ABC Challenge, D is for Deborah Lippmann Let's go Crazy

D is for Deborah Lippmann!!

I may be a day behind putting this up but there is good reason!! Today I had the pleasure of meeting my newly born niece! Baby Alexandria! I have four brothers and lets just say it was about time one of us kids had a kid. My parents are 57/59 and this is their first grandchild... maybe now I'l get a break from the when are you having kids question. hah don't think it will last long but hey one can wish. So anyway in celebration I put on Let's go Crazy because I love to celebrate with Deborah Lippmann polishes! My last birthday I wore Happy Birthday so I thought it was only fitting to put on Let's go Crazy since well There's a new baby in the family! (Anyone watch Honey Boo Boo? hah I've been thinking of the Baby Kaitlin is coming Baby Kaitlin is COMING! line all day long) Plus I've had my eye on this beauty for a while.

I was surprised how quickly opaque this polish was two coats and it was nice and dark. For some reason I thought since the purple is more of a jelly it'd take more coats. I seriously need the non glitter version of this polish.  This polish is simply lovely. It's got a lot of depth to it and even though it's got similar glitter to what's in Happy Birthday , this still seems completely new and different. A pure gem! I did throw a matte top coat over it since I had a request to do that. The last pictures show this and I didn't paint my thumb so you can see the different in how it looks glossy vs matte. Either way this polish is stunning and really hit the spot!   

             

SoFlaJo Involved

Today I've got a look at one of the new polishes from the SoFlaJo Matte Love Collection. This is Involved and it's a lovely delicate purple matte shimmer. It maybe matte but the golden flecks throughout it really makes this polish shimmer and sparkle. At first I was worried that this polish was going to be very sheer when I quickly swatched it on one nail. However it actually builds up fairly quickly. I used 4 light coats. It was opaque after 3 coats with no visible nail line so you really only need 3 coats. You could always layer one coat over another color for different look. It's not a super opaque matte formula like I'm used to seeing with Man Glaze or the illamasqua's Rubbers so this idea of Matte shimmers is pretty new to me. I haven't tried the other polishes in this line but I'd like to say the I would actually call this finish more of a satin finish, it's very nice! This is gonna be really hard to pass up if you're a purple lover!!  You can find this polish and other SoFlaJo Polishes here:

http://www.soflajo.com/shop/

Okay time for some Eye Candy!!

             

Disclaimer: Item was sent to me for review

Nail Sauce by Feliifel Space Junk

First of all I really don't like posting pics of swatches from my Right hand.... however I took the pictures and it's highly unlikely I will reswatch this anytime soon on my left hand. My poor right hand does not get the love and attention that my left hand does. Also have to note that these pictures are from 6 weeks ago... When I looked up the dates I was shocked because today they look a lot different!! So what i'm trying to say is that I'm not 100% happy with these pictures I wouldn't normally post these but they are not the worst and by golly this polish needs to be seen! Now that we have that out of the way...

Space Junk... I sorta bought this polish by chance. I never really heard about it or knew anything about it but I saw someone post on instagram that it was restocked and I read how super hard it was to buy and so off I went. I picked up two bottles one for me and one for a future giveaway.... (yep just posted a giveaway on instagram and this is one of the prizes.. see another good reason to post this) I think i might have bought the last two bottles because I checked instagram and there were people upset that it was already sold out. I admit I get caught in the excitement of things. :)

I had no issues with application. It's a lovely polish but I can't say I understand the maddness surrounding it. No I don't own anything that's like it , perhaps it's the simplicity of it. it's a black base with fine holo glitters and green glitters with larger holo hex glitters. Now I have heard that the Original formula had a base that was much greener, but I don't know I haven't done much research into it. It sorta reminded me of Zoya storm. I've included a comparison bottle shot. like I said not dupes but similar. Like they could be related. So has anyone here bought a polish just because of the excitement that surrounds it? hah okay everyone raise their hands cause I know you guys have!! If you are interested in entering my Instagram giveaway go find me on there and check it out, it ends on 2/3/13. 

