Yummy Chocolate Pudding!

Hey Ladies! 6 days 'til my birthday! I can't wait!

So back to my untried drawer I go... This polish has been long overdue. I've owned it for at least a year and a half now and hadn't worn it yet. *sigh* This is Mink Muffs by Essie. Essie describes this as a smoky plush taupe. I'd describe this as milk chocolate pudding. You know those pudding packs that have a layer of chocolate, a layer of vanilla, and another layer of chocolate? Well, the color you get when you mix the 3 layers together (as I always do) is what this color is to me! LOL! Now I'm hungry for pudding. The bottle is a little deceiving... The polish dries darker than you'd think based on the bottle. But it's still super pretty! 2 coats for full coverage (but you can almost get away with just 1).

I went ahead and stamped some leopard spots using BM-221 by Bundle Monster. I barely own any gold polishes because gold and I don't usually go well together. But I reconnected with this beauty in my stash: Butterscotch Cookie by FingerPaints. This is a beautiful gold with gold micro shimmer. Perfect for stamping if you want a touch of gold but don't want it to be overbearing! Perfect for me.

Hope you gals like it!

Reggea Zebras...

Hey Ladies!

I've been making progress on using the polishes in my untried drawer. It's weird because all I've wanted to wear lately are some of my older polishes. But I've been able to fight the urge (for now). I think its because I've put myself on a polish-buying-ban until I make a serious dent in my untried drawer (an entire helmer drawer full). So its going to take me a while...

So Mari and I went to this whole-in-the-wall beauty supply store a long time ago. I swear that place is older than our ages combined! Who knew that place would be a goldmine for older China Glaze polishes that are hard to find. We got a bunch of stuff. This color isn't difficult to find at all anymore but I picked it up since I had been wanting it for what felt like eternity. This is Reggea to Riches by China Glaze. It is an insanely vibrant fuchsia purple with intense blue flash/shimmer. So pretty. And now for the downside of it: Super sheer! This is easily a 3 to 4 coater! Even then, you could still see some VNL if you looked closely. Other than that, the formula and application were fine.

I decided to stamp zebra stripes using BM-223 by Bundle Monster. I stamped with Konad Special Polish in Sky Blue. I used this plate because I liked the fact that the stripes were thinner than the zebra stripes on the Konad plates. After stamping I wished I had used the Konad stripes though. I don't know. I felt kinda "meh" about it.

Hope you all enjoyed. Happy polishing!

Ripe Bananas!

Hey Ladies!

So I went back into my untried drawer and pulled out this long overdue beauty. This is Banana Bandana by OPI. So pretty. I wanted it for sooooooo long but I never saw it in stores... And then one day, there it was! It was mine!

Banana Bandana is a summery pale yellow creme with what appears to be super subtle shimmer under certain lights. There is one downfall to this color: It's sheer. I needed 3 coats for full coverage. One nail even needed 4. It was hard to get good even coverage. Not impossible though. At least it wasn't chalky.

Then I decided to stamp with BM-225 from Bundle Monster. I asked my boyfriend to pick between this design and a cute little skull. Shockingly, he picked the skulls. But just as I was about to praise him on accepting and embracing my weirdness he changed his mind. LOL! So I stamped this vine-like design using Konad Special Polish in Black. The design is big enough to cover the entire nail but I purposely stamped it off to one side. I didn't want to lose so much of the yellow.

I feel like the stamping was an epic fail. The image came out perfect... but the black smeared when I applied topcoat. That has only happened to me back in my pre-seche vite days. Personally, seche vite is the only topcoat that doesn't do that to my stamped images... But this time it did! And I was pretty generous in my application of topcoat (as I usually am when I stamp). I apply a lot so that the actual brush doesn't end up touching the design. You don't notice the smearing unless you look at my nails up close. But I know its there so that is enough to bother the hell out of me...

Conclusion: I'll be taking this manicure off sooner rather than later. LOL!

