OPI Grape...Set...Match

Today's manicure is a skittled OPI Grape...Set...Match from the latest Serena Williams set (I believe it's Wimbledon), and the two closest purple dupes I could find in my stash. I didn't have an exact match. Both LA Girl Rock Star Groupie and the unnamed purple from Hot Topic have a similar finish, but are a shade darker (noticable even in low indoor lighting). I feel like Grape...Set...Match is a bit pinkish toned even.
What's with OPI and Suzi's egregious use of bad puns and repetitive random punctuation?
Ewe-no Watt Eye...Green?
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual Lacquer Lock bc, one coat CND Stickey bc, two coats polish, and one coat of Seche Vite tc.
These pictures were taken indoors using artificial lighting.

Taste the Rainbow!

When I saw promo photos of the recent Wet n Wild craze summer collection of rainbow colored cremes called Inked. I couldn't wait to buy them. The problem? Wet n Wild limited edition collection releases have been spotty here in southern CA lately. There was a beautiful island-themed collection last summer that simply never materialized here, despite being available in other US markets. Wet n wild has such a low price point that scalpers don't even bother putting these collections on eBay. The toughest part about nail polish information being available at your fingertips with the internet is that you hear about something great and affordable that you simply can't get. It's one thing if it's overseas or no longer in production (which happens a lot with nail polish), and another if it theoretically SHOULD be available to you, but isn't for reasons unknown. I'd like to ask Wet n Wild to make these polishes available for consumers to buy online so that they don't miss out on so many potential customers.
I was resigned never to see these until my wonderful stepmom agreed to look out for me while visiting Michigan. She brought them all home with her. Thank you!
They may not be the most unique, but they apply well and complement each other beautifully. For those who live in places where Wet n Wild l.e. collections do show up, these are 5 of the 9 colors available in the collection (the other four being pink, purple, black, and white). The red is called Writings on the Wall, the orange is called Scratchiti, the yellow is called Art Crime, the green is called Undercover Grafitti, the blue is called Tagger. Here is my fourth of July weekend rainbow skittle manicure.
This mani is one coat SpaRitual Lacquer Lock, one coat CND stickey, two coats of polish, and one coat of Seche Vite top coat.
These pictures were taken indoors with artificial lighting.

Layering Summer Fun!

It's been forever. I've been taking a nailpolish wearing vacation and I think I'm back now. This mani is two coats of Etude House Bling Bling RD0101, which is a gorgeous golden red jelly layered with glitter. Over that is one coat of Barielle Elle's Spell (a sheer dark red jelly suspended with multicolored flakies). Then one coat of Seche Vite. That's right. Even though it makes clean up a pain, I'm back on the Seche Vite horse. I hope everyone enjoys their upcoming 4th of July holiday.

First attempt at tape manicure

So six degrees of Kevin Bacon, I just discovered Chloe's Nails and her awesome tape manicures. I was inspired by this one in particular:
St Patty Patchwork
I did so many coats, I really hope this holds up through the wedding I'm attending Saturday. I tried to complement the art deco inspired elements of my dress.
I started with one coat of SpaRitual LacquerLock bc, one coat of CND stickey bc, two coats of Essie Smooth Sailing (a cornflower blurple shimmer from the 2011 Summer collection), and one coat of Seche Vite. The first time I jumped the gun applying tape and it got wrinkly, so I waited a good half hour the second time. Then I applied a diagonal strip of tape to each nail and layered one coat of Illamasqua Boosh over the Essie and one coat of seche vite.


After that dried I used a second diagonal tape placement and did two coats of OPI Spark de Triomphe (a 2011 Serena Williams Grand Slam duo release - loads of silver glitter with larger subtle-y gold glitters) with another coat of seche vite. After that dried I finished with a coat of seche vite over the whole nail. For those not counting, that means my tips have 10 frickin' coats. It's definitely not perfect, and it was time consuming, but I am still into it.
These pictures were taken indoors using an artificial light source.

Etude House WH004

Today's manicure is Etude House WH004. Etude House is a (very cute) Korean brand of cosmetics. For a time their polishes were available from etudehouseusa.com, ostensibly the brand's US distribution arm, but the site was actually unaffiliated with the brand and was shut down due to copyright infringement. This information is gathered from the internet, so take it with a grain of salt. For the time it was active, polishes were often massively backordered. These polishes can be ordered from eBay, and likely other webstores.
This polish is a vampy black with blurpley teal duochrome macroshimmer particles. It's tough to catch the shimmer without a strong light source, but it is lovely when viewed in sunshine.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual bc, one coat CND Stickey, two coats of varnish, and one coat of Out the Door tc.
These pictures were all taken indoors using artificial lighting.

Comparison Post: Finger Paints Avante Garde Green VS Illamasqua Viridian

This manicure is an alternating comparison of the new Finger Paints Avante Garde Green that I just purchased at Sally Beauty Supply from the 13 new shades display and Illamasqua Viridian from the Art of Darkness collection last year. When I swatched the new fp, Viridian was the first thing that popped into my head. They're not exact dupes; I think that the Illamasqua is darker (with more of a blackened effect), but they are quite similar.
This mani is one coat Spa Ritual bc, one coat CND Stickey, two coats of varnish, and one coat of Out the Door tc.
These pictures were all taken indoors using artificial lighting.




Embarassingly, messed up the labeling on this photo.

RBL Spring 2011: The Quick and the Dirty

I ordered from RBL on Saturday and to my surprise and delight, my package of new spring colors from the 2011 Iconic/Ironic collection was on my doorstep when I got home from work today. My cuticles are a disaster, but I did quick 2-coat (no base or top coat) swatches to share with you. These are all so lovely. I am the most ambivalent about Recherche because of it's simplicity, but I look forward to doing full manis with all of these interesting colors.
These pictures were taken indoors with artificial lighting.

l to r: Recherche, Iconoclast, Decorous, Insouciant


Recherche
a plummy, brownish, blackened purple super-vampy creme
The closest thing I have in my stash is Hard Candy Normal and a Strange Beautiful brown, but neither is a match.
\ ruh-sher-SHAY \ , adjective;
1.Uncommon; exotic; rare.
2.Exquisite; choice.
3.Excessively refined; affected.
4.Pretentious; overblown.


Iconoclast
black with multicolor flashes of microshimmer
I have nothing like this in my collection.
[ahy-kon-uh-klast]
–noun
1.a breaker or destroyer of images, especially those set up for religious veneration.
2.a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition.


Decorous
milk chocolate with a flash of purplish shimmer
The closest thing in my stash to this is Chanel Particulare and that has no shimmer.
[dek-er-uhs, dih-kawr-uhs, -kohr-]
–adjective
characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc.


Insouciant
soft lilac with a flash of blue shimmer
I have nothing like this in my stash.
[in-soo-see-uhnt; Fr. an-soo-syahn]
–adjective
free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant.