Alice in Polishland

Galaxy Nails

2011-12-22T23:05:00.003-05:00

After almost exactly a year away from this blog, I'm back! My life has been super hectic, as I am now studying chemistry at my university and am also a pre-medical student. I just finished up finals and decided to treat myself with a manicure! I've seen galaxy nails lately, and I think they are just the coolest thing ever. I followed this tutorial over at 'Through the Wormhole' blog (link: http://attackedastorianails.blogspot.com/2011/01/quick-nebula-nail-art-tutorial.html); she had a great and easy to follow tutorial!

Some of my favorite polishes that I used as bases: China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic, Chelsea Kaleidoscope, and Orly Space Cadet (use this one as an accent).

The many nail polishes I used. Feel free to use any colors, the more the merrier! I cut up my make-up sponge into little pieces, so I could use each one for a different color. The colors I used as bases were the darker polishes, such as OPI Tease-y Does It. My accent colors were colors such as China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint and China Glaze White Out. I also used some sparkles, such as a Nfu Oh flakie polish and Orly Space Cadet.

Also, as you may have noticed, I am not currently using my lightbox. I actually recycled my last one after I moved out of my apartment last year, but luckily I have a bigger one at home that my sister's boyfriend had made for me. I hope to get back into photography as well!

The finished product :)

I hope to be blogging more regularly again, but my courseload will be as hectic as ever next semester. Luckily, I get almost a month off from school for winter break!

Happy holidays!

Color Club Snakeskin

2011-01-19T14:17:00.001-05:00

I swear I haven't completely forgotten about this blog! I'm still on winter break right now and have done my nails (slightly) less frequently.

This week's color is Color Club Snakeskin. This is, at first glance, a gray/gunmetal color. A closer look reveals a slight green/gold tinge. I think this is a very gorgeous and special color because of the green tinge.

Pictured here in two coats (although one coat is actually enough to be opaque). I painted my tips with one coat of China Glaze Techno and one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust. I am absolutely in love with Fairy Dust, a holographic silver sparkle in clear polish.

I also bought half of China Glaze Anchor's Away polishes and they look gorgeous! I'm so excited to try them out, especially Sea Spray and Pelican Gray! I'll probably post about them soon.

Designer Nails

2010-12-27T13:00:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long absence from the blog - I've been at home for a week and now have a lovely sinus infection. Anyways, I did my nails before the break at an attempt to do "designer" nails. It didn't work out too well due to my lack of ability to paint tiny logos... but it was fun nevertheless!

OPI Tease-y Does It

2010-12-15T08:26:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great week and for those with you with final exams, hang in there! I'm actually going to take my chemistry final in 2 hours... ahh!!! My roommate's alarm went off this morning (she's not here today) at 7:45 a.m., an hour before I had to wake up. I could just kill her! Okay, I love her very much and at least I got a little extra time to blog this morning right?

Today's polish is OPI Tease-y Does It from the OPI Burlesque Collection. I LOVE this whole collection, but so far I only own Tease-y Does It and Ali's Big Break. They all look gorgeous though!

Isn't the color gorgeous? It's a mix of chocolate, burgundy, gold and pink sparkles... hard to describe; just know this is an awesome color. These pictures were taken 1) in a rush 2) without my light box.

I can't wait until Thursday when my exams are done! I'm already planning a super cute nail art manicure and I can't wait to do it and show you all!

China Glaze Sour Apple

2010-12-12T21:58:00.002-05:00

Sorry I have been M.I.A.! I'm preparing for my last two finals in biology and chemistry - wish me luck! First semester sophomore year has been mad stressful, but very satisfying. Going to visit one of the medical schools in the area today was a real wake-up call (in a positive way) and only made me feel more motivated.

Anyways... on to the nail polish! I've had China Glaze Sour Apple for a long time (one of my first China Glaze polishes), but I never blogged it. It's one of the specialty collection glitters and is worth the pain in the butt to remove (even though it's super sheer). Also, it's highly staining when I put two layers of China Glaze Paper Chasing under... my nails turned YELLOW. Atrocious!

