Spaz & Squee

Updated stash pics!

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:06:00 +0000

I have been a bad blogger.

String of excuses: work has been very busy, wedding planning has been a pain in the neck, I've been having problems with my camera or lens, my cuticles are in no shape for macro photography, so on and so on.

As a peace offering, I thought I would post my latest stash pictures. I plan on doing a spring cleaning of my stash over the next month, and hopefully downsize a bit!

If you are interested in my plan of attack for purging, my last stash post had my "purge policy" written out in excruciating detail (lol). You can see that post here.

And here we go!

Pinks

Reds

Orange/corals

Light/mint greens

Greens

Olive/poopy-greens

Grey-greens

Turquoise

Teals

Light blues

Dark green-blues

Dark neutral blues

Bright blues

Medium blues

Periwinkle blues

Light purples

Medium purples

Dark warm purples

Dark cool purples

Taupe/brown/neutrals

Nudes

Whites

Greys

Black/silver

Gold/warm metallics

Topcoats

Mixed glitters

If you have any questions about what a particular polish is, let me know!

Indie: Polish Revolution Spring 2013 swatches

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 18:57:00 +0000

Disclaimer: The following polishes were provided to me for swatching/review purposes.

Check out the spring polishes from Polish Revolution :D

Where to buy: Polish Revolution @ Etsy

Bottle pics

Eleganza (2 coats) - Beautiful formula and unexpected mix of glitters! The flash made my VNL (on my ring and pinky fingers) look more apparent than it is IRL. You could add a third coat, but I really think 2 is perfect :D

Florals... for Spring? (2 coats) - Another beautifully formulated polish. A third coat might have photographed better here, but it looked perfect IRL! *shakes fist at flash*

Glitterbox (2 coats) over Nails Inc Baker St - Really fun topcoat with lots of shimmer and various types of square glitter. If you love square glitter, you're going to need this! :)

Grin and Bare It (3 coats) - You could wear this at 2 coats, but I went with three here. I love the blue iridescent disco glitter :9 This is a really cool "nude" polish with a kick of glitter.

Summer State of Mind (2 coats) - I went back to 2 coats, but should have used 3 for pics because it's a jelly base. The blue hexes are actually holo glitters, and there's a ton of fuchsia shimmer in here!

Zombie Gardens (2 coats) - Lauryn really knows how to make a zombie polish :D

Florals for Spring is my favourite from this collection, but I also really dig Grin and Bare It :)

♥♥♥

I just have 1 more indie post to make before I'm caught up! Took me long enough, right? Like I said before, I have almost all the Color Club Halo Hues left to try and swatch, plus I plan on ordering a few of the new Spring polishes from HARE :D

Indie: Happy Hands Faint of Heart Collection swatches

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Disclaimer: The following polishes were provided to me for swatching and review purposes.

Here's another indie spring collection that I have had swatched for a while now, but am only now getting to post them. Since I'm rather late on these posts, if there's on that catches your eye, I recommend you grab it sooner rather than later!

Purchase info:
Happy Hands @ BigCartel
Happy Hands @ Etsy
Happy Hands @ Harlow and Co

First, some bottle pics:

For You, My Love (2 coats): easy formula, loaded with pink shimmer

The Worst Is Over (2 coats): very lovely formula, glitter is very dense, so you'll definitely want to topcoat this one. Such a pretty combination of colours; I especially love the base colour.

Metal Heart (2 coats): Bright, but deep, pink jelly. It photographed lighter than it looks IRL. The formula is very nice, but be careful not to apply your coats too quickly, as the larger glitters might drag through your prior coat! The black glitter is so surprising and awesome; I feel like this a Rockstar Barbie polish.

Metal Heart (2 coats) over Zoya Blaze (1 coat): If you couldn't tell, this is a jawdropping combo XD

Am I Not Yours? (3 coats): At 2 coats, this polish looks nice with some VNL, and at 3 coats, it seemed a little thick on the nail, so I would rather layer this over something else. It leans very green on my skintone. The glitter is very dense and super shiny/light catching.

Am I Not Yours? (2 coats) over Essie Go Overboard (1 coat): I wish I had a dark teal jelly, but this is a pretty nice combo too :)

What do you think? Metal Heart is my favourite of the collection. It's just so fun!

---

So, being busy aside, I wanted to tell you that the maintenance guy in my apartment building has started commenting on my nails almost everytime I see him. I guess coming into my apartment to replace lightbulbs, check the water heater, etc. he has noticed that I always have bottles of nail polish lying around (everywhere!!!). Guys, I won't lie. I was mortified the first time he said something. I am not ashamed of loving nail polish, but I don't like people pointing it out to me every time I see them!! Now I am hyper-aware of where he is in the building at any given moment. LOL.

Anyways, I hope you guys have a great weekend! I have a lot of household chores to catch up on!

Indie: Smitten Polish Wickedly Smitten swatches

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:20:00 +0000

Disclaimer: The following polishes were provided to me for swatching and review purposes.

I am clearly behind on posting, but I have lots of indie polishes to show you!

Here is Noelie's collection inspired by the musical Wicked. If you'd like to read her inspiration for each shade, you can check out her blog post on it here.

Purchase information: Smitten Polish Etsy Shop

As usual, beautiful formulas.

Look to the Western Sky - 3 coats - such a unique polish! The polish is very smooth and fluid. The flash makes it seem more transparent at the sides of the nails than it appears IRL.

I Feel... Wicked - 3 coats - Dood. I don't even like holo glitter, but this polish is pretty inspired. Looks a bit deeper IRL - the jelly nature is accentuated by mah flash. A few of the smaller glitters were impossible to clean off my cuticle.. I hate it when that happens.

I Feel... Wicked (1 coat) over Illamasqua Rampage - :9

Traveling by Bubble - 3 coats - How cute is this? There's a fine shimmer running through this as well, that I didn't know about until I started applying it on the nail!

Comparison: Traveling by Bubble and Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air(4 coats) - The glitter mix reminded me of the DL, but they are totes different

Pink Goes Good with Green! (3 coats) - super cute muted minty base!

Who Steals a Dead Woman's Shoes?? (1 coat) over Essie Marshmallow - This is so bling-tastic. I tried to swatch it 3 coats on its own, but it blinded the hell out of my camera and the pictures turned out awful.

Nice collection, Noelie! I think my fave is IFW over Rampage (the name combo even sounds appropriate LOL).

I have not seen this musical yet... I really should! Have you seen it?

---

I have been absolutely swamped at work these last few months, and added to that is wedding planning (which is a nightmare, as I expected). I have dreaded wedding planning even when I was a kid (and had no beau in sight), and now that I seriously have to do it, I just want to run away. Someone help me convince my fiance to elope!!! Ayeeeee.

Upcoming indie swatches: Happy Hands, Polish Revolution, and Darling Diva! I also have some mainstream polish (I think) from a few swaps to show, AND I have a lot of the Color Club Halo Hues that I have yet to swatch >.> My god, I need an extra day in my week!!!

Indie: CrowsToes the Pleiades Collection swatches

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:31:00 +0000

Disclosure: The following polishes were provided to me for swatching/review purposes.

Crowstoes sent me her Pleiades Collection a few weeks ago, but have been pretty busy at work recently, so apologies for posting this so late!

I am not the best at capturing multichrome polishes, but I tried to capture a couple pics of each under my desk lamp, since I normally photograph with a big diffused flash, which tends to wash out most multichrome polishes :( I think I did manage to capture some of the extra sparkle that is in these polishes, though! These are quite complex!

