Christmas Mani!

Sorry to have this post up so late! I've been busy with the holidays, but better late than never right?

This was my Christmas manicure! The base color is Butter London Pearly Queen and the glitter is China Glaze Twinkle Lights. I've seen a few other bloggers with manicures similar to this and I wanted to try it out! I absolutely LOVE this combination.

This is 3 coats of Pearly Queen and I just dabbed and spread out Twinkle Lights to get the design I wanted.

With Flash

With Flash

I had no trouble with any of the formulas. This was actually one of my first Butter London polishes and I've fell in love with it! The formula is great for Pearly Queen. No drags or patchiness. It was a bit sheer, but 2-3 coats fixes it.

-Emily

Orly- Fowl Play

I found one of my lemmings two weeks ago! I've already checked it off my wishlist and everything. I was super excited to find Fowl Play! I thought it was discontinued (maybe it was? It was part of the Birds of a Feather collection), but anyway I found this along with a few more bottles at Ulta. Thought it was strange since it's from last fall but I picked it up anyway.

Fowl Play is a gorgeous mix of duochrome flakies (that shift from red, orange and green), blue glitter and silver micro glitter all in a medium/deep plum colored jelly polish.

This is 3 coats of Orly Fowl Play with Orly Won't Chip topcoat. I had no issues with the formula or application.

I've seen a lot of people say that Fowl Play is a near dupe of OPI's Merry Midnight that's HTF. I unfortunately don't own Merry Midnight, but from what I can tell, they are pretty close. If you're searching for Merry Midnight, Fowl Play may just be your fix (of course it's a lot cheaper too!)

-Emily

Time For Another Baddie But Goodie!

So while my normal camera was being a pain and didn't have batteries, I was using my phone to take photos. My phone does have a macro setting so I don't get the worst pictures but they aren't great enough to make a blog post with them.

Well here are those pictures! Polish is goodie, horrible pictures on my part, baddie.

2 Coats Sinful Colors Black on Black and 2 coats of Jesse's Girl Confetti on top

3 coats of China Glaze Fast Track

My Thanksgiving mani: 2 coats of Piggy Polish- Baby, It's Gold Outside (on index, middle and pinky) and 3 coats of China Glaze I Herd That (on ring finger)

2 coats of OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest

3 coats of Maybelline Color Show-Downtown Brown

I believe that's all I have for now!

-Emily

Sephora + Pantone Universe- Parachute Purple

Hi!

I made my first visit to Sephora yesterday! I had browsed online and passed the store numerous times, but yesterday I decided that day was the day. I've been missing out on a lot! I found so many things I fell in love with but of course I had limited funds.

Anyway, I came across the Sephora + Pantone Universe Jewel Lacquers. There were only 4 colors there but they are now $5 if you happen to be looking for any! I of course picked up Parachute Purple, although I'm really wanting a few others before they're gone!

Parachute Purple is a vibrant medium colored purple with aqua colored shimmer. The polish can lean towards a darker purple in certain lighting. I used two coats and had no trouble with it being too runny or thick. The only issue I have is that the aqua shimmer is not as strong on your nails as it is in the bottle. It's still gorgeous though!

Sephora Stock Photo

With flash on

In sunlight

 I really love this polish! I've seen others say it's a dupe for Rescue Beauty Lounge's Scrangie, but from what I can tell by other bloggers photos, it is not a dupe. Parachute Purple is darker and has less shimmer.

-Emily

China Glaze- Pelican Gray & Candeo- Sprouse

Hi!

So I've had these two polishes for a while. I actually received Candeo Sprouse in a giveaway from Llarowe some time ago. I never wore it because I didn't know what to wear it over but then I spotted Pelican Gray in my collection and it just clicked to use them together! Candeo Sprouse is actually the only indie nail polish I have, although I've been eying some others lately.

