Exciting news!

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to announce the start of my new blog, Fatale Fashion!

It's a blog dedicated to plus size fashion, where I'll be sharing my outfits, where I shop, and my tips and tricks for looking good! Take a look if you're interested! I'd love to see you there :)

Jungle Red

Ok, I lied. I may have said that OPI Keys to my Karma was my favorite red. I take it back! I have a new favorite red!

This is my last Nars mini, Jungle Red.

Not surprisingly, it's another red jelly. I dunno what it is about the jellies! Jelly polishes have become my absolute favorite. Something about the squishiness, the clean lines, and the shiny goodness melts my heart.

As I'd expect from any Nars polish, application is a dream. This is 3 smooth and easy coats, and they dry to a super shiny finish. I always add Seche for it's superfast drying power, but if you had the patience to leave it on it's own, topcoat is really not necessary for shine factor.

Another thing I really love about this? It's a chameleon! The shot above was outside in semi-decent light (it's been raining all week, yuck), and the shot below is inside: 

So different, but still gorgeous!

For this, I'd shell out the $16 for the full bottle. And with this mini, having already been used for a mani AND pedi, I'm going to have to.

Welcome to the lovely gals of New York Lady! Check them out!

What's the one polish you plan to or already have shelled out big bucks for??

Marble Monday!

Finally, an on time Marble Monday! I've been slacking guys, I know. But here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Not my very best marbling work, but I do love the colors together! This is E.L.F. Royal Purple marbled with OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender over a coat of Royal Purple. The bast coat of RP is definitely necessary as it's relatively sheer with just one coat. The base coat plus the marble gave royal purple that depth of color.

 

I'm still using the vaseline method and I'm really quite please with how easy it makes clean up. I've started putting a little vaseline on the tips of my fingers during regular manicures as well so that any polish that gets on my skin when I wrap my tips will wipe right off. Works like a charm!

Weather's terrible today, so these are just a few quick shots I snapped at my desk. Hope you like :)

Welcome to some new followers! Christine of Randomness, a la Mode, Cydonian of Turtle Beauty, and Sissy of the hilarious My Kids Might Be Martians. Check them out!

Wicked

Today's manicure is one of my all time, go to, never fail colors: Essie Wicked.



Here's Wicked in natural light. I know many people aren't fans of the "almost black" look, which this deep, dark burgundy jellyish creme most definitely is. I don't care though, I love this shade. Even though it does look black, it has a depth to it, you see a little of the burgundy peep out around the edges, and in direct sunlight, it shows up a lot more.



In sunlight. Even so, I don't think that this is really a good representation of the color, because unless you're on the beach, you're going to get that black look. I love it, it's super classy and gorgeous.

The only bad thing about this polish is that cleanup is a complete bitch. If you happen to get it on your cuticles, they'll be pink no matter how much you try to clean those edges. I'm actually sort of dreading taking off the whole mani because I know my fingers will be pink and I'll probably need half a bag of cotton.



This girl definitely runs on Dunkin'.

Royal Purple, a dupe for So Rich So Pretty?

I can across these swatches of MAC So Rich So Pretty at The Swatchaholic, and it looks miiiiighty similar to what my E.L.F. Royal Purple looks like IRL (as is the case with many purples, I had trouble capturing the full depth and richness of Royal Purple). I'd love to get my hands on a bottle of SRSP to test them out.

Does anybody have both, or know how these two compare?

BTW, welcome to new friends kittytokaren and Cyan of Blue Tape And Nails. Check her out!

Speechless.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. That's all I could think to myself when I saw this pictures of MAC's Venemous Villians Maleficent collection over at Temptalia.

Honestly, I'm feeling a little weak in the knees at the moment. These are like Orly Cosmic FX on crack. I wouldn't even care what they looked like on, the bottles are so gorgeous they're like little pieces of art by themselves! But don't tease yourself, head on over to Temptalia to see swatches and read Christine's review of these polishes, as well as the other cosmetics in the collection.

