Nicole by OPI Holiday's Glaze and China Glaze Shaken Not Stirred

Third post of the day! I'm having a productive blogging day at work lol. I found a lot of old pics of manis on my flickr, and these pics are just the last of them.


This is Nicole by OPI Holiday's Glaze. It's a pink holo, and it's gorgeous, a linear holo that shines in even low light.





In case you're wondering, I'm holding Chanel Cristalline, a really, really old Chanel color that's similar to Chanel Intermezzo, just with more of a pearly pink finish.





This is China Glaze Shaken Not Stirred. These pics were taken before I knew how to work the macro function on my camera, so I apologize for the really crap pictures. It's a beautiful pink-tinged purple glass-fleck. You really can't see anything clearly, so you'll just have to refer to other bloggers' beautiful pictures of it to really appreciate the beauty of it.



I'm holding BB Couture Diamond Dust in the pictures. It's such a pretty topper for nail polish! I rarely layer nail polish, but this is one that I still need to try out!

Comparison post! Essie Da Bush vs. Sinful Colors Seaweed

Last summer, when Essie came out with Da Bush, I bought it immediately because I love these weird camo green colors. I love OPI Who the Shrek Are You (I've worn that 3 times, 2X to see Wicked, and once for St. Patrick's day in a patchwork, and it's rare for me to wear a polish twice!), and am dying to get Finger Paints Sexy Sundress! When I saw Sinful Colors Seaweed at Walgreens, I bought it immediately, but I had a feeling I'd seen it before. I dug out Essie Da Bush and found what had caused my deja vu! I didn't get Stranger Tides, so I couldn't say if they were dupes, but had I known that Sinful had pretty much duped the whole OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection, I would have gotten all of them and not bought any of the OPI ones!


From left to right: Essie Da Bush, Sinful Colors Da Bush, Sinful Colors Adventure Island





Essie Da Bush is on the left, SC Seaweed on the right (sorry for the ugly nail wheel, I ran out and painted over other colors!):



A close up to show the differences, but they don't exist! They are complete dupes. I think the Sinful Colors collection that Seaweed was a part of was limited edition, so I don't think it is available anymore :/

Another 4th of July mani, One Year and a Day Late!

I had a niggling feeling that I had done an Independence Day patchwork mani before, and I found the pics of the one I had done last year for July 4th on my Flickr account! Here they are:

My left hand. I loved the flag I did, though it literally took almost an hour to do just one finger because I wanted the stripes to be perfectly straight. I didn't have striping tape, so I just stuck to using the Sinful Colors nail art polishes with the thin brush and went very slowly to make perfectly straight lines. It was such a pain in the butt that I resorted to doing my handy dandy signature patchwork because it was much easier to do and still was an eye-catcher! I can't remember the name of the blue, but it was the Sinful Colors bottle I was holding in my hand, and was on display for the 4th of July last year, along with the nail pens. The white was Rescue Beauty Lounge (RBL) Underwear, and the red creme was RBL Chinoise. The stars are a random cheapie n/p. I remember rushing to do this patchwork because it was late, and I had to go to sleep, so it isn't as sharp as I usually like (like the one I did for this year, in the post before this one).

My right hand. I am right-handed, so doing nail art on my right hand is a bit of a challenge sometimes, but I am getting better at writing with my left hand with so much practice! I was so tired I didn't even bother doing a patchwork, so I just resorted to a funky french, with RBL Chinoise for the red, and RBL Dead Calm for the blue.

At the county fair, I usually wander around alone because my dad is off at the horse races all day, so I'm left to myself. I try to read outside for a while, get bored and hot, and then walk around, seeking solace in the air-conditioned buildings. I really like looking at the mostly student artwork, some by adults, and this picture was one submitted by an adult! I was happily surprised to see a picture of nail polish. I think I identified the polish as China Glaze Atlantis (that's how I get people to believe I have over 1000, prob. 2000 n/p is by ID'ing what they are wearing!). It was so cool I took a picture of the picture lol.


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Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Sassy Lacquer July 4th Glitter Patchwork Mani!

I have a new indie seller I love! I recently purchased from Carrie of Sassy Lacquer from her Storenvy front here. I purchased Uncle Sam, Pegasus Jizz (and Plasma...they are the same color, just different names, but more on that later), Chameleon Charge, and Electric Eel.

This is my current mani, to commemorate the 4th of July, America's Birthday, Independence day, etc. I don't think I've ever done a patchwork mani for the 4th of July, otherwise I would have taken pics and put it up on my blog here lol. Anyways, I decided to do one because it's been a year since I've done a patchwork mani, and I had the right colors to do it! I used Orly Lunar Eclipse for the blue, Barry M Red Glitter for the red part, Wet n Wild French White Creme for the white creme, and Sassy Lacquer Uncle Sam for the blue, white and red glitter over the white creme!

Sassy Lacquer Uncle Sam (such a great name for the polish!) has blue, silver, red, and white square glitter, with smaller blue, red and white round glitter, and and blue, red and white bar glitter! It's simply brilliant! It's a pity that the white creme hides makes the white glitter pieces hard to see! I'm wearing it over Hard Candy Envy on my toes (didn't include a pedi pic, but will soon!), and all the glitter is prominent and eye catching! Anyways, here's my festive mani!

