Wear Blue for World Autism Awareness Day April 2nd

Monday April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. The nail blogging community is responding to this event by painting our nails blue. So whether you blog or not, please participate. If someone asks about your manicure, help the cause by increasing autism awareness.

For more information on World Autism Awareness Day please visit: lightitupblue.org or click the picture on the right.

OPI DS Temptation

OPI DS Temptation is one of my old favorites (even though it's from fall 2011, but I've worn it so many times that it feels like an old friend). It has a dark blueish purple jelly base, and so much glitter that the base is irrelevant. There is big purple glitter, and little purple glitter interspersed with blue and silver glitter. It's so pretty and sparkly.

Unfortunately, DS Temptation dries like sandpaper (high grit sandpaper at that). It usually takes me three or more thick coats of top coat to get a glossy shine, but all of the top coat is completely necessary to appreciate how pretty this polish is. I always get compliments.

The wear is average for a dense glitter, this is the next morning after I did the manicure and the tip wear is obvious. Because of the thick top coat(s) it tends to fall off as one big piece of glitter so removal is a cinch for me.

Blurry to show the sparkle:

Lastly, just for kicks I thought I would share the first mani I took a picture of: OPI DS Temptation. Not only is it a horrible picture, my nails are so short they're practically non-existent!

Essie School of Hard Rocks and Essie Very Structured

I picked up three Essie colors in the sale bin at my local Walgreens, Very Structured, School of Hard Rocks, and Bangle Jangle (a light dusty purple yet to be swatched).

School of Hard Rocks is a dusty light teal creme. It dries a little bit darker than the bottle, and is nice and dense (This quick swatch is with just one coat and no base coat). Essie describes the color as "a midnight malachite" although I find the color slightly more blue than true malachite.

Essie Very Structured is a medium rusty brown creme. In the store it looked more red than brown, although I was still quite happy with the color when I got home. Essie describes this color as "a classic burnt sienna". Great application, two coats, no top coat in the photos.

Spring Manicure: Yellows!

Today I have two yellow polishes to show you. These just so happen to be the only two yellows in my collection. It definitely isn't one of my favorite colors, but Yellow just says "Spring!" to me.

The first is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow. This is a bright creme. It isn't neon, but it's nicely pigmented in a white base. The formula was great with two coats for a bright rich yellow that dried glossy without top coat.

I originally purchased this polish to use as a base color to give my mom a fun smiley face pedicure. Smiley faces are her trademark and it turned out just adorable!

Next is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Sunflowers. I would characterize this polish as a shimmer. It's more of a golden yellow than Mellow Yellow and it is very pretty. All though I don't typically imagine sunflowers with shimmer, this is the perfect shade of yellow for those giant beauties.

This is also the only SH Complete Salon Manicure polish that I own. It was given to me as a gift over a year ago and I haven't tried it out until now. I was very happy with the formula and the brush on this polish. The brush is wide, but rounded and nice and firm to allow for precise application. I was pleasantly surprised!

(3 coats)

"Only two yellows?" you might ask, and yes I don't usually buy yellow nail polish because I don't think it suits me. Yellow doesn't look very nice next to my redish-bronze skin tone, and whenever I've worn yellow in the past some family member or close friend will make a rude comment... so now I just avoid yellow. Maybe someday I will find a yellow I actually like!

Spoiled Plastic Flamingo Swatch

My NOTD is Spoiled Plastic Flamingo, a bright pink creme. Although it does appear neon in some lights, it does not have the super-pigmented matte formula of a neon. It's as if someone mixed a white creme and neon pink together. This applies like butter, and dries to a shiny finish with just two coats.

I'm not even tan and look at how tan this color makes me look. :)

One of my favorite things about this bottle of Spoiled is that the brush on it is perfect! Many people have complained about the spoiled brushes, but this one is thin, firm, and slightly rounded rather than thick, mop-like and disheveled.

The good:

... and the ugly:

Some of the brushes for Spoiled polishes are very hard to work with such as this one from Shrimp on the Barbie (which is a truly beautiful color.. making the difficult brush even more disappointing).

