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

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.

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

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

Vacation Spam featuring Eel Skin and Metallic Muse

Hi guys,

Just a little picture spam while I'm on vacation..

First up, OPI's Eel Skin:

Pre-3 free formula, which makes me uncomfortable since I hate the smell of Toluene and I'm pretty paranoid about health issues that can arise from overexposure. Also very, very sheer. I did 3 thick coats of it since I didn't want to spend a lot of time breathing it in by doing several thinner coats. Interesting colour though, it has a bit of red shimmer at certain angles in the sunlight.

China Glaze - Metallic Muse

This one is very pretty- I love the super shiny, smooth finish, and it's fantastic for stamping. I wish I could have picked up the whole set when it was available.. I think I would stamp a lot more.

Thanks for reading everyone <3


-Marisa

Mid Vacation Update

Hi everyone!

I just realized I completely missed a day while I was scheduling posts.. so I'm writing this now to make up for it!

I'm picking up a huge haul of nail polish here, so I'm going to share some pictures of it with you!

And a few more close up shots of all of the Zoyas..

When I get back I'll put the names down. There are also more OPI polishes, but I didn't manage to get any pictures of them.

Okay, well I'm going to go off now.. I need to pack since we're going to NYC tomorrow. I'll be gone for 2 days, but you'll probably hear from me if I can manage to get some free wifi somewhere.

Hope you're all enjoying the last few days of Summer!

-Marisa

OPI - Honk if You Love OPI

Morning everyone!

Today we have the second polish I purchased from the Touring America Fall 2011 collection from OPI, Honk if You Love OPI!

HIYLO is a gorgeous smoky plum creme. It manages to be dark and look really close to black but avoid making me feel like I'm wearing black. Two coats and this is perfect.

I actually had to redo this one, because all of my pictures the first time around came out looking like this:

If you look really close, you can see the side of my house reflected in the polish. Isn't that impressive?

Have you picked up any colours from the Touring America collection? If so, which ones?

-Marisa