Zoya Dannii

This is two coats of Zoya Dannii. Just two coats and a very nice formula! Zoya describes this one perfectly, "medium orchid purple with pink and champagne highlights and flecks of silver metallic shimmer." Another lovely and unique shade from the Intimate Collection.

You can see my thoughts on the Zoya Intimate Collection in this post.

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Zoya Marley

This is 3 coats of Zoya Marley from their Intimate Collection. It's a pale lavender with just a slight hint of frosty silver. I have other pale lavenders, but none with this finish. Very pretty & a nice formula!

Wally says hello!

You can see my thoughts on the Zoya Intimate Collection in this post.

Thanks for reading!
April Read Full...

Color Club Pucci-licious, China Glaze Electric Lilac & IsaDora Black Tag

Color Club - Pucci-licious, 2 coats

Um, just wow. The formula in this was WONDERFUL, probably the best I've come across so far. Color Club calls Pucci-licious a neon but most don't consider it as such. It dries slightly matte, though but it's not retina-searing like neons tend to be.

Color Club - Pucci-licious & China Glaze - Electric Lilac, 2 + 1 coats

Electric Lilac has been in my untrieds since last summer and I figured it'd go great with the similarly coloured Pucci-licious. It was a nice combo, sure, but not really earth-shatteringly gorgeous.

Color Club - Pucci-licious, China Glaze - Electric Lilac & IsaDora - Black Tag, 2 + 1 + 1 coats

... And of course I had to see what the black IsaDora crackle polish would look layered on top of these two. I guess it looks okay but this combination devours top coat like nobody's business. This is with three coats of TC and it still wasn't smooth.

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OPI Catherine the Grape & Lumene Magical Moment

OPI - Catherine the Grape, 2 coats

Catherine the Grape is a muted red/brown purple with shimmer what I think is a sort of an orange colour. It's quite chic, methinks. Formula was okay but not quite on par with most of my other OPI's.

OPI - Catherine the Grape & Lumene - Magical Moment, 2 + 1 coats

Magical Moment might be too sheer to be worn on its own, but layered over another polish is when the real magic starts happening!

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Flower Stamping Nail Art

Hi everyone. Today is my first experience creating nail design with Konad Stamping Nail Art. Thanks for Nicola from http://nailartoftheday.blogspot.com. She told me where to get this stamping nail art. So, when i spent time in Jakarta, i got the stuff and today i tried them.

These are what i used :

Pixy as base coat, 2 coats of  BL505 from Etude House, Red special nail polish from Konad, glitter purple from Eternally. I used Konad's stuff : plate m41, scraper, and stamper.

BL505 - Etude House as base colour :

Flower Stamping Nail Art :

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Casuelle Purple Pearl

Casuelle - Purple Pearl, 3 coats

Casuelle is one of those cheap obscure brands that pop up in shady discount stores. I searched the net for any info about the manufacturer and pretty much only found product reviews written by Finnish and Dutch bloggers; they don't even have a website. Also, any of their polishes I own don't have names on them so I'm calling this colour simply Purple Pearl. I picked up this lacquer from a display advertising their "new" pearly polish collection which had about five different shades ranging from a boring standard white, super pearly colour to a couple of different pinks and a slightly muted baby blue to this purple which was the most exciting one. I'm hesitant to call this a true pearl polish, it's more of a weak shimmer. The base is an undefinable grayish colour which brings depth to the lacquer - if Chanel Paradoxal had a more transparent base and stronger shimmer this is what I'd imagine it'd look like... sorta. There's a teeny tiny bit of duochrome action going on but not enough to call it one. The formula was pretty bad, like I was trying to apply wallpape paste on my nails (or if you're familiar with the dessert called kiisseli or kissel, it's exactly the word I'd use to describe Purple Pearl) and drying time was... I won't even go there. This was the most difficult colour ever to photograph and I had to do a lot of colour correcting on the pics. Still I'm quite fascinated with this polish and will definitely try layering it over my Barry M Dusky Mauve which is the only Paradoxal dupe I own (not counting my own franken).

