Crystal Visions

Funky Fingers: Power Chord

2012-01-30T07:00:00.001-05:00

Power Chord is a gray-ish purple foil which has a very slight tan flash to it. I'm sure it's opaque enough to wear on it's own, but I decided to layer it over a dark purple instead. Here's the result.

The base color I used is from a brand called Eleese and the lable is missing on the bottle, so I don't know the proper name. This is a beautiful vampy purple jelly and one of my go-to bases when I layer polishes.

Thanks for looking!

Milani One Coat Glitter: Red Sparkle

2012-01-29T07:00:00.005-05:00

Here is the 2nd new Milani I picked up. It looks like there is a new version of Red Sparkle. The new one is red micro glitter with slightly larger gold hexes. Even though this is a "One Coat Glitter" it definitely needs two for full coverage. This is two coats with one coat of Gelous overtop.

Here is a comparison shot of the two Red Sparkles:

They even have the same number, so I'm assuming Milani has discontinued the old one.

Thanks for looking!

Milani Jewel FX: Red

2012-01-28T07:13:00.000-05:00

I found this new Milani at Meijer the other day. The display was pretty picked over, so I'm pretty happy they had this one left. Red is my absolute favorite color, so I knew I had to have this the second I saw it. The color is called simply Red and it's a clear base with red hex glitter. This is a new Jewel FX color. I layered it over Loreal Femme Noir:

Thanks for looking!

Super Clearance!

2012-01-27T07:00:00.005-05:00

I love a good deal, especially on polish. I found this color just sitting on an end cap at Meijer and picked it up. When I read the name, Snowed-In, I knew it was from the Christmas collection....so I took it over to the bar code scanner and it rang up for..... 29 cents! Woo! Sold! I also got Orna-mint for the same price. Not bad!

What a cool color, huh? I decided to try and layer Revlon Whimsical over top a darker blue (since I don't have any light ones) and I did not love the look. I also layered Sally Hansen Glass Slipper over the other nails and I do like that combo. Too bad I ruined the ring finger with Whimsical, cuz I would have worn the heck out of the Glass Slipper combo.

Thanks for looking!

Zoya: Yara

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here is my 2nd Zoya, Yara. Yara is a mossy green with gold glass flecks. Again, I was hoping for glitter instead of glass flecks, but this color is so freaking pretty! I love it. What Zoya's did you all choose?

Thanks for looking!

Zoya: Neeka

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

I just got my free Zoya's in the other day. I love when they do those free promos. One of the two colors I choose was Neeka. Neeka is a dusty purple packed full of gold glass flecks. I was honestly a bit disappointed because I was expecting glitter instead of glass flecks, but this is still a gorgeous color.

Thanks for looking!

Revlon: Whimsical

2012-01-24T07:15:00.003-05:00

After a little mini search, I finally found Revlon Whimsical. As you probably know by now, it's a spot on dupe to Deborah Lippman's Glitter in the Air. Whimsical is a very sheer light blue base with blue and pink hexes and a tiny bit of blue micro glitter.

I had wanted to wear this over a nice light blue, but I actually don't own any! Can you believe that? So I settled for this gray cream from LA Girls. I don't know the name because the label is missing.

Thanks for looking!

Finger Paints: Motley

2012-01-22T07:00:00.001-05:00

Well, day two of my Revlon mani is not going well. Major shrinkage and bubbling. Blah. It hasn't even been 24 hrs yet and all I did was watch a movie and go to bed. Hmm, not impressed. Bummer! So I decided to re-wrap the tips, add another layer of color and top it off with a coat of Finger Paints Motley to hide any new bubbling.

Motley is a green and blue flakie and I just love it overtop a teal color. I usually wear flakies over black, but I'm trying to experiment more with them and I really like this combo.

Here's what the Revlon color looked like before I fixed it.

Thanks for looking!

Revlon Colorstay: #290 Midnight - Day 1

2012-01-21T11:21:00.004-05:00

I've been wanting to try the Colorstay polishes for a while now, they're supposed to wear up to 11 days provided you use their base and top coats. I picked up Midnight, which is a dusty teal cream. The formula is a bit thick, but goes on well. I only needed one coat, but did two just to make sure everything was even. I used Orly Nail Armor as a base coat.

So far, so good.

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze: Frostbite - Konaded

2012-01-19T07:21:00.004-05:00

My niece Brenda is 13 today ♥ For her present, I got her the Salon Express Nail Art Stamping Kit. There's a great review of it over at My Simple Little Pleasures. Last time she stayed overnight, I stamped her fingers with a zebra pattern and I guess she asked her mom for this after seeing a commercial. I'm pretty excited to give it to her.

It made me realize I haven't Konaded in FOREVER! So that's the inspiration for today's mani. The base color here is China Glaze Frostbite. I used Art Deco silver as the stamping polish and plate M65.

Here is Frostbite solo:

Thanks for looking!

Milani: Black Cherry + Color Morphing topcoat

2012-01-16T06:36:00.003-05:00

I can't believe how hard it was for me to capture a decent photo of Black Cherry. I wore this mani all last week and don't want to admit how many photos I took of it until I finally got a decent one. I love this polish, it's an amazing blackened burgundy shimmer, which is like the perfect vampy red. So dark, but you can still tell it's burgundy.

So, after a couple of days I decided to add a bit of a kick to my Black Cherry mani. I added the red/green color morphing topcoat I frankened using the pigment I got from More Nail Polish. Check out the colors, red, gold, and green (I should name this franken Karma Chameleon! LOL). Amazing!!

Here's a little closeup:

Thanks for looking!

LA Girl Glitter Addict colors

2012-01-10T18:46:00.007-05:00

I got my LA Girls glitters through Cherry Couture, but I've seen a recent display at Rite Aid. I used Maybelline Express Finish Purple Trend as the base.

Here's Purple Trend by itself. If I ever make a top 10 list, this sucker is going to be on it. I love the vampy purple, but the teal shimmer is what makes it so special. Make sure to click to enlarge the pick.

and this is in order: Flamboyant (copper), Eutopia (purple), Nostalgic (aqua), and Jostle (blue). Each color has small micro glitter and larger hex glitter of the same color in a clear base.

