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I'm in LOVE with Lush Lacquer

MOAR INDIE GLITTER POLISH!! Today, let's all marvel at Camo Girl, the awesome creation of Karin and Lexi--mom & daughter frankener duo extraordinaire who recently opened Lush Lacquer on Etsy! (Yea I made that link all crazy long--that's cuz I want you to click on it!!)...

This beauty is, in Lush Lacquer's words, "a moss green-goldish shimmery base with a mixture of glitter in different colors.... we use gold, copper and brown medium hex glitter." And those glitters are super blingy--in fact, I had to trash a bunch of pics because the bling was freaking my camera out! I layered 1 coat of Camo Queen over 2 coats of Essie Sew Psyched and I think the combo together really DOES look like camoflauge (well, maybe drag queen camoflauge)....SO in love with this polish!

Formula-wise, Camo Queen was an absolute dream to work with. The suspension base holds the glitter nicely and each dip of brush into bottle yields the perfect amount of each glitter color. Honestly, people, it doesn't get any better than this!

Definitely go check out Lush Lacquer on Etsy! And be quick about it! These ladies have some gems in their shop and they're NOT gonna last long (not when people like me place multiple orders LOL--and yes that means I will be featuring more of these gorgeous polishes in the near future!)...

Glitter Me Up Friday by way of Seuss!!

I'm very excited to bring you this post today for 2 reasonsL 1) It's the first in what will be a weekly Friday glitter celebration started by the awesome Shaina of SG Nails! And 2) your Friday dose of glitter this time around is provided by none other than the amazing Seuss by Whimsical Ideas by Pam!!

Is this polish seriously not the coolest thing ever?? I absolutely love it! The color combo is dead-on-- The minute I saw it, I was immediately taken back to my childhood, thumbing through my copy of The Cat in the Hat with its iconic red, blue and white cover...Dr. Seuss is one of those cherished things so many of us share from our younger days and I am thrilled to be able to pass the wonder, magic and sillyness of those books onto my own sons...and I'm even more thrilled to have such an awesome polish that pays tribute to it all!

Seuss is a gorgeous bright blue jelly with  large and itty bitty silver hexes &smaller red hexes in it. The big silver hexes turn white when they are encapsulated by the jelly of the polish--I absolutely love the effect! My pictures are 3 coats of Seuss (no undies needed for this one) with Seche Vite on top. The polish was easy enough to work with--a nice, medium consistency (not too runny, not too thick--"just right" like Baby Bear's bed was to Goldilocks lol). Some of the silver glitters were a tad stubborn & had minds of their own,  but I haven't met a big hex glitter yet that didn't have a little bit of a 'tude. 

This is the second of 6 awesome polishes I got from Pam. Click here to see the amaze-ballsness that is Hatched! That means I still got 4 more pretties for you to drool over!

By the way, be sure to go and "like" Pam's Facebook page to learn more about her pretties and be sure to check out the other awesome posts for Glitter Me Up Friday!!

Fellow Glitter Freaks:

Alanna from Pretty Purple Polish

Kaz from Parisian Blue Sky

Rebecca from Polished Peripherals

Shaina from SG Nails

swatch and review NYC City Duet 2 in 1 Lip Colors

Ok, I have been WAY heavy on the nail polish posts, lately (not that that's a BAD thing)... What do ya say we switch gears and do a good ol fashioned swatcn & review of some lipsticks?

Here we have NYC's new for 2012 City Duet 2 in 1 Lip Colors:

(click photos to enlarge)

They come in (I think) 10 different duos and retail for around $2.99. I found mine at Walmart and of course I went for the 2 blue-based duos: The Hot Pinks and The Cherry Blossoms.

This is the dark side of the Hot Pinks duo. (All pics are taken outside in natural but sadly sunless light--what I get for living in New England in the spring)

Here we have the light side of the Hot Pinks.

and here's the split side. It's cool looking, isn't it?

Unfortunately, my camera wants to make this shade look much warmer than it is. Swatches are from top to bottom: dark side alone, light side alone and both sides blended together. The dark side of this duo is an awesome blue-based fuchsia that  has the most amazing blue flash to it (LOVE!!!!). The lighter side has less of a blue flash but it is still subtly there; it's a fun icy baby pink. Both sides are shimmers and both sides are nicely pigmented. When blended together, what you get basically is a slightly toned-down version of the dark shade. The lighter shade seems to neutralize some of the blue flash when layered on top of the darker shade. 

This is the dark side of The Cherry Blossoms duo

The lighter side.

As split as Eve's personalities!