Blog Redesign and Wet n Wild Grey's Anatomy

After trying out the new "dynamic" views for my blog I'm back to an old fashioned one. Although the dynamic view was fun and made it easy to navigate through posts quickly, it made it much harder to find some of the blog characteristics that we are all so familiar with so we're back to normal. What do you think of the new blog design?

Next I have my NOTD, Wet n Wild Fastdry Grey's Anatomy.

The first thing I learned about Grey's Anatomy is that there are lovers and there are haters. Other nail polish gurus either thought the color was an absolute marvel or said that they would never wear it again. Personally, I'm a fan.
Although the bottle shows a gorgeous duochrome, in most lights the duochrome isn't very strong, and I mostly see a silvery purple lilac (which is still very pretty). In the right light the polish really shines and you get hints of green and pink. It's sublte enough that I can pull it off in a professional environment but gorgeous enough that I love to look at it.

This is four coats and it is still a bit sheer (visible nail line) but it's not that obvious in real life.

China Glaze Harvest Moon

Finally! I have wanted Harvest moon since saw the first picture of the Capital Colors collection. After reading the Hunger Games book (the books that this collection is based on, if you haven't heard) I wanted the whole set. Since I can't afford that right now I'm just going to keep collecting them one at a time. I have three so far, Riveting, Electrify, and now harvest moon. (Click for swatches of the other two).

Harvest Moon is a burnt copper shimmer. It's almost a foil but not quite so I'm going to consider it a shimmer. It is a beautiful color and really makes me think of the fall harvest. This would be a great fall color, and it's just as pretty this spring.

Another win out of the Capital Colors. I can't wait to pick up the rest of them!

China Glaze Full Spectrum and Wet n Wild Coloricon comparison

I just picked up China Glaze Full Spectrum and decided to do a quick comparison with two Wet n Wild Coloricon polishes.

Pointer and ring fingers are China Glaze Full Spectrum. Middle finger is Wet n Wild Jewels For Your Highness and pinky finger is Wet n Wild Coloricon The Crown Is Mine. Three coats of each polish with no top coat.

Jewels For Your Highness is more pink than it appears in these photos and doesn't match Full Spectrum. In real life, Full Spectrum and The Crown Is Mine are a near perfect color match. The China Glaze polish is denser and seems to have more of the larger multicolor glitter than the Wet n Wild Polish. I think you could probably get away with either the Wet n Wild polishes or the China Glaze since these are so similar.

Both polishes are equally sparkly and pretty. I think any of these would make a layering polish.

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe swatch

Across the Universe has been on my wishlist for some time now. Blue... jelly... glitter... sounds perfect right? Well I have to tell you: yes, yes it is.

Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe is a dark navy blue jelly with small blue glitter and large hexagonal blue and green glitter. This is three thick coats and application is relatively easy, the glitter spreads itself without any special maneuvering. I used a thick top coat to smooth it out and didn't experience any shrinkage.

This color is so beautiful. I read reviews and I've seen it in pictures, but nothing prepared me for the magnificence of this polish.

It shines, it sparkles. Gorgeous!

Since you probably won't click the pictures for a closer look you just have to see this polish up close. The different shapes of glitter in the jelly base... I think I have a new favorite blue!

OPI Vodka and Caviar Swatch

OPI Vodka and Caviar is from the Russian collection and has to be one of my absolute favorites! Vodka and Caviar is a true red, not orange-hued or brown-hued-it's just red. It dries to a beautiful and incredibly shiny jelly finish. This is 3 coats but it is opaque in 2 coats.

I can't stress how much I love this color!

Just look at that shine!

Wet n Wild Coloricon Be Jeweled

I just wanted to introduce the Wet n Wild Coloricon Be Jeweled collection that I picked up last week. These polishes are subtle duo/multichromes packed with fine glitter.

The colors are Born into Privilege, Bow in my Presence, Jewels for your Highness, Speak When Spoken To and The Crown Is Mine.

