Glitter bomb!

Wow 2nd day posting in a row!! It MUST be the sunshine! ^_^ Although it's back to minus temperatures over here (BOO) but the sun is still shining bright!

So I was wandering around Walmart (bad idea, I know!) when I casually wandered over to the cosmetics area and casually glanced around the nail polishes to see what's new out there. Not that I was planning on buying anything, of course, I was just browsing.

When lo and behold...I see glitter in all different colours and I was instantly drawn to the display!

"Sally Hansen Gem Crush" I read on the bottle. Well...don't they look mighty purty??

So I grab one that appealed to me the most because goodness knows I wanted to buy all of them, and I picked up Be-jeweled.

Be-jeweled has dense purple glitter with larger peachy-orange glitter throughout. I liked how the wide brush applied for me, I haven't tried the thinner brush but I think I might have a tougher time with it.

Well, enough talking...let's see some pics!

In full sunlight! 

Shot in the shade.

And yet another gratuitous hand shot! ^_~

GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS! 3 coats to full opacity for me. I also used Sally Hansen Insta-dry AND Seche Vite for top coats to smooth things out. Not too bad in terms of grittiness but enough to annoy me. Oh, and drying time was great! Pretty fast I would say.

The bottles have two different types of brushes and it it determined by the shape of the cap. If the cap is fat and rounded like mine, then the brush is wider. If the cap is curved in like this ) (, then the brush is thinner.

Definitely pick this one up when you see it. I am also wanting Lady Luck which has magenta glitter.

Black and White tips!

I finally got my Bundle Monster plates and lemme tell you...no regrets!!! I super love the designs that they have and they work just as well as the Konad plates!

So I decided to stray away from colour and do a little bit of black and white and here's what I came up with.

Left hand

Right hand

Both pictures taken in natural light without flash. I used Sally Hansen Insta Dry in Whirlwind White for the white tips and Wet n Wild Black Creme for stamping. The image came from BM plate 220.

I sponged the white tips on first then put a layer of Insta Dry top coat (absolute fave right now!) Then I stamped with Black Creme and voila! Black and white tips!

Let's compare!

So Fiona from Swatch and Learn had posted up swatches of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue It. Seeing the swatches reminded me of OPI DS Magic and then of course I wanted to see how they compared.

Yay, my first comparison post! All shots were taken beside a window, no flash.

Bottle shots! Blue It on the left, DS Magic on the right. Right away you can tell the difference. DS Magic has so much more....magic going on in the bottle. There's blue and then purple and then you're just lost in the mix.

But of course the "magic" doesn't really translate that well onto the nail. Don't get me wrong...it's still purdy but I wouldn't mind seeing the purple outside of the bottlel!

DS Magic on the left, Blue It on the right. Magic needed 3 coats to be fully opaque, Blue It needed 2.

So while I was doing comparisons, I remembered I had wanted to do this one as well! Dupe alert?

Wet n Wild FastDry in SaGreena the Teenage Witch on the left, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City on the right. They look fairly similar right?

Well that's pretty much where the similarities ended. StTW looked like that with 2 coats and Emerald City looked like that with 2 coats. See the difference? StTW is so sheer, I couldn't stand it! Emerald City just applied way better.

Here's a shot indoors with natural light, no flash. 

L-R: Blue It, DS Magic, Emerald City, SaGreena the Teenage Witch.

So here ya go Fiona, this one's for you! :)

Lively Lilac Bandanicure!

Hello everyone!! Long time no post. Hope everyone's doing ok. We've had some weird weather here, spring-like temperatures one time then next thing you know, we're having a snowball fight! I wish nature would make up its mind. 

Anyhoooo, I've realized that I don't have a lavender/lilac polish and all of a sudden, I really wanted it! So off I go to Walmart and I picked up Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Lively Lilac! It's exactly the shade I was looking for! =) It's a pastel lilac with a tiny hint of shimmer.

Didn't get a swatch of it on its own, but here it is Konadicured with Wet n Wild White Creme and image plate m64 with the image my BF has dubbed "Bandana".

