Thursday, October 31, 2013

NOTD: Enchanted Polish March 2013

Hello lovelies!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post!! The last couple weeks have been crazy busy and I have barely had time to paint my nails! I took some time over the last couple days to edit some photos though so I have a few posts I am working on and should have them up soon!

First up I have another Enchanted Polish to show you! March 2013 is one of the limited edition monthly polishes and was the very first EP that I felt I had to have. I am a March baby and it also is green which is my favorite color! March is a forest green with that holo that EP is so well known for! You won't find many swatches of this online so I figured I would finally wear it and post mine! :)







Shown is 2 coats of March 2013 over Duri Rejuvacote and topped with HK Girl. Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture this in the sun, but the holo is still so visible! I love how this looks in my swatches but I have to admit I didn't really like the color on me. I really wanted to love it but the longer I wore it the more I knew it just wasn't for me. So sadly I re homed it soon after. I'm glad that someone else will get to enjoy this elusive polish!

xo

Brittany Raquel

Friday, October 18, 2013

Nails For Breast Cancer Awareness: piCture pOlish Electric Dream

Hello lovelies!

I hope your week flew by as fast as mine did! Hard to believe it's Friday already!

I've been wearing this polish for a few days now and figured it was time to show you! I wanted to wear another pink to show my support for BCA and I immediately reached for this! piCture pOlish Electric Dream is described as:

Shapes that shift shine so bright!
Electric Dream was created with Michaela aka Nail Polish Anon
Inspiration: A very interesting coral & song....
Electric Dream is a neon coral with gold sparks and holo (scattered) that has NO glitter!

Now this is my kind of pink!!






Shown is 2 coats of Electric Dream over Duri Rejuvacote and topped with HKG. There was a tiny bit of VNL so 3 coats would have been perfect. This dried so quick! I finished my second hand and went to add top coat to my first and it was already dry! It dries to a somewhat matte finish too due to the neon pigment, although I don't know that I would call this a neon pink. It is bright though and I absolutely love it! The golden shimmer is so much more visible in person and really seals the deal on this for me!

xo

Brittany Raquel

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

NOTD: Deborah Lippmann Dark Side of The Moon

Hello lovelies!

Happy Tuesday! Which for me means a new episode of Sons of Anarchy! Which is actually what prompted me to wear the polish I am showing you today! I always notice Gemma's nails and wonder what color she is wearing, they are always a nice dark vampy shade but not black. I think I found a good contender here!

Today's post is featuring Deborah Lippmann Dark Side of The Moon which is described as:

Absolutely Aubergine...Master the art of darkness with this intense eggplant shade that creates a stunning contrast on all skin tones.

Okay so some of you may know that I have never been a fan of dark vampy shades. I only wanted this one because I am a huge Pink Floyd fan. It is literally the only vampy creme that I have in my collection. But I absolutely LOVE it! I can't believe I didn't give these shades a chance before now! Just look!!






Shown is 3 coats of Dark Side of The Moon over Duri Rejuvacote and topped with HKG. This was opaque in 2 coats and could have been in 1 but I wanted it to be dark. I did 3 for good measure since my first coat was pretty thin. Application was amazing! I barely had to clean up it was so flawless! DL sure makes an amazing creme! This was also super shiny on it's own but I always use HKG so I don't dent my polish.

I actually kept this on my nails until yesterday! (I did them last Tuesday for SoA) I only had minor tip wear and had a chip or two but nothing major! I loved how this looked and really surprised myself! The last photo is the best representation or this color. Not brown at all. I will definitely be wearing this again!

What are your favorite vampy polishes? Have you ever tried a color that you didn't think you would like but ended up loving it?

xo

Brittany Raquel

Monday, October 14, 2013

First Haul of Fall!

Hello lovelies!

I have missed you! I had a really busy week and didn't have a chance to post! I didn't even have a chance to paint my nails again until today! I have been making some "lifestyle" changes and focusing on working out and eating healthy so that has taken away from my time here. I am not giving up nail polish though but I may only be able to post a couple times a week while I work on my time management and get a good schedule down.

So I know that I mentioned in my last haul post that I didn't intend on having another one for a while. Well I lied. I ended up with some extra nail polish funds and have added quite a few more to my stash! I even have another haul pile already started since I took these pics last week. . .so there will be another haul post very soon! In the meantime check these out!

First look! 

 This pic makes me so happy! Although I didn't like the "Forces"polishes from Emily de Molly, I have fallen in love with the glitters! All of these except for the last one were purchased from Llarowe (on a couple different occasions mind you) and the last one I bought from a blog sale. I have had several of these on my wishlist for so long! Here is Serenity, Stuck on Blue, Ego Friendly, Bo Peep, Soon and Hole in The Sky.