Thanks for looking!

Orly: Oui

2012-01-09T06:47:00.002-05:00

I got this polish at the end of the year when Sally's had that great clearance sale. This is Orly Oui, it has one of those super glass fleck finishes like Space Cadet. Oui is a purple base with gold duochrome.

In direct sunlight, you can't see much of the gold:

Thanks for looking!

Studio M: Silver Lining ...with flakies

2012-01-08T09:10:00.003-05:00

I found this color on clearance at Meijer, Silver Lining is from Studio M's holiday collection. It's a grayed out white frost. Pretty color, but I really hate seeing the brush strokes. They actually don't look too bad in the photo, but they really stood out in person.

So, I've always wanted to try wearing a flakie over a white and I wasn't disappointed. It was hard to photograph, and I have the worst lobster hands here, but the polish looks great 8-) I love how it looks like an opal. Very cool. This is two coats of Finger Paints Twisted.

Thanks for looking!

Finger Paints: Twisted

2012-01-07T12:00:00.002-05:00

I was lucky enough to find all five Finger Paints flakies at my local Sally's just after Christmas. I called four different stores looking for them, and only one had any. The lady over the phone told me they only had three colors left, so I had her hold them, but when I went to the store, I checked over the display and they still had all five. So I think I lucked out! Of all the colors in the set, this one is my favorite. It's called Twisted and is the most colorful of the bunch. The flakes shift from shades of blue, green and red. This is two coats overtop Finger Paints Black Expressionism.

Thanks for looking!

LA Girl Glitter Addict: Uninhibited

2012-01-06T07:20:00.005-05:00

I LOVE black glitter! Ever since Wet n Wild's Tangled in my Web came out, so I just had to get Uninhibited. Uninhibited is a mixture is small black micro glitter with larger black hexes mixed together in a clear base. I decided to wear this over Maybelline Express Finish Cool Couture. I really think this color and Purple Trend deserved more attention than they got, they are two of my all time favorite colors!

Please make sure to enlarge the pick so you can see all the awesome shimmer from Cool Couture peeking through the black glitter. I LOVED this combo.

Just in case you wanted to see Cool Couture solo, here is a link to my previous post.

Thanks for looking!

OPI Muppets: Rainbow Connection - revisited

2012-01-04T07:00:00.001-05:00

So, this ended up becoming my NYE mani. I used Finger Paints Black Expressionism as a base and Rainbow Connection overtop. What a difference a base coat makes, I've only worn this solo. Adding a base really makes the glitter (I hate to use this expression) pop. This looks like falling confetti and I think it made a great festive mani. My favorite thing about this polish is the different sized hex glitters.

Thanks for looking!

Sally Hansen: Glass Slipper + Orly: Androgynie

2012-01-01T09:51:00.005-05:00

I really love Sally Hansen Glass Slipper. Its like snow in a bottle; clear base with white flecks. Here it is over Orly Androgynie, which is a black base with sliver glitter and multi colored hex glitter. Sounds good on paper, but I couldn't really see the glitter that well once it was on the nail. Check out the picks:

Here's the Orly by itself:

Thanks for looking!

Sally Hansen Gem Crush: Big Money

2011-12-30T19:44:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year! Tonight's mani has to sparkle, so I choose Big Money from the Gem Crush line. Big Money is a champagne colored glitter with little round lilac purple glitter mixed in. It's so shiny!! I really like that the purple glitter is round shaped and not hex shaped like most glitters seem to be now (although I still love me some hex glitter).

Make sure to click the pick for a closeup.

Thanks for looking!

White Christmas Nails

2011-12-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

Well, since the weather didn't cooperate, so I decided to add a bit of snow to my mani. I used China Glaze Litter Drummer Boy from last year's Holiday collection as the base. LDB is a nice dark vampy blue shimmer. Overtop, I added China Glaze Snowglobe. The dark base really brings out all the colors in Snowglobe and I just love this mani. It looks like snow at night.

Here's a nice closeup:

Little Drummer Boy solo:

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday today!

Holly Jolly Nails

2011-12-24T07:00:00.003-05:00

Woot! Tomorrow is the big day, are you ready for Christmas??? For this mani, I used China Glaze Phat Santa again for the base red and NYX Girls Enchanted Forest for the green glitter. I really wanted to do a green base with red glitter, but I didn't have any polishes that had just red hexes. So I guess this is a reverse Holly mani! ha ha.

Thanks for looking!

Gingerbread Nails

2011-12-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

I really love all the warm toned gold glitters that came out around this time last year and Finger Paint's Holly Good Time is one of my absolute favorites. I used OPI's Ginger Bells as a base and the two color go together so well. HGT is a clear base with gold and red micro glitter.

Ginger Bells solo:

Thanks for looking!

Candy Cane Nails

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

I think that China Glaze's Phat Santa from last year's Holiday collection is the perfect Christmas red. Nice and bright. Here I used Phat Santa as the base and added a white stripe with an Art Deco striper. Simple to do and festive ♥ I wish I had a bit more patience cuz it would have looked so much better if I had used tape for the lines, but I can never wait long enough and always end up ruining my mani.

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze: Tinsel Town

2011-12-21T07:14:00.005-05:00

Ok, I was not expecting Tinsel Town to be so sparkly. It positively shines at any angle and adore it! It's a gunmetal gray glitter from the Let it Snow holiday collection. I was really expecting this to be a dupe of Milani's Silver Dazzle, but it's darker and shiner. Check it out:

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze: Twinkle Lights

2011-12-19T13:23:00.002-05:00

Today's color is called Twinkle Lights from the China Glaze Let it Snow collection. It's a mixture of gold, red and green glitters - perfect mix for a holiday polish. The base color here is Velvet Bow from the same holiday collection.

Thanks for looking!

Funky Fingers: Sand and Stilettos

2011-12-18T07:00:00.003-05:00

My bottle of Funky Fingers didn't have a label on it, but thankfully I was able to find swatches online and find that the name of this color is Sand and Stilettos. Kind of a groovy name 8-) This is a very light lilac purple/silver holo glitter. The holo effect on this is not too bad actually, although my photos don't show that off very well.

