NOTD: Lilac Pastelle Fauxnad

The base is Lilac Pastelle, yet another Revlon pastel I have trouble with. It takes at least four-five coats to be opaque. And it's much too pink to be called lilac. Anyway, I used China Glaze Hyper Haute to stamp. Even for those of you who hate the Tronicas, they are great for stamping. I used one of the floral images from Born Pretty's Hello Kitty image plate (M71). Lately, I've been obsessed with off-center fauxnads. So I placed two or three flowers randomly over each nail.

I also added tiny purple rhinestones on a few of the flowers. I found these rhinestones at the grocery store, of all places, but they're the perfect size.

Fyrinnae Haul and Swatches

Those of you who follow me on twitter got a sneak peek at my recent Fyrinnae haul. I'd been planning what to buy for ages, but the site has had a lot of down time lately. So once the site was up again (temporarily) I went all out on samples. And once again, they do not disappoint. Even colours that I was a little iffy about or bought just for the name *Orangutan* are gorgeous. And they're are more than a few that I would buy the full size of if the samples weren't so generous. Anyway, let's get to the haul, shall we?

After reading Phyrra's rave reviews about the Velvet-Gel Silica Primer, I needed to try the dry skin version. I'll have a review up for that after I try it out a bit. Onto the samples: top row is Glow Blushes, then Arcane Magic shadows, and the last three rows are the loose eye shadows. I also got a sample of Pixie Epoxy for my sister. The lashes were a freebie included with my order. I can never get enough false lashes, so these are perfect for me.

For today I have swatches of the loose shadows; Arcane Magics and Glow Blushes should be up later this week. All swatches are patted on over Elf Studio primer. And as always, click on any pic to enlarge it.

Banana Mochi

Light shimmery yellow. Much softer than Bifrost and without the contrasting sparkle.

Biker Chic

Black base filled with aqua sparkle. This looks a little patchy in the photo, but I didn't notice any problems when swatching. You definitely want to enlarge this one to see the sparkle.

Bite Me

Somewhat dark, but still bright red with red shimmer. Fyrinnae describes it as "the hue of fresh blood" and that's entirely true. Darker than Kamikaze and more of a true red.

Chaotic Evil

Bright pink filled with silver shimmer. Actually reminds me quite a bit of the new Revlon, Sublime Strawberry. The base colour isn't identical, but overall they're pretty similar.

Curiouser and Curiouser!

Bright blue filled with blue/turquoise shimmer. This is much lighter and brighter than 1.22 Gigawatts as well as more aqua-leaning.

Damn Paladins

I'm not much of a neutral eye fan, but I saw a swatch of this taupe on a blog and became obsessed with it. The base is a fairly basic medium taupe but it has an amazing light blue hidden shimmer that makes this a must-have.

More shadow swatches coming! What are your favourite Fyrinnae shades?

NOTD: Patchwork using SH HD Laser

I haven't been posting very often. I was determined to do better in the new year, but I underestimated how little time I would have to blog with the new puppy. I spend all day chasing after Rosie and keeping her out of trouble. Then, I go to work and by the time I get home, the last thing I have time or energy for is sitting at the computer. But one look at her cute little face and it's all worth it. And once she grows up a bit, I'll have more time to focus on posting here. 

Rosie loves playing in (and eating) the snow.

Rosie and our older boxer, Sarge

Anyway, back to the nails. I was wearing SH HD in Laser the other day and I wanted to change my nails but was too lazy to remove it and start over. So I figured this was the perfect time to finally do a patchwork design. I used SH Xtreme Wear in Ocean View and NYC in Midtown to pick up the blue and purple/fuchsia duochrome of Laser. This was super easy to do with painter's tape, although you can see a couple spots where the polish leaked under the tape. I think it's straightforward enough that I don't have step-by-step pics, but if anyone wants to see a tutorial for this look, let me know in the comments.

My First Water Marble

I've been meaning to try water marbling for ages but never got around to it until now. I think a lot of the reason I waited was just because it seems too intimidating. But it's actually pretty easy. Well, the basics are easy, but I know it's gonna be a lot harder to do some of the designs I've seen. 

I used SH Xtreme Wear in Twisted Pink and Plum Power for the marble, over a base of Elf Passion Pink. I just wanted to try out the technique this time, rather than an actual design, so I ended up with a very random marble effect.

I think next time I will choose colours that contrast more so the marble effect is not so subtle. You know, I'm not a big fan of subtlety.

Have any of you tried water marbling yet? I know I'm probably the last person not to, so I'd love to see what you guys have done. Any tips or tricks to share?

