China Glaze: Scattered and Tattered over Naked

Haven't had a nail post in so long! I wanted to do a red mani, but the only red I had around was China Glaze's Scattered and Tattered from their Glitz Bitz 'n Pieces collection, which I picked up at Sally's not too long ago. 

Deciding on a base coat was challenging, but I decided to go with a pink, China Glaze's Naked which I got as a set for Breast Cancer Awareness. 

Scattered and Tattered (1 coat) over Naked (3 coats)

Naked

Application: The formula was on the thinner side, but easy to work with. It took three coats before I was satisfied. Two coats still had a bit of visible nail line.

Color: It's a hot pink with very fine shimmers. 

Overall: I'm happy with it. But it started chipping/wearing really quickly. I took the photo a day after I applied it.

Scattered and Tattered

Application: Nothing wrong with it. I used one coat and it was pretty dense, so I was satisfied.

Color: It's black and red glitters of all shapes and sizes (stringy, hexagon, circle); clear base

Overall: It's a fun polish to play with, but since it's red, I have no idea what to pair it with.

Independence Day 2013; Fireworks && Nails

Hope everyone had a good fourth last week :) I didn't go watch the fireworks last year, though I did see it on my way to a friend's house. This year some friends and I decided to go to a cookout and watch the fireworks from there because it's right by where it's set off. 

It was SO hot out that day though. I think mid-90s or something. I was sweating like a pig by the time I got to the train station. 

It was a night well spent catching up with friends I haven't seen in a while. We actually went up too late so there was no more food :(

Here are some firework photos. My phone died right before the finale though sigh. That's what happens when you forget to charge your phone :\ 

Last, but not least, the nails I did right before heading out. 

Jordana Sequins over Milani Breezy
The glitter looks kinda empty, I was thinking I should've layered CG's Ruby Pumps under it :\

Anyways, until next time!

Maybelline Blue Marks the Spot // China Glaze Electric Beat

I was at Target the other day and saw a display with Maybelline's new Polka Dot collection. I picked up Blue Marks the Spot for $2.99 and tried it when I got home. It seemed kind of sheer and I didn't want too much glitter so I used a similar base color. Electric Beat is from last spring's Electropop collection.

Blue Marks the Spot (2 coats) over Electric Beat (2 coats) +topcoat 

Bottle shot of Blue Marks the Spot

Blue Marks the Spot was easy to apply and wasn't sparse. Maybelline also has just the glitter one called Clearly Spotted and I'd rather get that (didn't see it at Target) because it's more versatile to layer over any base color.

Milky Blue Pastel

It's been a month since my last nail post. I stopped by a Walmart during my Maine trip for some bug spray and remembered to check out the nail polish hoping to find Hard Candy's Black Tie Optional, and found the polishes on the wall :D I couldn't find any in the Walmart nearby. 

Hard Candy Sweet Tooth (1 coat) over Revlon Blue Lagoon (2-3 coats) + Seche

(Excuse the mess from the application..I'm no good at cleaning up, so I don't bother ^^;)

I didn't want my nails to be overwhelming with glitter, so I used a light blue base and added one coat of Sweet Tooth. It seemed a bit thick, but overall I didn't have an issue with it. No need to fish for glitter either. 

Wet n Wild Spoiled: Shrimp on the Barbie

Shrimp on the Barbie is a very pretty polish that I picked up a while ago but never got to use. 

Phone photos so you can see the gold:

Application: It was easy to apply, but I needed like 4-5 coats to try to get it to be opaque and even then you can sorta see visible nail line. It wasn't streaky or anything.

Color: It's like a pink-coral base with gold glass flecks. The gold is pretty prominent. I'd say the pink is more like the first photo, but maybe slightly lighter. It's not as pink as the last two photos, as it is kinda orange-y too. It applies a bit less pink than the bottle.

