melting in the sun :)

Hellooooo.

Fairly quick post tonight.

I've got another beachy polish for you! :)

OPI's 'Cozu-Melted in the Sun' 

*left hand

*right hand

Again, i apologize for the quality of these photos... i STILL can't find my camera charger so these were taken with my phone. Also, they're in somewhat of a shadow half the time, but that's because in the direct sunlight, they reflect so much its impossible to even see them :/

Anyway, 'Cozu-Melted in the Sun' is a GORGEOUS, fantastic peachy bronze metallic. In some lights it looks more copper, others more pink-ish. Whichever shade it takes on- it's amazing either way. Ya'll know i'm a sucker for metallics anyway, and this one is in m top 5 favorite metallics. I've had this polish for awhile and wear it often, but i've just not gotten around to blogging about it. I figured it's color (And, of course, it's name) would make it a good one to feature while i'm at the beach :)

This applied amazingly, but it is a little sheer so at least 2 coats are necessary. Unlike the Color Club polish in my last post, this polish did NOT get all sticky after being in chlorine... interesting?

Anyway, i've got at least 1 really exciting polish I want to share with you guys in the next few days, so stay tuned for that!!

:)

first Color Club polish!

Greetings from Gulf Shores!

I've spent all day either at the beach or in the pool, drinking margaritas, basking in the sun... and it's just been fantastic. so relaxing.

I was pleased a couple days ago when I found out we had wifi here at the beach house,

but i've just now gotten around to posting about anything.

I brought a few beachy (in my opinion) polishes with me this week,

and today's polish also happens to have been my first Color Club polish. I came across a great deal of these in a Rite Aid a month or so ago but have just now gotten around to trying it.

Without further ado, 'Metamorphosis':

*sorry for the pic, was taken on my phone :/

'Metamorphosis' is from the 'Take Wing' collection. It's a foil-y teal-ish green that can has a subtle blue and pink look in certain light- almost like a duochrome. Unfortunately, I can't find my camera charger so I wasn't able to capture it :(

I bought this because of the duochrome quality it had, but it didn't show up most of the time. It reminded me very much of a peacock, though. Normally this polish would be right up my alley because i love me some metallic/foils, but I already have CG's 'Watermelon Rind', which reminds me VERY much of this polish.

so oh well.

not as unique as I had hoped.

It's a wee bit thin, so I used 2 coats here. It applied really well, also. OH YEAH- weird side note- the chlorine from the pool made this polish VERY sticky. It's super weird and now I can't wait to get it off because it just feels gunky. Anyone know why this happens?...

Anyway, I hope to be a bit more diligent about posting the rest of this week while i'm here :)

Thanks for reading!

neon bikini stripes!

HELLO FRIENDS.

As you're reading this, i'm making the grueling 8 hour drive... to the beach! :e

 Gulf Shores to be exact, and it's the first time i've been to the beach in like 5 years. pathetic.

Anyway, I bought a lovely little cheap swimsuit at Target awhile ago that has some fantastic colors in it, and i've been meaning to do something on my nails inspired by it. 

I really love plaid nail art. I don't have a steady enough hand to really pull it off (even with a good striper), but I thought i'd give it a go anyway.

So here's what I ended up with.

*regular indoor lighting

*fluorescent lighting

*sunlight, no flash

Ok so question... anyone have any idea why the gray polish on most of my fingers has tiny bubbles?

...

WTF.

i would really like to know.

Anyway,

I was lucky to find polishes that basically matched my swim suit exactly.

I used:

China Glaze's 'Pelican Gray' as my base

CG's 'Yellow Polka Dot Bikini', 'Rich & Famous', & 'Flip Flop Fantasy' for the stripes using a basic nail art brush.

I think if someone who has a steady hand &  a striper (& no bubbly polish) had done this, it would look awesome. I really love all the colors together. I'm just still too much of a n00b in the nail department for it to look that great :P

But i liked it okay.

