Presenting Twinsie Tuesdays and Kiko # 255

 

 

 

Hi ladies! Happy Tuesday! Today is the start of the first Twinsie Tuesdays posts. Amanda, over at Amandalandish contacted me last week with an idea she and Nory from Fierce Makeup and Nails put together. Every Tuesday, a group of us girls will be coordinating manicures. Each week will have a different theme which we will all post about. This week's choice was an international polish. This starts the trial month, and from there we will see how it goes. There are 11 of us right now. I have included the direct blog links to the other girls within this post.

For my international polish I chose a Kiko polish. Kiko is sold exclusively in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom. I met a super sweet girl from France on Facebook, and in my first international swap she sent me a bunch of Kiko polishes. I picked Kiko # 255 during our swap, due to it's gorgeous purple base and holographic glitter. Kiko # 255 has a dark purple base with red undertones. It's packed with holographic glitter pieces, which stand out pretty well against the base.

Formula on this was a little thick but not unmanageable. I absolutely hated the brush. The cap/brush were SO short, I found it awkward to paint my nails (I'm pretty tall, so naturally I do have large hands, but still! lol).  If my pointer finger looks funny in the pictures, it's because I lost the ENTIRE nail and had to stick it back on for these photos. I actually peeled this entire manicure off in sheets with ease. I used polish remover right before this, so I doubt there was any oils on my nails. I painted my nails, waited about an hour, showered, got dressed and lost an entire polished nail.  I'm not sure what to blame.

Without further ado.....

 

Don't forget to check out all of the other ladies participating in Twinsie Tuesdays:

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Duri Dragontini & Lynnderella Connect the Dots

Happy Monday folks! In anticipation of the Lynnderella sale about to take over on Llarowe this February, I decided to use my Lynnderella polishes again. If I'm stalking the fabulous land of Llarowe, I might as well use what I have for now to hold me over, right? lol.

What I imagined in my head, did not turn out as anticipated. This layering combination did not turn out as pretty as planned. I had high hopes for this, but it fell flat. Very, very flat. I wasted two fantastic coats of Connect the Dots and a perfectly good manicure of Dragontini :::weep:::

I started off with two coats of Duri Dragontini, which is a purple creme with red undertones. I don't want to call it medium, and I don't want to call it dark. The purple is somewhere in the middle. (If this were a box of hair color it would be called medium dark purple lol) Formula was easy to work with, and I used two coats for the photos shown. I had a little bit of cuticle drag on some nails and could have used a third coat, but I would like to blame that on my rushing.

I then added two coats of Lynnderella Connect the Dots and a coat of Seche Vite to top everything off. I ended up with this.....

Not so fabulous, huh? I almost didn't want to post this manicure, but I figured this may save someone else time and perfectly good polish. The shimmer in the base of Connect the Dots made Dragontini looks almost brown. It's neither polishes fault, just bad layering on my part. Connect the Dots looks FABULOUS over bright and neon cremes. I don't think I will be layering this over a dark color again. The black glitter doesn't 'pop' like I like it to. If I'm going to layer Dragontini, maybe next time I'll do it with something along the lines of China Glaze's Techno or Fairy Dust.

What do you think? Am I my own worst critic or is this a dud manicure?

Also, I obviously changed the background and text colors for this blog. What do you think? I like the fact that it's easier to read the text and the photos stand out, but is the background itself too much?

As always, thanks for stopping by <3

Ozotic Mish Mash 532

Warning: This post is pic heavy :)

Quickie post for today. It's already late, and I've wasted an hour of my life watching Road Rules Battle of the Exes tonight (did anyone else watch? I was a little disappointed). Today's post is all about one of the new Ozotic polish from their Mish Mash collection. All of the Mish Mash polishes have a multi-chrome/holographic finish to them. The one I have photos of today is Mish Mash 532.

Ozotic Mish Mash 532 is another chameleon. I didn't expect the holo/multi-chrome shift to be so strong, but it was insanely strong. How does Ozotic do it? And how come none of the US companies can do this? This polish looked different in all different types of lighting and all angles. The color shift mainly goes between a light teal/aqua and purple, and the holographic finish shifts between purple and bright teal. In some lighting this looked only holographic, other lighting only multi-chrome, and other lighting it showed both finishes. Formula was so easy to work with. This is definitely one of my top polishes.

The photos below show 2 coats of Ozotic Mish Mash 532 over 1 coat of Sinful Colors Black. Everything was topped off with a coat of Seche Vite. You can order this beauty from Llarowe for $17.50.