Pelican Gray is a somewhat sheer light to medium gray with a bit of silver shimmer. It takes about 3 coats to cover. Sprouse is an interesting top coat. It's loaded with so many different glitters. There's white and black bar/horizontal glitter, small and medium sized black and white hexagonal glitter, medium blue hexagonal glitter that switches to red and green depending on the angle, medium gray hexagonal glitter that switches to silver depending on the angle and finally sparse holographic glitter. It's absolutely gorgeous.

I used 3 coats of Pelican Gray and 2 coats of Sprouse and Orly Won't Chip topcoat. I had no trouble applying either although with Sprouse I had to place glitter around sometimes to make it look the way I wanted.

China Glaze Pelican Gray under fluorescent lighting

Under fluorescent lighting

With flash

Under fluorescent lighting. Blurred to show holographic glitter.

I actually really loved this mani! Do any of you have Sprouse? What do you think about it?

-Emily

Quick Post

Hi Everyone!

I've gained so many new followers, so I'd like to say hello! I hope you stick around for a while. :)

I just wanted to let all of you know I also have another blog for makeup (if you're interested). I have lots of swatches and reviews. If you'd like to check it out, feel free. Here's the link: 

http://artisticshadowsetc.blogspot.com/

I hope all of you have an awesome day! I'll have new posts up very soon.

-Emily

OPI- Live and Let Die

This is another mini from the Skyfall collection I bought a few days ago from Ulta. You can see my swatches of The World Is Not Enough here.

Live and Let Die is a hunter/dark green with golden green flecks. It almost appears black in some lighting, like florescent. I used two coats of Live and Let Die and a topcoat. I had no issues with this color. One coat was pretty good, but two was the magic number with this one!

I'll apologize ahead of time that I had to take these with my cell phone. My camera batteries died and I didn't want my polish to chip before I could get new ones. Luckily my cell phone has a macro setting so the photos didn't come out too bad.

Under florescent lighting.

With Flash

With Flash

I thought I would fall in love with this polish. This was the one I was dying to get my hands on. Although I do like this color, I don't think it's my favorite from the mini collection. I have another two polishes to go and I'm really eying GoldenEye. We'll see!

-Emily

OPI- The World Is Not Enough

Hi Everyone!

So I took a little trip to Ulta with my coupons in hand and I bought the Skyfall minis collection! I absolutely love every color in this collection. I was actually going to pick up all of these colors individually until I spotted this collection. I will have swatches of all of the colors up soon, but today I have The World Is Not Enough.

The World Is Not Enough is a rosey taupe with multicolored glitter (mostly pink and blue). I'd say it has a silver sheen/shimmer to it also. It's a complicated color, but I do enjoy it! I had no issues with application, although this polish is a bit sheer.

This is 3 coats of The World Is Not Enough along with Orly Won't Chip topcoat. All pictures are taken indoors in indirect sunlight.

What do you think about this polish? I haven't swatch the others from this collection, so I can't say for sure if it's my favorite yet. I do like how it is so unique! Which colors do you like from the Skyfall Collection?

-Emily

China Glaze- Ick-A-Bod-Y

Hi Everyone!

Ick-A-Bod-Y is from the China Glaze Awakening Collection 2010 (Halloween collection). I found my bottle earlier this year at Sally's Beauty which was a big surprise considering it was one of my lemmings. So score on my end!

Ick-A-Bod-Y is full of orange glitter suspended in a murky green base. From the bottle you can't really tell that it's murky green, but once it's on your nail it's a nice surprise. The glitter in this is pretty dense so I only had to use two coats with no layering over black. I did have a bit of trouble since my bottle seems to be getting a little thick. I don't know if this is a common problem or not, but a little nail polish thinner should do the trick.

I really love this color! I like all of this collection's colors so I may pick them up soon!

