Wednesday, November 30, 2011

More On Revlon Dupes Deborah Lippmann Glitter In The Air + Swatch Comparison

Holy pageviews on my previous post batman!  I went back to Harmon's today to pick up the Revlon Dupe of DL GitA to do swatch comparisons.  They are very very very similar.  Revlon is slightly more opaque, which I think was what people wanted in GitA to begin with.  The difference isn't really noticeable until the 3rd coat.

Side by side bottle comparison - identical, right?

One Coat

Two Coats

Three Coats
For those interested and on the prowl for Whimsical, I took two more pictures of the display.


I hope this was helpful!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Revlon Dupes Deborah Lippmann Glitter In The Air

I was browsing my local Harmon today (an East coast based discount beauty supply store) and discovered a new Relvon display.  It was about 5 or 6 tiers high, rather generic with a ton of polishes.  It has the renamed Facets of Fuchsia in it.  Imagine my surprise when I spotted a GitA dupe.


It is called Whimsical #430.  Keep your eyes peeled if you've been wanting GitA but not the price!

For swatch comparisons, click HERE.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

So, What's in the Sally Hansen Nail Glam Party Pack?

It's essentially a grab bag guaranteed to contain a specific amount of stuff.  It pushes out old inventory and jazzes it up with new packaging; smart move Sally Ho.  I was aware of this while looking it over at the store and took a closer look at the packaging and decided to give it a shot.  I bought this at Rite Aid for $9.99.  I figured I'd take one for the team and figure out what this has to offer.  Also, if anyone knows of any other bloggers who've done this too, please let me know as I'm curious to see if there is any different colors.


It comes in this friggin huge box.  And look, it has a handle, for convenience!

Click to Enlarge
I suggest you click to enlarge the photo directly above as it states what is promised in the grab bag.  The fine print breaks down the possibilities.  I can say that I did in fact receive 7 polishes, 1 treatment (topcoat) and 2 tools (file and clippers).

When you open the box, that is, after you figure out how to open the box, there is a giant triangle of corrugated cardboard. YES. Needed one of those.


But seriously Sally Ho, what's with the paper waste? At the bottom of the box is another box.


And this box is stuffed with paper and at the bottom of this box is finally the nail stuff.  Packaging fail.

I'll start with the Chrome Pens first.  I got 5 of them (as promised) but a duplicate pair.



Two Pink Chromes, Gold Chrome, Turquoise Chrome and Green Chrome.  The selling point on this entire thing was that the Chromes evidently are great for stamping with - otherwise I would've passed.  But knowing it came with some good stamping polishes was the deciding factor on purchasing it.

It also came with a light pink pen for French Manicures, from what I can tell the color is called "Le Bon Bon" and the "treatment" is a top coat.




The last polish it came with, bringing the total to 7 was a berry creme called "Tender Mulberry". LOL at the name, but I'll probably love it.


It also came with a nail file and a pair of standard nail clippers but my battery died so lets just pretend they're pictured here.

From what I've seen, Sally Hansen wants to abolish all of the pens and Chrome pens.  I've seen them at Five Below (for around $4 each) and I've heard they're at Big Lots for $1.50 each.  The nearest Big Lots is a half hour away and it never has anything good so I won't be venturing there again.  I believe when they first came out they were running around $9 at drug stores, from my memory at least.

This little set is probably a non-polish fanatics wet dream but I'm still pretty excited for the stamping possibilities.  In conclusion not too bad for $10 I suppose.  The amount of packaging materials is bizarre though, the box is really huge but that doesn't affect anything inside of it really.

Again, if anyone else sees a post similar to this please post it in the comments section - I'd love to know what others got!


Thursday, November 24, 2011

Turkeys Are Brown

And so are my nails.  Well I should specify that COOKED turkeys are brown, some have brown feathers, too.. but I digress.  I like brown but I'm not loving the shimmery metallic nonsense that's going on.  That boils down to personal taste though as there is nothing wrong with the formulas.




This is two coats of Klean Color Coffee Addict with two coats of OTD.  One thick coat would've sufficed but I used two.  It's pretty, but not my style.  It took a little bit longer to dry than most polishes, too.



This is two coats of OPI Warm & Fozzie which runs in the same family as Coffee Addict but has some different qualities to it.  I had a hard time trying to photograph this one o.0

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

200th Post & Giveaway Winner!

This is my 200th post!  That's all very irrelevant to the purpose of this post though.  We have a winner for my 150 Follower Giveaway!



