Diamond Cosmetics: Drift Away

Have I mentioned how much I love Diamond Cosmetics?? So cheap! Such great color options! And they are located in Florida - which really doesn't matter because you have to buy their polishes online anyway... but it is still nice to know. 

Well today I have for you Drift Away, which is a nice dusty grape color. The finish seems to have hint of jelly in it, which I love. Super shiny, as you can see. And this was without a top coat.

Sorry that most of these pictures were taken while clouds were blocking the sun - but it is a good representation of what the polish looks like in real life. 

Barielle: Elles's Spell

Today I wanted to show you Barielle's Elle's Spell, a polish that tons of people were dying to get ahold of this fall when it came out. I, too, was desperate to try it so when I saw a lone bottle of it at Ulta in December I grabbed it. Well..... I'm not a fan. I wish I was! But apparently Barielle and I are not friends. Look at that tip wear! This picture was taken on the same day that I put the polish on. It just isn't right. And the other Barielle polish I have is the same way. But what can you do? Every formula is different and now I know to just pass by the Barielle display.. no matter how tempting the colors are. 

Plus this polish is really sheer - and I suppose after using the Nfu-oh flakies, this formula is just a disappointment. I should probably try layering it over black before I write it off altogether.... but I'll save that for another time. 

Nina Ultra Pro: Leaf Me Alone

Hehe. I love funny names. I love the formula of Nina Ultra Pro's Leaf Me Alone. It quickly became opaque and has a smooth glossy finish (this picture was taken without top coat) and seems a bit jelly-like. The color... eh. I think it is too yellow for my particular skin tone. But I still like it. Very spring-ey. And since its 80 degrees here and super sunny all the time, I guess it's spring time

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Essie: Lapis of Luury

Here is Lapis of Luxury from Essies 2010 Spring/Resort Collection. It is a really pretty color, but it is way too similar to China Glaze's Secret Peri-wink-le. I'll post a comparison in a second. 

Essie: Turquoise and Caicos

Here is a polish from the Essie Resort 2010 collection which came out this past spring. It really is a crappy formula. Super sheer, balding spots that are hard to get rid of, and a long dry time all come together to create a trifecta of crappiness. But there is one redeeming quality - the color. I love the color. But a very very similar color is China Glaze For Audrey. And I never have any formula or application issues with For Audrey. So for me, it is a no brainer to go with the China Glaze. The only color difference really is that Turquoise and Caicos has a tiny bit more of a greenish tint. It reminds me a little bit of mint chocolate chip ice cream in these pictures. And another difference is that this polish is pretty jelly-like whereas For Audrey is a straight up creme. 

I am in the For Audrey court. Has anyone else compared the two? If you have, what do you think??

Essie: Velvet Voyeur

Here is a gorgeous color from Essie's fall collection, Velvet Voyeur. I actually purchased this a while ago and was putting off trying it on because I was afraid it would stain like crazy, but it didnt! Which was pleasantly surprising. I really love the color. I found it a wee bit tricky to put on and get even coats. Jellys are annoying in that sense, because I hate hate hate bald spots. But a third coat covered everything up and it looked phenomenal in my opinion. Very dark and vampy, yet still purple (actually I felt it was very purply/brown. Like eggplant or something). I'm loving Essie's new polishes. I still hate the Spring 2010 resort collection because those polishes sucked, but it was totally unfair for me to judge the whole company based on two polishes. 

I desperately need Smokin Hot. I'm hopefully going Monday to Ulta if I can get a ride. Sadly, since I sprained my ankle I haven't been able to drive my own car (which is a manual and involved clutching). So... if I don't get rides or borrow an automatic I am pretty much stuck at home. Big sad face. I hope I get better soon. 

China Glaze: Bermuda Breakaway

Here is a polish from the China Glaze Bahama Blues Collection, Bermuda Breakaway. It is a nice bright yet dark blue jelly. Great formula. This was one of the few polishes that when I had a chip on day two, I actually took it off and put the same polish back on. I never do that!! 

China Glaze: Ruby Deer

Here is another polish that I thought I would like more. Though I think the color on this one is phenomenal. The issue I have is with the sheerness of it. I still have VNL after 3 coats. Although this is a jelly and I should have expected it. It's not that noticeable in real life so it wouldn't stop me from wearing it. 

And with Party Hearty:

And in the shade:

I'm actually reallllly not a fan of Party Hearty on this polish. It's too much. Way too busy. I hate it. I think mostly because the silver glitter stands out so much, whereas I don't think it stands out as much against other polishes. Oh well. 

OPI: Here Today Aragon Tomorrow

Here is OPIs Here Today Aragon Tomorrow. A very very very dark jelly green. Veryyyy dark. Damn near black. The only time you can tell it isn't black is in direct sunlight. On to the pics... 

A bottle pic. It doesn't look that dark in the bottle, does it? Deceptive. 

I did three coats on every finger except my pinky. Which was one coat. I just wanted you guys who haven't used it to know how sheer it is. It builds up well, though. But still something that is worth noting. 

And again, the one coat on the pinky. 

Dark Blue Franken!

Heyyyyy, Today I made my first franken!!! I'm so excited! Well, not my first because I do have my frankened holo top coat, but I don't think that really counts since all I did was add glitter to Seche Vite. This, on the other hand, was a lot more fun! And it involved a lot more polishes! Okay not a lot more.. but a few more. 

Also, just a warning, this is veryyyyy picture heavy! I really wanted to show you its awesomeness, and hopefully I did. 

My intent, while creating this polish, was to make up for the disappointment I had after I purchased China Glaze's Midnight Mission. I was expecting Midnight Mission to remind me of the night sky and all of its shimery-ness and shininess. But it didn't. I really wasn't a fan of the silver glitter, and I think there is way too much of that silver glitter in the bottle. I thought that it would look a lot better with some yellow/gold glitter, and since I already had Absolutely Alice, it seemed like a perfect fit seeing as how Absolutely Alice is completely comprised of blue and yellow glitter. I'm really happy with how it turned out! I love this polish. I think I'm going to wear it all the time, since I own a lot of blue clothes (not that my clothes have to match my nail polish, but I like it when my nails at least go with my clothes in some way, either by contrasting or being in the same color family). It will be perfect

To make this I started off with a whole bunch of clear polish. Then I added some of Ulta's Moody Blues. Then I added a splash of Icing's 7th Inning Stretch (although it was probably completely unnecessary). Then I added a little bit of OPI's Absolutely Alice. 

Bottle Pictures: 

I tried not to add too much glitter, because I would really rather it be more sparse. But oh well, it's glitterific. And I guess that's cool. I wish I had thought beforehand that since I was trying to make a jelly polish, that the glitter on the bottom coats would show through to the top. But I didn't think about that. I like it anyway, though. 

I think these two (top and bottom of this text) show off the glitter and the polish the best. Make them big!

And a blurry shot to try to show off the glitter more, but it didn't really work out as well as I had thought it would. 

And the shady pics:

I think it is still very pretty indoors/in the shade. 

I am thinking about putting a few drops of OPI's Suzi Says Feng Shui to lighten it up a bit. What do you think? Good as is or that it is a little too dark?