(top to bottom: dark shade alone, light shade alone, dark and light shades together)

Again, my camera is warming this shade up more than it is in real life, but not as badly as it did with the Hot Pinks shade. The dark shade here is a gorgeous blue based red with a satin finish. The lighter shade is a peachy pink shimmer. When layered together, they create a subdued shimmery red (yea, it's not rocket science we're dealing with, here). This one is also very nicely pigmented.

Over all, I like these lip duos. Nice pigmented formula & they feel nice and moisturizing. One thing that will definitely slap you in the face when you first get them, though, is the scent. They have that STRONG super sweet perfumy scent & flavor that all lipsticks of the 80s used to have (seriously, smelling them nearly gave me flashbacks). I can STILL smell the scent on my arm even though I wiped the swatches off long ago. I, personally am not bothered all that much by the smell (I'm not really 'sensitive' to scents in that way), though I definitely notice it. I will say though that the scent seems to fade and 10 minutes later, I don't really smell it anymore (but, like I said, I'm not very sensitive to scents--I can see how these lipsticks would drive someone who IS sensitive crazy). 

Anyway, all smellyness aside, the colors themselves are beautiful, but I admit, I would rather have them each as individual lipsticks. This is just me, though. I am ridiculously OCD a smidge anal retentive and it drives me crazy when one of the shades ends up all over the other half of the lipstick. I feel like I waste half the product just trying to clean both sides so that the color is true to what it was when I first got it. Also, when the shades are blended together, I'm kind of like "meh"...it really doesn't do much for me. I prefer wearing the shades on their own and I prefer the darker halfs of both shades--which means I'm going to end up with one skinny lipstick that I'm only going to get half as much use out of. One thing I am happy to say is it is easy to apply each shade on its own without getting it mixed up with the other shade--even straight from the tube--because the lipstick is a perfect, slightly flattened bullet shape with each shade perfectly split. 

So anyway, in the end I guess what I'm saying is I would love to see NYC come out with individual lipsticks of the darker half of both of these colors. If they do that, then I wouldn't buy these duos again. But I WOULD buy the duos again if I couldn't find those shades individually because I am that much in love with the color, formula and pigmentation. So the 'duoness' of the lipsticks really doesn't do much for me in the end. (that makes sense, right?) :::eye twitches:::

Do you have any of these lip duos? Are you a fan of combination cosmetics like this?

layering experiment

(yep 2 whole posts in the same day--crazy, I know!)

I'm seeing so many polish swatches popping up in the blogosphere that involve a white  base be-speckled with colorful glitter. Since I haven't been able to get my hands on any of these polishes as of yet, I thought I would 'shop my stash' to see if I could create a similar look by layering some polishes I already have. This is what I came up with:

This mani consists of 2 coats of Revlon Powder Puff (a matte, white shade with a pink sheen), 1 coat of LA Girl Glitter Addict in "Celebrate" (red, blue and silver glitters in multiple sizes) and then another thin coat of Powder Puff fo' da sammich effect. I absolutely love the speckled effect the layering created. It totally looks like Funfetti cake or something. I also love how the silver glitter in  Celebrate looks white under the layer of Powder Puff. I will definitely be trying more layering experiments like this! 

Are you a fan of layering/sandwiching polishes?

Five Favorite blues in honor of Autism Awareness Month

image source

As many of you know, April is Autism Awareness month. This is a cause very near and dear to my heart, especially because I have family members who have and live with Autism. Blue is the official color for Autism Awareness, so I thought in honor of the month, I would do a post about my 5 favorite blue nail polishes.

From left to right: Revlon Royal; Orly Stone Cold; Color Club Otherworldly; Barielle Falling Star; China Glaze Dorothy Who.

sun

shade

Here's why I love 'em:

Revlon Royal: It's a beautiful, easy to find cobalt blue jelly! And an affordable one at that! What's not to love?!

Orly Stone Cold (from the Mineral FX collection): This is basically blue polish perfection. The formula is impeccable and the finish is to die for! It's almost like a micro flakie or something (the particles are too large to be  called "glass fleck" in my mind)--the shimmer is insane and it has this amazing depth to it. Definitely one of my top 10 "most awesomest polishes ever'!

Color Club Otherworldly (from the Starry Temptress collection): I am in love with all the Starry Temptress polishes. Otherworldly has that odd but awesome sparkle-less glitter that gives the polish this unique speckled look that I am absolutely obsessed with. I also love the nearly neon shade!

Barielle Falling Star: Gorgeous, slightly dusty blue with orangy-copper glitter. I mean, COME ON! Of COURSE this has to be in my top 5 blues. LOVE!!!