Entry #1 was a test entry I entered myself, so it started at two.  The very last entrant walks away with the prize this time as 49 was randomly generated!  Ladies and gentlemen (I guess..?) I present to you the winner of my 150 Follower Giveaway:




The Prizes (=

Prize Includes:
-Funky Fingers Stage Dive
-Funky Fingers Monster Ballad
-Funky Fingers Sold Out Arena
-Four piece manicure set
-A book of twelve mini emery boards
-A hot pink scrubby nail brush

Congrats Reece, your prizes will be sent out soon!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air

I'm getting ready for Top 20 and I was swatching Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air and realized, you don't swatch an $18 polish you bought yourself, you wear it! So this will be my mani for a while now, I love it quite a lot.


This is one coat of CND Stickey, one coat of Orly Nail Armor, two coats of Fresh Paint Oatmeal, three coats of GitA and one coat of OTD.

Oatmeal is a beige jelly.  You can get
these at Five Below for 3 for $5
Macro Bottle Shot



Glitter in the Air is a beautiful very sheer baby blue jelly with baby blue and baby pink glitter in it.  This is honestly not only in my Top 20, but Top 5 for sure.  I adore this polish and it brings me to strange place in my mind when I associate with it Pink's Glitter in the Air.  I love the song, its quite powerful:

Have you ever hated yourself for staring at the phone?
You're whole life waiting on the ring to prove you're not alone
Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry?
Have you ever invited a stranger to come inside?

It's only half past the point of oblivion

The hourglass on the table
The walk before the run
The breath before the kiss
And the fear before the flames
Have you ever felt this way?



You called me sugar

OK, I'm good now. More pictures.




Sunday, November 20, 2011

Last Chance for 150 Follower Giveaway!

Voting Closes Tonight at 11:59pm EST.


Remember this giveaway is now international.  Those who don't have easy access to Funky Fingers or Color Clubs (these are Color Club dupes made by the same mother company) are urged to enter!


The Prizes (=

Prize Includes:
-Funky Fingers Stage Dive
-Funky Fingers Monster Ballad
-Funky Fingers Sold Out Arena
-Four piece manicure set
-A book of twelve mini emery boards
-A hot pink scrubby nail brush

I personally own all of the polishes I will be giving away, too! They're great, you can see them swatched HERE.  All prizes are brand new.

Rules:
1. Must be a follower.
2. Must provide GFC name & contact email.
3. Giveaway closes at 11:59 PM on Sunday, November 20th EST.
4. Extra entry for adding me to your sidebar; not required.
5. OPEN INTERNATIONALLY!
6.  The winner has 48 hours to reply; in the event they do not, a new winner will be chosen.

If you're interested, please click HERE to fill out the entry form.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

China Glaze Sugar High

IT'S THE PERFECT PINK! Yes, caps is needed for that statement. I'm in love. So so so IN LOVE with Sugar High.  Just look at the pictures, words will not suffice.






Three coats, two was enough - three out of habit, over CND Stickey and sealed with OTD.  Amazing formula.  Not a single complaint!

Brucci French Petal & a Jelly Sandwich

I only have two Brucci polishes, but I really like the two that I do own.  I got one a while back in a ROAK kind of thing, and I recently got this one from ImageBeauty.  French Petal was $2.35 on ImageBeauty and I believe they're also sold at Rite Aid.  For as cheap as they are, they really are impressive. French Petal is a new favorite, a yummy baby pink jelly!

Three Coats of French Petal

This is three coats of French Petal over CND Stickey sealed with a coat of OTD.  This worn like IRON!  French Petal is the perfect palette cleanser if you've been wearing lots of crazy colors.  I really enjoyed how
it looked on my hands, it's super soft and feminine and not many colors I've been wearing lately are.






I jazzed it up with some stamping with BM201 plate.  The full images on the new Bundle Monster plates are really great.  I have normal sized nails for the most part, but my thumb nails are wider than most.  The stamping covered my thumbs IF I turned the design sideways.  For this particular design, it didn't affect the direction of the image.


I also used Konad Special White for the stamping.  That was a wise investment.  Many metallics and foils work well for stamping, but I have not come across a white that works as well as Konad Special White Polish.  The only other Konad polish I would consider buying is possibly the yellow, as many yellows are far too sheer for stamping.  They run about $8 or so, so I'm really not jumping to buy any except for white.



This is actually a "jelly sandwich" except instead of glitter, I used stamping.  There are two additional coats of French Petal over the stamping plus another coat of OTD.  This, again, wore like iron!  Brucci seems to wear really well for me personally and that's always a good thing!


Thursday, November 17, 2011

On Tuesdays I Wear Glitter

I hadn't realized that I've been doing it until today.  It make sense, and I'll explain in a minute, but what I'm going to admit to is total nail blasphemy.  Tuesdays I have two double period classes;  so I'm at school from 4:30pm to 10:15pm.  My second class is Shakespeare Survey and it is literally a brain melting class.  We discuss every aspect of everything and then we watch the old Laurence Olivier movies.

