Hunter

Since acquiring the much sought after Nars Zulu, I've been on the hunt for another polish that would satisfy my green jelly craving. I love Zulu, but it borders so much on black that I wanted to find a jelly where the green is much more apparent.

This isn't a jelly, but the shade of green is divine. Hunter is the last American Apparel polish in my mini haul from a few weeks ago.

Just like it's fellows, the formula is a dream and beautifully opaque in 2 coats.

Is it possible to franken a jelly? Do you just add clear polish to a cream?? Has anyone done this??? I think I'm going to buy another Hunter and a cheap clear to try this out...

Peacock

Isn't that the name of a dirty new Katy Perry song? Anyway...

Here's another one of the American Apparel polishes I picked up last week. This is Peacock, a dark, dusty teal/blue creme.

Natural light.

Inside.

You can see it pulls a little darker inside under florescent lighting, and lighter and more teal under natural light. Either way, it's a pretty color, and application, like all my other AA polishes is a dream. Great quality polish for $5, I definitely recommend them :)

Berry

Listen guys. I need to be locked up. I've been shopping NON STOP. Online shopping, in-store shopping, window shopping (the most harmless of the bunch); any kind of shopping that you want. Yesterday I went to Forever 21 ONLY TO EXCHANGE a dress...and I ended up taking home and additional dress and 2 pairs of jeans.

Sigh.

I popped into American Apparel on my way out to see if they had any new colors...they didn't, but that doesn't mean I could resist their 3-for-$15 deal on nail polishes. This is one of the babies I picked up, a smooth creamy berry color appropriately named - you guessed it - Berry.




American Apparel really does a great job with these cremes - they're so saturated with color and completely opaque with one coat. I do two out of habit but you could easily get away with one if you're careful.



No cons here at all. The polish was easy to apply and went on like a dream, and clean up wasn't bad at all for a red - they usually stain my cuticles like woah.



The color lightens up in the sun, as you can see in the first two shots, but inside or in the shade it'll look more like my Dunkin' Donuts coffee pic - darker but still beauteous :)

What's your favorite American Apparel shade? Berry is gorgeous for fall/winter, but for summer my very favorite is L'Espirit, a crisp lavender-periwinkle. Can't believe I haven't swatched it yet! It's on my list :)

Also, welcome xnosugaraddedx!

Mount Royal

Hey all! Sorry I've been MIA. Just so much stuff going on!

Today I've got a beautiful blue creme for you ladies. This is American Apparel in Mount Royal: 

I'd describe this as a dusty navy. It's really pretty - AA does a really good job with these opaque cremes. This is two coats to smooth everything out, but you could probably get away with one thick coat if you were careful enough. Application is pretty good; sometimes I find that AA polishes thicken up as you're using them - weird, but I guess they start drying on the brush as you go. I didn't find it too much of an issue, but if you do, a drop or two of thinner should take care of the problem.

These were both taken inside in artificial light. You'll find that the color is a little lighter in natural light; unfortunately the weather has been so bad here the last couple days I didn't get a chance to shoot outside :( If by chance I catch a ray of sunshine I will update.

Have any of you ladies used a polish from American Apparel? What's your favorite shade?

Welcome to Leeblee of Belly Full of Nail Polish and Deanna of Lorraine Nails! Check them out :)

E.l.f. Haul!

After only about 6 days, my order from E.l.f. came! Check it out:

from left: Royal Purple, Bubble Gum Pink, Mint Cream, and Pearl.

Mint Cream looks like a dead dupe for my American Apparel Office - I'll need to do a comparison. I think of the four, I'm most looking forward to trying Royal Purple, it's totally different from any other purple shades I have.

I also ordered two tinted moisturizers to try out. I used to use Oil of Olay tinted moisturizer, but that stuff is almost IMPOSSIBLE to find nowadays, so I'm searching for a replacement product.

Did I mention every single one of these products was ONE DOLLAR?? With shipping, I paid $8.37 for all this stuff! Win!

Have any of you ever tried E.l.f. Cosmetics? What did you think?

And just because it's gorgeous and I can't stop looking, here's another shot of my Nfu Oh mani :) 

See the gorgeous turquoise flash in the sun?! **swoon**

Welcome to Oooh, Shinies! Check her out :)

Office

It's been a few days! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend full of fun in the sun, but hopefully you didn't get as sunburned as I did. I'm a little crispy!

I did this manicure Sunday night, so unfortunately I had to snap a few pictures inside and they didn't come out too great. But until I get a chance to redo this, here is American Apparel Office.

Office is a pretty pastel minty green creme. I had some trouble with application; the formula is a little runny and had some cuticle drag and bald spots. This is two coats with Seche top and base, but I definitely should have gone for 3 coats as looking down at my hands now, it's a bit streaky. Otherwise, the color is beatiful, and at $5, an inexpensive alternative for Chanel's Jade.

Didn't get a chance to do a Marble Monday this weekend :( I'll try my hardest to take some time tonight to do one and make it a Marble Wednesday!

Thanks for reading!

Marble Monday!

Happy Monday everyone! Ohh, the start of another joyous workweek -- yuck! At least I've got this pretty little treat on my nails to gaze at all day. Marbles are so fun! 

Apparently I am really feeling the blues lately because that is all I seem to be putting on my nails. I've never worn blue polish before the last month or two and now I'm in love! And how could you NOT be in love with that absolutely gorgeous cornflower blue creme I'm rocking?? That's Hally hansen Hard as Nails X-Treme Wear in Pacific Blue, marbled with American Apparel's L'Espirit on my ring finger. Above is indirect sunlight.

And this is inside with flash. I'm in love with this color. It's so bright and cheerful and unbelievably glossy and shiny. It's so cute with AA's light lavender/periwinkle creme. Sally Hansen may be a drugstore brand, but this formula was just perfection. It was pretty opaque with one coat, but I always go with at least two just to get that perfectly smooth finish. It went on really nice, just thick enough and the brush gave really nice control. This polish gets an A++++++ in my book!  It's a must have for anyone with a hard-on for blue polish.

I got my marbling groove back! I was having some issues for a while, not really sure why. Perhaps you can have marbling block just like writer's block. I'm really loving the results of this one, I love the colors together, the two cremes are in such nice contrast with each other. I usually like to have some shimmer in my marbles but I like this one just the way it is. I was entirely too lazy to do my whole mani marbled, I've just got the one nail out of all ten, but I think just one is such a cute accent. I promise I will be posting a how-to soon, I just need to find the time to do it!