Cult Nails Coveted

Hi everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been super stressed out at work lately, and I really haven't had much time for polish changes! I'm really excited for the end of this month though... I'm looking forward to actually having free time during school instead of coming  home late every night and feeling like a trainwreck!

Anyhow, I noticed that the length of my nails really annoys me when I have them naked and they're a bit on the longer side. In these pictures you can see my current length (pretty much as nubby as ever) which I actually really like. I'm thinking I'll keep my nails around this length. Also, I noticed that my ring finger nails look a bit gross in pictures sometimes when they're longer... so I apologize for any weird looking, flared out nails in the future.

BUT ASIDE FROM ME RAMBLING... today's polish is amazing! I love it! I wasn't really sure if I'd like it at first, but now that I think about it... I love green, and I love Cult Nails Iconic... so why the heck would I not love this polish? It's amazing. It totally reminds me of the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz. WAH-BANG! That was the sound of this polish blasting its way into my top ## picks of this year!

I'm definitely going to covet this baby!

What do y'all think? isn't it gorgeous? Also, what do you think of my new nail length? My nails were feeling extra brittle last time I had them nude, and they were really starting to peel and split. Talk about a nail polish fanatic's nightmare, huh?

Thanks for reading!

Marisa

Cult Nails Divas and Drama Collection

Hi everyone! Happy Monday!

Today I'm feeling a bit.. meh about the swatches I'm going to show you. I trimmed back my nails last night and now I just feel like they're super short. My right index finger is definitely too short, so I left it out of the swatchfest today. In other news, I got most of my anticipated mail today, so of course I had to swatch them asap! I also got my jewellery supplies from etsy... I'm happy with most of the order, but one of the rings I got seems a bit low quality. Oh well.

Anyhow, onto the colours! I ended up getting the Cult Nails Divas and Drama collection with my $5 sale order. My sister put the order through, so together we got 2 bottles of Seduction, Scandalous, Enticing, Manipulative, Feel Me Up and Nevermore. The Divas and Drama Collection consists of Seduction, Enticing, Manipulative and Scandalous.

First up...

 Enticing: This is a sheer, creamy pink with subtle shimmer. I love how clean this one looks on the nails... this is the most perfect neutral pink ever. It can be worn sheer, but it can be worn opaque. I used 4 coats to get a nice opaque look, and the best thing is that it doesn't really feel like 4 coats. I've tried some sheer polishes before and 4 coats just piles on and gets goopy-feeling. I definitely don't have that problem here.

 Manipulative: This is a pretty blue with a slight tinge of green that kind of greys out the colour. I love it. It also has this shimmer in it that's super gorgeous. Formula-wise, it was a dream in 2 coats. I have lots of love for this.

Scandalous: This is a fantastic creamsicle orangey-pink jelly. I love it. I've had my eyes on this since forever, so I'm super happy it's finally in my hands. It's fabulous. This is three coats, with slight visible nail line.

Seduction: And now, the crown jewel. If you've missed out on Unicorn Puke/Clairvoyant... run to pick this baby up. It's pretty much UP/Clairvoyant without the green flakes, which makes it different enough to warrant a bottle of both, I gander. Pictured is 2 coats of Seduction over 1 coat of Nevermore (which will be featured in another post later).

Overall: I love this collection. It's fabulous. I've very happy I picked it up, and I can't wait for the preorders of the Fairy Tales collection to be shipped, so I can get my hands on those babies as well. I've never really been disappointed by any polishes I've ordered from Cult Nails and I can't wait to see what Maria comes up with in the future!

Cult Nails nail polish can be purchased HERE, and you should seriously consider liking them on Facebook and/or Twitter(@cultnails) for some great sale opportunities!

Hope you guys have a fabulous Monday!

Marisa

NOTD: Gradients

Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday!