White Ruby Nail Prisms (Pic Spam)

Here's White Ruby. This is one of the sheerer Nails Prisms so i layered it over black to really show off the rainbow effect. At some angles it's silvery white; sometimes it has a pink foil effect. I could just sit and watch my nails as I move my hands to see the different colours. I took dozens of photos to try and capture every colour shift, so here's a bunch of them.

 More photos after the jump.

Elf Hot Pink

Yet another ELF nail polish that doesn't match the swatch on their website. But for some reason, even when the shade doesn't match the swatch or even the name, I've really never been dissappointed by a colour I've chosen. Sometimes I even prefer what I actually get to what I was expecting.

Anyway, this is Hot Pink. I was expecting a dark, muted pink from the swatch. In the bottle, it does look like a dark pink, but much brighter. I don't know what happened on my nails though because this is definitely a bright red creme with pink undertones. I still love it and it will be used but I'm still looking for something more like their swatch.

This is three coats with flash. There is slight VNL but that doesn't bother me too much. Adding more coats doesn't seem to fix it though, so you might want to avoid this colour if you can't stand VNL. It didn't photograph as red as it looks to me but this is pretty close. The colour is slightly darker than this though.

NOTD: Greenwich Village

I started off with NYC Greenwich Village, then kept adding more elements. Maybe too much. If I had stopped halfway through the manicure, it probably would have been better. I used fauxnad plate BM17 with Wild Shine Tickled Pink and the glitter and hearts are from Viva la Nails, which I will be reviewing soon.

Looking at the top pic made me realize my nails are finally growing out. I tend to grow them pretty long, then one breaks so I cut them all down to nothing and start over again.

FOTD: Anna Sui-Inspired

I was in the mood for some bright colours after seeing the promo for the new Anna Sui Kaleidoscope of Color collection on Chic Profile.

I switched the colours around a bit on the lids and this is what I finished with:

Face:

Elf  Studio Concealer Pencil & Brush in Fair

Elf Studio Complexion Perfection

Elf Shimmering Facial Whip in Pink Lemonade

Lips:

Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Visual Kei (love this colour!)

Eyes:

Elf Studio Eye Primer & Liner Sealer

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

Sleek Circus Palette light purple shade (crease to brow bone); light pink shade (under eyes)

Fyrinnae 1.22 Gigawatts (lid)

Fyrinnae Parental Advisory (crease)

Joe Fresh Fine Tip Liquid Eyeliner in Teal Blue (I'm not 100% sure of the name and I can't find it but it's something like that)

I also used a pale shimmery blue over 1.22 Gigawatts and a pale shimmery pink under eyes. They're both discontinued but you don't need either. I just wanted it extra shimmery. 

Finished the eyes with a matte white brow hightlight, shimmery white in the inner corner, and black mascara.

NOTD: Pink + White Polka Dots

Today feels like a fuchsia day. I don't know why. I'm not even sure what that means. But if I had to choose a colour today, I would say fuchsia. So I started out painting my nails with Wet n Wild Frosted Fuchsia. I really love this colour. I've been searching for the perfect dark pink for a while. I have probably a dozen pinks but they're all too light so when I found Frosted Fuchsia for a buck at Walmart, I knew I had to give it a shot. And it's absolutely perfect. Dark but still bright with just enough purple/blue undertones without actually being purple.

It looked prettty on its own and with a top coat would have been just fine but of course I just couldn't leave it alone. So, I added white polka dots with fauxnad plate BM19.

To just look at my nails quickly, they look fine, but up close in this photo, I realize how badly the dots turned out. I used NYC Snow White. This isn't a very good polish for fauxnading. It's too thin and streaky. But I've had it for ages so I don't even know if they make it anymore anyway. That said, I think white designs look adorable on pink, so I'm definitely gonna be looking for a good white polish for fauxnading (without paying Konad $7 for special polish, hopefully).

I thought I might have a pink somewhat close to Frosted Fuchsia, so I went through my stash. But the closest is Xtreme Wear Hot Magenta. And they're not terribly similar. Frosted Fuchsia is quite a bit darker and has more blue in it. I'm sure if I wore them on consecutive days, most people wouldn't notice the change though, so I'll have to make sure I don't do back-to-back manis with them. 
edit: I totally just realized that I posted these swatches without saying which is which. Real helpful, right? Hot Magenta is on the left; Frosted Fuchsia, the right.

