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Recent purchase:
• Sinful Colors Green Ocean
• Sephora by OPI Leaf Him at the Altar
• OPI Mad as a Hatter (I ordered from a survey & got it in the mail 3/27/10!)

I'm thinking about getting:
• Sephora by OPI Go With The Flow-er
• Sephora by OPI It's Bouquet With Me
• Sephora by OPI Read my Palm
• Sephora by OPI Cover Me In Petals

For this week, I used Essie's Ridge Filling Base Coat, American Apparel Hunter, Sinful Colors Green Ocean and Essie's Matte About You. I think I'm officially obsessed with Matte About You. & this manicure blew me off guard with this ’mysterious' look - from looking at the bottle of Green Ocean, I REALLY didn't think that the glitter pieces were BLUE. I used 2 coats of American Apparel Hunter to reach the bottle color that looks really cool, unforuntately I felt like the color was dark and vampy by itself so I added Green Ocean (:

Until next time♥~,
<3katherine

Picture Tutorials

Since I'm horrible at detailing my tutorials - I will just provide pictures of the steps I took to reach the final look of each nail (that I provided a group picture of)

(2). Essie's Lather, Rinse and Repeat Mix Animal Print

(3) Misa's Disco Queen - Flower Tutorial {although the white part looks like teeth, lol}

(4). Misa Wishing on a Star - Tuxedo Suit Tutorial

(5) Misa Teddy Bear - Flower Tutorial

March Madness Update

I haven't posted in a while and I thought I'd update my blog on what I've been doing recently. I'm planning to do more tutorials with the haul of China Glaze and Essie polishes that I got previously however, 24 hours isn't enough so these will come slowly. :( So here's an update on my purchase, nail sets/design & tutorial!

recent polish purchase:

- American Apparel Cotton

- American Apparel Hunter

- American Apparel Passport Blue

AND:

* Side story: I haven't shopped at the nail supply store that I've gone to in months & I came across the small place in middle school. So I entered the store and the workers greeted me with a hello. As I looked around - I couldn't decide what polishes to get. I went around and around for about 3-4 times between Dante, OPI and Essie and I hear the door opening and a few girls coming in. I went to look at the Dante polishes where they were and the male worker asked them if they were nail technicians or professionals & that they only sell to them. So I thought in my head, sh*t that means I can't buy anything :(. The girls immediately left after that since they looked obviously a student probably in middle school - since I used to go to middle school around there. After I continued to look around and gathered my courage in hopes of being able to buy the 3 polishes I selected. And to my happiness and hopes, I was able to! Thank goodness because I am no nail technician, student or professional.

-♥-

recent nail sets:

(1) Last week's nails

Base: American Apparel Cotton with black nail art to make zebra stripes and topped with Essie Matte About You. - I don't own any whites in my nail polish collection so I decided to get Cotton. It's a very nice white that doesn't make my fingers and hands look weird. The formula is thin since it is from American Apparel. The application was good - not bad. I believe I used 2-3 coats of Cotton to make sure the color was even. I used Essie's MAY to top it off and I absolutely love ittt!~ ^ o ^ The whole design came out so nice & perfect (especially my ring finger which I'm most proud of). The finishing touch was very nice and smooth. The other fingers were also really nice except that the black kind of got smudged when I put on the MAY, since it wasn't fully dry, but nonetheless, one of my favorite designs.

(2) For this week's nails

Base: Essie Turquoise & Caicos with white polka dots and topped with Essie Matte About You. - A beautiful color but formula was very thin. This was 3 coats but still came out nice. Not troublesome to apply. I may have overdone the polka dots a bit as I went along, lol! But it's okay - I adore this plain set. The MAY flattened the set but made it very cute. I received a compliment on them hehe ^ o ^ first one since I've started college in August - sad, I know.

-♥-

From the last post - I've only done different sets on the Misa polishes I have - here's a preview / final look & I'll be posting up tutorials on how to do them as soon as I have the posts typed and ready to go. Also there will be more tutorials in the future since I recently restocked on plastic tips to present my tutorials on. :D♥

For my second tutorial, I will present the steps {through pictures} of how I made the first design of the 5 nails in the picture above.

need:

~ Essie Ridge Filler {base coat}

~ Misa Wishing on a Star

~ Color Club NA54 Neon Yellow {nail art}

~ Kiss Nail Art White

~ Kiss Nail Art Silver Glitter

~ Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat

prep, base coat and two coats of WOAS.

color club nail art na54 and make swirl-ish strokes

use kiss nail art white to fill in the empty spaces around the neon yellow strokes

nail art silver glitter over the middle white strokes

white dots {mine are uneven x_x} and seal with top coat! ~

Until next time♥~,
KATHERINE*

{WARNING: IMG HEAVY} Major Swatch Post!