The polishes themselves are similar to the China Glaze Prismatics collection, but I haven't seen any comparisons yet to let you know if there are dupes or not. The China Glaze collection contains six colors Wet n Wild only five. The Wet n Wild polishes can be picked up at most drug stores for around $3.

Here is a sneak peak of what is yet to come:

thumb: Jewels For Your Highness
Index: Bow In My Presence
middle: The Crown Is Mine
ring: Speak When Spoken To
pinky: Born Into Privlige

My hands look orange here because I was trying to capture the differences between the colors.

I wish I could show these to you all at once but alas, I don't have the time for that many swatches. I will try to get individual swatches done asap!

Wet n Wild Jewels For Your Highness Swatch

Jewels for your Highness has a blend of glitter mostly tiny silver and pink multichrome glitter, but with larger blue, pink, red, orange, green, yellow, and silver glitter.

The dominant color is a light pink, but it shifts into a slight purple near the edges of the nail and silver or gold from extreme angles. The multichrome is very subtle, more noticible in the bottle than on the nails and I had a hard time capturing it in the photos.

I used three coats of top coat to get a glass finish and it is very pretty.

Please excuse the disgusting cut on my ring finger! I wouldn't post this except I am out of old swatches to show you and it's such a pretty polish.

OPI Save Me Swatch and Review.

OPI Save Me is part of the Nicki Menaj collection. It has small silver glitter and large bar-shaped holographic glitter in a clear base. This one is intended as an awesome top coat but here I'm reviewing the polish solo.

This is four coats of OPI Save Me. I had to be very careful with this one because the bar-shaped glitter pieces like to stick out at strange angles. I used thick coats and did a lot of maneuvering of the glitter around my nails. While I was painting I noticed that most of the bar glitter was aligning in the same direction so with the last coat I painted it horizontally across my nails. After every coat I did a gentle swipe at the end of each nail to remove the bar glitter that was poking over the tips. When I finished and while the polish was still soft and tacky (but before top coat!) I used an orange stick to gently poke the glitter down flat, to level the glitter with the rest of the polish. I used 3 coats of my old thickened Seche Vite to smooth this one out, and it definitely eats top coat.

The final effect? Absolutely breathtaking. The bar glitter catches light in all different angles and looks like little holographic fireworks. Every sparkle caught the light, I could only imagine what a great party polish this would be. However, with the difficulty of reaching opacity with what is clearly intended to be a layering polish I probably won't do this as a solo mani again.

I love how both the bottle and the nails here capture the crazy glitter.

(If you click the image above it's easier to see how the shapes of the glitter look in this mani.)

New Polish and a second look at China Glaze Riveting

I've had Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe on my wishlist for some time now and I've only recently picked it up! But upon seeing a display of Deborah Lippmann's beautiful polishes who can pick out just one?

I purchased: Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? Happy Birthday and Across the Universe.

Next up my NOTD (well nail of several days). China Glaze Riveting. I showed you a quick swatch of this one after I purchased it, but I thought some sunshine photos would be even better.

I've worn this polish since I picked up the first hunger games book on Wednesday. I'm now finishing up the third book and I haven't been able to put it down! Fantastic books (particularly the first one) and a fantastic polish.

... so pretty!

I apologize for the messy photographs. With an ugly cut on my left hand I'm forced to photograph my dominant hand.

(My previous review of Riveting can be seen here)

Sinful Colors Swatches

Today I have two Sinful Colors lacquers for you. Two unique shades in my collection

First is Let's Talk from their new Color Block Collection. This one is IMPOSSIBLE to capture in photos! It's blue, and it's purple, but it's actually some crazy radioactive shade in between the two! What an amazing color! In dark light it's a deep vivid purple. In sunlight or bright fluorescent Let's Talk turns into this amazing radioactive blue. It. Just. Glows!

Most color accurate: (Incandescent light)

Crazy blue! (Fluorescent light)

Indoors (with flash)

And that purple! (This was literally taken two seconds after the color accurate photo.

Next is Tokyo Pearl, a sheer, shiny, pearly white. Application was streaky (as most pearls are) and I unfortunately had some bad problems with bubbling (see second picture below).