Deborah Lippmann polish-a-thon and I need help!

Good afternoon everyone!

I've very excited to be writing today's post.. I've finally gotten my paws on some colours that I've been dying to try! Unfortunately, these are only lent to me by my sister. *sigh*

I'm sure if you've probably seen these a million times already.. but now you can see them again!

So today, I have Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe, Glitter in the Air and Lady Sings the Blues!

Sorry the pictures above are so dark.. I got over excited and took these reaaallly late last night!

So first, we have Across the Universe

Isn't it beautiful? Yes, I had to flip this because the picture managed to be taken upside down.. that's why the text is backwards ;)
And another just for the heck of it..

Next up we have Glitter in the Air
I'm really glad I got to try this one out.. from the swatches online, I was thinking that this may be a polish that I had to get.. but after trying it on, I'm not sure if I like it's sheerness.. I couldn't find any nudes in my collection to layer this over, so I wore this over China Glaze's Snow. I'm hoping I'll like this better over a nude. It is still pretty though.

Next up is Lady Sings the Blues. I didn't have enough hands for this one, so I have my little sister modelling this one. This was pretty.

Okay, so now.. the exciting news. I usually don't buy Deborah Lippmann's polish because it's a bit out of my price range (no matter how pretty it is!) at around $20-$22 a bottle. However, my sister got a $10 off card for the store she purchased these at (I think it was buy $50 or more and get a $10 off coupon at Murale), and so I'm planning on picking up a bottle of Deborah Lippmann polish soon! These three were at the top of my list.. but I need help deciding! What is your absolute drop dead favourite Lippmann polish? I'm leaning towards a glitter, since she does that so well!

Just a last few pretty bottle pictures.. I couldn't resist :D

Thanks for reading, I hope you all have a lovely Saturday!

-Marisa

Steady As She Rose + Cracked Concrete

Good morning everyone!


I haven't taken off my Canucks mani yet, so today I'm going to show you what I did on my left hand. I'm thinking of taking off my Canucks mani when I get home later tonight though.. since the topcoat I used made my designs all bubbly and gross.

I got Cracked Concrete from China Glaze's crackle collection yesterday, and I was eager to try it. I'm really glad I got it now, instead of just writing off crackles after my difficulty with Lightening Bolt (PITA to try to get it to crack the way I wanted it to). Cracked Concrete crackled like a dream. I had no problems whatsoever, and I didn't have to be as careful with how much polish I used with each stroke (like I had to with Lightening Bolt).

I was in a foul mood while doing my nails, so I was finding fault with all of the polish I used (did my nails in a few different colours before finding a combination that I liked). I won't mention some of the problems I had, since I think most of the issues I had were caused by me being sloppy and impatient.

Anyway, onto the good stuff..

Please excuse my pinky nail.. it broke off rather short, and I just left it.

I tried to apply the crackle in a kind of zig-zag pattern instead of the usual straight, and I think it looks good! I'm fairly pleased with this colour combination.

Hmm, I may have changed my mind about crackles now.. I think I'll pick up a few bottles of the Metal Crackle set in the summer.. ;)

What are your favourite crackle combinations?

-Marisa

Liebster Blog Award!

Hello everyone!

Just a quickie post today, since I haven't done anything new with my nails as of the last time I've posted (although I really want to, topcoat made everything bubble horribly and now it looks hideous), and I haven't bought any new polish yet (I'm thinking of going out and buying me some China Glaze crackles).

The lovely Nicole at Nightly Nails awarded me this, so I'd like to thank her!

The Liebster Blog Award is designed to bring well deserved additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 300 followers. If you receive the award, link back to the blogger that nominated you, and nominate three more blogs.
I'd like to nominate A Little Glitter and Sparkle and ChitChat Nails!

I know this isn't three blogs.. but I can't think of any others at the moment.. but if you have a blog that has under 300 followers, feel free to nominate yourself in my last spot! Please do!

