China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le and Sinful Colors Rainstorm

Hello, friends! I've had a long, yet relaxing weekend. I'm back at school for the week and settling into my normal routine. I wanted to share with you a manicure I wore a couple weeks ago. I've been very much into doing different dotticures lately and I especially like this one!

What I used:
2 coats China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le
Sinful Colors Rainstorm (dotting)
medium & large sized dotting tools

Secret Peri-Wink-le is very true to its name; it's a periwinkle cream! I love all shades of periwinkle and this is no exception. I feel like this specific polish started the periwinkle trend since this came out far before others did. The formula on this polish is not my favorite. As you can tell, there are some patchy areas (index finger). I used two coats here, but three coats or two super careful coats would've been better. I then took two sized dotting tools and decorated with Rainstorm, a dark blue creme. I love the pairing of the two colors from the same color family!

What do you think of this mani?

-Shelby

Brush Stroke Mani!

Hello ladies! I hope you all had a lovely weekend :) My family had a holiday party yesterday, so I've been quite the busy bee. It was well worth it though :)

A couple days ago, I did a mani that I saw on a couple tutorials- a brush stroke type mani. Hope you like it! :)

What I used:
OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
Zoya Kristen
Essie Bikini So Teeny
Sinful Colors Lavender
OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui
OPI Ski Teal We Drop
China Glaze Fairy Dust

I loooove how this turned out! I used a medium-length striper brush to achieve this look. I was a little skeptical after the first couple colors, but I couldn't get enough of the final look :) I may have forgot to list a color, but I honestly can't remember.

Merry Christmas in case I don't post before then!

-Shelby

Sinful Colors Rain Storm- Cloud Mani

Good morning! Yesterday I spent a good chunk of time looking at various nail designs, but one design that stuck out to me was Nailside's cloud tutorial! I was determined to recreate it, even though mine doesn't quite look as good :P

I decided to stick with cool blues. I didn't mean for them to be the colors of the sky, but it's how it turned out!

What I used:
Sinful Colors Rain Storm
China Glaze Electric Beat
China Glaze Kinetic Candy

Sinful Colors Rain Storm
China Glaze Electric Beat
China Glaze Kinetic Candy

Sinful Colors Rain Storm
China Glaze Electric Beat
China Glaze Kinetic Candy

Sinful Colors Rain Storm
China Glaze Electric Beat
China Glaze Kinetic Candy

Sinful Colors Rain Storm
China Glaze Electric Beat
China Glaze Kinetic Candy

 This mani was fairly easy and not time-consuming at all. I didn't even need to wait for Electric Beat to dry before applying Kinetic Candy! With what little effort went into this, I'm thoroughly impressed :). Also, Rain Storm has a great application; two coats of perfection! I like all the blues together, but maybe next time I'll venture out and do something more daring! Some glitter in there would be cool too!

What do you think of this mani?

-Shelby

Night Sky Gradient

Good morning lovely ladies! Today I have for you gradient nails! This is a scheduled post since I am headed off to my boyfriend's family picnic/reunion today (that means my post coming up for this afternoon is also scheduled)! I wanted to do something fun for the occasion, so I went with a gradient!

It looks like a night sky to me with the different shades of blues, purples and glitter like the stars. I hope you guys like it!

Polishes used:
China Glaze Bahamian Escape
Nubar Lavender
OPI Funky Dunkey
Nicole by OPI Listen to Your Momager!
Sinful Colors See You Soon
Shimmer Polish Jenny

Night Sky Gradient

Night Sky Gradient

Night Sky Gradient

Night Sky Gradient

I actually am very pleased with how this gradient turned out! I like how each nail is slightly different and more unique than the last :) I used the sponging method to create this gradient. I didn't have too much of an issue with cleanup this time; I decided to tape my nails. I think next time I'll try a gradient without glitter because that'll help with the cleanup even more! I topped this mani off with 1 coat of Out the Door and 1 coat of Diamond Dry, just so the glitter didn't remain gritty. The last photo is a closeup of the gradient; you can clearly see each color there!