This is one coat of S&S over my Clarins mani from yesterday:

and in sunlight:

Wow, one week until Christmas, the countdown is on!!
Thanks for looking!

Sonia Kashuk: Taunting Teal + Clairins 230

2011-12-17T07:00:00.003-05:00

Oh yeah, this combo is just as cool as you imagine it would be after reading the name of this post. These two polishes look amazing together! Clarins gives the teal a nice purple tone and the shimmer is TDF. Ever since I got the color morphing powder "red to green" I've been meaning to try and re-franken Clarins....I'll have to do that soon!

Check out these two colors together:

Thanks for looking!

Sonia Kashuk: Taunting Teal

2011-12-16T07:00:00.002-05:00

Ok, first thing to say here is that this color ROCKS! The perfect vampy color, dark, but not black. You can still tell this is teal. The formula was amazing, my only complaint was that I didn't love the brush, but to me that's pretty minor. Look how awesome this is:

In shade:

and sunlight:

Thanks for looking!

Snowman Polish: Teal

2011-12-14T07:00:00.003-05:00

This cute little snowman is a teal cream that I got last year at Meijer. It dries matte like a neon would, but I wouldn't really consider it neon. I really like the color, but I think it looks horrible on me....of course that still doesn't stop me from occasionally wearing it.

Thanks for looking!

Revlon: Facets of Fuchsia

2011-12-13T07:00:00.004-05:00

Facets of Fuchsia is a dupe for Deborah Lippman's Bad Romance,so I was pretty happy when I found this sucker at Walgreens. It's a sheer black base with bits of micro and larger hex glitters mixed in. This is one coat over Pure Ice Taupe Drawer.

Here is the Pure Ice by itself:

Thanks for looking!

Snowman Polish: Red and Green Glitter

2011-12-11T07:00:00.003-05:00

This is my favorite Snowman polish of this year's release. It's classic Christmas, red and green hex glitters in a clear base. How perfect! I wore this over Tip Toe Holiday and I really love it. Holiday is just light enough that the red glitter in the snowman polish is still visible.

Here's a closeup:

and a closeup of the bottle:

Thanks for looking!

Funky Fingers: Stage Dive

2011-12-10T07:00:00.002-05:00

Wow, do I love this glitter! I've never seen Funky Fingers in stores before, but I went to Five Below for the 1st time and they carried a few colors. I had to grab this one, I mean just look at it. I ♥♥♥ the different sized hexes, especially the larger ones. This is one coat over Pepes Purple Passion from yesterday's mani.

and a bottle closeup:

Thanks for looking!

OPI Muppets: Pepes Purple Passion

2011-12-09T07:00:00.002-05:00

Pepe is my favorite Muppet! I adore him and I love that OPI let him have a polish in the collection, seeing as he was barely in the movie (but still hysterical!). Speaking of, I saw it opening night and really liked it, but my favorite Muppet movie to date is still Muppets from Space 8-)

Anyways, Pepes Purple Passion is a dark purple color with glass flecks mixed in. When I originally ordered my set from AveYou, I didn't include this color and of course instantly regretted not getting it. I found it at Ulta today and had to pick it up.

Thanks for looking!

Tip Toe: Holiday

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

I found this polish at Old Navy while waiting in line over the weekend. It's a red base with glass flecks that flash red and gold. Sounds great, but it's not as noticeable on the nail as it is in the bottle. Man, I hate when that happens, I wish the color in the bottle would look the same when you wear it, but all too often it does not. That being said, it is still a cute color...

This color is called Holiday.

Here's a closeup:

Hee, Christmas Kermie!

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze: Love Marilyn

2011-12-06T07:00:00.001-05:00

Here's the other one of my Ulta mega expensive China Glazes. This is Love Marilyn and it's red glitter with silver hexes all mixed into a clear base. I really like the contrast between the two glitters. I didn't get Gettin Mrs Piggy With It, so I'm glad I was able to get this color instead. For the swatch I only wore two coats, but three would have been better. At two there are still some bare spots, but three would have make this totally opaque.

Here's a closeup of the bottle:

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze: Marry a Millionaire

2011-12-04T07:00:00.002-05:00

OK, since when does Ulta charge $8 for China Glaze polishes?? Remind me to check my receipt before I leave next time!

One of the expensive China Glazes I purchased today is Marry a Millionaire. This is a light purple, I'd say lilac colored glitter with some multi colored miro sized bar glitter mixed in. Usually I'm not a big fan of bar glitter, but these are so small, they blend in with the other glitter perfectly.

This is two coats solo:

and here's a closeup:

Thanks for looking!

Color Club: The Great Divide

2011-12-03T07:00:00.002-05:00

Like everyone else in the polish community, I probably own more crackle polishes than I know what to do with lately, so when I add another crackle to the collection, it's gotta be a good one. When I saw this in the bottle, I just had to give it a try. It's like Charla went over to the darkside.

This crack is kinda finicky like the Kleancolors, you have to get the polish at that right stage of wet/but/still/dry. I think they work best with foils or holos that dry faster. This is the 1st polish I was able to get TGD to crack properly on.

Here it is over the Snowman gold foil from the other day. I sort of have an accidental UofM theme going on! LOL.

Closeup:

I adore this little guy!!

Thanks for looking!

Color Club: Sugar Plum Yum

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

This color is the other glitter in the Sally's Beauty Color Club scented set. It's called Sugar Plum Yum and it's a mixture of green glitter and irregular shaped purple hex glitter. I decided to wear this over my previous Velvet Bow mani and I really have to say I'm digging the dark red as a base for this.

Thanks for looking!

Snowman Polish: Gold Foil

2011-12-01T20:31:00.003-05:00

So, I got this Snowman polish from my BF Shmoopy when she did her last purge and I've never really worn it before. It's from I believe 2009. This color rocks, although the picks give me a horrible case of the lobster hands! LOL. This is two coats w/o topcoat.

Today's Christmas pick is a Fleetwood Mac Christmas penguin!

Thanks for looking!

