A blog about a girl, her nail polish, and some delicious noms.
Posts tagged China Glaze
31 Day Challenge 2012: Day 16 – Tribal Nails!!
46 months ago
Hey Everyone!
*Phew!*
I’m finally caught up with Sam and Cris for the 31 Day Challenge 2012! I’m really happy with how my tribal nails turned out so let’s get right to it! ^_^
31 Day Challenge 2012 Day 16 – Tribal Nails
I first saw this look created by Supa Nails and I fell in love. I pinned her Zulu Pop nails to my Pinterest ‘nails to try’ board and then promptly forgot about it, haha. When I was trying to think about what to do for today these popped back into my brain and it was a wrap. 
I used China Glaze Orange Knockout (Neon) as my base, it’s one of my favorite oranges and it’s BRIGHT! I then free-handed the rest with black and white nail art pens, Milani White On The Spot, Sally Hansen Lightening and Essie Lapis Of Luxury.
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What do you think of these bright tribal nails everyone? I really like ‘em. But you know how I love my brights.
31 Day Challenge 2012: Day 9 – Rainbow Nails!!
156 months ago
Morning Everyone!
I hope you’re all having a great week so far! I have one more night of work and then I have the rest of October off! I’m excited to have a mini break and just become a vegetable at home. And perhaps venture out a time or two for Halloween festivities! For those that celebrate, any of you have fun plans for the extended Halloweekend? And what are your costume plans?! I love hearing about what other people are going to do for the holiday. ^_^
Also I wanted to thank everyone that voted for my Bundle Monster Fright Night contest entry, BECAUSE I MADE IT AS ONE OF THE 13 FINALISTS!! You can see the other finalists [HERE]. The guest judges are picking the winners some time today, and even if I don’t place I’m still happy to have made it as far as I did because there were some amazing entries for the contest. 
Today is Day 9 of the 31 Day Challenge 2012, and the prompt is rainbow nails. I don’t know why, but this is my least favorite prompt of the entire challenge (swiftly followed by ‘Inspired by a Color”, I’m still wtf-ing at that one). Last year I did Nyan Cat (which I loved, even though my cat looked a little… off) but this year I was just so uninspired. I did eventually figure something out so without further ado…
31 Day Challenge 2012 Day 9 – Rainbow Nails!
I called myself trying to keep things “simple” with a rainbow skittle manicure. I wanted to do the Fishtail Braid as an accent nail because I figured that doing it on just one nail would save time. Too bad this still took me THREE FRICKIN’ HOURS with having to wait between coats to dry… 
Even 12 hours later my stupid ring finger is still dentable. I love the look of Fishtail Braid manicures, and this one turned out better than my last attempt… But I doubt I will ever do this ish again unless I’m using quick dry nail polishes.
Nail Polishes I Used:
Dermelect Head Turner (pointer finger)
Sally Hansen Lightening (thumb and ring finger)
OPI Red Lights Ahead… Where? (middle and ring finger)
Color Club Insta-This (pinky and ring finger)
OPI A Roll In The Hague (ring finger)
Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas (ring finger)
Essie Pretty Edgy (ring finger)
China Glaze Wireless Holographic Top Coat
I’m glad I decided to add the holographic top coat because I really think it ties everything together nicely. For the fishtail braid accent nail I just carefully free-handed the lines because I am just entirely too impatient for tape manicures. I always end up peeling off half my nail polish in the process.
And a few more shots with my rarely seen thumb. My nails are getting pretty long again, eh? I think I’ll keep them long-ish at least to the end of the challenge since it gives me a better work space for nail art. ^_^
I’m almost tempted to grow them super long and shape them into stilettos just for shiggles before I file them down after the challenge is done. 
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Well that’s all she wrote for today everyone! The next challenge day is this Saturday and it’s gradient nails! I cannot wait to show you what I have in store for that day! ^_^
Don’t forget to check out Sam and Cris’s blogs to see their Day 9 rainbow nails.
* Some of the product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.
OPI Fall 2012 Collection Comparison Swatches!!
217 months ago
by Rie
in Comparisons
Morning Everyone!
Here’s a few OPI Fall 2012 collection comparison swatches for you all. I’m not going to do a ton because Jen from The Polishaholic already did a PHENOMENAL comparison post that you can see [HERE]!
