American Idiot

Insert clichéd metaphor about politicians and slime here... You know how it goes. 

I did this manicure with two coats of neon green nail polish from Icing, and two basecoats of China Glaze "Snow" to make the green really pop. It's SO BRIGHT; I love it!

Bet Me and Lose, Boys

It's never a good idea to go up against Girl Power, so I felt that this matte purple polish was the perfect choice for Spice Girls week because of its name. "Bet Me and Lose" by Icing is a solid , slightly metallic, matte purple, that looks even better with a shiney topcoat. It takes 3 coats (if my memory serves me) to get an opaque finish, and it also takes a while to dry because the formula is so thick, but it's totally worth it. Because it's a thicker formula it has a terrible tendency to smudge in chunks while drying, and forget about a quick removal. Though when you start to take it off, the purple tone comes off first, and you get a kind of lavendar-tinted silver that's really quite pretty. From what I've seen of other matte polishes, it's very much like OPI's suede version of "OPI Ink," so it's not exactly an original colour, but everyone should have a pretty purple like this one!

even with just the matte finish, it's pretty shiney

I used the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener as the topcoat

the topcoat really brings out the sparkles!

Did you say Fuchsia, or Felicia?

What other colour was I seriously going to feature for the nail polish post this week but fuchsia. Like Felicia (aka Adam) from The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert it screams “look at me! LOOK AT ME!” and that’s why I love it. Technically this Icing polish is a neon purple (the neon pink from the set was even brighter, but it hardened before I could use it), but on the nail it definitely comes out more pink than purple. Being a colour neurotic person, I call it “fuchsia orchid” because it’s somewhere in between these two colours. It took a total of three coats to get a deep purple from this polish, but if I had done thicker coats I could have gotten away with only two coats. It started to chip after about a day (boooooo), but I bought a bottle of Seche Vite topcoat and managed to rescue this manicure for another few days (yay)! 

in direct sunlight it's the brightest pink ever

RAWR I’M A TIGER!

The best thing about going to Dalhousie (besides the awesome programs) is that our mascot is my favourite animal ever! TIGERS! I wish they were white tigers, but regular tigers are still super cute and I just wanna cuddle them! Except that they would probably eat me >_>

I was just going to feature my Icing neon orange polish, but then I decided that I should see if putting OPI Black Shatter overtop would make a tiger stripey manicure. It sure did! I would have liked if the shatter had come out a little thicker on my swatching hand, but it turned out pretty good considering it was my first time doing a full shatter manicure!

Illusions d'Ombre

Chanel’s new makeup line for Fall, entitled Illusions d’Ombre, was so eerily similar to the effect of a nail polish that I had, I just had to feature it! The matte finish for Icing “Smoke Screen” is a metallic matte polish that has surprising depth for a non-jelly/holographic polish. When viewed from different angles it picks up different light tones and reflects different colours back, which is what I feel the effect of Chanel’s makeup is supposed to be. The key theme is multi-dimensional metallic that creates a shadow depending on reflected light, which creates an intense effect.

it has an almost grainy texture, which is strange for a matte polish,
but adds to the light reflections

Depending on how you dress this polish it can be a demure way of wearing a normally frowned upon nail colour to the office (just a hint of glitter), a reflection of the urban landscape (cityslicker all the way girls), or it can be a way to add a little intensity to a demure outfit (babydoll dress and combat boots anyone?).

it reflects light to become almost white at some angles!

It’s a bit tricky on the application (takes 3-5 coats to get a decent opaque quality, and takes forever to dry), but once on it lasts quite a white. I had to swatch this polish a second time, since I wasn’t happy with the translucent quality, and immediately smudged my thumb nail after taking photos when I tried to tie my shoes… Wasn’t too pleased about that, but the colour is so gorgeous that it shouldn’t be passed up just because it’s a bit of a drama queen; just make sure you have patience and let it dry for a nice long while!

you can see how glittery and reflective it is in this shot!

PS: don't forget to vote in the poll! It's random, and I won't tell you what it's for, so just VOTE! (it's on the top right corner for those of you who aren't paying attention :p)
PPS: My nails are getting SO LONG YAY! Pretty soon I'll be able to make them all square, since they aren't being as cranky/breaky anymore!

In Our Circle, We Never Kiss and Tell

Obviously I had to choose a pink polish for Girly Week, and I figured that nothing fit quite so well as this gorgeous matte finish polish from Icing, entitled "Confessions." The bottle shows it to be a shade kind of in between pink and purple, but the colour varies widely in application. The fewer coats you apply, the more pink the polish looks, but eventually you'll hit a saturation point where the colour you're left with is definitely a mauvey purple. 