I've brought a ton of stuff with me to the beach since i'll be there for a week, & i'm really hoping to get some good experimentation and blogging in, but we'll see. Plus I don't even know for sure or not if we're going to have internet access there, soooooo 

:/

Thanks for reading!

Serendipity inspired: 'The Dream Tree'

Helloooo.

Glad to have some me time to blog for a bit. I've been packing and doing laundry like a crazy woman all day.

Tonight is a slightly bipolar post. I wanted to do a look inspired by The Dream Tree, but couldn't decide on which look to go with- so I did one each eye :p

heh.

First off,

here's the sweet little book that served as my inspiration.

^this pic is a bit washed out but it was literally one of the ONLY images I could find showing the caterpillar on the cover. Apparently this was a limited version for the cover or something, because they mostly have the butterfly he turned into as the cover. wtf.

Anyway, though it's hard to tell in the photo, the caterpillar is a vivid, bright red and black striped little fella.

So here are the two ideas I had for this:

Black lid, faintly outlined in red.

Stark, red lid.

All together now...

** straight on **

** angle 1**

** angle 2**

YAY, Bipolar disorder!

Ok, let's get to the nitty gritty.

I LOVED making these looks. Both are something I would never wear in public, and I was surprised how much I loved both of these.

The first I created using Urban Decay's 'Blackout' on a primed lid. Afterwards I faintly outlined Sugarpill's 'Love+' with a shadow brush on the brow bone and under my eye, sweeping it out on the corners.

The second look was a perfect excuse to put one of my new shades in the spotlight. I used 'Love+' on a primed lid and lightly brushed UD's 'Vanilla' on the brow bone after.

Both of these looks surprised me because both the red & black are matte shadows. I usually ALWAYS use shimmery shadows, but I reallyyyyyy like how this turned out. Although I DID kind of cheat on the second look, because 'Vanilla' gave me a little shimmer :x

So there you have it!

What do you guys think?

Does it look totally crazy and like i've lost my mind ?!

:)

nail/makeup mail & newest additions

heyhey everyone!

Lots of exciting little tidbits and additions tonight.

Firstly,

my two indie polishes that i've waited so long for finally arrived today! :e

I was browsing Etsy a couple weeks ago and came across these 2 beauties form DarlingDivaPolish!

 

*^ 'Anita'

* ^ 'Too Schmexxxy'

I can't even describe to you the amazingness of these. I'd love to spend this whole post on them, but i'll save that for another day :) For now, these teaser pics will have to do.

Also in the mail today came my Burning Heart palette from Sugarpill !!

:party

Some of you may know that i've been searching EVERYWHERE for a true, bright red. AND HERE SHE IS! Can't wait to try her, along with the other fantastic shades.

Lastly I have the newest additions that I couldn't resist in Sally's today.

*From L to R: 'Pelican Gray', 'After Party', & 'Melt Your Popsicle'

The last 2 are from ORLY's new neon collections that's out... wish Sally's had them when I was doing Live Loud week...

oh well :)

Do any of you have these?

Thanks for reading!

Serendipity inspired: 'Trafalgar True'

Good evening, everyone!

I've had a busy day of packing (both the apt since we're moving in 2 weeks, and packing for the beach next week) so it feels good to finally be able to sit down for some 'me' time :)

So my older cousin, myself, and now my daughter were all read the 'Serendipity' series when we were little. It's a series of fantastic books about life lessons that take place on the island of Serendipity, and it stands out because of it's vivid pictures- even now (& it was written in the 70's!!).

I'm in the process of reading all of them to my daughter now, and the great illustrations got me thinking about doing some looks to match them :)

Tonight's look is technically the second look (you can see the other here) but it's from the same book as the first- Trafalgar True!

For tonight I chose the vivid Trafalgar as my inspiration.

*inside, with flash

*fluorescent light, no flash

*full view

Does it looked like I used 3 different kinds of blues here?

......?

Yeah, i didn't think so.

One of them was much too close to another to show much difference, and i should have just left it out completely for a better effect. Trafalgar has so many shades of blue in him that I really wanted to capture that, but I didn't do a very good job :/

Swatches! (all Urban Decay)

All in all, I was semi-happy with the look. It blended almost a bit TOO much on the lid, and I didn't finish the brow bone and crease like I wanted, but i'm still learning. Practice makes perfect, or so they say.