I’ll just be including some requested comparisons and a few that I think will benefit people including polishes that Jen did not feature in her post. ^_^
If anyone can think of some other polishes they’d like to see compared here, let me know in the comments section. If I own both polishes then I will update this post with swatches!
If you missed my posts on the OPI Fall 2012 collections you can see them here:
Germany Collection
NOPI Fall 2012 Target Exclusives
Designer Series Fall 2012 Collection
OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest vs. ANNY The Answer Is Love
Just by looking at bottle shots of these two I could tell that it was gonna be close! You can see swatches of The Answer Is Love [HERE]. Let’s take a look at the swatches. ^_^
Shown here is 2 coats of each. Not exact dupes, but very close! The shimmer in The Answer Is Love is a bit stronger with a more copper orange undertones. But to the naked eye there is barely a noticeable difference. Since the ANNY polish is not easily obtainable in the US, OPI’s Every Month Is Oktoberfest is your closest option if you are lemming after ANNY The Answer Is Love. ^_^
NOPI Mermaid For Each Other vs. Missha HRG01 vs. Peridot
Just by looking at the bottle shots here, you can already tell that NOPI Mermaid For Each Other (MFEO) is not another Peridot dupe (thankfully). I pulled out my bottle of Missha HRG01 because it looked pretty dang close.
Dupe City Bitch! Dupe, Dupe City B…. I’ll stop. 
Mermaid For Each Other (MFEO) and HRG01 are damn near identical! I used 2 coats of each and 3 coats of Peridot. You cannot tell them apart from the naked eye. The only thing that gives HRG01 away as being different is the horrific fake rose scent that they added to the polish.
OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! vs. Essie Power Clutch
I honestly thought that Essie Power Clutch (PC) and OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine! would be closer than this, but my eyes were apparently playing tricks on me. Definitely NOT dupes. 2 coats of each polish here.
Rimmel Lava Red vs. OPI German-icure
I remembered that I had my beloved Rimmel Lava Red in my collection. It’s a bit HTF these days so I wanted to see how OPI German-icure compared. Not dupes, German-icure is darker with more of a dried blood/brown tone to it than Lava Red. I personally think you need both.
OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby vs. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Orange Splash
I snagged a bottle of Sally Hansen Orange Splash from the same Fall 2012 display with In A Flurry. I couldn’t find any swatches of Orange Splash online but I figured it’s orange so I needed it. Not a dupe like I was guessing for OPI Deutsch You Want Me Baby (DYWMB), but still gorgeous! Orange Splash is very much a Summer orange while DYWMB is all about the Fall. 2 coats of each polish here.
OPI Danke Shiny Red vs. A England Perceval
A England Perceval is my absolute favorite garnet/jewel toned red. I wanted to see how OPI Danke Shiny Red compared. Not even close my friends. 2 coats of each. Danke Shiny Red is pretty, but Perceval just has more depth. ♥
OPI DS Luxurious vs. China Glaze Riveting
And saving my two favorites for last, DS Luxurious compared to China Glaze Riveting (another all time favorite). While these two are very close they are not dupes. DS Luxurious is a touch darker and has larger gold particles. Both are gorgeous. If you have one you don’t necessarily need the other, and Riveting is going to cost you less since it lacks the diamond dust that’s in the OPI DS line. 2 coats of each polish here. I love both and I’m glad I have both. ^_^
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Thank you for checking out my comparison shots! If you can think of anything else you’d like to see me do comparisons with, please shoot me a message! I hope you also liked my incredible shrinking nail length, haha! These photos have been sitting for a bit and my talons have grown since then. I think I might file ‘em down to this length again though. Easier to type with.
* Some of the product(s) in this post were sent to me for unbiased review consideration.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.
Still Alive… And Some Polish/Kitty/Food Instagram Updates!
14Hey Everyone!
I apologize for my latest blogging absence! This is my last month of my apprenticeship at the salon so it’s crunch time with time trials and mock state boards. NO PRESSURE. Add on to this my regular 40 hours at the night shift job and I am just BEAT. I’ve still been polishing my nails and posting quick NOTD’s on Instagram, but sitting down and editing/writing a full post just hasn’t been happening. Every time I think about wanting to post, I just end up going to bed instead.
