Monday, October 14, 2013

Giveaway Over at The Mercurial Magpie!

Wow, I've been gone for a while. I'm away at school, so blogging has been on the back burner for quite some time. I do, however, still enter giveaways other bloggers have going on!


This giveaway is going on RIGHT NOW! Hurry up and get your entries in!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Wet 'N' Wild Fergie Miami Spirit

Hi again! I hope you've all had a nice weekend!

Today I have another swatch, this time of Wet 'N' Wild Fergie Miami Spirit.


I have two other Fergie polishes, both glitters, and I don't really like them. But this I was pleasantly surprised with.


The formula was easy to work with, although I'm not a fan of the super-wide brush this came with. My swatch is 2-3 coats (I can't remember!) and it dries with a naturally matte finish.

Below are photos with one coat of Seche Vite.




Below you can see the difference between the two finishes.


I'm not really sure which one I like better because I like them both!

This green is a pretty shade, but wouldn't have been as likely to make it into my stash if it didn't look like this in the bottle:


Sorry, crappy cell phone pic, but that was the only way I could capture how this polish looks under dim artificial light. Oddly, this polish shifted between those two colors depending on which type of light I was in. I must say I like the turquoise looking shade more than the green, but who could deny a good green in their stash?

That's all I got today! Thanks for lookin'!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Born Pretty Blue Holo Nail Polish

Hello again!

I just recently received my order from the Born Pretty Store in the mail and wanted to show you the holo polish I bought! It's the first true holo polish I've tried, and it's pretty awesome!


I've always been jealous if the rainbow-like glitter packed in holo polishes like this, and it really is pretty. Especially in the sun!


The formula for this was really easy to work with, although a tad thin. My swatch is three coats.



Soooo pretty! That's all for now! Thanks for looking :)

Friday, June 21, 2013

Summer Water Marble!

Heyyyyya!

Today I have the second water marble I've ever done. You can see my first water marble here. :)

I should really do these more often because I'd be so much better at it if I practiced more. The whole process is just so time consuming, so they're really a once-in-a-while thing for me. Anyway, here's my latest water marble masterpiece!


The peach is Salon Perfect Bellini, the coral/pink is Zoya Elodie, the purple is Zoya Perrie, and the white base is Sinful Colors Snow Me White.


My pinky nail bubbled on me a little, so I used a toothpick to dot in some more peach. It didn't turn out too bad actually.


I had a hard time getting my polishes to spread over the water, otherwise I would have made some more interesting swirls on my nails. Although the polishes were purchased fairly recently, they just wouldn't spread more than about 6 rings. Elodie was really thin so it needed extra drops of polish to actually appear, and the other two were too thick. Blast this finicky nail polish!


Even though this was a hassle, I'm really happy with my results! I hope you are too :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Pure(TM) Nail Oil 4-Day Review

Hi again!

Today I'd like to show you my experience with Pure Nail Oil. I had originally read Kimber's review on Kimber's Lacquer Corner, and it left me thinking "I need to try that!" Her nails and cuticles have made a complete transformation, and she absolutely swears by this stuff!

Pure Nail Oil is made in small batches by a woman named Ana at NailCareHQ.com. There are many different product sizes/packages to choose from, but because I was starting out for the first time, I purchased the starter kit. The starter kit comes with a 15mL bottle as well as a pen and retails for $22.

The kit also comes with a small instruction sheet on how to complete the 3-Day "Go Naked" Challenge. I attempted this challenge over the past weekend and have seen an improvement in my own nail and cuticle health.

Below is the photo on day one before applying any oil.


I have a bad habit of pushing my cuticles way back constantly, so that natural seal the skin fold makes to protect the nail isn't intact. You can see that my cuticles are lifted from my nail plate on the first three fingers in the above photo. You can also see a little bit of skin poking off the cuticles of my pointer and middle fingers. I also had a small scab on the thumb on my left hand (not pictured) before starting the challenge. Also not pictured are the small hard hangnail-like appendages my fingernails tend to get on the sidewalls.


Above is a photo of my nails after one full day of oiling. The small amount of poking skin on my pointer and middle fingers is gone, and my cuticles actually look like they've started to lay down more on my nail plate. I had not pushed back my cuticles at all for at least a full 24 hours at this point.


The above photo was taken after three full days of oiling my cuticles and nails. There isn't a huge difference between this photo and the photo taken after one full day of oiling, but I have noticed that I don't need to oil as frequently, and my nails and cuticles hold the moisture much longer than with any other cuticle oil I've tried. My cuticles continue to try to restore their protective seal, as I haven't pushed back my cuticles in three days at this point. The scab on my thumb (not pictured) is completely gone, and the small hangnail-like things by my sidewalls (also not pictured) are much softer and don't snag on things nearly as much anymore.

Overall, I'm really impressed with this nail oil. My nails haven't been this long-- ever! I haven't used a strengthening base coat in at least 4 days, and my nails are maintaining their strength. I definitely recommend this oil above any other cuticle/nail treatment. Go buy some here now! And if you don't believe me, be sure to check out Ana's personal story here. It's unbelievable the benefits and improvements this oil provides in the long run!

That's all for today :) See you next time!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Color Club Warhol

Hola!

Today I just have a simple little swatch. I purchased some Color Club polishes a few weeks back (and made a color block manicure here) and fell in love with Color Club Warhol.


Warhol is a jelly (I think?) hot pink neon shade that just screams summer! My swatch is two easy coats. You can see some VNL but it really wasn't as noticeable in person, so two coats satisfied me.


The formula was pleasantly thicker than the other Color Club polishes I bought in the bunch. Warhol dries semi-matte naturally, so my swatches are shown with one coat of Seche Vite.

My camera gets wiggy with neons, so the photo above is the most color accurate.


Normally, I'm not a huge pink fan, but if it's bold and bright enough (such as this), it's one of the few exceptions.


That's all for today! Thanks for stopping by! :)