Blinging in the New Year!

Well, it's New Year's Eve and in just a few hours it will be 2012! I no longer celebrate, in fact, I'm in bed soon after the kids fall asleep, cause you know, old people can't hang anymore :p

But, I like to bring in the new year on a sparkly note! So this year I'm wearing WnW's 24 Carats. I also swatched the 3 SH Gem Crush polishes I bought the other day. So, let's start with the swatches :D

First up is Big Money. I really like this one. I'd describe it as a golden champagne micro glitter with pinky lavender circle glitters in it. It is beautiful! The thing about micro glitters is that they catch the light so that it looks super sparkly! Here is 2 coats of Big Money in direct sunlight.

Quick Video

Oh man, I just realized that you can totally hear when I drop the bottle on the floor. Thankfully, you can't hear the obscenity I muttered under my breath due to the vehicle that drove by at that exact moment!!!

Next is Be-Jeweled. This one is a lavender micro glitter with larger round iridescent pink glitters. This is probably my favorite of the 3. Is this one a dupe for Wet N Wild's It's All In The Cut from Ice Baby? I don't know, but I think it might be. Regardless, it's so pretty! No, really, look at how the camera captures the sparkles in this one! This is only 2 coats.

SPARKLES!!!

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Now the last of the Gem Crushes I picked up and honestly, my least favorite, Lady Luck. This one could be described as a raspberry colored micro glitter with larger round silver holo glitters. I love the micro glitter, I just don't think it goes too well with the silver holo glitters. Maybe I'm just crazy and this one is gorgeous, I just don't feel much love for it. But here it is at 3 coats.

Quick Video

Just to sort of recap on these. I found them at Walmart a couple of days ago and the display was almost empty. There were 6 bottles left and I took 3 of the 6. The 3 I left looked like dupes of OPI's Gone Gonzo, China Glazes Love Marilyn, Lorelei's Tiara and Some Like it Haute and WnW's Diamond In The Rough. They were $6.24 + tax each. I think that covers it? So now, onto what will be on my nails when 2012 rolls around.

This is 3 coats of Wet N Wild's 24 Carats from their Ice Baby Collection. I was able to find a few of the colors at my local Walgreen's, but not all. I got 5 and I think there were 8? Anyhow, this one is a bar glitter. It's sort of a mixture of silver, gold and copper bar glitters and tiny silver, gold and copper square glitters. I have a love/hate relationship with bar glitter. I love how it looks for a little bit and then I hate it. But I also love gold polish and I think my love for gold and sparkly overpowers the fact that this is a bar glitter. It's just so pretty!

Unfortunately the sun was going back and forth behind some clouds when I went to photograph this and it only peeked out really weakly for a few seconds while I filmed it. But I think if you've seen this polish in direct sunlight or a really bright lamp, you'll know how beautiful this looks! Here it is at 3 coats, WnW's 24 Carats.

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Well, that's it from me for today and for the rest of the year! I want to thank you for stopping by! From both Janelle and I, we wish Everyone a Wonderful, Amazing, Fabulous, Beautiful and Sparkly New Year! <3

MAC and Walmart finds!

We had a movie night lastnight for the kids. So in last minute preparations I headed out to Walmart to get a few snacks for the kids and their friends to enjoy. Of course, I cruised down the polish aisle and saw a few new Nicole by OPI colors - Shoot for The Maroon, Best Pink Ever and Fabulous is My Middle Name. I also saw a picked over display for the Sally Hansen Gem Crush polishes. From the Gem Crushes, I got 3 of the remaining 6 they had because the 3 I left looked exactly like China Glaze's Love Marilyn, Lorelei's Tiara and OPI's Gone Gonzo. Atleast from what I could tell. I don't like to swatch things in the store, especially if I have no intention of purchasing them. But they were $6.24 each and at that price, to be honest, I'm not going to buy them just to compare and find out they're dupes. Sorry. So I ended up with Be-Jeweled, Big Money and Lady Luck.

