Retail Cost:$14.99

vs.

Retail Cost: $7.50

vs.

Retail Cost: £5 (approximately $8) 

I noticed while going through my collection recently, that I have quite a few of these shimmery greenish blue polishes.  Of course they are all gorgeous, but the real question is, are they different? In the bottle they all look very much the same.  The Illamasqua seems to have a bit more shimmer running through it and a bit more of a blue flash to it, but otherwise they seem more or less the same.

So let's check them out on the nail shall we?

Pretty much sums it up, no?  The index and little finger in this picture are the Models Own Peacock Green.  It was the only of the three that needed two coats for opacity but I did two coats of all of them anyway.  It's clearly much more blue toned than the other two and surprisingly so since in the bottle it looks VERY green.  It also lost some of it's shimmer when it went onto the nail.  In comparison, the Illamasqua seemed to get MORE shimmery and it's clearly a bit darker and a hair more blue than the Ulta Envy as well.  While it looks teal-ish in the bottle, the Ulta Envy is really more of a true green than the others.

 

 

A full sun picture seals the deal.  Of the three, I think the Illamasqua is my favorite.  It has this really amazing blue flash along with a shimmery greenish tint.  It feels and looks very luxe on the nail.  The shimmer in it was also FAR more apparent in person than with the other two.  Overall though, these all have nice finish and texture to them and even though I forgot to use a basecoat (bad me) none left stains on my nails either.  :)

These nails are actually kind of old! I'm trying to work through a backlog of un-posted nails. That might not be such a bad thing since, after a month of changing polish nearly daily and not much time to moisturize, my nails were looking kind of awful and I ended up cutting them all down. New year, new nails, right?  I'm using Orly Nail-trician to try to get them back into shape.  I've never had brittle, weak, or slow growing nails and I still don't but they could use a boost at any rate.  I also switched to Orly Nail Armor base coat from the Seche Clear I was using before. We'll see if any of it makes a difference!  Anyway I did these nails to practice my water marbling skills.  I know the trick to getting them pretty I just don't' always have the patience to do them.  I thought these turned out rather nice and since I didn't have the pressure of doing my whole hand I went more slowly with the marbling.  I'm also trying to incorporate more art 'supplies' into my nail art.  I have SO many beads, stones, stickers, tapes, etc. to use and yet I never do.  So these used some nail studs I got from Dollar Nail Art. :)  Hope you all enjoy! Thanks for following along!

Base is Ulta Snow White

Green: Models Own Jade Stone

Blue: Models Own Feelin' Blue

Silver Studs from Dollar Nail Art

It's day three of the 31 Days of Christmas Challenge  and that means today's challenge is: Snow Globes.  I really wanted to use my new China Glaze green which I snagged in a set for $4 with a pretty glitter and, guess what? A snowglobe!  So I decided to do the snowglobe on just one finger as a fun accent.  I thought the snowman was kind of cute but looking at him in the picture he seems a little wonky too me.  Oh well, he only lasted a day poor little guy!! I used to love snowglobes when I was little and we used to make them with jars and fun things from around the house!  I hope you enjoy my snowglobe nails :)

Thanks so much for following along! Have you ever made a snow globe?

Don't forget to check out what Debbie, Claire, Kerrie, and Emma came up with for their snowglobe mani's!

Base on all nails but accent is:  China Glaze Holly-Day

Base on accent nail is: Essie Like Linen with China Glaze Holly-Day tips.

Snowman made with: Ulta Snow White, Hard Candy The End, Orly Orange Punch, China Glaze Poinsettia, China Glaze Holly-Day and China Glaze Snow Globe.