Also, if you have a blog you'd like me to read or add to my blogroll (I'm constantly searching for more blogreading material) feel free to leave a comment with a link! I don't bite!

In other news, I received a tub of 100% Organic Shea butter in the mail today! I won this in a giveaway hosted by Mary of Body and Soul Beauty.
I'm anxiously waiting for some Cult Nails to arrive at my doorstep.. even though they probably won't be arriving for awhile yet. Don't you just wish sometimes that packages could just instantly appear?

Hmm, looking back on this post.. I guess I had much more to say than I thought ;)



Until next time!

-Marisa

Stanley Cup Finals Canuck-icure! (NHL series 1)

Woohoo!

Vancouver is currently going nuts! Last night our home team won against the San Jose Sharks and now are moving on to the next challenge.. the Stanley Cup Finals! For the first time in 17 years!

Let me workout some myths for you..
1.) Canadians are crazy about hockey.
-To some extent this is true. I know lots of people that don't care about hockey at all though.

2.)The Vancouver Canucks have some of the most annoying fans in the entire league.
-To the extent of my knowledge.. this is true. I mean, guys in green spandex suits? Yeah.

Anyhow, during the game today I was doing my nails (again).. mostly because the LA Colors Pink I applied yesterday had sheet marks all over it.

Sorry, pictures are bad.. I took these last night during the OMGWE'REGOINGTOTHEFINALS rush. :)

I used Sally Hansen's X Treme Wear Blue It, a white nail art polish and China Glaze's Starboard and Snow.

I'm thinking I'm going to turn this into a NHL series, and do a mani for each team.. But I'm probably going to do it over the course of months (this, as crappy as it may look.. took me a few hours!).

In other news, Maria from Cult Nails has announced that there is going to be a buy 3 get 1 free polish Memorial Day sale (coupon code: neverforget) lasting from Tuesday (yesterday) to Thursday! I've gotten my sister to do an order already, so I'm looking forward to the next week or two!

Maria is so sweet, I haven't tried any of her polishes yet, but I already know I'm going to try to support her as much as I can!

Hope you have a lovely day!

-Marisa

L.A. Colors color craze green and China Glaze Four Leaf Clover comparison

Oh snap, it's me again!

I completely forgot that I compared the LA Colors Color Craze green (mentioned in this post) to China Glaze's Four Leaf Clover (from the Up and Away collection).

I only used 2 fingers for this comparison.. I think the polish and acetone fumes were starting to get to me even though I had the window open!

LA Colors on the left, Four Leaf Clover on the right

This picture is not quite color accurate, but I think it shows the difference in colour quite nicely.. the LA Colors green is more yellow based than Four Leaf Clover, but I'm thinking that the two polishes can be close colour-wise depending on what kind of light you're in.. I'll try to take a picture in the sun the next time it comes out to try to do another (better, more thorough) comparison.

-Marisa

L.A. Colors Color Craze nail polish

Good evening everyone!

Today I have a set of L.A. Colors polish that was gifted to me by my sister! I've been really busy all day today, so I'm fairly exhausted.

These were found at Winners and sell for $9.99 (Canadian of course). I can't seem to find names on any of these.. but you know them (if they have any) please do tell!

This collection has a mix of shimmer and creme finishes. Application was decent and the dry time was about average- not too long, but not super fast either.

 My favourite out of the bunch, this pink creme has a bit of a berry undertone to it, and reminds me a little of pictures I've seen of Cult Nails' Devious Nature. The only downside to this polish is that I found it fairly sheer.. pictured is 4 coats.

 

Orange Shimmer, this one was also somewhat sheer.. 4 coats.

 

Gold, I thought this one would be as sheer as the other two, especially after the first coat, but it managed to be tolerably opaque after 3 coats

 

My second favourite, a blue (slightly teal) creme which reminds me of pictures I've seen of China Glaze's Shower Together. I don't own Shower Together, so I can't make any comparisons. Also covered well in 2 coats.

