::pretty::tough::nails::: blackened

Showing posts with label blackened. Show all posts

Monday, October 7, 2013

Cult Nails I Got Distracted Over China Glaze Tongue & Chic Swatch And Review

Here's hoping to a happy Monday! I can only hope that this week will be better than the craziness of last week. My MIL is leaving Tuesday and it will only be me and DH caring for LO again while juggling work. It's nice to have the house to ourselves, but I'm definitely going to miss the help!

For this mani I started with a base of China Glaze Tongue & Chic from their latest fall collection. It's a shimmering almost metallic emerald green that is absolutely gorgeous! This shade totally brings me into fall and reminds me how much I love fall colors. It's super saturated and is opaque in one coat. I had no difficulty with the formula or application, and brushstrokes are minimal. Here you can see it with no topcoat.

China Glaze Tongue & Chic

Next, I have an untried that's been sitting in my cabinet for nearly a year that was gifted from my TPF friend Knas aka knaserae. I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it and Tongue & Chic seemed perfect. This beauty is Cult Nails I Got Distracted(a huge understatement being unused for so long), a glorious blackened green jelly filled with tiny holographic microglitter and small green hex glitters. I needed only one coat and got a sufficient amount of glitter to cover the base fully. I finished with a layer of my topcoat mix.

Cult Nails I Got Distracted Over China Glaze Tongue & Chic


Cult Nails I Got Distracted Over China Glaze Tongue & Chic

*sigh* How amazing is that? I could watch the sparkle in this polish all day - and I will as I wear it! The holographic glitter adds tremendous dimension to the green. I'm still chuckling over the name of it, I Got Distracted. Story of my life! I need to pull out all my sparkling glitter polishes like this and make sure that I've worn them all. I wouldn't want all the sparkling happiness to go to waste in my drawers! Which one will you wear next?

Purchased Gifted

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Born Pretty Holos Teal Blue (#8) and Dark Green (#12) Swatch And Review

Yay for the weekend! If you had the fourth off, did you have a good time? Eat lots of BBQ? Watch fireworks? I took LO to the pool on Wednesday and she had a blast! At first she couldn't make heads or tails over all the water she was in, but once she got the hang of it, she didn't want to leave. Once I took her out of the pool, she cried and cried. Poor thing. We also went down to the OC again to get some treats to take back to my father back in PA, and then later we watched fireworks on the roof. LO wasn't too interested in the flashing lights, they weren't close enough for her and when she did see one, the subsequent firework didn't happen quick enough so she'd lose interest. There were a ton of fireworks citywide though - the entire skyline south of us was lit up a full 180 degrees around. There was a ton of smoke in the air too, and the smell of burning fireworks didn't dissipate until late night.

Recently, I found that the Born Pretty Store had some reasonably priced holo polishes on their website so I decided to purchase a couple to see how they perform. Upon arrival, I was disappointed to see how tiny the bottles were, approximately 6mls(I should have double checked prior to ordering). I shouldn't complain though, holos in general are pricey and it's difficult to find any under $10, especially in a full size bottle. In these pics I used two layers for both shades with no basecoat or topcoat.

The first I have for you is a a medium teal blue known as #8 on the Born Pretty Store website. The formula is a bit sheer which you can see in the photos, but it wasn't noticeable in real life. I was hoping for more teal in the shade but it translated as more blue. The first shot is in the light tent and the rest are under direct light.

Born Pretty Holos Teal Blue (#8)

My 2nd polish is #12, a darkened green holo. I really love the uniqueness of this shade and was my favorite of the two I picked up. I can definitely see myself wearing this a lot in the fall. Again, first shot is the light tent, the rest are under direct light.

Born Pretty Dark Green (#12)

I was really curious to see how this color compared to the original dark green holo, Glitter Gal Lizard Belly. From what I can tell, although the bottles look similar, they're not dupes. Lizard Belly is significantly darker and doesn't have as much of a holo flare compared to the lighter shade of the Born Pretty Holo.