Color Club: Very Merry Berry

2011-11-30T21:52:00.003-05:00

So, when did Sally's start to carry Color Club? Very Merry Berry is a Sally's exclusive holiday color, which is scented when dry. It does have a sweet smell, I suppose it's supposed to smell like berries ☺ I picked up the two glitters in the collection. VMB is a mixture of blue glitter and larger odd shaped hexes. It's kind of a weird color, but I dig it!

This is one coat over Lancome's Midnight Glam:

Midnight Glam solo:

and another closeup:

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze: Velvet Bow

2011-11-30T07:09:00.003-05:00

'tis the season, and I'm going through another little identity crisis with the blog layout, so please bare with me for the next couple of days while I make a few changes.

Today's color is from the China Glaze Let It Snow holiday 2011 collection, called Velvet Bow. That's got to be the perfect name for this polish! It is the exact color of those velvet bows you'd find on a poinsettia plant or other holiday item. I adore this color on too. It does wear a darker than my photo shows though.

Thanks for looking!

OPI Muppets: Divine Swine

2011-11-26T07:00:00.003-05:00

OPI Muppets: Gone Gonzo

2011-11-25T07:00:00.002-05:00

Yay, my 1st Christmas post! I've been wanting to get in the Christmas spirit for a while now, but I was trying to hold back until after Thanksgiving....not easy! LOL.

This is one coat of Gone Gonzo over Revlon Royal.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T07:00:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone has a great holiday today. This color is Loreal Owl's Night. It kind of reminds me of Freshcover's Starry Night, which you can see a pick of here. This one is lighter and you see much more of the greenish shimmer, which I like....

Thanks for looking!

It's time to start the music.....

2011-11-23T07:00:00.004-05:00

...it's time to light the lights, it's time to meet The Muppets....tonight!!

Hee! Today's the day and in honor of the new movie, I'm showcasing OPI's Rainbow Connection. I think this is my favorite from the entire Muppet collection. It's packed full of different sized multi colored glitter in a clear base. I especially like the large hexes.

You can wear it on its own (with a bit of natural nail peeking through)

or layered. This is over China Glaze Holly Day:

Thanks for looking!

Snowman Polish: Purple Glitter

2011-11-20T18:36:00.000-05:00

Today I have another snowman glitter polish, this is purple glitter in a very light purple base. It's opaque enough to wear on its own, but can also be layered. I of course choose to wear it solo, just sheer enough to see a bit of natural nail peeking through.

(Ha! poor pooches, but what a cute pick! LOL)

Thanks for looking!

Color Morphing Top Coat

2011-11-19T17:49:00.001-05:00

So I just got my color morphing powders in from More Nail Polish and I'm currently obsessed with the Red to Green powder. She had the wonderful idea of frankening these into topcoats, which is what I did too. You can view her post on the color morphing colors here on her website. THANK YOU so much for making these available to other bloggers ♥

I decided to wear mine over Loreal Femme Noir and I adore the combo. I actually wore this for a full week and never got tired of it, which is saying alot! LOL.

Look at the color shift in these picks, red, gold, green....love it!

Thanks for looking!

Snowman Polish: Green Glitter

2011-11-14T06:32:00.002-05:00

I love me some Snowmen! This is another one of the new colors I picked up at Meijer this year, it's a green glitter that has a gold-ish flash to it. This is one coat over the previous green I posted. I really think the two greens compliment each other nicely.

Thanks for looking!

Snow - already??

2011-11-12T07:12:00.004-05:00

Ok, so can you belive we had our 1st snowfall the other day in Michigan?? Thankfully it didn't stick, but there was some serious looking fluffy snowflakes falling. I think it's going to be a very white season and in honor of that, I'm posting my 1st Snowman polish of the year.

I found this Meijer and I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in the selection of Snowmen polishes this year. I only picked up three. I guess the plethora of pumpkin polishes (ha!) spoiled me 8-)

Thanks for looking!

Couopla Max Factor polishes

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

So I recently picked up a few Max Factor polishes from the Dollar Tree. I don't think I've ever seen Max Factor polishes before this. This is called Wild Blue and it's a grayish blue shimmer.

This color is called Crimson Surge and I really like this one. The shimmer is beautiful in the light, I bet it'd make a great layering color.

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze ~ Let it Snow Preview

2011-11-09T06:00:00.002-05:00

Yeah, yeah, I know it's early for Christmas colors, but I just can't help it. I ordered my China Glaze Let it Snow collection and I just had to try out a couple of colors. My favorite combo so far is Blue Years Eve with Snow Globe overtop. It's so Christmasy!!!

I ordered my colors from Trans Design and everything arrived ok, except for my package of these two colors, the mini snow globe included was broken. But at least the polishes were ok!

I can't believe how much I love the color Snowglobe. It's the perfect Christmas topcoat ☺

Thanks for looking!

Confetti: Tazmanian Devil

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

I recently picked up a new Confetti color, which surprised me, because I thought I had heard that the brand was going under. At any rate, Tazmanian Devil is a fun mix of multi colored hexes and regular silver micro glitters. This is one coat over Loreal Spice.

Thanks for looking!

Maybelline Express Finish: Matte Bronze

2011-11-03T07:00:00.000-04:00

This color is an old Maybelline Express Finish called Matte Bronze. I love how fast these old mattes dry. Lately I seem to smudge my nails like every time I do them, so it was nice to have them all dry and ding fee when I was done 8-)

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish - Blackened Orange glitter

2011-10-31T07:00:00.001-04:00

I've finally come to the last color in this year's little pumpkin patch of polishes, and I've saved my favorite for last. I fracking love this polish!!!!! (little Battlestar Galactica reference there). Seeing it in the bottle, you wouldn't have any idea how cool this is on the nail. I almost didn't pick it up, so I'm so glad I did. I went out and got a backup of it. This is a blacked orange base with orange glitter and non holo silver hex glitter. What I love is that the base color makes the hex glitter look this orange-y silver color. I ♥♥♥ this color!

I hope you enjoyed this month of Halloween themed polish posts, I'm going to miss all my pumpkins! LOL.

Have a wonderful Halloween!