I’ll get through this slump folks, please hang in there! ♥
So for now I’ll just post some of my latest Instagram updates to share with you all while I get through my blogging drought. 
Om Nom Noms At The Portside Inn
I did have a break from the madness to enjoy a nice lunch at one of my favorite places to eat in town. This amazingness is from a restaurant called the Portside Inn. They have the best french onion soup. EVER. But since it was 85 degrees out I decided not the get the soup this time. Instead I got The Edmund, which is their delicious reuben sandwich (something I always order no matter what). The manfriend and I split some bruschetta and I had a white sangria, sooooo nummy!
Back To Squovals
I gave the roundies a good ‘ole try, but the squovals are back and here to stay folks! I missed them so much, and I just could not get the rounded nails up to my level of perfection. I decided to do something simple with my nails here, so I did a jelly sandwich with OPI Pirouette My Whistle and My Pointe Exactly.
China Glaze Gradient!
I found the China Glaze On Safari Collection polishes you guys!! I was so pumped that they arrived at my local pro shop. I bought 6 of them from the collection and I hope to have time to swatch them soon! For now I just did a gradient with Exotic Encounters and Man Hunt. I don’t know why my fingers look so zombified in the close-up shot, I blame my iPhone.
I added square gold studs from Cult Nails as an accent. The studs are nice but kinda HUGE on my tiny narrow nails. I had to add 2 coats of Gelous and a thick coat of top coat to get them to be smooth with my nail since the edges were floating in the air.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the 6 polishes that I picked up from the On Safari collection.
From left to right: Jungle Queen, Elephant Walk, Exotic Encounters, Kalahari Kiss, Desert Sun and Man Hunt.
I’m curious to see how similar Jungle Queen is to Revlon Perplex (or Naughty after the recent rename).
Anyone spot my cross-sitched Nyan-Cat in the background? It was made by my awesome pal Anne-Marie. Check out her Etsy shop, SheWithNeedles. She did a few other kick-ass custom projects for me too. ^_^
OPI Spotted and Zoya Gradient – No Filter
I know I just posted my OPI Spotted and Zoya Tracie/Wednesday gradient a week ago, but it seemed like people complained about the Instagram filter throwing off the color. Here’s a non-filtered photo for you all. I honestly don’t think the color in the previous one was off by that much, but ah well!
Glix Polish Haul!
I got my first order from Glix/Glitrix on Etsy and I can’t wait to try them out! I’ve seen a few of her franken polishes posted here and there and I decided to take the plunge. I know the star-shaped bottles are gonna be a pain, but the minis are so stinkin’ cute!
Kitty Faces
And just for shiggles (thank you Cris for that term, lmao!) I decided to throw in a few kitty pics since it’s been a while. Here’s Clarence and Saucer Eyes McGee Chauncey being preoccupied by something behind me. Probably a ghost. Or scary fireworks. These things happen.
And one more picture of Chauncey hanging out with one of our favorite people, the manfriend. He’s wearing one of my favorite shirts. I love the random white pirate cat, you can see a bit of its eye patch. And yes, one of the other t-shirt cats has a cigarette. Don’t smoke kids. Stay in school.
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That’s it for this installment of Rie’s Randomness™. Thank you all again for your patience and I hope to be back soon with some real swatches for y’all soon!
NOTD: My X-Out Nail Project Mani!
14Morning Everyone!!
I hope you all are doing well this morning. We’re halfway through the week, and I only have a few more midnight shifts until I get a much needed 4 day break!
A few weeks back I was contacted by a representative of X-Out, an acne treatment/skin care brand specifically for teens from the makers of Proactiv. They are doing a really great nail art project for an amazing cause. For every blogger that created an X-Out themed manicure they are going to donate $200 to Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center!
Pacer’s is a great national organization that helps to prevent bullying, and they help educate communities on how to address this serious issue. I never personally experienced bullying in school but I know how devastating it can feel to be on the receiving end of unkind words.
Even though I definitely came up with this theme after working 10 hours overnight and on the fly, I’m pretty pleased with the results! I included the images they sent me for inspiration at the bottom of this post, let’s see what I came up with.
My X-Out Nail Project Mani!
Polishes Used:
China Glaze – Grape Juice
Wet n Wild – On A Trip
Lynderella – Bride Of Franken
OPI – Did You ‘Ear About Van Gogh?