~Emily

BPotW China Glaze Ruby Pumps and Fingerpaints Brilliant Brushstroke

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I didn't get this post up sooner. I've been extremely busy and have been away. If I can't get the Boyfriend's Pick of the Week up sooner than I have lately, I'm just going to call it Boyfriend's Pick. I'll see how things go. I don't want to disappoint any of you!

The boyfriend picked China Glaze Ruby Pumps last week and dumb me thought it was just a glitter topcoat polish so I was going to use Fingerpaints Brilliant Brushstroke as a base, but I was in for a surprise when I realized it really wasn't just a glitter topcoat. It actually had a red base! So I just went ahead and kept both on since I actually really like Brilliant Brushstroke more than I thought.

Ruby Pumps is a gorgeous red base loaded with red glitter. This was part of the China Glaze Loves You Snow Much Holiday 2009 collection. Fingerpaints Brilliant Brushstroke is a bright cherry red with gold microglitter/shimmer.

Both are 3 coats with no top coat. Brilliant Brushstroke is on my index and ring finger and Ruby Pumps is on my middle and pinky finger.

Both formulas are pretty good.  Even with 3 coats they can be a little on the sheer side. I like Brilliant Brushstroke a little more than Ruby Pumps. Which do you like more?

~Emily

Orly Rococo A Go-Go VS. Zoya Jem

I was going through my collection a while back and I noticed I had two colors that looked the same. I don't purposely buy dupes really or anything that looks close to a polish I already have. The two that look similar are Orly Rococo A Go-Go and Zoya Jem. These are so close to being dupes of each other it hurts! The only differences I can tell are that Rococo A Go-Go has slightly bigger shimmer/glitter and is only a tiny bit darker than Jem. Jem is a little more red/pink toned. I prefer Zoya's formula since it seems to be a bit better to work with. Both formulas are good though.

Honestly, they look identical in person, so if you have one you really don't need the other (unless you really want it).

This is 3 coats of each polish with flash.

~Emily

BPoftheW: Zoya Adina

Sorry for getting this up so late. I've been super busy and tired. So really this should be Boyfriend's Pick of Last Week LOL! Don't worry, I'll make up for it this week. I'll have another post up soon.

Zoya Adina is a amazing violet with green duochrome/shimmer. It's described on the Zoya website as the following: "Adina can be best described as: Violet metallic multichrome. A frosty hint of green and magenta creates a unique "oil-slick" look." This is one of my favorite colors I own! My photos are not the greatest by any means. The green duochrome/shimmer is much stronger in person.

(In direct sunlight)

(Indirect sunlight)

You can purchase HERE. ALTHOUGH if you do not already have an account, you can click HERE (my Share The Love code) and you'll get a FREE bottle of nail polish (any color from Zoya). All you have to do is pay shipping.

~Emily

Boyfriend's Pick of the Week- China Glaze Riveting

 Hi Everyone!

I'm starting up a new feature on my blog were my boyfriend picks a color from my collection each week. I'm not sure of the day I'll have the posts up but they will be each week. This week I have China Glaze Riveting that he picked!

Want a little more info. on my boyfriend? His name is Josh and we've been together almost 5 years in December. He's a gamer (PC games mostly) and plays the guitar. He's an awesome person and knows how to make everyone laugh! So if you ever see the name Josh, it's him. :)

China Glaze Riveting is part of the Hunger Games Collection. I didn't read the books or watch the movie so I wasn't all that crazy about the names and the meanings, although there were some gorgeous colors within this collection. Now that the collection is on clearance most places I may pick up a few other colors. Riveting an amazing vibrant orange with gold shimmer which is actually tiny flakes.

The formula was pretty good, I didn't have any issues with applying it. I used 2 coats which is great! My camera didn't do this color justice, so sorry in advance.

This color is so much more vibrant than my camera leads you to believe, you'll NEED to check this one out in person. You won't regret it!

~Emily

Sephora by OPI- Mermaid To Order W/ Holo Topcoat

Let me just start out by saying that this has to be my favorite color combo! It's so gorgeous with he holo topcoat too!

