Pink Wednesday: Revlon Victorian with jelly snowflakes!

Happy Pink Wednesday everyone! Today I have for you one of my favorite jelly polishes, Revlon Victorian from this summer's Just Tinted collection. For those who don't know, a jelly is a polish that is sheer yet pigmented and creates a wonderful, almost juicy effect on the nail. Jellys typically dry quite shiny on their own, but Victorian dries to a satin finish so I had to use a topcoat to really bring out the juicy jelly-ness in this polish.

So, I woke up today and it was SNOWING! I was so excited, as it is the very end of November and we still hadn't really had more than a dusting of snow. I wanted to incorporate the first real snow that I have seen this year into my manicure today, so I stamped a few snowflakes on my ring finger and thumb as accent nails!

A popular manicure technique making the rounds out there is called a "jelly sandwich." A jelly sandwich is when you layer glitter under a jelly polish, giving the glitter a subdued, milky look to it. So today, I decided to do a Konad jelly sandwich! When I stamped the snowflakes on with my white Konad polish, it almost seemed too stark against the delicate shine of the jelly. To cure the problem, I added two more coats of the hot pink Victorian on top of the stamping and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. Subtle, shiny, with a hint of winter goodness lurking underneath.

So here we have today's NOTD, 4 coats of Revlon Victorian with accent fingers stamped with Konad Special Polish in White. Enjoy!

These were taken indoors, with diffused flash to show the juicy, shiny jelly quality of Victorian. It appears a bit more red in the pics than it does in real life.

Here are a few outdoor shots to show the true hot pink color of Victorian =)

Thanks for stopping by! See you all tomorrow =)

China Glaze Emerald Sparkle

Good afternoon everyone! Just dropping by with a super quick post today. I had to cut my nails really short due to a break, and I'm not too thrilled with them right now. Especially since the nail bed on my pinky fingers are longer than the rest and can never be as short as the others. It looks ridiculous!

China Glaze Emerald Sparkle is an amazing polish! I could not do this bad boy justice with my photography skills. It is a lovely forest green with green glitter throughout. So sparkly, so festive and a hands-down favorite polish of many people in the nail polish community. So check it out! Don't forget to enlarge to see the awesome detail this polish has =)

Also, just wanted to let you know that I added a link to the spreadsheet of my polish collection at the top of the page, so check it out if you would like! It took me all evening yesterday and all morning today to finish =) I will be adding my swap list very soon as well, so check back soon for that!

See you all tomorrow!

Check out my guest post on The Nail Polish Enthusiast today

Just wanted to pop in really quickly and let you guys know that I did a guest post today for Amanda over at The Nail Polish Enthusiast today! Amanda is one of my nail BFFs and I was honored that she asked me to do a post for her blog. Thanks girl <3  So check it out here:

BFF Week: Jacqui of The Scholarly Nail

Layla Magneffect Magnetic Effect Nail Polish in Silver Galaxy

Good afternoon my lovely readers! As most of you know, magnetic nail polish has replaced crackle polish as the hot trend in nails right now.  All magnetic polishes contain magnetic particles that make shapes when a magnet is held over the wet polish! Recently, Nails Inc. Magnetic polish has popped up at Sephora stores everywhere and people have been going gaga for it! I thought that I would show you a brand today that you may not have seen before.

Layla Magneffect has about 10 different colored magnetic polishes, and the color offerings are really pretty awesome. I decided to show you guys Silver Galaxy today, because it is the only magnetic polish that I know of that also contains glitter!

Silver Galaxy is a sheer, light silver magnetic polish packed with silver glitter. Since it is a bit sheer, I decided to layer it over Revlon Steel-her Heart, a very pretty gunmetal color. The Layla Magneffect polishes come with a magnet on the bottle that forms stripes when held over the wet polish, but I wanted to use my LCN star magnet with this polish because I feel like stars and glitter just go well together, no? Here's what the star magnet looks like:

I like how my manicure turned out, but I have to say that there is a bit of a learning curve with these magnetic polishes. First of all, the magnet MUST be held over the polish while it is still wet to make the design. Once it has dried a bit, it will not work. This means that you have to do each nail one at a time. No big deal. But the hardest thing I found with this magnet was getting the design centered. I had to start over a few times, and I'm still not exactly content on the placement of the stars on my nail. Its hard to see where the design is being placed with the magnet.