This weeks Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge was chosen by Kerrie. The challenge was to do a mani using your birthstone as the inspiration.  My birthstone is the amythyst.  The Greeks believed amethyst gems could prevent intoxication, and medieval European soldiers wore amethyst amulets as protection in battle. Amethysts are believed to heal people and keep them cool-headed.  This was a bit challenging for me because as it turns out, while I have MANY purple polishes in my collection, not many had the pinkish purplely glow about them that I felt an amethyst should have.  So I did some hunting on the web.  I was starting to think I'd never figure out a great amethyst mani when I came across this picture:

  

I've seen a lot of amethyst in my life, but never one like this.  I love the way that the soft pink play s against the white and the deep purple.  So I rounded up my polishes and set out to replicate it.  This is what I came up with:

I originally intended to do a flat base and then use chevron mani guides to cover the tips while I painted over them with the deep purple.  That plan was quickly scrapped when I found out I had no guides.  So instead I loosely sponged on the purple and then did a glitter gradient from the bottom upwards.  You can't really see it in the picture, but the purple color also had a sublte shimmer about it which made this mani incredibly sparkly and really interesting to look at!  Enjoy and thanks for following! 

Don't forget to check out what Debbie, Claire, Kerrie, and Emma came up with for their birthstone mani's!

Base is: OPI Steady as She Rose

Purple Sponging is: China Glaze Senorita Bonita

Glitter is: Ulta After Party

It's been awhile since I did a simple french manicure.  I usually like to have something more 'artistic' on my nails but there's something to be said for the simplicity of a fancy french as well!  It was also a good opportunity for me to test out my striping skills!! I didn't love the stripes I created so I threw some dots in there to cover it up! I think the end results was pretty good. :)

Enjoy and thanks for following!  Have you ever covered bad nail art with MORE nail art?

Base; Deborah Lippmann Bring on the Bling

Tips: Ulta Snow White

Smile line stripe: LA Nail Art Pens in Gold Glitter

Accent nail: OPI The One That Got Away, Orly Sea Gurl and Models Own Nail Art Pen in Black

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  I love dressing up and being crazy and all the scary things that go along with it.  So I don't know why I've had such a hard time getting motivated to do Halloween themed nails.  I've seen this mummy design on a hundred other blogger's sites and this is my THIRD attempt at it.  I still don't love it but it didn't come out nearly as bad as the other two attempts!! It's much harder than it looks!  I used my Models Own black nail art pen to do the lines for that and the spider web and let me just say, I. LOVE. THIS. PEN.  It's SO easy to use and you can really get some tiny lines with it.  The spider web is my favorite part of this mani.  Oh...and the fact that it glows in the dark! I used the glow in the dark polish UNDER the nail art pen and then again over the white on the eyes so that the design would appear in the dark.  It worked great although it wouldn't photograph for anything! :/  I hope you enjoy the nails and hope everyone is having a great Halloween!! (One more creepy design is on the way :P)

Thanks for following! 

Base is: OPI Skull & Glossbones

Topped that with China Glaze Ghoulish Glow

Black is: Models Own Nail Art Pen in Black

Eyes are: Ulta Snow White

Centers are: butterLONDON La Moss

Then coated the non-designed nails with: Wet & Wild Tangled In My Web

It's the final day of my week of San-X!  Today I did Homekoro. Homekoro is a brown pomeranian puppy that likes to encourage his friends with praises and kind words.  He is so cute and fluffy, too!  He has a little bird friend named Uttori who I chose to do as my accent nail.  I hope you enjoyed my week of San-X (and maybe found some cute new kawaii inspirations!)  Thanks for following! :)

Base: China Glaze Lemon Fizz

Dots: Barry M Mint Green, Berry Ice Cream, and China Glaze Secret Per-i-winkle

Homekoro: Barry M Mushroom, China Glaze Ingrid, Barry M Berry Ice Cream, and Ulta Snow White

Kineizukun is a little squirrel (yeah I know it seems like he should be a raccoon!) who LOVES to clean!  I love to clean too which makes Kineizukun and I a good match!  He's a relatively new San-X addition but SO cute!  I did the ring finger as his little tail and the thumb as his face. :) Hope you're enjoying getting to know my favorite San-X characters this week! Who are some of yours?

Thanks for following!