Ozotic 505

Dear China Glaze Atlantis,
      You have been my # 1 for quite some time, but it looks like you may have to move down to # 2. I'm sorry. While you didn't do anything wrong, someone else showed up doing *everything* right. You can remain my # 1 glitter, but not # 1 overall.
                                                 Sorry for the disappointment.
                                                          Katherine

Do I need to explain? We are talking about Ozotic # 505 here, lol. I tried not to get my hopes up too high. I figured the amazing photos we've been seeing were taken with top of the line cameras. I figured, what's the chance that Ozotic 505 is really that fantastic? Let me tell you, it surely is! Ozotic 505 did not disappoint!

This had been one of my long time lemmings, and thanks to Llarowe I am finally able to own this beauty. When I pulled it out of the packaging, I was blown away! This polish is a true chameleon. It flashes mainly teal and purple, but at times you can see golden and blue flashes. It's different in all types of lighting, and it kept me looking at my nails allll day long. I used two coats of Ozotic 505 over Sinful Colors black creme and topped it with a coat of Seche Vite. These polishes are pretty expensive ($17.50), but if you have some extra cash and you're looking for some amazing nail polish this is definitely worth the money!

Enough talking....here are the photos!

Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Lady Luck

Hi ladies! I hope everyone had a good weekend. We had a few inches of snow in NY on Saturday, and it's bitter cold. It's days like this where I wouldn't mind living in Miami lol. As I was working on today's post I realized that I don't post a lot of drugstore brands. I don't have anything against drugstore brands, but sometimes I am turned off by their price. (Ex: Why would I pay $6 for a drugstore polish, when for $1-$2.50 more I can get China Glaze, OPI, etc). Generally, they have to be on sale or something I'm dying to get my hands on in order for me to pick them up.

One polish that caught my eye was Lady Luck, from Sally Hansen's new Gem Crush collection. This one rang up around the $6 mark, but they were buy one get one half off at  Walgreens so I didn't mind paying. I had a hard time picking out the second polish because nothing else really caught my eye.

Lady Luck has small magenta glitter and larger round holographic glitter in a clear base. It's not entirely dense, and took 3 coats to become opaque. In all honestly, I wasn't too impressed with the formula. I understand that glitter polishes are thicker, but this one was so thick that when I wiped off the excess around the mouth of the bottle it wouldn't return to the base of the bottle, it would stay at the mouth and collect on the brush on the next 'dip' in. I was pretty disappointed, to say the least. While I'm not willing to shun this one forever, before I use it again I will definitely be adding some thinning drops. The other thing I hate is that awful paddle brush that is awkward to use. I included a photo of the brush, and how the polish becomes so thick that it sticks to it. While this is nice, I don't think it's worth the $6 price tag. I'm definitely no tightwad when it comes to shopping, but I rather save my $6 and apply it to a different polish.

The photos below show 3 coats of Lady Luck and a coat of Seche Vite. Does anyone else have Lady Luck? Any chance that my bottle is faulty? lol.

Yuck!

A-England Lady of the Lake

Happy Friday!!! I hope everyone has a good weekend. I most likely won't be posting this weekend, as I have to save my swatches since I completely nubbinized my nails down tonight. They are in horrendous shape and paper thin. I couldn't take the yellow staining of my nails so I lightly buffed them, and for the past 2 weeks they've been splitting really far up and breaking. Wah! I've done this before, when will I learn my nails are too thin to buff? lol

Anyways, today I have a fantastic polish for you. This one is from A-England, and it's called Lady of the Lake. I'm sure we are all familiar with this, as it's all over blogs. My best friend picked this one up for me for Christmas. Lady of the Lake is so gorgeous, that I wore it for 3 days.

Lady of the Lake is a medium dusty purple, but it is holo! The holo isn't over the top, it's pretty subtle but it's so pretty. The formula was fantastic and beyond easy to work with. It was completely opaque in two coats.

The photos below show 2 coats of Lady of the Lake and a coat of Seche Vite. Please excuse the angry cuticles, I cut them a tad too much.

And thanks again to the ladies who posted about the Max Factor. I replied to all of your comments :)

Misa Spaced Out & a question for my ladies across the ocean.....

Hello! Quickie post today, because I ran out of time last night. I've been having sleep issues, where I can't fall asleep until after 2:30am and I have to be up by 7. I've trying to give myself a midnight cut off, where the computer and tv have to be off. I haven't even browsed all of my blogs this week and I'm going through withdrawals lol. I'll have to make up for it this weekend!

