50 fairy stars

-->It’s been a challenge to write this post—not because it’s hard to describe the content, but because the holidays can be stressful for many, because I had a birthday, I missed my monthly blogging goals due to stupid hospitalization, and because it’s the end of the year and here I am with a lot of beautiful, wonderful things in a time of turmoil. Isn’t it strange how tragedy and loss can bear beauty? 

This year has given much.

Magic Fairy Stars is a polish I was fortunate enough to get from Lynnderella and all the people of Lynnderella (and the help of the ever marvelous and wonderful special amazing thanks to Joni most faithful blog reader). The proceeds from this polish are being split between two charities in NY and NJ communities affected by hurricane Sandy.

Here it is shown over RBL Grunge, though it looks great over a variety of shades.

This beautiful polish features a ridiculous amount of glitter shapes and sizes. There are squares and hexes of course and a large dose of beautiful tiny stars--also thrown in is a dash of moons and large-sized stars. I wish these pictures were better, but I swear if you click on the FULL SIZE they look better.

Magic Fairy Stars, Grunge. Natural Light.

Magic Fairy Stars, Grunge. Natural Light.

Magic Fairy Stars. Macro Bottle.

Oh...

So these pictures are absolutely terrible. But I adore this color. I know it gained a mini cult status in the "nail world," so I picked it up at Walgreens. I figured since it was a pastel it would be a pita, but it wasn't so bad. 

I only used three coats and it is not completely opaque, however it's a sheer jelly-ish formula and I like the sheerness of it. I let the coats dry a lot in between each one to make sure that it wouldn't be too goopish. 

I left this on for three days with minimal tip wear and it wore really well. It does make me look a little red, but not nearly as red as in the photos. These just turned out so badly :( I definitely foresee wearing this and posting more in the future!

Cinderella. Artificial Light.

Cinderella. Artificial Light.

Happy Holos pt. 3

One of the most holo-ey holographic polishes I've seen is from the makeup store. They have a great line of holo polishes and I'm lucky enough to have Madeleine, a light gold or nude-ish holo. This polish is so fiery that it even glitters in the dark. 

However, it chips very easily and requires an aqua base for proper application. The first time I wore it, it chipped overnight. This time it didn't chip until the next day, not bad at all.

I forgot to mention! The fourth finger (ring finger) has no topcoat and the rest are wearing HK Girl Topcoat from Glisten and Glow. Once it dried, I didn't find it to dull the effect whatsoever. Awesome!

Madeleine. Natural Light.

Madeleine. Natural Light.

Madeleine. Artificial light with flash.

Madeleine. Artificial light with flash.

Happy Holos pt. 2

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This doesn’t look like much in the bottle, I’ll admit. I swapped for it because I wanted a Jade holo so much, but it was my least favorite of the pinks and reds. I thought it looked mauve and old lady in the bottle but when I put it on—bam!! Somewhere between sweet, yet seductive Barbie and every so slightly dusty rose office appropriate yet eye-blinding rainbow fire in sunlight holo (I was lucky to catch about 30 seconds of semi-sun on a rainy day for this). It looks even better and fire-ier in true sunlight.

What a fantastic surprise! I can’t really recall a time when I’ve felt…sexy? Wearing nail polish, haha! Whoever named this polish hit the nail on the head. Seducao it is. If you’ve worn it, I think you know what I mean.

As for wear, it did chip the next day (sorry about the ugly chipping D;), but not as quickly as some holos have on me (ChG OMG collection and MUS come to mind). I used NFU-oh aqua base under it and that worked very well for adhesion, though I didn’t try it without a base.

I cannot wait to get the rest of the collection <3 happy holo to all! And to all a good night :)

Seducao Rosa. Natural Light.

Seducao Rosa. Natural Light, shade.

Seducao Rosa. Natural Light.

  

Seducao Rosa. Natural Light.

Happy Holos

I wanted to post a couple of holographic polishes to celebrate the season.

Here's Glitter Gal Lizard Belly, a deep, dark Green holo from the Australian line Glitter Gal. 

The only thing I don't like about this polish is the price ;) Small bottles are priced similarly to normal sized mid to high-end priced bottles. Otherwise everything is great--I didn't need a special base coat like with other holos and application was gorgeous in just two coats. Chipping was minimal as well. 

Because it's darker the holo doesn't flash quite as bright, especially in these pictures, but a dark green holographic is pretty special and in very bright sunlight it looks very fiery.

Lizard Belly. Natural Light.

Lizard Belly. Natural Light, shade.

New Year's Eve Eve already!?

I'm lucky enough to have two new and beautiful polishes to show today--New Year's Eve Eve from Lynnderella's Season's Glitterings collection over Nicole Up and Kim-ing Pink (dupe for OPI Pink Friday).

I love the color of Pink Friday but had a ton of issues with the formula. I'm not sure if the Nicole formula was much better or if I'm just more skilled now. The polish isn't terrible to apply, though it's streaky and takes at least three coats to even and still has a somewhat chalky look. Also, it chipped like a beotch (sorry for the tip wear!) after half a day. But this color can't be beat!

New Year's Eve Eve, December 30th, I think ;) From Lynnderella's website: "363 days of glitter. We expected it to have some relationship to The Glittering Crowd, and it does. But the addition of new matte and satin glitters add an extra whallop. Just like 2012."

The satin glitters are really different--I think these were used in Sweets to the Sweet as well. A sort of pearlescent effect. A beautiful rainbow of glitters in a clear base which is great for anytime of year, really. The main differences I notice between NYEE and tGC is the satin glitter, diamond glitter, and yellow flowers. Of course the overall color scheme is also different. I haven't actually worn tGC yet either, but will compare soon <3

Up and Kim-ing Pink. Artificial Light.

New Year's Eve Eve and Up and Kim-ing Pink. Artificial Light.

Up and Kim-ing Pink. Artificial Light.

Lynnderella New Year's Eve Eve. Artificial Light.

return of the grunge

I first saw Rescue Beauty Lounge's Grunge on Scrangie's site and since I had swatched a friend's bottle I had been wanting to get my hands on some. When it was finally restocked I jumped at my chance to grab it.

I tried to capture the white shimmer, but had trouble due to grey weather. It's very faint and hard to capture on camera. I love this unique neutral.

Grunge. Natural Light.

Grunge. Artificial Light.

Doh...

I realize I only did four posts last month! Boo. Hoping for more this month despite holiday madness. 

Here's Nicole Just Busta Mauve, a Target exclusive. I would love to have the other glitter colors from this collection. See Scrangie's swatch of this, it's much better than mine. I probably should have used four coats and she may have...I only used three and there's some vnl. I think a dreaded four coats would have given a bit more depth and color here, as the polish was surprisingly sheer.

I found this to be a pretty awesome and different glitter. If I remember correctly it's a super concentrated fine tiny plum (I don't see mauve but I guess it could be dark mauve) and cobalt blue microglitter in a sheer base. I'm going to double check this though.

Double awesome is that even though it's a glitter, it has a duochrome effect. Yes! It shines warm plum, deep copper, and a strange sort of grey in different lighting. Amazing. Have you been tempted by any of the awesome Nicole colors lately? I love some of the holiday colors.

Just Busta Mauve. Natural Light.

Just Busta Mauve. Natural Light.

Just Busta Mauve, blurry sparkle. Natural Light.

Just Busta Mauve, close up. Natural Light.

Just Busta Mauve. Bottle shot. Natural Light.