I know this has been pretty wordy, but one more thing: as much as I love the colour fuchsia, I can't stand the word. I always want to spell it fuschia. I know that doesn't even look like it could be spelled correctly, but neither does fuchsia. It doesn't even sound like a real word, let alone a gorgeous dark pink. That's just my rant for the day. :)

 

NOTD: Pink and Black Hearts ... And another thing

Elf Black over Claire's Fire

Obviously, this is before cleanup, so I apologize for that. I really like how this came out. After a matte top coat, the hearts looked like I had drawn them on with a fine-tip marker. The contrast between the two colours meant everyone noticed the design and was curious how I did it.

Anyway, unrelated to nail polish, I haven't been posting EOTDs much lately. My makeup hasn't been very exciting. Part of the reason is I just don't like heavy eyeshadow when it's so hot out. But I also just haven't been feeling very inspired, so if anyone has any suggestions or requests, let me know and I'll do a look for that.

NOTD: Pink + Orange

This NOTD is really easy. The inspiration for this was butterfly cupcakes my sister had made for Mother's Day (sorry no pic of the cupcakes). Obviously, any two colours would work, although, cremes are better for this. 

Start with two coats of your base colour (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Fushia Power). Then using either a small brush or a dotting tool, place a dot in the center of your nail and five dots around it. (I used Xtreme Wear Sunkissed for the dots.) Finish with top coat when the dots are nearly dry to blend them into the base colour. See, very easy to do, but I think it's cute for spring. 

Just a note about brushes: check out dollar stores or craft stores for paint brushes. You can usually get a variety of sizes for less than it would cost for specialty nail brushes.

Lip Lustres: Meloncholy

Top is with flash; bottom, without. This goes on fairly orange but blends into lips and within a few minutes seem more melon-y (and almost pink) and less obviously orange. Less pink than the flash photo and less orange than the no flash photo. It's supposed to have a green tea scent, but I don't think it's noticeable at all.

I wonder what would happen if...

I layered VIP Pink over black? Inspired by my recent obsession with glitters over black bases, and realizing I hadn't worn VIP Pink in a while, I did a quick swatch.

This is one (generous) coat of VIP Pink over two coats of Elf Black. With flash. I love how the pink jelly base fades into the black, leaving gorgeous pink glitter.

What are some of your favourite layering combinations?

EOTD: Pink & Yellow

Prime lid up to brow bone (I use Elf studio primer). Then apply a bright yellow on lid (Fyrinnae Bifrost). Fill in crease with bright pink and blend up to brow bone. (I used a random hot pink but Elf's punk funk quad has a perfect pink for this.) Using Elf Studio Small Precision Brush (or any fairly small brush), blend bright orange into the crease. Highlight is matte white to blend out the pink. Finish with two coats of black mascara and black liner on lower lash line and waterline.

Sorry for the lack of open eye pictures. I only realized after I had taken off the make up that all the decent pics were eyes closed.

Even More Xtreme Wear Swatches

I've had these three colours for a while but just keep forgetting to post swatches. The photos aren't the greatest; it seems lately that none of my photos are turning out. The bottom is without flash, artificial light; top is with flash.

Left to Right:
Purple Potion-Violet with a blue highlight. Most similar to the flash pic. It's close to Deep Purple but lighter and brighter.
Fuchsia Power-Bright pink frost. Very similar to Twisted Pink, without the shimmer. Really don't need both these colours.
Black Out-Black. Not much else to say about this. Except it goes on smoothly and it's completely opaque with two coats.

The rest of my Xtreme Wear Swathes are here and there.

EOTD: xsparkage cheshire cat inspired

I love xsparkage's youtube tutorials. So I decided to recreate one of her looks but change it up just a little bit. This is done entirely with elf products (except brows--just because I am faithful to my brow powder). And the entire look costs about $15 (another thing I love about elf!). I'll try to do a video for this look, but for now here's some pics.

Products Used:
Shimmering Facial Whip in Persimmon
Studio Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter in Fair/Glow
Studio Eye Primer & Liner Sealer
Studio Mineral Infused Mascara
Brightening Eye Color in Punk Funk
Studio High Definition Powder
Liquid Liner in Midnight

I used the concealer under my eyes (obviously) and above my brows, just to give them some definition and set that with HD powder. Then, primed my eyelids and used persimmon as a cream colour base to make the shadows really pop. (Writing that reminded of that NSYNC song from way back in the day..now it's gonna be stuck in my head.)

Anyway, getting back to this, use the pink from the punk funk quad from the lash line up to the brow bone and the purple over that just to the crease. Then, I used the studio highlighter just under my brow and the lightest shadow to set that and blend out the pink. Line top and bottom (and inner corner) using midnight on an angled brush and set it with the blue shadow. Smudge a bit of purple and pink under your eye, add a couple coats of mascara and you're done.