Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money

Hi everyone! It's been an incredibly busy weekend as I was helping out with the freshmen of my college. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people! I had my nails decked out (two designs) in my college's colors, but I will not be posting them for privacy reasons. Anyways, today I needed the perfect back-to-school outfit so I wore a light pink tank top with a high-waist gray floral skirt, pink moccasins, and a dark gray cardigan. I decided to use Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money to off-set the girliness of the pink.

Welcome Week 2010

For the first time in 50 days (50 posts), I will be skipping a few days on posting in this blog. WHAT? I know... I wish I could do my nails every day too! This week is Welcome Week at my college. I am going to be one of the WW leaders this year. I'm super excited to meet all the incoming freshmen! Anyways, between training days for that and the actual events, I will have very little time to do my nails, and therefore I won't have any content for posts! I should be receiving my Viva La Nails blogger sample package soon in the mail and I have a few new polishes (including the gorgeous Orly Space Cadet), so be on the look out for those in the next week or so! Until then, have a very happy rest of the week!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway; check out the Giveaway tab at the top of the page for details!

Misa Toxic Seduction

No real reason why I chose this polish today, besides that I love green nail polish! Toxic Seduction is a very gorgeous forest-y green. It's a shimmer and the formula applies fantastic. Without further ado... pictures! The first picture shoes the shimmer the best.

Lancôme Juicy Vernis 27

Lancôme Juicy Vernis 27 is a gorgeous pink-nude shimmer. I thought the polish had "gone bad" because there was some yellow discoloring in the bottle. I mistakenly wrote in yesterday's post that the bottle was plastic - it isn't. The bottle is glass but the white top is a bit of a flimsy plastic. Anyways, the color is very neutral, appropriate for work (which is not typically my kind of polish!) I have an interview at a hospital today to volunteer for the semester so I wanted an "appropriate" nail polish! I had to get up very early for the PPD test (tuberculosis test)... I HATE NEEDLES!

(Notice that discoloration? It doesn't effect the color though)

I'm not sure (don't quote me on this), but I think the polish is supposed to be "fragranced" of some sort. It has an odd, old flower-y perfume smell to it and I hate it!! Even after washing my hands numerous times, it still smells. Maybe it's also because it is an older nail polish; I feel like all older nail polishes smell more strongly than the newer ones today.

Update (11:08 a.m.): The PPD test went well! Barely felt a thing and the nurse was super nice. However, the person who was supposed to be interviewing me was sick and didn't show up; I'll have to drag my butt up early again for a rescheduled interview later this week I suppose. Anyways, I cannot STAND this nail polish anymore! I love the "mannequin hand" look it has and it is very flattering on me, but the smell is driving me crazy. I can't wait to get home from work and take off this darn thing!

Misa Camellia Destiny

Today's polish was a bit of a disappointment. I've only used Misa Camellia Destiny once before (as a base in my pink gradient manicure) so at that time I wasn't all too concerned about the opacity or streaky-ness of the polish. However, today I tried to wear Camellia Destiny by itself. It was just... weird! I don't know how to explain it. The polish is a jelly-like finish and tends to streak a lot. The color is still gorgeous, but wasn't quite what I was expecting. I ended up not knowing what to do with my manicure because I went home this weekend and only took with me Camellia Destiny. What to do?

I managed to find my two Lancôme Juicy Vernis nail polishes. I got them from my mom's friend a long time ago, when she used to give me awesome make-up samples to play with! I had neglected them because it looked like the polish "went bad." I decided (to save my manicure) that I should just take the plunge and try them! Turns out, the bottle was what "went bad," as it yellowed over time. These two are the only nail polishes I have that are in a plastic bottle. Luckily, the polishes are still gorgeous! I don't know the name of the one I used, but it is a gorgeous white/silver glitter, dare I say glass-flecked?

Misa Camellia Destiny, three coats (and just barely opaque)

I love Misa bottles! They are gorgeous.

Camellia Destiny meets Lancôme Juicy Vernis

The bottles. See how yellowed they are?? It's the bottles, not the polish!

Nail Palettes - Blacks

Black is one of those standard, never goes out of style nail polishes. People probably think I'm crazy for owning so many of the "same" black polishes. I'd have to say that my three "solid" black nail polishes actually all differ in formula and how many coats until opaque so they aren't equal exactly. You can't go wrong with it! Black nail polish is no longer reserved for goths and punks; I think it's very flattering on everyone!

