Sally Hansen Spark In The Dark Over Wet 'n' Wild All Access Gradient

Purchased

Hurrah for Friday!  It's been a long week and I'm glad it's nearly over.  It'll be my last weekend alone before the in-laws come out, followed by my parents through the end of summer.  I'm going to make the most of it, and try to relax, have fun, and minimize any errands.  How do you plan on spending your weekend?

I've been neglecting nail art over the past couple months and decided to do a quick gradient using the new Wet 'n' Wild Megalast All Access Summer collection.  I started with a base of the lightest color,  A Venice Day, which required three coats for opacity.  Next I sponged on the three gradient colors - A Venice Day, Love Me Some Muscle, and Beat Of A Generation together.  The middle shade, Love Me Some Muscle, ended up getting bullied out by the more pigmented pink of Beat Of A Generation.  I'm happy the way the colors blended together because it looks like a warm tropical sunset.  Pardon my crappy clean up, it's hard to do my nails when LO wakes up in the middle of my polish hour!

I added some visual interest to the gradient with Sally Hansen Spark In The Dark, a clear glitter topcoat containing matte black bar and hex glitter and gold hex glitter. Probably not the best layering combination with the gradient but I've been wanting to try this one out for a while.  There's something about that gold and black glitter combination that makes me weak in the knees!  Keep in mind when using this polish that the suspension base is thick like typical glitter bases, but when it dries it tends to shrink the base paint beneath it - you'll want to make sure to paint up to if not beyond your base color on your nail bed.  This is finished with a layer of topcoat.

Somehow with this combination I turned a beautiful tropical sunset into a bad neon eighties outfit.  LOL.  Well, at least I got Sparks In The Dark out of my system and it's no longer an untried, however, I'll have to come up with a more complimentary base color the next time I brave using it.  Blue maybe?  This is one reason why I have a hard time wearing gold accessories - it's so hard for me to coordinate!  Do you ever have this problem?

Purchased

Barielle Spring 2014 Vibrants Swatch And Review

Today I have the gorgeous Spring 2014 collection by Barielle called the Vibrants.  These are all bright saturated colors that range from pastel to almost neon.  Every shade in this collection is a trending color for this season, and I have to say, I love each and every one of them.  The collection consists of all creams, and all needed only two coats for full opacity.  The application was liquidy smooth and easy to apply, but make sure to not overload your brush to avoid pooling.  The only one that didn't self level well was Money Talks, which coincidentally is also the most pastel of the collection.  None of the swatches below are with topcoat so you can see each actual finish on its own.

First is Designer's Shoe, a cornflower blue cream. I love dusty blues like this!  I can't seem to find enough of them.

Barielle Designer's Shoe

Barielle Designer's Shoe

Barielle Designer's Shoe

 Next is a bright orangey red shade that leans a bit jelly in finish.  See how squishy it is??

Barielle Fire Me Up

Barielle Fire Me Up

Barielle Fire Me Up

 Money Talks is a lovely light mint cream.  This color is always a winner!

Barielle Money Talks

Barielle Money Talks

Barielle Money Talks

 Next is My City Apartment, a light concrete grey cream.  I've forgotten how lovely light greys are.  This would look great with some nail art.

Barielle My City Apartment

Barielle My City Apartment

Barielle My City Apartment

 Another blue shade in the collection is My First Class Ticket, a sky blue cream that is the epitome of a spring blue.  I think Easter Eggs and a clear blue sky.

Barielle First Class Ticket

Barielle First Class Ticket

Barielle First Class Ticket

Finally I have Take Me Shopping, a beautiful pink leaning coral.  I can't seem to get enough of this color now that I've discovered it.

Barielle Take Me Shopping

Barielle Take Me Shopping

Barielle Take Me Shopping

I think Take Me Shopping and Fire Me Up are my favorite shades of this collection, most likely because I've been gravitating towards warmer shades lately.  I love that this collection ranges from blue to red, with a beautiful grey and mint green in the middle.  These are colors that I would be comfortable reaching for regardless of the occasion.  Barielle is a nail fanatic staple, and luckily the barielle.com website regularly runs specials, like 30% on top of the normal BOGO 1/2 off.  Make sure you sign up for emails so you can be alerted of their sales.  This collection is definitely collection worthy!

Barielle Velvets Spring 2014 Collection Swatch And Review

Press Sample

Woot woot! After nearly a month I've been struggling to catch up with my daily blog reading and I finally caught up today.  I feel like I'm back in the blogosphere loop once again!

The lovely ladies at Barielle were kind enough to send me the spring 2014 Velvets collection to review, and I have to admit that I'm looking forward to trying out these spring influenced nudes.  Contrary to the name none of these had a velvet finish and all dried to a high gloss shine.  I added topcoat to enhance that innate shine.

To start, Sexy Mood is a mauve pink cream that glides on effortlessly in two coats.  It leans on the cool side but I can see this being flattering on most skin tones.

Barielle Sexy Mood

Barielle Sexy Mood

My Week Away is the only shimmer in the collection, albeit a hidden shimmer in a pale pink base.  This took three coats for full coverage.

Barielle My Week Away

Barielle My Week Away

Uptown Girl is a pale nude cream and the lightest shade of the collection.  I needed three coats here for full opacity with no streaking or issues to report with application or formula.