This is obviously not the most wearable look,

but the colors in the book were too beautiful to pass up.

'Peace' & 'Ransom' are two of my favorite UD shades ever. They are two of the very first shadows I ever tried from UD, and i'm pissed that both (i think) are being discontinued. The blue that's supposed to be a good substitute for 'Peace' ('Haight') is nowhere NEAR the as bright :(

Boo, Urban Decay. Boo.

ANYWAY,

that's that.

What do you guys think?

Thanks for reading! :DD

Live Loud!- Day 10... Double Purple Durple, ya'll

Hello dear readers.

Alas! It is the final day of Live Loud! week. There were so many other I could have posted, but i'll just have to be patient and save them for later :P There are other things I want to move on to.

But before that, we have tonight's polishes. Yep, polishes. I disliked one so much I decided to just throw it in with my final post; it was undeserving of it's own O_o

First the ugly duckling- 'Flying Dragon':

I posted this before, long ago in the infancy of my blog. I decided to give it a go again & see if it'd feel any differently... :@

NOPE, STILL SUCKS.

This is (for some reason) dubbed a neon... WHY, China Glaze? It's not even bright once on the nails, though it facetiously looks like it would be. argh.

'Flying Dragon' is a purple neon with pink and blue microglitter Sounds like it would be awesome... just looks like poo. At least in my humble opinion :o

Next up is probably my 3rd favorite out of all the ones i've featured this past week or so,

'Purple Panic'!

This is a fantastic purple-magenta neon with slight violet shimmer. It's awesome! It actually was not as sheer/runny as many of the other neons/brights i've tried.  It was definitely opaque with 2 coats. It dried matte, of course, so I used 2 coats of SV afterwards.

My only bone to pick with this polish is that it chipped really quickly :/ But it's still worth it :)

What do you guys think?

What has your favorite polish been from Live Loud! week?

Thanks for stickin' with me!

:D

Live Loud!- Day 9

Helloooo.

Just one or two more days of Live Loud! week. I've got so many ideas for themes for posts that I don't know which to do first...

Anyway,

onto tonight's polish!

CG's 'Rose Among Thorns'

So I know this looks like a typical bright red, but it's not (the 2nd picture is more accurate than the first, colorwise). 'Rose Among Thorns' is a neon red with a subtle hint of warm pink to it. Though as you can see, in direct sunlight it looks like a fancy, sexy red. Either way, I love it. It did go on a bit sheer, so 3 coats are needed for opacity. My favorite color is red, and seeing that this was a neon, I couldn't resist this in Sally's the other day. So vibrant.

That's it for tonight, guys!

Thanks for reading!

OH,

and don't forget to 'like' my fb page using the facbook button in the top right hand corner of my page!!

:))

Live Loud!- Day 8

Hellooooo.

Back to nail polish tonight,

 and it's arguably my favorite (other than 'Flip Flop Fantasy).

China Glaze's 'Pink Voltage'!

'Pink Voltage' is a Pepto Bismol, neon pink with slight light purple shimmer. It's UH-MAZING. Totally a girly girl color that's bright and loud and happy and just... awesome :)

It dried matte, but it was a different looking matte than the others i've tried lately, for some reason.  After a coat of SV, it was kind of glossy but velvety at the same time... i was hoping you could see it in my photos, but I don't know how well it translated.

Anyway, i'm in love with this color.

Perfect for summer.

Do any of you have this?

Live Loud!- Day 7- switchin' it up!!

SHAGMASFMASGKSGKAG

I'm done with this semester!

hoorah :D

I also wanted to take a quick break from nail polishes this week to go back to my first love- eye shadow :) I decided to only do one makeup look for this live loud series, but I HAD to go ahead and try my new Lime Crime :))

When trying to come up with a name for this look, it got me thinking about yet another themed series I can do & I  CAN'T WAIT to start that-- but alas, i must. So this look can serve as a preview of that, i suppose.