Today I'm going to show you what's currently on my nails... I've been pretty uninspired lately so up until yesterday my nails were naked. I guess it's because I'm expecting a lot of nail mail. I'm really excited for anything I purchase online to come, especially nail polish. I don't want to do a really awesome mani now and have the mail come later and end up having to take it all off so I can try the new goodies. Does that even make sense? lol. Right now I'm waiting for some jewellery supplies I ordered from Etsy, my Cult Nails $5 sale order (I bought Nevermore, Feel Me Up, Scandalous, Seductive, Enticing and Manipulative), I also gave in and ordered Picture Polish's Mask-a-rade and Monroe from Llarowe during her birthday sale, and I preordered the Fairy Tales collection from Cult Nails as soon as the preorder was live. Yeah,  I'm excited. :D

Anyhow, onto the nails. I was feeling pretty uninspired until I saw this post by Ivana at Ivana Thinks Pink. I was instantly smitten with the look and I wanted to do something like it right away. I used this awesome awesome awesome tutorial for gradients by Sam at the Nailasaurus, so if you like the look... make sure you go have a look through it, and have a gander through her other posts as well! Her manicures are amazing!

So I actually have 2 NOTDs to show y'all since I did 2 different gradients for each hand. I was initially thinking about putting a coat of Milani Gems on each nail (to get a look like Ivana's mani), but the glitter on my trial run (on my thumb) came up more clumpy and dense than what I wanted. Instead I used a thin coat of Essie's As Gold as it Gets on each nail.

 

Yes, my nails are a different shape on my left hand. I have them more rounded since I usually don't use them for swatching (I'm left handed so it's easier to swatch on the right), and I usually like to cut them into nubs. I'm not really a fan of square shaped nubs, so they're rounded. I wasn't planning on posting any pictures of my left hand, but I liked how it turned out, so here they are! Also, my left hand doesn't have the reversed gradients like on my right hand... I didn't reverse the colours on my ring finger because I thought that the light green would really clash with my skintone.

Also, the pictures of my right hand don't quite accurately portray the colour... it's much more red-y magenta.

For my left hand, I used:
Dark Green: Essie - Going Incognito
Light Green: China Glaze - Gaga for Green
Gold Flakies: Essie - As Gold as it Gets

Right hand:
Magenta: China Glaze - Under the Boardwalk
Purple: China Glaze - Grape Pop
Gold Flakies: Essie - As Gold as it Gets

I'm really happy with how this turned out. I think I'm getting a hang of the gradient technique, so I can't wait to try it again with other colours.

Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week!

Marisa

Cult Nails - Toxic Seaweed

Hi everyone!

Just a short post today, since I just realized that I have a bunch of things to work on (start on my presentations, paper, study) since the end of the semester is coming up. I kind of just realized that it's almost the end of March and the semester ends in the beginning of April and now I feel like running around yelling. ;P

So, I won't go into much detail on this polish, since it's gorgeous and the pictures will speak for themselves! Actually, I don't think the photos really captured the beauty of this one. It's also limited edition, so... you know what that means. :P

Thank you all for reading! I'm hoping this anxiety will pass soon so my next post can be more coherent. :P

Marisa

Franken Friday!

Hi everyone!

I made this franken a few days before Valentine's day, but haven't shared it with y'all until now! This is currently unnamed since I can't really think of anything good. Any suggestions? :D

This is a magenta-pink shimmer with orange-gold-green flakies!

That's all for now, happy Friday everyone! Have a good weekend! :)

Marisa

Essie: As Gold as it Gets

Hi everyone!

Just a super fast post today, I managed to somehow catch a cold or something so I've been feeling super sick lately. I also have a huge number of pictures that need to be posted sometime, so the next few posts will be of swatches that have been getting dusty in the archives!

Today I have a polish that I have been lemming like crazy ever since I saw swatches of it! I know a lot of people are crazy about Shine of the Times, but I actually think that As Gold as it Gets is my favourite polish from the Luxeffects collection!


Without further ado, here are the pictures!

The above photos are one coat of As Gold as it Gets over Color Club's Red-ical Gypsy from the Back to Boho collection.

The above photos are one coat of As Gold as it Gets over Color Club's Artsy Craftsy.


That's all for today! I can't wait to try some more layering combinations with this polish! Next up is probably over a nice navy... mmm. :D


-Marisa

Cult Nails - Unicorn Puke

Hey everyone!

Sorry for not posting sooner! I had my last midterm today, and from now on I just have papers and finals! Yay!

I'd like to thank everyone for being absolutely fantastic, and I'd just like to remind those of you who haven't entered my giveaway yet to enter! It will be open until the 11th (this Friday!) until 11:59 PM!

Anyway, onto the polish of the day!