 

Green Creme, opaque in 2 coats and reminded me instantly of China Glaze's Four Leaf Clover.

 

Third Favourite, a pretty purple that is red based (not blue based like the picture at all.. for some reason my camera wouldn't pick up the right colour.. don't you hate that?), like the previous two colours, opaque in 2.

And finally, a dark grey shimmer.. this one is nice, but I don't wear many greys and it honestly suits my sister's taste more than my own. This was opaque in 2 coats.

Overall, it is a nice set, I'm generally really attracted to bright colours like these too. I'm really happy about the pink though.. my lemming for Devious Nature is slightly decreased now.. but it's still on my wishlist!

I should probably also state that these are all toluene, formaldehyde and DBP free.

In other news, I broke my left pinky nail down really short. I'll probably be wearing more subdued shades until it grows out to a length where it doesn't look like I've severed part of my finger off. :(

Bye for now!

-Marisa

Blood Orange Inspired Mani

Good Afternoon Everyone!!

I'll try to keep it short and sweet today, I decided to experiment with some of the new polishes I got from the last haul.

The colour combination reminds me of a blood orange, so I attempted to freehand an orange on my ring finger.
The orange turned out alright (passable for me!) but I love the combination!

I used China Glaze Heli-Yum (which is a dark raspberry pink), Misa's Endless Keys which is from the Paradise Shore summer 2011 collection, and a white nail art polish that smells like wall paint (gross!).

In the sun

In the shade

Sorry for the messy cleanup + dry hands, I had a lot of stuff to get done today!
The picture in the sun is the most accurate colour-wise, it is slightly more red!

What do you think? what are your favourite layering combos?

Ciao for now!

-Marisa

OPI DS Mystery

Hey everyone,

Today I'd just like to share one of the polishes I bought while stalking the nail polish sections of some of the local beauty stores!

This week's colour is from the OPI Designer Series -Mystery. It looks fab in the bottle, with all of that gold-green shimmer, but I must confess that when I put it on my nails I was slightly disappointed. It is still a nice colour that I would wear (one day..).. but I know it'll be much happier (and much more used) in another home.

Sorry for the atrocious tip-wear and the random bare patches (you can't really see them unless you're in the sun).. I did my nails on Monday, but the camera was off on an adventure, and I didn't have access to it until today.

DS Mystery is an almost black purple with gold-green flecks.

In the bottle.. doesn't it look gorgeous?

In the sun

In the shade

In other news, the new Cult Nails A Day at the Races collection is now available for sale. I still don't have any of the initial four colours, and I was thinking that I could probably talk myself out of buying any of the polishes, but after looking at some of the swatches that are up, I think I'm going to have to get a job and buy some of them soon. I'm also going to have to look up how much the shipping is..

What do you think of this polish? Are you going to get any of the new Cult Nails collection?

It's late, but I'm not asleep.. yet.

Good morning everyone (it's 1:30AM right now, so it's early early morning!)

Just another quick post (unless I start rambling on about things) before I hit the soft, kind of comfortable thing that is my bed for the night. Why "kind of comfortable"? Well, have you ever had a cat step all over you at night and try to sleep on your chest? Yeah. It's not that bad, considering she mostly sleeps on the bed.. but flat out on the middle of the bed seems like the prime spot. Tell me about it.

Anyhow, after I got the huge package I described (in pictures) in the previous post, I decided to do my nails (hmm, deja-vu.. I probably mentioned this briefly in the last post too). Since I'm so indecisive, I used 4 colours with two colors alternating on each hand. I'm weird, I know, but having mismatched hands doesn't bother me. I had China Glaze Spontaneous and Grape Pop on one hand, and Something Sweet and Heli-Yum on the other. I did this late at night after my last post, and it turned out horribly.. for some reason I had issues applying the polish (mainly Something Sweet.. it seemed a bit on the gooey side) but the problems could have been because of inexperience or maybe because I was just so darn tired.