Mermaid To Order is a metallic medium to deep green with a slight shift to dark green/blue. It looks so much like the ocean in my opinion.

This is two coats of Mermaid To Order, 3 coats of holo topcoat and Orly topcoat.

Sephora by OPI- Mermaid To Order w/o holo topcoat

 Mermaid To Order and holo topcoat

You can buy Mermaid To Order HERE! I also bought my holographic topcoat from Copious. (That is my referral link) but you can find holo topcoats on Etsy too.

~Emily

Sinful Colors Cinderella & Sephora by OPI Natural Environ-ment

This is a quick post since I didn't get the greatest pictures of my mani yesterday. I painted them last night and the lighting in my house isn't the best for these pictures.

Anyway, here's my mani:

On my index and ring finger: 2 coats of Sephora by OPI Natural Environ-ment with 3 coats of Sinful Colors Cinderella.
On my middle and pinky finger: 3 coats of Sinful Colors Cinderella.

The formula with these two are totally different. Cinderella is a bit runny and very sheer. I love the color so I'll just live with the formula. Natural Environ-ment is kind of thick and a bit streaky. Two to three coats fixes it though.

I thought Natural Environ-ment was a good color for a base coat for this. What do you think? What's your opinion of Cinderella?

~Emily

L'Oreal Bijou Crystals- B. Impulsive

I've had this polish for a year or so and I found it at a discount store. Since I found it at a discount store I'm guessing this is discontinued or it's just an older line.

I have an older post (probably one of my first ones) with another polish from this line. I really love the colors but the polish seems kind of thick and drags over my nails. I believe I have another polish in my collection from this line so I'll see if it is doing the same thing. It could be because the polish is older, but I have a few that are older than those polishes and doesn't have that problem.

Anyway, this is China Glaze base coat, 3 coats of B. Impulsive and Orly topcoat. It is a gorgeous medium purple that has a bit of metallic shimmer in it's base that is seen in bright lights. It's full of scattered rainbow glitter that just adds to the color.

Under florescent lighting

With flash

I love this color, just not a fan of the formula.

~Emily

I Now Have a Facebook Fan Page!

You can check it out HERE!

Hopefully this way my wonderful followers can keep up with me in another way! I'll be posting when I have up new blog posts and when there's news in the makeup world!

Thanks for being a follower of my blogs. I truly appreciate every one of you. :)

Zoya- Zuza

Hi!

Today I have Zoya Zuza. I bought it from a seller on Copious with a $10 credit I had for only 1 cent!!! How awesome is that? (if you'd like to sign up on Copious and get a credit, feel free to click my invite if you'd like:  http://copious.com/invites/4fd984676058f17f7f00933d )

Zuza is part of the Beach & Surf 2012 collection. On the Zoya website they describe Zuza as a "Deep, saturated, oceanic turquoise with gold and silver metallic shimmer and a foil-like finish. A beachy, colorful, foil-like shade with the perfect balance between blue and green."

This is 2 coats of Zoya Zuza over China Glaze base coat and Orly topcoat to top it all off.

You can purchase this color here on the Zoya website.

~Emily

Sinful Colors- Zeus

Hi Everyone!

I decided to make a quick post about Sinful Colors Zeus before I headed to bed. I'm having company over later today (Sunday) so I didn't know if I would have the time to post this so I just went ahead and decided to post it early. :)

Sinful Colors Zeus is a sort of dusty purple with a pink/purple shimmer. This was part of the Cast Away collection I believe. I love Sinful Colors. They are pretty cheap ($1.99 or even cheaper if you find them on sale) and they wear just as long, if not longer, than some of the big name brands. With this mani I used China Glaze base coat, 2 coats of Zeus and Orly topcoat.

 Indoors under fluorescent light.

With flash on.

You could possibly still find this color in stores along with their permanent and current collections.

Thanks for reading!

~Emily