All Jazzed Up

I had the weirdest dream last night.  It was so weird I'm not even going to tell you about it.  Just that it was very weird and my subconscious must be a very strange place.  Then while I was posting this my computer froze so I re-stared it.  I am now finishing this 3 hours later because I accidentally fell asleep...no weird dreams were noted :P

Weird dreams and naps aside here is what I did to my China Glaze Running in Circles manicure from yesterday.  I use tape a did a manicure I saw over on Chloe's Nails. But her design was more dramatic.  I knew I wanted to have a green on green.  And I didn't want it to be obvious(I love manicure that use two similar colours).  So I used Essie Pretty edgy.  And I thought it needed a bit more so I placed a stud in the middle.  I did these nails on Friday and they still almost look EXACTLY the same right now(almost Thursday).

So what do you guys think?

Maybelline Denim Dash

These photos has been sitting on my computer for a few days and I keep meaning to post them but I have been exhausted due to a lack of sleep(every couple of months I'll have like 2 weeks where I can only sleep ever other night...It's great).  And my neck has been KILLING me.  But that was well worth it.  Hickey and all.

Yeah, I think I'm going to talk about the polish now.

This is my first encounter with any Maybelline polish.  A good friend of mine bought it for me for Christmas.  I actually got to choose between this and Styled out.  But I already had a similar colour.  Anyways I love this colour!  It's a rich sky blue that has silvery-blue flecks in it.  It needed a couple drops of thinner but apart from that it dried in 2 easy coats.  The finish was matte(which is neat because it is part of their denim line) but I ended up using topcoat.  I wanted to last longer.  My only problem was the brush.  Well not so much an problem as a personal preference.  I don't like my brushes that floppy.  I like them a bit stiff so I can have a bot more control(that sounds a bit naughty eh?).

While I never really paid much attention to these polishes I think I'm going to have to start paying more attention to them.

Coming soon: More badass nail art!  Did I hear chains? Also I'm about to go out for sushi.  It's not nail related.  But in my humble opinion it's still news worthy.  What's you favourite thing to order when you go out for sushi?

 In its natural matte state

I was feeling fancy so I added sequins.

Cult Nails - Power Thief: I really wanted to do nail art

But I ended up using this instead.  Do you ever have those days where you're like "I really want to do x to my nails."  Then as you are looking through your stash you get drawn to the complete opposite?  That's what happened to me.  I really wanted to do some nail are.  I really didn't have anything in mind I just knew I wanted to do art.  But for some reason I kept picking up nudes and neutrals.  And not wanting to put art on them :P

I ended up picking up Cult Nails Power Thief originally from their Super Powers collection.  It's a milk chocolate brown.  It looks like chocolate milk with silver flecks in in.  I only had to us 2 coats, but I noticed it did start getting a bit gloopy as I went through the manicure.  Despite this minor problem I really like this colour.  It's safe for work but the flecks add a little something to it.

Anyways I shall have some nail art this weekend!  Huzzah!  And maybe I'll show you guys a pair of sparkly, stud covered sneakers I bought :P

Zoya FeiFei: In which Zoya is redeemed.

So you all know about my love/hate(more hate) relationship with Zoya polishes.  Much like Lippmann, Zoyas chip on me in HOURS.  Like, just so fast.  It's rage inducing to paint your nails a gorgeous new colour only to have to take it all off before you're able to wear it out of the house.  I very rarely buy Zoyas because I never wanted to have to buy a separate base and top coat just to use them.  I think brands like Zoya can afford to step up their game and make polishes that work with other top and base coats.  Come on, guys.  It's not hard.

BUT recently I decided to go for it and I swapped for the Zoya Colour Lock system,  so I decided to get myself a new Zoya to test it out.  I decided on FeiFei really easily, it was just so interesting that I knew I needed it, even if it never left my house.  FeiFei is a true chameleon, one of the nicest polishes I've ever seen.  A grey(I THINK) base with lots of blue, purple, green, and gold.  Every time it hit the light I got a different colour.  I love this so much.

So the big question, how did the base a top coat fare?  Well... Better than usual, but nothing terribly amazing.  I wore it for three days, had a very small chip on day two and a larger chip on my thumb on day three.  I tried the "system" with Charla and Mimi in recent days as well to similar results.  So Zoya with it's special and fancy "Colour Lock" system lasts for less time on average than A England with whatever I have lying around.  Sure, I'm impressed, but only because anything longer than two hours with Zoya on is practially a miracle for me.

Natural low light.  LOOK AT THOSE COLOURS DO YOU SEE ALL THE COLOURS?????

Cult Nails - Mind Control

I think this was the first Cult Nails I ever owned.  Memories.

Mind control is a blackened base with duochrome flecks that flashes magenta and green depending on the light.  Formula was nice and it covered in two easy coats.

I don't know why but when I took photos with flash It just looked gross.

Overall this is a great vampy colour for the fall.  I love colours like this.  And while it's not my favourite I still think it's pretty great and if you can you should grab yourself a bottle.