Happy Polishing!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hey Ladies! This will be a quick post because I'm in St. Louis spending Valentine's Day with my boyfriend. Yeah, this was a scheduled post. At this time I'm on a plane on my way back home... =(

So I wanted to do a Valentine's Day post. This is OPI's Koala Bear-y. I love this color. I've had it for a long time and realized I had never used it. Shame on me. This is a berry fuchsia type pink creme. Great application and great formula. It goes on like a dream. Very bright and pretty. Only issue is that it's difficult to capture on camera. The pictures have a tendency to make the color come out reddish. I then stamped the heart design from Bundle Monster's BM03 plate using China Glaze's Millennium.

Hope you gals like it! Have a Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you guys don't have to spend it away from your significant other!

(Anti) Valentine's Day

Hey Ladies! So I decided to do a Valentine's Day manicure... but I wanted to do something that wasn't so lovey-dovey. (I will also be doing a lovey-dovey mani.) I had a few years where I was anti-valentine's day... So I wanted to represent those days with some polish and stamping. If anything, this can also be a punk rock type valentine's day mani. LOL! I know, random!

I started off with 2 coats of  ManGlaze's most popular color ever: Matte is Murder. It dries matte very quickly and turns into a very dark grayish black color. Almost like asphalt. Then I applied a coat of Seche Vite. That makes Matte is Murder turn into a pure black color with some shimmer. The shimmer is almost holographic in the sunlight. Sadly, I wore this during 2 days of rain and had no sunlight for pictures of the shimmer. So how did I know about the shimmer if I had no sunlight? I've worn this before (here). So check out the link if you want to see picture of this color in the sun. Don't mind the old style photos. That was before we found our picture-taking-groove. LOL!

Then I stamped the heart pattern that you apparently can't see... LOL! Let me explain! I used the heart pattern from Bundle Monster's BM212 plate. Such a cute design. I thought it was appropriate for the look. I wanted it to be red so I used Konad's Special Polish in Red. I thought it would work since the bottle is super bright red and Konad polishes are meant to be opaque for stamping. Yeah how about no! I stamped and you couldn't really see it. It was there but it was so dark on the black that it made the design subtle. I've noticed that sometimes topcoat brings out the stamped color more so I applied a coat of Seche Vite. Yeah it helped... only a little. I decided to keep it on for the day and see if it looked better while I was out and about (and not confined to artificial light). But then I had rain and no sunlight all day.

So I got annoyed trying to photograph it in a way where you could see the red and decided to change it. I took the same exact pattern from BM212 and stamped over the red using Konad's Special Polish in White. NOW you can see it! Topped it with a coat of Seche Vite and I was good to go. It's unfortunate that the red didn't work out. I thought it really looked badass when you could notice it.

Either way, I hope you gals like it. I'll be doing another Valentine's Day mani and hopefully that one won't be an epic fail like this one. LOL!

Happy Polishing!

Over The Top!

Hey Ladies! You would think I wouldn't get more polish with as much as I have in the un-tried drawer of my helmer... But I went to a local nail supply store and saw Over The Top. I've been eyeing it for months but have never been convinced enough to get it. I finally caved. I like the color but it wasn't what I was expecting it to be. Essie describes this as a dramatic metallic midnight silver. It's really dark but not so dark that it ends up looking black. It's like metallic asphalt. I applied 2 coats. The first coat was pretty sheer. And some spots would have needed a 3rd coat if it wasn't for the fact that the 2nd coat I applied was very generous.

I stamped the swirl full nail pattern from the second Bundle Monster set, BM-201. I think its an adorable pattern. One of my favorites. I stamped using one of China Glaze's best polishes for stamping: Millennium. The swirls cover a lot of the base color so I decided to just stamp the ring fingers. Didn't want to cover up that much of Over The Top.

Happy Polishing!