Base: Revlon All Fired Up

Dots: Ulta Snow White

Accent Nail: Essie Sand Tropez, Barry M Mushroom

Kineizukun: Revlon All Fired Up, Ulta Snow White, Essie Sand Tropez, China Glaze Ingrid, LA Nail Art Black

Mamegoma are a bunch of little seal characters. They're so small that they actually live in a fish bowl with ice cubes!  Mamagoma is one of my favorite San-X characters and I am really keeping my fingers crossed for a new Mamegoma bento box this year!!  Besides being small and super cute, Mamegoma is also super easy to do as nail art. Although I used a TON of colors on this mani!  I think he came out rather well. :)  Enjoy and thanks so much for following!!

Base coat: Ulta Snow White and two coats of Orly Honeymoon in Style

Dots: Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream and Berry Ice Cream, Nicole by OPI Dandylion

Mamegoma: Ulta Snow White, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, Berry Ice Cream, LA Nail Art Black, Nicole by OPI Dandylion

Rilakkuma is a toy bear who likes relaxing, sleeping, listening to music, and soaking in hot springs. Sounds like the life, no? His favorite foods are dango, pancakes, omurice and custard pudding.  Some of you hard core Rilakkuma fans might have noticed that in fact, this is Korilakkuma, the female friend of Rilakkuma.  I intended to do Rilakkuma's face on my thumb and somehow I never got around to it!  I also somehow forgot to do the outline on her mouth. :/ In any event the nails were still a hit! I got a lot of compliments on them and they're probably the easiest design I've done yet.  Just a few dots and two lines! I hope you enjoy them and thanks so much for following! :)

Base on all nails but accent is Barry M Mushroom

Base on accent nail is Essie Sand Tropez. 

Button is butterLONDON Saucy Jack and Ulta Snow White

Eyes, nose and mouth are China Glaze Ingrid

Top coat is Seche Vite

Base coat:  Hard Candy The End

Covered that with two coats of Nubar 2010 and one coat of OPI Zom-body to Love

Tarepanda: Ulta Snow White, Hard Candy The End

Accent Nail: Ulta Snow White, eBay water decals

Pink Wednesday is here again!!  I admit I've skipped a few of these, mostly due to the striking lack of pink in my polish collection.  Over the past month I've picked up a few new ones so hopefully I'll be able to get some better pink Wednesday mani's in the future!!  I love the idea of 'moon' mani's or reverse french mani's, whatever you call them they look super cool and are ridiculously easy to do.  I've never actually done one, only admired from afar and I think the issue I'm having with it is that it's not entirely perfect.  The moons are different sizes and some of them are a bit off kilter.  That said...I actually kind of like the way this turned out!  I couldn't stop looking at my nails all day!! And I have a new bottle of Seche Vite (which was MUCH needed)  so my nails are back to their glossy, chip free selves! The bright color of this, mixed with the Seche, topped with the fact that my nails were recently shaped gives off the impression of false nails a bit! I've had people asking me all day!  But as always, these are mine! 

Enjoy and thanks for following!! :)

Moon: Ulta Snow White

Reverse tip: Models Own Pastel Pink

Glitter coat: Barry M Iridescent Pink

My most recent...and tiny...polish haul.  Most of these were a result of the buy one get one free butterLONDON sale at Ulta today and then some are also the product of a swap I did recently. :)  The top row left to right is Catrice Dirty Berry and Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans, GOSH Metallic Green, Catrice Sold Out Forever and Hard Candy Black.  Bottom row left to right is Catrice Absolutely Chinchilly, butterLONDON Cheeky Chops and Chuffed, Nicole by OPI Justin Beiber mini set, butterLONDON Teddy Girl, Toff, and Queen Vic.  And just for fun...I'm showing off my entire butterLONDON collection today becuase I LOVE LOVE LOVE butterLONDON!!