China Glaze Spellbound

2011-10-30T18:38:00.005-04:00

Silver and orange glitter, who'd of thought that would make such a cool polish? I love me some Spellbound! My new favorite way to wear this polish is solo, with a bit of natural nail poking through.....

...but I also love using Spellbound as a gradient, the combo of orange and silver glitter works well that way. I did have to thin this one a bit, usually China Glaze glitters seem to thicken up on me, and Spellbound was no exception.

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze It's Alive!!!

2011-10-30T07:00:00.002-04:00

Muah ha ha!! LOL. Love this name for a Halloween polish ♥ This is my favorite one out of the Haunting set and not at all like last year's green (which also rocked). Love how the hex glitter sorta sits like in the polish, it's nice and subtle.

Thanks for looking!

Pumplin Polish: Silver glitter comparison

2011-10-29T06:09:00.000-04:00

So I picked up these two glitters on different days, and in the store, I thought I was getting a dupe, but when I got it home, I realized they are actually a bit different. They are both silver / mulit glitters in a clear base, but one has denser glitter and one has larger glitter. The faces on the bottles are different too, one having white and one having black.

Here are the bottles:

and both glitters, sorry for the horribly stained nails! Scary, but hey, it's Halloween, right? ha ha. Sorry, couldn't help that comment.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish: Red Glitter

2011-10-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

This is one of last year's pumpkins, it's a red jelly blase with red micro glitter and silver hex glitter. I decided to layer this over Loreal Femme Noir and I love the blackened red base under this color.

Since this is the 2nd mani this week using Femme Noir as a base color, I figured it deserved a solo pick:

Isn't he cute?? Thanks for looking!

Claw Polish: Phantom

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love these little coffin shaped polishes? This color is called Phantom and it's a gray with blue tinted glass flecks. I love the color, but it needs a better name, like zombie flesh or something....ha ha. Phantom is a pretty decent name too, but I just don't think of bluish gray when I say phantom.

Thanks for looking!

Wet n Wild Fastdry: Tangled in My Web

2011-10-26T06:30:00.001-04:00

I SOOOOO love today's mani! The base color is Sally Hansen's Skeleton and it's topped with.....Tangled in My Web. I finally got a hold of it after a wonderful gal from the nail bord swapped with me ♥♥♥

Skeleton is an amazing color itself, it's a milky white base with opalescent glitter. It actually looks like an opal. I added one layer of TIMW overtop and perfection. I love the black and white combo and I'm so into black glitter right now. A perfect Halloween mani.

Thanks for looking!

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails: Jack-O-Lantern

2011-10-25T07:00:00.004-04:00

You just gotta love an orange jelly glitter named Jack-O-Lantern, don't you? This is one coat of JOL over Loreal Femme Noir. FN is a beautiful vampy red and it is perfect for layering. I like what the slight orange base of JOL does to it.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish: Purple Glitter

2011-10-24T07:00:00.003-04:00

This pumpkin is very similar to yesterday's blue. It has super micro sized purple glitter with bits of blue in it. It is dense enough to wear on it's own, which is how I choose to wear this one in the pick. Like my others, I got this one at Meijer. I can't believe how plentiful these are this year! Last year, I searched and searched and only found 2 different glitters.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish: Blue Glitter

2011-10-23T07:36:00.004-04:00

I have another Pumpkin polish for you today, this is a blue glitter with bits of silver and pink mixed in. This is a very micro sized glitter. I just noticed Scrangie posted a (much better!) swatch of this and she mentioned it was similar to OPI's Absolutely Alice, and I was actually going to mention that myself 8-)

Instead of wearing this by itself like Scrangie did, I layered one coat over Revlon Royal.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish: Bright Orange Glitter

2011-10-22T07:00:00.004-04:00

This is the only color I got from Rite Aid, it's a bright chunky orange glitter. The glitter doesn't really lay flat, which is why I call it chunky and it's a mix of bright orange hexes with a bit of orange bars in there too. I think it makes for an interesting polish. This is one coat over black:

Thanks for looking!

Del Sol Trick or Treat

2011-10-21T07:00:00.002-04:00

I originally saw this combo on The Nail Board and I knew I'd have to try it myself. The base color is China Glaze Cross Iron 360 with two coats of Del Sol's Trick or Treat.

Indoors:

and outside:

I think I may need to add a few more coats of the Del Sol so it turns a bit more black, but this was one fun Halloween mani to wear!!

Thanks for looking!

Fing'rs Nail Polish Kit

2011-10-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

I think I'm obsessed with black glitter polish, and I don't think it'll go away until I finally find Tangled in My Web. This set to two mini polishes were in the Halloween section at Walmart. The package said the brand is Fing'rs?

The base color is a typical red jelly polish:

...but the reason I got the set was for this black glitter topcoat:

How kick butt is that? The glitter is smaller for sure, but I really like this one. Since the bottles are so small I ended up getting two! LOL.

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze Ghoulish Glow

2011-10-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

Ghoulish Glow is also from the Haunting collection, it's a glow in the dark topcoat. The bottle glows like crazy, but you have to put a pretty thick coat on the nail to get your mani to glow. This is several coats overtop Cross Iron 360:

and this was taken right after I held my hand up to a light for a couple of secs. If I wore this all day, I don't think it would glow this good....

Thanks for looking!

Wet n Wild Fastdry: Behind Closed Doors

2011-10-15T07:00:00.001-04:00

What an awesome name for a Halloween polish, it makes me think of a horror movie. Behind Closed Doors is from the elusive On the Prowl collection. This is a (nice and cheap!) dupe to Deborah Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers, so if you can actually find it, it's a good color to grab.

Mine had a wonky brush:

This is one coat over yesterday's Trick or Treat mani:

Look at the awesome mix of red and iridescent glitter from both polishes. I love this combo:

Here is a comparison to Deborah Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers. This is one coat over black:

Thanks for looking!

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails: Trick or Treat

2011-10-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

So, earlier this year, I found an entire line of Halloween colors from Sally Hansen at the Dollar Tree. Here's a link to my previous post. This color is from that collection and is called Trick or Treat.