I don't know about you guys, but these WILL be mine; either by my own purchasing or on my Christmas list :)

Midnight Affair

Today's mani is grandma in my collection, the beautiful but beat up Revlon Midnight Affair (791). Man, this bottle looks like it's been through hell and back!

In direct sunlight.

Nothing wrong with the color though! Not sure how this polish came to me but I'm going to assume it was my sister's. This is a beautiful dark navy shimmer that's definitely quenching my dark and vampy polish urges. While watching the Big Brother finale on Wednesday, I kept seeing Kathy's dark tips and knew I had to make a switch from my recent reds. 

Indoors, this polish is dark enough that it could be mistaken for black from far away, but up close you can still see the blue shimmer. Outside or in bright lights though, the blue definitely jumps out more and is just gorgeous.

With flash.

Application was easy, just two coats for bottle opacity, but I would let each coat dry in between or you may risk getting a bald spot or two. The only thing I don't like so much about this polish is that it doesn't have much of a shine to it by itself. A thick coat of Seche Vite was necessary, and I'll probably apply another when I'm home later today.

I'm wondering how close Midnight Affair is to my beloved Essie Midnight Cami. Similar names and colors, I'm thinking they're dupes. We'll see! 

Keys To My Karma

I've been wearing a lot of reds lately, which is so out of character! Dunno what's going on with me! But with a red like OPI's Keys To My Karma, I don't know how anyone could blame me.

In natural light

KTMK is a beautiful bright red jelly. The jelliness of it is what makes me love this polish so much, and what sets it apart from other reds I have, like Nars Dovima. If you guys remember, I really was not feeling Dovima at all on me. It's a touch more orange than KTMK and also a creme, and it made all the difference.

Indoors

This, on the other hand, I like a lot. It's so chic and classic, and might be my perfect red. The fact that it's jelly makes it that much better in my eyes. It's a little softer and less severe than a creme like Dovima. 

What do you guys think? 

Halley's Comet

I was so excited to get my butt over to Ulta the other day and snatch up a few of my favorites from Orly's Cosmic FX collection. Would you believe that when I got there, there were only THREE CFX's left?? And I don't mean three different colors left, I mean literally only three bottles! And of course, neither Space Cadet or Galaxy Girl, which I was really lemming for, were there. But, they were 2-for-1 so clearly, like any polish fanatic, I snatched up the remaining colors anyway. Two I kept for myself, and one went along with the two China Glazes as a birthday present for my lucky friend.

Here's Halley's Comet.

Wow. I've seen plenty of swatches of this as well as it's sister OPI Catch Me in Your Net, but until I got it on the nail I didn't fully get it. I do now. There's just so much depth and shimmer and glitter to this, it's hard to keep your eyes off it. These pics are in sunlight which make it really shiny and bright, but unlike other shimmers and glitters, the "wow" factor doesn't diminish from these when you're inside or in low lighting. The color just gets deeper and richer and continues to glimmer like mad. Even one of my 50-something male coworkers told me yesterday he loved my nails! Lol!

Application was a breeze, three quick coats topped by Seche, and it dried in great time. Although I'm not hugely partial to Orly's rubber handle, I do appreciate why people like the bottle so much. At a hefty .6 oz, which is a bit more than a normal polish (OPIs are .5 for example), it feels substantial and you're definitely getting your money's worth. Especially if you get them 3 for $20 at Ulta like I did!

Here's a closeup of the glass-flecky shimmer.

Do you have a favorite from Orly's Cosmic FX Collection?

Big welcome to Kristine! Stay tuned for swatches of my other FX purchase :)

Stroll

I hit up Ulta the other day to pick up a little something for a friend's birthday. Nailpolish is always appropriate. I didn't at all use my friend's birthday as an excuse to go hunt for Orly Cosmic FX...not at all...

Ulta had a great Buy 2 get 1 deal on China Glaze, so I finally picked up my first China Glaze Polish! This is Stroll, a deep glass-flecked red.

I love this! The color is classic and beautiful and the red is good for my skin, and the glass flecks running throughout the polish give it a twist without being too over the top. Here's a close up of the bottle so you can see the flecks

Application was SO nice, it practically applied itself. Super easy to control and nice coverage with only two coats. I can see what all the fuss over China Glaze is about! 

