Monday 26 September 2011

China Glaze Winter Ice set and Twinkle Lights for Winter/Holiday 2011

Hi everyone!

Sorry I didn't manage to post over the weekend, I was totally going to post this yesterday, but daylight left me before I could take a picture of the last polish.

I found these at one of my usual nail polish haunts while I was out looking for some goodies for a giveaway. I'm still working on the prize for the mentioned giveaway.. there's one particular polish I want to include but I haven't gotten it yet. When I do, I'll write up a formal giveaway post. :D

I was expecting them to have the Halloween collection out, but they didn't.. and they had these out instead! I had a pickle of a time trying to decide which polishes to get (I loved these ones, but I feel like I should have gotten at least one of the Christmas cremes.. ah, maybe next time), but in the end this set was purchased with Twinkle Lights and some extra stuff for the giveaway!

I have a ton of photos for this so I'm going to try something new and try using a cut. Let's hope it works!

Tuesday 20 September 2011

OPI DS Extravagance

Hi everyone!

I actually managed to lug my laptop to school today, so I'm just doing a quick post with some pictures I've had on my computer for a little while now but haven't gotten around to posting yet.

So.. here is DS Extravagance!

Easy to apply and also dried fast!

These pictures are a bit old (the last edited date on these gives me August 20nd) so if you're wondering why my nails look different than in my last post.. well.. that's why.

That's all I have for now. Aside from all of the school stuff (which keeps me busy most of the time) I'm trying to figure out how shipping polish internationally works. I'm thinking about doing something fun for Halloween! :D

-Marisa

Sunday 18 September 2011

My Current NOTW - Glitterbomb

Hi everyone!

My schedule won't really allow for many breaks to change up my mani, so I've been coping by just doing something I think is totally awesome on the weekend and keeping it on throughout the week.

The (left hand) mani for this week was more or less the result of the awesome Summer weather more-or-less turning into nasty Fall rains overnight. I don't have anything against Fall, but I really hate it when the weather just changes overnight. I need these things to happen gradually.

I just noticed that my hands are playing Summer/Fall right now. I just chose a colour and put it on my right hand a few hours ago and it's this really nice brick red by Wet N Wild which reminds me of Fall leaves. OMG. I just put this on a few hours ago and I ALREADY have tipwear?! Okay. This is coming off. LOL.

Anyway, back on topic.. the left hand mani is the one I was going to show you now, so I should get around to showing you soon. ;)



Ah, a glitterbomb to end the Summer. Perfect. I did this randomly on a nail wheel when I was bored, and I found it intriguing.. so it graduated to my nails. :P

For this look, I used:

Base: China Glaze Calypso Blue (I'm afraid to take this mani off for fear that my nails will be smurfy underneath even though I used basecoat)
Glitter: Nfu Oh #40, #56. Cult Nails Hypnotize Me, Nubar 2010, and this Kiss Nail Art polish which is mostly purple glitter (I can't remember its name/if I ever saw a name).

Hope you all enjoy! I'm diggin' glitter right now!

-Marisa

Thursday 15 September 2011

Nfu Oh Holo Spam

*sneaks in*

Hi everyone!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for being such a bad blogger and disappearing from the blog for a few days (okay, almost a week). I've been REALLY busy with my school schedule for this semester, which pretty must goes from 8:30AM-6:30PM every day of the week except Mondays, and most of the time I have to spend the few hours before I go to bed preparing for labs for the next day. I'm putting off preparing for tomorrow's lab right now to let you guys know what I'm up to.

That being said, I'm probably not going to be posting as often until this semester ends (which is in December), but I'm hoping to sort out some shipping issues and do some fun things!

I may also have some guest posts during the next few months, so y'all can all look forward to that!

I really don't have that much time right now to type out a through post, so I'm hoping you guys will be good with pictures and maybe a few words for a little while.

Nfu Oh #61 Shade and Sun:



Nfu Oh #65 Sun and Shade:


Nfu Oh #66 Sun:
That's all for now! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to type up a longer post without being rushed. :)

Thank you for all reading! <3

-Marisa

Friday 9 September 2011

Peacock Feathers Revisited..

Hi everyone!

TGIF! I'm glad the weekend is here even though a lot of things went a bit wrong today.

Before I go any further, I'd just like to point out this article which has caused a rather large ripple in the Nail Polish/Beauty blogging community. Don't worry, I'm too exhausted to rant about it, but I feel that Mary has described it perfectly. I guess all I can say is that I started my blog because I became infatuated with nail polish as a hobby, and since no one that I knew felt the same way, I decided to start it online to share my thoughts with like minded people. I've never received free products from companies for review, and I never expected to. I'm thankful for each of my followers, because you all make me feel appreciated, especially since I never expected anyone to want to read my ramblings when I first started out!

Anyway, enough rambling now.. I'm not particularly happy with the pictures I initially took of Nubar's Peacock Feathers, so I took more the last time I wore it. I'm particularly happy with how some of the photos turned out, but I apologize in advance for my messy cuticles -I'm still learning!





Okay. That's all of the Peacock Feathers spam..

Now, I just have a random picture for y'all.. I saw this when I was in a gift shop at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and immediately thought that this would make an EPIC nail polish colour! Of course, a polish like this is probably impossible or at least very, very difficult.. but I'd like to share with you all anyway!
This is a Bismuth crystal, grown in Germany!

Oh yeah! This is a quick picture of what we've received in the past month.
-Marisa

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Cult Nails Hypnotic Collection for Fall 2011

Good morning everyone!

   Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I caught a cold sometime near the end of my trip and I've been miserable ever since. I usually love flying anywhere, but one of the flights I caught Sunday evening included three infants that cried a lot. I understand that they can't help it and usually I can tolerate stuff like this.. but my cold just made everything worse.

   Anyway, enough complaining and on to the polish!

   I'm a huge fan of Maria and the Cult Nails brand, and I almost have all of the polishes that have been released (I'm just missing Quench, which will make its way into my grubby hands at an opportune moment).

   I pre-ordered the Fall collection a while ago, and it finally arrived while I was on the other side of the continent. The Fall 2011 'Hypnotic' collection consists of 4 polishes; Awakening, Hypnotize me, Enigmatic and In a Trance.

In a Trance:
  In a Trance is a gorgeous olive green shimmer. Out of all of the colours, I was the most unsure about this one since I wasn't too sure about how it would look with my skin tone. After trying it on, I think the colour actually looks pretty good on me, and I would definitely wear this again.
   Application was great, the polish went on smoothly and dried quickly. Pictured is 2 coats with no top coat.


Enigmatic:
   Enigmatic is a beautiful plum/wine-ish purple with gorgeous shimmer and tiny scattered silver particles. No doubts about this one, since I love mostly everything purple, and this one is no exception!
   Application was a bit different than In a Trance, I needed 3 coats (but otherwise application was smooth), and the drying time was good. Pictured on my nails are 3 coats except my pinky, which only has 2.

Awakening:
  Awakening is a medium blue-grey which has a smoky appearance to it, which appears to be the trend for this Fall. What really makes Awakening special is the formula. It has this jelly-like creme base that really just glides onto the nail. I had to use 3 coats, but they weren't 3 frustrating ones like some of the polishes I own (Iris Dust I'm looking at you..).

And finally, last but definitely not the least..
Hypnotize Me:
  Okay, so I super love this. I was so eager to put this on over Awakening that I forgot to try it on its own (but that means you're spared from seeing my stained nails). This combination is gorgeous. On its own, Hypnotize Me is small teal-y blue glitter in a light green leaning teal base. Application wise, it's a bit thick, which can make it tricky to apply at times, and I recommend waiting a bit for the first layer to dry before putting a second on if you're using multiple coats. This layering combination reminds me of a lighter, brighter Living Water and I would probably describe this to being like the light reflecting off the waves when you're in the middle of the ocean at mid-day or so. Pictured is 1 Coat of Hypnotize Me over Awakening.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the the glitter in this layering also changes colour at different angles. Near the sides the glitter changes from teal to a fantastic marine blue colour.


Overall, I think this collection is really well suited for Fall. The colours are gorgeous and certainly fit in with this seasons trends. Application was fantastic, which I have already learned to expect from Maria, and all of the individual polishes are even more amazing than I thought they would be.

If you love the colour blue and all of its variations, I'd suggest you try the layering combination of Hypnotize Me over Awakening. It's gorgeous. I love it. I'm wearing it right now and I don't know when I'm going to take it off.

Heck, even if you don't like blue that much.. give it a try. It's absolutely stunning.

So, what do you all think? Have you tried any of the Cult Nails line up yet?

You can purchase the product featured in this post at the Cult Nails website for $10/each.

-Marisa
*note: I purchased the products featured in this post during the collection's pre-sale.

Sunday 4 September 2011

Nubar Iris Dust

Hi everyone, happy Sunday!

I'm coming home today, so I'll make this quick and let the pictures speak for themselves (or mostly)

Nubar's Iris Dust is a gorgeous duochrome that looks pinky-purple most of the time but flashes gold in the sun. Formula is a bit sheer, but it is definitely worth it!





Thank you for reading!! :D

-Marisa

Friday 2 September 2011

Kleancolor Crackle in Black

*Caution, contains massive Kleancolor Crackle fail*

Morning everyone,

Today I'm going to show you a polish I bought a little while ago on a whim. I'll show you pictures first, just to get those all over with.

Let's start with the fail.
If you plan on buying any of the Kleancolor crackles, it's probably a good idea to try them out first until you get the hang of it. Application can be tricky if you're just starting out. The key to these is to apply them to polish that is still somewhat tacky. I have a lot of trouble with this, cuz' I have a tendency to get over excited and apply it a wee bit too early.. and when it's too wet, the crackle just kind of pulls itself together and leaves ginormous random holes on top of your chosen base polish. All of these trials above failed. I suppose the green turned out alright, but the crackle still kind of made this strange ruched pattern, which isn't that pleasing to look at.

After you get the hang of it, you will hopefully be able to achieve something like these:

I bought this because I really prefer this cracking pattern to the "standard" crackling seen from OPI, China Glaze and a lot of other crackle polishes that are being released. When it's done right, it can look pretty sweet, but I haven't managed to get it working 100% of the time yet (that's why these are on a nail wheel) and it's pretty frustrating.

Okay, enough of that.. I also chose to show this on a nail wheel because this is a pain in the butt to remove. I haven't perfected a removal technique (besides scraping it off your nail if you apply it and want to take it off right away), and even with pure acetone, this sucker is seriously hard to remove. I put it on the first day I got it and I wanted to take it off.. and it took me forever scraping the darned thing off my nails.


Maybe one day I'll give it another chance.. but for now it's going to just sit in the nail polish bin.

If any of you have tried this crackle and can offer me any tips on perfecting the application and removal.. PLEASE leave me a comment or tweet me.. at this moment I can't justify buying this polish. :(

Thanks <3


-Marisa