No pictures of this paint-job, it looked horrible and I ended up taking it off the next day as soon as I had time.

After I took off that massive fail, I put on something I think turned out much better.

I used China Glaze's Lemon Fizz (a light pastel yellow from the Up&Away collection), Mermaid's Tears (a murky pastel-y green from the new OPI Pirates collection) and topped them with China Glaze's White Cap.

In full sun

In part sun/shade to show the shimmer

I had no problems with applying any of the polish (aside from having to redo a nail.. but that was because I smacked it on something and it made a nasty smudge). I keep finding myself more and more drawn towards the Pirates of the Caribbean collection every time I go into a salon and see the polishes there.. and I must admit I rather like Mermaid's Tears. I also saw the Silver Shatter in massive quantities at a beauty supply shop I visited, and I'm kind of tempted to buy it.. and MAYBE On Stranger Tides. *sigh* I think this obsession is getting out of hand.

I really love the shimmer of White Cap on top of the polishes though, I'm even thinking about getting a back up bottle, even though my bottle is pretty much brand new.

Urgh. I'm tired now.. I've already spent way more time than I expected rambling. Time to tune out and turn off!

Ta-ta all,

-Marisa

Mega Haul!

Howdy all,

I'm feeling a bit tired today, so I think I won't say too much, and let the pictures do most of the talking!

Starting with the China Glaze..

Left to Right: Flyin High, Lemon Fizz, Light as Air, Something Sweet

, Sugar High, Heli-Yum, Flip Flop Fantasy

Left to Right: First Mate, Starboard, Ahoy!, White Cap

Left to Right: Color Club Wild at Heart, Grape Juice, Electric Lilac, Grape Pop, Spontaneous

Left to Right: Lubu Heels, Liquid Leather, Snow, Fairy Dust, CC Vivid Topcoat, CC Starry Temptress Topcoat, Matte Magic

Color Club Electrocandy Collection (names escaping me at the moment)

Misa Paradise Shore collection Left to Right: Krystal Water, Mega Margarita, Under my Sunbrella, Endless Keys, Summer Love

Some Miscellanious things I've picked up over the last few days.. OPI Mermaid's Tears, OPI DS Mystery, CG Party Hearty

China Glaze Polish Snake

My current, modest collection.

That's all for now, I haven't gotten around to choosing a polish to wear yet, but I'm focusing on taking off what I have now first!

Ciao for now,

-Marisa

Mini Haul!

Howdy all,

Today I'd like to share with you my 'mini haul' over the past two days!
First up.. the polish!

Essie Going Incognito, OPI Steady as she rose, China Glaze Little Drummer Boy

Billie Cosmetics Jovile (maroon) and Anxiety (turquoise-blue)

Color Club Age of Aquarius, Zoya Gloria and Crystal

I found the Zoya polishes at a small place called Spa Boutique on W4th avenue near Alma. It's fairly small shop, but I thought the service was great, and it seems like they're fairly up to date with their collections. they currently have a few bottles left of the Zoya Fire and Ice collection (no Valerie, which made me sad) and I was told that they're expecting the Intimate collection sometime soon (no news on the Summertime/Sunshine collection yet).

I picked up the Color Club and the OPI while I was scoping out Secret Beauty Supply, which is on Kingsway and Knight street. They have a large collection of nail polish, including an up to date selection of OPI, an assortment of Color Club sets (including Starry Temptress, Wicked Sweet, Alter Ego which are $22.99/set), and a fair number of China Glaze polishes (including the newest Island Escape collection).

The Billie cosmetics nail polish were from a dollar store I stopped by on my way home from the Beauty Supply store.. at $1.25 each, how can you resist? Anxiety reminds me somewhat of China Glaze Atlantis, and Jovile's base colour kind of reminds me of OPI's DS Extravagance.