Trick or Treat is a black base with iridescent glitter:

This is an awesome color, but wait till you see what I layered over it tomorrow 8-)

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze Cross Iron 360

2011-10-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

Cross Iron 360 is from this year's Haunting collection, it's an orange, I guess shimmer finish. Not really what I'd call a cream. It's a bit bright for my taste, I don't know if I'd wear it solo as a mani by itself. I prefer a bit of vamp to my colors....

...so I thought I'd try layering Wet n Wild's Cougar Attack overtop. I can't tell if I love or hate this! LOL. I do like what the base color did to the orange, but the glitter just doesn't work or something, I can't make up my mind about it.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish: Orange hexes

2011-10-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

At first glance, I thought this was just another black base with orange glitter, but for some reason, I decided to swatch it on my nail at the store (shh, don't tell!) and OMG, it's actually a darkened orange base with two sizes of hex glitter. After a couple of coats, the base color does look black, but I love the different sizes of glitter. It gives it a unique look.

Check out the different orange glitters. This rocks \m/

Thanks for looking!

Wet n Wild Fastdry: Cougar Attack

2011-10-08T07:00:00.001-04:00

Cougar Attack is from the On the Prowl collection. It's an orange glitter in a sheer black base, but even though this is a popular combo right now, Cougar Attack remains unique. I don't know if it's the larger glitter size or the shade of orange it uses, but it doesn't look like a copy the others (Pumpkin Spice, anyone?).

This is one heavy coat over Wet n Wild Black Magic:

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish - Black w/silver glitter

2011-10-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

I am just so impressed with the Pumpkin polishes this year! They have so many good ones, especially compared to last year. Hopefully the Snowman polishes will be just as good. This is a black polish with non holo silver glitter and non holo silver hex glitter. What I love about this polish is that you don't loose the glitter in the black base. It doesn't look like just another black polish. I adore this color.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish - Moons

2011-10-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

This is another really unique Pumpkin polish, it's a clear base with holo silver, orange and black glitter with holo moon glitter all mixed together. On paper this sounds stunning, but it's a bitch to apply. The glitter is so sparse and the base is really thick, you really have to move around the glitter to position it. I had to DIG to get one moon on each nail and I didn't even get any of the orange or black glitter on the nail.

This is still pretty cool, I do love the moon shaped glitter, I just wish it had more of it. This is over Maybelline Purple Trend.

Here it is by itself:

Thanks for looking!

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Purple Potion

2011-10-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

I decided to take a photo of the display of Tombstone polishes and I discovered I missed a color. Here is the display I found at Meijer:

and the color I missed was Purple Potion. PP is a black base with purple glitter.

and on the nail. It's looks like it may be a dupe or similar to Wet n Wild'd Night Prowl. Maybe I'll have to do a comparison soon.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish - Silver Glitter

2011-10-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

This Pumpkin is a mixture of non holo silver glitter and non holo silver hex glitter. It's sheer enough that I'm sure it was meant to be a layering polish, but I really like it worn alone. I like the bit of natural nail peeking through. This is two coats.

Thanks for looking!

Pumpkin Polish - Blue Flakies

2011-10-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

This sucker is probably the most unique Pumpkin glitter this season. It's a purple tinted clear base with purple and blue glitter along with blue chunky flakies. The flakies are similar to the NYX Avenue polishes or the Studio M polish Covered in Diamonds that I recently swatched. I actually bought a back up of this one.

This is one coat over Wet n Wild Purple Potion:

Here is is solo:

Thanks for looking!

I found pumpkins!!

2011-09-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

Wow, this year has some cool Pumpkin polishes out! This one is stunning, it's a clear base with small square silver glitter and larger black hex glitter mixed together. This is one coat over Maybelline's Cool Couture mani:

I LOVE the black glitter! Here it is on its own:

I went to three different Meijer stores to find them. Here's what I choose:

These were some of the glitters I passed on. There was a black and orange bar glitter, silver holo bar glitter and blue glitter:

They also had a whole line of black light glitters and some neon glitters that I also passed on. The 2nd Meijer had a rainbow glitter, and a couple of hex glitters mixes. Now I have to stalk Walmart to see if there are any new Claw polishes. I love Halloween!

Thanks for looking!

Wet n Wild Fastdry: Correction Tape

2011-09-29T07:00:00.001-04:00

So, after searching my little butt off trying to find the On the Prowl colors, I finally found them. I got all the colors I wanted except for Tangled in My Web, which is the black glitter and of course the one I wanted most.

This color is called Correction Tape and it's pretty much the same as Party of Five Glitters except the glitter colors are different. I really didn't want this color, but after recently swatching POFG and loving it, I decided to get it. This is one coat over yesterday's Blackened Maroon and this is my current NOTD. I really like the combo.

Sooo, I if anyone has an extra Tangled in My Web they may be willing to trade, I have an extra blue flakie Snowman polish I could swap in return. Just leave a comment if interested.

Thanks for looking!

Maybelline Express Finish: Blackened Maroon

2011-09-28T07:09:00.002-04:00

Here's another old DT Maybelline that, yikes, I don't think I've ever worn before. It's called Blackened Maroon and I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. It's nice and vampy dark, but definitely not black. Just like I like 'em! LOL.

So can you believe October starts this weekend? I think for the entire month I'm only going to post Halloween related polishes ☺

Thanks for looking!

Maybelline Express Finish: Notorious Navy

2011-09-25T14:00:00.001-04:00

Another awesome color from the Scene on the Runway limited edition Maybellines, Notorious Navy is a nice blue with an almost foil finish . I'm not sure the name fits though, when I hear "Notorious Navy" I think dark and vampy.

This is two coats without top coat.

Thanks for looking!

Maybelline Express Finish: Purple Trend

2011-09-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

This is another of those limited edition Maybellines. This is called Purple Trend and it's a raisin-y purple with the same teal shimmer as Cool Couture. The shimmer on this one is a bit less noticeable, you can only really see it in direct sunlight.

I think you can pick up more of the shimmer in this pick:

Thanks for looking!