Pic taken indoors with natural light. If you enlarge the pic, you can see the shimmer in the bottle! In real life, the lilac is a bit brighter. It looks slightly dusty in the pic, IMHO.

Here's a pic of me holding my phone. Yesterday I matched everything, purple scrubs, purple nails, purple phone! Lol!

Application was very nice, 2 coats was more than enough. Dry time was pretty fast, I'm not gonna lie. Actually, the Insta-Dry topcoat is becoming a fast fave of mine. I find myself reaching for it now instead of my Seche Vite. *gasp* I know right? It dries pretty fast as well! Plus it's Big 3 free, so I've got my replacement for SV! 

Secret Periwinkle and Hidden Treasure [Picture Heavy!]

Another update?!? Yeah I know I know but I won't have time any other day this week so I'm getting it all out of my system now. 

Here is Secret Per-wink-le and Hidden Treasure. Well I'm sure not keeping this a secret nor am I keeping it hidden!! I super love this combo!!! Thanks Chel for helping me make up my mind about which base colour to use! I used China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le as a base colour. Here are swatches, 2 coats with no top coat. The first coat was a little goopy but that wasn't something a second coat couldn't fix!

Both taken in the sun. You can still see the snow on the ground! LOL!

This was taken indoors with flash.

I love this colour. It took me so long to purchase it because I thought it would look horrible on me. But I quite like it! =) Thanks BF for making me buy it!

So thanks to Ivana's post where she used Hidden Treasure over OPI Funky Dunkey, I was so inspired to bust out my own Hidden Treasure again. This was 2 coats of HT. In certain lights, the flakes look baby pink. So pretty!

Picture taken indoors, no flash.

Picture taken outdoors in the shade.

Picture taken indoors, no flash.

Pictures taken indoors, no flash. I was on my laptop when I noticed my nails looked radioactive. So I had to take pics. LOL!

St. Patrick's mani!

Hello everyone!! Sorry I'm a day late in posting, but better late than never!

Well in this case...it's better never. LOL.

This was my ode to St. Patrick's Day konadicure. I used China Glaze Starboard as my base. I really think this green is perfect for the occasion!! I stamped part of an image from plate m81 for the "clovers" on my thumb, middle and pinky fingers using Wet n Wild in White Creme. For my index and ring finger I stamped an image from plate m72 using Sally Hansen Chrome Pens in Green Chrome. The Born Pretty m71 plate has a better image of a four leaf clover but I didn't have it at the time. But I did finally receive my free plate and I can't wait to use it!

Both taken outside in the awesome sun that decided to show its face! Both show the disasters that are my cuticles. =( I had to edit it a little so as not to blind your pretty eyes.

The Electronica and White Cap disaster

Excuse me for this disaster I am about to show you. My parents have been riding me about changing my nails so often, saying it kills brain cells, I'm gonna suffer for it later on in life etc. Soooo when I do get the chance...it's hurried and sloppy. =( How do you explain Big 3 Free to my parents who don't understand?  And I don't know what to do about my dry hands and the skin around my nails. My job requires me to wash my hands A LOT and it takes a toll on them.

Anyhoo, here are some pictures of the disaster that I sported for about 5 days. Gah. Oh and these pictures were taken RIGHT before I took it off so, even more disastrous!

With flash. I was so disappointed with how this mani turned out. The other pictures of people layering White Cap over ANYTHING always looks gorgeous. Mine is a calamity of epic proportions.

Taken without flash. Another picture of the abomination.

I used Color Club Electronica for the base colour, stamped with my former #1 stamp champ, Sally Hansen Rave Review Critique, used image plate m57. I layered China Glaze White Cap over my index, middle and pinky fingers.

*sigh* I guess I can't win all the time.

On another note, I'm currently growing out my hair and I'm trying to basically keep it healthy with trimming, hair treatments etc. I just dyed it back to super dark again, I got sick of the black roots and gradual turning into mahogany brown with caramel highlights. I'm thinking of maybe doing updates of how my hair is doing and what I think of the hair treatments. What do you guys think?

Catching up!

I gotta catch up to posting my Konad/manicures!!! I've got 3 for you right now, one is my official Valentine's Day mani, one freehand fail and one is the "I'm-tired-of-wearing-red-and-pink" mani.