Two layers of Paper Chasing + two layers of Sour Apple.

Good luck with everyone else who is taking finals!!!

So Fly

2010-11-21T17:26:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! So I know a lot of you have been asking about my light box. I don't want to disappoint, but... my light box looks totally ghetto! As many of you know, I am currently in college and don't have many resources to scrape together a light box. I used what I had around my apartment and it works beautifully for me! I will be posting the tutorial in my next entry (I started off doing this as nails and light box, but the post was just too long).

First... my "So Fly" manicure! This is THE manicure that inspired me to start doing my nails. I had gotten my nails done in Taiwan in a similar color and design. I loved the edgy look, and it started me on my love for nail polish, particularly dark and interesting shades. It was also the first (and only) time that I got acrylic nails done - I just don't like the feeling!

Here is the original nail design:

(with my cousin's nails in pink!)

Now in with the new... Chelsea Kaleidoscope! The color is a gorgeous purple/green/gray duochrome.

And now with my version of the feather-y design. I admit, I am TERRIBLE at doing feathers!

Don't you just love duochromes? I think duochromes are my favorite "kind" of nail polish - it's just so much fun turning your hand and seeing the colors change!

Stay tuned in my next post for the light box! I did take photos of it, I'll post it as soon as I can!

Light Box

2010-11-12T00:11:00.000-05:00

After seeing all you wonderful ladies post about using a light box, I Googled how exactly to get one of these things that would make my pictures look better. I ended up making my own little light box! It's a little too small right now, so I'm trying to find a bigger box to make another light box. So far, I haven't done my nails for the last week because I've been completely swamped with exams (although I did pretty well!), but I'm going to do my nails on Saturday, at the very latest. I feel like I deserve a manicure after the chem and bio exams.

Anyways, while I didn't take any nail pictures, I took some bottle shots and pictures of random objects lying around my room, just to test out the light box and my camera! I'm still working on learning how to use my camera completely, but so far I love my little pink Canon PowerShot!

I had some fun trying to make little captions and a "watermark" of my blog! I hope to improve on the design and make it cuter, but for now these are a couple samples!

And now for some random spam of objects that I thought looked cool in the light box! I'm also missing a light bulb right now, the lighting looks really off. I'm open to any suggestions and comments about the photography! This has been a fun stress reliever for me!

My sorority!

What do you all use to take your nail photos? Do you find it extremely frustrating that some colors (*cough* China Glaze Custom Kicks) just won't look right on your camera?

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui

2010-11-07T09:23:00.001-05:00

I bought the Hong Kong Tiny Takeouts as part of my last nail polish giveaway, and OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui caught my eye. The color was so pretty that I decided to buy a full bottle of it for myself! The color is so soothing... I can't really explain it! The formula is great, this is a one-coater (shown here with only one coat, as I've gotten really lazy).

Next up, I have a special set of guest nails! My roommate and I had a nail date, so I did her nails! Excuse some of the parts where the nail isn't fully covered or I made some mistakes - I'm still learning how to do other people's nails better! I've improved so much with doing my own nails since the summer, but I only do other people's nails on occasion. If you do nails, you know it's different because you're at different angles!

I call this sweet confection Cotton Candy. I used China Glaze Light as Air as the base, with various different nail polishes for the designs! I got the cupcake idea and the stripes from another blog (http://emeraldsparkled.blogspot.com/); I love her designs! Thanks for letting me *attempt* to duplicate the designs!

All my pictures have been not as good, because I never have time when the sun is out to take pictures of nails. Flash/indoor lighting makes for not as pretty pictures!

China Glaze Light as Air

2010-11-01T00:17:00.000-04:00

I absolutely LOVE this polish. Yes, I know we're mid-autumn right now and China Glaze Light as Air is totally a spring shade, but I needed a pick-me-up before the onslaught of exams. The polish is a gorgeous light purple (very, very light), and the application is smooth as butter (and a one-coater too). I feel like pastels can be thick and difficult to apply, so I braced myself for chalkiness. The polish totally proved me wrong! I'm in love!

