Fairy Dust Feng Shui

I've been a very bad blogger lately, not because I don't love you all haha it's just been a little crazy lately. I've steadily been taking pictures, swatching, and polishing so I have plenty of stuff to share with you :) Thanks for bearing with me during the unintended absence!

So what I have for you today is a layering combination that I la-la-love. Perfect for fingers or toes! This is 2 coats of OPI - Suzi Says Feng Shui and 1 coat of China Glaze - Fairy Dust. It's glittery but not overwhelmingly so; colorful but not in your face because of the dusty quality of Suzi Says Feng Shui. It also makes me very happy that the glitter in Fairy Dust lays flat, I hate bumpy glitter.



outside, sunlight


more sunlight outside (the pictures were too pretty to just pick one)


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inside

There's just something about the dusty blue color and the light hitting the holographic glitter that makes me very happy. I need to wear this combo again ASAP! Do you have any colors or combinations that have that an effect like that for you?

Fun WIth Layering Wednesday: Gray by Gray and Star

Happy Wednesday? I've got one more final left to take tomorrow and some end of semester work to finish this week and then I can breathe for like one minute haha. Next week I start more classes and the 2 baseball radio and webshows I co-host start up. Phew! But I do have a cool thing planned for this weekend - it looks like Mimi from Makeup Withdrawal and I may be meeting up for a nail polish playdate!


I've got another Fun With Layering Wednesday post for you today, using Sally Hansen - Gray by Gray from the Complete Salon Manicure line. In case you want to check it out on it's own and missed my post about it the other day, here is the link.



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I used two coats of Revlon - Star overtop of Gray by Gray. I think the glitter in Star really works well with Gray by Gray, the colors work really nicely together. I'm not super into the random hex glitter in the polish, I need to figure out a way to make it a little more symmetrical or something next time I use it. The polish Star has special meaning for me though, a few months ago when one of my cats Starlight passed away, a really really sweet MUA-er sent me this polish to cheer me up. She included a poem and a little note with it too which was so wonderful. Do you have any polishes with special meanings to you like I do with Revlon - Star?

A belatedly Sinful Valentine's Day (pic heavy)

I hope you all had a fun Valentine's Day or Monday.. however you chose to think of the 14th :) Unfortunately, my laptop crashed so I couldn't post these on the 14th like I had planned too. My mom is great with computers, so she got it back up and running - yay! So I have three colors from the collection of six that Sinful has put out for Valentine's Day. All 6 appear to be repromoted shades, but they are very pretty and definitely worth checking out. This is picture heavy! Just fair warning

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Beautiful Girl: This is definitely less peach in real life than it's looking in pictures, it's a little brighter and a little more pink. This was three coats and a little thin, but I like it a lot. All three swatches are without topcoat, and you can see how shiny they are on their own, which I'm a big fan of. I was on the fence about this color in the bottle but it was really pretty once I had it on!


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Pink Forever: This is more vibrant in real life and a little brighter than the pictures wanted to show. I only needed two coats for Pink Forever, and it was definitely the easiest of these three to work with - so yay for that. It feels very spring-y to me, I want to konad some flowers on my ring fingers when I wear this :)

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Boom Boom: I found this to be the most difficult of the three to work with, it was streaky the first two coats. It did eventually even itself out and I ended up really liking it. Boom Boom is a color I'll be wearing a ton in the summer; doesn't it seem like a cute pedi color? It's very bright in real life, a little more vibrant and a little more blue than I could capture in pictures. I think using a white base or some other underwear color will help cut down on coats needed. It does have a jelly feel to it, which a lot of people will like (I'm not into VNL so I'll use underwear)

Overall I really like all three of these colors from the collection, I can see myself wearing all of them! Which of the three is your favorite? Will you be picking up any of the six pinks from the collection? At $1.99 a piece, there's no reason not to! :)

(these were provided to me for an honest review)

Gray by Gray

I'm so excited that we got sunshine here TWO days in a row! No, I don't live in Alaska haha, but the east coast has been rocked with gross overcast weather and a lot of snow and rain the last few weeks and there hasn't been sun for weeks. So I haven't been swatching in a few weeks and that made me sad. (Having no sun isn't an excuse for not posting much of late, I have plenty back-logged on my computer, it's just been hectic lately). But I've got a bunch of posts set up for the next few weeks so stick with me :)

Today I'll be showing you Sally Hansen - Gray by Gray, which is from the Complete Salon Manicure line. It drives me absolutely crazy that Sally Hansen has 8947493647 different "lines" of nail polish and that every bottle is a totally different shape. Add in the fact that their distribution plan seems ridiculously random... but I digress.

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Gray by Gray sat in my untrieds for a looong time. I picked it up when it first came out and then it just sat, never really calling my name. I'm glad I finally did try it though because it sure is pretty. A kind of dusty blue-gray slate color. I'd much rather see this color on my nails than in the the weather outside haha. Gray by Gray is so easy to work with too; 2 coats of creamy goodness. I hope it's sunnier where you live right now!