DRY HANDS/CUTICLES ALERT!!! You have been warned!

First is my official V-day mani. Base colour is China Glaze Ahoy and I stamped using Rimmel London Pure Silver (#1 stamp champ!!!).

Taken with flash.This was 2 coats of Ahoy. I love love love this colour!! The shimmer is so pretty and application was great!! Even though pink is one of my fave colours, I only have like 4 bottles of pink nail polish. 

Whole hand taken with flash. This is pretty colour accurate. I used the images from plates m72 and m04.

After 5 manis of red/pink, I needed a break!! So I decided to do a little bit of freehand nail art using the Color Club Dark Romance Matte Collection and failed miserably. I only took a pic using my Blackberry cam so please excuse the blurriness. And lookie! I haz nubbinz!

Thumb to pinky: Dark Romance/Smoke and Mirrors, Dark Romance, Dark Romance/Alabaster, Smoke and Mirrors, Dark Romance/Alabaster.

So after wearing it overnight, I quickly took it off and replaced it with this.

Ok so, no excuse for the blurriness of this picture since I was using my digi cam. =( This is one coat of Color Club Dark Romance, one coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and Color Club Matte Topcoat. 

Next I've got a hankering to do China Glaze Jolly Holly and layer it with White Cap! And maybe do it matte again? ^_~

'Til the next Konadicure!

Valentine's Day mini-haul

Belated Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!

So my bf and I celebrated on Sunday because he had to work yesterday. He took me shopping at Sephora, went out to dinner at our fave lil hole-in-the-wall that serves Thai and Vietnamese food and watched Gnomeo and Juliet! So at Sephora, he told me to pick out what I wanted (all within his budget of course) and I came out with these beauties!

Left: Tarina Tarantino Dollskin Eye Primer

Middle: Tarina Tarantino Fleur De Lash mascara in Black Opal

Right: Tokidoki Gelato Lip Balm Stain

Of course as soon as I purchased them, I tried them on! The eye primer is very good. It made my oily lids look matte and clean. Unfortunately, didn't have any eyeshadow on me so I can't test it for creasing, fading etc. 

The mascara was fantastic! Those who know me, know that I'm such a stickler for mascara. I was actually worried that I wouldn't like this because my first choice was Fairydrops Scandal Queen mascara. Unfortunately, they were sold out. =( So I quickly looked around and this caught my eye. This mascara is DEFINITELY buildable with minimal clumping for me. I still went through my eyelashes with a comb of course just to help fan them out. But I love love love it! No matter how many coats I put on, my lashes never had that crunchy feeling, they still remained soft.

The lip balm stain is also a big win for me. The shade I chose is Donutella, which is a sheer coral strawberry. The packaging is adorable first of all. I've always liked Tokidoki ever since I first saw it. The balm itself is fantastic! It glides very smoothly on my lips and the colour is very apparent!

Chel also picked this up for me at the Winners that she went to. Color Club Dark Romance The Matte Collection minis!!! 

L-R: Matte Top Coat, Alabaster, Smoke and Mirrors, Dark Romance

I have resisted matte polishes for so long because I never thought that they would look good on me. I wanted my nails shiny and eye-catching! But as soon as I put these babies on...I died a little. It opens up a different world of possibilities for nails! And of course, Chel said the proverbial "I told you so." I'm currently sporting Dark Romance with Hidden Treasure and matte top coat.

After our night out, we stopped by Walmart and did a little bit of grocery shopping. I stayed away from the cosmetics department until an idea popped into my head. I realized that I had no space for my polishes with the kits that I currently own, especially with 21 more bottles of polish coming my way! See previous kit post. So I picked up a Caboodles "doctor's bag".

L: Konad supplies, top coats, stripers, polish remover, cotton squares

M: China Glaze, OPI, Color Club

R: Sally Hansen, Wet n Wild, Joe, Minis, Sula and all others

China Glaze, OPI and Color Club

Sally Hansen, Wet n Wild, Joe, Sula, Minis, CQ, Rimmel, Maybelline

Next post will be my Valentine's Day mani and current one.