China Glaze Ruby Pumps & Lubu Heels

2010-10-28T19:05:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! Today, I am wearing China Glaze Ruby Pumps on all my fingers, except China Glaze Lubu Heels on my ring fingers. I am going to be a devil for Halloween (only one of the best holidays ever!!!) so I thought the manicure would be quite appropriate!

I originally did a fun version for the devil manicure (as pictured below), but then I decided to switch it up to something more plain, but prettier.

My fun devil manicure! Like the moustache?

Ruby Pumps and Lubu Heels - blurred to show the gorgeous glitter!

Hands down my FAVORITE red!

What is your favorite red polish? What are you doing for Halloween? Have a fun and safe weekend ladies!

OPI Jade Is the New Black

2010-10-18T01:14:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've last posted, but that's because I've been on a nail hiatus... I've been using China Glaze calcium nail fortifier. Honestly, I have no idea if it has worked at all, because after a few days, I got very impatient and started using nail polish again. Although I must say that the fortifier is nice to wear when I'm not wearing polish because it does seem to keep my nails together (they seem to be breaking a lot lately). Anyways, on to the polish! OPI Jade Is the New Black is from OPI's Hong Kong collection. The color is gorgeous, and very true to the name - I own a few pieces of jade (from the lovely boyfrann), and the color is nearly identical (although the polish is obviously a creme and darker).

While I still love my glitters and shimmers, I find that I wear cremes much more often now. I think they are more "neutral," and therefore go with more outfits. What do you guys think? What is your favorite type of nail polish?

P.S. I got a new camera! I love it - Canon PowerShot 1300is. Do you think the picture came out better?

Color Club Soft as Cashmere

2010-10-08T08:45:00.002-04:00

Happy Friday! I wanted to have sophisticated fall nails, so I decided to use Color Club Soft as Cashmere. When I looked at swatches for Soft as Cashmere, it appeared a lot more grey to me than it actually is (or maybe I just have poor memory). Anyways, on me it looks very grey-beige (or as people have been calling it, greige). I like it a lot and I think it looks quite flattering, but I want to purchase a true grey next time! China Glaze Recycle looks promising, no?

Stay tuned for new pictures! I recently purchased a Canon PowerShot SD1300is (in PINK!) and it's coming in today! I'm so excited to start using it and figure out how to make my nail pictures even better. My old camera is a family heirloom in a way, as it was passed from my dad to my sister to me. Unfortunately, it's reaching the retirement age (pretty darn old camera); it's still an amazing camera and I'm still keeping it around of course!

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint

2010-10-05T23:34:00.001-04:00

First post in a long time! College has been crazy busy as usual (and kicking my butt a bit, especially biology). I have another two exams this week, and then *slightly* less busy. So apologies for not posting often! I really wish this was something I could do more often, but school does come first of course. I still do my nails a couple times of a week (as time permits), just to have some relaxation time in between all the studying.

I used Konad plate S10 with Essie Licorice over China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint. I love this color! It's very flattering and reminds me of a lighter, greener ChG For Audrey. As you can see (at least with the puppy), I'm still learning how to Konad properly (this is just my second try). A definite improvement from my first time though!

New Polish Suggestions?

2010-09-22T23:42:00.001-04:00

I was looking at both Head 2 Toe Beauty and Trans Design today (both e-tailers of nail polish), and just noticed that all the Orly Cosmic FX polishes cost $10. At first I thought I was hallucinating, so I checked my receipt from when I bought my Orly Space Cadet, and I bought it from Head 2 Toe Beauty for $5! Isn't that wild? I bought mine probably a month ago? I can't believe the price jumped so fast!

Anyways, I haven't been doing my nails quite as frequently, but it's almost time to restock my Seche Vite and CND Stickey Base Coat! What other polishes have you ladies bought recently that you would suggest to me?? Any favorites? THANKS!