Bottle pics to show the amazing amount of glitter in the bottle!

Natural lighting, at the county fair:

My mani matched my Icee cup!

Hope you guys have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Parissparkles/Paris Sparkles Election Day Swatch and Review, and why I buy custom

I didn't get to finish posting all the swatches I had yesterday because there was a company party that took me away from the computer lol. Anyways, I'm continuing to post my swatches! 

I remember I was on the bandwagon of buying custom-made nail polish before everyone else "discovered" it, so I was able to easily get Lacquistry's colors (in fact, she was one of the first custom-made nail polish artisans I found on Etsy, and luckily managed to get some really amazing colors because they were so readily available!) and Lynnderella's items. I really like supporting people who are trying to make extra money by making beautiful nail polish and selling it, and people have such great ideas for unique nail polish, with care and customer service that huge corporations don't really have the time to do. It's so much harder for me to get the custom-made colors I want sometimes because everyone else wants it too, but I take what I can get, when I get lucky and there are restocks, and I enjoy them when I get them! It's like the joy of finding that VHTF nail polish you've been looking for and lusting after forever, and finally getting it in the mail! 

That's why I love custom made nail polish so much right now. All of my new n/p purchases are pretty much artisan polishes because what OPI and Essie and the other huge n/p companies are rolling out pretty much similar colors to what I have or what other companies have (the Chanel Peridot/Graphite dupes anyone?). Sometimes with artisan polishes, it's a hit or miss, especially if you are buying colors or lines that other people haven't really reviewed before. It's like trying to discover treasure. It's pretty fun, and in the process, I get to see other people's creativity and thought in their work.

Ok, now that the rant is over lol, I have pics and a review for a custom-made nail polish from Parissparkles/Paris Sparkles (not sure which is right? It's like the Fingerpaints/Finger Paints spelling), Election Day! 

In the bottle, it is packed with red and blue hexagonal glitter with holographic glitter as well. It was really pretty in the bottle but didn't have any reviews I could find for it, and it seemed just perfect to wear in time for the California Primary. I wish the base was more translucent because while there was a substantial amount of glitter, the opaque base hid the beautiful sparkles, so from a short distance, it just looks like a white creme. If the base was milkier, more jelly-like, the glitters be more prominent. It just didn't wow me after I put it on, but in the bottle, it has so much promise. It also needs to be shaken up because the glitter sinks to the bottom (this happened with the other two glitter polishes I bought from Parissparkles). I'll try to use some clear polish to make it milkier since I don't have suspension base, but I heard that Parissparkles is reformulating the base to make it more jelly-like (I heard from another blogger, not the creator herself, so it may just be hearsay). 


Though this didn't necessarily live up to my expectations, Parissparkles has a ton of other amazing polishes in her etsy store here. Check her when she gets back from vacation!

Nostalgic Nail Lacquer Duckie

This is going to be post 3 of 4 today, I think! So many pictures, not enough blogging!

I have an indie polish to showcase today, Nostalgic Nail Lacquer Duckie. I remember watching Pretty in Pink when I was 15 and loving that era (I'm a 90's baby) that I never got to really live through, except through John Hughes' movies! So glad I get to see it through nail polish now though, with Duckie! It's a gorgeous mint green jelly with corresponding green glitter. I think these are my favorite types of indie polishes, because they have a delicate quality to them that glitter-packed indie polishes don't have, and they are much easier to remove! They are still striking, soft, and complex all at the same time!

Duckie is one of my favorite jelly glitters that I have from custom crafted nail lacquers (trying to get out of the habit of saying indie polishes, because I know some sellers don't like being called that). The gold glitter gives the polish sparkle, but doesn't go overboard. It wasn't hard to distribute the glitter evenly, I just had to shake the bottle a little bit before applying each coat because the glitter would sink to the bottom. It had so much depth to it because the glitter pieces were suspended between each layers, making a natural jelly sandwich. It's best to let each layer dry before adding another so the glitter pieces don't get moved when you add another coat.

I'm amassing a scary amount in a very short time, so prepare for my pics to come soon! I only have one other Nostalgic Nail Lacquer polish, Rio, which I'll showcase soon!

I can't wait to get the other polishes from the Bizarre Teenage Love Triangle collection Nostalgic Nail Lacquer has - the whole collection is made up of glitters in a jelly base (not to mention amazing names! The My So-Called Life ones are calling my name!). You can get them here, but Erin (the creator) is currently sold out of everything. You can get updates from her blog about restocks and how to get her polishes! Happy hunting!

Confetti My Favorite Martian Swatch and Review

I remember when my nails were this long and pretty. I haven't really been taking good care of them since studying consumed all my time and energy during the year. The pics were taken last summer.

This is Confetti My Favorite Martian. I absolutely adore this polish! It's a slightly glass-flecky grass green that is a more yellow-leaning. It's not a glass-fleck like China Glaze Strawberry Fields, but has the same quality of shimmer. It's really hard to describe, and my pics don't do it justice. The shimmer changes to blue in some lights, giving it this slightly otherwordly cast. It's such a good polish for the price too, only $2 at CVS! 



Picture of my mani against my bunny Coco's fur! She's so cute!