Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Birthday, Illamasqua!

Two of my favorite British things turned a little older this week.... Yesterday it was Gavin, today it's Illamasqua!

Illamasqua turns one year old today. How cool is that?

I've been kind of in love with Illamasqua ever since I laid eyes on this:


Illamasqua Rampage

Happy birthday, Illamasqua! I hope there's many more years of dark, edgy and awesome nail polish and makeup to come!




Thursday, October 29, 2009

More Nail Designs from Fing'rs EDGE!

Halloween is this weekend! I know that a lot of people are using fake nails as part of their costumes, and I recently received some new styles of press-on artificial nails from Fing'rs to try. Some of these styles would be great for Halloween (or just every day)!

Here's the 31388 style and the 31194 style.

31388 is a sheer nude base with a hot pink french tip and a black diagonal grid design. They're inspired by International Recording Artist Mylin, who I'll admit I've never heard of, but she looks kinda like Jackie Warner. I think these would go great with an 80's/90's Prom Queen costume!

The 31194 style is a sheer nude base with white french tip and black polka dots. Very retro-50's looking, maybe these would go well with a retro glamour girl costume. I really wanted to wear these. Boo. They're so cute.

As much as I was looking forward to putting these on to review, I couldn't. To be completely honest, these are too short for me to even wear. As I was sizing the tips and getting ready to apply, I realized that these nails only covered about 3/4 of my nail bed. I would literally have to cut off my fingertips to wear these... so, sadly, I can't show pictures of these on my nails. When they say short, THEY MEAN IT! Hahahaha. I have long nail beds with fairly 'skinny' nails so many press-on nails don't fit me exactly right. I think these are better suited for someone with naturally shorter nail beds and wider nails.

However, one of the styles just barely fit my fingers!

Style 31269. A sheer nude base with deep blue metallic tips. Really cool looking. The tip is kinda glowy and reflective. Would make a good polish color. I wonder if I have a polish that matches this color? Hmm.

Here's how they look on me:


Pretend that you don't see my middle and pinkie nails sticking up over the top of the fakes. I had to file my nails down as far as they would go without bleeding to wear these, but my pinkie and middle were still just a bit too long.

I think they look pretty good, if not a little too wide for my nail beds. I can handle a french manicure when the tip is a fun color, and this blue is really fun. You can see in the flash picture that it's very reflective. It always has a section where the light is hitting the tip and there's a lighter stripe. It moves as you move your hands. Really fascinating!

I used the included glue to apply these, but they also come with stick-on tabs. The tabs are great if you only want to wear these for the night, as they remove *very* easily with warm water. The glue will give you a week of wear if you wanted to keep them on for a while.

For some tips on application, check out my older press-on nail reviews! But really, the two things you really need to know are:

Don't use too much glue. Just a little on the center of your natural nail. Otherwise the glue will get EVERYWHERE and you'll glue your hands to things unintentionally. Not like I'd know... *cough cough*

Press down hard! If you release the nail before the glue is dry or your pressure is uneven, this can cause air bubbles. Air bubbles not only look obvious with a sheer base nail like this, but they can collect moisture and condensation which can lead to some nasty things growing under your nail.

Other than that, these are fun and easy to use. A quick way to change your nails for an event. Best suited for people with shorter nail beds. I myself prefer a much longer nail, but I've heard from many people when I do my fake nail reviews that a short length is preferred for them. So, your mileage may vary!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Lip balm?

Okay, this is totally random but I figured you guys would have some great suggestions.

Recommend me a lip balm!

I normally like My Lip Stuff but I'm wanting something thicker or more substantial.

So, what's your favorite lip balm everyone?

EDIT: Holy crap, you guys ROCK!! I knew I could count on you for awesome recommendations. I now have a lip balm wishlist about a mile long! If you still have suggestions, keep them coming, I'm going lip balm shopping! :D Thank you so much. Group hug. Awwwwe.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Hard Candy Just Nails

You may have recently heard me complaining about having to go to Wal-Mart to find these and leaving empty handed every time. While the hunt for these polishes was not the least bit pleasant, the reward was worth the ordeal.

