Embroidered Emerald (pic heavy)

I'm baaaaaaaaack! (Back again, Jana's back, tell a friend.  Guess who's back dun nun na)  I've got roughly 300 things to show you all and today I was sitting here trying to figure out where to start and eventually I just decided to go big.  Let's just put a handful of pictures up and drool for a while, shall we?

Warning: This post is wicked picture heavy.  I needed every one of these pictures to try and show the gorgeous-ness that is this polish.  (Yes, I said wicked.  I just watched the movie Fever Pitch so I feel very Boston-y right now.)  I'm not putting them under a cut either...I won't hide it from the world! 

Misa - Emboridered Emerald.  What can I say about it?  I love this polish, I love the name... everything is perfect about it. 

Holy moly.  This might be my favorite picture of it.  The colors!  The shimmer!

My hand is at a funny angle here so I could try to show you what the base color of Embroidered Emerald is. It's a raisin-y kind of purple if that makes sense. Very pretty, dark without being too dark and you know how I love me some purple.

Now with Embroidered Emerald, you get a serious multi-chrome thing happening.  There are 3 or 4 different colors of shimmer that will pop out depending on the angle of you hand and lighting.  Wearing this polish can be hazardous to any type of productivity, beware :)

 

So here you can see the subtle gold shimmer on my nails and you can see the green in the bottle

Here you can see the blue shimmer



And the green shimmer (mixed with some blue)

 There also is this green-ish gold shimmer that comes out in certain lights.

Look how even in the shade so many different colors show up on your nails.  Yum.

Have I saturated you with pictures yet?  Well, let me gush some more.  The formula on Embroidered Emerald is pretty solid.  Misa doesn't disappoint formula-wise even with the older polishes.  I have either 3 coats or 4 thin coats on in these pictures (sorry I don't remember for sure but I'd guess for 4 thin coats if I had to pick.)  This baby came out in Fall 2006 (I believe) and has become pretty tough to find by now.  I was lucky enough to get my hands on it last year which made me sooo happy since I had been lusting after it for a long time. 

Can we talk about the name for a second...Embroidered Emerald.  This is the kind of name nail polish should have; not suzi this or that or something generic like "green."  Perfect name for the color. 


How about one more picture for the road? :)

What do you think of Embroidered Emerald?

Fairy Dust Feng Shui

I've been a very bad blogger lately, not because I don't love you all haha it's just been a little crazy lately. I've steadily been taking pictures, swatching, and polishing so I have plenty of stuff to share with you :) Thanks for bearing with me during the unintended absence!

So what I have for you today is a layering combination that I la-la-love. Perfect for fingers or toes! This is 2 coats of OPI - Suzi Says Feng Shui and 1 coat of China Glaze - Fairy Dust. It's glittery but not overwhelmingly so; colorful but not in your face because of the dusty quality of Suzi Says Feng Shui. It also makes me very happy that the glitter in Fairy Dust lays flat, I hate bumpy glitter.



outside, sunlight


more sunlight outside (the pictures were too pretty to just pick one)


outside, shade

inside

There's just something about the dusty blue color and the light hitting the holographic glitter that makes me very happy. I need to wear this combo again ASAP! Do you have any colors or combinations that have that an effect like that for you?

Layering with... Orly- Fowl Play (picture heavy!)

So Orly- Fowl Play is one of the star polishes of the fall collections and has been hotly anticipated ever since the lovely Carina over at Gilded Nails put promos and swatches of it up. It started trickling into stores recently and I'm sure you've all seen swatches of it by now, be it on other blogs, the nail board, etc. It has kind of a squishy, jelly-like finish, which made me curious about how it would look layered over some other colors. I wanted to try and lighten up the dark purple base color of Fowl Play too. I rummaged through my stash and asked on twitter if there were any colors you wanted to see it over and came up with a nail wheel full of choices :)

Enough with the words, on to the pictures right? haha. So here is a picture of the nail wheel before I put Fowl Play over everything...

(remember you can click to enlarge all of the pictures!)

1. Orly - Fowl Play (3 coats)
2. Orly - Royal Velvet (3 coats)
3. Diamond Cosmetics - Crushed Velvet (1 coat)
4. China Glaze - Light As Air (1 Coat)
5. OPI - Done Out In Deco (1 coat)
6. China Glaze - Spontaneous (2 coats)
7. China Glaze - Grape Pop (1 coat)
8. Essie - Sexy Divide (2 coats)
9. Zoya - Demi (1 coat)
10. OPI - Manicurist of Seville (1 coat)
11. SpaRitual 0 Devil Inside (1 coat)
12. OPI - Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ (2 coats)
13. Orly - Enchanted Forest ( 2 coats)
14. China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint (2 coats)
15. Avon - Vintage Blue (2 coats)
16. Wet n Wild - Blue Moon (2 coats)
17. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On (2 coats)
18. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out (1 coat)

Now let's check out how Fowl Play layered shall we? Since it's kind of a complex polish with the flakies and shimmer and all that good stuff, I'm giving you pictures in sunlight and in the shade with flash, to try and capture the differences and nuances of each combo.