I've dubbed this- Sunstone!

*inside, with flash

*fluorescent light, no flash

*daylight, no flash

So I know this might call to mind the recent 'Fire' look I did, but I really wanted to use 'Circus Girl' and 'Siren' together because I just absolutely love the combo. Though you can't really see it, I also used a lime green shadow from Covergirl under my lower lash line... it just really pales in comparison to Lime Crime :/

I like this, and though it may be a bit hard to see in these pictures, it's definitely one of the boldest looks i've done so far. Blending is something i'm still having to work on, though. It's much harder to blend with loose shadows than compact, so that'll take some practice :c (Any advice/suggestions on this would be welcome!!)

I used:

Too Faced's Shadow Insurance

LC's 'Mirror Mirror' on inner lids

LC's 'Circus Girl' on middle of lid

LC's 'Siren' on outer corners/crease 

Urban Decay's 'Rockstar' on crease

Urban Decays 'Skimp' on brow bone

Too Faced's Lasgasm mascara

Covergirl's Line Excact liquid Eyeliner

So tada! Definitely loud, and a nice break from nails :)

What do you guys think?

Thanks for reading & have a great night!!

Live Loud!- Day 6

Woo!

Pretty stoked, because I ordered my first Deborah Lippmann polish today! Also, the owner of the shop where I bought some indie polishes recently contacted me, apologizing that they haven't been shipped yet- so she's sticking some freebies in :P SO EXCITED.

Hopefully they get here before next friday, since i'll be gone for a week :/

Anyway,

on to tonight's polish!

China Glaze's 'Blue Sparrow ' :

I understand this polish isn't a neon in the classic sense (though China Glaze markets it as one) but it IS bright, and since most of my colors are in the orange/pink range, I figured this would be a nice change of course.

'Blue Sparrow' is a royal blue neon with light blue micro glitter. It dried matte, of course, so the above pics are with Sv after 3 coats.

I'm undecided on this polish. The color is really pretty, but the finish was not at all what I expected or liked. Firstly, the consistency was SUPER thin- quite possibly one of the thinnest i've ever tried. After drying, it was oddly gritty for having such small glitter. After a coat of Sv it looked better, but I was still feeling blah about it.

My biggest issue- it chipped in HOURS. Now, i can definitely be rough on my hands, but I went right to bed after I applied this and then woke up with it chipped (you can see it some in the photos). Pretty gay.

So, I added a quick stamp,

and this made me like the mani a little better. Here I used plate BM10 with Konad special polish in white.

All in all, this polish was a bit disappointing, despite it's rich color- which IS fabulous. That's about it, though, in my opinion.

What do you think?

Do you have this?

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Live Loud!- Day 5

HOORAY!

I'm all but done with this semester. I've got two more little assignments to do, but the heavy stuff is out of the way. That being said, I think my brain has finally stopped operating in hyperdrive, and i'm barely able to keep my eyes open as I type this- so quick post tonight.

Tonight I have 'Dream On' for you.

This polish is a super bright fushia-purple creme... in the bottle. Once on my nails, it wasn't anywhere near as bright, which was disappointing :( You can see the difference in this next picture.

Like all other brights/neons i've tried, this dried matte. However, it's consistency was MUCH better, despite still being a little sheer. I was really excited when I found this the other day, but it just looks nothing like I thought it would :/ Not that exciting to me, in the end, Though I will say, I think it would have been much more appealing to me if my nails were longer... but oh well.

That's it for tonight!

I'm going to sleep forever.

:D

Thanks for reading!

today's haul and bikini time for Live Loud!- Day 4

GOOD EVENING.

I'm halfway through the last week of this semester!

yessssssss.

... of course I'm taking 5 summer classes this summer, but at least I get like a week break in between now and my maymester class O_o.

Lots to show you tonight!

First- my little haul from walmart today:

Woo!

I'm thinking about maybe using the Revlon's for a giveaway- what do you think??!