NOTD: Blue on Blue

Here is another look from "the vault." I think this might be the last one. Before I start, I just want to say that I love these bottles. I like the different design and the color of the cap. However, make sure your hands are acetone free before you touch the top... Because it screws it all up and then its not so pretty anymore. So this is China Glaze's Kaleidoscope Him Out from the Kaleidoscope Collection. This is a pretty light blue scattered holo. Reminds me of Nfu-Oh's 65 (one of the loves of my life). But trust me, they aren't the same. Hmmm... Maybe I should do a comparison. I'll add that to my list of things to do one day. Then I stamped the full nail design using Bundle Monster's BM224 from the 2nd plate set. I stamped using Konad's Special Stamping Polish in Blue. 

By the way, I added a new commenting system. I've always wanted to be able to reply to comments and I think I finally found a way! So feel free to post a comment to test it out. Let me know if you encounter any problems via email: Lissi4NAA(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks!

NOTD: Angora Cardi & Flowers

Hey Ladies!

Today's post is not from the vault. I am going to make it a point to make a dent in my un-tried drawer. I need to make space for future polish. So I decided to use Essie's Angora Cardi. I bought this polish like 2 years ago! 

Angora Cardi - Essie describes this as a creamy deep dusty rose. It's like a mauve-ish purple creme. Super creamy and yummy. Applies like a dream. Like melted butter. I applied 2 coats. Could be opaque enough with just 1 coat but you have to make sure you get it right the first time. As always, I don't have the patience for that.

I missed stamping so I decided to go for it. The design I used is from Bundle Monster's second plate set, BM-205. This plate has 3 designs I absolutely love! I stamped using Emotion by China Glaze. This is a metallic warm pink from the Romantique collection of Spring 2009. This one is great for stamping! At first I was only going to stamp on my ring finger. I liked it so much that I stamped all my fingers before I realized it.

Happy Polishing!

NOTD: Purple Butterflies!

Hey Ladies!

And yet another look from the vault... Seeing these older manicures makes me miss stamping my nails! Anyways... This is a cute purple combination that I might do again during Spring. This is FingerPaints Aren't You Glad-iolous? from the Palette of Petals collection of Spring 2011. I'm assuming that is the correct spelling of the polish name. It didn't come with a label. I bought this collection from a blog sale and that blogger had received the collection from FingerPaints to review. So it had weird labels on the bottom. Anyone know the correct spelling? I googled it and a bunch of bloggers had different versions. Whatever. Not important. LOL! Anyways... It's a pretty light purple creme. You should be able to get a good even finish with 2 coats. I was afraid this color was going to be chalky but I was pleasantly surprised. Then I stamped the butterfly design on my ring fingers using BM205 from Bundle Monster's second plate set. I stamped with Zoya's Mira from the Summertime collection. Mira is described as a blue toned medium purple with dusty lavender tones. Personally, this color is awesome. It's so creamy and yummy.

Happy Polishing!

NOTD: A 360 View

Hey Ladies!

I normally don't post on weekends. But I did yesterday because I really wanted to share my swatches and review of the Zoya Fleck Effect Collection. So be sure to check out that post here: Zoya Fleck Effect Post!

I start my last semester of law school today. It's hard to believe that its been almost 3 years already. It feels like I started law school just the other day. Time flies! I don't want to go back. This break wasn't long enough. LOL! But I'm glad it's my last semester. I'm almost at the finish line!!! Hopefully this semester won't be as insane as the last one (which was one of the reasons why I had to stop blogging). Anyways...

Here is another look from the vault. I have so many looks that I did but never posted. This is one of my favorites! I actually want to redo this. It's so pretty! Today's polish is from RBL's Surf's Up collection. 360 is a teal-ish color with extremely subtle silver shimmer. So subtle that you barely notice it on the nail. But I swear it's in the bottle. LOL! The color is opaque enough that you can get away with just 1 coat... but I applied 2 just for that perfect even finish. There is something about this color that is just so beautiful to me. To finish off the look I stamped the flower pattern from Bundle Monster's 2nd plate set, BM224. I stamped using the popular Millennium by China Glaze. I love that flower pattern. It's one of my favorites from the set. I stamped the pattern in different directions so that each nail wouldn't be identical.