             

Tape Manicure with Illamasqua Prosperity

What can I saw I'm really loving these Illamasqua Rubber polishes, since buying them I've already pulled them out for 3 different manicures! I usually don't pull out something again once I've used it so I'm glad to be getting some use out of these!! The base I'm wearing under the purple is Lynnderella Billet Doux . I knew I wanted to do some nail art but I didn't know what I was going to do. I sat at my desk and I went to pull a file out when I saw the nail striping tape.... light bulb went off! I've done a few tape manis here and there and at first it was something I was scared of but I've come to terms with it and it's not so scary anymore. This is my first elaborate tape design. hah More like the first manicure where I used a bunch of tape! I went with Prosperity for a few reasons. I liked the idea of a matte on top and a shiny glitter on the bottom and how that would create a texture and almost make the glitter below looks like it was liquid fire. I also knew that the purple would dry rather quickly. I wore this manicure for a few days and on the last day I threw on a top coat just to see what it would look like. I admit I liked the matte better because it gave it some texture depth and plus the Rubber finish on the Prosperity is just awesome!

I haven't done many tape manicures but here's a few things I've learned or at least noticed. Before applying tape to your nail make sure that your base is completely dry. If not then when you pull the tape off it will basically pull off the pain under it. I would recommend not taping a manicure until the next day or two.. I consider a tape manicure a good way to recycle a polish you're getting tired of seeing. As far as pulling off the tape it's best to do once the nail is dry, once again if the polish hasn't had a chance to dry then when you pull your stripping tape off it can bleed into your crisp lines. i usually wait a good 10 mins or so. Last tip.. if you have a criss cross of tape on your nail be sure that you pay attention to which piece of tape is on top, trying to pull a piece that's under another one can cause a mess so just pay attention. 

Tape manicures are quickly becoming a favorite of mine I used to be so scared of them but I've started to embrace them and they are showing me the love back.  I'm glad I took this risk because I love my results!! 

Ps I included some pictures where I had the nails taped off and then a pic of where I painted the purple over.... don't they look like purple bugs with white legs?? 

             

China Glaze Avant Garden PR

Here's a look at the upcoming China Glaze Spring Collection that will be available beginning in March.... With all this talk about Winter ice/snow around here I'm beyond ready for some Spring Weather!!

China Glaze® Nail Lacquer Invites You to Visit the Avant Garden

Los Angeles (January 2012) – Spring is here and China Glaze® is blossoming with vibrant color with its new collection, Avant Garden. The delectable palette flows between soft hues and vibrant pops of color, offering an unconventional bouquet of cheerful and vivid shades. Take a stroll down the China Glaze® path, passing a bubbling brook of light and bright blues. Take in the view of the mossy green meadow and stop to enjoy the fragrant flowers of soft pink and white.  Let Avant Garden take you away to a playful, romantic field of color and innovation this Spring.  

The Avant Garden shades include:

• Budding Romance: moss green
• Sunday Funday: bright blue
• Fancy Pants: indigo with pink and purple shimmer
• Snap My Dragon: bright red with pink shimmer
• Passion for Petals: bright salmon-pink
• Mimosas Before Manis: coral with a light wash of shimmer
• Life is Rosy: blushed mauve
• Pink-ie Promise: iridescent baby pink
• Tart-y for the Party: light lavender creme
• Fade Into Hue: periwinkle creme
• Keep Calm, Paint On: sea foam green
• Dandy Lyin’ Around: shimmery vanilla icing

China Glaze® Avant Garden is also available in:
6 Piece Collection of “Blooming Brights”
6 Piece Collection of “Pastel Petals”
12 Piece 3D Counter Display
36 Piece Rack

China Glaze® Avant Garden will be available March 2013. Individual shades retail for $7; 6-piece collections retail for $42.

China Glaze® is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde.

China Glaze® nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, please visit www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze® on Facebook (@ChinaGlazeOfficlal), Twitter (@ChinaGlaze) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/chinaglaze).

China Glaze® is a division of American International Industries.

About American International Industries
For 42 years, AII has been the leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of innovative, quality beauty and skin care products for men and women.  Our product lines include Andrea, Ardell, Body Drench, Bye Bye Blemish, Checi, China Glaze, Clean + Easy, Clubman/Pinaud, Duo, European Secrets, EzFlow, Fright Night, Gena, GiGi, Gypsy Lash, IBD, It’s So Easy, Jeris-Lustray, LASH BeLONG, Nail Tek, No Tweeze/Micro Tweeze, 'N Rage, Poshe, Prolinc, RAW, Seche, SuperNail, Surgi-Care, Waterworks, Winning Nails, Woltra, Woody’s, and Youthair. For more information, visit our website: www.aiibeauty.com.

Jindie Nails Candy Land , ABC Challenge C

C is for Candy Land!