Formula is great on all of these. Some are a more opaque than others, but I think all can be worn with 2-3 coats on their own, or 1 coat layered over a coordinating base. Hopefully it's not too late for you to get these if you want them :S

Here are the direct links to the Crowstoes at Llarowe and OverallBeauty:
Llarowe CrowsToes
OverallBeauty CrowsToes

Bottle pics

Alcyone over Essie Film Noir - A cool-toned purple blue multichrome

desk lamp light

Asterope (3 coats on its own) - A pink-gold-orange multichrome, that reminded me a bit of MAC Bad Fairy, but lighter.

desk lamp light

Celaeno (3 coats on its own) - A gold-orange-green multichrome

desk lamp light

Electra over CND Midnight Sapphire - A turquoise-blue-purple multichrome

desk lamp light

Maia (2 coats on its own) - A bright red-pink-purple-fuchsia multichrome

desk lamp light

Merope (3 coats on its own) - A brownish purple-blue multichrome that reminded me a bit of Orly Galaxy Girl. Woops, sorry about the fuzzy on my ring finger!

desk lamp light

Taygete over Essie Film Noir - A true purple to pink multichrome

desk lamp light

Orion (3 coats on its own) - A green-brown-aqua-goldish multichrome

desk lamp light

And if you are having a hard time distinguishing these from one another, I tried to group them together and compare them on the same hand:

Comparison: Asterope (3 coats) and Maia (2 coats) - no underwear here

desk lamp light

Comparison: Merope (2 coats), Taygete (3 coats), Alcyone (3 coats), Electra (3 coats) - no underwear here

Desk lamp light

Hope this post was helpful!

Indie: Contrary Polish Mega-Post

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:48:00 +0000

I've known Carrie from nail board for a while now, and I tried to enter a giveaway for some of her polishes late last year. When I did, she asked if I wanted to swatch some of her polishes. I said "Yes" and that I wanted to swatch ~ ALL OF THEM ~. So she sent me a huge package with tons of minis, and here I am... about 7 weeks after they came in the mail XD It took a lot longer to put together this post than I anticipated, BUT I hope someone finds this useful, as this is currently the entire Contrary Polish catalogue available to purchase.

Speaking of which, if you find any you want to purchase, you can do so at Llarowe, and you can order minis directly from Carrie (check out the sidebar on her blog here).

I had a stand out favourite colour: Creeping Moss. There's just something about that polish that works so well with my skin tone; I want to make love to it. I'll be purchasing a full size of this, definitely! :)

But every one of these polishes has an excellent formula that applies very smoothly and evenly. These polishes were all swatched with topcoat, as I found them to dry somewhat satin-y on their own.

As usual, all my swatches are photographed with a big ol' diffused flash (so my macro lens will focus on more than just a tiny sliver of my nails), so the shimmer is a bit more pronounced in these photos compared to normal, indoor lighting.

The Original Six

Bright Night (3 coats) - Gorgeous. Dark blue jelly (a warmish blue) with aqua and silver shimmer.

Comparison: Contrary Bright Night and NARS Midnight Express (both 3 coats) - the Contrary looks much lighter because of the shimmer, but the base colour is quite similar. You can see it better in my pinky nail as the flash is not hitting it directly there.

Creeping Moss (2 coats) - Warm, olive brown (slightly purpley red) with copper and pink/fuchsia shimmer. This was an OMG polish for me. So beautiful.

Comparison: Contrary Creeping Moss and Nina Ultra Pro Never Glum Plum

Firebrand (3 coats) - Super complex and pretty dark raspberry red with red and pink shimmer. I used 3 coats for the swatches, but 2 looks fine IRL.

Gilded Oak (3 coats) - Purpley-plummy brown with gold shimmer

Inky Fingers (2 coats) - cool grey blurple with blue and green shimmer.

Purple Smoke (3 coats) - I did 3 coats for the pictures, since I use flash, but two coats looked fine IRL. A cool toned purple (or blue grey) with blue and purple shimmer.

Comparison: Contrary Purple Smoke and Nina Ultra Pro Never Glum Plum - I don't have Revlon Perplex anymore (did I ever have it?), so I grabbed my trusty bottle of Nina NGP for comparison.

Stand Alones

Desert Fruit (2 coats) - Not part of any collection. Beautiful formula and coppery/bronze/red shimmer. I don't have OPI Peel Me a Gobi Grape, but this looks very similar to swatches I've seen!

Comparison: Contrary Desert Fruit and Orly Plum Noir

The Islands

Anna Maria (2 coats) - Dark teal with golden-greenish shimmer

Aruba (2 coats) - Turquoise base with aqua shimmer.

Santorini (3 coats) - A dark periwinkle or indigo or violet (IDK) with blue shimmer. It looks darker IRL than the picture shows.

Comparison: Contrary Santorini (3 coats) and MAC Ming Blue (2 coats) - These photographed more similar than they appear IRL. The MAC is much less purple, and the shimmer appears almost a bit more silvery in the Contrary.

Fall 2012 LE Duo

Bonfire (3 coats) - Again, I used 3 coats for pictures, but 2 looks fine IRL. A warm, slightly orange leaning red jelly with red/pink, gold, and brown shimmer and microglitter.

Hayride (2 coats) - A caramel nude/tan with gold, bronze, and brown shimmer and microglitter. Flattering on my skintone!

Comparison: Contrary Hayride and SH CSM Fedora - I don't have anything close to Hayride, so I grabbed one of my favourite neutrals to compare it with

Holiday 2012

Adorned (over black creme) - A golden flakie topcoat with gold/copper shimmer.

Comparison: Contrary Adorned and Essie As Gold As It Gets - These are quite similar, but the Essie is a lot more dense, so if you prefer a more subtle topcoat, the Contrary is a nice choice. I think there's a difference in the shimmer, too, but it's difficult for me to tell.

Bauble (3 coats) - a bright cherry red jelly (slightly pink) with red microglitter and silver shimmer.

Comparison: Contrary Bauble and Essie Bonded (both 2 coats) - The Essie is a lot brighter and lighter, but the microglitter is pretty similar.

Candlelight (2 coats) - A very dark greenish-brown-almost black with golden shimmer.

Comparison: Contrary Candlelight and Hello Kitty Night Sparkle - These are similar in darkness, but the Contrary is a little bit jellier in finish, whereas the HK is an opaque creme with lots of shimmer.

Frozen (3 coats) - The most well behaved white polish I've tried in a long time! Really pretty white polish with blue microglitter and silver/white shimmer.

Mystery (2 coats) - a dark, rich, warm brown with coppery-bronze shimmer

Comparison: Contrary Mystery and ChG Ingrid - I don't have any browns similar to Mystery, but here it is compared to ChG Ingrid just so you get a sense of the colour

Spruce (2 coats) - deeper and darker IRL with strong green-golden shift.

Comparison: Contrary Spruce and ChG Glittering Garland - Contrary Spruce is deeper and darker than the ChG, and also more of a squishy finish.

Spring Collection 2013 - Love Lyrics

Better Together (2 coats) - Very unique combination of a grey-blue base and turquoise shimmer. I couldn't find anything in my stash to compare this to.

Feels Like Home (2 coats) - kind of a warm purple taupe base with rosey-pinky-coppery microglitter and shimmer.

Comparison: Contrary Feels Like Home and Nina Ultra Pro Never Glum Plum - Sorry I keep comparing things with Nina NGP.

Play Me (3 coats) - Reminds me of SH Mystic Lilac (which I don't have anymore to compare), but I think this is a lighter lilac base and fine green shimmer running throughout.

Comparison: Contrary Play Me and Essie Chinchilly - without flash under low lights it seemed like the base colours were closer, not so much with flash, eh?

Somebody Loved (2 coats) - Pale pink with lavender undertones, lots of warm copper and green shimmers that makes this cool-toned pink flattering on my warm skintone! This might be my favourite of the spring polishes. A pink, can you believe it?!

The Way I Am (2 coats) - This is a greyed-out sage or avocado green (looks less green IRL than these pictures show) with fuchsia microglitter and fuchsia/blue shimmer.