Hope you all like it!

BornPrettyStore Stamping Plate Review

Hey Ladies!

Happy Mothers Day! Happy Sunday to those of you that aren't mothers (like me)! Also, thank you for the sweet and understanding comments regarding my super busy final exam period and lack of posts.

Just wanted to make a quick post for my promised continuous review of the BornPretty stamping plates. I have tried and tried to remember what polish I was wearing when I stamped these over and I can't remember. I usually do these reviews right before taking off my polish for a new manicure. I'm sure I could figure it out if I looked a little harder but I don't have the brain function for that right now. I think this color might have been a swatch and not an actual worn mani. Whatever. LOL! I stamped using Konad's Special Polish in Black.

My initial review can be found here. My opinion on the overall quality of these plates is detailed there and I don't feel like typing it again. So these are my 4 favorite images from the BornPretty plate labeled m11. We've got a butterfly, a crown, a flower, and a rose. The only thing I really want to add is that I wasn't able to get the entire crown image to lift off the plate. See what I mean? It isn't completely solid. I retried applying black polish and lifting with the stamper but I could see it wasn't full before stamping on the nail. I gave up after a few attempts. Other than that, I'm happy!

The m11 plate is a part of this set. This set can be purchased from BornPrettyStore. You can't beat the price ($12).

These stamps were sent to us for review. Please read our disclosure policy (here).

Starred Purple Panic

Another purple, and this shade DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!  This is Purple Panic by China Glaze.  Good gracious, this is bright, yummy neon purple with the best pink microshimmer.  My nails glowed for days.  In person it's way more purple... it just photographs pink, and boy did I try.  I used Bundle Monster's BM05 plate for the stars with China Glaze's Millennium.  This is definitely going to be a repeat performance for me. 

Happy Polishing!

Smokin' Hot Flowers!

Hey!

Today I have for you my favorite color from Essie's Winter 2010 collection. I present to you Smokin' Hot. Essie describes this as a "stone-cold fox gray that burns hotter than any flame." I don't know about it burning hotter than a flame though... Smokin' Hot is a yummy purple-gray creme. It leans more towards purple in certain lighting. Application was yummy. Perfect. Flawless. 2 coats for full coverage. 

I then decided to add a little something to it. I used Emotion by China Glaze from the Romantique Collection (Spring 2009). These are great for stamping! Emotion is a metallic warm pink. The color of the bottle in the picture is a little off. But like I've said before: Bottles lie! The color on the nail is accurate. I stamped the flower from the BornPretty plate M71. 

I'm assuming you've all heard of the BornPretty plates by now. If you haven't then I invite you to step out from under the rock and check out the BornPrettyStore (here). They have amazing stuff. Get 10% off until March 31, 2011 with our promo code: NAA10K31. We've also been reviewing their stamping plate sets so check that out as well. You can see all the stamps we've used so far here.

Happy Polishing!

BornPrettyStore Stamping Plate Review

Hey Ladies!

I have something fun for you today! I was contacted by Jessica from BornPrettyStore about reviewing some of their products. I was able to select an item and I picked a set of their stamping plates (here).

Their quality is amazing! The images aren't too deep or too thin. So you don't have to worry about the image smudging from too much paint or not lifting up because its already dry. The edge of the plates don't feel rough. I know some people complain about plates that are rough around the edges and cut. These don't! They do come with a very thin clear protective sheet over the plate. You almost can't even tell its there. So don't try to stamp without removing it first.

Most importantly, you can't beat this awesome price! 12 plates for $12.63... That is an amazing deal! We all know how expensive plates can be. It also includes a little stamper and a scraper. The only downside is that shipping can take a little while since they are located in China. But these stamps are definitely worth the wait!