I fell in love with this polish pretty much as soon as I saw bottle shots of it. While it's major Eye Candy, it did have it's set backs. While I really like the polish I want to go into detail about the application process... I decided to wear this on it's own and build it up. Well the base is very sheer. I honestly don't know how many coats I used. The application on this one is rather difficult. In fact it took me a long time to paint my nails... (sad part is I only painted 4 fingers!) I paint my nails a lot so I can usually change a manicure really quickly While building up the color I kept an eye out on the glitters.  You don't want to have too many over-laping because then you end up with a clumpy look. I also found that I didn't end up with an even spread of glitters like I wanted. So I basically dumped a little polish off to the side and fished out the glitters from the pile of paint.  It was easier than trying to fish them out of the bottle. I filled in spots with glitter to make my nails more festive. As much as I tried to avoid clumping with application it happened anyway. I wasn't sure I could smooth everything out with top coat but to my surprise the polish did even itself out. I used 3 topcoats in the end. So my verdict..... If you like the way this looks then buy it. Yes the application will be a little of a challenge but know that if you work with it, It will look great. It maybe a little easier to work with if you start off with a base color. I did do a test swatch of this over a blue and it looked a little streaky so I would suggest layering it over an off white. 

Also a super quick note if you haven't entered My OPI Mariah Carey Collection Giveaway yet , please do so because it's about to end! Picture with link is to the right!

         

Sephora X Ice Princess

When the new Sephora X line launched a few months back, I pretty much ran to Sephora to go check it out. After what must have seemed like hours to my husband I finally left the store and I bought Ice Princess. I came home and filed it away in my helmer. I'm not sure what made me pull it out but I did... I take that back I pulled it out because A England was having a sale and I wanted to see how this looked in the bottle compared to shots of She Walks in Beauty. From what I could tell they were very similar but I still went ahead and bought the A England... Hasn't arrived yet but believe me I'll do a comparison of the two!

So I was going to layer this over another polish but I did do a test nail and just kept laying it to get a full opaque nail and I really liked the blingtastic foil effect it had on its own. The major downside of this polish is that well the formula was super gloppy globby! Very Thick! I don't remember how many coats I did but it was a lot. Would I buy this polish again... ermm.. hard to say leaning towards a no. I'm hoping the A England formula is better. Another note I want to say is that in the bottle the pink glitters are pretty noticeable but once on the nails they seem rather muted but its only because the gold shined so much and it was almost borderline blinding!! Not the worst polish but the formula needs improvement... some thinner might help this one but I was too lazy to worry about it. Till Tomorrow!

         

Illamasqua Rubber Nail Art

I bought these on clearance from Sephora.com and I'm very sad I missed out on getting the 6th color, Aorta, which was a red color. In the end it worked out because I have 5 fingers and I had 5 Rubber polishes. The rubber formula is pretty neat it's a matte but it's got a smooth rubber like finish to it. I didn't think I'd like these that much but they're really neat. My favorite thing about these is that they are high pigmented. I was worried about the drying time when doing the nail art but it dried nice and quickly. In this post you will see the progression of this manicure. Originally I wasn't going to do the dots but I'm glad I did because it really tied together the whole manicure for me. The Rubbers keep their finish to the end, I wore this for at least 3 days and the polish stayed on! I love everything about this manicure. These colors go together so well! 

Here's the names of the colors used:

Blue: Serenity

Pink: Devotee

Purple: Prosperity

Orange: Optimist

Green: Nurture

         

Rainbow Honey 20% Cooler

Six months ago I bought the whole Rainbow Honey Equestria collection. The polish I was most excited for was 20% cooler. It only took me till now to pull it out and wear it! That's the problem when you buy too much at once which I seem to do all the time. I never get around to wearing everything I wanted to wear. It was actually thanks to my Husband that I wore this because I pulled out two glitters and had him choose since I couldn't make up my mind. I guess there is a good use for Husbands after all.... hahahah j/k. I had Zoya Blu out on my desk so on it went. 20% cooler is a multicolored glitter suspended in what looks like a blue base. However the blue is more of a shimmer that once on the nail isn't as noticeable. I do like it over the light blue however If I were to ever wear this one again I'd put it over a black. That way the Blue Shimmer would really be seen. This would look good over any color! 

Overall I love the instant Glitter Rainbow this puts on your nails!! Glad I finally pulled out the bottle!