Essie – Go Overboard
L.A. Colors Art Deco – White
SinfulColors Nail Art Polish – Black
I’m writing this post on 2 hours of sleep from way earlier today, so let’s see if I remember how I did this. I did gradients with Grape Juice, On A Trip, Did You ‘Ear About Van Gogh?, and Going Overboard on my pointer, middle and pinky fingers. I used striping tape on my pinky to get the staggered striped pattern, and each gradient is different from the other but in the same color theme.
I then added a coat of Bride Of Franken on my pointer finger. And I used my black and white nail art pens to create the X on my middle finger. Finally I added microbeads in silver, purple, black and blue to my ring finger, topped my other three fingers with top coat and I was done! Below are some close-ups of each design.
My pointer/index finger.
Middle finger.
Ring finger.
And my pinky, which is my favorite of all the ones I did for this manicure. If you’re wondering what base color I used then you’ll have to wait for that post later this week.
♥
I was provided with images of the X-Out bottle, packaging, and their X-Out ‘manifesto’ to work with. I used the colors and patterns from both to come up with my nail art designs. ^_^
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I hope you all enjoyed my NOTD, it’s not often that I can say a manicure of mine was for a greater cause other than creating lemmings. With the opportunity to help Pacer’s, I just couldn’t pass this up!
I’d like to again thank Proactiv, X-Out and Guthy-Renker for thinking of my blog for this amazing nail art project!
Some China Glaze Summer Neons 2012 Swatches!!
9
Morning Everyone!
Summer is upon us and you all know what that means… NEONS! Well, maybe not for everyone but it certainly means that I’ll be sporting neons all summer long, haha! China Glaze released a new collection of Summer Neons for 2012 and they finally showed up at my local pro beauty shop. I snagged just a few to try them out to see if they lived up the hype and ooooohhh man, I’m gonna need to go back and get more of them as soon as possible.
Let’s take a look at the ones I grabbed so far. ^_^
I’m With The Lifeguard
I’m With The Lifeguard is a bright lime green neon shimmer and we’re in love. I previously had been lusting after the elusive China Glaze Limonyte (swatches [HERE] and [HERE]), but I’m With The Lifeguard has killed that lemming for me. This polish is pretty fantastic! It was a little streaky on the first coat, but 3 coats gave me full opacity. You could get away with 2 coats if you don’t mind the slightest hint of VNL.
Surfin’ For Boys
Surfin’ For Boys is such a crazy color, I phuckin’ love it! It’s a reddish-orange-coral type color that’s filled with shimmer. And my camera didn’t know what the hell to do with it, hah! If you magnify these photos you can make out the shimmer though, it’s amazing! This is 2 coats.
I’ll have to add a picture I took with my iPhone because it’s somehow MORE accurate, though these photos are fairly close to the color of the polish against my skin tone. It made my skin look SO tan though!
For gits and shiggles I decided to take a picture with flash. WHOA MAMA LIKES. I cannot wait to put Surfin’ For Boys on my toes and take this sucker to the beach.
Sun-Kissed
Sun-Kissed is everything I wanted in a neon yellow polish and more. Not only is is a killer highlighter yellow neon. BUT it has gorgeous almost golden shimmer. It’s even brighter in person, you just need to see it for yourselves folks.
AND.
ANNNNNNNDDD.
It’s a 2 coater. A 2-coat yellow. A 2-coat NEON yellow. No white base polish necessary. This doesn’t compute in the nail polish world. I love it. You need it. End of story. ♥
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So I’m going to have to eat my words with these polishes. I remember tweeting last month that I was ~*~*soooo*~*~ uninterested in the China Glaze Summer Neons 2012 collection, and that none of them looked to be worth purchasing.
I’m glad I changed my mind because I would have kicked myself if I’d missed out on these polishes! The formulas are superb, the colors are vibrant, and I love that these are neons with shimmer! Expect more swatches when I go back to buy even MOAR of these little neon beauties from my pro shop.
Black And White Challenge Day 7: Black & White With Glitters [Sandwich]!
301 year ago
Hey Everyone!!
We’re almost done with our Black and White challenge folks, time is zooming by! If you missed any of the previous days you can see them all by clicking [HERE]. It’s Day 7 now, and our task today was to create a manicure with black and white with glitter! I love black and white glitter in nail polish!
