Diamond Cosmetics - Oh, Tiff! and Fauxnad

Application: Okay. Not as smooth as Serendipity was, but okay.
Coats: 2
Source: Diamond Cosmetics
Comments: I love this color against my skin. I tried out a Fauxnad using Don't Teal My Heart Away - from the same brand. I really like the two colors together. Need to work on my stamping skills, but pretty happy with this one.

This is a disease...

Zoya - Zara

Application: Smooth.
Coats: 3 - could have done 2. I just wanted to see if there was any extra "magic"
Source: Art of Beauty Inc - Zoya
Comments: Mmmm... Pretty... I love the shimmer in this polish. I think the pictures speak for themselves. I used my purple franken (see previous post) as the base for my ring finger. It's not that noticeable at three coats, but at 1 and 2 it made this color a little darker. This was easy to put on and dried quickly. I do remember a warning somewhere out there in nail land about not using certain quick dry topcoats with Zoya, so I used a normal one before my quick dry one. Shown here with just the first (plain) topcoat.



With flash - the flash brings out the blue - which is pretty too, but this picture is totally not color accurate.

The five minute "Perrie" franken

In my last post, I mentioned how I was a bit disappointed with the color of Perrie because it was more pink than I anticipated. I also said that it was easy to duplicate, and I had used a few drops of color to make something similar. Today I decided to turn that into a franken. I used one portion of Black Radiance - Passion and two portions of Sally Hansen - White tip. Here are the proud parents with their baby.


Below is a shot taken with Zoya Perrie. No, it's not the same, but definitely in the same family. With a little tweaking I could get the colors closer, but I actually don't want that. I used my new franken as the base color on my ring finger in the mani I did tonight. That post is next.

My first Zoya Purchase

I decided to take advantage of the $18 off code to try out some Zoya. I figured at $9 for all three (including shipping) I couldn't go wrong. I chose Zara, Harlow, and Perrie.

Harlow and Perrie are more pink-leaning than I expected, and I just used one drop of an existing purple I have combined with two drops of white to create a close dupe for Perrie. I do hope the other two are promising though. When will I get round to trying then out? Dunno...

Cover Girl, Orly, and Finger Paints - Orange three ways

Application: Streaky on the Covergirl and Orly, although the Orly was a bit better. Smooth on the Finger Paints, though this was just tips, so not accurate.
Coats: 3 each of the two base colors. One of the tips.
Source: Cover Girl was from a drugstore, Orly from Victoria Nail Supply, Finger Paints from Sally Beauty Supply
Comments: I couldn't decide what to wear next, so I told myself I would wear bottle number 77 from my spreadsheet. That turned out to be Cover Girl - Candy Corn. I then decided to alternate it with something similar and found the other two colors in my swatched tips.
From Left to right:
Orly - Sol Cabana, Cover Girl - Candy Corn, Orly - Sol Cabana, Cover Girl - Candy Corn
Tips on all: Finger Paints - Tangerine Tint


The two base colors, Orly - Sol Cabana and Cover Girl - Candy Corn are very similar. Finger Paints - Tangerine Tint is darker. It's a bright mani that could have gone wrong. I'm glad I added the white, though now it really makes me want to eat candy corns!

Hidden Treasure and Energy - pic heavy

Again?! - you ask? Yes. Again. I had to try Hidden Treasure over my franken - Energy - which I enjoy more each day. Not much to say. It's gorgeous. The pictures do the talking.

Bottles for Frankening

Packs of these recently showed up at a Dollar Tree near me. I looked at the ingredient list and realized that they are water-based. I actually did try out the polish, and they're really bad. I hope no one ever makes the mistake of starting their foray into the world of nail polish with these! Anyway, I emptied them out (mostly in the trash, just in case), washed them with soap and water, let them dry completely, and now have bottles for my franken creations.

Edited to add: Since the original polish in these bottles doesn't pour out easily, I inserted a drinking straw and blew into the bottles to push most of the polish out (did this in a bowl to contain splatter). Then it was pretty easy to finish up rinsing with water (still with straw as it helps to force air into the bottle)
Now if I could just find an easier way to get those stickers off... The first one was a pain. They're the perfect size though!

Abop Franken - Energy

Application: Smooth
Coats: 2
Source: Franken (see contributing members in last picture below)
Comments: After seeing the beautiful Street Wear - Grass Stain on Brooke in this post, I had to try creating something similar. My resulting color is lighter, but I liked it so much I didn't want to change it anymore. Maybe I'll make another one with some more dark green or a few drops of black sometime. Either way, I present to you "Energy". I have nothing like this in my collection, so am quite pleased!





The parents of this new polish are: FingerPaints - Tough Art to Follow, FingerPaints - Scenery Greenery, Color Club - Almost Famous, Sally Hansen - Boo Creme, Sally Hansen - Baroque Frost
I added one portion each of the colors, and just enough of the Baroque Frost to add some subtle shimmer.

Sinful - Shausha and Smoking Hot

And because I could... I just topped Shausha with Sinful - Smoking Hot.

Sinful Colors- Shausha

Application: Smooth
Coats: 2 - really needs 3, but as usual I was in too much of a rush.
Source: Walgreens
Comments: I like the name of this gorgeous duochrome though I have no idea what it means. It really needs sunlight to show you how pretty it is, but I used the flash to show the two different colors instead. Love it! This was the first Sinful polish I ever bought.

With flash

Without flash

With flash

Lavender Tips

I asked a co-worker what color I should wear tomorrow, since I was going to be changing my color tonight. She suggested lavender. So I went for tips instead of full color with Orly Cashmere Cardigan. I always free hand my tips, so they're not perfect, but good enough for me.
It came out a tad boring, so I added a stamp from a bundle monster plate, and some dots with a tiny rhinestone sticker on my thumb.

Color Club - Twiggie

Application: Somewhat streaky first coat, smooth thereafter
Coats: 2
Source: Ross
Comments: I got the idea for the accent nails on this mani from this post by Polished Girl on her blog (http://www.polishedstars.blogspot.com/) She was nice enough to tell me what polish was used for the green. Unfortunately, I don't have it, so I improvised with Twiggie. Mine's nowhere near as classy as hers, but it's a start!

Indoors

Outdoors

Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure

Application: Smooth
Coats: 1
Source: Walgreens
Comments: NOW I understand the reason for all the craziness surrounding this polish. I was off-site for work today and decided to pop into walgreens since I arrived early. I spotted this in the display and figured I'd try it out. I've got to say, this is the most I've ever paid for nail polish. $7.99 plus tax! But oh la la! I get it. I understand. It's worth it. Here it is over my mani from last night - with no topcoat.