Ain't No Sunshine (2 coats) - A grey blue with white flakies and shimmer.

Comparison: Contrary Ain't No Sunshine (2 coats) and Illamasqua Raindrops (3 coats)

Comparison: Contrary Ain't No Sunshine and Zoya Skylar (2 coats each)

A couple Contrary-to-Contrary comparisons:

Gilded Oak (3 cts), Mystery (2 cts), Creeping Moss (3 cts), CandleLight (2 cts)

Bonfire(3 cts), Bauble(3 cts), Firebrand (3 cts),Desert Fruit (2 cts)

Ok that's everything! Thanks, Carrie, for letting me swatch your polish line and thanks for your patience :)

A few Zoya swatches and comparisons (Evvie, Natty, Dree, Blaze)

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:36:00 +0000

I picked up 3 Zoyas from their last promo (3 for $10, shipped), and got another bottle in a swap. Here are the swatches and comparisons:

Zoya Evvie - 2 coats, excellent formula. A dusty green with a tiny bit of blue in it. This reminds me of Avon Olive Green (the RBL ONS dupe), but I purged that a while ago. I think the Avon was darker and more saturated, though.

Comparison: Zoya Evvie and Essie Power Clutch - The Zoya looks quite a bit bluer compared to the Essie. They don't look as close IRL as they do in this picture. If you are into greens like the Essie, I think it's worth having both :D

Zoya Natty - 2 coats, also excellent formula. A dusty cool blue. I love polishes that have a greyish quality to them!

Comparison: Zoya Natty and Orly Sapphire Silk (both 2 coats) - The Orly has quite a bit more green than the Zoya. On the nail, I think I like the Zoya better than the Orly (which is one of my favourite cremes!) They are different enough to own both, but I'm thinking of purging the Orly because I think I like the Zoya on my skintone better.

Comparison: Zoya Natty and Misa Office Polish-tics (both 2 coats) - The Misa is quite a bit more grey and almost purpler. This Misa is one of my favourite cremes too; it is very nice :D

Zoya Dree - 2 coats, a pretty-ugly greenish brown. This is actually more flattering than you might think!

Comparison: Zoya Dree (2 coats) and Illamasqua Hectic (3 coats) - Illa Hectic is one of my favourite cremes as well, and it is just a bit greener than the Zoya. They are not dupes, but they are very very similar. I like both of these more than RBL No More War, on my skintone.

Zoya Blaze - 2 coats. A pinky-red scattered holo. I don't even like scattered holos and this is gorgeous IRL. I'm glad I let someone talk me into getting it! The formula is excellent.

Indie: Oopsie Daisies Conversation Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:09:00 +0000

Hotpinkaurora previewed her Valentine's Duo and as soon as I saw Conversation Hearts, I had to have it. So I boughts it. I haz no regrets!

It's weird because I am not a pink lover at all. But this one is a warm pink, so I thought I would take the chance, and I'm glad I did!

You can get yours here at her Etsy shop, if you dig it.

Oopsie Daisies Conversation Hearts (3 coats on its own) - awesome formula. It looks good at 2 coats, too, if you want a bit less glitter on the nail.

China Glaze Kinetic Candy

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:53:00 +0000

I don't typically buy a lot of China Glaze polishes (mainly because I don't find myself at Sallys often), but once in a while I am really pleased with China Glaze. Today's polish is such an example:

I received this polish in a recent swap, and I am quite happywith it, even though it's not terribly exciting-looking in the bottle.

China Glaze Kinetic Candy - 2 coats. This has a surprisingly nice formula for this type of colour. It reminds me a bit of OPI What's with the Cattitude?, but maybe a little dustier (less bright) and a tad darker... and with an immensely better formula. I purged the OPI ages ago. I think this shade of blue works well with my warm skintone :D

If I were the type to do nail art, I think white dots or snowflakes would look awesome over this polish.

---

Tuesday night is guilty pleasure TV night: Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game on ABC Family. This episode of PLL is full of hard to believe twists and turns D:

I'm fully entertained :D

Indie: HARE Holiday Hoop-la

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 03:03:00 +0000

I ordered this from Nikole right before Christmas, but it arrived after I had left for Canada, so I didn't get to try it out until after the holidays. Even though it is a Christmassy polish, I think the colour palate transfers well to Valentine's Day.

I think this is super cute and I'm glad to have pulled the trigger on it! It is limited edition, but it is still available at Llarowe, so grab it ASAP if you want it! It might also be available at Nikole's Etsy shop, but currently it seems to be unstocked.

HARE Holiday Hoop-la (1 coat) over Essie Marshmallow

Indie: Smitten Polish mini-spam (a few from "Smitten with the Holidays" collection)

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:49:00 +0000

I purchased these in early December, and swatched them just before I left for Canada. I think I wanted to post these swatches a couple times before, but Noelie was also away for the holidays, so I decided to wait until she got back to post these pics! Her Etsy shop is open again (actually, it must have been open for a while, and I just forgot to check again), so you can grab these if you're interested in them!

Smitten Polish Frost Fairies (3 coats) - Very good formula for a white jelly, but I apply whites very carefully :)

Smitten Polish Frost Fairies (1 coat) over Essie Marshmallow (2 coats)

Smitten Polish Winter is Coming (3 coats) - Excellent formula. I think this looks even nicer in person! Plus GAME OF THRONES! 3.31.13!!!! That seems far away :(

Smitten Polish Greensleeves (3 coats) - This is pretty opaque at 2 coats, but I did 3 for the pictures. It dries on the satin side, so definitely looks better with topcoat. Reminds me of a more complex Zoya Ivanka.

Comparison: Smitten Polish Greensleeves (3 coats) and Ivanka (3 coats) - The big flakes in the Smitten give it an overall bluer appearance, but the base seems very similar between the two. Smitten's formula wins, in my opinion.

Smitten Polish A Midnight Clear (3 coats) - Similar to Greensleeves, this one dries to a satin-like finish, so use topcoat to bring out the best in this one. Very pretty.

Comparison: Smitten Polish A Midnight Clear (3 coats) and Zoya Song (1 coat) - These look very close in the bottle, but on the nail they are rather different. The Zoya is darker and does not catch as much light as Smitten.

Hope your 2013 is going well! I've been doing some spring cleaning around the apartment. This morning, I made a post on our apartment's e-bulletin board giving away our old vacuum and steam mop (having been replaced by the Dyson in my previous post, and a new Bissell I purchased from Amazon). I got two responses in about 5 mins of posting. The second person was SO BUMMED that he had missed out. I've never seen someone so distraught over not getting a steam mop before ("my 1st major letdown of the new year"). So, I hope your new year is going better than his, at least!

(Non-Nails) 2012 Favourites - huge picture post

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:53:00 +0000

This is going to be a very long post with lots of pictures! My favourite things from 2012!!

Beauty

1. YSL Glossy Stains (5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 15 pictured)

12 and 15 got the most use through 2012, but I really adore 5 as well, which I got late in the year.

2. Brushes: Hakuhodo K005, Shu Uemura 5R, Shu Uemura 10N, Hakuhodo K020

Absolutely love these brushes.
The K005 is brilliant for lining close to the lash line and on the lower lash line.
The two Shu brushes are so versatile and just plain excellent (though I wish the handles were shorter!).
K020 is my favourite blush brush - it is so flipping soft and perfect for applying pigmented blushes (i.e., the majority of blushes I own. I wish I had this blush when I still owned from R&R blushes!)

3. Indie nail polish

This year was incredible for indie polish! These are my favourite indies from the year. Swatches are here.

4. NARS Tinted Moisturizer (in Alaska) and 5. DHC Cleansing Oil (LE packaging)

NARS TM is the first base makeup product I've ever liked. It blends in super easily, feels lightweight on the skin, and has a subtle, but pleasant citrus smell. It also applies well with fingers!
I picked up the DHC oil in Tokyo in April, when I saw the cute packaging. I really like the product as well, but I'm ready to explore other oils :) I will definitely be reusing the bottle, though!