My titles are corny and not funny, I know I'm not funny :(

However, I do bring swatches! Nail tutorials on some of the polishes in this post will be up shortly

Don't mind the shortness of my nails - I had to chop them off {not literally, I cut/trimmed and filed them down} they're getting brittle and chipping easily, so I bought OPI Natural Nail Strengthener in hopes that it will strengthen my nails! Also don't mind the edges of my nails where there's excess nail polish since it's only swatching :P

Misa Teddy Bear - {L-R} no flash & flash - 2 coats no top coat
I love the color from the look of the bottle. I don't think it necessarily fits me well because my skin is tan-ish for an Asian { it's true! T_T; } and it makes the polish look like a shiny natural neutral color. :x Or maybe it's the light I'm looking at it under in my room. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture with it outdoors - maybe it'll look better. The application wasn't difficult to use - it was actually an smooth application and the color even looks good with one coat of polish. :) The color comes off a little streaky but I think it's also because of the micro-micro-glitter in the polish.

Misa Wishing on a Star - 3 coats no top coat
The reason why it's 3 coats is because the polish is jelly-like and the first layer was clear-ish. So it took 3 coats to reach the color you see in the bottle. It wasn't a real pain in the *ss to apply since it dried kind of fast. I really like this color beause it has micro-micro glitters of silver so it's not completely black and some people avoid full black creams {since my mom is a conserative and thinks that my nails look 'punk' if I wear black creams} - this polish is similar to Sinful Color's Secret Admirer but darker and jelly looking. Nonetheless, I love the color and how the final color. :)


Misa Disco Queen - 2 coats no top coat
Very quick and easy application. It's gold glitter in clear polish and when you put 2 coats the glitter forms together and covers the whole nail. I really love this color ever since I saw a girl on the NYC Subway with gold glitter nails. :D

Misa Rinse, Lather and Repeat - 2 coats and top coat
A neon pink color. Easy to apply and dries very quick. I don't have any pictures of this swatch with flash because it comes out soooo weird when you use flash. So only pictures without flash but different settings.

It's very suitable for summer - which reminds me of Hollister's neon pink one piece swim suit. Very cute with the swim suit however, I don't think I could pull off the swim suit. :P



Essie Pop Art Pink - 3 coats and top coat
This color is very sheer so it takes 3 layers. It's a cute sheer pink and it might even look good as the base for a french manicure :). Very cute and it doesn't take long to apply since it dries kind of quick. It doesn't remind me of pop art because it's not very bright and doesn't give me the 'BAM' vibe, lol. But it's a cute color that I'd keep and use from time to time - unless my nails become tainted yellow, I'd kind of avoid it but if you use it as a french manicure you could hide the yellow-ness :)


Essie Lilacism - 3 coats and top coat
The color is sheer but dries REALLY fast. It took me 3 coats to get it to the bottle color. I like the color and it's lilac/dull-purple-ish.


Essie Van D'Go - 2 coats and top coat
The color is a peach-y orange color but more peach. It's thicker than Lilacism and Pop Art Pink. The color is so cute because I don't own any peach colors in my collection. However, the color doesn't match well with my skin tone. :( In the flash picture, it looks weird because of my skin tone. :\

Essie Mint Candy Apple - 2 coats and top coat
Absolutely one of my favorite colors! The color is like mint / light jade green. Easy to apply and very cuuuute! The color and the word 'mint' makes me feel refreshed, haha! It was hard to capture with flash but I got it! :D

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover - 2 coats and no top coat
It's a very bright and vibrant green - it does remind me of the color of a leaf but more neon-ish. The application was good for this! Two coats and without top coat and it still looks good (:


China Glaze Ruby Pumps - 3 coats and no top coat
The formula was a little bit thin so it took 3 coats to reach the bottle color. But nonetheless it's a very beautiful color & it's my favorite red DESPITE the fact that I'm not a big red fan. Also, applying Ruby Pumps was NO problem at all. So smooth and easy to apply. :) There's no flash picture for Ruby Pumps because my camera couldn't focus on the glitter and it came out too bright. ):> Maybe one day..

