Swatch the Eleventh

Well, wasn't today an exciting day? At least it was for us East Coasters. I'm sure all those Cali folks are getting a good chuckle out of us all making a big deal out of a little ole baby earthquake. Even without the earthquake today was an exciting day. Today, the hubby and signed a contract for a new town home! This will be his second home purchase but my first so I was super gittery, excited and nervous. Of course a special occasion calls for a special polish. I went with OPI's Designer Series in Mystery. This gorgeous vampy color can be deceiving in color. Indoors it can look black or even chocolate when in reality it is a deep dark velvety purple with a gorgeous copper glass fleck. And it demanded a ton of compliments. The polish went on smooth and was opaque in two easy coats and dry time was pretty quick. This polish will definitely be going in my favorites.

Swatch the Tenth

I'm sure this is starting to sound really old, but don't forget to check out my giveaway, it ends August 1st!



This week's swatch is a bit of a fail to me.  I used two think coats of Orly's Royal Navy, a vibrant shade of blue (and one of my favorites), paired with China Glaze's Black Mesh Crackle.  I thought the Royal Navy would shine through a lot more than it did which is really the only reason I consider it a fail.  I think I'll stick with neons under the black crackle, they work better.

Orly Royal Navy

With Black Crackle



What do you think?

Swatch the Ninth

And yet another reminder to check out my giveaway.

This week is all about nudity! Kidding of course, but I did go with a beautiful nude color from CQ called Silver Taupe. Why the Silver in the name? Because this nude color was accented with gorgeous silver glass fleck and just the tiniest bit of halo micro glitter. This simple color scored me lots of compliments and it will be making my top polishes list for sure.  The polish went on smoothly and was fairly opaque in two coats.  There was still a bit of visible nail line after the two coats but with a nude I expect that. 

Swatch the Eighth

This is an old mani from a couple of weekends ago.  The hubby and I went with friends to see Creedence Clearwater Revisted and I thought the event required a mani full of bling.

This is two coats of China Glaze's First Mate with two coats of China Glaze's Treasure Chest and a top coat of Seche Vite.  The First Mate is a deep navy blue creme that went on with ease and was opaque in two coats. Treasure Chest is a gold hex glitter that added the perfect amount of bling and became smooth with just one topcoat of SV. 

I got a lot of compliments on this mani and will probably repeat it again.

Swatch the Seventh

Here's the promised review of the Nic's Sticks:

I picked up two colors from Tuesday Morning: Red Eye to NY (a red creme) and Baby Go Bye-Bye (a light blue creme).  The colors are very nice but the application was horrible and I would not recommend it. The brush is thick and uneven and as a result more polish is needed which resulted in a lack of control that caused cuticle flooding.  And watch out for splatter.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway, it's open to Canadians now.



Swatch the Sixth

I headed to Five Below last weekend to pick up some great deals.  Check out this super halo glitter from Funky Fingers in Sand and Stilettos (that I snagged at the great price of 3 for $5):

There was so much glitter in this polish that it was completely opaque in two coats! Best of all it was smooth as a baby's bottom once a topcoat of SV was applied.  A word of warning though this glitter is not fun when it comes to removal so use sparingly.

Don't forget to check out my giveaway!

Swatch the Forth & Fifth

Another swatch from last week. I picked up a mini kit from Revlon the other day and decided to give it a whirl.

Inside were three mini bottles in Garden, Waterfall and Sparkle.  Garden is a lovely pastel shade of green creme, sparkle is a clear topcoat with small halo glitter mixed with larger hex halo glitter and Waterfall is a baby blue with some silver shimmer to it.

I started with the Garden and added the sparkle topcoat to it.  I have to say that I did not like the formula of either of the creme colors.  Both were a bit rubbish going on.  Either they were gloppy or there were bald spots and both colors took about three thin coats to go on opague if you didn't want the polish to pool at your tips.  The sparkle was decent but  I had to take three passes to get any of the hex glitter on my nails and even then I only got about five pieces total for all ten fingers. The green was easier to apply than the blue and I did leave it on for a day as the sparkle topcoat did cover up most of the issues.  The blue was bad enough (it bubbled on some fingers and was bumpy for unknown reasons on others) that I took it off immediately after swatching and put on something else.

Swatch the Third

Here's a swatch from last week. This is Nicole by O.P.I. in OMB from the Justin Bieber Collection.

It's a fantastic Fuschia glitter than can appear reddish indoors.  The new brush design is short and stubby but allows you to cover more nail in one swipe. It was opaque in two coats and because I was applying it before clocking in for work, I decided to leave well enough alone and just did an SV top coat.  And let me just add that I LOVE Seche Vite Top Coat, the stuff is just amazing.  I was typing away after just a couple of minutes thanks to this brilliant product.

After work I went and hung out with my parents and fellow nail polish addict, my four year old neice, Kara.  I painted her fingers and toes so she could match Aunt Mimi.  She loved it.  Every time I come over she makes a point to take my hands and go "oooooooo.....pretty" no matter how bad they look.  And sometimes when her mommie gets her nails done at Ms. Tung's Kara goes with her and gets her nails done too.  It's one of the few things that gets her to sit still for more than two minutes at a time.  She's such a little princess.

Swatch the First

Came home with a bottle of CQ in Slate the other day and was dying to try it out.  Check out the results:

CQ's bottle is a squared oval shape that's easy to grip with a round handle and standard brush. The color is a deep green blue creme and it goes on opaque in two coats, one if you're careful.  And because I'm obsessed with Essie's Matte About You topcoat right now I did a matte topcoat with glossy french tips.