6. K-Palette brow pen, 7. Dollywink-style eyeliners, 8. Holika Holika Wonder liner

The K-palette brow pen is my HG brow product. The colour is "greyish brown" and is perfect for my black, sparse brows. I first purchased it in Tokyo, but have ordered it online from BeautyCarousel
I used to hate liquid liner until I tried the brush-tipped eyeliners such as Dollywink. I also like the Physician's Formula 2 in 1 EyeBooster, and the Creer Beauty Rose de Versailles one (that one comes off in the shower with hot water, which is nice!)
The Holika Holika liner is one of those 3 dot eyeliners (Clarins and Too Faced both have one), but this one was only around $10 shipped from Ebay. I always tightline and this makes it very easy. It's not for everyone, though, but I find it super handy!

9. Inglot shadows

My first Inglot haul for my birthday in May:

My current favourites: UD Naked and Buck from Naked 1 Palette, Inglot M327, M329, P423, P402, P419, P407, P397, P399

10. Shu Uemura Orange Pistachio palette

I pined after this for months, and even saw it in person on a trip to Canada to be sure. I came back to the States and ordered it when a 20% off code became available. The palette is super adorable, and I love the taupe-brown shade the most. My only gripe is that the pans are not magnetic, so I cannot slap them into my Unii palette.

11. Paul & Joe makeup bag

I purchased this from the Urban Outfitters website. I absolutely adore a) cats and b) the organizational pockets inside. SO HANDY DANDY! It looks like it's still available online, here. Make sure to check retailmenot for %off codes, too. I think I got mine 10 or 15% off.

12. Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence

Sorry for the shoddy photo! This was my go-to sunscreen. I am thrilled with it because it absorbs quickly, does not feel sticky, and smells LOVELY. I absolutely hate the smell of sunscreen, and this one has a light citrusy scent. I know it's not perfect, in terms of UV range covered or chemical vs physical, but since I actually look forward to putting this on, I figure it has got to be better than not wearing any sunscreen.
Purchased from adambeauty

13. MUFE freestyle palette

Went into the city to pick up these magnetic palettes after my Inglot haul (the cat sticker was my addition)! They are huge, but not bulky, and have a very strong magnetic sheet inside. They were $10 a piece (now they are $11, I think) and I love how much they can store - these are all Inglots:

The only downside is that they dent and scratch very easily, but it doesn't really bother me.

Apparel and Accessories

1. Amaranthine Headband

I am usually anti-hair accessory; mainly out of laziness. I decided to try this headband on a whim, and am happy to report that I a) love how it looks and b) it does not cause me to get a headache. I purchased it on sale for around $20, but would probably pay full price for it again... but don't tell my mom. I routinely tell my mom that I buy things for 50-60% of what I actually paid. She has delicate sensibilities when it comes to these things. Also, she is your classic 'Asian Mom'. Yes Mom, I got it for... $10. "That's expensive. You can find that for $1 in the street markets in China."
Purchased from Anthropologie (OOS)

2. Daughters of the Liberation Rain-Dotted Anorak

I saw this jacket in stores early last year and wanted to get it, but a lady nabbed the last one in my size. I ended up order it online when a free ship code became available. I absolutely love how it looks. The only bummer is that it is unlined - which I feel is a travesty. Jackets should be lined, okay? It provides very little warmth. A strong breeze will chill me to the bone. But it's water resistant-ish. And so cute. I love that the dots are irregular and not perfect circles.
Purchased from Anthropologie (OOS)

3. Bagatelle Buttondown in Blue Motif

I loved this shirt when I saw it on the rack at Anthropologie, but waited for a 20% off sale (Black Friday) to purchase. I'm so happy with it. It is machine washable, and the print is so adorable. I even wear it to work. I am no longer afraid of becoming 'that lady with the weird shirts'.
Purchased from Anthropologie

4. Leggings (no picture)

I jumped on the legging bandwagon in 2012, and am much happier for it. So comfy and easy! If you catch me wearing these as pants, trust me, I am thinking "Oh god, I am wearing leggings as pants, what if somebody SEES me?!" nonstop in my head, so you don't have to shame me about it. I try and wear these with long shirts, I promise.
Purchased from Aritzia

5. Sapphire and white gold engagement ring

I got engaged in early November, and DF picked out the ring and stone all by himself (he knew I wasn't fond of diamonds). Hilariously, the B&M store he bought it from (in the Diamond District in NYC) has an online presence with the super sketchy-sounding website, "AntiqueEngagementRings.com".

6. Mulberry Bryn in Oak Natural

I asked DF for this bag as my Christmas present (my 'first' leather, and expensive, bag), and received it early when he was able to nab it at 40% off during a fall preview sale. What luck!
Purchased from Mulberry B&M store

7. Børn 'Jerrica' Flats

I purchased a black pair from Nordies early in 2012 and wore them on my trip in April. I can't find the product on Nordstrom's website, so the image is from Born's website. The ribbon tie in their image looks a lot more satiny (and if I'm honest, it looks computer generated!) than the tie on my pair. But these are super comfy, super soft, amazing flats. I have terribly flat feet, so I routinely complain about all kinds of foot wear. But these... I love. I should have picked up a pair in the Nude shade! *weeping*
Purchased from Nordstrom, but no longer available on their website.

Food & Restaurants

1. Fage yogurt

I purchase the 12 pack from Costco every 2 weeks. I prefer this brand over others (esp. Chobani) because I find other greek yogurts to have a chalky taste to them. Fage is always smooth tasting to me. I only use half the fruit mixin's, though, because I find using all of it to be overwhemingly sweet. One pet peeve about these, is that the flavours all have an 'exotic' fruit tacked onto an otherwise completely normal yogurt flavour:

Strawberry Goji
Cherry Pomegranate
Mango Guanabana (I don't even know what Guanabana is)
Blueberry Acai

And I don't find these to taste any different than plain Strawberry, Cherry, Mango, or Blueberry flavours from other yogurt brands. For the record, my favourite is the Mango, and least favourite is the Blueberry. How lucky am I that the complete reverse is true for DF? A perfect symbiotic yogurt relationship.

2. Ootoya

I don't eat out much, but I've been to this restaurant in the Flatiron district three times already. DF also proposed to me here! I first discovered it when a friend was coming in from out of town and asked me to pick a place for dinner. Finding a new restaurant on Yelp for NYC restaurants is one of the most overwhelming things I've encountered online. There is just SO much choice. Places with thousands of reviews - all superb, I'm sure, but extremely busy with long wait times. My new method of searching Yelp is to find restaurants (in NYC) with less than 100 reviews. I found Ootoya when it had 50 reviews (and had been open since April, I believe) and we gave it a try. I love it for its affordable, home-style Japanese food (I will not order sushi here, thanks), beautiful decor, and spacious interior. The pork belly and yakitori are my favourite items on the menu. I stopped taking pictures at restaurants years ago (I felt too "asian" doing so), but it's a delicious place to go.

3. Brussel sprouts

Prior to the last year or so, I had only eaten brussel sprouts once before, at a white friend's house in high school. They were boiled. And nasty. My mom didn't cook them, for some reason - it must not be common in Chinese cuisine. I wanted to give them a fair shot, so decided to roast them based on rave reviews. They are so good. I wish I could eat them every day, all day long (but I would become a stinky thing, wouldn't I?). I even like them blanched and sauteed now, and I dare say they are even excellent in an asian-style stir fry.

