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Butter London Aston

Posted on 8 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Since I am gearing up for some marathon interview sessions, I dug through my melmers for nail polish colors that are office/interview appropriate. I do have a lot of neutral colors, but my brain has been high on color after all the recent challenge manicures I have done so I just couldn’t settle on a color. Then I saw my bottle of Butter London Aston which was still on my list to try so I decided to give this baby a whirl.

Butter London Aston has a thinner formula than I was expecting, but it was a little strange because the first coat gave me a pretty neutral tint, but I still had VNL. After I applied a second thick coat, I had full coverage. This polish dries a little dull looking and looks gritty because of the shimmer even though it is fairly smooth. Even after I applied a coat of Seche Vite, I don’t think it looks as shiny as it should.In all honesty, I am not that impressed with this color so what do I do to liven up a mani? I stamp it up!

I used this swirly pattern from Mash plate Mash 49. I obviously would not wear stamped up nails to an interview but Aston just looked so plain. I actually had high hopes for this polish and it obviously did not live up to my expectations.

What do you think of this polish? What type of polish would you wear to an interview? Thanks for stopping by and I will tall to you later.

LCN Mystique Burlesque Collection Holiday 2012

Posted on 6 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Guess what? I have another pretty holiday collection to share with you today. The LCN Mystique Burlesque Collection is perfect for the holidays with its richly saturated jewel tones that will definitely demand attention. The formula on all of these polishes was pretty consistent: smooth and opaque. The first coat appears deceivingly thin, but the second coat completely covers the nail. I find jewel toned polishes incredibly difficult to photograph so bear with me. I’ll stop blabbing now and show you the swatches.

Green Emerald

Ruby Red

Violet Amethyst

Blue Sapphire

This is such a beautiful and cohesive festive collection. These colors are not for the faint of heart: they are deep, saturated and outrageously season appropriate. Every time I look at Blue Sapphire, I thinking of doing one of those pretty snowflake manicures. As as I said in my previous review of the LCN Urban Expressions Collection, the price for these polishes is my only reservation because they are $7.50 for an 8ml bottle. You can also purchase these 4 polishes in one of their trend boxes for $29.90 at the LCN Boutique.

What do you think of this collection? Do you have a favorite color? Thanks for stopping by and talk to you later!

**These products were provided for review purposes. All opinions are my own.**

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 29: Art Inspired Nails

Posted on 3 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Today was kind of a fun day for me when it came to deciding what to do for this challenge. I am a huge lover of art in general–painting, sculpture, architecture. I have a soft spot for the Renaissance which explains why Florence is probably my favorite city in the world–it’s like a love song to the Renaissance. One of my favorite paintings resides at the Uffizi Galleries: La Nascita di Venere by Botticelli.

I wish I had more time today because I might have attempted to recreate parts of this painting…that would have been awesome. Anyway, I was searching some of my favorite painters such as Picasso, Magritte, Dali, Renoir and Da Vinci for some inspiration. I don’t know how I ended up settling on Jackson Pollock, but I’m glad I did because I do like how my nails turned out.

Read below to see how I created this manicure.

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Let me tell you that I love this polish because it’s just such an interesting color. It’s obviously not a pure white which I really like. I had heard so many positive things about this polish so I am glad that it did not disappoint. I had to apply 3 thin coats, but I think it would be ok with 2 thickish coats.

I really wanted to try the traditional splatter technique with a straw or brush, but I just didn’t have enough time this morning so I went ahead and used the splatter design from Konad plate M70.

I used all the different colors and stamped them all over each other on my nails. Doesn’t this remind you of a Jackson Pollock painting?

Well, there are only 2 more challenges left so thanks for sticking with us through this loooooonnnnngggg process. 🙂 Don’t forget to check out Nicole’s nails over at Polish Me, Please!

Aaaaaaannnnndddd…don’t forget to check out my blog sale. I am going to add more polishes tonight so take advantage of the 20% off sale. 🙂 Talk to you later!

Nubar Absolute

Posted on 2 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I was looking through my melmers today trying to decide what other polishes to put up on my blog sale (yes, go check out my blog sale now!), and I ran across Nubar Absolute. Believe it or not, I didn’t even realize I had this lovely polish and was shocked that I hadn’t worn it before. I had to remedy that immediately. This is the manicure I did today:

Read below to see what I used for this look.