1-4 in sunlight

1-4 in shade, with flash

4-7 in sunlight

5-8 in shade with flash

8-11 in sunlight

8-11 in shade with flash

12-15 in sunlight

12-15 in shade with flash

15-18 in sunlight

15-18 in shade with flash

17-2 in the shade with flash


Did you make it this far after all the pictures? :) Out of 17 possible choices on this nail wheel, which ones are your favorite? I liked a lot of these! I think China Glaze - Spontaneous (number 6) gave me the perfect purple base color I originally was looking for, but I also really loved how Orly - Royal Velvet (number 2), Essie - Sexy Divide (number 8), and Wet n Wild - Blue Moon (number 16) looked because the shimmer in the base colors added to what Fowl Play already had. The most surprising ones for me were the red shades I tried, (thank you Allibally for the suggestion!) OPI - Manicurist of Seville (number 10) and SpaRitual -Devil Inside (number 11) I looooooved how pretty and burgundy looking those turned out. I can see myself wearing these combos during the fall/winter for sure. I like the idea of those manis with sweaters and fall clothes for some reason haha.

Gray by Gray

I'm so excited that we got sunshine here TWO days in a row! No, I don't live in Alaska haha, but the east coast has been rocked with gross overcast weather and a lot of snow and rain the last few weeks and there hasn't been sun for weeks. So I haven't been swatching in a few weeks and that made me sad. (Having no sun isn't an excuse for not posting much of late, I have plenty back-logged on my computer, it's just been hectic lately). But I've got a bunch of posts set up for the next few weeks so stick with me :)

Today I'll be showing you Sally Hansen - Gray by Gray, which is from the Complete Salon Manicure line. It drives me absolutely crazy that Sally Hansen has 8947493647 different "lines" of nail polish and that every bottle is a totally different shape. Add in the fact that their distribution plan seems ridiculously random... but I digress.

sunlight

shade

indoors

Gray by Gray sat in my untrieds for a looong time. I picked it up when it first came out and then it just sat, never really calling my name. I'm glad I finally did try it though because it sure is pretty. A kind of dusty blue-gray slate color. I'd much rather see this color on my nails than in the the weather outside haha. Gray by Gray is so easy to work with too; 2 coats of creamy goodness. I hope it's sunnier where you live right now!

Also, just a heads up, under the About Me section on the right side of my blog, I've added some new pages. My Stash spreadsheet and Contact Info are both there now, as well as my Wishlist/Swapping Info. I also will have a new giveaway up soon, so keep an eye out for that!

Diamond Cosmetics Winter Collection, Part One

Hello lovelies! I've been buried in a pile of papers, articles to edit, and school work for the last week and a half, but I think I've finally conquered it haha. I did get a bunch of swatching done in the meantime, including the beautiful Winter Collection from Diamond Cosmetics. I'm breaking it up into two parts, today and tomorrow, so it won't be too picture heavy for you. So today I'm going to be showing you Moonsand and It's Electrifying, check out the pictures below!

sun

more sun

shade

inside

I love Moonsand! Everything from the name to the color to the application I like. I've been jonesin' for a charcoal-y silver polish for the last few weeks and I think this fits the bill! It only took two coats to get full coverage and wasn't bad to remove either. Diamond Cosmetics describes it as, "This charcoal foil shines like the full moon; eye catching and magnificent." I think this is going to be the base for my New Year's Eve mani, maybe with some glitter on top.

sun (the color made me camera a little crazy, so my skintone looks...off)

shade (yay for normal looking skin!)

inside (and my skin's back to looking strange..)

"It's Electrifying... do do doo, better shape up dun dun dun cause I need a man, do do do, and my heart is set on youuuu" hahah, doesn't this name make you immediately think of Grease? Maybe it's just how my brain works. This color is fantastic. The formula gave me fits a little bit though, this picture is four coats. The VNL (visible nail line) is a little visible in pictures, but not in real life. This was a little bit patchy when I was applying it, but I was rushing a little bit so that could be partially my fault. It's Electrifying is a squishy color for sure, I know a lot of people will love it even with less coats, but I'm not into VNL so four was what I needed. Diamond Cosmetics describes it, "Give him chills with this powerful and sassy blue." Perfect description right?

What do you think of the first two colors from the Winter Collection? I hope your holiday shopping is almost finished! :)

(these were provided to me for an honest review)

First Ever Franken! - Stormy Waters

If you follow me on twitter, you probably saw that yesterday I finally got my courage up and made my very first franken! I'm really excited about what I ended up making and can't wait to share it with you. I also took some pictures of the supplies I used to put it together so hopefully I can help inspire some of you to get your franken on :) This post is picture heavy, just giving you fair warning!

Okay first some pictures of the franken, which I've lovingly named "Stormy Waters" and then I'll tell you how to make it!

sunlight

shade

inside

bottle picture

The bottle shot is color accurate for the base color, it's a teal with scattered holo. I like scattered holo better than linear holo, so I like using the Milani holographic polishes for frankening purposes. I'm going to make a second bottle of this I love it so much. Stormy Waters is a sibling to China Glaze - DV8 and China Glaze - Atlantis (only holo instead of glitter, obviously) So it's similar to other polishes out there but still fairly unique. Remember the franken I showed you a few weeks ago that Alexandra made for me? This is basically a teal version of that!