So far we've read and watched Henry V, Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing (modern film), Midsummer's Night Dream (modern film) and King Lear.  Three hours every Tuesday.  So, on Tuesdays I wear glitter, because on Tuesdays I spend half my evening craftily picking the glitter off my nails.  It had been a subconscious thing, but I realized recently it has become a habit.  Glitter my nails the night before, spend the next night picking it off. "DON'T PICK AT YOUR NAILS!!" I hear you yelling at me, I just can't help it.

Soooooooo of course on Monday this week, I put on one of my new China Glaze glitters: Material Girl.


Oh! The sparkles!

LOOK AT IT.  It's a glorious glitter.  Glory aside, it was a complete pain in the ass to apply - so thick and goopy.  I had to use thinner in it almost immediately.  Material Girl is PACKED with glitter. PACKED I TELL YOU.  I added some thinner to try and help thin the base, it was a somewhat futile attempt but it did help a tiny bit.


This is 3 coats of Material Girl topped with THREE coats of OTD.  I don't have any glitter smoothing topcoat so I ended up stopping at 3 coats of OTD because I could not eliminate the gritty.  I need to get a bottle of Gelous because I really want to be able to wear this more often.  It's so pretty.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

4 Days Left for Giveaway Entries!

If you haven't entered yet, you should soon!  Remember, this giveaway is now international! Best of luck to all who enter!

The Prizes (=

Prize Includes:
-Funky Fingers Stage Dive
-Funky Fingers Monster Ballad
-Funky Fingers Sold Out Arena
-Four piece manicure set
-A book of twelve mini emery boards
-A hot pink scrubby nail brush

I personally own all of the polishes I will be giving away, too! They're great, you can see them swatched HERE.  All prizes are brand new.

Rules:
1. Must be a follower.
2. Must provide GFC name & contact email.
3. Giveaway closes at 11:59 PM on Sunday, November 20th EST.
4. Extra entry for adding me to your sidebar; not required.
5. OPEN INTERNATIONALLY!
6.  The winner has 48 hours to reply; in the event they do not, a new winner will be chosen.

If you're interested, please click HERE to fill out the entry form.

I Love Nail Mail!

I got another ImageBeauty order in the mail.  I placed this order last Wednesday and received it 11/14.  I placed an order 2 weeks ago and still haven't received it - looks like I'm going to have to make a phone call -_-  Anyways, this will be a brief post just showing off my new pretties!


From Left to Right:
Something Sweet - Love Marilyn - Material Girl - Light As Air - Sugar High - Peachy Keen - Towel Boy Toy

I'm very happy to finally have so many of the Up Up & Away Collection.  I've loved them forever and just finally got some more.  I previously owned Four Leaf Clover and Lemon Fizz.  Considering pastel cremes are my favorite, I'm surprised it took me this long.

I'm also really disappointed with how Towel Boy Toy looks in the bottle.  I thought it was a creme, and I'm pretty sure I had looked at a million swatches before purchasing.

And then as with every ImageBeauty order, I had a few dollars left to play with but not enough to get another China Glaze.  Instead of getting yet another bottle of OTD I decided on a pretty partial jelly from Brucci named French Petal.


I'm not sure why but I'm really look forward to wearing this one!  I have two more ImageBeauty gift card vouchers I'm going to sit on for a while.  That is all (=

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

China Glaze Glittering Garland & Christmas Stamping

I've said it 100 times, but I'm really not a fan of green nail polish.  I've never found it astoundingly beautiful on my hands.  That again being said, I found China Glaze Glittering Garland somewhat an exception to the rule.  I like what it brought to the table!  I wanted to add some nail art to it, too.  This was the final product:


My thumb is stained a bit, that drives me nuts when I don't realize it until a day or so later while cropping pictures after the manicure is long gone.  I apologize for the sloppiness! Allow me to walk you through how I got to the previous photo though. (=

Three coats of Glittering Garland.
I started with 3 coats of Glittering Garland.  Two would've been enough if I had been more consistent in my application.

"Natural" Light

Flash
Depending on the lighting, they look like two totally different polishes!  I guess that goes with most polishes, though.  It sparkles more with flash but looks much darker.  The flash pictures are more true-to-life.

I used fauxnad plate M03 and Konad Special White for the snowflake design seen below.


It was pretty just like this but I can't ever leave well enough alone, so of course I added more and more.


As you can see, I didn't stamp the snowflakes with a green polish.  I used some cheapo dollar store brand called b.s.n in Ivy, its a bright green jelly, over top of the snowflakes.  I then used BM plates 205 and 225 for the Christmas designs.  After they tried I put one coat of Confetti Tiara over and then sealed with OTD.

Let me just tell you that the b.s.n. polishes are the most vile scented things I've encountered in my entire life.  It doesn't smell like nail polish, or that chemical Klean Color smell.  It smells like hell. OK, so it does smell chemically, but it's beyond explanation.. sooo I guess that ends my post. LOL.