4. Callebaut milk chocolate

DF gets a coffee from Whole Foods every weekend, usually while I am tackling the produce. One time, I went with him and found the coffee area to be loaded with huge blocks of chocolate. I spied a 1.25 pound block of milk chocolate, labeled 33% cocoa solids and took that baby home. I wanted to make the Milk Chocolate Ice cream out of The Perfect Scoop, but hadn't seen "good" milk chocolate before. First, the ice cream is incredible. Second, the chocolate itself is SO GOOD. I don't think I'll ever eat American milk chocolate again (they only require a minimum of 10% cocoa solids to be labeled as "milk chocolate" here). It was $12 for the block, which, is entirely reasonable considering I have been buying Green & Black's chocolate bars at $3-4 a pop (for 100g).

Household Items

1. Zojirushi NS-LAC05 Micom 3-Cup Rice Cooker

We bought a new rice cooker this year and decided to go higher-end than a cheap $25 one. We got this 3-cup Zojirushi and I LOVE it. In addition to rice, I've also cooked steel cut oats and quinoa in it. I love that it has a timer, so you can set it to finish cooking oats in the morning! It also sings a song when you start cooking and it sings upon completion! DF and I refer to it as "Zoey".
Purchased from Amazon (but I got it for $103) -

2. Memory foam mattress (no picture)

My conventional innerspring mattress purchased from Macys in 2009 caused DF and me to have backpain. I decided to get a new mattress, and went with one from Costco (since they have an excellent return policy). I've never had a memory foam mattress before, but thought it would be a good way to try one. It's 7 months later and we are both sleeping AWESOME. I absolutely love this mattress. The only downside is that there is no edge support at all, so sitting on the edge of the bed is... impossible.
Purchased from Costco, no longer available (but they do have another listing with the same name, but different ID number)

3. Steelcase Cobi

I needed a new chair for my desk at home, and we decided to go for a "good" chair. Tons of research landed us with this Steelcase chair (in Wasabi). Absolutely love it and worth every penny.
Purchased from The Human Solution with a 15% off code

4. OXO fish spatula (held by DF)

I know, a weird thing to show up on a favourites list, but this spatula is so useful. I need to get a backup, because sometimes when I want to use it, it is in the dishwasher. It's not just for fish!
Purchased from Crate and Barrel

5. Swiffer duster

This makes dusting enjoyable. Enough said.
Purchased from Costco

6. Evercare Large Surface Adhesive roller

TMI, I have long black hair and shed a lot. This is just a giant lint roller on a long handle, so I can roll up my disgusting hair before vacuuming (otherwise it just gets stuck in a part of the vacuum that is very hard to clean). This is also handy for cleaning up pine needles from the Christmas tree!
Purchased from Drugstore.com

7. Dyson DC40 Animal Upright Vacuum

My first "real" vacuum - the one I had before sucked (in a bad way). This has amazing suction. DF looks forward to vacuuming every weekend now, so I don't have to vacuum anymore - Woohoo!
Purchased from Costco on Black Friday (came to $380+tax)

8. Sedona Tote baskets

I went basket crazy this year, and these are my favourite basket purchases ever! I have biggish ones in the bathroom to hold towels, and small ones near my desk for clutter. They are sturdy and good looking (imo). Baskets are awesome!!
Purchased from Crate & Barrel

9. Uniqlo baby blanket

Yes, this is a fleece baby blanket. But it has a Mickey Mouse design on it, and it is the perfect size to have in the car. I used it on our drive to Canada over the holidays. There's also a weird snap button so you can wear it like a poncho. I don't even know why you might do that... but hey, it's a free option. I just ordered a larger size from the website (they didn't have it in store), and I am really looking forward to getting it!
Purchased from Uniqlo

Technology

1. Eye-fi card

I bought this more than a year ago, but I love it. Basically, it is an SD card with wifi, so it will transfer pics to your computer over a wireless network right after you take it. It makes taking nail swatches SUPER easy, since I don't have to remove the SD card to load pictures, and I can see very quickly after each picture if I need to reshoot (without harming my mani). I totally recommend this to anyone who might find this a useful feature.
Purchased from http://www.eye.fi/

2. iPhone 5

Ok, to be fair, I got this in the last week of 2012, but I have been LOVING IT SO MUCH. I just enjoy it so much and can't wait to get a cute case for it. I am a butterfingers with it though, and have been dropping it all the time... while sitting down, even. It is embarrassing.

3. Stereo Receiver: Yamaha Natural Sound AV Receiver RX-V673

A weird thing to like (DF picked it out), but it has Apple Airplay built-in, so I can send music from my iPhone to our stereo system directly. It is so cool! It's also useful for when I am cleaning dishes and want to watch something on DF's iPad, because the stereos are a lot louder than the tablet's, so I can actually hear what's going on amongst running water and clanking.

Apps

1. Magic Tree

This popped up as Google Play Store's pick one day, and I downloaded it... and have been addicted ever since. The game is so cute. I even got DF on board. It's available on iPhone/iPads too!

2. Netflix

Netflix is terrific. I love it on PS3, on my Samsung tablet, and on my iPhone. Netflix is the bomb. netflix in Canada, though, is less awesome because it has a much smaller catalog.

TV & Movies

1. Dream High

One of my favourite Korean dramas (and we watch quite a lot on Netflix). Usually I become easily overloaded by the cliches in k-dramas (Misunderstanding! Evil MIL! Rich bad boy with a heart of gold! Obligatory shopping and makeover sequence for the tomboyish girl followed by the male lead being astonished that she cleans up so well! etc.), but I found this show to be very watchable. It also helps that in the love triangle, the girl actually picks the guy that I would pick in the end. I'm not ashamed to admit that I squealed out of sheer pleasure when that happened. It is available on Netflix, and you should totes watch it. I know there's a Dream High 2, but the reviews are not great, so I will not subject myself to that.

2. Game of Thrones

Everyone loves this show, and you can count me on board the wagon. Arya is my favourite character. I could live without the gratuitious sex and nudity, but it's a show on HBO, whacha goin' to do about that? I also enjoy seeing Aidan Gillen (who plays Baelish) because I remember him from the Wire, and like to say "Oh, Carcetti, you sly fox!" at the screen whenever he's on.

3. The Forsyte Saga (2002 Miniseries)

I found this miniseries to be very immersive. I hated a good portion of the characters, but still loved watching every minute. The episodes are very, very, long, though. Also, Damian Lewis has the largest male role, and I hadn't seen him in anything until Homeland, so I quite like that he is a terrible person in this show (too). It also improves my enjoyment of Homeland, because I can say "Damnit, SOAMES!" at the screen whenever Brody does something terrible.

Damnit, SOAMES!

Everything Else

1. Wallabies

They are so flipping cute. And they are soft. Though, I have a friend from Sydney who says they are a road nuisance.

2. Nosepadking: In particular, item SANP1B

I purchased new glasses last year, and against my better judgment, I went with plastic frames that did not have nose pads. My nose is effectively without nose bridge, so my glasses slide down my face. I started purchasing silicone adhesive nose pads from Nose Pad King last year and have been very happy with the results - even though I have to replace them every 2-3 months, it helps quite a lot! They are around $3 a pair, which is not terrible, and the shipping is super fast. I find it very funny that I found a nose-pad specific vendor online. The internet saves the day! FYI, I will be purchasing my next pair of glasses in Asia to avoid this problem in the future.

3. Muji suitcase

I purchased this suitcase in Tokyo last time I was there, and have been very pleased with its rolly-wheels and cat stickers I attached to the top. It makes picking up my baggage at the carousel extremely pleasant. DF hates it, but I don't care. Cats are cute. The stickers were from Japan, as well.
Purchased from Muji

4. New Zealand

A beautiful country - I am sad I was only there for 10 days. I must go back!

5. Disney Tokyo Sea

An excellent Disney park with fewer kids than average, I think. Everything was too cute, and people carried around Duffy and Shelly-Mae teddy bears. I would love to go back again!