Rainbow-y, no?  Starting at the top and working left to right I have: Cheeky Chops, Jaffa, Chuffed, Saucy Jack, Primrose Hill Picnic, Queen Vic, Toff, (second row) Blagger, Henley Regatta, Teddy Girl, Rosie Lee, Scoundrel, No More Waity Katie, Muggins, (third row) Lady Muck, Victoriana, Bluey, Dosh, British Racing Green, Wallis, West End Wonderland, (bottom row) The Old Bill, All Hail the Queen, and Tea With The Queen!  

Thanks for following! (you can read more about my love of butterLONDON here!)

I keep seeing everyone doing these Japanese cherry blossom manicures and I think it looks so pretty on the nail!  It seemed easy enough so I thought I'd try it out for myself! It turns out it's ridiculously easy and it's pretty difficult to get a bad effect, even if you screw up.  I wish I had made the branches a little smaller but other than that I really ended up liking this art. :)  I used a matte topcoat to mix it up a little bit and it surprisingly lasted about four days with no chips! Bonus! :) Enjoy and thanks for following!

Base color: China Glaze For Audrey

Accents: Barry M Mushroom, Ulta Snow White, OPI Sparrow Me the Drama

Topcoat: Essie Matte About You

This is another mani from my week of movies.  It doesn't have a whole lot to do with the movie I was watching, other than that the pattern is from a place mat and Julie and Julia happens to be about food.  Actually, the movie wasn't too bad.  I thought it was going to be awful and as it turns out it was pretty cute...I'd watch it again, but I wouldn't buy it.  Then again, I've seen over 3,000 movies and it's becoming increasingly harder to impress me on that front!!  Anyway...the nails.  The pattern is from a vintage fabric swatch which had wheels of white with blue spokes and dots around the egdes.  I thought the shinyness of the Seche Vite made it look too busy so I top coated again with Essie Matte About You (not shown in the picture).  I liked the results  but I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to designs and the fact that the spokes are kind of all over drove me crazy!  I need to work on patience with my manicures!  I have a week of anime still to come and all the freehand is going to make me crazy! :)  Enjoy them anyway and thanks for following!

Base color: butterLONDON Dosh

Accents: Ulta Snow White, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream, butterLONDON Blagger

I've had a hard time this week getting motivated to do my nails.  I have a TON of unused colors that I want to do something with but I just can't seem to get organized enough to use them.  I'm in the process of getting together a week of anime nails which I think will be really cool but it's going to be a lot of work so that's keeping me from doing anything too over the top as well.  I had some really great art that I loved on the other night and then it got chipped :(  So I decided to go ahead and take part in the Monday Nail Art Challenge that a group I'm a part of (called Polish Aholics Anonymous) runs every week.  The theme of this week was candy.  It's probably a really great theme but the problem for me is that I don't eat candy.  Ever.  Well...rarely.  So I scoured the web looking for some fun candy to do.  I decided to do something based on those little licorice snaps with bright colors.  It came out kind of mod and the colors are great but I did it in a hurry and the quality is not the best.  Anyway...I hope you enjoy them the same! :)

Base coat: Ulta Snow White

Pink: Zoya Mod Matte Lolly

Green: Zoya Mod Matte Mitzi

Orange: Orly Orange

Blue/Purple: China Glaze Secret Per-i-winkle

Black: LA Nail Art Pen in  Black

So awhile back I bought butterLONDON's No More Waity Katie, and it's not exactly a secret that I wasn't impressed with it.  It's kind of murky and greyish purple but the glitter is somehow not glittery and it takes a million coats for any kind of effect and the effect you get for your effort isn't great.  I REALLY wanted to love this color as much as I love Duchess Catherine...but alas, I did not.  So it's been sitting in my drawer forever just waiting to be used.  I got some Martha Stewart glass beads at Michael's for next to nothing the other day so I decided to test them out on my nail  And I gave No More Waity, Katie a second chance.  I still don't love it...but I'm coming around!  

(Side note: I HATED the glass beads on my middle finger but I got a ton of compliments...so maybe it's not as bad as I thought!)

Base: Ulta Smoke Screen

Topped with: butterLONDON No More Waity, Katie

Accent nail: Martha Stewart glass micro beads