 Green

 to

 magenta.

 

It looked dirty with the flash.  Maybe that's just me...

Ebony and Ivory Swatch China Glazes Hunger Games Collection - Part 1

So first off you should know that we're going to try and do combined posts too.  This is something we've been wanting to do for a while.  We thought it would be nice to be able to come to one place and see how something might look on darker and lighter skin or on different nail shapes. And not only that but taste wise we're pretty opposite. George leans towards brighter colours and glitter where I (Kas) lean towards warmer, and vampy colours, and prefer shimmer. But that doesn't mean we don't deviate.  Also we don't read each others reviews before posting them so it's fun to see when we have two wildly different opinions on things (See Smoke & Ashes :P). Anyways let's get this wheel of cheese rolling!

Quick intro! George is a big Hunger Games fan and I read the first book and I thought it was ok. She was excited for this collection.  I was neutral.  George is tall. I am average height. George bought 6 bottles from the collection.  I bought none.

Riveting (District 3 - Technology)

George

Kas

Kas: In the sun

Riveting is and Orange jelly with golden flecks.  We used 3 coats.

George: I love this colour. It's just so bright and shimmery and I love that it doesn't clash with my skin. It has a lot of depth and just seems to glow. This is definitely one of my must-have picks for this collection!

Kas: I really liked this colour in the bottle but I already knew I wouldn't like it on me.  I find most oranges look horrific on my skin tone. But the colour is by no means ugly.  It's beautiful and if you can work it.... work it :P Also it reminds me of a magical tangerine (because I see them all the time).

Dress Me Up (District 8 - Textiles)

Kas

George

Kas

George

Dress Me Up is a dusty pink cream.  We  both used 2 coats. But you may need 3 depending on how thick you do each coat.

Kas: I was unsure of this colour (as I always am at first of most pinks) but I was hopeful because it was a dusty pink and those are generally the types of pinks I like. I'm happy to say that I really liked it.  And the formula was flawless in my opinion.  This is also a great work safe polish.

George: Well, you already saw this on me in my Pirouette My Whistle post, but here it is again. Let me just say: I LOVE THIS. You all know my feelings about neutrals, but for some reason this one just won me over. I think it's because it's dusty and sophisticated while also being just plain pretty. I mean, look at it! Talk about the perfect neutral.

Smoke & Ashes (District 12 - Mining)

George

George: Sunlight

Kas: Sunlight

Kas: Sunlight

Smoke & Ashes is a black based polish with blue-green micro flecks.  We used 2 coats in the pictures.

George:  A lot of bloggers were disappointed with this colour, which is shocking to me, because I think it's amazing. The blue and green shimmer just come alive in almost any light, and the blackened base gives it versatility. I wore this with a flakie topcoat and the result was absolutely incredible. I just don't understand how anyone couldn't love this.

Kas: Now to be honest I wasn't too crazy over this collection.  But from the initial photos I thought this would be the one I bought. But after swatching it this was quite the disappointment. The flecks don't pop enough. The black om noms too much of it.  Now I love polishes with hidden secrets but the key is the secret can't be hidden forever. In theory this polish was a good idea. But it was executed poorly.

Well that's all for now.  Tomorrow we shall have the final 3 that we own up. 

Ciao!

Orly's Stone Cold

 So now for something that's not pink.

Stone Cold is from Orly's Mineral FX collection.  I bought this when I had a $5 off coupon at Sally's.  Now I just love this colour.  And again I'm not big on obnoxious sparkles but there's something about this. I just couldn't stop looking at it.  *(Who am I kidding, I'm a girl.  And if it shines I want a boy to buy it for me).

Stone Cold is a royal blue, jelly based, loaded with blue glass flecks.  I used 2 coats in the picture and there was no visible nail line.  I could have used 3 coats but that would have just been nit picking.  Application was amazingly easy.  And drying time was good too.  There's just something about this that I really love.  It has amazing depth.  It's not just another shiny blue.

*Japery guys!

Picture whoring time!!!!!!!

Artificial lighting indoors!

 Now some natural light shots!

China Glaze Glittering Garland

First off when it comes to polish unless someone is giving it to me for free I'm super picky.  It's rare that there's ever a collection where I think everything is fabtastic and I want it all.  China Glaze's Holiday 2011 collection was... no exception.  I could care less about 85% of the collection.  Not that I didn't like them.  I just didn't love them (And I can't spend $$$ on things I don't love... I have sever buyers remorse).  But when I saw them in person I knew I needed Glittering Garland.

Glittering Garland is an emerald green polish full of green-gold (depending on the light) glass flecks. The formula was magical.  I only needed 2 coats.  And even though it's full of glass flecks it's not overpowering and overly shimmery.  Win!

I've never was a huge green polish fan, but it's multidimensional, different colours like this that are winning me over. Congrats China Glaze. Have some pie. Pie's a celebratory dish right?