I also picked up a bunch of Avojuice lotion at the Beauty Supply store. The small sample sized lotions came in a pack of 6 and were $6.95 for the pack, and the full sized lotion was $5.50. The small sample sized bottles were also sold individually for $1.50 each. I haven't tried all of them yet, but I think the Winter Huckleberry smells delicious!

Now for the polish!
Today I have Zoya Gloria on my left hand, and Crystal on my right hand.

Zoya - Gloria (3 coats)

Zoya - Crystal (3 coats)

Sorry about the mark on the middle finger, it's from a chipped nail.
These are my first ever Zoya nail polishes, and I'm impressed! I can't wait for the Summertime/Sunshine collections.. I need to find some store that actually sell Zoya in Vancouver.. I wish I lived in the States.. I have so many empty/messed up bottles of nail polish I could have exchanged.. but oh well. I've already gone through the collection swatches that have been posted online and picked out some of the ones I want to get.. I'm tempted to get Mira, which is a purple creme, just because it's the name of my cousin's baby girl. :)

The Zoya polishes retail for $9 at Spa Boutique.

Secret Beauty Supply requires a membership to purchase items, which can be purchased for $10 and is valid for 10 months. If you do not wish to buy a membership, you can still buy products, but for a 30% price increase.

Note: the China Glaze crackle line (white, black, teal, pink, grey and purple) are sold out at Secret Beauty Supply and will not be available until June)

Well, that's all for today. Do you know of any stores in Vancouver that sell Zoya nail polish? What colours would you recommend?

Ciao for now,

-Marisa

Giveaways!

These generous bloggers are hosting giveaways for their followers!

A Polished Life - 500 Follower Giveaway - Nfu.oh 48 and a mystery polish

Oh my gosh, FLAKIES! *dies* How can anyone pass this giveaway up!?

Blushing Noir - 500 Follower Giveaway - Ends May 20th 2011

This giveaway is huge, so huge that I don't want to list all of the prizes to be won!

What are you waiting for? CHECK THEM OUT!

Goodluck everyone!!

-Marisa

Nubar - Peacock Feathers and my first attempt at Konading

Happy Tuesday everyone,

We had an election yesterday (Canadian federal election) and I could say a lot about it.. but.. let's just avoid it.

Anyhow, my sister recently bought Nubar - Peacock Feathers off of Ebay, and she was kind enough to bring it over so I could get my paws on it. Peacock Feathers is a nice deep purple duochrome that flashes blue, gold and green in the sun (like a peacock's tail feathers..). I used 3 coats for the pictures below (sorry for the slight tipwear, I didn't have time to take pictures until now, and it didn't help that it rained miserably all day yesterday).

Peacock Feathers in the shade, a deep eggplant purple (you can see a bit of the duochrome here on my index and middle fingers)

Peacock Feathers in the sun, with green and gold showing.

I thought the formula was good (maybe a tad on the watery side) but I had no difficulties applying the polish. It's a very mesmerizing polish, and I think I may get some of the other Nubar duochrome polishes in the future. The wear on this polish isn't too bad either, this was done Sunday and it only has a slight bit of tipwear even though I had bashed my nails around while doing some gardening.

My sister also had ordered some Konad and Bundle Monster plates.. so today I had fun playing around with stamping.

For the stamping I used BM15 and BM20 in Color Club - Fashion Addict (which is a slight holo) over Peacock Feathers

BM15, BM20 in Fashion Addict over Peacock Feathers (shade)

BM15, BM20 in Fashion Addict over Peacock Feathers (sun)

Not too bad for my first time stamping either.. I think I'm hooked! :D

Nubar - Peacock Feathers is currently discontinued, but can be purchased on Ebay.

In other news, we've just made a large order of polish from online, and should be getting it sometime in the next two weeks!

Have you tried Konading before? What stamps are your favourites to use? What is your favourite duochrome polish?

-Marisa <3