CND Effects Have Stolen My Heart!

Some of you may have realized by now that I really, really enjoy layering polishes to experiment with them, change their attitude, their vibe. Layering can take a totally demure polish and turn it into a showstopper, it can tone down an overly loud polish, and can make magic happen.

That's why I've had my eye on CND's Colour & Effects polishes. With 50 creme shades and 15 effects polishes, you have an enormous range for combinations. The effects include subtle pearl effects, saucy shimmers, and standout sparkles that bathe your nails in glittery sparks of light!

Imagine my surprise when I came out and found CND's Oil Slick and Sapphire Sparkle in my mailbox! I was so giddy that I could barely wait to get inside to open them and try them on. I tore into that box like a mad woman, and simply held the bottles for a few minutes, watching the light play across the Sapphire Sparkle.

Oil Slick didn't really excite me too much at first. I thought it was a deep rich black. That's good, I need a good black polish. (I know, what kind of polish-obsessed chick am I?) Sapphire Sparkle totally held my interest, though. It was odd because I could see so many different colors flashing in it. Obviously there was sapphire blue (which my camera absolutely refused to capture in the bottle), but there was also a lovely violet and sometimes even a hint of green.

I know! Green? But I swear, it was there. This stuff shifts colors in the most curious way, and the entire time I had it on, I couldn't stop looking at my nails, shifting my hands one way, then another. Even my husband looked on, intrigued by the changing colors!

I apologize, y'all... I took about a billion photos of these just to try and show some of the beauty. Some sort of capture it, so many fell short. I picked the best to share... Back to the nails!

Once I started applying Oil Slick, I got a huge surprise- it's not black! It's actually a deep teal blue, so deep that once you've got two coats on it looks like a deep inky black with blue tones. It's absolutely gorgeous, and a nice switch from straight black. On its own, it's beautiful!

I applied two coats of Oil Slick, and found that it applied like an absolute dream. It's such a rich, creamy opaque color that if I were better at painting my nails, I'd have been able to do a single coat and call it done. As it is, two coats was perfect, and worth wearing on its own.

But obviously, I didn't. I didn't even get any photos of just the Oil Slick on. I was just too excited! As soon as I applied the Sapphire Sparkle, things lit up. Honestly, do you see the sparkle? It's like a blue fire, catching the light, shifting and changing as the colors fade from blue to purple to pink to green...

It's absolutely magical. I cannot say it enough. I also wore this for three days before I photo'd it, simply because I was being scatterbrained. Note the tipwear... not that it matters. There was no real chipping or flaking, and I made the mistake of not wearing a base coat with this! I was only planning to swatch it, then only planning to wear it for a day. It wore well for that!

Finally, I have to show this last picture. You can see the purple and the pink that seem to show up in lower light from odd angles. Have I mentioned yet that I'm absolutely in love with how this polish changes color depending on the angle you view it from?

I know, I know. I'm being repetitive. I can't help it! I am absolutely smitten with this color! Instead of getting put away in the box of colors I've worn, this set got put aside in the favorites section. I'll be wearing it again!

First photo courtesy of http://www.cnd.com.
CND Oil Slick and Sapphire Sparkle were provided by CND for evaluation.

Halloween Nail Art- It's Pirate Time!

Oh my goodness, y'all. I saw this video and immediately had to play with it. I absolutely love love love the look of it. Also, if you haven't subscribed to IHaveACupcake on YouTube, what are you waiting for? She does kickass tutorials, and this is a fabulous example of the videos she makes!



Well, as soon as I saw this, I knew I had to do my version of it. First I gave it a thumbs up and added it to my nail art playlist. Then I pulled out my nail art box and got to work doodling in my sketchbook. I decided that I needed a pirate cupcake as well! What do you think?

They obviously aren't as cute as IHaveACupcake's, but I'm pretty happy with them! Now, if only my nails would grow enough to do something like this on them! Grow nails, GROW!!

Another Layering Experiment- Adding Sparkle to Mme Moriarty!

What can I say, I am a layering addict. There's something fun and exciting about taking a beautiful color and giving it a different feel. It's almost like changing a look with accessories. I love it!

I'm not sure what made me reach for BPAL's Mme Moriarty, but I was really in the mood for a deep red. You don't get much better red than this if you're wanting blood red! But even though this is the ultimate blood red for me, I wanted a bit of sparkle as well.