(From left to right: Sally Hansen Black Out, Essie Licorice, China Glaze Black Diamond, China Glaze Liquid Leather, and China Glaze Jitterbug)

Sally Hansen Black Out: The formula on this was not my favorite. However, it is the most opaque out of SH, Essie, and ChG. This was my first black nail polish ever!

Essie Licorice: I feel like this formula is more "jelly-like" than the Sally Hansen. I think this is my favorite formula; it is opaque in 2 coats.

China Glaze Black Diamond: This gorgeous nail polish is from China Glaze Ski Collection. I really love the shimmer; it's a dark charcoal color with silver shimmer.

China Glaze Liquid Leather: Liquid Leather was the biggest disappointment to me; it takes 3+ coats to be opaque. I suppose it is "glossy," as it advertises itself as a hi-gloss creme. However, with only 1 or 2 coats, it looks like you colored in your fingernail with Sharpie. I suppose it's still a good polish, just not opaque enough for me!

China Glaze Jitterbug: I LOVE this nail polish. I blogged about it a week or so ago. It's such a pretty gunmetal foil; I love silver! I wore it last time with China Glaze Wireless Holographic Top Coat and China Glaze Fairy Dust for super bling!

Color Club Vintage Couture

I was in the mood for a girly pink today! I just cut my nails short because I am getting back to playing piano! I put off practicing all summer because I was a little creeped out of going to the Fine Arts building by myself in the summer. However, I'm back and loving it; I can't believe I didn't practice for so long. Anyways, today's nail polish is Color Club Vintage Couture. It's a very light pink creme and looks very good on my tan hands! 2-3 coats to be opaque.

The color is a lot more "Barbie pink" than my photographs would show!

100+ Followers!

No new nails today (surprisingly) - this is my first non-nail related post for over a month (and my 45th post ever!) I just wanted to thank you all for being so supportive and sweet as I've entered the nail blogging world. 100+ followers since my blog's very first post on July 11 of this summer. Over the summer, I've acquired a ton of new nail polish, new nail art supplies and techniques, and a whole new appreciate for the world of cosmetics. I've gone out of my nail comfort zone, so to speak, in trying new things and I love it! I think the "obsession" with nail polish that I have now is not very understood by most of my friends, but I know the lovely ladies in nail blogging know exactly what I am talking about; you can never have enough! I am still very new at nail blogging, and am looking to improve my nail art techniques, photography skills, etc every day.

Anyways, I wanted to remind you all to enter in my Back-to-School Mini Giveaway; to enter, just comment on this blog entry. The giveaway ends September 15 (my mom's birthday!) so you have a few more weeks. Thank you again for entering!

Nfu Oh 060

Blogger has been very fussy lately and keeps giving me a 503 Error. Anyways, I recently ordered three Nfu Oh polishes - my very first! I kept seeing gorgeous pictures of flakies and had to jump on the bandwagon. Too bad it was dark when I did it last night, and now it's rainy and cloudy. I'll try to update when I can get a more clear picture of them, as these pictures do not do them justice! Without light, the colors look like they have brown/red flakies, but with light, they flash yellow and green too.

Half matte

Nail Palettes - Purples

(From left to right: Chelsea Kaleidoscope, Sally Hansen Flair, China Glaze Midnight Ride, and China Glaze Fly)

Chelsea Kaleidoscope: Kaleidoscope is so annoying to photograph! Unlike in these photos, Kaleidoscope is a green, gray, and purple duochrome. It changes in every light (and therefore is very difficult to capture). I'm not a huge fan of wearing this alone though, as the gray makes me feel a little tired and not as exciting (at least for the summer). I would prefer a more blue/green/purple duochrome instead.

Sally Hansen Flair: Along with Sally Hansen Glow, this was one of my first nail polishes. Come to think of it, I purchased Glow, Flair and Black Out last summer as part of some retail therapy after a break-up, with my now-current boyfriend. See, good things come with nail polish! Anyways, the shimmer in Flair is made up of red and blue. You can distinctly see the shimmer as being red and blue, but from a distance, Flair is all royal purple.

China Glaze Midnight Ride: I have yet to actually wear Midnight Ride. The color is very dark and vampy, but you can still tell that it is purple and not black. I really can't wait to wear this color, perhaps in the fall!

China Glaze Fly: Fly is now one of my favorite colors. Even though I lumped it with the purples, it is more of a fuschia. I really enjoy this color because it is very vibrant and almost Barbie-like. Before this summer, I was not a fan of any pinks/reds, and certainly not fuschia. However, I'm happy to say I am now a converted fan! I can also imagine this being a very gorgeous color for the toes to stand out.