Ok, that was the longest post EVER. Hope that was somewhat interesting...

What were your favourite things from 2012?

Indie: Lynnderella A Neutral Party

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:25:00 +0000

Lynn may not consider her brand an "indie", but in my books it is... so that's how I'm labeling this post.

I was interested in this polish when it came out, but not enough to purchase it at full price ($23 on the Lynnderella ebay store). However, I saw it on a blog sale last month for much less, so I decided to just nab it and give it a whirl.

FYI, I think you can message Paul (Lynn's brother, who runs the Ebay store) to set up a custom listing for polishes you are interested in. Also, if you are in Canada, make sure to contact Paul before you buy re: shipping, as I have read that one Canadian buyer was hit with ridiculous brokerage fees from UPS.

Here are some combos I tried with A Neutral Party:

Lynnderella A Neutral Party over Essie Don't Sweater It - Not loving this combination

Lynnderella A Neutral Party over SH CSM Fedora - Or this one, really

Lynnderella A Neutral Party over OPI Samoan Sand - I like this one the best out of the three I tried, but not blown away :(

I'm not in love with it in any of these combinations, unfortunately. I do think the shimmer is amazing, though! Any suggestions for layering, or should I cast it off to my swap drawer?

My Top Commerical and Indie polishes of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:11:00 +0000

If you're not a regular on Makeupalley's Nail Board, you might have missed the annual Top 20 polishes of the year, compiled from members on the board. This year, the list was split into commercial and indies. Here are the links if you are interested in seeing the results this year: Commercial Top 22 and Indie Top 22

You've seen these swatches before, probably, but just for fun here are the polishes I submitted this year, in alphabetical order. I only submit 14 for each list, as no others immediately came to mind when I considered my top x polishes :)

COMMERCIAL

a-england Perceval - I still love this one! Not mindblowingly unique, but my first red foil. So pretty and glowy.

Essie Armed & Ready - I know most were disappointed by the hidden shimmer in this shade, but I reached for it again and again this year.

Essie Chinchilly - An old favourite, that always works for me when I don't know or care what to wear.

Essie Cocktail Bling - Love!

Essie She's Picture Perfect - A pastel that I wear again and again?? Unheard of!

Illamasqua Hectic - Lovely fugly shade that I reached for again and again in the fall.

Illamasqua Milf - One of the few mints that do not lobsterize me.

Illamasqua Raindrops - Beautiful dainty shade - good to know Illamasqua is bringing it back!

Misa Office Polish-tics - This is always a pleasure to put on. Leans blue on my skin tone.

Nails Inc. Baker Street - I was obsessed with this polish for several weeks after I got it and kept putting it on again and again!

NARS Midnight Express - An old favourite! I've got 75% left, and it's starting to make me panic!

Orly Sapphire Silk - What I had hoped MAC Blue India would be. I love this polish.

Zoya Neeka - NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKA.

Zoya Skylar - I wore this tons in the spring!

INDIES

CrowsToes Bone Daddy - 3 coats on its own - So in love with this polish!

CrowsToes Frogs' Breath over Zoya Ivanka - Instant bling.

CrowsToes Jingle Balls over Illa Rampage - This easily shot up to the top of my Holiday polishes.

Happy Hands Danse Macabre over OPI DTMT - My favourite Halloween polish this year.

Happy Hands Motherboy (1 coat) over Essie Sag Harbor - I love the unconventional mix of glitters in this, and love the mental image I get thinking of 'Motherboy'

Hare Dog Day Dream - Looooove.

Hare Golden Years - 1 coat over CND Midnight Sapphire - *SPLOOOOGE*

Hare King of Carat Flowers - 1 coat over OPI My Pointe Exactly (2 coats) - I consider this a work appropriate glitter! WIN!

Lilacquer Schrodinger's Catastrophe - Disco glitter love. And cats. WINNING!

Lynnderella Boy-Girl Party over AA Hassid - Still puts a smile on my face when I wear this!

Lynnderella Ruby Red Ruby over OPI Smitten with Mittens - Original bottle of RRR. So great for the holidays, I always want to wear it.

Pahlish Toxic and Timeless - This list is not ranked, but if it were, this would be #1.

Pam's Girly Bits Cu Blue - Smells like death, but so worth it.

Smitten Polish Hydrangea - Pretty gift from the pretty Noelie!

Did you partake in the Top 20 event on NB? What were your top 20 (or whatever number) polishes from 2012?

Happy New Year, everyone!

Zoya Song and Frida

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:47:00 +0000

Sorry for disappearing over the holidays! I meant to put up a few posts over the last week while we were up in Canada, but time just got away from me. There was almost 3 feet of snow in Canada where I'm from, and I was happy about that... but also didn't bring any pants. I wear leggings and tights everywhere here in NJ, and that doesn't really cut it in Canada, lol. I needed thigh warmers, or something!

We got back last yesterday and the roads were super clear all the way down. It was a good thing we left a day earlier than planned, because it has been snowing and drizzling all day in NJ here! It would have been a slippery mess had we stayed another day.

Anyhoo, here are two Zoyas I picked up during a recent promo. I'm a bit on the fence about them, but I will figure out whether I want to keep them later. Much later.

Zoya Song (1 coat) - Amazing 1 coater. It looks darker IRL. I noticed it doesn't dry smoothly, even with a coat of SV. It must be all the pigment in it? I mean, it does not dry bumpy, but it's definitely not a glass-like finish with 1 coat of topcoat, so that is something to consider.

Comparison: Zoya Song (1 coat) MAC Ming Blue (2 coats) - The MAC is a little dustier and more neutral, and has blue and purple (or pink? it's hard to tell) shimmer, whereas the Zoya just has a blue/aqua shimmer throughout.

Zoya Frida (4 coats) - A lot sheerer than I even expected for a jelly. The flash I use totally washes it out - the second pic shows without flash and is more representative of how opaque it is at 4 coats IRL.

I leave you with a picture of a cherry cheesecake I made for DF's family (which I do every year):

Happy New Years, everyone! :)

Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like and Cleopatra in New York

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:32:00 +0000

It is so close to Christmas!!! I finally finished up swatching all my polishes, so I have some to share with you over the coming weeks.

Here are two DLs I picked up recently (one from a blog sale, the other from HSN's deal). The HSN code is 126362 for $10 off your first purchase, and Deborah Lippmanns ship free. The code is good until the end of the year, I think!

Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like (2 coats) - No topcoat, beautiful formula! Reminds me a little of AA Mount Royal, but I purged my bottle a while ago, so I'm unable to compare. I think the AA was a lot deeper and more vibrant and opaque.

Comparison: Deborah Lippmann IKWBL and Nails Inc Baker St - Not even close, but just for reference.

Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York (1 coat) over black jelly - I had a lemming for this the first time I saw it, but didn't want it at full price. When I heard about the HSN code, I quickly pulled the trigger and got this for $8 shipped!

Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York (3 coats) - I like it better layered over the black jelly, but it works on its own too.

I really like the bottle shape and brush of the Deborah Lippmanns I own. I just wish they weren't so expensive! I've only ever purchased them on deep discount or on blog sales XD

I leave you with one of my favourite ornaments:

NOTDs: Advent Calendar Nail Challenge - part 2

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 20:29:00 +0000

Here's another set of NOTDs from the Advent Calendar Nail Challenge (Happy Hands/Kristi's Advent Calendar Nail Challenge):

Day 6. White: Essie Marshmallow (2 coats as the base), Lynnderella Love, Lace, and Lilacs (1 coat), OPI Don't Touch My Tutu (1 coat overtop) - I loved this combination :) It's a little hard to wear Lynnderella LLL on its own over a jelly white (it just doesn't look pleasing to my eye), but a single coat of the OPI really tones it down for me!