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Orly Space Cadet

This is 3 coats of Orly Space Cadet; it definitely needs a 4th coat. Very sheer, but gorgeous duochrome, purple & green foil. I was wearing a red shirt which is reflected in some of the photos.


Thanks for reading!
April Read Full...

L'Oréal 413 Supernova

L'Oréal - 413 Supernova

Hello, and welcome to another disappointing episode of Bad Swatch Day. This old-ass L'Oréal comes from their long extinct LaquiResist line (good riddance!). It's a dark plum shimmer with some silver glitter thrown in and it took absolutely ages to dry. All my other LaquiResist polishes were/are also this way and most of them also have god awful splayed out brushes. Still, it's fun to have some remaining relics from the darker ages of nail polish no matter how bad they are, and Supernova isn't _that_ bad a lacquer, just a very mediocre one and layering some kick-ass polish over it could save the poor Supernova.

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Sally Hansen Arabian Night

This is three coats of the super gorgeous Sally Hansen Arabian Night that I found for .50 cents at my Dollar Tree! The formula is a bit runny and sheer but still easy to work with. Golden glass-flecked goodness! I'm still hoping to find another bottle to add to a future giveaway since this beauty is discontinued. Wish me luck for your sake.

In other news, CSN Stores has given me a great way to get a Christmas present for my awesome Dad! I've introduced you to my boyfriend, my sisters, & my dog, but my Dad hasn't made an appearance until now. CSN is giving me the chance to do a review, so I'm letting my Dad choose something for his new apartment. Maybe some home bar furniture, or a nice bookcase.

As always, thanks for reading!
April

CSN Stores is providing me with a $75 credit in exchange for an honest review in a future post. For more information, see my disclosure policy. Read Full...

Nubar Vaso

 Nubar Vaso, 2 coats

Vaso is from this year's Venetian Glass collection but it's definitely not a glass flecked polish but a foil if I ever saw one. The finish looks really bumpy and coarse but one coat of TC was enough to make the surface glass smooth. Colourwise, Zoya Areetha is a dead on dupe for Vaso - both are metallic lilacs. I'd love to like this lacquer but on me the colour is just... blah, and I'm not crazy about the finish either. Sorry about the bad swatches, I'll try to take better photos tomorrow if there's any direct sunlight. Read Full...

Nivea Berry Gloss & Nfu-Oh 51

 Nivea - Berry Gloss, 2 coats

In the bottle, Berry Gloss looks like a heavily red tinted purple, but on the nail it translates as a mixture between reddish purple and burgundy (see second image). It's a super glossy and squishy jelly and would have required at least three coats to eliminate VNL, but since I was going to layer 51 over it I only did two. The polish sort of puddled near the very tips which is apparent in the pics. The brush was splayed and the bristles hard thus I had to leave a larger gap than usual to avoid cuticle flooding.

Nivea - Berry Gloss & Nfu-Oh - 51, 2 + 2 coats

Fat nails! Chunkytown! :p Nfu-Oh 51 is an incredibly beautiful lacquer but I bet it looks a hundred times better in the summer when there's an abundance of sunlight.

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Orly Galaxy Girl

This is 3 coats of Orly Galaxy Girl, my favorite from the Cosmic FX collection. It's a drop dead gorgeous, dark reddish purple with turquoise glass-fleck. The formula isn't the best. It's sheer yet thick, but worth the extra effort for this beauty. Galaxy Girl is darker than I normally love, but it never looks black because it's always flashing turquoise.


Thanks for reading!
April

Current Giveaways

• American Apparel Polish Giveaway! Ends 12/3.

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Nubar Peacock Feathers & Seche Vite FAIL

 Nubar - Peacock Feathers, 3 coats

I hate Seche Vite. Look how it shrank and pulled the lacquer underneath with it? I'm done with SV, I gave it a fair chance (and another... and another... and...) it's only good for pedicures. The Nubar wasn't that hot either, the formula was watery and the polish flooded my cuticles. The bristles were unusually hard (for a Nubar brush) and somewhat splayed. Still, it's a very pretty colour. I don't know it the newer bottles suffer from the awful formula, mine is at least 1½ years old - any info on how the newer batches are? Read Full...