Also, just a heads up, under the About Me section on the right side of my blog, I've added some new pages. My Stash spreadsheet and Contact Info are both there now, as well as my Wishlist/Swapping Info. I also will have a new giveaway up soon, so keep an eye out for that!

When Nail Polish And Jewelry Come Together...

I've been a little MIA this week, sorry about that. I've had a ridiculous amount of work to do and my back is not playing well with the rest of my body. But I'm back! Get excited because I have some incredible necklaces from GingerKitty Designs to share with you! I seriously can not get enough of her jewelry, it's phenomenal. My biggest problem is trying to narrow down what I want from a wishlist of, well everything haha. At the end of November I finally got my act together and ordered a necklace from Tracey and then a few days later, I won a second through the Overall Beauty Scavenger Hunt!

I'm going to show you the one I originally ordered first. It's even more stunning in person than in pictures, but I tried to capture it as best I could in the late afternoon sun


look at it sparkle in the sun!

more sun

a deliberately blurry indoors picture to show the holo and glitter sparkle

Holy moly, how insanely pretty is that?! It's made with China Glaze - Octa Gone Wild, China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle, OPI - Ink, and OPI - Purple With A Purpose.

Okay, the second necklace I won through the Overall Beauty scavenger hunt at the beginning of December and it's so perfect for the holidays and Valentine's Day!

quasi-sun haha

inside, so you can see the design

inside, blurred some to show the sparkle!

This one is red and silver, made with Color Club - Art Of Seduction and Zoya - Trixie

Ever since I got these pretties in the mail, I've worn them a couple of times a week, I can't get enough of them! They add a pop of color and sparkle (without being over the top) to everything from jeans and a t-shirt to dresses. I seriously cannot say enough about how much I love these and they are even more stunning in person.

You have to go check out the GingerKitty Designs Etsy Store and you can read her blog too. (You definitely want to do that, she has great giveaways!) Tracey has a huge list of polishes that you can have her make pretty much any kind of custom piece for you, or you can pick from some of the gorgeous ones she's come up with. Lately a lot of pieces with crackle polish has been ordered I believe.

What polish (or polishes) would be in your dream piece of jewerly from GingerKitty Designs? I want more holo ones!

Marbled Nail Tutorial

I've got a great tutorial to share with you today from Alexandra. It's a short video showing step by step how to get marbled nails! It's not water-marbling, this gives you the same kind of effect but a lot faster and way less messy. Big time selling points for me haha.

Check out the video!

so to recap, here's the picture of the supplies you'll want to have:

and here's two different versions of the finished product...

After I watched the video Alexandra made for us, I feel like this is something I could definitely do. I can't wait til my midterms are over this week so I'll finally have some free time and can try this! I'm thinking maybe using purples... China Glaze - Grape Pop and Light As Air perhaps?

How about you, have you ever tried marbling like this or with water? Are you brave enough to now after watching Alexandra's tutorial?

Have You Ever Woken Up In Vegas?

Well, I haven't, but if I ever get married I already told my dad that it's happening in Vegas haha. I have an incredible polish to share with you today. I'm sure you've seen it other places, most notably on Lady Gaga. It's Deborah Lippmann - Waking Up In Vegas. I was lucky enough to win this from the lovely Kellie over at Also Known As... and honestly I didn't expect to like this color on me at all, but was I ever wrong about that! Check out these pictures first

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GUYS! The application is out of this world on this. I've heard people say "it practically applies itself" about polishes before, but this is the epitome of that phrase, seriously. 2 coats and it looks perfect and dries fast all on it's own. Now before I got Waking Up In Vegas in my hands, I really thought greige would never work on me, because I'm so pale I thought I'd look like a corpse. I think it actually ended up looking very elegant and sophisticated! I can't gush enough about this polish. I think it would be an interesting base for a little konad or nail art too. Looooove it!

Have you ever tried Deborah Lippmann colors? What are your favorites or number one on your wishlist?

Fun With Layering Wednesday: My Version Of Chanel Riva

Once bottle pics of Chanel's newest offering, Riva, came out I've been intrigued by it. I don't spend that much on a single nail polish so I never planned on actually owning it, but I loved the concept. A pale blue with shimmer? Pretty! So I set about figuring out a layering combination that would satisfy my craving, and I think I came pretty close - at least close enough for me. Check it out!

I started with a base of Color Club - Take Me To Your Chateau, which I showed you yesterday, but here's a refresher:

And I picked NYC - Scandalous Blue Glitter to layer over it. The name is a little deceptive, it's not actually glitter, but more of a shimmer with a hint of pearl finish. Very pretty and very excellent for layering.