I also ended up only getting Shoot for the Maroon from Nicole. I almost got Fabulous is my middle name because it's a bar glitter. But I ended up leaving it because of the same reason. I'm not much into the bar glitters. I love how they look in the bottle and then when I wear them, not so much. I might go back for that one and the Best Pink Ever some other day. But for now, I left them. So here is what I got.

Sally Hansen Gem Crush Be-Jeweled, Lady Luck, Big Money

As far as I could tell in the store, I didn't have any dupes of these. Of course now, I think SH Be-Jeweled might be a dupe for Wet N Wild's It's All In The Cut from the Ice Baby Collection. I did not pick that one up, so I can't say for sure. But what I can say for sure is that Shoot for the Maroon is very, very close to OPI's Tease-y Does It from the Burlesque Collection. I'd go so far as to say that the only difference between the two is the amount of glass flecks in them. Shoot for the Maroon seems to be more concentrated than Tease-y Does It. But the base colors and shimmer colors look the same to me. I actually may go pick up another bottle of Shoot For The Maroon simply because I think it's prettier than Tease-y Does It based on the shimmer factor alone. Here's a comparison:

Bottle Comparisons

Shoot For The Maroon, Tease-y Does It, Shoot For The Maroon, Tease-y Does It

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Now from MAC, here's a few items that are upcoming in the Naturally and Iris Apfel Collections due to be released next week :)

A Perfect Day, Flamingo, Pillow Talk, Party Parrot, Sweet Sunrise

Early Morning

Some swatches of the lipsticks. I also did some comparisons on items that I thought looked somewhat similar in my own stash.

Out in direct sunlight from L-R: Flamingo, Sweet Sunrise, Pillow Talk, A Perfect Day, Party Parrot

Cut A Caper, Flamingo, Ever Hip, Jazzed

Nars Barbarella, MAC Ever Hip, MAC Cut A Caper, MAC Flamingo

Mac Hibiscus on top and MAC Party Parrot underneath

It seems Flamingo is pinker than the other similar lipsticks I own. Pinker and a bit brighter. It's definitely my favorite from the Iris Apfel lipsticks! Party Parrot is unlike anything I own. Mainly because I don't normally buy colors like it. But it seemed like a fun pink to start with. I'm more of a coral girl. So, this should be a nice gateway pink for me. Sweet Sunrise looks like death on my NC40 face and Pillow Talk is a lot more brown than I thought it would be. But blended out a bit, it took on a more rosy color. A Perfect Day is pretty much beautiful. Overall, I think I might even go back for Scarlet Ibis and another Flamingo. But even if not, these two collections have some items that looked really great imo.

Well, that's it from me for today! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you're all doing well and having a great day!

Sunlight on the Snow!

Today I wanted to show you guys a recent franken of mine. It's not anything really special. Just something that I was inspired to do by the latest snowfall a few days ago. The way the sun looks on the snow, all sparkly like glitter, it's so beautiful!

So I tried mixing a polish together to remind me of it. It didn't come out exactly how I imagined it, but it's a great palate cleanser, in my opinion :) So here is Sunshine on Snowflakes.

Direct Sunlight

In the shade

The inspiration

Of course, in the direct afternoon sunlight, it takes on a yellowish color. But in the shade and indoors, you can see it's white :) I made this by mixing white with SH Glass Slipper and China Glaze's White-Kwik-Silvr. That's it from me for today! I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the last few days of the year :D

Finger Paints Special Effects = Flakey fun!

This morning I went to my local Sally's and picked up 4 of the 5 new flakey polishes in Finger Paints Special Effects Collection.