Day 8. Starry Night: an Essie SSN franken (2 coats) - I know, I'm such a cheat for using this as the 'Starry Night' polish XD

Here's the recipe for the franken, from my friend: "And it is indeed about 3/4 Essie Silver Boullions, then enough WnW Nocturnal to get it the right color, probably 4-5 or so drops of black, and then I finished filling it up with the remaining Silver Boullions (it was SUCH an exact science ) I just added the black a little at a time, until it looked right!"

Day 9. Pine: CrowsToes Jingle Balls (1 coat) over Illamasqua Rampage (3 coats) - I am in- freaking-love with this combination. It is so deep and dark, but bright and shiny! I usually dislike large holo glitters, but I really like them in this polish!! If you missed the swatches of CrowsToes Christmas collection, you can see them here. Sorry it looks a little linty... this is after a couple days of wear :)

I'm probably going to flunk out of the rest of the challenge, though, as I'm absolutely useless at nail art.

And a little preview: some collective nail mail over the last couple of weeks, from Zoya, HSN, blog sales, Etsy, and swaps! I can't wait to get some time to swatch these, but I'm feeling burdened by the amount of holiday baking I have yet to start :S

Quickie post on reflective curling...

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:36:00 +0000

I had a couple lovely comments on my last blog post claiming I had curling glitters / tacos in my swatches of HARE Bisbee, and claimed my reviews were dishonest.

What is reflective curling, you ask? Well, from my understanding, it is glitter that looks like a damn taco in pictures, but lies relatively flat on the nail. Now, I say "relatively" flat on the nail, because most large glitter will not be completely flat, even solvent resistant glitters. Most glitter polishes (and I include those from non-indie brands) dry gritty, bumpy, textured, icky, and I always wear a topcoat with my polishes to get a glass-like finish.

Anyways, since I'm a classic Type A personality, I came home and wanted to take some pictures to show you that indeed, my personal bottle of HARE Bisbee (that I purchased, tyvm) has reflective curling, and not tacos.

Clearly, I can only speak to my own bottle of this polish. If I had tacos in my polish, believe me, I would not try and conceal that from you! I mean, especially in a post where the polishes were ones I purchased myself!!! Aiiish.

For the following pictures, I grabbed an empty roll of tape since it has a curvature to it and won't absorb polish. Sorry this is the ghetto-est thing on earth. Hopefully you'll get my point!

A 2 coat swatch of the polish (no topcoat), with a highly suspect looking area to the right of the American flag:

And here it is from an angle showing you that the super taco-y looking glitter, is not a taco after all.

And from the side:

If you ever have a bottle of indie polish that has tacos, please do contact the vendor you purchased it from (whether it be Llarowe, Overallbeauty, or direct from the indie creators). I can assure you they would like to know about these issues first hand so they can make things right (and also so the indie creators can burn that bad batch of glitter they got from their suppliers lol!)

Hope this post helps!

And yes, one of my New Years resolutions is to stop having to be right about everything.

Indie: HARE The First Collection: Reformulated swatches

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000

These are the last bottles of HARE I ordered in October. The formula on these is so, so smooth. I did have to be a little careful letting the first coat dry before applying the second, though, because a glitter might scrape the first jelly layer a bit making it appear streaky. I really hope Archipelago comes back soon!!

You can get these at either Nikole's Etsy shop or at Llarowe.

Pegasus - 2 coats on its own

Pegasus - 1 coat over Essie Bangle Jangle

Edited to add: I received a few comments about the appearance of curling glitters in Bisbee. The bottle that I have (and PURCHASED myself) does not have curling glitters on the nail at all, but photographs that way (i.e., reflective curling). I always wear a coat of QDTC over my manis, often 2 coats for very glitter heavy polishes, so I would tell you if any polishes had glitter that were taco-ing and sticking out out of the surface (because that would drive me CRAZY. I cannot stand anything other than a perfectly smooth mani). I obviously can only speak for my own bottle, but if you are concerned about possible tacos in your polishes, please always contact the indie creator or vendor you purchased from. Thank you. I created a follow-up post here showing reflective curling.

Bisbee - 3 coats on its own. This also leans quite green on my skintone (bah!)

Bisbee - 1 coat over Misa Dirty Sexy Money. I wish I tried this over Nails Inc Warwick Way!

A Positive - 3 coats on its own

A Positive - 1 coat over Essie Limited Addiction

*squirrels away*

NOTDs: Advent Calendar Nail Challenge - part 1

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:21:00 +0000

I am participating in Happy Hands/Kristi's Advent Calendar Nail Challenge:

I am terrible at nail art, but I will try to participate in as many days as I can :) Here are a few from the first 5 days!

Day 1. Red: Lynnderella Ruby Red Ruby over a-england Perceval - two of my favourite reds!

Day 2. Gold: OPI Spark de Triomphe over Orly Luxe - a cooler-toned gold, but the OPI is an old favourite. The polish had evaporated a bit, and even after thinning, it was like applying glitter glue with a brush to my nails O_O

Day 3. Green: ChG Glittering Garland - Absolutely love this green polish! Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is similar, but slightly bluer (I have a comparison here).

Day 4. Silver - I don't own a silver anymore! I didn't like how silver foils looked on my skin tone, so I purged them all. LOL.

Day 5. Blue: Crowstoes Blue Christmas over CND Midnight Sparkle - very glittery and shiny IRL.

Are any of you guys doing this challenge? I have no idea what to do about the more difficult ones towards the end of the month >.>

Indie: Darling Diva Polish Christmas Collection swatches, and others

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Disclosure: The following polishes were provided to me for swatching.

Hi guys! Another quick spam post, this time from Darling Diva Polish.

I've got her Holiday/Christmas collection which is inspired by 'A Christmas Story'. Don't stone me - I haven't seen the movie!!

If you're interested in any of these, head on over to Darling Diva Polish @ Etsy.

DDP A Christmas Story (3 coats in its own) - Red and green microglitter, with a flash of blue (possibly holo glitters?). This one definitely needs topcoat to shine to really shine, but cmon, does anyone not put topcoat on indie polishes??

DDP A Christmas Story (2 coats) over a-england Perceval

DDP You'll Shoot Your Eye Out (1-2ish coats) over CND Midnight Sapphire - Really interesting combination of glitters. Sometimes I got a lot of glitter on the brush, and other times little, so give the brush a good swirl in the bottle before each nail!

DDP Soap... Poisoning (1 coat) over OPI DTMT - Beautiful and difficult to photograph. White jelly base with lots of iridescent disco glitter. Very soft and pretty.

DDP FUUUUUUUUUUDGE!!!!! (1 coat) over ChG Ingrid - A smorgasbord of glitters!

DDP FUUUUUUUUUUDGE!!!!! (1 coat) over SH CSM Fedora - I'm not sure if I have the right number of "U"s or "!"s in my caption. Sorry. LOL

DDP I'm Your Huckleberry (2 coats over Essie Film Noir) - this one is super pretty

And 5 other polishes, not part of the Christmas collection:

DDP Sugar Rush (2 coats over Nails Inc Baker Street) - mix of neon translucent glitter, larger disco glitter (I think?) and small holo glitter particles. The base is actually clear, but all the translucent neon glitters make it look a little funny in the bottle!

DDP The Big "O" (2 coats over Essie Go Overboard) - not my best layering combination, but I had a hard time coming up with an underwear colour. Lots of disco glitters in this one, leaning warm, though.

DDP Seriously Serious (2 coats over Essie Film Noir) - warmer purple IRL!! You know how purples photograph. Pretty opaque purple and green glitter polish with holo sparkle. You could do 3 coats to opaqueness, I think.

DDP Snow Bunny (2 coats over Zoya Dana.. or Essie Watermelon, I can't remember now) - mix of neon transparent glitter, white glitter, and disco glitter in a sheer pink base

DDP Snow Bunny (2 coats over black jelly franken)

DDP Dook At Me (2 coats over OPI DTMT) -holo with disco glitter. The yellow reflections are not yellow; they just photograph that way!

