China Glaze Gothic Lolita Swatch And Review

     Today, I have China Glaze Gothic Lolita from the Electropop collection. Gothic Lolita is a medium purple polish with a slight pink and dark purple shimmer to it. I initially passed this polish by when it came out but then decided I wanted it after it was no longer locally available. Amazon.com to the rescue. And now she's all mine. Anyway I love this polish and I hope you guys do to. Also free warning it's storming so hard outside I can't get an outside picture toady.

The bottle:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash.

Swatches:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash. 

Close up:

Notice the pink and dark purple shimmer in the top left hand corner.

     All pictures are with two coats of Gothic Lolita and a coat of top coat. I can't tell you how much I love this polish. At first glance you think generic medium purple polish but up close it's a glorious shimmery purple polish that I fell madly in love with. A purple lovers must have. And since purple is the sister color of my favorite color (blue), I have a soft spot in my heart for purple polishes. Well that's all I have for you today. Until Next time, stay classy and stay polished.
XOXO

China Glaze Black Mesh Swatch And Review

     I have a swatch/review for you guys today. I am going to show you China Glaze Black Mesh from the Crackle Glaze collection. Nothing fancy about this polish it's your basic black creme crackle. I swatched it over China Glaze Gothic Lolita. Enjoy.

The bottle:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash.

Outdoor. Still stormy only one outdoor picture.

Swatches:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor with no flash.

Outdoor. A little blurry but the best I can do in this crappy weather. 

     All pictures are with one coat of Black Mesh and a top coat (over two coats of China Glaze Gothic Lolita). I'm not a huge fan of crackles. That's why I only own two but the formula is good and applies easily as well as dries quickly. I think I have finally pinned down what I dislike about crackles. They are to random. You can't predict where they are going to crack or how cracked they are going to get. My inner control freak struggles with how every nail looks so different. But if you don't have said control freak tendencies you will love this polish. And to be fair crackles are growing on me. I like to think of my crackle polishes as control freak systematic desensitization therapy (Sorry, I'm a psych nerd). Well that's all I have for you today. Until next time, stay classy and stay polished.
XOXO

NailPolishCanada.com's Week 2 Gift Themed Manicure

     Today, I have a manicure that I entered in week 2 of NailpolishCanada.com's Holiday Nail art challenge. I missed week one because my my carpel tunnel was acting up and I could barely open a bottle of nail polish much less do any nail art. Anyway this weeks theme is Presents/Gifts. So Here is my manicure, a gift wrapped nail art. Care to venture a guess what I would like under the pretty wrapped paper this year? I'm thinking nail polish. Oh and you can go vote for me here. You can vote for me until December 5th. So please do so. Without any further ado here's my Gift mani.

Indoor no flash.

Indoor with flash.

Outdoor in sunlight.

Outdoor in shade. 

What I used:

China Glaze:

Passion

Fairy Dust

Long Kiss

City Siren

Agro

Holly-Day

Unpredictable

Americana:

White Wash

True Red

Hauser Dark Green

OPI:

Goldeneye

Danke-Shiny Red

German-Icure

Stamping plates:

Konad - M79 & M71

Shany - SH22

Bundle Monster - BM19

and my trusty black Sharpie Pen.

And a Christmas song because...well just because I love Darren, (I would hear him sing if it cost me my ears), but also because I think it's manicure relevant. Here's Last Christmas by the lovely and talented Darren Hayes.

     Well there you have it my gift mani. What do you guys think? I am very pleased with it. What do you guys hope to find wrapped and waiting for you this holiday season? I want nail polish (big surprise) and maybe a few movies, books, and cds. Whatever your wishing for I hope you get it. And please don't forget to hop on over to Nailpolishcanada.com's website and vote for my manicure. Well that's all I have for you today. Until next time, stay classy and stay polished. 