Nubar Absolute comes from the fantastic Prisms Collection from 2010 which predates my polish obsession. Thankfully, I was able to find some of these locally so I snatched them up. I absolutely love this polish, but I do have some beef with it: it is super SUPER sheer. I had to apply 4 coats because I still had VNL at 3 coats. I found that because the polish is so sheer and the holo pigment particles are so fine, this polish dries very quickly. Absolute looks pretty but not that spectacular in regular light, but boy did it blow me away once I went out and it caught the sunlight…it really shines. Despite having to apply 4 coats, I still love how beautiful and delicate this polish is.

I’ve been all about stamping lately so I pulled out Konad plate M3 and used two designs for the stars. I don’t know about you, but stamping is not as easy as some people make it out to be. It takes time to get the hang of it so I don’t now why I’ve been seeing people say that stamping is “cheating.” I’m a stamper at heart because it was the first “nail art” I ever did when I first became obsessed with nail polish. I really like how this turned out–especially because the stamp didn’t cover up much of the lovely base polish.

What do you think about Nubar Absolute? Are you a Nubar fan? Let me know what you think!

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 28: Pattern Inspired Nails

Posted on 1 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I can see the finish line…I can see it! After today’s challenge, there are only 3 more challenges left, and then we are done! I am pretty sure this is my first AND last challenge…not that I didn’t enjoy it for the most part but it was just to much and way too long. While I wondered that the heck to do for the pattern inspiration, I saw this really cute paisley pattern dress in my closet so I decided to just use my paisley stamp and not worry too much about it.

Want to know how I created this mani? Read below….

I freaking love Jungle Queen. It’s one of my favorite–if not my favorite–polish from the On Safari collection. This is two smooth coats.

And this is Jungle Queen with one coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire which I am now calling Jungle Queen On Crack.

I used Essie Nothing Else Metals to stamp the paisley design from Bundle Monster plate BM 315.

I’m not feeling too talky today…I am not feeling well at all. I had some pizza and it somehow started a lot of bad stuff in my stomach. lol Let’s leave it at that. hahaha Let me know what you think of this mani and don’t forget to check out Nicole’s IKAT nails over at Polish Me, Please!

Color Club Holiday Splendor

Posted on 30 November, 2012 by Cynthia

For someone who is always saying that holidays suck, I seem to be strangely festive this year. I got my Christmas tree yesterday, and I’ve been wanting to always polish my nails with Christmas colors. Today is not an exception since I decided to wear my favorite green glitter: Color Club Holiday Splendor. Holiday Splendor is the stand out gem from Color Club’s Beyond The Mistletoe Holiday Collection 2011 which was just a complete holo glitterbomb win. Do you want to see what my mani looked like? Well, here we go…

Read below to see what I used for this manicure.

I don’t know about you, but I think this polish is magical. Because of the tinted base, you only need two coats for full opacity. It does dry a little gritty so a nice top coat is a must if you want a smooth finish.

This is just a bonus unfocused and blurry picture that really shows off the amazing holo in this polish. Seriously, how can you not love this??

Since I’ve been on a stamping kick lately, I used Cheeky plate CH 52 and Konad’s special white polish for this design. It almost pained me to cover up Holiday Splendor, but I really love the holo goodness peeking out randomly.

So what do you think about Color Club Holiday Splendor? Did you get any polishes from this collection? Thanks for stopping by and talk to you tomorrow!

Seche Irresistible

Posted on 28 November, 2012 by Cynthia

As most of you may already know, Seche came out with its first line of nail polishes a few months ago, and I was super curious about it but hadn’t come across the line at any of my usual places…until yesterday. I came upon a big display full of Seche polishes so of course I had to pick one up. My first instinct was to grab one of each, but as a reformed polish hoarder, I backed away from the display and only chose one polish to try out: Seche Irresistible. I felt proud of myself! I also think that it’s a good idea since this will be my first experience with this line of polishes but not my first experience with the brand since I am a pretty loyal Seche Vite customer.

Let’s look at my final mani:

This is my finished manicure. Do you want to recreate it? Read below to see what I used.

Seche Irresistible is a vibrant and shiny red-berry colored polish. It is a one-coater if you are careful, but I applied 2 thin coats for these swatches. I had heard that some people experienced shrinkage with these polishes when they used Seche Vite, but I am happy to report that I did not. This polish dries incredibly shiny and glossy which I love! I usually don’t have a lot to say about polish brushes, but I tend to prefer wider brushes (my favorite being OPI’s Pro-wide brush) so I wanted to mention that the Seche brush is pretty thin.

Despite the thin brush, I didn’t feel that it made that much of a difference in application for me. The brush does not fan out as nicely so I did have to be more careful with it because it would be very easy to flood my cuticles with polish–which I HATE.