Wet n Wild Fastdry: Party of Five Glitters

2011-09-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

When I first saw this color, I really didn't think I'd like it that much, but to my surprise, when I added a layer over Maybelline's Be Seen in Green, I really liked it. The glitter wasn't as dense as I expected, and it allowed the base color to remain the focal point.

This is one coat over Be Seen in Green:

So, is this a dupe to the Milani glitter? I don't own that one, but they seem to me like they'd be similar to each other. I'm thinking the glitter in the Milani color would be more dense though.

Thanks for looking!

Maybelline Express Finish: Be Seen in Green

2011-09-22T07:00:00.002-04:00

This is another one of the four Maybelline Limited Edition polishes I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I just learned the collection is called Scene on the Runway, and this is Be Seen in Green. It's an aqua green base with a bit of regular green shimmer mixed in...it gives it a bit of kick. Not my fav, but still a nice color.

This is with one coat of LA Colors Treasure Island:

Thanks for looking!

Solstice Scents Review: Conjure and Spellbound Woods

2011-09-20T07:00:00.000-04:00

Here is the website description:
Conjure is a very soft and magical blend consisting of mild non-foody slightly incensey vanilla, golden amber and fresh cut cedar with a faint wisp of cauldron smoke, allspice EO, Sandalwood EO, Rose EO, Rosewood EO and clove EO and a pinch of champa flowers. The main notes are the vanilla, amber, woods and faint all spice. It is very sexy, mysterious and intriguing.

This scent has a sweeter smell than I imagined it would from the description. At first I can smell the vanilla, but after wearing it for a bit, it turns into a faintly smokey amber. Very pretty and not what I expected.

Spellbound Woods is magical blend of alluring vanilla, sandalwood, amber and cedarwood. It is amazingly soft, light and sensual...not overpowering at all. It is softly sweet from the vanilla, but not in a buttercream foody kind of way. It is a nice unisex scent and smells like a light, very mild incense without smoke notes. A soft vanilla is the strongest note, laying on a bed of very mild and delicious woods. This scent is pure magic.

This scent was much sweeter than expected as well and it was a softer scent than the others. Not as strong, but very pretty! The description of vanilla and sandalwood together is exactly what you smell.

Overall I really love these perfumes, I can't believe how long they last. Usually I'm only able smell a perfume when I 1st spray it, but I could continue to smell these all throughout the day. I'm planning on getting more samples and I know I'll be buying Cenobite in the full sized bottle. I definitely recommend Solstice Scents.

Thanks for looking!!

Studio M: Covered in Diamonds

2011-09-18T07:00:00.000-04:00

Studio M is a Meijer exclusive brand of polish and they are the same as Color Club, they have a lot of the same polishes with the same names. I had been eyeballing the Color Club version of Covered in Diamonds for a wile, but when I saw the Studio M version in the store, I decided it was about time to grab it.

Covered in Diamonds is a clear base filled with chunky flakies. The flakies in this remind me of the NYX Avenue polishes, they don't always lie flat on the nail....you have to be ok with a little texture to like this polish. This is one coat over Wet n Wild Black Magic:

Thanks for looking!

Maybelline Express Finish: Cool Couture

2011-09-16T07:18:00.006-04:00

I recently found a new display of Limited Edition Maybellines. There were two of each color in the display and I have to say there were some cool colors! I got three from the set, I believe there were 5 colors in all. This is called Cool Couture, and it's a gray cream with teal shimmer. This is so unique, I love it.

Here's a closeup of the teal shimmer, sorry for the blurry pick, but I had to try and show it off. The shimmer with the gray is just amazing.

Thanks for looking!

Solstice Scents Review: Cenobite & Pumpkin Spice Latte

2011-09-15T07:00:00.003-04:00

The 1st scent I wore was Cenobite. I loved the packaging, so decided I used the bit of moss and pumpkins in the pictures to dress them up a bit ☺ Here is the description from the website:

A deep Vanilla Bean which has a slight boozy liqueur note on application mixed with a pile of fresh vanilla beans and a sultry, smooth, rich and creamy French Vanilla. Lovely for layering. This is not a sweet frosting/sugary/buttery vanilla, it is a sophisticated, pure and deeper vanilla bean scent.

Well, all I can say is that is dead on. When you 1st open the bottle, it has a definate the hint of liqueur to it, but after you wear it for a bit, it smells like you just opened a bottle of vanilla beans. The scent lasted for many hours too, I'm thinking of ordering the full sized version.

I use vanilla beans when I make homemade Kahlua for the Holidays and this smells like I put my nose right up to the jar.

The next scent I tried is Pumpkin Spice Latte. The website describes it as:

This caffeinated concoction starts with fresh roasted pumpkin spice coffee ground and brewed as an espresso. Monin Gingerbread syrup, frothy steamed milk and fresh made gingerbread whipped cream dusted with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg complete it.

Upon 1st opening the bottle, it has a strong pumpkin smell, but when I put it on, it goes right to a roasted coffee with a hint of pumpkin in the background. My 1st impression is that this would make a great candle / home fragrance scent. After wearing it for about an hour or so, any hint of pumpkin is gone and it's just a coffee scent. I adore the smell, but as a perfume, I don't think it's for me. I think I'll try the Harvest Moon next time.

Has anyone else tried any Solstice Scents perfume? What did you think about them? I'm looking forward to trying the next two samples and I think I'll be ordering more soon.

Thanks for looking!

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers 2011

2011-09-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

I was excited to see a Halloween polish display at the store today. I was looking for the pumpkin polishes (they aren't out yet) and found these two colors from the Fantasy Makers line. You gotta love the tombstone bottles.

This is called Black Magic, it's the typical black with orange glitter, but this glitter is very micro sized. I can't get enough of this combo of colors.

The 2nd color I got is called Creepy Pumpkin, what a great name or a Halloween polish! It's an orange jelly base with orange glitter:

and this is Creepy Pumpkin overtop Black Magic and my current NOTD. The two go so great together, using a jelly color on top gives the black base an extra orange kick that I really like:

Thanks for looking!

Solstice Scents

2011-09-13T07:00:00.004-04:00

The first time I heard of Solstice Scents was from reading this post on Just Peachy. I was really interested in trying out some of the perfumes after reading her descriptions of them. So after following the link, I discovered they have an amazing website too, I love the little story and description of each different fragrance and the photos of the products are so cool...I just dig the whole atmosphere.