XOXO

China Glaze Get Carried Away Swatch And Review

     Today, I have a swatch from the China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil collection for you guys. Get Carried Away is a black jelly with small and large hexagonal glitter (silver, black and dark pink), and black bar glitter in it. Now normally I don't buy polish with bar glitter. I hate bar glitter. It never lays right, clumps up, and if you get a piece of said bar glitter hanging off the edge of your nail after your polish dries, you are in for some not so fun paper cuts. But I put aside my deep dislike of bar glitter to try this polish because it's dark and glittery (two of the best qualities a polish can possess) plus I just adore when black and red or black and dark pink are pared together. That and it was free thanks to Amazon gift cards so worse case scenario I pass it off to my best friend (and fellow polish addict) Marcie.  Anyway, enough blathering on my part here's the polish.

The bottle:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash.

Outdoor. Stupid rainy weather. 

Swatches:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash.

Outdoor.

Close up:

*All my close up shots are taken of polish on the nail, not in the bottle. So you get a better idea of what it will look like on. 

     The pictures above are with 3 layers of Get Carried Away, and two layers of topcoat (this polish like all large glitter polishes eats top coat alive). The bar glitter was as expected, a ginormous pain in the...well you know where it was a pain. I ended up having to use tweezers to remove a few bar glitter that refuse to lay right at the tips and cuticles. Also the nail polish is really thick and gloppy which adds another level of annoyance to the polish. What I find really kind of funny is that on the nail you barely even see the bar glitter and (in my opinion) the polish would have been better without it. I love the hexagons though so pretty. And I think the polish could look really cool layered over another polish. If I had payed for this polish I probably would have been a grumpy Gus but I didn't so it's kind of like, ehh it's alright. I may have to try it as part of a jelly sandwich and then decide if I'll pass it on down the line. Well that's all I have for you today. Until next time, stay classy and stay polished.
XOXO

China Glaze It's A Trap-Eze! Swatch And Review

      Today, I have It's A Trap-Eze! (IATE) from the China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil collection to show you guys. IATE is white jelly polish with teal, green, orange, pink, and silver hexagonal and micro glitter in it. It's the only polish from this collection that I have so far and I absolutely love it. It looks more like a polish you would expect from an Indie brand not China Glaze...except it's easier to get a hold of.

The bottle:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash.

Outdoor in shade.

Outdoor in sunlight. 

Swatches:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash. 

Outdoor in shade.

Outdoor in sunlight. 

Close up:

     All pictures are with two coats of IATE and a layer of top coat. This polish can be a little tricky to apply (as are all large hexagonal glitter polishes) but it's so sparkly and fun I would consider this polish a must have. It's like a jelly sandwich in a bottle. Anyway that's all I have for you today. Until next time stay classy and stay polished.
XOXO

November Haul Part 3

     I have just a short post for you guys today. This is part three of my November haul. This is more nail polish I got for free with Amazon gift cards. I'm over $100 in gift cards.

Left to right: (all China Glaze) Black Mesh, I Herd That, Champagne Kisses, and Get Carried Away.

     Well that's all I have for you today. Until next time, stay classy and stay polished.
XOXO

China Glaze Glitter All The Way Swatch and Review

      Today, I have a swatch from the China Glaze Holiday Joy collection called Glitter All The Way (GATW) to show you guys. GATW is a multi-color (purple, green, red, and gold) small and medium sized hexagonal glitter polish in a clear base. It actually reminds me more of Mardi Gras than Christmas (Purple and gold scream Mardi Gras not Christmas to me) but what do I know I'm just a silly girl. Either way it's very pretty and your inner Valkyrie will thank you for it's sparkly goodness.

The bottle:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash.

Outdoor. Weather is against me again. :(

Swatches:

Indoor with flash. 

Also if you noticed my nails are shorter...good eye. Laundry day is a very dangerous day for little nails. My ring finger nail had an accident and I filed the rest down to keep it from standing out as much. 

Indoor no flash. 

Outdoor.

Close up:

And I'm not sure why but this polish reminds me of a song...yeah, so here's My Signature Move by P!nk.

