Thursday, September 30, 2010

LA Girl Rock Star - Supernova (with video)

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 1 (layered over the dark gray from my previous post)
TOPCOAT?: Yes
SOURCE: Swap with PenelopePitstopKYD (All Things Nails!) when we met downtown last week.
COMMENTS: I gasped when I saw this! Now I know not everyone is into glitter, let alone bar glitter, but this holo/prism micro bar glitter is fascinating. It makes my nails look like I have shards of glass in my polish. The bars are actually more prismatic indoors, and unfortunately there wasn't enough sunshine outdoors to show it in full sun. PHOTOS DON'T DO THIS JUSTICE - Please take a look at the video to see how amazing this is indoors!









The Video:

ABOP Franken - Unnamed gray and Kleancolor - Concrete Grey

APPLICATION: Smooth on both
COATS: 2 of each
TOPCOAT?: No
SOURCE: Franken: black, white and blue polishes from my stash, Kleancolor: beauty supply in downtown Los Angeles
COMMENTS: I frankened this dark gray polish about 3 weeks ago. However, I obviously forgot I had the color when I purchased the Kleancolor one last week! The Kleancolor polish is on my ring finger only. I love this shade. Nice and dark without being black or too vampy. However, I plan to top this with an amazing polish. I'll show that in my next post. (And yes, I use both spellings of gray/grey)




Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Jordana - Rich Green, Boy oh Boy, and Silky Purple

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 1 of each as base, 1 of each  for overlay
TOPCOAT?: Pics of base only: No; At end of mani: Yes.
SOURCE: Beauty supply store in downtown Los Angeles
COMMENTS: When I saw these colors in the store, I had to have all three. Likewise, I felt I couldn't  wear just one as my eyes prefer the combination of the three. I couldn't get Boy oh Boy to show accurate color, so for reference I took a photo at the end of two other bottles with similar colors.


One coat of each, no topcoat:


Left hand with overlay, white striper, and topped with China Glaze - Fairy Dust

Right hand - just freehanded tips (bc left hand took too long!). Also topped with Fairy Dust:


And from left to right, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - The Real Teal, Jordana - Boy Oh Boy, China Glaze - Custom Kicks. These have similar base colors but Boy Oh Boy is a creme.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Purple Gala

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: Yes
SOURCE: Rite Aid
COMMENTS: Wowzer! I didn't think this funky metallic could look so hot on my nails! I'm really enjoying the color shift and shine. Hold on, let me admire my nails again... this also speaks to my weakness for purple.




Friday, September 24, 2010

Kleancolor - Brown with Kleancolor - Tahiti Sunset (and vid)

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 1 of each - yaay!
TOPCOAT?: No
SOURCE: Local beauty supply store
COMMENTS: Kleancolor - Brown is anything but brown. I would have named it Terracotta instead. It's rich color at one coat. I topped it with an "ugly" glitter polish from the same brand called Tahiti Sunset. This has red glitter, gold sparkles, and prismatic micro bar glitter that turned the base color into a party. I added a video as well.


Two coats swatched on a tip. Not pretty.


And the video...

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Essie - Sew Psyched

APPLICATION: Smooth
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: Yes
SOURCE: Local beauty supply store
COMMENTS: I'm actually wearing a polish that's currently in style! I wasn't planning to get this but saw it and thought "why not?". Then, yesterday I had planned to meet up with PenelopePitstopKYD downtown and check out some stores she knew of but I'd never been to. (It was awesome, I had my own tour guide - and she was so helpful and patient while I oohed and aah-ed over colors!) Anyway, she was already wearing this color, so I decided to wear it as well. Let me tell you, she rocked this polish - it matched her purse and complemented her whole outfit. I couldn't stop staring at her nails during lunch! Enough talk, here it is on me:




Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Wet N Wild Nail Zone - Weird-O

APPLICATION: Smooth

COATS: 2

TOPCOAT?: Yes

SOURCE: My old stash

COMMENTS: This color caught my eye as I was returning the bottle from yesterday's manicure to its drawer. It looks coral when it's wet, but dries to a color closer to orange. There was still some visible nail line with 2 coats, so I disguised it by using Savvy Fairy Twinkle on the tips.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Wet N Wild Nail Zone - Hyper

APPLICATION: Streaky
COATS: 3 due to the streakiness
TOPCOAT?: Yes
SOURCE: My old stash
COMMENTS: I had my hubby pick my next manicure from all my swatch tips. He chose this yellow, so here it is! It's a bright yellow that was annoying to apply but turned out okay. The hubby liked it on me too, so it was worth the hassle. (The layer you see near the cuticles is due to the fact that I mistakenly didn't fully cover the yellow with my topcoat - oops!)

Friday, September 17, 2010

Glitter Franken - 3 Greens

APPLICATION: Somewhat difficult
COATS: 2
TOPCOAT?: Yes
SOURCE: Velvet glitter sample pack from Joann, Wet n Wild polish for frankening.
COMMENTS: I used three different greens from the pack of velvet glitter to make this. The velvet glitters aren't as sparkly as regular glitter, but still have some bling. Although I lightly pressed on the polish when it was almost dry, it still required 3 (thick) coats of topcoat to smooth out. Worth it though!