Now for how I made it... It's about half a bottle of Milani - HD (silver holo), maybe a fifth of a bottle of OPI- Ski Teal We Drop (pigmented dark teal), and 5 drops of Milani - Hi-Res (purple holo). You don't really need to use Hi-Res, I just thought it gave it a bit more depth. Very easy and inexpensive to make haha, just how I like my polish. It's totally opaque in two coats and was very easy to apply!

you can see in the picture exactly how much of HD and Ski Teal We Drop I used, they were both brand new and never used bottles, I bought them just to make this franken with. Ski Teal We Drop is super pigmented so you don't need much of it.

If you want to take the foray into making your own franken, I suggest you pick up some ball bearings for mixing. I'd recommend stainless steel, anything else is going to oxidize in your franken and ruin it! Here's what I use:

And I hit up my local Dollar Tree (a dollar store) and got a few 2-packs of old style NYC bottles, because I like the shape of them and the labels peel off easily. But you can buy empty bottles online - places like ebay or polish e-tailers as well. Also you can clean out old base coat/topcoat bottles or polishes that are old and you won't use again. Here's a picture of my NYC bottles before I cleaned them out:

I like the shape of these a lot

I also used a small glass bowl and orange stick to mix to figure out an idea of the ratio before I make a whole bottle. All very easy to find things! I couldn't be happier with how Stormy Waters turned out, I'm wearing it right now and honestly can't take my eyes off my nails :) Do any of you franken or are you planning to in the future?

Fun With Layering Wednesday: My Version Of Chanel Riva

Once bottle pics of Chanel's newest offering, Riva, came out I've been intrigued by it. I don't spend that much on a single nail polish so I never planned on actually owning it, but I loved the concept. A pale blue with shimmer? Pretty! So I set about figuring out a layering combination that would satisfy my craving, and I think I came pretty close - at least close enough for me. Check it out!

I started with a base of Color Club - Take Me To Your Chateau, which I showed you yesterday, but here's a refresher:

And I picked NYC - Scandalous Blue Glitter to layer over it. The name is a little deceptive, it's not actually glitter, but more of a shimmer with a hint of pearl finish. Very pretty and very excellent for layering.

sunlight

shade

inside

I personally love it! I think it turned out pretty well, and cost me about $4 total for both polishes, much less than a Chanel would set me back. I've got another one or two layering ideas that could produce something close to Riva that I'm going to try out soon too. I'll post those and let you guys decide which ones you like best! Whether or not you buy Riva, you should try this combo out, it's very delicate and pretty. So what do you think, did I get close? What do you think of Chanel - Riva, will you be buying it?

Would You Like To See My Chateau?

Color Club - Take Me To Your Chateau is from the Pardon My French Collection, which was the first collection I bought all of. This is probably the most popular color from the collection and for good reason. It's a pale blue that's pretty easy to work with, a definite bonus since many pastels can be streaky. Take Me To Your Chateau dries to a somewhat chalky finish, so I used a topcoat for the swatch; glossy finishes are more my taste :)


sunlight
shade

inside

The sunlight picture is the most color accurate, although it's just a hint blue-er in real life. I used three coats for the swatch, but if you're careful you can absolutely get away with two coats. Whenever I am in the mood for a pastel blue mani, this is always the first bottle I reach for, even though I have a few that are similar - this one's my favorite!

Tomorrow I'm going to show you how I made my own version of the new Chanel polish, using Take Me To Your Chateau as a base so make sure to come see what you think of it! And I'm taking the plunge into the wild world of Franken-ing in the next few days, so I will keep you posted on how that goes...cross your fingers for me ;-) haha. Andddd I have a new giveaway for you guys! I'll post that in the next day or two, so get excited!

Rodeooooo Fanatic!

Left Hand Alert! My left hand is making a rare appearance in today's post. Why? Well mainly because when I wore this, the sun didn't come out for like four days. And I was playing around with different layering combinations on my right hand and the sun came out for a few minutes so I decided to take pictures. So I apologize for two things, number one- that my hand positions are a little screwy, I need to practice with my left hand haha; and two - that the mani looks a little raggedy around the edges, this was the fourth or fifth day of wearing it. (Yes, I generally wear manis for 4-5 days - I very rarely get chips, just growth)

On to the color... This is China Glaze - Rodeo Fanatic; it's from the ah-mazing Rodeo Diva collection. I got this in my first ever e-tailer order when my nail polish addiction first took off.

sunlight

shade

inside

This is a color I wear frequently, I loooove it for pedis and rock it on my tips in the fall/winter. It's a dark blue-green (more so blue, but there is some green in the mix for sure), but it never ever looks black, you can always tell what color it is. Nothing makes me crazier than a color that looks black, I don't wear black polish and don't like my colors to look black inside, just my preference. I have a few colors that are siblings or cousins of Rodeo Fanatic, but no dupes. I definitely would recommend picking this beauty up it's soooo worth it!

I hope everyone's Sunday is going well :) Go Cowboys!