I didn't pick up all the shades- I left the cremes behind. I'm more interested in glitter, but there was a yellow creme and a light teal creme that looked pretty good, I may go back and get them at some point.

Here's what I got from Hard Candy Just Nails:

Breakup. A clear-ish base with very large particle opalescent hexagonal glitter. I say that the base is clear-ish because it's speckled with little shimmer particles, smaller than glitter but large enough to make the base a little milky and sparkly. On me, mostly the orange-yellow-red side of the opal glitter shows. In the bottle it has a blue-purple-green side that I just adore and wish it showed more on me. This might be best as a topcoat because it's not the most opaque glitter in the world.


Date Night. Light medium warm pink glitter. Remember when I was posting about the new Zoya UltraGlitters and I said that all the pink glitters on the market were the same color? They're this color. This is pretty, don't get me wrong, but I wish the shade was more unique.



Envy. Vampy blue-green shimmer. This is the color I used for my Depression Awareness ribbon manicure- you didn't forget that it's still Depression Awareness Month, did you? This is a gorgeous color, blackened and still shimmery. It does look mostly black indoors and in sunlight the shimmer catches the light and it's just really pretty to look at. I wish it was a little less blue-based and a touch more yellow-toned. Lots of blue-greens out there lately.


Hot Pants. Ick. I mean.... Murky mauve-pink sheer base with large holo hex glitter and small holo round glitter. This is a really weak version of China Glaze Carnival Lights or Nubar Sugar or something. I do like the look of sheer colored base with hexagonal holo glitter, I just wish the base color wasn't so muddy and ew. It looks terrible on me. It should have been pinker or brighter, this base shade looks kind of lifeless to me. Works great as a topcoat, though.


Lava. HOTNESS. Bright red shimmer base with gold-orange iridescent metallic flecks. It's not really glitter... More like tiny little broken flakes. I love this. A lot. I've been a red-hater for a long time (to me it's boring, uninspired and overdone) and within the past year my taste has changed so much. Now I'm craving bright reds like this. But enough about me... Lava has a very iridescent, almost duochrome look to it. It flickers and changes in the light, like it's filled with little glowing embers or tiny flames. Lots of red, orange and gold flakes.


Mr. Right. Vampy dark blue shimmer. Whoa mama. Blue velvet. Gorgeous. Probably not the least bit unique, but still... very pretty to look at, isn't it? Like Envy, it does look mostly black with a hint of blue shimmer indoors, but outside when the sun catches it just right... perfection.



Mr. Wrong. If this is wrong, I don't wanna be right. It's a steel blue, grey, silver, gold and taupe metal flake fusion. This is probably the coolest polish in the whole line. Gahhh, it's so awesome!! It's a bunch of tiny little flecks of metallic shimmer- not really glitter like in Date Night or Sweet P. The particles are very thin and light. The overall effect is mesmerizing.



Sweet P. Cause everyone needs a mother.... Er, sorry. I hate that song. But I do like it when polish names make me think of music. Aaaaaaaanyway, Sweet P is a pea-soup glitter. Okay, it's not as murky-swampy as pea soup, it's more like fresh peas. Bright springy green glitter. A little muted. Kind of a retro-70's avocado refrigerator look. Or like the paint on one of those carnival rides. I'm digging it. Green, glitter, what's not to love? It's not as bright or complex as NYX Lime Sparkle, though.


The formula on these was okay. A little thick on a few, sort of watery on the others. Kinda sheer. Took a long time to dry. Not horrible, but it's not going to win any awards. I did three coats in all these pictures and they needed all three. Maybe Lava and Mr. Right could get away with two. Also worth noting: these are mini sized. .35 fluid ounces. Standard polish size is .5 fluid ounces. These also come with little plastic rings that fall off easily, do not try to pick up the bottle by the rings. The old Hard Candy jelly rings stayed on much better.

I have a few thoughts on these. One, I'm happy to see Hard Candy back with interesting colors, but I'm also a little disappointed that they're not as cool as they used to be. There's still hope- these colors aren't boring, but they're not the edgy, unique shades Hard Candy was known for.