Overall, even though it takes some practice, I am a huge fan of magnetic polishes. They are fun to mess around with, and even if your final result isn't perfect, it will still look awesome! There is a good variety of colors out there, but what I would really like to see from magnetic polish manufacturers in the future is more magnet shapes. There are only 3 shapes out there right now: a wave patter (Nails Inc.), lines (LCN and Layla) and the star (LCN).

Anyways, here is Layla Magneffect Polish in Silver Galaxy! I did one coat of the Layla over one coat of Revlon Steel-her Heart. Hope you enjoy!

What do you guys think? Are you buying into the magnetic polish trend or are you not crazy about it? Any other magnet shapes that you know of? Let me know!

Have a fabulous day everyone! I'm sure a lot of you are out enduring the Black Friday madness! After working in retail for as long as I did and dealing with the crowds year after year, I'm perfectly content to stay home and do my shopping online.

See you tomorrow =)

Versatile Blogger Award

Happy almost Black Friday everyone! I hope all my American friends are enjoying a nice food coma right now =)

Yesterday the lovely Shannara over at Nails and Stuff gave me the Versatile Blogger Award. Her blog is so much fun, so definitely mosey on over and check it out if you haven't already =) Thanks girl!

There are a few rules with this award:

1. List 7 things about yourself.

2. Pass this on to 15 other bloggers.

But see, I'm all about breaking rules in life, so I'm just gonna go ahead and TAG EVERYONE because the nail blogging community is so wonderful, you all deserve it!

 I'm sure you are all DYING to know 7 things about me, so here you go!

1. My top 3 favorite shows of all time are: Dawson's Creek, Lost and Degrassi. Do you see the disconnect there?

2.  I have been a Girl Scout since first grade, and spent ever summer of my adolescence at Girl Scout camp. I actually just went back to my camp for an event a few weeks ago. Girl Scouting has been very important in my life, I want to have at least one girl child so that I can one day be a Girl Scout leader!

3. Besides nail polish, I also collect perfume and I even have a perfume bottle tattooed on my right wrist.

4. My overall career goal is to be a baker and an attorney. Torte Reform. Get it?!

5.  My wedding was Halloween themed and was featured in The Knot magazine.

6.  My favorite nail polish of all time is OPI My Throne for a Cranberry Scone. 

7.  As you could tell by my Thanksgiving post, I have a wiener dog. 2 wiener dogs, actually. I am obsessed with dachshunds, especially my 2 babies UZI and Arrow. I will never own another breed of dog. So yes, my husband and I are weird wiener dog people. 

And that's all folks! I'd love to hear about all of you, so again, please feel free to claim this award for your own! I hope you all had a delicious holiday and I will see you all tomorrow =)

Thanksgiving Nails: OPI & Apple Pie

Hello, and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! I just wanted to stop by with a quick post today.

OPI & Apple Pie is often considered the ugliest nail polish in existence. It is a deep burnt orange tan color, so of course, I adore it! I was totally stumped about what to wear as my Thanksgiving manicure, but when my mom called this morning and said she wasn't sure she was going to make apple pie for the feast, I insisted that there "MUST BE APPLE PIE!" It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without apple pie. So I thought this would be the perfect color to wear!

OPI & Apple Pie is from the 2001 World Collection, which means this polish is 10 years old! It is a black label polish (which I will show in the pictures below), so it is a non 3-free polish. Usually, I adore the formula of OPI black labels, but this one was not as nice as others I had experienced. It was a bit thick, which is fine, but it did not self-level AT ALL. This means that I had some very lumpy polish on my hand. It took a good 3 coats to smooth everything out. Not really a fan of the formula, but I'll keep it around as it is a unique color. 

Unfortunately, my nails and cuticles are badly stained from yesterday's Kleancolor Metallic Pink manicure. An amazing polish, but that baby stains like nothing else I have ever experienced! My nails are a nice shade of pink, and my cuticles are ORANGE. I tried everything to remove the stains: acetone, buffing, whitening toothpaste, whitening nail soak - even a scalding hot shower didn't do the trick. So, you guys will have to bear with me today. I only have a few pictures so as to spare you from the orange/pink massacre.