China Glaze Luna - 2 coats and no top coat
VERY BEAUTIFUL COLOR! I LOVE IT! ?? It's thin cots but it's silver with small glitters of silver that shine in different colors in light. Easy and smooth application. The bottle makes the color look silver blue-ish but it just looks silver in my opinion. But nonetheless, one of my favorites in the China Glaze Glitter collection. (: Also, unlike Atlantis - it was EASY to remove!


China Glaze Cleopatra - 3 layers and no top coat
The polish is clear with gold glitters and it took 3 layers to cover my nail completely, or almost completely. I'd suggest to have a base color under Cleopatra unless you're going for the gold glitter manicure. Very thin but easy to apply. I adore Cleopatra because it's thin and easy to remove. The ultimate dream for me, easy removal of glitter nail polishes! :) I couldn't get a flash picture because my camera wouldn't focus so the only picture I have is without flash.

China Glaze Techno - 2 layers and no top coat
Clear base with silver hexagon glitters and silver micro glitters. This definitely reminds me of Cover Girl's Boundless Color Disco Dazzle (which I believe is discontinued since I haven't seen any Cover Girl nail polishes in the drug stores in my neighborhood. Should use over a base color than by itself. Very cute and it's great to use for gradients! :D Easy application and dries really quick.

China Glaze Cosmic - 2 coats and no top coat
Black base with silver micro glitter. I LOVE LOVE LOVE COSMIC. AHH. It's so unique compared to the other black base glitter nail polishes that I have, especially from Sinful Colors. It's definitely one of my favorite & here is it with Essie's Matte About You.




China Glaze Atlantis - 3 coats and top coat.
The COLOR IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING? Sinful Colors has a similar color called Nail Junkie. The formula for Atlantis is jellier than Nail Junkie and it took 3 coats just to reach the bottle color & because I wanted to cover the white 'ends/tips' of my nails. It's mainly silver glitter I believe in Atlantis but shines in different colors. Glitters are hard to capture with camera but I tried my best. Picture does not do justice for this polish! Absolutely love and now a new member of my favorites list (located at the bottom of this blog). Although I love Atlantis, it's the hardest out of the China Glaze Glitter batch that I have to remove. -_-

~♥~

EXTRA BONUS SWATCHES OF
*DRUMROLL*
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AMERICAN APPAREL NAIL POLISHES!



American Apparel came up with 18 nail polishes that sell for $6 a bottle or 3 for $15 in their stores. They are DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde free.

American Apparel Nail Polishes are 4.5 out of 5 stars. Many of the reviews say that they like/love the colors & the polish.

So I decided to try it out myself and I ended up getting: Office, Factory Grey and Peacock.

I'm debating whether or not I should splurge another $15 for 3 more if I like the 3 I have now.. :\ Any suggestions to what other polishes I should get?

Here are the 3 swatches of the ones I own:

Office - 3 coats and no top coat
Very beautiful dusty mint green - reminds me of Essie's MCA but a bit dustier. Love ittt~ ♥

Factory Grey - 2 coats and no top coat
The color is like a light dusty gray and it's great because I don't own any grays except for Essie's Chinchilly and Opera. I love this gray and I'm so glad I got it. It's thin but since the color is darker it's easier to cover over and it's quicker to reach the bottle color. A favorite♥ It's darker in real life compared to the flash picture. In real life, the color is closest to the picture without flash.


Peacock - 2 coats and no top coat
This color is amazing. It's a dark teal blue and it's absolutely beautiful. I haven't encountered any color like it, yet. In the flash picture, the color is a lot darker in real life but still breathtaking. ♥

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the colors I got & I'm thinking that I might get more! The formula is really thin and watery looking~ but the application was so easy! The polish dries really quick and it's easy to take off the excess nail polish on the edges for a cute manicure.

On my next post, I will introduce some of the tutorials of nail art that I created with some of the polishes that I introduced in this post.

I hope to get some feedback or comments or suggestions from anyone :) whether it be good comments or constructive criticism. Anything is acceptable!

Until next time♥~,
KATHERINE*