With a top coat you get a gorgeous sparkly shimmer out of the polish, which can either be a pink or purple, depending on the number of layers again. I'm not showing any pictures of the polish with a topcoat this time around, since I figure I'll get all my matte and suede finish polishes together and do a big post all with topcoats to show the differences in effect. 

By the way, this polish is another one of the infamous Birthday polishes (seriously guys, don't ever give me any more nail polish), and it was given to me by the lovely and fabulous Sarah! Thanks for the sparkles lady <3

A Hint of Magic

My plan for this week was going to be a proper Ravenclaw style manicure (silver and navy stripes and such), but I figured that Icing “Thriller” actually suited the Harry Potter theme really well. Yes, I know that this polish is named after Michael Jackson, but I don't really like him, so Harry Potter yes. 


It’s a nice opaque black packed with multicoloured mini-glitter that to me says subtly magical! It covered nicely in 2 coats, and dried pretty quickly, so no complaints there. It was a bit of a tricky polish to photograph though, since the glitter is so fine. My camera had some issues picking up the glitter, and in non-sunlight the polish just looks black, but I think I got some decent pictures with enough sparkles in them!

see how dark it goes sometimes?

a closeup to catch the glitter!

Sunny Days are Here to Stay

I’m not a huge fan of yellow nail polish, even though I absolutely adore the colour itself, but I was curious to see how bright this yellow polish from Icing would actually turn out. I picked it up for about 40 cents (yay multipacks of minis from the clearance rack), and it fit this week’s theme perfectly, so I figured why not try it out.

Well, I tried, and tried, and tried again, but even after 4 coats this polish still wasn’t actually covering my nails properly. In most light I could see the distinction between my nail tips and actual nail! Under natural light and natural fluorescent bulbs (as you can see in the pictures) though, the colour was much more opaque. What the heck! Icing obviously isn’t the best quality polish, but I’m not too impressed by how much the polish fought me. I also found that the colour of the polish in the bottle didn’t really translate to my nails; it looks very close to the same shade as highlighter pens, but it definitely pulls white on the nail. The formula wasn't too bad to work with (except for the requirement of multiple coats) since it dries relatively quickly.  I would definitely classify this polish as a "jelly," since the multiple coats give it a bit of a translucency and it isn't really a solid looking finish. 

I did end up wearing it for quite a few days (with a top coat it lasted for almost a week before chipping horribly), but I’m going to have to figure out how to rectify the lighting problem. I think a coat of white polish underneath might do the trick, so I’ll have to try that! Does anyone else have this problem with other yellow polishes, or it is just this type from Icing that’s the problem?

No Such Thing as Too Much

As many of you already know I’ve acquired way too much nail polish this year. Thankfully I haven’t bought most of it for myself, but my friends all seem to think it’s a good idea to get me more nail polish… I’m kind of weird about colour (always have been), so buying my nail polish is not the brightest idea, since my colour-neuroses definitely applies. Not that I don’t love the majority of the colours that were bought for me, I’m just saying that nail polish is something (like shoes) that I should buy on my own. Unless I want a specific colour. Then it’s totally allowed!

mmm holo-glitter!

The polish-trend began at Christmas, with one of my best friends, Aina. She’s allowed to buy me polish because she knows me better than almost anyone, and knows what colours I j’adore and which I despise. She also used to work in a salon, so she got the polishes for super cheap (yay staff discounts!). The first two she bought me were from the OPI Designer Series and the Burlesque Collection (“Design” and “Ali’s Big Break” respectively). I immediately liked Ali’s Big Break, since I rather like reds (especially with glitter), but I was quickly brought back down to Earth when I tried it out, and the colour didn’t look the way it did in the bottle. Even after 4 coats I wasn’t liking the results. It’s just a bit too sheer, and the glitter is too fine for it to really make a statement. Design, on the other hand I loved from the beginning, and it’s still one of my favourite polishes. It doesn’t look like much, but when it hits the light the holographic rainbow in the glitter appears! A single coat gives a subtle layer of sparkles (even overtop of other solid colours – I experimented with Design and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear “Blue It” with decent results), and the more layers you add the more intense the holo gets! I’m kind of dreading the day when I run out of this colour, since OPI doesn’t seem to make it anymore L For my birthday Aina got me more polish, but this time they were OPI minis from the Katy Perry Collection. They’re all ridiculously glittery, so I’m pretty excited to try them all! Oh, and she got me Nail Envy, because my nails break allllll the time :(