So here's, OPI & Apple Pie, 3 coats, Seche Vite topcoat, in natural light. In real life, its a bit lighter and less orange, but these were the best I could do in a short time today. Enjoy!

And, a bonus pup for you! This is UZI, and I am extremely thankful for this little guy today. Plus, my manicure matches the color of his fur =)

See you all tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving =)

Pink Wednesday: Kleancolor Metallic Pink a.k.a. The Most Awesome Pink Ever!

Good afternoon my fellow polish nerds!! Today I have for you Kleancolor Metallic Pink, which is probably the most incredible pink nail polish I have ever seen in my life. If you saw my post last month on Kleancolor's Metallic Orange, you know how amazing these polishes are. They are the most saturated, pigmented foil polishes on the market. The best part is, they will only set you back about $2 a pop. How awesome is that?

Kleancolor Metallic Pink was so awesome, in fact, that it broke my camera! Not literally of course, but I tried about a million different settings and not one was able to capture how truly amazing this polish is. The best way I found to take this was with a diffused flash, but because the polish is SO metallic, the reflection of the flash still is bothering me. This way gave the most true representation of the color though, so please try to bear with me.

Metallic Pink was a breeze to apply; I could have just stuck with one coat but I did two for good measure. These Kleancolor Metallics are some of the funniest polishes I have ever worked with in my life. Funny in a good way, that is. They are awesome straight out of the bottle, but when you put the top coat on, it does something to the polish to really make it glow. And I mean GLOW. I could probably flag down traffic with these babies. If I was stranded on a desert island, and could only take a few polishes with me, a Kleancolor Metallic would most definitely be in there.

So, here is the pink so awesome that it broke my camera: Kleancolor Metallic Pink. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone! I'm off to get my pie baking on. See you all tomorrow =)

XOXO
-Jacqui

Orly Nite Owl & Why I Love the Color Taupe

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I have for you one of my favorite neutral nail polish shades: Orly Nite Owl. Nite Owl is from this fall's Bird's of a Feather collection, and is often overlooked by the star of the collection, Fowl Play. While I do like Fowl Play, I have owned OPI Merry Midnight for quite some time, so it's not really something I hadn't seen before. For those who don't know, Orly's Fowl Play and OPI Merry Midnight are dupes of each other, meaning that they are very similar in composition. They are both dark purple polishes with red glitter and red and blue flakes in them. Very pretty, but it didn't quite excite me as much as Nite Owl did.

Nite Owl is a GORGEOUS taupe polish. Taupe is that color when something is walking the fine line between brown and grey. If you look at something, and think "well, it's either a brownish-grey or a greyish-brow," then sista, you've got yourself a taupe! One reason why I love taupe is because it tends to be a universally flattering shade. I have cool-toned skin, so my undertones love to bring out the grey in taupey colors. People with warm tones tend to pick up the browns in taupe. I also love taupe because it's a little bit darker than your average neutral color, so it tends to stick out more yet still remains subtle and, in my opinion, a perfect color for work. I am studying to be a paralegal, so I'm always on the lookout for colors that would work in court without being your plain, old, and boring sheer nude.

Nite Owl's taupe base is further enhanced by a wonderful golden "brocade" shimmer throughout, giving it an almost suede look. This polish is really the perfect working girl's polish. It hangs on to the neutrality, but the suedey-shimmer gives it a subtle pop that still keeps it fun. It's so fun that it's still a non-work color as well. I can't stop staring at my hands, it's just such and elegant shade without being too demure or too over the top.

As with most Orly polishes, application was fantastic - two easy coats and a top coat and I was good to go. Orly is one of my favorite brands, as whenever I put one on, I am amazed at how smoothly the application process goes. They are thick enough that I don't have to worry about flooding my cuticles, but not too thick that I worry about bubbling and gloopiness.

Without further ado, here is the beautiful Orly Nite Owl. I decided to take the pictures without the bottle today, as I have noticed that my photos have sucked lately and wanted to try a different approach. Not sure I love these pictures either, but oh well. Hope you enjoy!