So today I pulled out all of my black and white glitters that I own and slapped them on my nails. Yes, you heard me… ALL of my black and white glitters. Well all of them except for Nubar’s White Polka Dot, which I forgot I owned. Next time Nubar, next time.
Wanna see how it turned out? Look no further! ^_^
Black And White Challenge Day 7: Black & White With Glitters [Sandwich]!
I kinda went to Glitter Valhalla with this one you guys. Annnnnnd I love it! Nothing is better than a big fat glitter sandwich!
Glitter Sandwich ‘Recipe’:
Your favorite base coat (Cult Nails Get It On for me!)
2 coats of Sally Hansen – White On (base color on my ring and pointer fingers)
2 coats of China Glaze – Liquid Leather (base color on thumb, middle and pinky fingers)
1 coat of L.A. Girl – Uninhibited (on my pointer and ring fingers)
1 coat of Essie – Marshmallow (on my pointer and ring fingers)
1 coat of Lynnderella – Snow Angel (on my thumb, middle, and pinky fingers, then one more thin coat of ChG Liquid leather over it)
1 coat of Lynnderella – Connect The Dots (on every finger)
Crazy mix o’ polishes, right?! I then topped everything off with a coat of Gelous followed by a coat of Seche Vite. Can you believe this crap was actually dry to the touch in 10 minutes?!
Here’s a macro of my white glitter sandwich. I love how Uninhibited looks floating around underneath Essie Marshmallow!
And finally, a macro shot of the black glitter sandwich. The micro-shimmer in Connect The Dots really pops! And I love the murky white look of the glitter floating inside the layers of ChG Liquid Leather. Clicking on both of these to enlarge the photos is a MUST.
Say it with me folks: *le swoon*
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Check out the rest of the Sexy6 and their take on the Day 4 Challenge ^_^
1. White base with black (Apr. 1st 2012)
2. Black base with white (Apr. 4th 2012)
3. Black base with color (Apr. 7th 2012)
4. White base with color (Apr. 10th 2012)
5. Color base with black (Apr. 13th 2012)
6. Color base with white (Apr. 16th 2012)
7. Black & white with glitters (Apr. 19th 2012)
8. Sponging (Apr. 22nd 2012)
9. Water marble (Apr. 25th 2012)
10. Manicure of your choice with black and white (Apr. 28th 2012)
China Glaze Hunger Games Collection Swatches – Part 2
12Good Morning Again Tributes!
I’m back with Part 2 of my China Glaze Hunger Games Colors from the Capitol Collection Swatches. If you missed out yesterday, you can check out Part 1 right [HERE]. Let’s move right into the polishes, shall we?
I used Sally Hansen Nail Quencher and Seche Vite as my base coat/top coat combo for all the swatches shown today.
Mahogany Magic (District 7 – Lumber)
Mahogany Magic is a chocolate brown creme with yellow undertones. I ended up liking this one a lot more than I thought I would. I have a grand total of maybe three brown polishes, including this one, but the color is great! I used 2 coats here. The formula is a little thin but built up nicely and had good pigmentation.
Dress Me Up (District 8 – Textiles)
Dress Me Up was another surprise “DO WANT” polish for me. I do not reach for pinks usually, but this dusty rose hued creme is super pretty and feminine without being too grandmotherly. I used 2 coats for this one as well, the formula is awesome!
Harvest Moon (District 9 – Grain)
Harvest Moon (not to be confused with one of my favorite franchises ever) is a shimmering copper metallic foil. I love it! It reminds me of a brand new penny! I used 2 coats here.
Macro shot of Harvest Moon. This seems like a polish that would fit better in a Fall collection as opposed to Spring, but when have I ever really treated ANY polish as seasonal?
Foie Gras (District 10 – Livestock)
I think that the name for Foie Gras fits really well with this polish. The color is not quite brown and not quite purple, but somewhat of a mix between the two… If that makes sense to anyone other than me. Another easy as pie creme to apply, and once again I only needed 2 coats for opacity.
Agro (District 11 – Agriculture)
Agro! OMG this polish has my heart! I’m taking this one and Riveting and hugging them tight to my chest and never letting them go! Agro is an olive green metallic and we’re in love. I used 2 coats here, and it has a slight tendency to show some brush strokes since it’s a metallic but it’s hardly noticeable once the polish dries.