What do you think of this gradient? Have any gradient recommendations/ideas?

Until next time,

-Shelby

Pretty & Polished Spam!

Good afternoon! I hope you all are having a lovely Tuesday :). I spent the evening with my boyfriend last night after not seeing him for almost ten days, so that put me in a good mood for today!

A few weeks ago, Pretty & Polished restocked their inventory on Etsy. Right when they released their inventory, I snatched 4 polishes up: Sand Art, Party on my Yacht, Tart, and PHAT Camp!

Beware, this post is picture heavy...I'm going to show pics of the base colors I used before I added the Pretty & Polished glitters to the manis!

Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!

Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!

 Sally Hansen Blue Me Away! is a perfect bright blue creme! It's vibrant, but not too "in your face". The application was awesome; fully opaque in 2 coats! I thought it was a great base for Sand Art!

Pretty & Polished Sand Art

Pretty & Polished Sand Art

 Sand Art is a lime green, purple, blue and pink glitters in a clear base. This was a truly unique color! The glitters seemed somewhat matte and almost spherical, rather than flat. I used 1 coat over Blue Me Away! and really liked the outcome!

Pretty & Polished Party on my Yacht

Pretty & Polished Party on my Yacht

Pretty & Polished Party on my Yacht

Party on my Yacht is gold, purple, green glitters with hidden blue bar glitters in a white, milky base. This color didn't require a base color, but took 3 coats to reach full opacity. I like this color, but I feel like it'll look especially good around Christmas or Easter since it seems somewhat festive to me. The application was pretty good and I didn't have any problems with it :).

OPI Rumple's Wiggin'

OPI Rumple's Wiggin' is a nice lavender creme from the OPI Shrek Collection. This is a classic lavender, possibly my first ever lavender polish! It's a little sheer and streaky, but totally worth it! I used 2 coats semi-thick coats to reach opacity.

Pretty & Polished Tart

Pretty & Polished Tart

 Tart is micro purple, small gold, pink, magenta, blue hexes, and large white/lavender hexes in a milky lilac base. I probably could've reached opacity with this polish in around 3 coats, but I decided to put 1 coat over Rumple's Wiggin' instead! I had no issues with this polish; the application was good and I didn't have a hard time getting glitter onto my nails!

Sinful Colors Ocean Side

 Sinful Colors Ocean Side is a teal creme with a bit of gray in it! I like this color a lot!! I got it on sale for 99 cents at Walgreens and am really impressed with the formula. When I swatched it on a nail wheel, it was a little sheer, but when applied to the nails, it was perfect! No complaints about this gorgeous, ocean-like teal :).

Pretty & Polished PHAT Camp

Pretty & Polished PHAT Camp

PHAT Camp is teal and purple large glitters and pink/purple small glitters in a clear base. This color was really hard to capture in the sun; the teal glitters were kind of invisible in the teal polish! I had no issues with the application, but I'd say this is my least favorite of the bunch, which is funny since I thought I'd like it the most! I still like this combo though :)

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with Pretty & Polished! I didn't have a problem getting the glitter to go onto my nails evenly, which was nice for a change! I would buy from them again :)

What do you think of Pretty & Polished?

Until next time,

-Shelby

Sinful Colors Be Happy: Chevron Mani

Hello ladies! Today I tried another tape manicure, chevron nails, and I really like the outcome of it! It was kind of time-consuming, but worth it :). To speed up the process, I used a coat of Diamond Dry (my new favorite topcoat) between each color. This topcoat is thin, so my mani wasn't too thick at all :)

What I used:
2 coats Sinful Colors Be Happy
1 coat OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous
1 coat Kleancolor Black

Sinful Colors Be Happy

Sinful Colors Be Happy

I really like this color combo! I usually don't wear black nail polish on its own, but I like using it for nail art! The name of this polish is also cute: Be Happy, just makes ya smile :). I think I need more practice doing tape manis, but this isn't too bad of a start!

Here's Be Happy before the chevron!

Sinful Colors Be Happy

This polish had a good formula and applied fairly well! I didn't experience streaking and a second coat made it fully opaque. I like these blue-toned mint shades!

