clouds

this manicure was from a couple of weeks ago. . . . sorry! but maybe it's still worth sharing?

base color: 2 coats revlon cloud

darker blue stamping: petites periwinkle

silver dots: wet 'n wild fastdry silvivor

image plate: pueen 32

so. . . . petites periwinkle wasn't the best for stamping. it got a little smudgy in places. but i guess it worked. sorry i only have one picture, but this was the only one that didn't turn out horrible, 

i really like this stamp from pueen. it makes cloud nails super easy for those of us who suck at freehanded anything :P. next time i use it though, i'll choose a polish that stamps a lot more neatly.

thanksgiving cornucopia

here's what i chose to wear for thanksgiving this week- a frankened glitter top coat:

1 coat cornucopia franken over 2 coats petites universe + 1 coat 10 moonlight

this looked very harvest-y to me, so i named it cornucopia. i was trying to replicate the look of this polish (rainbow honey a little kindness), actually. i might have drooled a little when i stumbled across swatches of it (kidding). you know me, i hate to pay more money than i have to on anything, so i tried to come up with something in the same vein using polishes i already have. how did i do?

i wish i had the bottle to show you, but it's gone missing :S. i'm pretty sure the cat is responsible, because it's pretty much her favorite thing in the world to knock bottles of polish off of surfaces and under the couch. so i'll post a picture when i find the bottle. but for now, here are the polishes i used:

sally girl later (gold hex glitter) + sally girl in love (pink hex glitter) + l.a. girl fruity sparkling peach (pink & gold flakies) + love & beauty rust (copper hex glitter)

what do you think- did i get close? i'm not really too concerned if i didn't because i really like this crazy mish-mash glitter! it at least quelled my urge to drop $10 on a single polish.

31DC2012 DAY 29: inspired by the supernatural

you know what i think is supernatural? the universe. it's seriously amazing and complex. there's just no way such a beautiful expanse popped up on its own. so in honor of my admiration for this awesome universe, here's a polish named universe-

2 coats petites universe over 1 coat 10 moonlight

petites universe is a sheer yellow-gold shimmer with small gold flakies. sooo glinty and pretty. because it's so sheer, i chose to layer it over my favorite polish undie- 10 moonlight. i'm not sure this shade is the best for my skin tone (it made it look extra pink), but i'm a sucker for pale golds nonetheless.

gorgeous flakies~!

i got this for (i think) $1.99 at rite aid. i don't know of another gold flaky polish that you can buy for under $2, so this makes universe a total must-have, in my opinion. i haven't investigated yet, but i'm fairly certain that you can use this as a totally sweet layering polish over other colors, since it's so sheer. has anyone tried this? let me know!

31DC2012 DAY 23: inspired by a movie

if you haven't seen "singing in the rain" (my inspiration for today), then you haven't yet lived. no, i'm not kidding. it might be my favorite musical ever (and i've seen quite a few). or maybe it's "the music man." or "bye bye birdie." i just can't decide, there are too many amazing ones!

1 coat petites color fever periwinkle stamped with sinful snow me white (with mash plate 37)

this is pretty self-explanatory- it's supposed to look like rain. i'm not sure i love this manicure, but i guess it accomplished i wanted it to do. and it actually drizzled some tonight, so that was kind of funny. 

now i really want to go watch the movie. . . . but my husband's watching monday night football :S. boo. tap dancing is way more entertaining :).

petites periwinkle

today's polish is an underrated (but beautiful) drugstore gem. i don't think that i've ever seen swatches of it on a blog, but it totally deserves some!

1 coat petites color fever periwinkle

most color-accurate

this is just one super smooth coat- without any topcoat! it's craaaazy shiny. i love it so much. the name (just plain ol' periwinkle) is very boring and not quite accurate, though. it's more of a dusty, greyed out periwinkle. i really want to rename it "stormy periwinkle" :P.

this beautiful, mellow, shiny creme can be yours for the low price of $2.99 at rite aid, or on the petites website for $4 (free shipping~!).

does anyone else own this lovely one-coater? and does anyone know of any other hidden drugstore gems?

sunset gradient

i attempted to capture a sunset on my fingernails today. i'm not sure it looks like an actual sunset, but let's just call it an abstract interpretation.