Born Pretty Store Dark Green #12 vs Glitter Gal Lizard Belly

I hate to say it, but I think I like the Born Pretty Store version better than Glitter Gal Lizard Belly. The bottles are 2mls difference in size, but the Glitter Gal is significantly more money.

Overall, for the price I really think these holos are worthwhile, especially if you're missing a color from your collection. There's a wide range of colors to choose from and with free shipping, you can't beat that deal.

Born Pretty Store holo page

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

YSL Bronze Aztec Swatch And Review

I've got a quickie for you tonight and that's Yves Saint Laurent Bronze Aztec, a dark blackened bronze shimmer. The formula was consistent with YSL polishes that I've tried in the past, which is smooth and with the perfect consistency. The polish was highly pigmented, so I only needed two coats for full opacity. I used topcoat to hasten drying and add some shine.

YSL Bronze Aztec

The color is not terribly unique, but it's still a gorgeous color. There's something terribly sexy about a darkened bronze polish. It leans slightly vampy but not quite. The only gripe I have is that I ordered this without realizing that I already own it in the Holiday Trio that was released a couple years ago. Ooops. Have you double purchased a polish that you already own?

Monday, April 1, 2013

Hard Candy Crush On Tin Swatch And Review

So did everyone have a great April Fools day? Anyone pull off a prank or get taken by one? I really loved the Zoya Grassy Nails and almost believed it, especially with the increase of textured nails. Scrangie had my loling for a bit as well with her post, and I liked that she was able to poke fun at herself for taking such a long haitus from blogging.

I have a swatch tonight of Hard Candy Crush On Tin from their Crushed Chrome Collection. I think that collection may be my favorite of all the Hard Candy collections that were released, but overall, the all the new polishes are truly amazing and innovative for a mainstream brand. Way to go HC for doing their research!
Crush On Tin, a tobacco-y bronze fleck black polish, doesn't seem to be getting as much love as some of the other polishes, and so I wanted to show you how pretty it can be. Initially I thought it would be another dupe for a Englands Beauty Never Fails or China Glaze Immortal, but instead it surprised me because it has not just the bronze flecks but silver flecks as well in the blackened base. In daylight, the colors play off each other and reflect green and orange. It's really a very complex polish. I used two super easy coats - the formula was really amazing for being only $3.99. No pooling or dragging, it was nice and buttery. I finished with a layer of Poshe to hasten drying.

Hard Candy Crush On Tin

I really liked this shade and I think it's the sleeper of the entire collection. I hope more people start to give this shade some recognition and pick it up, it's just too pretty to miss. Which color is your favorite from the new Hard Candy releases? If you're interested in picking some up, they're now available on the Wal-Mart website.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

a-England Beauty Never Fails Swatch and Review with surprise Dupe!

So I made it through my first day - almost. I thought work would be difficult but it was as if I never left, except my brain being a little mushy trying recall some things. LO didn't use the bottle the entire time I was gone and got more milk on her shirt than in her mouth. DH tried giving her solids for her first time ever - bananas - and that didn't work either. When I picked her up from work, she finally fed and we napped for two hours straight. Now she's having trouble sleeping - I think she was so exhausted from today that she's having trouble staying asleep. Poor thing. Luckily I don't have to be in to work until later tomorrow, so I hope things will be easier for the both of us.

I've got a stunner to show you today, it's a england's Beauty Never Fails from the Heavenly Quotes collection. When I saw this shade for the first time, I knew I had to own it... the color is right up my alley with the dark base and greenish gold flakes. a england has amazing formulas too, so I knew this was going to be a winner from the get go. It applied like a dream and I used two coats for opacity. No topcoat needed for the shine in these pics.

a england Beauty Never Fails

Now here's the kicker... while I was swatching this, I glanced at my untried pile and saw China Glaze Cast A Spell, which had similar coloring. In fact, when I held the bottles next to each other, they looked exactly alike. So of course I had to test them both out side by side - can you tell which one is Beauty Never Fails and which is Cast A Spell? I did two fingers of each color.