Macro shot of Agro for ya. Look at this thing of beauty. *le sigh*
Smoke and Ashes (District 12 – Mining)
Smoke and Ashes is another one I am loving! It has a black base that’s filled with blue and green glass flecks. Maybe it’s my eyes playing tricks on me but sometimes the base looks like a blackened navy blue instead of straight black. 
It reminds me so much of my beloved ChG Blk-Bila-Bong and Barielle’s Blackened Bleu, I feel like Smoke and Ashes is at least a cousin of the two. I’ll be adding it to my comparison list for a future post. The formula is great, I could have stopped at 1 coat! I ended up using 2 coats here for swatching purposes.
Macro shot for ya of Smoke and Ashes. Magnify that sucker, you won’t regret it.
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Final Thoughts:
Wow, I find myself liking each and every one of these! If I had to pick favorites from this batch it’d be Agro and Smoke and Ashes. The formulas for all of these were great, not a bad egg in the group! I know that not all of the colors in this collection are ~*~unique snowflakes~*~, but I’m a sucker for geekery and if there’s a polish based on my favorite books, movies or games you can sign me the hell up!
If you’ve snagged any of the Colors from the Capitol, which ones have you been liking the most. And my bigger question, for those that went to the midnight release… HOW WAS THE MOVIE?!
No spoilers please for those that haven’t read the book/seen the movie yet. ^_^
Purchase Info:
The China Glaze Hunger Games Collection polishes can be purchased from a variety of e-tailers: TransDesign, Victoria Nail Supply, Nailsupplies.us, Head2Toe Beauty, and 8ty8 Beauty. You can also find them at salons and beauty supply stores nationwide, including Sally Beauty and Ulta. Prices vary depending on the retailer with a range between $3-7.00 per .5 fl oz bottle of polish.
May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor! 
China Glaze Hunger Games Collection Swatches – Part 1
25Good Morning Tributes!
I’m happy to be sharing part of my China Glaze Hunger Games Collection swatches with you today! I wish I didn’t have to work tonight so I could go to the midnight release, but I have to wait until I have time to go see it this weekend. I ultimately decided to split this into two posts (one today, one on Friday) because 35+ pictures would have been ENTIRELY too much for me to include in one post. That being said, this is still going to be a bit picture heavy. ^_^
I used Sally Hansen Nail Quencher and Seche Vite as my base coat/top coat combo.
Luxe and Lush (District 1 – Luxury)
Luxe and Lush is really interesting to me. It’s a flakie, but the pieces are irregular shards as opposed to your run of the mill flakies that you normally see. I love it! It has a suspension base like most clear glitter polishes, but it’s not so thick that it’s unmanageable. And after top coat there was hardly and grittiness which I know can be a problem with this type of polish.
From Left to Right:
Pointer: 2 coats of Luxe and Lush over 2 coats of Smoke and Ashes
Middle: 2 coats of Luxe and Lush over 2 coats of Dress Me Up
Ring: 2 coats of Luxe and Lush over 2 coats of Riveting
Pinky: 2 coats of Luxe and Lush by itself
Here’s a macro of Luxe and Lush. I really like how versatile this one is! You get such a different effect depending on what you use as your base layer of polish. ♥
Stone Cold (District 2 – Masonry)
Stone Cold was a surprise, it’s a matte finish! And holy cow is it a gorgeous one! I love the silver shimmer! It’s probably one of the easiest to deal with matte polishes that I own. If you’re careful and get enough polish on your brush Stone Cold is a 1-coat-wonder! I ended up using 2 coats this time because I had one or two bald spots on a few fingers. Like most mattes, it dries fast so work quickly!
Here’s a macro shot for you, when you leave it matte the silver shimmer really takes over. It’s gorgeous.
Do not adjust your monitors, this is STILL Stone Cold. But look how different it looks with top coat! Now it looks more black than grey, and still beautiful. I honestly don’t know which I l like best. O___O*
And here’s a macro shot for ya.