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I personally love it! I think it turned out pretty well, and cost me about $4 total for both polishes, much less than a Chanel would set me back. I've got another one or two layering ideas that could produce something close to Riva that I'm going to try out soon too. I'll post those and let you guys decide which ones you like best! Whether or not you buy Riva, you should try this combo out, it's very delicate and pretty. So what do you think, did I get close? What do you think of Chanel - Riva, will you be buying it?

Would You Like To See My Chateau?

Color Club - Take Me To Your Chateau is from the Pardon My French Collection, which was the first collection I bought all of. This is probably the most popular color from the collection and for good reason. It's a pale blue that's pretty easy to work with, a definite bonus since many pastels can be streaky. Take Me To Your Chateau dries to a somewhat chalky finish, so I used a topcoat for the swatch; glossy finishes are more my taste :)


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The sunlight picture is the most color accurate, although it's just a hint blue-er in real life. I used three coats for the swatch, but if you're careful you can absolutely get away with two coats. Whenever I am in the mood for a pastel blue mani, this is always the first bottle I reach for, even though I have a few that are similar - this one's my favorite!

Tomorrow I'm going to show you how I made my own version of the new Chanel polish, using Take Me To Your Chateau as a base so make sure to come see what you think of it! And I'm taking the plunge into the wild world of Franken-ing in the next few days, so I will keep you posted on how that goes...cross your fingers for me ;-) haha. Andddd I have a new giveaway for you guys! I'll post that in the next day or two, so get excited!

I Have Concrete Evidence That This Is A Pretty Polish

Sally Hansen - Concrete doesn't really look like concrete to me, and that's a good thing. This was a part of the last "limited edition" Xtreme Wear release. It came out with the much coveted Mystic Lilac (which I will be showing you another day.) This color initially didn't really jump out at me, and it wasn't until I saw a display for the second or third time that I picked this up. Mainly because it was purple and I think I had a coupon haha. But oh man am I glad I did!

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This a really nice gray-ed out purple with hints of pink. Very interesting neutral color. Application was good, two coats and you're good to go. This is like the little sister of colors like OPI- Parlez-Vous OPI? and Confetti - Moonstruck. A nice color for work, job interviews, or any other places you would need a neutral nail look.

Happy Halloween!

Just a quick post today with some Halloween nail art! I hope you're having a fun Halloween or October 31st, whichever you observe :) Today I've got some more great nail art compliments of Alexandra for you. There is a ton of really cool Halloween manis around the blogs and MUA that I've seen and been inspired by, but this is one I haven't seen around. Check it out!

Alexandra used Pure Ice - Kiss Me Here as the base color and if you click to enlarge the picture you can see the round little black rhinestones on the tips. T he skulls are clay fimo slices and there's a stripe of black and silver glitter to finish off the look.

I really like this mani! I'm very into how colored french tips look lately and this feels a little more managable for me to try than a lot of nail art. Slowly working my way up in the nail art world haha, luckily we have Alexandra to put together fun nail art like this. What are you doing for your nails today? Are you dressing up?

Suzi Says..

I have to be honest, I hate how many OPI polish names have Suzi in it. I get that it's her company, but I find it a little obnoxious how often it's used. That being said, I do love the color of Suzi Says Feng Shui. I've been wanting this color ever since it was released but never got my hands on it. Last week I got a mini of it as an extra in an awesome swap I did, so I finally got to try it! Now I know for sure, I absolutely positively need a full-size bottle of this ASAP - I loooove it.

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I didn't mind painting with the mini brush and holding the mini bottle as much as a lot of people seem to. I also think it funny how similar these three pictures ended up looking - almost identical hand position, that almost never happens for me :) I just really like everything about this color, I think it looks good with my skintone. Must get the full size!

Layering, Paradoxal style.

Today I have a layering combination to show you that is my version of Chanel's Paradoxal. The actual Paradoxal isn't my style because the shimmer is too "secret" for my liking. But I like the idea, so I've been hunting for the perfect combo of layering to give me my own version of it. This is the first try, which I think turned out pretty well :) First check out the base color, which is perfect, Nina - Never Glum Plum.

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Look how shiny it is - no topcoat! It's very pigmented too, only need 1-2 coats for perfect coverage which made me happy. You can see my reflection in some nails even haha. I like this on it's own way more than I thought I would. It feels so fall to me! I want to have this on my nails while I'm wearing a sweater and going to football games or sitting by a fire or apple picking or something. Yes I'm crazy, but the happy good kind of crazy ;-)

Want to see it with shimmer now? It's prettyyyyy! I layered Pure Ice - Busted over top of Never Glum Plum.

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I really like these two polishes together. I think I will get a lot of wear out of the combo (hopefully while wearing a sweater and doing stereotypically fall things hahah). I think there are one or two other things I want to try layering over Never Glum Plum to see which will be my favorite, so we'll see what wins. What do you think of these two polishes?

So my latest giveaway has ended; tomorrow I will go through all the entries and announce our winner!