First Weekend of School: Nail Spam

January 9:

I seem to go for 5 days wearing on color and then two or three days constantly changing it. That happened this weekend. After a week of SOPI's "Sephora-212" and a bit of nail polish shopping, I painted my nails three times this weekend! It was fun, and I think I have settled on a color for the first part of the week. At first I was wanting a bunch of dark colors on my nails, but now I feel bright in-your-face polishes are going to prevail this week.

First off was three coats of Essie's "Demure Vixen" with knit stitches from my new Konad plate stamped on top. I used OPI's "William Tell Me About OPI" for stamping and the plate is m69. This manicure was supposed to inspire me to finish knitting a pair of mittens...it didn't work, but I love the manicure!

Next is two coats of Illamasqua's "Phallic". The name of this polish makes me laugh. This is a dark dark blue glitter/shimmer which you can barely tell here. It is more prominent in sunlight. Of course when I remembered I had this bundle monster stamp, which cannot being anything else but sperm, I had to put it on top. You may try to convince me it is just a bunch of balloons but I am set in my dirty ways. I used N.Y.C.'s "White French Tip" for the sperm stamp. Haha..."Phallic" and sperm. It looked kind of cute actually!

Lastly, I did a manicure with some polish I bought today. This is two coats of China Glaze's "Ick-A-Bod-Y" from the Halloween Awakening collection. At first I only bought "Mummy May I" back in November, but I was intrigued enough by this color, and it was on clearance, so I bought. I am so glad I did. This color, orange glitter in a moss green base, looked like it was going to be Halloween in a bottle. That is great for October, but not for the rest of the year. However, I decided to swatch it on my nails and I fell in love. The orange is more subtle on the nail and the base tones the color down even more so you end up with a great glitter polish. This was definitely a surprise seeing as I thought this would be my least favorite of the bunch.

On a very happy side note, while at Ulta today I ran across a never before opened lonely bottle of Revlon's "Perplex". It was just sitting in the Revlon Matte display saying "Look! Here! You finally found me!" It has been over a month that I have been searching for this polish and when I stopped looking it just showed up! Of course I bought it so it might end up on my nails later this week.

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

Top Ten Polishes of 2010

January 2:

I know this is two days late but that is ok. These are my favorite polishes of the year. Since I didn't really start buying polishes until May this is really my favorites from the last 7 months. It was surprisingly easy to choose my favorites. There were many colors that I liked a lot but just a few that I loved!

The polishes are in no particular order:

O.P.I.'s "Glitzerland" a warm gold metallic. 3 coats. I wore this for Thanksgiving and for New Years. This is a great gold that looks good with my skin. Great formula, dry time and overall finish.

Orly's "Space Cadet" a purple/green duochrome with a teal base. 3 coats. How can this not be on the list. This is one of the coolest polishes I have ever seen. Good formula and amazing finish. I can't stop looking at my nails with this one on.

Illamasqua's "Scarab" a blood red shimmer. 2 coats. First Illamasqua I owned. It spawned an obsession. Unbelievable formula, dry time and finish. Lasted a while on my nails without chipping.

Essie's "St. Lucia Lilac" a pastel lavender purple creme. 3 coats. I love this color. It is so simple and dainty and so pretty to look at. Lasted a while without chipping.

China Glaze's "Frostbite" an electric blurple shimmer. 2 coats. The biggest surprise favorite of the year. This was a polish I bought on a whim and now I can't stop thinking about it. Great formula and finish. Electric look. Definitely a perfect winter pick-me-up polish!

O.P.I.'s "Barefoot in Barcelona" a dark nude creme. 2 coats. Another great surprise favorite. This is a simple polish, but it looks so professional without giving me mannequin hands.

Essie's "Mint Candy Apple" a minty blue creme. 3 coats. Another great winter pick-me-up color. Bright, fun, minty polish. Held up well.

Essie's "Jazz" a warm white/beige creme. 3 coats. Another simple shade that I absolutely loved. Easy to apply, lasted while I wore it, couldn't stop looking at it.

Essie's "Turquoise and Caicos" a turquoise creme. 4 coats. This polish gave me so many issues. The first time it bubbled like crazy. The second time it creased like crazy. It takes four coats to be opaque...yet I think this is such a pretty color. It is fun and bright, reminding me of the Caribbean sea.

China Glaze's "VII" a vampy purple jelly creme. 3 coats. I bought this because it was on sale. I used it a fell in love with the jelly finish. I matted it and fell in love with the frosted venetian glass look. There is nothing bad to say about this polish. One of my all time favorites!

More Nail Spam...

December 17:

I am back from vacation, hence the 5 day break from blogging, I needed time to adjust to getting back home. Doesn't mean I haven't been painting my nails. I have done four-ish manicures in the past few days so I will just post them all here for you to see and then tomorrow I will have Christmas manicure #2 for you.