I reached for the Revlon Glimmer Gloss. Honestly, winning kittypolishnbag's first giveaway gave me so many fun options for layering, and the glimmer glosses have quickly become some of my favorite polishes! They can take a polish from WOW to HOLY COW!!

They haven't failed me yet, and this was no exception! Instead of turning Mme Moriarty into an all out glitterbomb, Grapefruit Glimmer instead added a subtle hint of ... well, glimmer! In most angles there was just a deep, rich glossy red that absolutely worked well with my skin tone. But then I'd move and the light would catch the glimmer particles just right, and suddenly you realize that there's more to this than you thought...

It's understated, almost like having a secret. I know that sounds strange... how can you have a secret on your nails when everyone can see them! But this is a bit of a reward for those who take the time to pay a bit more attention to things. The world is filled with things that seem simple and straightforward at first glance. It's not until you take the time to slow down and actually examine them more closely that they yield their secrets, their interesting little uniquenesses.

So, consider this my reminder that we spend too much time taking the world for granted. Consider this a call to action- take a moment today to slow down and look at what's around you. You may find that something you've never noticed before is fascinating, and all you had to do was pay attention to it!

Dressing Up GOSH Black Passion: Layering

Oops, looks like Kim Kardashian's boobs sort of postponed my information about changing up GOSH's Black Passion! Who knew they were so influential? Crazy!

Ah well, back to the polishes, shall we? I decided to try one of the Revlon Glimmer Glosses over the top of Black Passion to see what it would look like. Since I'm a sparkle addict, I went for Grapefruit Glimmer.

As you can see, the pale pink turned into an almost-lavender shimmer that is absolutely beautiful! The depth on this polish is something you have to see to believe... I was speechless!

This closeup gives a hint of the depth. It's worth enlarging to see the sparkle, in my opinion. The charcoal and silver of the Black Passion peeks through the pink Grapefruit Glimmer, creating this lovely play of shimmer that is captivating!

(I'm sure you can't tell at all how wonderfully interesting I found this polish. I've been told for years that I need to work on opening up, on letting my inner feelings show through. [/sarcasm])

This last photo was taken using available light instead of flash. Can you see how fun this is? I loved this combination so much! I had no idea a sheer topcoat could be so much fun!

So tell me, what do you think of this combination? Is this a shade you would wear? Does it need something more- more interesting, more intense, more... whatever? Leave me a comment telling me what you think of it!

Why Is Kim Kardashian Naked In My Email?

Man, my life is bizarre some days. I get press releases for all sorts of nail polishes, thanks to this blog. It's a lot of fun, and I enjoy reading them even if I don't always write about them. (Seriously, if I wrote about every one I got, I'd have no time to polish my nails!)

So today, I get a press release in my email titled Kardashian Wears Nothing But Deborah Lippmann. I think to myself, "Cool, I wish I were rich enough to only wear Deborah Lippmann nail polish... but what about all those other awesome colors..."

(I'm putting a jump in this post because there is a not safe for work photo of Kim Kardashian and her naked bits. I figure if I had to get the shock, I may as well share it with all of you. If you don't want to see Kim Kardashian naked, then don't click the jump. 

I'm serious. There are nipples under the jump. Don't act surprised when you get there and see... well. Yea. Nipples.)

Dressing Up GOSH Black Passion: Decals

Whew! It's been a while since I wrote about my nails! Sorry about that, I've just been so excited by all the Halloween goodies out there! But I haven't forgotten about my nails...

Last time I wrote about my nails, I'd polished them with GOSH's Black Passion, a simply gorgeous charcoal shimmer. However, if you know me, you know I couldn't leave that alone for long. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, though, so I spent a few minutes digging through my nail art box. Sure enough, I came up with the perfect accent- a set of nail decals that were sent to me by Viva la Nails!

I wanted something simple, something with a bit of color, and something that would show up well against the dark polish. These decals definitely did the rick. They're a set of white hearts and stars that are accented by a rainbow of tiny rhinestones. They also have a variety of sizes so that you're not stuck trying to put a giant sticker on your pinkie nail or a teeny tiny sticker on your thumb. I love that!

Are these adorable or what? Seriously, I absolutely love these! The only problem I ran into is that I'm not terribly good at placing them, so they sort of... well... let's just say I had to work at getting them where I wanted them. I'm pretty sure I'll get better at that with practice, though, so don't let that stop you from getting these.