Indie: Polish Revolution "How Curious?" trio swatches

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:37:00 +0000

Disclosure: the following polishes were provided to me for swatching.

Hi guys! Just a super quick post with Lauryn's newest mini collection called "How Curious?"

These are all glitter polishes with a variety of smaller sized glitters, which is a nice change of pace from huge glitter bombs. I had no issues with the formula, at all.

They are already available at Polish Revolution @ Etsy

Bottle Shots - Note, these are promo labels. She actually has new labels!

Looking Glass Logic (2 coats over black jelly franken) - I felt the formula was a little thicker on this one than the other two, but not difficult by any means. There's some disco glitter in here!

The Sea Was Boiling Hot (2 coats over Essie Film Noir) - Really nice formula on this one

What Alice Found (2 coats over Orly Plum Noir) - There are some holo hexes in here, very light catching!

Gotta run! Can't believe December 1 is tomorrow!! @_@

Indie: Happy Hands swatch spam (Cult Favorites and Holiday collection, and a few Arrested Development)

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 18:47:00 +0000

Disclosure: The following polishes were provided to me for review.

Kristi of Happy Hands polish sent me her two latest collections to swatch, as well as a few from her Arrested Development collection that I have been lemming!

For the two new collections, a few of the polishes smell bad due to their colorants. She has a warning on each listing in her Etsy store, so watch out for that if you have a sensitive nose!

Oh! These are all in new square bottles with super cute new kraft paper labels! I neglected to take bottle pictures, but I will try to remember to do that and edit them in later!

Happy Hands @ Etsy

My favourites out of these are Feliz Navidad, The New Year, and Motherboy.

Cult Favorites Collection

This collection is inspired by Kristi and her husband's favourite cult movies.

Lady Goodman (2 coats on its own) - Great formula, but this one has a strong smell. Very pretty and dainty, though!

Black Mamba (1 coat) over black jelly franken - I had to be a bit careful with the glitter on this one, but I didn't have too much trouble spreading the glitter on my nails. My best friend in high school was OBSESSED with Kill Bill, I bet she would like this one.

I am Jack's Broken Heart (3 coats on its own) - This has a jelly base, but it is more opaque than it photographed. Formula is smooth and easy to apply, but this one is stanky.

I am Jack's Broken Heart (1 coat) over Orly Plum Noir - Such lovely shimmer in the base.

El Duderino (3 coats on its own) Great formula, though also stinky.

Holiday Collection (available 12/3)

These polishes are inspired by Kristi's favourite Holiday and Christmas songs.

Feliz Navidad (3 coats on its own) - Very pretty, easy formula. A bit stinky.

Feliz Navidad (1 coat) over OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre?

The New Year (1 coat) over OPI DTMT - Great formula, love this glitter combo (white and silver!)

The New Year (1 coat) over black jelly franken

Silent Night (2 coats) over CND Midnight Sapphire - This looks great 3 coats on its own, but since it is a jelly base, it photographed funny. This is so beautiful, but it stinks to high heaven due to the colorants used.

What's This (2 coats) over OPI Don't Touch My Tutu

And a few polishes from her Arrested Development collection (so excited for the new episodes!!)

Mayonegg (2 coats) over Misa Heaven White - The white shimmer in this is amazing! I found the polish to be challenging to apply, as most whites tend to be, and the glitters can stick to one another a bit - but, I think it's totally worth the effort. The final look is just so cool and graphic.

Motherboy (1 coat) over Essie Sag Harbor - I just love this combination of glitters - I find it to be so unconventional and pretty! The formula on this is a little thick, but it's not difficult to spread the glitters out. I would advise letting your base colour dry a little longer than usual for this one.

Motherboy (1 coat) over Essie She's Picture Perfect

I Just Blue Myself over black jelly franken - The glitters are easy to spread in this one. Not much to say other than SHINY!

I Just Blue Myself (2 coats) over CND Midnight Sapphire - here I wanted to see what 2 coats would look like, and it's almost like a blue version of Lynnderella Ruby Red Ruby. Two coats of this glitter definitely needs a lot of topcoat (just like RRR), though. But damn is it glittery as heck! :D

There are still more indie swatches to come... :)

Indie: HARE The Illuminated Life Collection swatches

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:14:00 +0000

Here's more HARE spam from my huge HARE haul last month!

The first three pictures are with flash and really accentuate the glowy disco glitters (these polishes are PACKED with them). For the most part, I found these to look more subtle IRL, as you can hopefully tell in the fourth and fifth pictures of each set (both taken without flash). The fifth pic is taken with my dinky ol' P&S camera.

I found the formula to be a little tricky because of all the glitter in there, but overall it's not too difficult.

My favourite is Atolla because the blue flash is a little more apparent against the base colour as compared to the others. I like the other three, but they are not particularly flattering on my skin tone.

You can get these at either Nikole's Etsy shop or at Llarowe.

Electric Flame - 3 coats on its own

Bury the Hatchetfish - 3 coats on its own

Bury the Hatchetfish (1 coat) over Nina Never Glum Plum - in the flash pictures, this looks awesome, but IRL I didn't really like how this looked layered.

Medusa Luminosa - 3 coats on its own

Atolla - 3 coats on its own

Hope these swatches help!

♥♥♥

It's close to American Thanksgiving!!! I am looking forward to my 4 day weekend so much! We are also getting our Christmas tree this weekend from Home Depot :D Since we go back to Canada for Christmas and New Years, we miss out on the last two weeks of "Piney-time" (we name our tree Piney the first, second, third, etc.), so we think it's ok to get him a little early :)

Layla Holos (the newer ones)

noreply@blogger.com (cilucia) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:43:00 +0000

Hey guys!

A non indie post?! What?!

I resisted buying these for a long time, because I didn't want to pay retail ($15.50). Lucky for me, my patience paid off and these showed up on Hautelook a few weeks ago for $9 a pop! Hooray! However, I ended up spending a lot more than I would have otherwise because I purchased all 8 of the newer holos. And after swatching them, I think I only want to keep one...

I used the Layla buffer thing instead of aqua base coat (I try to save it), so the surface is not that smooth looking in the macro pics. Sorry about that! I found the holo "flame" on these (other than Gold Idol) to be a little weaker than the first batch, but then again, the colours here are all a little bit darker and richer, so that's the tradeoff you get with linear holos. Oh, I did find that (with the exception of Gold Idol) these applied a lot easier than the first set of Layla holos. The pigment didn't seem to clump up the same way. So that's a bonus, right?

I didn't use topcoat for these swatches!

Layla Gold Idol - 3 coats. Not really a flattering colour on me, but a strong holo flame.

Layla Emerald Divine - 3 coats. My favourite!

Layla Shock Pink - 3 coats, but 2 was opaque. I thought a third might bring out some more holo-ness, but I can't tell.

Layla Red Taboo - 3 coats. Same comment as above about 2 being enough for opacity. Also, this is clearly pink, not red.

Layla Purple Illusion - 3 coats, but 2 would have been enough. It's rather plummy on me.

Layla Cloudy Violet - 3 coats, but 2 would have been enough as well. I quite like this, even though it's more grape to me than violet.

Layla Misty Blush - 3 coats, but 2 would have been enough also. I don't understand the name of this one and I don't know if I like it.

Layla Coffee Love - 3 coats, but 2 would have been enough. I like this. I think.

Anyways, my takeaway from my sale-induced haul, is that even if something is priced well, if you weren't going to buy it before, you shouldn't buy it when it's on sale.

Unless you are like me and want to swatch everything for your blog.

>.>

I am in Dallas right now, and tomorrow I am going to a shooting range for the first time. I suspect it will be an interesting experience, if not entirely frightening.