China Glaze Cast A Spell versus a england Beauty Never Fails

Do you see a difference? I don't. My index and ring are the China Glaze and my pinky and middle are a england. I even took pics in sunlight. Still no visible difference in my eyes....

China Glaze Cast A Spell versus a england Beauty Never Fails

Despite a england having an amazing formula, I would suggest buying the China Glaze because of the cheaper price point and similar formula - it was opaque in two coats with no issues with application. Plus it's made in the USA, so that's the deal breaker for me! What do you think, am I seeing things or is this a dupe?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Essence Twilight 2 Collection Swatch and Review

Today I learned about "tethering," a way of using your cell phone as a wifi hotspot for yourself when internet is not available. You can use your laptop or tablet via your phone's internet. I've always wondered if this was possible but never really looked into it as I never needed it. It seems to be a very convenient way of obtaining internet access when none is available. The only problem is that the cell phone providers have learned about it and have been trying to shut it down for obvious reasons. They don't want people draining their bandwith and taking advantage of their unlimited data plans. At one point they started deleting programs that allowed tethering and charging additional fees if you were tethering via their services. Recently, however, the FCC made Verizon settle and not charge consumers for tethering(all except for the unlimited data plans, go figure). I of course have an unlimited data plan so I would have to pay an additional $20/mo if I want to tether - something I might consider because $20/mo is still cheaper than paying $50/mo for my internet access via Time Warner. Interesting stuff, huh? Ok, maybe not... let's get to the nail polish!

I gleefully found the second Twilight collection at Ulta recently and had to pick up all four polishes. These polishes can be found in a special Twilight display that contain a highlighter, blush, lipgloss and glitter. For the polishes, there are three of each color available in the display. The polishes were on my must buy list, not because of the books(although I've read and seen the movies), but because the first collection was amazing! I had high hopes for the 2nd so let's see if they live up to the first collection's reputation. Surprisingly they all had wide OPI/Dior like brushes, which I'm clumsy with using so please pardon if I color outside the lines. I didn't use any topcoat in these photos.

The first polish of the collection is Jacob's Protection, a black based polish with blue flecks throughout. Formula was a little bit on the thick side which made handling the wide brush even more difficult. It wasn't quite opaque after two layers so I went with three to get full opacity. The blue flecks are slightly duochromatic so you get flashes of purple here and there.

Essence Jacob's Protection

The 2nd polish of this collection is Alice Had A Vision - Again. This is another black based polish but with purple flecks. I had the most difficulty amongst all four polishes with this one, as I found the formula to be super thick but not pigmented enough to be opaque until three coats. It was really streaky to use as well. Once on it's really gorgeous but personally the color payoff wasn't really worth the application for me.

Essence Alice Had a Vision - Again

Alice Had a Vision - Again

The 3rd polish of this collection is a darkened gold foil called Piece of Forever. I don't usually wear golds like this but with the rising popularity of gold lately I figured I'd give it a try. This took four layers to become fully opaque as the formula was really thin and sheer. Once dried there are plenty of visible brush marks as well. After wearing it, I still don't like gold on me but it doesn't look too bad in these pictures.

Essence Piece of Forever

Finally, Edward's Love is a black base with silver flakes, a polish that's probably got a ton of dupes already out there. This took only 2 layers for opacity and I found the formula the easiest to use out of the entire collection. The silver flakes really come through against the black which might set this apart from other black and silver polishes.

Essence Edward's Love

Overall, the colors are really nice but I'm not a big fan of blackened or gold polishes. I think the colors really represent the characters and the movie well, so bravo to Essence for putting out this collection. I only wish the colors were a little easier to apply. My favorite is still the first collection as it has more colors that I liked and are more unique colors than these.

What do you think? Will you be rushing to your Ulta for these polishes? If so, hurry because they're limited edition and there are only three of each color available in each display. They're $1.99 each so you can't go wrong!

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