Today I have Misa Spaced Out, which is a grey polish with silver and dark gray shimmer throughout. Formula was easy to work with, and it was completely opaque in 2 coats. It's not the most unique, but it is very pretty. I have Misa Gray Matters, which I think may favor more ;)

Now....a question for my international ladies....can someone get me a bottle (or two) of Max Factor Fantasy Fire? I will pay for it, swap for it, whatever you want to do. I need this in my life.
I'm also looking for the Teeez holos if anyone knows of a place where they are laying around.
::::fingers crossed::::  Thanks lovies!

OPI La Boheme - Revisited

Good morning girls! I had an amazing find over the weekend, a bottle of OPI La Boheme! My heart literally started to race and I started to panic as I went through boxes of nail polish, checking to see if I could find additional bottles. I have a bottle of La Boheme in which I found on a dusty hunt a few months back, but as I have read there are two versions. The bottle I found on Saturday was the second version, and the better one (IMO). A high duochrome radiated through the bottle, even in dim lighting. I asked the shop owners if they had anymore, and they looked at me as if I was crazy. I didn't want to tip them off in regards to how amazing of a find this was (they have told me 'no' to polishes before - and they are a supply store) so I kept my composure.

I got home and compared the bottles. The shimmery red is the same, but the color shift on my newer bottle is definitely more noticeable. In the bottle, you see a golden/rusty change and some green. I couldn't see the green on my nails, but am eventually going to try layering it over black, which I have read helps.
Formula was easy to work with, but since this is from 2003 it's not 3-free. The photos below show 2 coats of La Boheme and a coat of Seche Vite.

Without further ado, I share some greatness:

I'm in love......hands.down.best.red.ever.

Zoya Crystal

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a good weekend. One of my favorite things ever is squashing a long time lemming with a more available and less expensive polish. I had been lemming OPI's Reflecting Pool which was a UK exclusive for quite some time. I had gone back and fourth with the thought of purchasing it on Ebay, but I gave myself three options (1. OPI Rainforest, 2. Reflecting Pool, 3. Mad as a Hatter) and chose another polish instead (MAAH). Reflecting Pool goes for just under $40 on Ebay. While browsing some blogs one night I came across a photo that I could have sworn was Reflecting Pool....but was stunned to find out it was Z-O-Y-A! I did multiple Google searches and Zoya Crystal is a dead on dupe for OPI Reflecting Pool. $8.00 vs $40.00? Score! I picked this one up with my December haul and I am really pleased with it.

Zoya Crystal is a light blue metallic with small pieces of round, gold glitter. Together, the colors really work. I'm as happy as I expected and this is one and I recommend it to anyone who likes blues, foils, or gold glitter accents lol. Formula was super easy to work with and it was opaque in 2 coats.

The photos below show 2 coats of Zoya Crystal and a coat of Seche Vite.

The Face Shop RD301

Haaaaappy Friday! Does anyone have any good plans for this weekend? On Saturdays, my boyfriend and I usually go take a drive; but this week I have to watch my dogs since my parents are going to visit my aunt out of state. I'm so spoiled with being able to get up and run because my dad is retired and here to watch my dog. Here is a photo of one of my furry children:

That's my little devil pomeranian! At least he's cute, right? lol. My other dog is a golden retriever, and they are completely in love with each other. It's so adorable.

Today's post features a polish from an Asian retailer, The Face Shop. I originally saw the swatch here and fell head over heels in love. I was ecstatic to find out they had a store in Queens, so I headed over there thinking I would find all three holos. The only one they had was RD301, which is a muted red holo. In the bottle it looks like a red/salmon pink shade, with a subtle holographic effect. That's so not the case on my nail!

On my nails it pulls completely orange with my skin tone (FYI I'm pretty fair, usually 1 or 2 shades up from the lightest in all  face foundations). The only time it looked anywhere near red/pink was in dark indoor lighting. The holo effect looks much more subtle out of the bottle and on the nail. While it's nice, it's not something I'm in love with. It definitely glows more than it gives off any rainbow of holographic glitter.  :0/

While the shade isn't what I expected, the formula was flippin fantastic! It was completely opaque in one easy and smooth coat. I did an extra coat just to be safe and topped it off with Seche Vite. I still want to try and hunt down the other two shades, but the sales associates weren't sure what they would be getting. The photos below are all outdoor photos, with the exception of the very last image which was taken indoors with a camera.

Thoughts? Am I crazy or is this completely orange? I even started to doubt that it was the same polish shown on Spaz&Squee's blog. I wonder if the shade/formula is a little different in the bottles they sell in the US. Oh well.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Thanks for stopping by!  :0)