First up was Essie's "St. Lucia Lilac". This color looked like it was going to be boring on the nail, but I had it on for about 5 days, which is unusually long for me. I got a lot of compliments and it lasted almost the entire time with little wear. The color itself looked great against my skin and didn't remind of easter eggs like I thought it might. This was three average coats and one coat of Seche Vite. I own a lot of light lavender/lilac polishes but this one might be my favorite. It is so light that I might consider it a mannequin hand color even though it is purple. (Gotta love "The Two Towers"!)

After that I had one Milani's "HD" which I scored on clearance at Meijer a few weeks ago. Thiscolor is from their Holo 3D polish line that I thought would be long gone. It applied mostly opaque in three coats though I had some visible nail line. The polish itself was easy to work with and it lasted without chipping for the 2 days I wore it. The holo effect of this polish is really neat. It looks more 3D than Color Club's "Fashion Addict". There seems to be two kinds of holo glitter/foil in this polish that gives it that neat effect. Also, for some reason the holo effect seemed to be more noticeable in low inside lighting. Outdoors it was just a pretty silver polish with some sparkle.

My "Back to Chicago" mani had to be Illamasqua, seeing as I bought so much of it in Puerto Rico. I had a hard time choosing between "Baptiste" and "Viridian", though eventually I decided on "Viridian". Unfortunately I had a wonky brush which made it harder to apply the polish with, but it was opaque in one coat. I did two just to be safe. When I got home I trimmed down the brush, it was really long, and now it is the same length as its siblings. Just like all of the Illamasqua's I have used, it is great, long lasting, and gorgeous. "Viridian" is a dark teal that fades to almost black on the edges. Lovely!

The next day I sorted through mail and saw I had received my bottle of Nubar's "Nubar 2010" that I had ordered while in Puerto Rico so I swatched it on one nail. Originally my intention was to take off "Viridian" and do a Christmas manicure. However, "Nubar 2010" looked so good on top of "Viridian" that I put it on all of my nails and wore it for the rest of the day. Doesn't it look neat? "Nubar 2010" is a clear base full of iridescent flakies. They change from red to green with some gold and occasionally some blue. This is a must have!

Well, now I finally have another Christmas manicure on my nails and I am very happy with it! I will have pictures tomorrow.

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

P.S. Here Is my current pedicure. Essie's "Lapis of Luxury". It was a surprise hit with me for a pedi color, I am still wearing it and it has not chipped once. No top coat, three coats.

On Vacation With: Nail Polish Spam

December 8:

I have been painting my nails too often for blogging so I figured the best way to catch up was to post them all at once. It has been nice painting my nails at the end of each day but I think this weekend I will stick with just one color...well, we will see how that goes.

First up is Illamasqua's Rampage. This is two average coats and one coat of Seche Vite on top. Lovely forest green jelly. I am so glad I picked this one up. The jelly finish was fun to look at and I loved seeing how the polish changed in different lighting. Probably the best part was realizing that dark green polishes look pretty good on me. As far as I can remember I have never had a solid dark green manicure, but I am sure this will not be the last!

Next is Hot Topic's Teal Glitter polish. I looked for a name but I don't think it has one. It took three coats to be opaque but the dry time was good and the color/sparkle pay off was worth it. This is small teal glitter that really pops on the nail and it dries almost smooth. Topped with one coat of Seche Vite. This polish really impressed me, I thought it would be terrible after the first coat and the bottle design looked awful (tiny tiny tiny cap!) but it was just the opposite. I am thinking of going back for the other glitters (Hot Topic has a buy one get one 1/2 sale). This glitter is a must try. It was easy to remove as well (I didn't even have a bunch of glitter all over my fingers either).

Last is Sephora by OPI's Worth My Weight. I bought this thinking it was Looks Like Rain, Dear, and when it rung up at $5 instead of $9 I was surprised. As it turns out, I like this one more. My cousin bought LLRD and I think both are very similar but WMW has more glitter. This was two coats and both were very chunky. I love the color and the glitter but I hate how chunky it looks on the nail. Apparently it is not that noticeable but I still found it annoying. I topped it with two coats of Seche Vite and it dried almost smooth (though not as smooth as the teal glitter from Hot Topic). Great gold polish for the holidays! I would wear it all year round, I love gold polish and holo glitter, this was a great combination.

Up next I might have more Illamasqua's for you, or perhaps a haul blog.

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

Checking back with Illamasqua's Scarab

December 6:

So I do not have Illamasqua's Scarab on my nails today, but I had it on up until yesterday so this is close enough. After wearing this polish for five days I am happy to report that it performed beautifully! There was barely any tip wear and I had only one small chip on my right ring finger.