The other two China Glazes I picked up I gave to my friend. One was Ingrid, a taupey brown with gold shimmer, and the other was a neon turquoise shimmer, whose name I didn't catch.

What's your favorite China Glaze shade? Do you think it lives up to the hype?

Royal Purple

Today I've got a really beautiful polish that I got in my E.L.F. haul a few weeks back. This is called Royal Purple, and let me tell you, it's royal for a reason!

I absolutely LOVE this color. It was super hard to catch it on camera. In person the shade is even deeper and richer. From some swatches I've seen, it's very much like MAC So Rich So Pretty. And guess what guys...this polish is A DOLLAR. ONE DOLLAR. So really, there's no excuse not to have this baby in your collection!

This one's a tad blurry but I really wanted you guys to see the blueish flash it has. This is one of those polishes that has that "glow from within" thing going on. It's pretty shiny on it's own, but with topcoat it just shines and shines.

E.L.F. polishes are on the small side at .35fl oz., so expect a smaller brush, but besides that, application was smooth and easy. It's a bit sheer on the first coat, but with the second you get that deep beautiful jewel-toned goodness.

Marble...Thursday

Yet another midweek Marble for you guys.

Boyfriend and I are kaput so I had a pretty crappy night and needed a little something to cheer me up. I used Sinful Boogie Nights and Sinful White over the existing Essie California Coral. The two Sinfuls were really creamy and very easy to marble with. I love the contrast of the juicy coral with the stark white.

I can't really muster up too much excitement today, but I hope you guys enjoy this one. Thanks for reading!

California Coral

I was inspired by yesterday's dupes post and couldn't help but paint my nails with one of my favorites, Essie's California Coral.

And yes, I went for the nubbins. It is a bit sad, as a reformed nail biter that was the longest I had ever grown my nails and I will miss them :(  But it couldn't be avoided. A few of the nails had started peeling badly and chipping that I knew it was time to start fresh. And anyway, I'm eager to start wearing my beloved dark polishes and I like them better on short nails anyway :)

In direct sunlight

In shade

I can't help it, I love this color so much! It's got that squishy almost jelly quality, even though I wouldn't call it a true jelly. The first coat was pretty sheer and I thought I'd need three, but two worked out just fine. There's not much else I can say about this but that it's a beautiful, bright happy color and everyone should get it (or it's less expensive Sinful counterpart)! 

Some Dupes

With my day off for Labor Day I finally got around to swatching some polishes that were suspected dupes. Take a look and see for yourself!

First were three of my beloved corals. I don't know what it is, I just have a soft spot for these juicy shades!

Pointer and ring finger: Essie California Coral; Middle finger: Brucci Mango Taffy; Pinkie: Sinful Boogie Nights

Right off we can eliminate the Brucci (middle finger). I can see it's a bit lighter than the other two and a bit more pink.

As for the Essie (pointer, ring) and Sinful (pinkie) - I wouldn't say they are EXACT dupe - it looks to me like the Sinful is a tiiiiiiiiiiny tiny bit more saturated, a little more rich. But I'd say that if you have the one, you don't need the other. Considering that the Sinful is only $2 while the Essie is around $8, I'd grab the Sinful and be done with it.

Next up is are my two mint greens.

 

American Apparel office (pointer and ring) vs E.L.F. Mint (middle and pinkie).

In this case, I'd chance it to say that these two are exact dupes as far as color. They're the exact same shade of pastel green and pretty much indiscernible on the nail. The formula is a different story. I found the American Apparel polish to apply much smoother and much more opaque. You can see how lumpy and streaky my middle and pinkie fingers look with the E.L.F. polish. If you're going for value, I'd grab the E.L.F. as it's only a dollar, and should be fine with a third coat. The AA is only $5 though, and for me would be worth the extra dough for easier application.

Lastly are the taupes.

Color Club High Society (pointer and ring), vs H&M Grey Sky (middle and pinkie).