'Til the next Konadicure!

Early V-Day, Hidden Treasure and giveaways!

As promised, here are pics of my early Valentine's Day mani. My hands are crying out for moisture and even though I try to give it to them...they still end up so dry. =( I gotta get me some of that Lemony Flutter!

I used China Glaze Exotic Cranberry for a base colour and I stamped with Sally Hansen Chrome Pens in Pink Chrome. 

This was taken in indoor light, no flash. The image was from plate m65. I love designs like that because they're very forgiving. You can just fill in some blanks if ever there were any and the design would still look good. I think this was my shortest duration for a mani because I removed it after two days and changed it to...

THIS. 

This is one coat of OPI Russian Navy and one coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. RN is sooo deceiving. When you look at the bottle all you see is purple, purple, purple. When you put it on the nail, BAM there's the navy blue. And you're left wondering how in the world that happened. It's definitely a one-coater if you apply a thick coat on. I'm just dreading to remove this because I have a feeling it's going to be a PITA.

Both of these pictures were taken in natural light, no flash. Look at all the pretty flashing colours! Green, orange, a bit of gold...plus it all depends on what your base colour is. The last time I sported HT I wore it over CQ Mystical which is a purple and the flakies also flashed purple! I looooove HT and I wish I had a back-up bottle!

Do you guys own Hidden Treasure or any flakie? What do you guys think about it?

Before I forget, The Lacquerista is having her Black Shatter giveaway. 

(Picture taken from her blog)

All you have to do is fill out a form that lets her know what name you follow her with and you get another entry if you tweet/blog/post about her giveaway.

The Art of Nails is also having her 100 followers giveaway! 

She`s giving away MAC Mean and Gree, Orly Rockin`Rockette, Nox Sangria and Sephora by OPI mini Leaf Him at the Altar.

(Picture taken from her blog)

You get an extra entry if you sign the petition to stop human trafficking!

'Til the next Konadicure!

More shopping and future hauls!

I went out with 3 of my co-workers yesterday for sushi and after we stuffed our faces, I had brought up the nail place that was pretty close to the restaurant. So of course the girls were all up for it, but then I remembered they were closed on Fridays. BOO. Now 2 of them are jonesing to buy nail polish.

So I'm gonna meet up with one of them today and we're gonna stop by so I can show her the craziness. I just hope I don't turn her into a monster like me!

I've got a new Konadicure on today...no pictures as of yet...I'll leave that for another post. I used China Glaze Exotic Cranberry for a base colour and I stamped the rose design with Sally Hansen Chrome Pens in Pink chrome. When deciding what colours and design to use, it didn't occur to me how girly it was gonna turn out. Well it's super girly and super Valentine's Days-y. So I'm a little ahead of the game...seeing as it's not even February yet! =P

Speaking of Valentine's Day, I requested for me and my boyfriend to go up to Buffalo, NY and go shopping! I proposed that I will pay for our food for the day, and he buys me whatever I want!! He agreed so I'm making a list for when I go to Ulta (for the 1st time ever!). I'm super excited. I'm gonna pick up nail polishes that we don't have here in Canada ie: Barielle, Essence etc.

I'll be posting up pics of my KOTW soon. =) 'Til then!

Update and hello to new readers!!

Hello beauty bloggers!! Hope everyone's doing well. Just wanted to say a quick hello to my new readers! Thanks for following!

I've got two Konadicures that I wanted to show you. I used Orly Bonder as a base coat and Seche Vite as a top coat for both.

1st is a base colour of OPI DS Magic. Instead of stamping though, I took a cosmetic wedge and applied a diagonal french tip using Color Club Worth the Risque.

This was taken with flash to show the pretty shimmer. It's blue with some pretty purple shimmer that's very obvious in the bottle but you gotta look closely to see it on the nail. No problems with application, cleanup and removal was a PITA though.

Taken without flash in natural light. You can't even see the holo-ness of Worth the Risque but it's there!!

2nd Konadicure is with China Glaze Jolly Holly and Sally Hansen Color Quick Chrome Pens in Green Chrome. The image was from plate m65. I got the awesome idea from Erika, from her Stamping with Sally post. Thank you!