This set provides a great range of images. Great variety. You are bound to find things you like. They have flowers, animals, swirls, bows, hearts, stars, butterflies, etc. They also have another set of plates that includes the very popular Hello Kitty stamp! The only thing their plates do not include are full nail stamps.

It's hard to photograph the plates since the reflection is difficult to avoid. You can see great images of the plates on their website (here).

I've decide that this will be a continuing review. I want to show you guys images from each plate but it would take me forever to sit down and do that. I'd be stamping all day. Unfortunately, my school schedule won't let me do that. So here is the deal. I will be showing you guys over time my favorite 4 images from each plate until I have covered all the plates. If you have any requests, feel free to let me know and I'll include those as well.

So here goes my first two sets:

These are stamps from plate m28.

These are stamps from plate m04.

In case you are wondering, I stamped using Konad's Special Polish in White.

So what do you ladies think? Who own these already? Thoughts? Favorites?

Don't forget that you can get 10% off any purchase at BornPrettyStore.com with our code: NAA10k31

These products were sent to me for review. Please read our disclosure policy (here).

KOTD: Girlie Skulls

Hey Ladies!

I arrived in St. Louis last night to visit my boyfriend for Valentine's Day weekend. With all the excitement I forgot to schedule a post for this morning. Oops! Better late than never right?

Today I'm sharing a polish that I got from a swap with Colour Victim. On a side note, thank you for the amazing swap! This is the second swap I do with her and I am more than happy with the polishes I got. I wish Catrice was sold in the US though! *insert angry face here* One of the colors I requested in the swap was Plum Play With Me. I had seen swatches by other bloggers and just loved it! I have nothing in my collection like it... At least not that I remember. Plus the name is super cute (that is why the boyfriend picked it). I usually ask him to pick a random color when I can't decide what to paint next (and I can't decide quite often). He picked purple so I read him the name of a few purple colors and this is what he picked. Plum Play With Me is a dark plum creme. The application was smooth and creamy and yummy. I can't really explain it. Just trust me. Full coverage could have been achieved with one coat if I had been careful. But I'm not that patient so I just did 2 coats.

I haven't stamped in a while and I miss having cute stuff on my nails. So I stamped this cute little skull image from m39 (from the BornPretty plates) on my ring fingers. I decided to be a little girlie and stamped using the Konad Special Polish in Pink.

Now let me explain something... Yes, the pictures are a little on the crappy side. The sun was out today but it wasn't sunny (if that makes sense). I couldn't get a decent picture outside. So these pictures were actually taken indoors. To make matters worse, my camera pictures were coming out yellowish (from the lighting) no matter what I did. These pictures were actually taken with my cellphone since it was the only way to get them looking somewhat normal.

And another thing... Yes, my thumb nail is shaped weird. I am a righty but photograph with my left hand. I have 3 nub-nails on my right hand and am hating it. I went to grab my book bag the other day with my left hand and it slipped. However, I still had a grip on it so it ended up ripping off the corner of my nail. I REFUSED to have another nub-nail so I just filed off the broken corner... Of course, I didn't think it would end up in a picture when I did that. Oh well, welcome to the world of a nail blogging.

Happy Polishing!

KOTD: Alice Plays Checkers

Hey Ladies! Today I have an addition to my last mani (here). I loved the checkered mani (even though I did it on just my ring fingers) but I wanted to add a little something-something. Nothing too crazy. I didn't want to overdo it. So I decided to go with a simple little heart on m17 (BornPretty plate). The image has 4 hearts but I just used 1 heart (the biggest one on the bottom of the image). I used China Glaze's Millennium for the stamping color and put the heart on the bottom black square.

After I was done I looked at my nails and it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. I love Disney's Alice in Wonderland and loved Tim Burton's version. I'm weird like that. My nails remind me of Alice and the dress she wore while inside the Red Queen's castle. This dress:

I LOVE this dress. If I could buy it right now I would in a heartbeat. I think it's gorgeous and funky (all at the same time)!

