doubt it's cool. Also a little sticker. Because it needed something!!
One pic today. It was hard to capture the subtle gradient in multiple angles, so this works just fine. =)

I'll have some super great swatches soon of some super great polishes I just picked up. Stay tuned!

♥♥

[edit]  I missed the list of participants somehow...
Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Erica at Coat of Mani Colors
Isabel at Little Fairy
Raux at Raux Polish 

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Sunday, May 5, 2013

Venique Sweet Little Addictions Swatches and Reviews

Hello everyone!
This collection that I have today has been out for a little over a month now, but I'm just getting my hands on it and reviewing it.

Venique's new collection is called Sweet Little Addictions. It's a candy coated collection of bright neons! They are all UV reactant, too! Some way more than others.

A few characteristics of all of these colors (so I don't say it six times!) is that they dry with a rubbery finish. Not exactly matte, but definitely not super shiny. You may see some shine in the pics, but that has a bit to do with the fact that I take my pics before they are set and dry. They are all a creme to jelly formula. I say both because it's almost somewhere in the middle. Each is opaque within 2 coats, unless specified. I'm kind of very in love with this collection!

Sugar Hi-Heeled is probably the blue that I've been looking for. I don't know why I wanted it, but this is it! 2 coats. The color is very bright, but not blinding. The first application was almost watery, but this may be my fault for lack of shaking. The second coat was opaque and thick as it should be.

 Give a Girl a Heel Breaker. This almost minty green is the only one that needed 3 coats. The formula seems to be a bit thinner than the others. The color is very nice. It's much more pastel than neon, but still calls for a "wow, that's a bright nail color!"

 Kara-Melt Chews was incredibly hard to photograph. The camera said it was more deep purple than it really is. I won't lie, I had to color manipulate this one to get the color closer to what it really is. It is a bright fuchsia color. Of the collection, this is the least UV reactant.

I'm a Sucker For Wedges. This bright pink almost needed 3 coats, but I let it slide. It is incredibly similar to the color listed below. I almost had a hard time remembering which one was which when I began to edit the photos.

Sugar on Hi-Platforms. You've seen this one before! This pic is so much better, though. It actually shows the color! It's more bubble-gum colored than the one listed above, but very similar. I think that one of these colors should have been replaced by a yellow or red to complete this rainbow of colors a bit more. Both pinks are lovely shades, but very similar for the same collection.



Orange Strap Wedges. Think of that bright orange hat and jacket that hunters wear. Yep, this is it. This photo tones down the vibrance of this color quite a bit, but I think you'll thank me for that! This orange is so bright that I swear I didn't need a UV light to give it the same effect! Outside, in the sunlight with everything else bright, this may look lovely. But indoors with only artificial light it is incredibly distracting! I'm not knocking the color at all, I'm just giving a fair warning! Had I given this pic the full brightness of the color, it would have looked terrible on even the most perfect of calibrated monitors!

That being said, a few of these pics may look bad on some monitors. They seem to be fine on my system(which is by no means calibrated, so here's hoping!), as well as a few others I've looked with. They are bright. Hopefully they won't blind you! I'll tone down the contrast if I need to. Let me know!

Here is a bonus picture. I set them up to my blacklight just to show you how vibrant they can be. Check out that orange!!



Very slow shutter speed with this. They are in the order listed in the post. I love how the floor is illuminated by the polishes! As you can see, Kara-Melt Chews hardly has any brightness to it under the blacklight. Definitely has some, however! Orange Strap Wedges just blows me away in this light! I think it will be my new clubbing polish. =)

PS - YAY I built a new lightbox! It's not quite everything I want yet, but it's so much better! I'm actually pleased with the pictures. =D


See you next time!♥

All polishes in this review were purchased by me. This post is in no way endorsed by Venique.

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Friday, May 3, 2013

Untried Challenge Number 5: Warm

Hey friends! Late post today, sorry about that! But I got it in before midnight, YEAHH!

It's was the boyfriend's graduation ceremony today, so that was a bit more important than nails. His department color is orange(engineering), so this mani is fitting. =) YAY congrats to him!

Anyhow, I experimented with different places in my house for lighting today, and I've come to a conclusion!! I need a new light box. =/





The pictures aren't too bad actually. The top one is so pretty! That is definitely my favorite pic style for nails. Too bad that huge glare takes away from art. But simple things like this are perfect!

This is Sation Sunset Silk, and accent as Zoya  Tanzy. The Sation is a pearly finish, so I used the sponging technique for the last layer. Streaks are gone!! Thank you SO much for telling me that trick. I can like my pearl finishes now! =)

I think I got the Sation last summer, and Tanzy like 2 weeks ago. Hey, that counts!!

♥♥
Check out the others participating in this fun challenge!!
Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily
Amy at Fancy Side
Sam at Polished Art
Lizajane at Organic Neglect
Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails
Kristina at Lacquer Fetish
Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Erica at Coat of Mani Colors

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