 A few more Aussies! I got these Femme Fatale polishes from Harlow & Co I love the new boxes they come in! Here is Snap Vine, Spring Fling and Lime Crime.
 
 When the I Love Nail Polish Ultra Chromes were revealed I knew I had to have these 3. I waited though and bought these from 3 different lovely ladies in one of my Facebook groups. Here is Birefringence, Cyngus Loop and Mutagen.
 
I am quickly becoming obsessed with holos from Colors by Llarowe! I got all of these from a couple sales in one of my Facebook groups. Here is Beat It, Smooth Criminal and  Good Fortune.

 Love seeing more of these added to my collection! I scored the first 2 during the Enchanted Polish restock and the last one I got from a sale in a Facebook group. Here is Queen of The Castle, August 2013 and Wish Me Good Luck.
 
Some awesome randoms! The first one came from Harlow & Co and the other 3 were from Facebook sales. Here is Picture Polish Lagoon, Lilypad Lacquer Vixens Wear Violet, Indigo Bananas Alcatraz and Smitten Polish Enchanted Forest. 

 A few more randoms! I got Lush Lacquer Freckles from Etsy. Takko Bright Young Things and Essie In The Cab-ana both came from Facebook sales.

I also picked this up from Walmart. I have heard great things and while I love my Julep Nail Therapy my nails do break easily and I have some peeling so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try something new! 

Final group shot!
 
But wait I forgot some!! Bonus!
 Cherry Culture just had a great sale so I picked up the colors I had wanted from this year's Sunsational collection (I still need Sun of a Peach, it sold out) and a new texture. Here is Bump In The Night, That's Shore Bright, Neon & On & On, Shell-O, Too Yacht To Handle and Highlight of My Summer
 
Do you already have any of these polishes? Which are your favorites? Any new lemmings?
 
xo
 
Brittany Raquel
 



Wednesday, October 9, 2013

NOTD: Naild' It Sir Round Sound

Hello lovelies!

I hope you are having a great week so far! My week is going by so slow, I can't believe it is only Wednesday!

I found one more polish in my collection that has big circle glitter. At least I'm pretty sure it is the only other one! I'm sure you are ready to see me focus on something else! Trust me, I am too! ;)

Today's post is featuring Naild' It Sir Round Sound which is described as:

White crelly base with an explosion of round glitters and some filler glitters in there to add extra noise.

Just a heads up, this was a quick and dirty mani! I had no time to try to make it perfect so please excuse the dried mess around my cuticles and the stray glitters!





Shown is 3 coats of  Sir Round Sound over Duri Rejuvacote (more on this soon!) and topped with 2 coats of HK Girl. This applied better than I expected, especially with all the glitter. It was kind of sheer so I used 3 coats and the glitter did cause it to be pretty rough hence the 2 coats of top coat. Even with that I could still feel some of the glitter. I made no attempt to fish out the big round circles but managed to come up with a few and placed them accordingly.

I'm on the fence with this one. I love the combination of glitters (especially the squares!) but feel like it's almost too much. Which is such a weird thing for me to say! But I wore it for a couple days and just didn't fall in love with it. It's fun though and might be good for the right occasion! It definitely felt very 80s!

xo

Brittany Raquel

Monday, October 7, 2013

NOTD: Different Dimension Money

Hello lovelies!

I have another polish to show you that has big circle glitters. After my experience with Cosmic and Oceanic Forces from Emily de Molly I decided I should check out the rest of the polishes in my stash that have these big glitters to see if I should keep them or not.

Today's post is featuring Different Dimension Money from the Pink Floyd inspired Echoes Collection. Money is described as:

A white crème/jelly base with neon green, neon yellow, gold, black and blue glitters in a variety of shapes and sizes mixed throughout.






 
Shown is 2 coats of Money, no base or top coat. First of all I absolutely love this combination of colors! Also I love this crelly base, it applied wonderfully! I was surprised that it was so opaque in just 2 coats! I still had to fish a bit for the big circle glitters but it wasn't difficult to get them out thanks to there being so many in the polish! I did have some trouble placing once they were on the nail, they wanted to clump together on my ring finger.
 
I wore this mani for a few days and it really grew on me. I did find that the bigger glitters stuck up a bit even with top coat. I couldn't help but pick at them a little bit. Long story short I think I would prefer this without the big circles. I just might have to contact Missi about a custom! ;)
 
I hope you all have had a great Monday!
 
xo
 
Brittany Raquel

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Nails For Breast Cancer Awareness: Elixir Lacquers With a K

Hello lovelies!

As most of you are aware October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. To help show my support I decided to do some pink manis for you this month! I don't have a ton of pink nail polishes because I am picky but I will do my best to use them all!