The color stayed true the entire time, though the last night I had it on I put on bug-spray and got some on my nails so they got a bit tarnished, and looked as good as day 1. I was so impressed with this formula that I decided to go and grab not only "Rampage" but "Baptiste" as well as their base coat. Perhaps I might even buy "Phallic" if I get the chance.

I truly cannot believe I managed to go five days without painting my nails, but then again this color was so gorgeous.

Right now I am sporting Illamasqua's "Rampage" which I should be wearing for the next few days. I am testing the lasting strength of Illamasqua's base coat as well. So far on my left hand I have no chips but on my right I have three tiny ones. I think they are from my nail being weak at the tip and not actually the polish. I'll keep my right hand in mind, but for now I think I'll just see how the polish lasts on the left.

Up next, however, I have an in between manicure that I did yesterday while waiting to go to the mall. China Glaze's "Shocking Pink" of course! I don't think I have ever reviewed China Glaze before on here so I might do that as well.

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

P.S. How do you like the new layout? I am still playing around with it but this will do for now...

First Chirstmas manicure!

December 4:

So I actually did this manicure during finals week to kick off the Christmas celebrations, but I haven't posted it until now. Good thing it is early December and not January when I am remembering it.

The reason why I am not posting another vacation manicure is that I still have on the Illamasqua Scarab mani. Can you believe it? I've lasted 5 days without one change to it, this is the beginning of a long and loving relationship. I am planning to get to Sephora sometime within the next few days and pick up a few new nail polishes, of course Illamasqua is on the list. From the feedback I got, I think Rampage is definitely one of them.

This manicure was pretty easy to do and looked great, though because of the glitter was a pain

to take off. I started off with two coats of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Hard as Nails "White On". After that dried I did one thick coat of China Glaze's "Party Hearty". The end result was a Christmas party on my nails. Perfect for those final hours of studying, right?

Apparently I had not used SH's Xtreme Wear polishes in a while because I forgot how awful the formula is. It was so runny that even though I liked the brush, there was no way to control the polish with it. It looked like milk running all over the nail. Eventually I worked out a system but it was still messy. On a more positive note, it was opaque in two coats which for a white is pretty good, and the dry time was fair.

The China Glaze glitter was great. It was not terrible to work with, the base was not too thick or thin, it was overall a great polish. Just when it came to taking it off I had issues because all the glitter seemed to grab at the cotton ball. I know I could try the foil method of removal but my nails beg me not to.

Up next I think I shall do a short post about the Illamasqua Scarab mani. Sometime today I will take off the polish and put on a fresh one, but for now I am still loving this manicure!

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

On vacation with Illamasqua's Scarab

December 2:

Yay! It is December! Of course you could never tell by looking outside my window right now, but in 13 days when I step into Chicago I think December shall smack me in the face. Oh well.

Today's mani is actually what is on my nails right now. This is a polish that I picked up from the giant Sephora they have down here in Puerto Rico. At first I went in with the intention of picking up a SOPI polish since I have never tried one before. I ended up with SOPI's "Flurry Up!" from their winter collection, and supposedly it is a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's "Today was a Fairy Tale."

Than, after wandering around the store, I cam across the Illamasqua section. This had me squealing since I thought it was only available online. Immediately I grabbed Viridian, a color I had wanted for a long time, and then kept going back and forth on Scarab. Eventually I paid for Flurry Up! and Viridian, but I came back and bought Scarab figuring it was cheaper this way (no shipping costs if I wanted to order it online later).

I am so glad I bought both of the Art of Darkness colors! Scarab looks wonderful on my nails. I have not stopped looking at it since I painted my nails November 30. That is quite a long time for me to go without changing my polish, especially while on vacation! On top of that I have no major chips or fading of color, just a tiny tiny tiny on my right ring finger. It is so small it is barely worth mentioning.

At first I thought the brush might be tricky to handle since the cap is square, but my fingers found the right position and I had no issues. Also, this polish was a one coater! Yes, a one coater. I did two just because doing one coat felt weird, and with two coats the color popped even more.

When I had finished my manicure I was not too happy with the result. It was one of my sloppier manicures (not the nail polishes fault) and I should learn not to paint my nails in dark rooms. Anyways, as I woke up the next day and showered, the nail polish seemed to fix itself, so now I have one o my most perfect manicures and most of it was not my doing. The edges evened out, the cuticles look clean, the tips are flawless. Illamasqua has just shot up to the very top of my favorite nail polish brands and this is just my first time using it!

Needless to say I am going back to Sephora for Illamasqua's base coat and at least one more bottle of polish before I leave. Any suggestions? I am thinking Rampage, Baptiste or Phallic, but I am not sure just yet. I also think I am going to pick up 212-Sephora from SOPI.

Up next, I think I shall have more vacation manicures, unless I don't take this one off! Then it will be another archive mani. Let's see how long this manicure lasts.

Until next time,

Happy Painting!

The Nailventuress

(Here is Scarab next to Viridian)