China Glaze Dorothy Who: There's a good reason this polish is a classic--it's frickin AMAZE-BALLS! It's also one of the first China Glazes I ever bought & the one that got me hooked on the brand. 

So are you a fan of blue polish? What's your top 5?

Indie polish bonanza--Whimsical Ideas by Pam--Hatched!!

To continue on with my current indie polish obsession, I have a very special NOTD today. When I first emailed Pam with my "wish list" (I didn't dare think of it as an order at the time), I almost died when she actually seny me back an invoice!! Had I actually obtained some beautiful, feverishly coveted handmixed polish WITHOUT having to stalk a website or spend months on a waiting list?? You bet I did!

This is the first of 6 beauties I am thrilled to show off--HATCHED!

(click photos to enlarge--but only if you promise to ignore gnarly cutes & stray glitters)

ADORABLE BOTTLE!

I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!

This is 2 coats of Hatched over 2 coats of Revlon Sunshine Sparkle with the usual Seche Vite top coat. GAWD I love the pastel yellow awesomeness--and those gorgeous pink & violet hexes in amongst the multi-colored micro-glitter. It's like Easter exploded all over your nails! 

Hatched was a breeze to work with. I didn't have to fight with any of the glitter. It's suspended really well in the bottle, so no digging necessary and it spread out on the nail all nice and even-like. For REAL, Pam, you got the polish-making SKILLS!!

If you want to get your hands on your own bottle, hop on over to Pam's Facebook page. Her polishes are $10 a pop and she does all her orders by email. You send her a message stating what you want and if she has it in stock, she'll send you an invoice. Give her some time, though. It took about 3 days for her to send an invoice back after I sent my initial message. After I paid (via Paypal), the polishes were in my mailbox in less than a week! With everybody scrambling to get some of her polish, I'm amazed at how fast her turn-around time was!

Stay tuned for more Whimsical Ideas swatches! 

So have you been bitten by the indie polish bug yet?

lookin a hot mess for Sub Ball...

Hello, blogosphere! I'm actually feeling well enough to post. As I mentioned in my last post, I've had Strep throat AND a double ear infection on top of that (oh yea, even when I get sick, I gotta go ALL OUT). They gave me antibiotics and I guess they're actually working because I can actually sit up without feeling dizzy AND I actually ate something solid today! I'm actually even well enough to abuse the word "actually!" Yay medical intervention!

Anyway,  I got a chance to dress up all fancy a few weeks back.. It was for The 112th annual Submarine Birthday Ball, which is what it sounds like it is--a birthday ball the Navy throws in honor of submarines & all who work on them. It's a  big shin-dig and a killer excuse for us wives to get all doozied up in decadent, floor-length, sparkly things like we're going to the Oscars, which rules because, honestly, how many times does a poor schmuck nobody like me get a chance to rock an evening gown & feel like a princess? )...

(click to enlarge)

Since I was going with an all-black ensemble (of course), I got black glitter heels and I wanted my nails to match my heels, so I got the idea to paint my nails black (with my trusty Wet n Wild Black Creme) & dip the still-wet nails in a big ol vat of black glitter. They look more like asphalt than glitter nails in the pictures, but they looked pretty dang nifty in person. For a girl who loves all things black, sparkly and nail-related, it was like the convergence of all awesomeness on my fingertips.

These nails were fun to wear but they DID have their draw backs. They're definitely a "one night special occasion" type thing only. I learned the hard way that if you try to put a top coat ON TOP of the glitter layer to smooth it out, it just ends up looking like a wet, bubbly mess--like tar or something. So basically you gotta wear the glitter top-coat free, which means your nails are all gritty and rough & catch on stuff. Amazingly, the glitter itself did not shed at all, though and it wasn't all that hard to remove afterward. I didn't even have to foil the nails--I just held a remover-soaked ball on top of each nail for a minute and I was able to easily & gently scrape the glitter off in one or 2 pieces with an orange stick.

Of course, after I did my nails, I remembered I had purchased satin gloves to wear for the night (duh)--but I ended up having to take the gloves off later anyway cuz, dude, satin is slippery & trying to, like, hold stuff is a pain with them on. 

Anway, because I can't think of a clever segway (hell I can't even spell the WORD) I'm going to start abruptly talking about  my outfit and makeup. Usually, wives get bridesmaids dresses and whatnot to wear to the ball but I wanted to keep it a tad more goth/victorian than that, so I came up with this:

beaded Corset + tight lacy shirt + layered skirts = my outfit. And Yep, that's Mr. Cheap there by my side all decked out & showing off his naval awesomeness.