Have a wonderful day everyone! See you tomorrow for Pink Wednesday =)

Pure Ice Heartbreaker over Nicole by OPI The Grape Debate

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you are all having a nice, relaxing day and not being forced to watch football like I am (unless, of course, you enjoy that sort of thing). Anyways, today I have for you a manicure that I have done many times because it is so awesome.

Pure Ice Heartbreaker may be one of my top 25 polishes of all time. It is a green microshimmer in a sheer blue base. Slap Heartbreaker over pretty much any polish, you've got something amazing. The idea for this particular manicure came to me because I wanted to combine my two favorite colors in a manicure - green and purple. I thought that the green shimmer in Heartbreaker would make an interesting contrast with the dark grape color of The Grape Debate, and man did it ever!

I'm not too crazy on the formula of NOPI The Grape Debate, but it's the only color I have like this so I just kept on trucking. As always, Pure Ice Heartbreaker was a dream to apply and I had no problems with it whatsoever. I put a coat of Seche Vite over everything and I was good to go!

These first few pictures are outdoors, then the rest are all indoors with flash to show the awesome sparkle that Heartbreaker gives to this manicure. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War - Swatches and Review

Good afternoon my lovelies! Today I have for you my very first RBL polish for you. I ordered in October from the BiB pre-order and ended up ordering 8 polishes! Now, for those of you not yet in the know, Rescue Beauty Lounge is a boutique polish company whose polishes are highly coveted in the nail world. Most of their polishes are limited edition, meaning that once they are sold out they are gone forever. Or, until Bring it Back comes around. Bring it Back is when RBL fans (or ReBeLs, as they are called on Facebook) vote on which colors they would like to see available for sale again.

No More War is still available for sale, and as far as I know has not sold out yet. It is one of those ugly-pretty colors that I just love so much! It is a murky, brown-leaning olive green cream. In some lights the green sticks out more, and in some lights (such as direct sunlight) the brown undertones really shine. I just LOVE this color. I have tons of olive/army greens in my stash, and not one has the baby-poop undertones that No More War has. There's probably some of you out there who are thinking "FUG, would never wear such a color," but I can't get enough of those baby poop colors.

As far as the formula goes, I wasn't in love. I know, I know, there's people out there that would swear up and down that RBL has the best polish formula out there. But for me, it was a bit too thick. It was kind of hard to get even, thin coats. Out of the bottle, I would have guessed that it was a 3-coater, but during application, the polish was so thick that 2 coats were enough. I do have to say that it was incredibly self-leveling, which meant that it there were no visible bumps due to the thickness.

Overall, after trying only one RBL polish, I'm still not convinced that the forumla is all that it's cracked up to be. However, I adore this color so I'll keep it in my stash and give all my other RBLs a chance to wow me with their formula.

Here is No More War, 2 coats, with topcoat, in various outdoor lighting conditions.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sally Hansen Arabian Night

Hello my lovely readers! Those who know me may know that I have a penchant for old, vintage polishes. The older it is, the better it is in my opinion - especially if it is a drugstore brand. Sure, I enjoy vintage OPI polishes just as much as the next girl but if I come across an old Maybelline or Cover Girl polish then I get pretty damn excited. I think it's because these aged drugstore polishes remind me of my childhood. I had SO MUCH awesome nail polish as a kid, which sadly, I eventually threw out because I did not know the wonders of nail polish thinner. I weep a little thinking of all those old Hard Candy, Urban Decay and Sally Hansen polishes that went to waste.

So today, I have for you an old-ish Sally Hansen polish. It is from their now-discontinued Salon line and it is called Arabian Night. Arabian Night is one of my most favorite polishes that I own. It is from 2008, so it's really not THAT old (heck, I have polishes in my stash that are nearly as old as I am) but since it's from a discontinued line, I like to lump it together with my old polish collection.

Arabian Night is a STUNNING deep blue-based purple with amazing golden shimmer throughout. In some lights, the shimmer even has a pink tinge to it. Ack! It's amazing! Application was very straightforward; two coats and I was good to go. It's one of those "hidden shimmer" polishes that I love so very much. When you are looking at it from far away, it just looks like a nice deep purple color, but once you're up close you can see the amazing golden shimmer in there.

So here she is, Sally Hansen Arabian Night. Hope you enjoy! (Oh, and please excuse the nasty gash on my ring finger!)

Have a fantastic Friday everyone!