I am SUPER excited to show you all Cult Nails' Unicorn Puke! This polish is also being released with the Cult Nails Super Powers collection as Clairvoyant (same polish, different name and the bottle will be different). I managed to snag Unicorn Puke during its presale and it finally made its way to my house last week!

What can I say? This polish is GORGEOUS. I mean, multicoloured flakies in a purple tinted base? Yes please! I've been lemming is one since Maria first posted a picture of it wayyy back and it definitely doesn't disappoint. Anyway, enough rambling talk and time for the pictures!

The above photos are all one coat of Unicorn Puke over 2 coats of Finger Paints - Art of Theft. Isn't it fab? This is definitely going on my top 10 list (which I haven't made yet but have been thinking about)!!

Anyhow! Now it's your turn! What do you think? Are you going to pick up Unicorn Puke/Clairvoyant when it comes out? As of this time of posting, the Super Powers collection is still available for presale at the Cult Nails website!

Thank you for reading!

Marisa

Select picks from the OPI Muppets Holiday 2011 Collection!

Hi everyone!

I seem to be getting lucky with my local nail polish store.. it seems like they're putting out a lot of things pretty early! I just happened to stop by the store to buy some tweezers, and I noticed that they had the whole collection out. :D

I was originally only planning on buying Gone Gonzo and Fresh Frog of Bel-Air, but I ended up getting a couple of other ones too.. in the end I got Gone Gonzo, Fresh Frog of Bel-Air, Meep-Meep-Meep, Warm and Fozzie, Pepe's Purple Passion, and Rainbow Connection.

It was also a nice-ish day for swatching, so I swatched them pretty much right after I got home. I'm adding Rainbow Connection to the giveaway prize (which should be announced in the next week or so.. I'm waiting for one more polish to come to me in the mail!) so I don't have swatches of that!

Like the last post.. this one is going to be a bit long.. so I'm going to put it under a cut again :D

Nfu Oh #56 over Orly Meet me Under the Mistletoe

Good afternoon everyone!

Today I have a relatively short post for y'all, since I'm going to go spend some girly nail polish time with my sister (I'm going to let her do my nails) soon!

I've been fussing over NARS Zulu lately (ever since I noticed that it's available on the NARS website), so I decided to post this layering combination, which is much more bright emerald green than the pictures show.

At certain angles it takes on a more teal-y look, but most of the time it's emerald green (the first thing I think of is the Emerald City from the wizard of Oz) which isn't really a problem for me, since I LOVE green. :D

That's all for now ladies, hope you all have a great day!

-Marisa

Nfu Oh #51

Morning everyone!

It's such a depressing day outside.. lots of rain. It's starting to feel like Fall already, especially when you go to the mall and all of the shoe stores are having the end of Summer sale. (Wait, summer? when did that happen?)

Anyway, aside from the boring rain thing going on outside, I'm feeling pretty good now, especially since my exams are over! HURRAH! :D

Since everything is sunshine and rainbows now, I thought I'd share with you a gorgeous polish I've been wearing for the past 4-5 days.

This is Nfu Oh #51 over China Glaze's Grape Pop, which is a deep purple creme. I also took pictures of Grape Pop on its own, but the colour turned out really weird and completely wrong. Maybe it's time to get a new camera.. hmm.

Hmm, and another shot from another angle.. :D

Sorry about the weird chip in my nail in the middle finger.. it wasn't really noticeable when it happened, but in this picture it is.

I actually really really love this! I might love the #52 combo a little bit more, but I guess all flakies are crazy awesome in my mind.I especially love how it changes colour at different angles.. I think #52 also had a duochromey kind of thing going on, but it's much more noticeable in #51.

What do you guys think? I think I want to order some more Nfu Oh polishes now.. I've got my eyes on a Nars Zulu Dupe (569) and I'll probably want more flakies.. ;)

Bye for now! Have a great day everyone!

-Marisa

Nfu Oh #52 over China Glaze First Mate

Hi everyone, super short post today since I'm just taking a break from studying!

Today I have Nfu Oh's #52 (blue green base w/ flakies) layer over China Glaze's First Mate (navy blue creme). I really like this combination!

#52 is so gorgeous.. I think it's at/or the top of my favourites! Of course, I don't actually have an actual list yet.. but I may make one in the future. I think there are a lot of polishes that would be included on that list that I just can't think about right now!