Since I took these pictures, I have acquired quite a few more purples. I'll swatch them at a later date! Hope you are all having a good week so far!

Stardust

I've been on a roll with the gradient nails lately! Of course Beachy Ocean and today's aren't gradients of the same color, but they are painted in the same method. My nails were really stained from taking off Beachy Ocean (China Glaze Custom Kicks as the base) so I decided to just go with another staining nail polish color - black. Sorry my nail design is so messy looking today! I was a bit busy watching Pretty Little Liars, my new (very addicting) guilty pleasure!

FreshLook ColorBlend - Green versus Grey Colored Contacts

I've been wearing my FreshLook ColorBlends in Green for the past two years. I got them the summer before my senior year in high school, just for fun; I only bought one box of them, and the rest regular contacts. I liked them so much that I ended up buying a year's supply of green. This year, I decided to switch it up and buy Colorblends in Grey as well. I've only tried on in the doctor's office green, grey, blue, and honey, because at the time, my doctor recommended the Toric version for my astigmatism. Miraculously, when I went back to the eye doctor this summer, she said that I no longer have astigmatism, or that the astigmatism has diminished significantly... not quite sure how that happens, but I'll go with it! Out of the four colors I've tried on, I only liked green and grey; blue was way too intense and fake-looking, while honey made me look like a zombie. I ended up choosing the green because it looked more natural (as natural as an Asian with green eyes could be). It also looks warmer, in my opinion. However, I really liked the grey as well; they looked more startling and colder. In the end, I was also considering sterling grey; luckily for me, I googled images of Asian girls wearing them and came across one blogger's review of them. Sterling grey is more blue and "husky-like," as she described, which I don't like as much.

Green

Grey

I really like grey in person, but in photographs I think I prefer the green. What do you think? Do you wear colored contacts?

Beachy Ocean

Happy weekend to everyone! I've had a very lovely long weekend so far with my boyfriend at his house. Between doing some work for the sorority and playing massive amounts of StarCraft II and Warcraft III, I did my nails. For this weekend, I did a beachy-ocean look using China Glaze Custom Kicks, China Glaze 2030, Etude House Gold, and Cover Girl Gold Rush.

I started with gold French tips. I could have stopped here as the tips look very good against the blue, but I did them a little messy and decided not to go back and fix.

Using the bottom of the nail brush, I dabbed gold onto the nails. I used two coats in a gradient-style manner.

Picture using natural light. I feel like Custom Kicks is very difficult to photograph because it always looks more light blue (like For Audrey) than it is in real life. Actually, I feel like Custom Kicks is a very green teal.

Completed manicure with some Cover Girl Gold Rush (clear polish with gold glitter) on it.

Nail Palettes - Blues

Blue polishes are among my absolute favorite, as blue is my favorite color! I really love any shade of blue polish, even though they tend to stain a bit.

(From left to right: China Glaze For Audrey, China Glaze Atlantis, N.Y.C. Skin-Tight Denim Creme, China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic, China Glaze Custom Kicks)

China Glaze For Audrey: What can I even say about this polish? Almost every nail-obsessed person probably owns this polish. I really can't get enough of this sky blue polish. It isn't actually a dupe for Tiffany's blue (which is impossible, because Tiffany's owns the color apparently), but it comes very close. Regardless, this color looks amazing, whether you care about Tiffany's jewelry or not (which I don't because it is ridiculously expensive). I do however, own two bottles of For Audrey, just in case!

China Glaze Atlantis: I'm not quite sure why, but I did not like this polish on me at all the last time I tried it. It is a very gorgeous color; perhaps I was just not in the mood. As you can see in the first picture, Atlantis is very glitter-packed in a jelly base. I think the reason I am not a huge fan of wearing glitters alone (like Sour Apple), is because I don't like the jelly base look around the edges of my nails (all the glitter seems to concentrate in the center). Maybe some practice at applying said glitters will make me like them more.

NYC Skin-Tight Denim Creme: As the name implies, Skin-Tight Denim Creme is a creme. It is not as shimmery as it looks in the first photo; the finish is a little dull. That being said, it is still a very versatile and gorgeous blue color. Before I discovered base coats, this one always stained my nails; I haven't tried wearing it in a while, but I'm sure having a base coat helps.

China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic: I reviewed this color a week or two ago, and although in that post I said I was not wowed, it is still a very gorgeous color. I think I wanted it to be more of the duochrome that appeared in the bottle, even though it is not supposed to be a duochrome.

