VDay Manicure part 3, all finished!

Happy Valentine's Day! Finally, this three part manicure is all finished. If you remember, I didn't intend on making a Valentine's mani, and I originally started with Barry M Buzz Nail Paint. I felt it could use a little something, so I then used the curly heart design on my Salon Express SE18 plate with Konad special white polish, and got this effect:

After realizing this had great potential to be a Vday mani, I topped this manicure with Revlon Blizzard Berry, a Japanese Revlon exclusive. It's a pretty mixed size holo glitter with a pink tinted base. Finally, I put pink and clear stones on the thumb and ring fingers, and sealed it off with Seche Vite. What do you all think?

VDay Manicure part 3, all finished!, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Revlon, you sly dogs you..

So if you love nail polishes, then you probably know that Revlon has been sneakingly releasing dupes of certain high end brands like Chanel and Deborah Lippmann. The best in my opinion being the dupe for Bad Romance by DL, called Facets of Fuchsia. But.. they have done it again!

A "glitter in the air" dupe called "Whimsical"! Which is kind of a terrible name because it makes me think of this.

The second I saw it posted online, I had to have it. I was going to give in and buy it online (from ebay) but I said hold back..wait.. and I'm glad I did because I found it in Ulta)

Now I know some of you are thinking "gee, for someone who doesn't like Revlon, they sure buy a lot of it" and you're right! Okay, half right. I don't like their formula, its gooey, thick and takes forever and  a day to dry! Now the colors, I love!

But I have noticed that they are getting better. Can I just say that the formula in this one was amazing! Sure it needed to three coats, but if you use a base color, one or two would have been more than enough. I think I'm going to try a base color next time, but I really just wanted to see the true color of this one.

This is 3 coats, it's nice but not enough opaque for me.

Four coats! So much better.

But, I must go for now- tata!

Barry M Nail Paint Buzz

This is part one of a three part Valentine's Day manicure :) It didn't originally start out that way, I whipped this polish out as I bought it on Kitten Nails' blog sale over the summer (also got Models Own Sherbet and Nails Inc. Diet Coke polishes) and hadn't worn this one yet.

This color is a dark, dusty pink. It is actually nameless, as it was a promo that was included in a makeup set in Buzz Magazine last Feb/March 2011. I wish they gave goodies in American magazines! After I polished my nails, I thought it was a great color but a little too plain, and did some konading, then put a final touch on top of that. I haven't taken the third and final pic, I need to get to that. Hopefully tomorrow is sunny!

Barry M Nail Paint Buzz, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Warning: Artistic photo coming..

So I've had instagram on my IPhone for about 4 months now. And I kinda forgot about it. But the other day I used it, just a quick snap of the impromptu heart I painted on my nails that I painted "mademoiselle" by Essie.

A little side note about this color, it was actually created for the magazine "Mademoiselle". Remember that magazine? I loved it! When it went out of print.. and I was sent Glamour in its spot. It just wasn't the same!

This is the best color for a french manicure, or if you just want a simple nude "mannequin" hand just do 2 coats. But once you do more than 2 coats, it becomes this gorgeous pink. On my hand I did 4 coats. Now I now... it is a long wait, but it is so worth it.

 

The red and pink heart was just made with striping nail polishes from Sally Beauty Supply.  Warning! The brushes on these polishes suck. Majorly. Don't even bother with them. Use a regular detailing brush. You have no control with it, it just sucks.

But that's it for now, if you want to follow me on Instagram, my name is Fairymoore!

Sonia Kashuk Reach For The Stars Holiday Trio 2010 Champagne Bronze Foil

I originally had a cool mani in mind for this polish, but it took me so long (try 5 days!) to get good sunlight and a good pic, that by the time I got one that was semi-decent (still not completely happy with this one, but for now it'll do) my nail polish started to chip badly, mostly on the other hand.

Sonia Kashuk Reach For The Stars Holiday Trio 2010 Champagne Bronze Foil, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

This was available only at Target in Sonia Kashuk's 2010 Reach For The Stars holiday nail polish trio. Erika gave me this polish as part of my birthday present over the summer. Beautiful color, but I wish this set came with names! Great champagne bronze foil, opaque in only one coat! Only problem for me was the drying time.. messed up my nails after 2 hours because they just weren't dry (but that cold also be due to the two coats of Sally Hansen nail growth treatment underneath, though other polishes didn't give me that problem over it)..so I threw on another coat and some Seche Vite (my new lifesaver!) and it was just fine.

Ah well, I'll save that mani for the next time I wear it!

Lunar Eclipse by Orly

I bought this when I was with Renee at Ulta a few days after Christmas(okay who else misses Christmas?..I do..) when she was here visiting. I don't actually own a lot of Orlys, shocking.  I think this is my second. What can I say my heart belongs to Zoya! But when I saw this blue, I was wowed! It's so vibrant, and gorgeous!

 I have a few blues, but nothing that bold!

Taken by the lamp (in the dark)

Artificial light

Taken with sunlight

 I took pictures in different lights, to show how different the polish is. I have to say this is not an easy polish to photograph! I added some micro glitter lamé polish that I bought in Japan a few summers ago. It's a great polish to use when you want to do a gradient on your nails. I love to look at the bottle and see the holographic beauty that it is... ahhh( yeah that isn't sad at all..) but I must get back to my nanny duties and say good bye for now!

Konad: NYC Royal Foil over Sally Hansen Secrets Frost

Here's the manicure I mentioned the other day, my first Konad success! Only because it wasn't a Konad stamper.. it was the As Seen On TV Salon Express stamper from their kit sold at Rite Aid. And ok it isn't actually my first success, it's my second..but it's the first complete manicure with this kit, my first try that came out well was just some test nails. Since the Konad stamper just doesn't seem to work for me, I'm willing to trade it and the nail scraper to a new home, since some people have much more luck with it than others (like Erika and I.) I really like how it came out, I love the chrome purple/silver glitter combo. I used it in a past manicure as well. The leopard design is from Konad plate m57. As the title states, I used the NYC Foil Nail Enamel in Royal Foil that Erika gave me over Sally Hansen Teflon Tuff Secrets Frost, and I topped it off with Coffret D'or gel look topcoat. I was so proud of myself, nail stamping is actually lots of fun when it actually works!

Konad: NYC Royal Foil over Sally Hansen Secrets Frost, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
Royal Foil looks awfully like Sally Hansen Sapphire Chrome (which is actually purple, so I have no idea why they named it that.) This could be a dupe for it, but I'm not sure if they came out at the same time.. this is a vintage NYC polish so it's very possible. I should whip them out and compare them :)