Color Club Magic Attraction & Ms. Socialite

2010-09-21T07:47:00.001-04:00

Good morning everyone! This was definitely one of the harder mornings to wake up to; I just wanted to roll back in bed and not go to work. My sorority just started fall rush and it's been really busy! Luckily, rush gives me an excuse to do my nails. Here are my nails from the last couple days:

Color Club Magic Attraction - isn't the glitter just gorgeous and holographic-y? This is a completely glitter polish (dries bumpy because of all the little pieces of glitter), but nothing two coats of top coat won't fix. I find that it dries quickly because it's so glitter-y.

Color Club Magic Attraction again, just because I love it so much! It's got a lot of different colors of glitter, but I found that it was mostly silver and holographic, which gives it a rainbow look. I bought an extra bottle by accident so it'll be in my next giveaway!

Delta Phi Epsilon nails! I used some purple from LA Colors (one that gloves under UV light), but it was from my sorority so I don't remember the polish! I used Cover Girl Gold Rush (gold sparkles) over.

Color Club Ms. Socialite. This was done for our event tonight, Philanthropy Night! I painted a little bow and added a rhinestone. On the other nails, I did one swipe of Lancôme Juicy Vernis 43 on each.

Giveaway Winner

2010-09-19T00:25:00.000-04:00

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first ever giveaway! I had 625 entries; you guys are awesome!

Congratulations to entry 20, Amy C. for winning the giveaway! Please check your e-mail ASAP so I can send you your goodies! Thank you to everyone who entered; don't worry if you didn't win, I have been collecting some more polishes for a future giveaway.

Thank you so much for reading my blog and being patient as I'm trying to find a way to balance all my priorities (including my beloved blog). It's been almost 2 months since I've started this, and I still find doing my nails a calming and relaxing part of the day. I'm currently wearing Color Club Magic Attraction; gorgeous, sparkly pictures coming up soon!

Giveaway Update

2010-09-14T19:32:00.002-04:00

Just a reminder, the giveaway is ending tomorrow! After tomorrow, I will not be taking any more entries. I am really excited to see who won! I will announce the winner by September 18. Good luck everyone!

An update on my nails: currently unpolished and chipping/breaking... hopefully I will be getting a chance to update my blog again with regular posts. Unfortunately, I have to put blogging behind college and work. Hope to get some posts up soon; I have a lot of polishes I have yet to try!

Blog Update

2010-09-09T08:57:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to say that I haven't forgotten about this blog, even though I haven't posted in a few days! My semester just started again (I'm in college), and my schedule is crazy busy - 20 credits of classes + part-time job + other fun (but time-consuming) activities. Phew! I wanted to thank you all for participating in my giveaway - I will announce the winner next week!

I'll have more nail polish art/nail polish pictures when I get back into my groove of being in school (right now, it seems like I'm always either in class, at work, or doing work). I've been keeping up with all my nail blog subscriptions and enjoying all the nail polish pictures as usual!

Color Club Revvvolution

2010-09-03T08:52:00.001-04:00

When I first laid eyes on this sexy nail polish, I just had to have it! Unfortunately, it was sold out on all the e-tailer sites. When I recently made a purchase to get Orly Space Cadet (also gorgeous), Color Club Revvvolution was available again! Revvvolution is a gorgeous charcoal holographic nail polish. I wore it here with one coat of Revvvolution, one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust, and one coat of China Glaze Wireless Holographic Top Coat (for that extra bling).

I also did my roommate's nails! She wanted a hot pink, so I used Color Club Electro Candy, topped with Color Club Femme Fatale. I used the nail stickers from Viva la Nails (sent to me as part of the blogger sample pack).

Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money

2010-08-31T21:04:00.001-04:00

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

2010-08-24T15:16:00.000-04:00

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

2010-08-24T07:53:00.002-04:00

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

2010-08-23T06:33:00.005-04:00

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

2010-08-22T08:08:00.003-04:00

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

2010-08-21T08:52:00.000-04:00

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!