Overall: It's a very pretty polish, but the downfall might be its downfall. I'm not too good with choosing base colors with sheer polishes, so if you have any suggestions. ;o

Essie: Set in Stones & Where's My Chauffeur? Reverse Gradient

After eyeing Set in Stones for a while, I finally got it! It's basically just a silver glitter polish, so I could never justify paying so much when there's probably many dupes out there...but I've yet to find one and I always see nice manis done with it. But alas I got it :D

I don't know if there's an actual term for it (and I might even be using the wrong one) but I did a reverse gradient with Set in Stones, where I basically did the effect from the top down instead of from the tips up. I always thought it looked nice, so I wanted to give it a try too!

Set in Stones (2-3 coats) over Where My Chauffeur (3 coats) + top coat

Wish I had better quality photos! I couldn't really get it to focus properly and there was the glare too. 

Delia's Pink Holo Polish

I picked up a holiday set over the weekend because I was interested in two of the holo polishes. Today I have one of them to show you :) I actually ended up buying two sets because I just wanted to have extras in case the minis weren't enough xD

Two coats + top coat

Even though the holo was very obvious in real life (except for when it's too dim/dark), but it was hard to capture unless I was in the right lighting.

Here's with flash.

Application: Surprisingly the application went really well. I was worried that it would be terrible (especially since I bought two sets) but I had no problem with it. I think one coat would've been enough, but I did two out of habit and didn't realize until after I did one hand that it didn't even make a difference.

Color: It's like a pale/dusty pink. The holo is really linear, something I wouldn't expect to find at Delia's. The holo is obvious even when you're indoors and very nice to just look at.

Overall: I'm happy with the color and application, but it did start chipping. I applied it two nights ago and it was fine all day but when I got back to my dorm I noticed a third of one of my nails chipped off, so I look at my other nails and half of them were already chipping off. Another thing I noticed was that my nails are peeling again and I suspect the polish has something to do with it because I haven't had that problem in a while and it just happened as soon as I used this polish and it's multiple nails splitting. 

It's a love-hate polish. I can't decide if I'll use it again because it's not worth splitting all my nails and it chips so easily. 

I knew I should've brought my buffer with me when I was packing to move back into my dorm -__- split nails bother me a lot so I tend to peel off the top layer, but I don't have my buffer to smooth out my nail where it did split.

Models Own: Golden Green Beetle Juice

Today I have Models Own Golden Green Beetle Juice to show you. It's my first Models Own polish that I picked up at Urban Outfitters about 2-3 months ago. 

Golden Green Beetle Juice (2 coats) + top coat

Phone shots:

Application: The formula was very thin and watery, so it wasn't hard to apply but could be too much if I don't wipe the brush off the side enough. I expected to need 3 coats because the first coat seemed sheer and because of the thinness, so I was surprised when I realized how opaque it was with two coats. There are slight brushstrokes if you look very closely, but if you're careless enough, then it can be a bit more obvious.

Color: Their site briefly describes this polish as a "fresh energetic acid"  and I don't really know what acid looks like, so I can't comment on their accuracy. The polish is an olive green and gold duochrome with a slight green shimmer to it. I'm not a big fan of the green though, but some people like it.

Blue Diagonal Striped Nails

For the past few months I haven't been motivated to do any nail designs because I had no idea what to do. But I saw a post on Instagram that inspired me to do a similar design. 

For this manicure, I started off with China Glaze Fairy Dust at the bottom, then topped that with Missha BL001 in the middle and Sinful Colors Why Not on my tips. You can see dots on BL001 and that's mainly because of the glitter underneath. I'll watch out for that next time.

This was a very simple manicure and didn't really take that much time either. It's very pretty and elegant as well, so I'll definitely be doing the same thing but with a different color scheme frequently.

Zoya: Aurora

This holiday, there has been a lot of buzz about Zoya's Aurora from their Ornate collection. After seeing swatches of it, I was convinced that I had to have it too :o Plus there was a lot of flash promos going on at this time, so it worked out perfectly :) I was only able to snag a free Gilty out of all the flash promos that they had. 

Right now they're running a promo for 3 free polishes + $10 shipping. I want to make my purchase too, but I ran out of Zoya polishes that I want after the Dream Boxes that I ordered. Any suggestions? I'm thinking of Storm from their Ornate collection for one of them. It's pretty, but somewhat plain and I'm not a big fan of black polishes. 

Zoya Aurora (3 coats) + topcoat

I did adjust the color a bit to reflect the color irl.