Overlooking the shimmer, these are not as close in color as I thought they were. High Society is a bit warmer while Grey Sky leans more toward it's namesake grey shade. Factor in the shimmer and these two are different enough to justify owning both. Lucky for me I love love love my taupe polishes! They're some of my favorite and definitely some of the classiest of my collection.

Hope this was helpful! I'll keep an eye out for any more dupes in my collection :)

Morbid

Hey all! Hope you had a lovely Labor Day weekend! Mine was great! I went out and caused some havoc with friends, went to a bbq with my boyfriend, and spent a lazy Monday doing some swatches and catching up on my TV. Perfect weekend!

Below is a Wet N Wild color I picked up in one of my Rite Aid hauls over the summer.

In direct sunlight

This dark shimmery polish is hard to describle - it's neither green nor blue, but sort of a blackened mix of both. It's name, Morbid, is perfectly suited to the color, and probably one of my favorite things about it. Application was streaky on the first coat, but covered up with a second.

Inside with flash.

I was sort of disappointed because even with my usual thick coat of Seche, this polish just refused to give me that glassy shiny finish I love. As promising as it looked in the bottle, I think that on the nail, it fell a little flat :( I think I'll give this another try when my nails are shorter - I tend to like darker colors better on nubbins.

Also, big welcome to Nisha of Nail Galore! Click the link to check out her blog :)

Finally!

Great news everyone! I FINALLY got myself a brand spankin' new Canon PowerShot!

Isn't she beautiful! Can't wait to use it! I'm still rocking my taupe marble so it may be a day or too 'til I try something else.

Until then, here's a warm welcome to MissMidnightBlue! Hi!

Marble...Wednesday

Finally! A marble I like and am actually wearing! Woot woot!

I give you my uber-posh taupe marble!



Bask in the glory, readers. Bathe in it.



Aaaand the other hand. I was going to save this for Monday, but I was so excited about it, plus I've skipped Marble Monday the last two weeks or so, so I just had to put it up today.

 And thumbs. Excuse my cuticles please! For this marble, I used H&M Grey Sky, OPI You Don't Know Jacques, and OPI Glamor Game, which is the shimmery gold. First I put on a coat of Color Club High Society. Because Grey Sky is such a tiny bottle, and the colors are so close, I figured it'd be fine as a base. This marble was pretty easy to do, all three colors spread well in the water and were easy to swirl. I did notice that when my AC kicked in it got a little more difficult as the polish started drying quicker on the water. Little things like that make a huge difference! Also, I used a different method of protecting my skin this time. Usually I wrap my finger in tape to keep the polish off my cuticles and fingers. Though this works well, it's a HUGE pain in butt. This time, I used vaseline around my cuticles and on my fingers. It's very easy to do with just a Q-tip, and once your nails are dry you can wipe the vaseline along with excess polish right off. I got this tip from a fellow blogger, but can't remember who!! I know I commented how great of an idea it was, so if it was you, please let me know so I can give you the proper credit!

What do you guys think of this combo? Yay or nay?

Giveaway at You've Got Nail!

Heads up, everyone! There's a great giveaway going on at You've Got Nail to celebrate Jacie's one year anniversary in the blogosphere! Congrats Jacie!

Check it out!

Zoya Color Spoons

I'm sure you've seen this on a million other blogs, so I'll be brief. The good people over at Zoya have come up with an genius new way for us polish lovers to get what we're paying for when it comes to our polishes.

One of my biggest pet peeves is ordering a polish offline and when it arrives, it looks NOTHING like the "swatch" on my screen. Zoya's solved this problems with their new Color Spoons, which you can order off their site for 50 cents apiece. It's a little clear spoon dipped in or filled with actual Zoya polish so that you can see exactly what your choices will look like - how they sparkle, shine, and how they'll look with your skintone. The best part about this deal in my opinion, is that every cent you spend on Color Spoons can be applied to your next Zoya order with the "Spoon value code" provided to you with your Color Spoon order. No wasted money, and exactly the polishes you want. Ingenius!

Will you be taking advantage of this great new feature on the Zoya site?