I didn't get too many good shots of my makeup that night, but here's a crappy, awkward pic to give you an idea. You really can't tell what's going on with my eyes but I attempted a subtle double-winged liner...

Face:

Almay Clear Complexion Foundation, powder & concealer

ELF Studio Blush in Pink Passion

Wet N Wild Bronnzer in Acapulco Glow

Eyes:

NYX HD Eye base

Sugarpill chromalust in Tiara

Sugarpill chromalust in Stella

Wet N Wild Color-Icon shadow single in Panther

Jordana Fabuliner in black

Milani Liquif'eye liner in black

rhinestone falsies I got at Sally's (I think they are by Ardell)

Maybelline the Falsies Flared mascara

brows:

ELF brow kit in medium

ELF clear brow gel

lips:

Wet N Wild Megalast lipstick

Revlon Colorburst Lip gloss in Decadent

So anyway, yay for special occasions and yay for Amoxicillan for helping me feel well enough to write a big rambly post about getting dressed up). Do you like getting dressed up? Are you a fan of anti-biotics? ;)

just a quick post to say I'm still alive....sorta...

yep, I still got breath in me. Doing battle with some gnarly streptococci at the moment. This is the 3rd time in the last 6 months that I have had Strep throat--wtf?!

Anyway, so I've been all fevery and shaky and unable to eat anything other than soup and tea and water--sounds like a blast, right?

As crappy as its been, I DID receive some awesome nail mail the other day that helped to lift my spirits a bit....check it:

Yep, MORE gorgeous glitter indie polish--Whimsical Ideas by Pam. Oh I can't wait to get better and play with these babies! In the meantime, go check out Pam's Facebook page to learn more about her gorgeous polishes and how you can get some of your own!

Will hopefully be back in action soon. Still have tons of pics in my "to post' folder to share!

Also, don't forget there's only 8 days left until my Giveaway ends!!

STILL trippin on awesome indie polishes--check out Aqua Daisy Beauty School Dropout

So, yea I've been spending pretty much all my polish money (damn RIGHT it actually gets written into my budget) on Etsy lately. I can't get enough of these awesome glitter frankens!! Here is another gem I snatched up--the ADORABLE Beauty School Dropout (don't you just LOVE the name?!) by Aqua Daisy. This is 2 coats of BSD over 2 coats of Essie Raise Awareness (Seche Vite on top, of course).

Beauty School Dropout is made up of black, white and silver holo hexes suspended in a pink jelly base with just a touch of shimmer. Without topcoat, it dries semi-matte--but if you prefer a shinier finish, a good top coat will gloss it up right quick. The polish has a nice, thin consistency--which I like because it makes it easier to put the glitter where you want it without wrestling with big globs of polish. The glitter is suspended amazingly well and you don't have to dig around in the bottle to get it out. LOVE!! 

You can get one of these beauties on Aqua Daisy's Etsy shop. And be sure to favorite the shop because the seller seems to add new polish shades almost every day and, so far, I am LOVING the look of every new polish that pops up. I will definitely be making another purchase from this shop very soon (once the ol polish budget gets replenished!)...

FOTD from last week--featuring even MORE Glamour Doll Eye & Sugarpill!

Hello, hello! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. The weather has been way too gorgeous lately so we've been spending redonk amounts of time outside. I HAVE been taking pics, though--my "to post" folder is overflowing, so time to stop being a bad blogger and sit down long enough write something and hit "publish." 

Here's a look I wore last week. Basically my objective here was to match my NEW new hair (yes, I changed it AGAIN--took my trusty Manic Panic Atomic Turquoise and put it all over my head--including over the existing Hot Hot Pink streaks--which created these awesome royal purple chunks and, of course, deepened the other Atomic Turquoise parts even more)...oh yea, and I also wanted to play some more with my gorgeous Glamour Doll Eye and Sugarpill loose shadows, of course

Products used:

*Face*

The usual Almay Clear Complexion Foundation, powder and concealor

ELF Studio Blush in Pink Passion

Wet N Wild Bronzzer Acapulco Glow

*Eyes*

Glamour Doll Eyes Fabulous

Glamour Doll Eyes Aqua Foil

Glamour Doll Eyes Bruised

Sugarpill Hysteric

Jordana Fabuliner in black

Wet N Wild ColorIcon single shadow in Panther

Maybelline Falsies Flared mascara

Wet N Wild Acapulco Glow under brows as highlight

*Brows*

ELF brow kit in Medium

ELF clear brow setting gel

*Lips*

One of the new Wet N Wild Megalast lippies (I LOVE the lipstick but HATE that Wet N Wild only prints the name on the outer seal that gets removed)

Revlon Colorburst lip gloss in Decadent (from the LE holiday 2011 collection)

NOTD = Kunimitsu's Coda!