2 coats sally hansen xtreme wear lacey lilac, petites color fever banish on tips, 1 coat l.a. girl fruity sparkling peach

tiny gold and pink flakies!

i haphazardly sponged on petites color fever banish over yesterday's mani (sally hansen xtreme wear lacey lilac), then added a coat of l.a. girl fruity sparkling peach over everything. sparkling peach is amazing. it has tiny iridescent gold and pink flakies in a clear base. the gold reminds me a lot of china glaze white cap, just with added pink and larger-sized flakies. i picked this up at rite aid for $2.99, but it's also available on cherry culture for $3.50. basically, you need this.

apparently, sparkling peach is supposed to be scented. . . . but i didn't really smell anything out of the ordinary. but then again, maybe my smelling abilities have been compromised from all the polish and acetone i breathe in constantly.

weakness wednesday: periwinkle

sunlight

with flash to show the shimmer~!

i probably shouldn't have bought sinful morning star. as you can see, it looks a lot like other periwinkles i already had. but it looked so pretty at the store, i couldn't resist. i haven't even worn it yet. i'm thinking i may not and give to someone who appreciates pretty polish.

i'm wearing l.a. girl color addict extreme on my toes right now. it looks like a medium periwinkle shade with gold shimmer in the bottle, but when i applied it, the gold shimmer showed up very strongly and made it look kind of duochrome. really pretty.

another petites polish- petites color fever periwinkle. this is a little darker and dustier than the rest of the periwinkles. i love this shade. it dries super shiny and has the best formula ever. it looks like i'm really loving petites polishes these days.

i've shown you china glaze secret peri-wink-le before in my cloud gradient mani. this is the first periwinkle and the first china glaze i ever bought. and i think it's taken me owning it for this long (at least 2 years) to finally get the name! it's from the secret agent collection, right? so the secret agent is winking because she has a secret. secret peri-wink-le. wow, that took me long enough, huh?

i bought pure ice in the mood because of the really pretty silvery flakies in it. however, similar to petites epic!, it's also ridiculously sheer. i have yet to try it layered over another polish, but i'm starting to get the idea from this post that i have plenty that would work. . . .

sinful zeus. ah yes, the polish that started the blog. this one is a winner. seriously one of my favorite sinfuls ever. that prominent pink shimmer just kills me it's so pretty. click here to see my zeus mani.

i guess that's it! note to self: no more periwinkles!!

salon express stamping

just a quick post today. i decided to do a really simple accent nail on yesterday's manicure with my salon express stamping kit that i bought way back in november. . . . i picked a pretty easy image and only stamped one nail, so the results were way more successful than my last stamping attempt.

2 coats petites color fever peach blush. image- SE10 stamped with sinful snow me white

i really liked how this turned out. this was my first time using sinful snow me white as a stamping polish, and it worked really well. just as well as konad special polish, i'd say. it still needed something after i finished stamping, so i added a dot of wet 'n wild fast dry waves of enchantment with a bobby pin. peach blush and waves of enchantment were made to be paired together, i tell you.

sinful snow me white, petites color fever peach blush, wet 'n wild fast dry waves of enchantment

petites peach blush

how about a controversial manicure for today? i'm wearing petites color fever peach blush, which is a sort of sheer peachy-pink frost with golden shimmer. it sounds gross on paper, right? but in real life, i really love the look of it on my nails.

2 coats petites color fever peach blush

what it looks like without bright lighting- just a pretty peach metallic

isn't it pretty?? it's ok if you don't agree with me. i realize that most people don't like peach or frosts, much less the combination of the two. but somehow, i think it works. i applied 2 coats over nicole by opi it starts with me (yes, again) because it was a little sheer. worked great.

i think these bottles are just so cute! petites color fever polishes are sold at rite aid for $2.99, or you can buy them (and cq polishes) for $4 on their website with free shipping~! i'm definitely ordering fairy pink sometime soon. . . . it's a pale pink shimmer with a scattered holographic effect. i've been eying that one for a while.

weakness wednesday: gold glitter topcoats

gold is my second favorite color, right after pale green (if you haven't noticed). combine that with the fact that i have a inexplicable draw to layering polishes, and you see why i have lots of gold topcoats. today i'm only showing you gold glittery topcoats in a clear base. i have more in a milky white base that will have to wait for another day :P.

love & beauty gold is a very nondescript name, but also a beautiful polish. it has small champagne-colored square-shaped glitter in a clear base.

this sally girl polish is unnamed, but let's agree to call it "gold medallions," ok? great. "gold medallions" is full of small-ish sized yellow gold hexes and little tiny hexes of the same color. this is my 2nd bottle of "gold medallions," and i think my first glittery polish purchase ever. i know.

nyx girls gilded glitter (whew, that's a lot of "g"s) has gorgeous golden flakies in an almost-clear base. the base is a little yellow, so i try to layer this one over medium or bright shades.

i've shown you a picture of petites universe before, but no swatches yet (sorry). when i first spotted it at rite aid (during my crazy $30 haul), i thought it looked like a pretty golden shimmer with gold flakies in it. but when i tested it out at home, the base is super sheer, which makes it more like a gold flaky topcoat. awesome. yes, i already have nyx girls gilded glitter, but universe's base is sheerer, which makes it perfect for layering over those pastel shades that i couldn't with gilded glitter. perfect! and it was just $2!

the last polish in the polish cart used to be sinful all about you, i just put it in an old nyc bottle and mixed in some clear topcoat. all about you makes a pretty flaky layering polish too, but the gold is much darker and warmer than i prefer. it's almost looks rusty. . . . so i haven't used it very much.