I've also never tried the Maybelline polishes, so that'll be something new. Plus i actually bought eyeshadow that's not considered a prestige cosmetic for the first time in forever, but I couldn't resist that lovely, lime-y green :) We'll see how it turns out.

Now onto tonight's little bright beauty- CG's 'Yellow Polka Dot Bikini'!

Though it looked more like a bright sunshine yellow online (which is where I bought it), this polish is legit neon, highlighter yellow (think Essie's 'Funky Limelight'). It's part of CG's 'Poolside' Collection.

:/

Sadly, as with most of my other brights/neons (also many from this same collection), it was sheer, streaky, and hard to (ever) build up opacity. It was a cloudy day today, but that seemed to make it easier to capture the neon-ness of the polish, oddly enough. In the past days when it's been really sunny, the polishes always come off looking much more subtle than they really are... ?

Anyway, I really wasn't that much of a fan of the unexpected highlighter yellow OR the streaky-ness of it, so I added a stamp to spice it up/hide it, haha.

Can you tell i'm new to stamping? :/

Here I used BM19 and Konad special polish in black to get a polka dot effect to match the name. Done right, this would look really neat.

Aside from the atrocity of the stamping skills, I still like my nails much better with it than without it. Plain old highlighter yellow just isn't my thing, it turns out :/

What are yall's thoughts?

Anyone tried 'Yellow Polka Dot Bikini'?

Live Loud!- Day 3 & Lime Crime! (long post)

hey guys!

First order of business- hello, welcome, & thanks to my new followers!! I really enjoy this whole blogging thing, but it's not much use if i'm just blogging to myself :p So I really appreciate all my limited list of followers! :)

Next up,

some super fun makeup mail came in today! I blogged the other day about Lime Crime's little promo where you could get 15% off all their eye products. So this is what I got!

YUSSSSSSS.

Not only is their packaging super cute, but their products are fantastic. I've already got one Magic Dust eye shadow (blogged about forever ago here) but i've had my eyes on these little beauties for awhile. 

L to R: 'Circus Girl' & 'Siren' used over Too Faced's primer

 'Circus Girl' is a bright, sunshine yellow & 'Siren' is a rusty red. On the website it's depicted as being much brighter than it really is, which was somewhat disappointing simply because I was reallllly looking forward toward to such a BRIGHT red, but I still like it okay. It's more of a dried blood color, haha O_o

They both have a fantastic shimmer to them, and they're both shades (particularly the red) that i've had a hard time finding anywhere else. Urban Decay used to carry a great red, but since it was discontinued i've been on the hunt for one that's close to it.

(also, wtf at UD's recent list of shadows being discontinued- most were some of my favorites ever :/)

The great & unique thing about LC's Magic Dust shadows is that they're technically not only meant for your eyes- you can also use them on lips or cheeks! I will say that, since they're loose shadows, they're best used with a primer. Lime Crime has their 'Eyeshadow Helper', but they work fine with other brands (at least to my knowledge so far).

FINALLY, onto the polish.

I wish I'd gotten the chance to use this particular polish yesterday for Earth day, but I just didn't get the chance.

Without further ado (after all my rambling)-

'In the Lime Light'!

Ok, so as you can already see it went on a litttttle gloopy. It was a bit sheer so I used 3 coats to build up opacity, but they just didn't mesh well with my peel-y nails. Though after reading several other reviews on it, most people had the same issues :/

ANYWAY,

'In the Lime Light' is really a gorgeous neon that's on the cool side of a bright green. It also has a lovely, subtle blue shimmer to it which I love. When I saw this on the same row as half the other brights I tried, I knew I had to have it.

Unfortunately (and yet again) my pictures really don't do it justice. It's like my camera freaked out at the neon-ness and couldn't capture it- even in the daylight. humph :/ 

This, of course, dried matte like the others so I used a coat of SV on top... though I have to say, I hadn't had it on for 12 hours before it already was chipping/peeling away like crazy :(

Most unfortunate. It's a fantastic shade, but it's consistency was crap.

Do any of you have this polish? Or any Lime Crime?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading!!! :)