Happy Polishing!

KOTD: I Went Skiing 'Til I Dropped

Good Morning! I am avoiding my law school homework... It's so hard to get back into the routine when you've been gone from school for a month. Ugh... I don't want to do it! So what better way to distract myself than with nail polish! This is another look I did a while back and never got around to posting the pictures. This is OPI's "Ski Teal We Drop" from the Swiss Collection. This is my favorite color from that collection and it reminds me of my ski trip... because I "dropped" plenty of times. I literally went down a portion of the mountain on my butt and not on the skis! 

Anyways, it's a dark creme teal. It leans more towards the blue side of the force than the green. (Yes, I just made a Star Wars reference. My boyfriend got me to watch the trilogy and now I make references all the time. LOL!) The application was a dream with just 2 coats. Then I stamped on my ring finger using China Glaze's "Beauty and the Beach." I think that is from the Fiji collection. I would describe it as a teal / turquoise with a lot of aquamarine shimmer. It looks green when stamped over "Ski Teal We Drop." The flower is from the Bundle Monster plate BM06.

Hope you gals like. Happy polishing!

KOTD: I'm late... But hooray for Spain!

Hey Ladies!

I'm back with another extremely delayed post. This manicure is from July! Coincidently, I wore this on the day Spain won the World Cup.

OPI - No Spain No Gain

I don't remember how many coats this was. Probably two. I remember this one being pretty opaque fast. This is an awesome berry-purple creme from the Spain Collection. One of my favorites. The pictures, in my opinion, don't do it justice. There is something about this color that just makes it stand out from all the others.

I then stamped the butterfly from CG-04 using China Glaze's "Millennium."

Hope you gals like!

Time to put my noes back in a book and keep studying for final exams! =(

Redbull Flugtag Nails!

Hey Ladies!

I'm semi-back. Life has been hectic lately. I'm about to start final exams at school. But I'm going to try my best to schedule some of my backed up posts because as Mari said to me earlier this week: "I am becoming one of those bloggers we hate." And I certainly don't want to be one of those to you guys!

Here is a mani from back in June/July.

This is the mani I did for the RedBull Flugtag (using the colors of the Sugar Free RedBull can). If you don't know what the Flugtag is I suggest you YouTube it because it's hilarious. Basically people make aircrafts and try to see how far they can fly them over the bay before landing in the water. Most of them fail instantly but its the creative aircrafts that are fun to watch. The Flugtag was here in 2004 and finally came back to Miami this year! I was so excited! To bad it was too hot and we couldn't bare to stay there for longer than 30 minutes.

This is 2 coats of OPI's "No Room For The Blues" and 2 coats of China Glaze's "Millennium." I stamped the red wing using Konad's red special polish. The wing came from the Bundle Monster plate BM03. The image is actually a heart with wings so I just put a piece of tape over the heart and 2nd wing and only left exposed the 1 wing I wanted. It worked out quite well.

Please forgive my ugly looking nails. I had some bad broken nails back then and had to glue on fake ones to prevent the breaks from getting worse.

Hope you gals like it!

-Lissi

The Grass IS Greener on this side!

This is some SERIOUS green... but it's soooooo pretty and shimmery. Couldn't and wasn't up to getting that creative for the mid-week change but eh, not bad. I had just received a mini Misa haul (to be posted soon as well) and was undecided on what shade to wear (with almost 400 bottles to our name, I know I'm not alone on that decision-making conundrum.)

Something about Misa... formula is always great. Maybe it's also the heaviness of the brush holder? Cuz it isn't plastic and maybe that makes a difference... or maybe it's my craziness but it feels more solid in the hand, giving you more control. Well, at least I think so. *shrugs*

Anyway, here is Greener Grass!
(with some foliage using what else, CG Millenium...lol)

Happy Polishing!