This photo was taken in natural light. I am so in love with Jolly Holly!! I was initially gonna stamp all my nails but then when I saw how gorgeous the colour was, I dwindled down to one nail. The Sally Hansen Chrome pens are awesome for stamping!! You just have to be careful that the brush doesn't get dry otherwise you're gonna have a hard time with it. 

'Til the next Konadicure!!

Re-cap

Ok here are 3 Konadicures that I've done within a week and a half. Chel and I have been bad and we went on another trip to the nail art supply place. We did 2 trips within 3 days. I bought OPI in DS Magic and Charmed by a Snake, China Glaze in Cashmere Creme, Swing Baby and Short and Sassy. PLEASE please forgive the horrible condition of the areas around my nails. They're so dry due to the winter cold and also from my nail polish remover. 

The first is what I call "Below Deck I've got Pure Silver" Base colour is China Glaze in Below Deck from the Spring 2011 collection. The stamping nail polish is my NEW FAVE, Rimmel London's Pure Silver. Sorry Rave Review Critique...you've been pushed from your #1 position of Stamp Champ. Pure Silver has a chrome-like finish...I don't even know if that's the right way to describe it!

With flash.

Indoor light. The image used was from m57.

2nd Konadicure is called "I've got Pure Silver. Sshhh Plum's the Word!" (Gosh...I'm sorry, that's the best I could come up with) Base colour is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Plum's the Word. I was really feeling cremes this past week! Stamping colour is again Pure Silver.

Taken without flash in natural light.

3rd Konadicure is "Side-Saddle on a Cheetah" (or Leopard...whichever animal has those spots) Base colour is China Glaze in Side-Saddle from the Rodeo Diva collection. It was such a weird colour...brown but with some purple and pretty shimmer.

Swatch taken in natural light.

Taken with flash. Look at the pretty shimmer come out and say hi!

So me being currently obsessed with my new #1 stamp champ decided to add spots from image plate m57.

Natural light.

With flash to show the shimmer.

Sorry for the barrage of pictures...I get so lazy uploading them that I end up with a whole bunch!! I've even got a new Konadicure on now but I won't shove all the pics in one post...this one can wait. :)

'Til the next Konadicure!

One of many...

Update time! Please forgive me for taking my sweet time. I've got lots to show you so please be patient with me!

As always, base coat is Orly Bonder and top coat is Seche Vite.

First here is my NYE Konadicure. Please forgive the state it's in...I took these pictures RIGHT before I removed it to do my next one. This has been about 5 days after I first did it.

Base colour was my highly anticipated OPI DS Extravagance. I had used image plate m72 for my index, middle and pinky fingers and m77 for my thumb and ring fingers. I stamped with my # 1 stamp champ, Sally Hansen in Rave Review Critique. I also used Color Club in gold holo glitter to outline some of the images.

My 2nd Konadicure was done after mine and Puppy's ginormous haul after visiting this lil hole in the wall that sells massive amounts of nail polish for half the price of beauty salons!! Forgive these pictures...I don't know why I was in such a hurry to take them. I'm either too excited to take the pictures or leave it til the end right before I remove the polish!

I used China Glaze in Jitterbug for the index, middle and pinky fingers and China Glaze in Black Diamond for the thumb and ring fingers. I then used the argyle design from image plate m60 and stamped it with Sally Hansen in Celeb City.

Of course after a couple of days I wanted to change it up a little so I added China Glaze Wireless (holographic top coat) on top of Jitterbug. I loved the end result!

Last but not least, here is my "Applause" was heard at "Lincoln Park After Dark". This picture was taken after 5 days of wear.

Base colour is OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark. The image used was the houndstooth design on m63. I used Sally Hansen in Applause to stamp. I used the full nail design on my thumb and ring, but only half of it on the tips of the rest of my fingers.

My current Konadicure has just been updated about half an hour ago, but pictures will be saved for another post. I'm using China Glaze in Below Deck from their Spring 2011 collection for a base colour and stamped with Rimmel London's Pure Silver (a new stamp champ discovery!).

'Til the next Konadicure!