bond...bond girls

I couldn't wait for these Bond Girl OPI Liquid Sands to be released. My sweet bf got some for me when they first came out. These two are Pussy Galore (pink with pink shimmer) and Solitaire (white with silver glitter).

I super dig them both and find myself wanting to grab them over and over, *but!!* there is one caveat about the light, textured colors, at least for me. They catch dirt and show it really easily, and it doesn't seem to want to come off :( so it has about 1 full day to maaaaaybe 1.5 days of wear at most.

Can I just lodge one complaint about the sands and the OPI brushes? The sands tend to fluff up the bristles and the OPI brush is already pretty big, so it can make it a bit unwieldy. As for the formula on these two, they're great. A bit more sheer than the previous ones I've tried, and Pussy G has a frosty base, which I noticed started to get a little strokey if I wasn't careful. For these reasons, I also think it would look great layered over a similar color. Cute, cute colors, great for spring and I can wear the white one year round :)

Pussy Galore. Sunlight.

Pussy Galore. Sunlight.

Solitaire. Sunlight.

Solitaire. Sunlight.

jo'mean it's only $7?!

I was lucky to find this and a couple other Illamasquas for $7 at the JCP Sephora sale! Awesome! 

After seeing getting this for a friend and seeing many swatches, I actually thought it was a purple that might work for me and a gorgeous color in general. One of those "neon pastels" that is so interesting. I think they describe it as "electric lilac." 

Formula? Perfection. Color? Amazing--a bit hard to get a good pic, better to see in person.

Not really a fan of any of my glitter attempts. Did the crop to give an idea of how it looks sans toppings.

Jo'mina. Sunlight.

w/Lynnderella (l-r) Evermore, Magic Fairy Stars, LLL

Jo'mina. Love, Lace, and Lilacs Sunlight.

Jo'mina. Bottle. Sunlight.

Pastel Party!

There's something about pastels--I just can't get enough of them, despite the fact that they always do me wrong. They are too eye-catching to resist. Even the pastel cremes with proclaimed “ease of application” often fit into one or more of these unpleasant categories: thick, gummy, stringy, they pull or are streaky. 

 

Most of the following pastels presented some problems, some got better with practice, some didn't. The only one I absolutely COULD NOT work with was Lime Crime Pastelchio (a sort of pastel yet neon green, such a cool color!). It was like painting with melted chewed gum. 

My Lifesaver was the easiest of the bunch and the best tip I could relay about pastels would be to let each coat dry in between layers. These pictures suck, so here's a bunch.

Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver. Artificial Light. (index finger looks fat!)

Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver. Artificial Light.

Pastelchio, Up and Kim-ing Pink, Milky Ways (Index has horrible Orly Repair on it!!)

Milky Ways, Pastelchio. Natural Light.

Milky Ways, Pastelchio. Bottles, natural Light.

Second time's a charm

I decided I needed to conquer this gorgeous mint green. This is actually probably closer to my third or fourth try and after waiting for each coat to dry completely, I got it to work pretty well imo, though far from perfect. I looked at different swatches and noticed that there are almost no perfect (ah!! no offense) applications of Refresh-mint, and that's because quite honestly, it's a serious pita to apply. But worth the effort for that minty shade, despite the next day chipping.

This is probably one of my most proud mani days, haha.

China Glaze Refresh-mint. Artificial Light.

China Glaze Refresh-mint. Artificial Light.

Mints compared l to r: Refresh-mint, Milani Dressmaker, For Audrey.

Mints compared l to r: Refresh-mint, Milani Dressmaker, For Audrey.

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.

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.

I can't help but be drawn to pastels. Though I almost won't touch touch them in the clothing or accessories department, they were huge in the late 80s and the 90s and that is when I did most of my growing up (sort of). It's part of the color nostalgia of my generation. That and mauve.

The last polish I have from the China Glaze Up and Away collection: Refresh-mint. I have four or five colors that are in or near this minty/pastel turquoise color family and I did a few comparison swatches. 

Pastels seem to have a fast dry time which can be helpful, but I don't think they are known for their ease of application. I find the fast dry can also equal add to challenging application because it leads to dragging, especially at the tips (evident on nail wheel swatches). I encountered this dry-time effect with Refresh-mint.

In pics I swatched it next to Mint Candy Apple (left), I think it looks close in the pictures, but also is a bit more toward being a light baby blue with green mixed in, slightly muted, where Refresh is more of a true pastel lime. I also added in Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver because I thought it would be similar. Obviously it is way off (in pics and real life) and more like a blue-leaning turquoise. 

Two more I might have added would be Milani Dressmaker which I couldn't find the YSL mint green from the Spring Duo no.7 which I didn't think to do. Oops O.o

 Refresh-Mint. Sunlight.

Refresh-Mint. Mint Candy Apple. My Life Saver. Refresh-Mint. Shade.

Mint Candy Apple. My Life Saver. Refresh-Mint. Artificial Light.

One of my first nail pictures. Refresh-Mint with Spoiled Don't Pet My Peacock and Trust Fund Baby topped with Don't Touch my Tutu.

Way Late to Spring

Yes, I'm over a month late for Spring, and two years late for this collection but I wanted to show do some Spring colors from the China Glaze Up and Away collection. Pastels and brights like that have been a hit for the past couple Spring seasons and tend to move into some Summer brighters and neons, so that might be a good path to take :)

First up in this series I will post Lemon Fizz. While the color may be quite cute, I found the application to be quite messy both times I tried :/ 

The consistency was interesting. I found it possible to make coats thin, yet it required thick coats to get even coverage. I'd call it chalky, which seems common in pastels. 

Back in the day I seem to recall this brand of makeup called "Jane" (this brand can still be found sometimes, in some discount outlets) that had a color called Taxi. Lemon Fizz reminds of Jane's Taxi. It's not good on my yellowy skin, but as my Taxi shades and Lemon Fizz can attest to, I seem to love yellows, even if yellow pigments seem to make polish application a bee. 

Honestly, it's a good thing my pictures turned out a little blurry, cos my application is pretty uh-uh. Sadly, I couldn’t wear Lemon Fizz as a mani because it was so challenging to appy I couldn’t even apply it on my dominant hand! 

Lemon Fizz. Sun Light.

Lemon Fizz. Artificial Light.