Ebalay #011: Medium Purple Iridescent

Hi everyone! Happy Thursday!

I've been fairly busy lately, I'm currently waiting for some supplies so I can start opening a nail polish jewellery shop on Etsy. I'm no intending on making my Etsy store the top priority on my list, but I'd like to have it open casually so I can make pretty things for people that are interested!

Anyhow, today I have a polish I received from Kkcenterhk. This polish is a little bit sheer - I'm thinking it is meant to be a top coat instead of worn completely opaque. Or maybe it's meant to be sheer. I have no idea, but it's gorgeous none-the-less.

I don't think there are names for Ebalay polishes (they just have numbers at the bottom), but this is labelled as "Medium Purple Iridescent Shiny Styling Nail (product number EBALAY-A11)" on the Kkcenterhk website. #011 is a light blue-purple duochrome polish that also has a lovely red-gold flash at extreme angles. Unfortunately, the red-gold flash didn't really come out at all in my photos, but it's there!

The photos below show #011 over black.

The Ebalay bottles remind me of the OPI Designer Series bottles. The brush is wide and flat, also reminiscent of OPI brushes. The formula of this polish was good, it dried relatively fast and it was a good consistency. I'm not sure if this product is 3 Free or not, but judging by the smell that was present when I was applying this, it does not contain toluene.

Lately I've been obsessed with matte glitter and duochrome topcoats, so this polish is a definite win for me. What do y'all think?

This polish (and many other items) can be purchased online at the Kkcenterhk website. From now until January 31st, 2013, you can get 10% off your purchase using the coupon code: livelylacquer.

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

-Marisa

**The product(s) featured in this post were provided to me for review purposes. The opinions expressed in this post are purely my own. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

1 Year Blog Giveaway!

Hi everyone!

This post has been in the making for a long time! My blog turned 1 on April 17th and since then I've been trying to concoct ideas for a celebration giveaway!

So.. this is what I came up with! Please click "read more" under the image below to view the details!

Cult Nails Feel Me Up

Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday!

I managed to snag a bottle of Sand Art from Pretty and Polished earlier today, so I'm pretty darn excited! I'm also a little bit stressed because I have another interview on Friday.

Anyhow, right now I'm wearing Scandalous from the Cult Nails Divas and Drama collection... but secretly I really want to put this polish on! I love Scandalous but whenever I see Feel Me Up I just have this urge to wear it! I'm going to have to wait till after Friday though... as soon as I get home I'm going to put it on! :D

 Feel Me Up is such a gorgeous colour. It's super bright and happy looking - pretty much exactly the colour of a buttercup. I feel like this polish pretty much reflects my mood most of the time - bright, cheery, energetic etc. Even when I'm feeling down this colour makes me perk up.

Formula wise, it's pretty fantastic (as usual from Cult Nails). I had no difficulty applying this polish. It's a dream. 

That's all for now... I feel like if I keep talking and staring at this photo for much longer I'll give in. Must wait till Friday! Thank you are reading!

Do you have any polishes that you think reflects your mood? Please share if you do!

Marisa

China Glaze On Safari Collection (11/12)

Hi everyone!

Today I have another new collection to show y'all... I've been stalking my local beauty supply store for the China Glaze On Safari collection. I'm fairly certain this is the fall collection, but I remember someone mentioned it as the second summer collection... It is supposed to be released this month (June) so I guess that is early for a fall collection. Oh well. Who cares? :P I got 11 out of the 12 polishes available (I skipped on Call of the Wild - see the section of Prey Tell for details... basically I thought they were too similar to both deserve a home in my stash so I decided not to get Call of the Wild).

This is another long (picture heavy) post, so to see the swatches please click read more!

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

Butter London Disco Biscuit over Essie Super Bossa Nova

Hi everyone!

Short post today, I've been feeling really stressed out lately - trying to keep the lid down on the blender before it explodes in my face!

Today I have a gorgeous polish from Butter London and Essie to show you! Perfect colours for this season!

Super Bossa Nova

1 Coat Disco Biscuit over Super Bossa Nova (w/ top coat)

1 Coat Disco Biscuit over Super Bossa Nova (w/ top coat)

1 Coat Disco Biscuit over Super Bossa Nova (w/ top coat)

 Isn't Disco Biscuit gorgeous? *drools*

Thanks for reading! Happy Sunday!

Marisa