Yep, I gots another awesome indie polish to show you today. This is Coda and I found it on Etsy in a shop called Kunimitsu Nail Potions. Coda is opaque white and gray hexes, smaller red hexes and even smaller holo glitters in a black jelly base. Basically, it's instant galaxy nails in a bottle. Observe:

This is 2 coats of Coda over 1 coat of L.A. Girl's Obsidian (from their metal collection)--and 1 coat of Seche Vite on top (of course) As usual, the pics don't do justice to this gorgeous polish whatsoever. In real life, the different sized glitters lend an awesome sense of depth to the nail. I also love the way the white & gray glitters pop against the black. I was a bit worried they might get swallowed up by the base but they showed through beautifully.

I'm not going to lie, you gotta use a few tricks to apply Coda. The big glitter likes to hang out at the bottom of the bottle, so while I was applying my basecoats, I turned Coda upside down and let it sit there til I was ready for it--that way the glitters were closer to the top of the bottle. I also made sure to swirl and 'scoop' the brush around inside the bottle to get the glitters out. I also gave the bottle a shake every few nails to keep the glitter from sinking back down too far. The good thing about Coda is the polish base levels itself beautifully (and it is super glossy, too) so you can concentrate on getting good glitter placement without worrying about having to smooth out the polish itself.

All in all, I think Coda is worth the little bit of effort it takes to apply it. I absolutely love the effect on the nail and the super smooth, glossy finish of the polish is to die for (I could have skipped the Seche Vite altogether if I had the time to wait for my manis to dry normally)...If you want a bottle, keep your eye on Kunimitsu on Etsy. According to the seller's latest note (posted on 4/11), she's working on new batches as we speak!

Added 2 new categories to my "Links" page

I decided to compile lists of all the awesome indie makeup and nail polish shops I've purchased from and loved as of late. Expect these lists to GROW a lot! :)

Go ahead and check 'em out:
Links Page

yesterday's FOTD featuring Sugarpill and Glamour Doll Eyes

I was in a pink mood yesterday. Plus I really wanted to play with my Sugarpill and Glamour Doll Eye loose shadows. So this is what happened:

PRODUCTS:

*face*

Almay Clear Complexion foundation, powder and concealor

Garnier Anti-dark circle eye roller

Physicians Formula Happy Booster blush

Wet N Wild Bronzzer in Acapulco Glow

*eyes*

NYX HD eyeshadow base

Glamour Doll Eyes Pinky Swear 

Sugarpill Decora

Sugarpill Stella

Overall Beauty Champagne (under brow)

Jordana Fabuliner in black

Maybelline the Falsies Flared Mascara in black

Brows:

New York Color Brow kit

Lips:

New York Color Lipstain in Forever Fuchsia

Milani Haute Flash LE gloss in Flashy

Revlon Colorburst lip gloss (LE Holiday 2011) in Decadent 

I am in so much love with indie-made makeup lately. I have a whole wish list of different companies I want to try out--and so much of it is so really reasonably priced, too! 

Oh yea, dig the new hair? You can't really tell in these pics but it is in streaks--Manic Panic Hot Hot Pink and Atomic Turquoise over bleached-to-death blond. Yay for color!

Sneeze Breeze!!

...it's the name of a nail polish--an awesome handmixed indie nail polish by Kae of The Hungry Asian...and I'm so excited to have it in (and on) my hot little hands!

Behold the epicness:

:::shakes fist at rogue fuzzies and glitters:::

neon blue and black matte glitters in a clear base. frickin LOVE! For these swatches, I did 2 coats of Sneeze Breeze (that's right--no undies here--this is a full-coverage glitter fo sho) and then 2 coats of Seche Vite. It's true that Sneeze Breeze is one thirsty, gritty glitter. I should have busted out the Gelous for this one but I was too lazy to get off my butt and dig it out the Melmer. The 2 coats of SV did smooth it out well enough, though, so I called it good and started snappin me some pics. GAWD I can't get over my love for this polish. It looks like tiny aquarium rocks or blue granite or something...::::stops and drools over nails some more:::::: huh..wha? oh yea...

If you want a bottle of Sneeze Breeze for your very own, you can head on over to Kae's Etsy store--which is where I got mine. TONS of beautiful polishes in that store. I've been drooling (yes more drool) over Strawberry, Twenty Ten and Sea Creature, too...oh if only my budget were as vast as my love of polish...

I'm quite smitten with non-sparkly glitters and I'm downright obsessed with black glitter--are you a fan?