petites epic!

on this week's weakness wednesday, i showed you a polish that i just bought- petites epic! i guess it must be pretty new because i can't find very many swatches of it online. so i thought i would do the world wide web a service :P. just kidding.

here i have 1 coat of petites epic! over 1 coat of sally hansen xtreme wear pacific blue from yesterday. i had to layer it because epic! is incredibly sheer on its own. as in barely-tint-your-nail-blue sheer. but i didn't want to give up on it, because it has beautiful silver flakies in an iridescent, shimmery blue base. pacific blue showcases these flakies perfectly:

yes, it's really this vibrant & saturated in real life

close-up to show the flakies~!

i love how just 1 layer of epic! turns pacific blue into an electric blue almost-metallic shimmer. it seriously glows. i bet it would look cool layered over a whole host of other colors too.

you can get petites epic! at rite aid for $1.99, or online here for $3 with free shipping. not bad for a very unique polish, right??

weakness wednesday: cobalt blue

it's been very interesting looking through my nail polish collection and gathering similar ones into groups. sometimes i don't even realize that i have several of like color until i organize them together. like with today's grouping. i didn't even know that i liked cobalt blue so much!

sunlight- pretty color-accurate

with flash- not color-accurate

i included the 2nd shot with the flash so you could see the shimmer in several of them. do you see that pink shimmer in the nyc bottle??

revlon top speed royal

petites epic! (swatches of this one coming up this week! spoiler alert: it has flakies!)

sinful colors neptune

sally hansen xtreme wear pacific blue (one of my top 10, which also will be featured this week!)

franken (made with pacific blue, royal, and aisle be there for lots of pink shimmer!)

nail extravaganza (rite aid haul)

last month rite aid ran a nail polish promotion where if you spent $30 on any nail-related items, you got $10 to spend on anything at rite aid. at first i was like- how could i spend $30 on nail polish at one drugstore in one month?? but then ummmm. . . . i found a bunch of polishes i wanted. so yup.

here's what i bought for $30, in case you're into that sorta thing:

wet 'n wild color icon the crown is mine (limited edition!)
petites universe (which is kind of a strange name for a gold flaky. . . .)
revlon whimsical
petites epic! (another weird name. . . . what's with the exclamation mark?)
petites color fever banish

nyc water street blue

petites color fever peach blush (why is this cap different than the other petites color fever bottle above??)

sinful colors fig (one of my top 10!)

magnetique magnetic nail polish (unnamed)

nyc grand central station (i needed a few more cents to meet my $30 requirement, so i bought an extra of my favorite top coat!)

so 10 polishes for $30. . . . now i'm no mathmatician, but i figure that's $3 per polish. not bad, right? but really i got 3 more with my $10 back, so less than $3 per polish! part of me is pleased with my purchases, and part of me is ashamed of how many polishes i bought this month at just one store.

btway, rite aid is running the same promotion this month, if you want to be as lame as me. and no, you don't have to buy them all at one whack, your polish purchases accrue during the month!

weakness wednesday: peach shimmers

welcome to this week's edition of weakness wednesday (that was a lot of "w"s in one sentence). today i'd like to showcase my love for peach shimmers. yes, i know that description sounds like a granny color, but i promise they're much prettier than that.

sunlight- you can't see all of the shimmer going on, but it is color-accurate

flash- now you can see the shimmer

the polish on top is winwax 19, which is from a japanese 100 yen store. in real life, it sort of looks like a peach version of china glaze white cap. it ended up being a lot sheerer than i expected, but it makes a killer layering polish. asian cosmetics and polishes are the best. . . . agreed? agreed.

the most orange-leaning of all of the polishes is a franken i made recently. i was trying to recreate this polish, and i think i got pretty close.

sally hansen diamond strength brilliant blush is from the old diamond strength line, and i bought this for almost nothing when it was being discontinued. i bought it because it reminded me of essie kisses & bises, which is an awesome layering effect. brilliant blush looks great over lots of base colors, and also adds gorgeous pink shimmer to any frankening concoction. i believe there's a repackaged version of this shade in the new sally hansen diamond strength line (one of my favorites!).

petites color fever peach blush is probably my favorite of the bunch. yes, peach blush is probably the most boring name ever, but it's ok because it's gorgeous. i bought this last week during the rite aid nail extravaganza promotion they were running. more about that later.

revlon peach smoothie is a polish i drooled over for a long time before finally finding it at a nearby walmart. it has beautiful little peach flecks in it, but unfortunately, it's really hard to apply. it's kind of gluey, streaky, and sheer, which is a bad combination. it needs at least 3 carefully applied coats to be opaque. oh yeah, and it smells nauseatingly like peach. i might try layering one coat over american apparel summer peach, and see how that works out. that actually sounds pretty promising. . . .