     All pictures are with 3 coats of GATW and two layers of topcoat. This polish can be a little tricky to apply but the payoff is so worth it. *sparkly, sparkly, sparkly* Sorry my inner Valkyrie was in a trance there for a moment. I will be wearing this one a lot and I have an idea for a gradient using this polish that should be awesome. So you guys can look forward to that in the future. Well that's all I have for you today. Until next time, stay classy and stay polished. 

XOXO

Fall Leaves/Thanksgiving Manicure

     Today I have just a short post for you guys. I just wanted to post a couple pictures of a fall/Thanksgiving manicure that I did the other day.

Pictures:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor no flash.

What I used:

China Glaze - Angel Wings

China Glaze - Golden Enchantment

China Glaze - Ooh La La Peach

Konad - White

Konad - Black

1mm clear and gold-ish orange gemstones

Bundle Monster plate BM04

Mash plate M20

     Well, what do you guys think? Do you like it? I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out but such is the perfectionist curse I bare. In my mind the lines are never straight enough and the placement of stamps is never just right. But it's acceptable...well acceptable enough for me to post it. Let's just say for every post I post, one post gets rejected. I'm a Virgo it's what we do. Anyway have a safe and happy Thanksgiving everyone. And if you are feeling particularly insane and are going shopping on Friday be nice, your family and friends are not going to want that item if it's got blood on it. That's all I have for you today. Until next time, stay classy and stay polished.
XOXO

Blue Bells Ring Swatch And Review

     Today, I have Blue Bells Ring (BBR) from China Glaze Holiday Joy collection to show you guys. BBR is a dark blue metallic polish that has a slight chrome finish to it. Before I get to the pictures though I want to warn you. This polish is way darker than it looks in the bottle. The bottle looks like a soft frosty blue but what you get is a dark chrome blue. Oh yeah, and the polish kind of smells gross. It smells like a mechanics shop, or like my father after he has been working on his car, kind of oily, and dirty, and almost WD40-ish. Don't say you haven't been warned.

The deceptive bottle:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor without flash.

Outdoor in shade.

Outdoor in sunlight.

Swatches:

Indoor with flash.

Indoor without flash. Notice the color discrepancy between bottle and nail. 

Outdoor in shade.

Outdoor in sunlight(ish). The weather is semi-cooperating today.

Close up:

     All pictures are with two coats of BBR and a single layer of top coat. The formula is really thick and can get a little gloppy so some care is required in application. The best color representation is in the indoor without flash picture. Also free warning cleanup on this polish can be a beast. Even the slightest bump of the cotton bud or nail brush with nail polish remover on it will turn this polish from blue to silver. It's almost like someone put a drop or two of blue food coloring in Icicle and one tiny brush with polish remover and the blue is MIA. Which may be fun for an acid wash kinda look to it. Also make sure you buff your nails before you apply this polish. As with all chrome polishes they will amplify any surface flaws in your nails. I can't wait to try this polish with stamping I think it will be pretty awesome for that since it has such a similar formula to Icicle. All the shine and no worry about surface flaw amplification.
 
A warning about cleanup:

This is what my nails looked like after being soaked in 100% Acetone for 2 minutes each. You should have seen them after just polish removal. It was like having blue berries on my fingers.

     This polish sucks to take off. Not that it's hard to remove the polish itself. It's the blue pigment that's so pretty on the nail, that doesn't want to leave you, it turns your nail beds, nails, and fingertips blue. You will need to use lots of polish remover (100% Acetone), buff the nail after removal of the polish, then use a pea sized amount of whitening toothpaste (per hand) and a nail brush to clean your nails afterward to get your normal nail color back.

Luckily after a good buff and a toothpaste scrub they are back to normal.

      Over all I like the color even if it's a pain to clean up/remove, a little extra effort is needed to apply it properly and even if it smells like a mechanic's knuckles; I still think it's worth it. What do you guys think? Do you like it? Have you tried stamping with it yet? If you have let me know with comments. Well, that's all I have for you guys today. Until next time, stay classy and stay polished.
XOXO