I'd also like to take advantage of this last week of studying to invite you to leave me links to your blogs and/or blogs you'd like to see on my blogroll! I need more reading material!

That's all for today, hope you are all having a fantastic Saturday.. I'm going back to studying protein transport and modifications now.. @__@

Ciao!

-Marisa

Nfu Oh Haul and a Service Message..

Hi all!

Happy Fourth of July all!

Sorry for not posting for a little while, my long weekend was filled with paint, paint tape, and big boxes. My sister is moving to a new condo, so I've spent pretty much every moment of  my weekend helping her out (including painting at 1AM)!!

First up is my little service message.. I just wanted to tell y'all that I'll be posting a bit more infrequently from now until the 15th, since my second midterms are coming up and I'll be studying like mad! Regular service will resume after the 15th! Yay!

Anyhow, something fast for now, since I can't help it.. and these are just too gorgeous to swatch. :D

First up.. the basics and the glitters:

L to R: Top Coat, Base Coat, GS14, GS03

The holos..

L to R: 61,61 (extra bottle), 62,63

L to R: 64, 66, 65

Now.. the flakies!

L to R: 60, 56, 52, 51

.. And another shot of the flakies.. <3

Gosh, they are gorgeous from this angle! Love it! 

I actually really love the shape of the bottles, they're so cute! Out of all of them, I'm really loving 52 and 56.. not too surprising, since I tend to be a green/blue kinda gal. ;)

So! What do you think? Gorgeous or no? I do love holos but I think these flakies are awesome!

That's all for now! Till next time! If you have any questions feel free to drop a comment, or if you'd like an immediate answer you can tweet me @livelylacquer !

-Marisa<3

Joe Fresh - Twilight

Good morning everyone!

*edit- I think I forgot to mention where this could be purchased from.. Joe Fresh polishes can be purchased at Real Canadian Superstore, Extra foods and Loblaws in Canada. They retail for 3 for $10 CAD and are small (6mL vs 15mL in a normal OPI bottle).

Today I have a Canada exclusive polish to show you! I actually bought this a while ago but never got around to trying it until a few days ago.

Gosh, looking at this picture makes me want to hoard it. Doesn't it look fabulous?

Pretty colour changing flakies, huh? It's mainly green, but can change to orange and yellow. It is kind of sheer, so best layered over black or another dark colour (these photos have it layered over China Glaze's First Mate, but you can't really tell).

So, what do you guys think? I think this polish is gorgeous (flakies are always gorgeous, aren't they?) but I do feel that it is a bit dark for my taste (geez, I'm weird aren't I? I have some kind of aversion to black nailpolish).. since I do like sunshine-y rainbowness. The inner nail polish hoarder in me wants to keep it, but the rest of me is telling me to add it to a grab bag for the ginormous giveaway I want to host sometime in the future.

Of course, I'm probably going to go see if they still have any of this polish in stock (and pick up JF's Rainforest, which reminds me of RBL's Recycle and the immensely coveted Nars Zulu) and if they do.. well, they'll be a brand new one waiting to be won whenever I reach the magical 1-0-0 followers (I'm excited, what about you?!). If they don't, then I'll give away this one (sorry hoarder :( ).

Actually, if I can find a new bottle of this, I may give that away as a part of a first or second prize pack, and my used one in a grab bag. I think this can probably find a more loving home with someone that isn't afraid of the colour black like I am.

That's all for now, hope you all have a fantastic day <3

-Marisa

Cult Nails Week - Iconic

Hello everyone,

Today in continuation of Cult Nails Week, I have Iconic!

Iconic is a slightly browned red with lots of gold shimmer and little flakey bits. I love this one! (does this sound familiar?)

For some reason, Iconic kind of strikes me as being kind of symbolic of Cult Nails on a whole.. I'm not sure why, and I'm probably not eloquent enough to put it into definite words, but I'll leave that idea floating around in the air. Actually, I'd appreciate any comments on this (especially if you feel the same way).. just to make sure I'm not just imagining weird things ;)

I'll throw in an extra picture of another thing Iconic reminds me of.. which is a red Japanese Maple tree.

Hope you all have a great day! If you have any questions or anything, you can leave a comment below, or if you want a quick-ish reply, you can always tweet me on twitter @livelylacquer!


Iconic and other Cult Nails polishes can be purchased online for $10 each at the Cult Nails website.

-Marisa