The first one I have for you is Elixir Lacquers With a K. This is one of the first indie polishes I purchased and is one that I have almost gotten rid of several times but haven't been able to do it. It is just so gorgeous! With a K is described as:

Silver and electric violet holographic micro glitter with red-violet prismatic hexagon glitter, suspended in a red-violet jelly base

Ok so I realize nothing in that description says pink. I'm not sure if there was a change in formula but the one I have is definitely pink! Check it out!






Shown is 2 coats of With a K over Julep Nail Therapy. All but the last two photos are shown with HK Girl top coat. I love the textured finish that it has before top coat but I also love how the holo sparkle shines once you add it. I didn't realize that it was going to be so sheer otherwise I would have used an extra coat or maybe layered it. My nails are still stained from a few weeks ago and that kind of messed with the color. I'm thinking it's about time I use some baking soda and lemon juice and scrub them. Overall this is a gorgeous color but one that will go in my purge pile as I just don't like it with my skin.

What is your favorite pink? Do you have any tips to get rid of staining?

xo

Brittany Raquel

Saturday, October 5, 2013

NOTD: Emily de Molly Oceanic Forces

Hello lovelies!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend so far! Today has been a nice lazy day, just laying in bed watching Modern Family. No matter how many times I re watch episodes of this show it never gets old! Yesterday my gf and I took a short road trip to Canada and went to Castle Fun Park. For those of you that are unfamiliar I am sorry. You need it in your life. I might be a little kid still but have so much fun every time! Arcade games, mini golf, go carts, bumper cars...I love it! (PS if you are in the area, Groupon has a great deal going on right now!)

Anyways back to nail polish! After I tried Emily de Molly's Cosmic Forces the other day (click here if you missed it) I decided I needed to try Oceanic Forces as well to see how it compared. Oceanic Forces is described as:

Dark teal jelly with turquoise holo dots and hex

This time I didn't make any attempt to get any of the big circle glitters. Surprisingly I did end up with one but kind of wish that I didn't! See for yourself!




 

Shown is 2 coats of Oceanic Forces over Julep Nail Therapy, no top coat. I would definitely recommend adding top coat though since it dries with a little bit of texture. This applied pretty much the same way as Cosmic Forces. I liked the jelly application and it leveled nicely but still am sad about the big circle glitters. I'm also finding out that I have a love/hate relationship with jellies. I love how nicely they apply and how the glitter is suspended in them but I can't stand the vnl!

I may not have had the best experience with these first couple of polishes from Emily de Molly but I have quite a few others to try and am feeling pretty positive about those! Now to decide which to wear next! :)

xo

Brittany Raquel

Thursday, October 3, 2013

My Quest to Purge Polish Turns Into An Accidental Ombre!

Hello lovelies!

So I have been trying to be good and get rid of colors that are dupes and/or colors that I won't wear. I usually know if I will keep it as soon as I swatch it on a nail wheel (this is the first thing I do when I get a new polish) but have found that I actually need to try on a polish to know for sure.

So the other day I was looking at my nail racks (because these are on the wall next to my bed I do this way too often) I knew there were a few polishes I needed to try to see if I should keep them. These couple of polishes were also similar in color to some others I have so I decided to try all 4 of them together to compare. The following polishes were used in my test (2 coats of each, no top or base coat):

Colors by Llarowe Zipper on my index finger
Lacquer Lust Sky's The Limit on my middle finger
Liquid Lacquer The Rain Song on my ring finger
Aly's Dream Polish Tiffanytea on my pinky

On to the photos!



So based on the bottle I really thought that Zipper and Sky's The Limit were going to be dupes. And yeah they are close, but still different enough for me to justify keeping them both! They both apply like a jelly and were much more opaque than I expected them to be in just 2 coats! As you can see from the zoomed in shot the only difference really is that Sky's The Limit is a little darker and has a hint of green. They both have just about the same amount of scattered holo.


These 2 really aren't even close to being dupes but I wanted to include them anyways. The Rain Song is definitely more blue than Tiffanytea. The application was very similar with these too! Not at all jelly like, more of a creme application. The Rain Song was nearly opaque in 1 coat and Tiffanytea could have used another thin coat since there was just the teensiest bit of vnl but I'm sure I'm the only one that noticed.






I had my 4 fingers done and was admiring the colors when I realized I had created a beautiful ombre and just needed to add something to my thumb to finish it off! I almost used Enchanted Polish July 2013 but then realized A Little Fishy Told Me would be a better fit. Fishy applied like a dream in 2 coats and is so gorgeous in person!




In the end I decided that all of these beauties were meant to stay in my collection. I love them all and am excited to use each one in a full mani! This is my first ombre and I love how it turned out, even if it was unintentional!

What is your favorite light blue holo that I featured today? Have you ever created "accidental" nail art?

xo

Brittany Raquel