Nail Envy, Last Friday Night, Design, Ali's Big Break,
The One that got Away, Teenage Dream

The next set of polishes I got were from Icing, and they were totally an impulse buy. I was shopping with Mel and Nicole for nail polish for Taryn’s birthday (between the three of us and Kirsten we got her 21 polishes since she was turning 21), when I spotted their neon glow from the clearance rack, and I just had to buy them. $2 for 5 polishes is a steal, so even if some of the colours weren’t to my taste (ugh orange…) it was totally worth it! So far I’ve used the green and the purple, and they’re both super cute (if a bit blinding), but sadly the pink is dried up, and can’t be revived even with a few drops of nail polish remover. Not too sure if I’ll ever try the yellow, but maybe, since it will be summer soon.

look at all that glitter!!!

These polishes I got whilst shopping on my birthday with Aina and Taryn. More lovelies from the clearance rack at Icing, and some from the clearance bin at Chatters (woot for sales!). I was rather intrigued by the idea of matte polishes, and I liked the colours that Icing had (the silver, and purple), so I picked a few up. I tried the purple out the other day and was pleased with the results, though it took a long time to dry, and it was really easily smudged and ruined. “Smoke Screen” from Icing is also super gorgeous on, since it’s a black that’s packed with superfine glitter. You can’t really see the glitter in the bottle from the pictures, or really on your nails, but it softens the black so that it’s not so… black. The other two are from China Glaze, and of course they’re more sparklies. Everyone knows I get distracted by anything that sparkles, so it’s not really a surprise that I picked the most glittery green and blue EVER. I love the minty-ness of “Mistletoe Kisses,” and “Midnight Mission” is seriously the most perfect sparkly blue that I’ve been looking for for ages. Can’t wait to try both of them out! Side note: is it just me or are the Icing and China Glaze bottle almost exactly the same? The CG bottles have a raised logo on the top, and the glass is a bit thicker, but they look pretty much the same… WEIRD!

Icing: Thriller, Smoke Screen, Bet Me and Lose,
China Glaze: Midnight Mission, Mistletoe Kisses

Set #4 is from Kirsten aka as Glittagloves on the interwebs. It really shouldn’t have surprised me that she got me polish for my bday, but for some reason it really did. This set is part of the China Glaze Anchors Away Collection, and at first glance I was not overly impressed. I’m still really not liking “Life Preserver” since I can’t stand orange, but “White Cap” has definitely grown on me. I mean, how could I not love it, it’s sparkly! Not sure how I feel about “First Mate” since the colour seems very flat, even though I j’adore blues, or “Ahoy!” since it’s mauve. First Mate could totally work if I combined it with OPI’s “Last Friday Night,” since the sheer glitter might be just enough to give it some personality. Hmm experimenting!

China Glaze: Life Preserver, Ahoy!, First Mate, White Cap

The last (but not least) set is kind of random. But I didn’t really have any other way of showcasing the last of my birthday polishes, since there’s 1 from Sarah,, 2 more from Kirsten, and 1 from Mel. The matte pink from Icing is from Sarah (“Confessions”) is soooo cute. I tried it on my toenails two weeks ago, and it made my toes look like sparkly little plums (yes I know that’s a weird description, but it’s what my weird brain thought of!). Totally adorable! Kirsten also got me OPI “Smoke’n in Havana” and China Glaze “VIII.” Wasn’t interested in Havana, since it’s another orange, but it’s kind of grown on me, since it has a very subtle gold duo-tone, and just a hint of pink. It’ll look good on my toes for the summer, I guess. VII, on the other hand, is totally my kind of colour. It’s such a deep purple it’s almost black, but it’s definitely still a purple. I didn’t remember until a while after she gave it to me, but we had actually had a conversation specifically about this colour where I said I totally loved it. That was MONTHS ago. Yet for some reason Kirsten remembered! The last polish we’ll talk about today was the only polish I actually wanted for my birthday, and it was the last one that I received. “Black Shatter” from OPI! This polish set off a huge trend in the nail polish world, and pretty much everyone I know who’s into polish has it. I’m kind of loathe to actually try it out, since I’m pretty sure I’ll just make a mess, but eventually I’ll have to do it. Yes, I will post pictures…

Icing Confessions, OPI Smoke'n in Havana,
OPI Black Shatter, China Glaze VIII