Barielle Uptown Girl

Barielle Uptown Girl

One of the brighter colors of the Velvet collection is a coral cream.  Only two coats needed here with a smooth and silky application.

Barielle A Little Exotic

Barielle A Little Exotic

Cream & Sugar is the sheerest of the collection.  It's a pale nude that reminds me of WnW 2% Milk.   I used four coats here for my long nails.  I bet this would be lovely for glitter sammiches

Barielle Cream & Sugar

Barielle Cream & Sugar

Finally we have a chamois tan cream called My Tan Blazer, and just like a trusty tan blazer I see this being a shade that can be reached for any time during the spring months.  Only two coats needed here.

Barielle My Tan Blazer

Barielle My Tan Blazer

Well there you have it! The Velvet collection surprised me with its versatility and didn't seem as mundane as I'd imagine.  The colors lend itself to be perfect for all seasons and complimentary for all skin tones.

Stay tuned for an upcoming giveaway hosted by Barielle here on the blog! I'll be giving away two prizes for my lucky readers.

Press Sample

Essence Color & Go Off To Miami Swatch And Review With Nail Art

Purchased

Happy Saturday!  I hope you have something fun planned that involves spending as much time outdoors.  It's too pretty outside to not enjoy it!

I've been reading that coral has been a popular color choice for this spring, and I'm excited to try it myself.  I use to despise this color, but after wearing it a few times, I understand it's draw.  It's bright, it's fun, and it makes the skintone take on a tan appearance.  I recently picked up Essence Color & Go Off To Miami, a salmon coral that is surprisingly a crelly.  I used three coats here to achieve enough opacity, mostly because it was too sheer after two coats and there were still some visible streaks until the third coat.  It also dries down an orange shade darker than what's seen in the bottle, which for me is a bit disappointing because I prefer pinker corals.  I used a layer of topcoat to add gloss and hasten drying.

Essence Color & Go Off To Miami 

Essence Color & Go Off To Miami 

Essence Color & Go Off To Miami 

Essence Color & Go Off To Miami 

Essence Color & Go Off To Miami 

I really love the name of it, Off To Miami because next week is the Winter Music Conference in Miami, a yearly pilgrimage that I use to make for almost a decade up until a couple years ago when we found out we were having LO.  I really miss those days, and still hope that I can make it back sometime soon.  I guess you consider this mani an ode to that event.

Next, because I had some other pastels sitting nearby, I thought I give a dot gradient a try.  I haven't done one it a while and thought the colors may work well together.  The purple is Essence Color & Go Oh My Glitter!, the green is SH Chartreuse Chase, and the light blue is Rimmel 60 Second Mintilicious.  It didn't work out as well as I wanted to, but it's been a while since my last one so I'm out of practice.

Pastel Dot Gradiant Nail Art

Pastel Dot Gradiant Nail Art

Pastel Dot Gradiant Nail Art

 This reminds me Easter Eggs in a basket, with the purple being my favorite of the colors.  Oh My Glitter! has a lot of shimmer in it and deserves to be worn on its own some point soon.  What color are you looking forward to wearing this spring?

Purchased

Crowtoes Tequila Sunrise Over Revlon Jelly Swatch And Review

Back to the daily grind again!  I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.  The weather here was delightfully fall-ish, with sunny skies and cooler temperatures.  We spent the day over in Little Osaka and walked around that neighborhood and spent time at the park.  I was stoked to have a caramel milk tea with pudding - it tasted exactly like flan in drink form.  Delish!  Next time I want to go back and try the okonomiyaki restaurant, they've got all sorts of toppings from pork belly to corn.  Oy, now I'm hungry again.

Rumbling tummy aside, I started today's mani with Revlon Jelly, a bright coral red crelly that went on smoothly with no streaks or pooling.  I haven't used a Revlon in ages and I was really impressed how easy it was to apply.  I used two coats here with no topcoat.  It has a squishy quality to it but it's not a true jelly, despite its name.

Revlon Jelly Swatch And Review

Revlon Jelly Swatch And Review

Revlon Jelly Swatch And Review

Revlon Jelly Swatch And Review

Revlon Jelly Swatch And Review

And now, the pièce de résistance, I used a layer of CrowsToes Tequila Sunrise that was given to me by a wonderful fellow blogger, Liz from Lacquer Slacker Liz.  I fell in love with Tequila Sunrise after seeing her swatches here, and she was generous enough to share that beauty with me.  Tequila Sunrise is magnificent pink sheer jelly with contrasting green shimmer.  I had a little difficulty with the formula, but I'm blaming myself because I was super tired at the time.  I used one coat over Jelly, and with my no not so steady hands I ended up with a little pooling and some brushstrokes.  This is finished with a layer of topcoat.

Crowtoes Tequila Sunrise Over Revlon Jelly

Crowtoes Tequila Sunrise Over Revlon Jelly

Crowtoes Tequila Sunrise Over Revlon Jelly

Crowtoes Tequila Sunrise Over Revlon Jelly

Crowtoes Tequila Sunrise Over Revlon Jelly

Crowtoes Tequila Sunrise Over Revlon Jelly

Holy Shimmer Batman!  I love the golden green shimmer popping against that pink base.  This is such a unique combination of colors, and I don't believe I've seen anything similar to this.  Crowstoes is a creative genius(or mad scientist!) and continues to produce beautiful polishes like this.  Now that I've gotten a taste, I need to have MOAR!