The display has the 5 flakes and 1 black polish. The only reason I left one, Flashy, is because it reminded me too much of other flakies I already have, Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, Nubar 2010 and Essie Shine of The Times. If you don't have those, though, you might not want to miss out on Flashy. There are many similar colored flakes out there, but it's still pretty :D

From L-R: Asylum, Flecked, Motley, Twisted

Asylum and Flecked

Motley and Twisted

Although Asylum and Twisted look really similar, they're not dupes. The main difference is that Asylum has less of a variety of flakes in it than Twisted does. Of course, on the nail they look extremely similar. But that's because of the color changing quality of the flakes. Asylum looks like it only has the blue flakies that flash purple and the red flakies that flash green, orange and gold. Twisted to me looks like it has the red, blue and green flakies. Atleast, that's my opinion. You can't really tell the difference on the nail unless you look at them head on.

Asylum on the left and Twisted on the right

I swatched them all over American Apparel's Hassid (my favorite 1 coater black). Here they are with only one coat of the flakes over black:

L-R: Asylum, Flecked, Motley, Twisted

A bit sparse, but pretty. I think Flecked is the most densely packed one of the bunch. I can't speak for flashy. But of the 4 I got, Flecked seems like it could be a one coater when layering for sure :D So now here they are with 2 coats over black:

L-R: Asylum, Flecked, Motley, Twisted

Quick Video:

Big difference, right? I think they're pretty amazing! The girl told me these are limited edition and they were not out for sale yet. They had them in the back and allowed me to purchase them. They're supposed to go out for sale in January. So, call your Sally's and see if they'll let you have them now if you can't wait!

Well, that's it from me for today! I hope you're all having a great Friday!! Have a fun and safe weekend! It's Christmas for those of us who celebrate, even if you don't, I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! <3

China Glaze It's Alive!

Today was another cloudy day. Despite the weather report saying today would be sunny :(
So, no video today. Sorry. I was able to find a video for this polish! I knew I had one, but I never transferred it from the camera, so I do apologize for the late addition to this post. But here is a picture of one of my favorite polishes from this year. It's China Glaze's It's Alive from their Halloween collection.

Quick Video

When I first bought this polish, it was super thick and goopy. So I added a bit of thinner to it and when I put it on, it was so smooth and buttery in formula! It probably could have used a coat or 3 of top coat. I used one and you can see it's sort of bumpy. So, it's a thirsty glitter! Next time I'll try Gelous before the top coat. But that's it from me for today. Hoping to get some sun soon as I'm running out of things to show you guys in my emergency stash folder!

Hope you're all doing well and having a wonderful day!

OPI Spark De Triomphe

It's raining today :( So I pulled this out of my stash folder to show to you guys. This is 2 coats of OPI's Spark De Triomphe and on my ring finger I did a quick layer of the white shatter that came in this Serena Williams set.

I have to say, I do like how it looks with the shatter. But I can never get shatter to crack the way I want it to. Then, I also think that this glitter looks pretty amazing all on it's own. What do you guys think?? Better with or without the shatter?

Quick video

There's still a tiny bit of visible nail line with the two coats. But I like how it looks with just the two coats. I'm sure it'll be more opaque if you add another layer. But that's it from me for today! Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great evening :D

OPI DS Couture!

Here is one of the older colors from the Designer Series line - Couture. This is one pretty polish! I love holo and I love this! I just wish OPI would continue to make all their holo DS polishes. Oh well. This is 2 coats with the DS top coat.

Here's a quick video:

Call me crazy, but I feel like the DS top coat actually dulled some of the holo? Next time, I'll try Seche Vite I suppose. But just in case you're wondering why the bottle is wet, here's why:

I had the bottle on the snow on top of my car. So that's why it's wet! That's it from me for today. I hope you're all doing well and TGIF! My kids are going to be out of school for the next 2 weeks, so atleast no more having to wake up early to get them to school for the rest of the year :p

Orly Pure Porcelain layered!

Today I was doing some layering to decide which color to use, but decided to show you both :) I used Orly's Pure Porcelain as a base and then layered Orly's Shining Star (index and ring) and Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat from this year (middle and pinky). I liked them both, surprisingly.

A quick video:

That's it from me for today! Thanks for stopping by on this beautiful hump day. I hope you're all doing well and relaxing for the upcoming holidays :D