I used an image from Bundle Monster plate BM 319 for this design along with Konad’s special white polish. The red and white is definitely getting me in the mood for December and Christmas!

What do you think about Seche Irresistible? Have you spotted these polishes already? Since I have you here, I might as well pimp out my blog sale again. I added A LOT of new polishes today so check it out. Please help me give these babies a new home–I just know they won’t get any use here anymore.

Thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow where I will find a million way to mess up tomorrow’s movie inspired challenge.

Birthday Polish: Make Up For Ever Black Tango Red Black Nail Polish

Posted on 27 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I don’t think that it’s a secret that I love Make Up For Ever so when I heard that they were putting out their first trio of nail polishes, I nearly had a coronary…and then I heard that they wouldn’t be available in the US. Wah wah. 🙁 Enter my other French polish fairy godmother, Julie, from Un Brin de Julie. When she sent me this polish for my birthday, I squealed with delight.The Black Tango collection for Fall 2012 showcased four new aqua creams in a limited edition palette, three matching nail polishes and a lipstick. The three nail polishes are Red Black, Blue Black and Green Black and I have Red Black to share with you today. Are you ready for awesomeness?

This polish is somewhat thin so I decided to apply three very thin coats which is what you see here. In low light, this polish will look pretty much black but get this baby out in some direct light and it smoulders. Sorry about the lighting…either my monitor is going nuts or my skin looks super pink here. Lobster-type hands?

Anyway, this polish is amazing and the only sad part is that it is so tiny. It’s only .25oz which just makes it that much more precious. So thank you again, Julie, for the amazing polish. She also sent me two other really cool minis including a Mavala which is a brand I’ve never tried, but I’ll share that with you another time.

Birthday Polish: Bourjois Vert Chlorophylle

Posted on 26 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I don’t know what it is about me and green polishes, but I have found myself really attracted to them. When I saw some swatches of Bourjois Vert Chlorophylle online, I instantly wanted it. I was beyond psyched when I got this beauty for my birthday from one of my lovely French polish enablers: Sabrina from Polish In Paris. She has single-handedly created a Kiko monster out of me with all the lovely polishes she has sent me that are not available in the US. It’s a double edged sword, I tell you! Bourjois is yet another brand that is not easy to come by here in the States so this makes this polish EXTRA special.

This is 2 buttery coats of Vert Chlorophylle WITHOUT a top coat. Look how amazingly shiny this polish is. I guess their Ultra Shine line really is that shiny.

I was feeling a little dot-happy so this happened:

I don’t know about you, but dotting tools have recently opened up the crazy world of nail art for me. I’ve had dotting tools for a while but I guess I never really used them except for, uhm…dots. Let me tell you, they are not just for dots! These dots remind me of a conversation I had with my friend who is a jr. high school teacher because she was telling me how she has to have like 30 sets of eyes going all over the place to keep her kids in line. We started doing crazy googly eyes with our fingers and we laughed because we got to talking about what horrible kids we were in jr. high. Because of this, she can anticipate everything those kids are even thinking of throwing at her.

So what do you think about this polish? Do you like using dotting tools? Thanks again to Sabrina for sending me such a lovely polish!

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 24: Nautical Inspired Nails

Posted on 23 November, 2012 by Cynthia

The closer we get to finishing this challenge, the less “inspired” I feel. After yesterday’s gluttonfest, I haven’t eaten anything besides toast today. I guess I am still kind of full. I still have a nice piece of tri tip so I will probably have some of that for dinner. I’ll just have to come up with some interesting side dishes later. So maybe I’m still feeling blah from eating so much junk and that’s why I lagged on doing my nails for today’s nautical inspired nails challenge. Let’s get to it, shall we?

I started out with China Glaze White Out as my base.

I don’t usually paint my nails all white, so it’s really nice to have a nice and opaque white polish to use. This is three very thin coats.

For the nautical part I used a combination of stripping tape and stamping.

I used cheeky plate CH 49 for the wheel design with Adventure Red-y as the stamping polish. It is not a perfect stamping polish so I had to go over the design with a dotting tool and brush when needed which accounts for some of the mess-ups. Still, I don’t think I did too poorly with it.

How is everything with you after your thanksgiving feasting? Did you end up going shopping? I’m happy to report that I have avoided the stores so far and probably will for the rest of the week. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest nail disaster. Our next challenge will be inspired by a celebrity…oh boy! Don’t for get to check out Nicole’s nautical nails over at Polish Me, Please! Talk to you soon.