Second, I'm kinda irked that I have to go to Wal-Mart to get these. It's kind of like shopping at the circus. Stuff hanging off of shelves in narrow, dirty, dimly lit aisles, nail polish covering the floor and all displays within a ten foot radius, dozens of unsupervised children running around screaming... (Sorry, Wal-Mart lovers, I just can't do it!) I also feel that being sold only at Wal-Mart cheapens the already devalued image of Hard Candy. The Hard Candy line really went downhill in the last few years, offering chalky makeup in standard shades and four boring polish colors. I'd love to see this brand restored to its former self. I still have my first two Hard Candy lipsticks- Piglet and Skitzo- even though they are totally rancid and unwearable, as a relic of good days gone by.

Third, what's up with the price?? $5.00 for a mini? From Wal-Mart? You've got to be kidding me. I guess I'm just so used to paying $4.48 for OPI and $3.20 for China Glaze, which are full-sized AND pro/salon brands (not drugstore brands). I have nothing against drugstore polish at all, but I do think $5.00 for .35fl oz of Wal-Mart polish is a little steep. Hard Candy, you're no longer a high-end brand, you don't need the prestige price tag.

But... overall... I really like most of the colors I got, I would actually wear almost all of them and I'm happy that they're at least available to everyone who wants them. The makeup line looked kinda cool, if I see some good reviews I might actually venture back to that place to try some of it.

Monday, October 26, 2009

A few more of the China Glaze glitters

I don't have them all yet, but here are a few more of the new China Glaze 'Specialty Collection' glitters... I love them.


Atlantis. This is kind of a medium blue-green/teal/aqua jelly base with lots of holographic glitter. I included a picture of it blurred to show just how sparkly the glitter in this is. For some reason, the blurrier the picture, the better the glitter sparkle shows! Anyway, Atlantis is my favorite so far. I love it. I've worn it the most out of all of them and I'm still not tired of it!

Cleopatra. This is a warmer/orangier gold than Medallion. It's a lot of tiny particles of golden and holographic glitter.


Medallion. A softer, more yellowy-beige gold than Cleopatra, lots of holographic glitter.



Nova. Super-sparkly silver holographic glitter. This one has some larger and smaller particles blended together. The effect is spectacular in the sunlight, even my blurred picture doesn't show just how sparkly it really is.


Like the others, these have a smooth formula that applies easily and dries in a reasonable amount of time. Not fast, but not as slow as the other China Glaze ones I've had trouble with before. These pictures are three coats. The glitter in these is definitely dense enough to be worn alone, but will also work as a glitter topcoat. These are a little gritty and really do need a coat of Seche Vite or other thick topcoat to make them smooth and glossy. Two coats of topcoat would be even nicer, but not necessary.

Still in love with all these new China Glaze glitters.... Will post more when I pick up the rest of them!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

A quick word on emails

I don't know how to start this post, so I'll just get right to the point: I'm having trouble keeping up with my inbox!

If you've emailed me and haven't gotten a response, I'm really sorry. It's been really difficult to stay on top of my emails lately. I have emails over a month old that are still waiting to be answered. I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating, remembering things and flat out finding time to sit and write coherent sentences. Please be patient with me, I am working through my messages.

Also, I am working on a Frequently Asked Questions post to cover some of the more popular questions I receive, such as "Are your nails real?" (Yes, they are.) "What topcoat/basecoat do you use?" "How do you keep from painting on your cuticles?" "Where can I buy ___ brand of polish?" and so on... That should really help me answer questions more quickly.

There's so much I want to say and do and post and it's really a lot for one person to keep up with every day- but I try my best!

I really, really appreciate all your emails. I love that you like me enough to visit my blog and want to talk to me! Cause I like you guys too. Thank you. <3

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Need Zoya swatches?

I've noticed a lot of searches for Zoya swatches on here for the past few hours... They must be having a special!
Link
Need some swatches to help you decide? Prepare for SPAM!! (And don't forget to look here as well!)


Anastasia

Aria

Bebe


Evangeline

Eve

Ginger

Harmonie

Irene

Juno

Kaufda

Kierra


Marry J

Milla


Odilia

Paris


Sienna

Soho Punch


Sparkle Gloss Topcoat

Tama

Tosca

Vegas Freeze

Venus

*whew*