I placed my order Thursday night around 10pm and it arrived the following Monday. Look at the cute packaging, very autumn / harvest. I love the little moss and pumpkins on top.:

I ordered 2 Whipped Soaps in the scent Savannah. They come in a nice sealed cobalt blue jar. This was their Deal of the Day and it was $2 off the regular price. I ordered them as Christmas gifts, but I'm dying to smell them!

What I really wanted to order for myself were perfume samples, so I chose the set of three. Each order also comes with a free sample, but what I didn't realize until after I already placed my order, if they tell them it is your 1st order, they give you one more free sample.

So far on initial sniff, I'm in love with all of them! I'll just have to see how they smell when I actually wear them. I'll be posting reviews soon.

Thanks for looking!

Freshcover: Acia

2011-09-10T07:00:00.003-04:00

This is the last Freshcover color I picked up, it's called Acia. Like North Star, it's a sheer base with a glass fleck finish that really needs to be layered it see it properly. North Star was blue and Acia is the purple version (even though my camera makes it look blue). It's just a bit different, it has less glass flecks This is one coat layered over Wet n Wild Black Creme.

Thanks for looking!

Snowman purple glitter + Eleese purple

2011-09-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

Talk about a match made in Heaven! Eleese dark purple jelly with the purple glitter snowman overtop = the perfect polish combo.

I swatched this snowman earlier this summer here and I liked it over a light base, but this combo really shows it off much better.

This snowman is a purple jelly base with light purple micro sized glitter and larger square holo glitter mixed it. Make sure you enlarge the picks to see the details!!

Thanks for looking!

Myabelline Express Finish: Purple Rage

2011-09-08T07:00:00.002-04:00

Purple Rage is another one of those great old Maybellines I was lucky enough to find at the Dollar Tree 2yrs ago...I like cleaned out three stores at the time. LOL. I love this shade of purple, not too bright, not too vampy with a hint of fleck in the mix. So unique and a great shade for fall. Not sure why, it's not like it's a leafy color or Halloween-ish, but it this is the time of year I pull out colors like this.

Mega Closeup:

Thanks for looking!

Orly: Space Cadet

2011-09-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

So, I've never really done a proper swatch of Space Cadet....I just couldn't seem it catch it's duochrome-ness before....but today I think I've done it justice. I like Space Cadet, but I'm not in love with the foily finish. I'm not sure what it is about it, but the finish just seems to take something away from the color, like it's distracting, but not in a good way.

Here is a great bottle shot, if you enlarge it, you can really see the different colors:

and the swatches:

Thanks for looking!

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails: Ice Queen

2011-09-06T07:00:00.003-04:00

I bought Ice Queen about a month or so ago and it's been sitting untried ever since then. How wrong is that! LOL. So I decided to at least swatch it for now. Ice Queen is a clear base with silver micro glitter and larger pink and blue hex glitter mixed in. This is one coat over black:

Mega closeup:

Thanks for looking!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear: Pumpkin Spice

2011-09-05T07:00:00.001-04:00

Ah, my 1st Halloween polish purchase of the year....this is Sally Hansen's Pumpkin Spice. PS is a sheer black base with square orange glitter....sooo Halloween....which means I love it! LOL. I haven't really seen any other Halloween themed polishes yet, I hope more come out this year. I know China Glaze is supposed to have a few, but I haven't really seen the swatches...I'd love to get my hands on some more of those jack-o-lantern polishes.....I'll have to keep my eyes out cuz they usually go quick.

Thanks for looking!

Clarins 230 over Eleese purple

2011-09-04T07:00:00.001-04:00

I never cease to me mesmerized by Clarins 230. I always want to try it over different base colors. Today, I decided to swatch it over Eleese purple. Eleese is a brand I've never seen before and since I found this little bottle tucked away in a dusty a while back. It doesn't have a name on the bottle, it's a dark purple jelly (bordering on black) which makes it a great base color for layering. For some reason it doesn't fit my vampy-color-looks-black pet peeve.

These are the bottles:

and here it is swatched. I think they go really well together.

Thanks for looking!

Freshcover: North Sea

2011-09-03T13:38:00.002-04:00

I love my new plastic swatch sticks. Its just like a Popsicle stick swatch, but much neater looking, and it has the little hole punched in at the bottom so you can put them on a ring. I hope to have my entire collection swatched in these someday.

Todays color is from a brand called Freshcover. I had never heard of this brand before, but I found a display of them in a nail supply store, so I picked up a couple. They are quite sheer and need to be layered.

This color is called North Sea. Its a sheer light blue glass fleck color. This is two coats over Wet n Wild Black Creme.

Thanks for looking!

SpectraFlair holo frankens

2011-08-31T07:00:00.000-04:00

So I thought it would be nice to showcase all of my SpectraFlair frankens in one post. I know I've been SF crazy for a while, so I promise I'll give it a rest for a bit after this.

This is my holo topcoat franken I named Starshine:

A W E S O M E over black!

Here is my black holo named Black Cat:

This is my un-named blue franken from the other day:

and these I haven't posted yet. This is a dark purple color, bordering on blurple. It shows much lighter in the swatch then IRL. I haven't named this one yet:

and lastly my attempt at a red franken. It's a bit too pink for me, so I may play with it a bit. I like how the holo effect shows blue in this one. This is also un-named so far:

and that's all of 'em for now. I have one bottle with clear and some pigment in it waiting for me to be inspired. This was all made with only one gram of pigment, and I still have more left in the bag, probably 2 or more frankens worth. I wonder if I should be added a bit more pigment to some of them?

Thanks for looking!

Nubar Shock Nail Wheel

2011-08-29T07:00:00.001-04:00

There's this great little dusty shop that has a bunch of the old Nubar Shocks and Spells, and I've been slowly acquiring them whenever I'm on that side of town. This is my collection of Shock colors. I believe you can still find all of these colors in their current lineup with the exception of Sea Green.

Make sure to click the picks to enlarge:

Thanks for looking!