Riveting (District 3 – Technology)
Oh. Em. Eff. Gee. This my friends is Riveting. And if a name has ever fit a polish more aptly then I don’t own it yet. I love this color! It’s such a bright, shimmering, girl-on-fire color… *le sigh* I used 3 thin coats for this gold glass flecked beauty. It’s thin but it builds up wonderfully. For an orange polish lover like myself, it rarely gets better than this. ♥
And here’s a macro shot. I’ll give you all a few minutes to clean up the drool. Scroll on whenever you’re ready.
Hook and Line (District 4 – Fishing)
Hook and Line… Oh…. You…. I was ready to fully hate this one because of how frosty it looked in the bottle. But after I finished applying it I ended up kind of liking it? It’s definitely frosty, but it looks like a pewter brushed metal. And I’m finding that I don’t mind it in this instance. Especially since Hook and Line is for the Fishing District, it actually fits the concept they were going for quite well.
THAT BEING SAID. This was one of the most finicky polishes that I’ve ever had to deal with. What you see in my swatches is a combination of reallllly careful application (starting with the first two strokes on the outer left and right sides of my nail bed, and the 3rd stroke straight and fast down the center) and sheer luck. I used roughly 3 coats per nail, but it might have been 4 or 5 on some when I needed to ‘touch up’ some super brush stroke issues. And the formula is incredibly thin and sheer.
Electrify (District 5 – Power)
Electrify doesn’t really do much for me. It’s your standard clear base glitter with gold and red. It builds up pretty nicely on its own. This is 3 coats, thought there are still a few small bald spots. I might try layering this over some other polishes though the next time I wear it. ^_^
Macro shot, you can see the small bald spots here and there. And like most glitters, you’re gonna need the foil removal method for Electrify unless you want to bedazzle your fingers with residual glitter.
Fast Track (District 6 – Transportation)
Fast Track is pretty beige with gold shimmer. Again, not too original but still pretty. I want to do a comparison between this one and Irreplaceable by Essence, because that’s the first polish that comes to mind when I look at this one. I used 2 coats here.
Here’s a macro of Fast Track for you all. ^_^
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Final Thoughts:
The formulas ranged for this section of the Hunger Games Collection polishes. I think Hook and Line had the worst formula, hands down, even still it wasn’t the one I liked the least. If I had to pick my favorites, it’d definitely be Riveting, Luxe and Lush and Stone Cold. ^_^
Purchase Info:
The China Glaze Hunger Games Collection polishes can be purchased from a variety of e-tailers: TransDesign, Victoria Nail Supply, Nailsupplies.us, Head2Toe Beauty, and 8ty8 Beauty. You can also find them at salons and beauty supply stores nationwide, including Sally Beauty and Ulta. Prices vary depending on the retailer with a range between $3-7.00 per .5 fl oz bottle of polish.
May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!
NOTD: Watercolor Nails!
22Hey Everyone!
Sorry for my absence this week, my days off were pretty hectic and I could hardly find time to paint my nails or blog for that matter! And Wednesday I chose to participate in the web-wide Blackout to protest SOPA/PIPA, both bills which could spell the end for beauty bloggers like myself and others. If you’re still confused on what these two bills are, you can find out more info and sign the petition to stop them in their tracks [HERE].
I come back offering you one of my NOTD looks from last week, watercolor nails! After seeing the great manis done by Sarah from Chalkboard Nails and Rebecca from Rebecca Likes Nails I just had to try this technique for myself! Also, why does Blogger auto load to the bottom of the page now? Annoying.
But I digress, let’s get to the pictures shall we?
Watercolor Nails
Polishes Used (in order):
Sally Hansen – White On (base color)
China Glaze – Poinsettia
Finger Paints – Curdor-Orange
Cult Nails – Feel Me Up
Sally Hansen – Thinking of Blue
At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the way my watercolor manicure had turned out. But the more I looked at it the more I ended up really liking it. Though next time I want to use brighter colors because I think the blue I used is a little overpowering.
This mani reminds me of a Monet painting, especially my ring finger! This look was relatively easy to create. Though it can be easy to eat straight through the top coat with the acetone if you linger in one spot for too long. You can view/read tutorials on how to create this look on both Sarah and Rebecca’s posts that I linked at the top of the page. ^_^
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That’s it for today! I also entered this manicure into the Cult Nails Nail Art contest. You can view it on their Facebook Fan Page and vote for yours truly if the mood strikes you.