Application: I had no troubles with applying this polish. It went on smoothly and it wasn't streaky or anything. You might be able to get away with two coats, but some of my nails still had patches, so I just went with three coats. Dry time was pretty good as well. 

Color: Aurora has a plum-colored based and is very dense with fine holographic glitters. What makes the polish stand out is definitely how much it sparkles from the glitter. It's not a linear holo though.

Here are additional some shots I took with my camera. The color does not reflect how it looks in person. As I mentioned, it's a plum base, not purple. These photos can show you the intensity of the glitter.

Orly: Nail Repair Nail Rescue

Soo I've heard of this Orly nail repair kit before as well as other methods like silk wraps, but I've never tried any of them. I usually just cut my nail down when they break because it's easier, but I hate having short nails. My thumb nail broke last week, so I finally got the kit at Sally Beauty to try it out. They're running a buy one get one free promo this month, if you're planning on getting it. I didn't realize it until afterwards so I had to go back to get my other one :X I missed the 50% off clearance last week and I found so many nice polishes on clearance, so sad :(

The kit comes with:

- Nail glue 

- Nail repair powder
- Nail buffer

Conclusion?
Cost: ★★★★☆
It's $7.99 for the kit, so it's not too pricey.

Application: ★★★★☆
All you have to do is just brush on the nail glue onto the part that's broken and then dip it onto the powder. After it dries, you buffer it down. The buffering is sort of a hassle, but maybe I'm just bad at it.

Effects: ★★★★☆

It works well to cover up the broken nail, but I still have to be careful with it because it's just a layer holding it together afterall.

Overall: ★★★☆☆

Despite how it works, it doesn't do wonders. The same spot broke again after four days and I reapplied it and it broke by the end of the night again. It works, but you just have to be really careful. The first time I wasn't even rough on my nails either. Still, it beats cutting down my nail. 

Butter London: Knackered

Butter London's Knackered has got to be the prettiest polish that I own. It's a blue/purple duochrome with holographic glitter. 

Butter London: Knackered (4 coats)

The photos does not do the polish any justice. In different lighting, you can definitely see how the color shifts. Someone even commented on how it looked green at a certain lighting. (I didn't really agree though) 

Application: It was very easy to apply, but definitely very sheer. My VNL wasn't really as terrible in person as in my photo (especially my index finger); it was probably because the photos were taken directly under lighting. The color builds with each coat, but there's a limit at some point.

Color: Like I said, it's a blue/purple duochrome with fine holographic glitter. The color shift is very apparent and overall the polish reminds me of nebula nails minus all the work. 

Zoya: Rory

Zoya Rory is from this summer's Surf Collection. 

The coloring looks pretty different in each of the photo, but you can kind of get an idea of its color.

Zoya Rory (2 coats + top coat)

Application: Very easy! The polish applied well and I only need 2 coats for full opacity.

Color: It's like a magenta color. I was actually kinda disappointed by the color because it seemed more light pink on swatches online, but not in person. 

I started getting tip wear maybe 2-3 days in, so I was a bit disappointed. 

Essie: Where's My Chauffeur?

I've been looking all over for Where's My Chauffeur? after seeing it a lot on Instagram. It was was either constantly sold out or not available at all. Luckily the boyfriend found it for me and picked it up. YAY thanks <3 

I know that this color is being compared a lot to China Glaze For Audrey, and from what I've gathered they're not dupes at all. For Audrey is greener and a bit dustier looking, whereas Where's my Chauffeur is more blue. I haven't done a direct comparison yet, but I'm pretty sure what I've been reading is accurate.

More phone photos because I still don't have my memory card.

Where's My Chauffeur? 3 coats + top coat

Application: It was just like any polish. It took three coats for opacity, maybe 2 if you use thicker coats.

Color: It's a very nice robin egg blue. It dried slightly darker than the bottle.

I don't really have much to say about this polish LOL but it's a very nice color. I dunno why but I really wanted it but now that I have it, I don't feel as excited about the color anymore. Don't get me wrong because I do think it's a very pretty color. I haven't used For Audrey in a while, so I can't really say which one I'd pick out of the two.