I also love that these don't all swoop in the same direction, so that you can have both hands look right. I know I'm strange, but that sort of thing can drive me BATTY!

There's one thing I'm unsure of, though. I always feel as if my decals don't look quite right. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but when I see decals on other people's nails I love them. Do you guys think there's anything I could do differently to improve this look?

Ah well... I shouldn't complain. I still think this is cute as can be, and you should know by now that I'm a total sucker for cute! This mani is fun and simple, and I wore the heck out of it!

Now, the question becomes this: what else could I do to change up Black Passion? Stay tuned, and tomorrow I'll show you a look that even surprised me!

Decals were provided by Viva la Nails for evaluation.

I hab a code. *sneeze*

Ugh, what a day. I seem to have picked up a bug along the way during the week, because I woke up in the middle of the night feeling as if I'd been overwhlmed by a group of small children screeching at the tops of their lungs while bearing sacks of Pokemon cards. Oh wait, that actually happened.

In all seriousness, though, I do seem to have a cold, so bear with me if my posts are sporadic or somewhat disjointed the next few days. I'm trying to post while all hopped up on Nyquil, and as I'm sure you can imagine, that's not the easiest thing in the world to do. (Note the lovely and accurate artist's self-portrait. Yes, I do look like Rudolf the rednosed raindeer, with an unfortunate butt-cut and glasses. It's not pretty. Be glad I didn't take pictures!)

And yet, having a cold  that requires copious amounts of cold medicine means I get to visit the pharmacy. As my poor husband has discovered, this means I can distract myself from the cold by browsing through cosmetics.

What? You mean I don't actually need a reason to wander through cosmetics? Shhh, don't tell him that, then he'll know it's just for fun! Work with me, people!

Wait, where was I? Oh yea. Cosmetics.

Once again, I was wandering through cosmetics with my sketchbook in hand, taking notes on all the cool stuff I found. Yea, the crazy lady taking notes on color and price while she mumbles to herself? That's me. Say hi next time.

And I found fun things, even though I'm still on a no-buy. So many fun new things, and here I am without a job... but I digress. Again. So what did I find?

Oh my goodness, y'all. It's Halloween, and there are so many amazing deals out there. If you love false lashes, this is the time of year to stock up. Basic lashes, fancy lashes, rhinestone-studded, glittered, feather lashes... you name it, they're out there, and often for less than $5 a pair. These are no worse than the lashes you'll pay lots more for, and they keep indefinitely. So stock up now, or wait til the day after Halloween to clean out the clearance racks!

This also a great time to nab specialty products: scar wax, latex, cosmetic glitter, stippling sponges and so on. However, the Halloween makeup kits you get are usually best left on the shelf, IMHO. They're often very cheaply made and you can end up with quite a breakout using some of those products. For a single night it's not so bad, but they aren't things you want to keep on hand for long-term usage.

I also saw several fun Halloween collections with inexpensive products! Sinful Colors has their Punk Rock collection out with a gorgeous selection of glitter polishes. I was very drawn to Daddy's Girl, a very deep, cool purple glitter polish that looks almost black until the light hits it.

Wet and Wild also has a Halloween collection out consisting of a body glitter gel, vials of cosmetic glitter in various colors, glitter eye liners and glitter polishes. Apparently Halloween is all about sparkle for Wet n Wild! Again, I went for deep purple glitter polish. Prowler is a warmer-toned and slightly brighter color than the Sinful Colors choice, and is full-on sparkle. Then there's Blue Jitters, a deep navy polish with a very subtle glitter. I'd LOVE to see that one on the nail!

Next, I found a display of Fantasy Makers, by the same company that produces Wet n Wild. This line has the traditional black and glow in the dark polishes, along with some really cute makeup kits that include a mini polish, a lipstick, and an eyeshadow duo. That's not bad for $5!

It was all I could do not to fill my basket with pretties. Wouldn't it be nice if we could trick or treat at our favorite cosmetics shops, getting goodie bags of cosmetics instead of candy! Dressing up would be so much fun.I'd probably have to go as a drag queen again... I haven't worn my purple lashes in ages!!

What would you wear for Halloween if we could trick or treat together? Leave a comment telling me what your costume would be, and where we'd go! Ahhh, Sephora, you'd be at the top of my list!!

Images from http://www.frightnightcosmetics.com/, http://wnwbeauty.com