What do you guys think? What is your favorite tape (or any type of) mani to do?

-Shelby

Swatches of Untried Polishes!

Happy Wednesday! During the school year, Wednesday was my least favorite day of the week because it wasn't the beginning of the week, but also wasn't Friday. During the summer, though, I'm rather indifferent. I haven't had much to do during this week while my boyfriend works, but hopefully I'll get to see him before the weekend :)

Today I swatched 6 polishes I haven't used yet. They are all creme or jelly finishes, no glitter.

Orly Cotton Candy

Orly Cotton Candy

Orly's Cotton Candy is a bright, peachy pink crelly. It somewhat reminds me of Essie's Van D'Go, but much brighter and a little darker than Van D'Go. I used 3 coats for the photos above; the application was pretty good. Up until the third coat, there was visible nail line. The color is great & the name is really fun! It would look nice with a tan too :)

Orly Bon Bon

Orly's Bon Bon is a light, grey-toned lavender jelly. This polish surprised me! I thought it was going to be a creme, but was surprised by the jelly finish. I like it none the less! It took four coats to reach this opacity above. The application was good, but using four coats is a pain. 

Sephora by OPI Casting Call

Sephora by OPI's Casting Call is a cool nude/mauve creme. The application of this was great! It was almost perfectly opaque in one coat, but I did a second to be on the safe side. I think this is a very wearable color, especially for a work environment. I think I'll get a lot of use out of this in the fall.

Jessica Barely Blueberry

Barely Blueberry is from Jessica's Gelato Mio! summer 2012 collection. This is a gorgeous baby blue creme. Also, I liked all the names from the collection, and this one isn't an exception! It took 3 coats to reach full opacity, but it was worth it! I can't get over how much I like this pastel :). I'm a sucker for pastels, especially blue and purple pastels. 

Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl

Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl

Sinful Colors' Beautiful Girl is a more peachy version of a bubblegum pink. I believe this color is discontinued, but I'm not 100% sure. Beautiful Girl is pink with peach undertones, while Cotton Candy is peach with pink undertones. It took three coats for full opacity and the application was decent. It's a nice summer color!

OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender

OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender

OPI's Lucky Lucky Lavender, from the Hong Kong collection, is a light purple leaning very pink creme. This nail polish is a dream! The application was great and looked wonderful after 2 coats. I had zero streaking and the coverage was even. I like it against my skintone and I can see myself wearing it anytime of the year!

I hope you guys enjoyed! & enjoy the rest of your week!

-Shelby

Comparison: OPI Sparrow Me the Drama & Sinful Colors Star Fish

Hello! I hope everyone is having a great start to their week. I've had a pretty good week since I returned from my trip. Last night I was giving my boyfriend some extra tlc (he was a little under the weather) and that's why my swatches aren't being posted until now! I wanted to compare to polishes from my stash.

The first is Sparrow Me the Drama from OPI's Pirates of the Caribbean collection. It's a very dusty blue-based pink. I like this shade a lot!

The second is Star Fish from Sinful Colors' Adventure Island collection, which is supposed to have many dupes of the OPI Pirates collection.

Sparrow Me the Drama is a hard color to find in stores, but my local Walgreens still sold Star Fish. I don't think they are exact dupes, but they are pretty darn close. Take a look for yourself! I did 2 coats of each polish below.

Sinful Colors Star Fish
OPI Sparrow Me the Drama

Sparrow Me the Drama is on my middle and pinky fingers, while Star Fish is on my pointer and ring fingers. I think they are very similar in color, but Star Fish is a bit lighter. Both are blue toned and "dusty" looking.

Sinful Colors Star Fish
OPI Sparrow Me the Drama

This is an over-exposed shot of the colors. Here you can really see the difference between the two polishes.

I'm not sure which color I like better. I like them both for different reasons!

I think Sinful Colors did a great job making a "look alike" rather than a complete dupe. Star Fish is not only a cheaper price, but also easier to find.

I hope you guys enjoyed!

-Shelby