China Glaze Custom Kicks: This is one of my new polishes. Custom Kicks is a very pretty teal color, with gold shimmer. I think the gold shimmer really makes this polish stand out among other teal polishes; it makes it look and feel very summery and luxurious at the same time.

China Glaze Calypso Blue (not pictured): Calypso Blue is a deep, midnight blue. It's very deep, almost black when you first look at it. A closer look reveals a gorgeous midnight blue creme. I really love this color!

Zebra Diva

Happy Thursday! Today I'm going to show you a manicure I did on my sorority big sister S. She had already painted her nails with China Glaze Limbo Bimbo (hers, not mine) and I followed it up with LA Colors in Black and China Glaze Techno. Doesn't she have the prettiest nails?

Nail Palettes - Greens

My first green nail polish was Sally Hansen Glow. This was back when I wasn't all too experienced and knowledgeable in the world of nail polishes (still learning though), and I was blown away by the Sally Hansen Lacquer Nail Collection. The colors looked so gorgeous. However, the price tag for them was a bit steep I suppose; at $7-8 a bottle (versus China Glaze at $3-4 a bottle). I still love my Sally Hansen Lacquer polishes (I have Glow and Flair, but I wish I had Spark!)

(From left to right: Sally Hansen Glow, China Glaze Sour Apple, China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada, China Glaze Gussied Up Green, China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald, and China Glaze Paper Chasing)

Sally Hansen Glow: Glow is a very gorgeous green, with very strong gold undertones. It really does look like it's "glowing," even though it is not a neon.

China Glaze Sour Apple: Sour Apple is a jelly-like base with tons of glitter. The only negative I'd have to say about Sour Apple is that it really cannot be worn alone because the base is very sheer. I wore it over Sally Hansen Glow and it looked absolutely fabulous, almost like a green apple Jolly Rancher.

China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada: This is my very first neon! I wasn't sure quite what to expect, as I read that neons dry matte. I have yet to try this on my fingers/toes yet, but I think I would want to apply a top coat; otherwise, the finish feels a bit like a highlighter.

China Glaze Gussied Up Green: Gussied Up Green is a deep forest green, leaning on the brown side (as opposed to Emerald Fitzgerald). It has a gorgeous shimmer and applies very easily.

China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald: This is a gorgeous deep green, leaning on the blue side. It really does have a vintage green feel to it, as the collection name implies (Vintage Vixens).

China Glaze Paper Chasing: Paper Chasing is a bit sheer, but overall a very gorgeous bright green. I wish it looked a little brighter/deeper, like it looks in the bottle. It's a bit darker than Kiwi Cool-Ada, and with very pretty shimmer. I also purchased this because I loved the name!

Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money (not pictured): I didn't feel like taking another nail palette picture for the three new greens that I purchased. In case you haven't noticed, I LOVE greens and blues! Anyways, Dirty, Sexy, Money is a gorgeous "dirty" green creme. It's not very blue, although I've noticed that when people post swatches, it appears blue (when I just took a photograph, it looked blue in the photo too). I'd describe this as a very gorgeous "army" green.

Misa The Grass Was Greener On My Side (not pictured): This color is really pretty, a very bright green. It's a very true green, which I guess I'm trying to say that it's neither gold-toned or blue-toned. The polish dries matte, which I was not expecting. I think the color will look even more gorgeous with a top coat.


Misa Toxic Seduction (not pictured): Toxic Seduction is like the middle child between China Glaze Gussied Up Green and China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald. While Gussied Up Green has a brown-toned feel to it and Emerald Fitzgerald has a blue-toned feel to it, Toxic Seduction leans more towards Gussied Up Green, but with less brown. All three are very beautiful!

Pink Gradient

Happy Tuesday everyone! As a treat for getting through Monday, I decided to try doing a pink gradient last night. I also can't play StarCraft II, so this kept me busy while I was on Skype with the boyfriend.

I saw this technique used by a number of bloggers, but I wanted to specifically point out Wan's from http://ilovenailpolish.blogspot.com/. I really liked the colors she used, and although I don't have the exact polishes, I used similar colors.

Misa Camellia Destiny, Sally Hansen Pink Promise, China Glaze Preppy Pink, China Glaze Fairy Dust and China Glaze Techno

2 coats of Camellia Destiny

1 coat 3/4 down of Pink Promise

1 coat of 1/2 way down Preppy Pink, then 1 coat of just the tips

With Fairy Dust, Techno, and rhinestones!

Makes me think of summer

My nails are getting slightly less nubbly!