March Greens: Zombie Zest

I want to share some green polishes leading up to St Patrick's Day. The first is China Glaze Zombie Zest from their 2010 Halloween collection. (It's only about four months late.) My sister found this on clearance a couple weeks ago, along with Ick-a-Body, and picked them up for me.

China Glaze Zombie Zest 3 Coats Indoor Light

My first thought when I saw this colour in the bottle was that it looks like slime. The base is a murky olive green, somewhat sheer but buildable. And it's packed with golden green shimmer. Definitely not my every day type of colour, but I absolutely love it for the one or two days I'll wear it each October. 

This went on smoothly and dried pretty quickly. The only downside was the major case of lobster hands it gave me. Zombie Zest is discontinued but still available on Amazon.com and some other etailers.

NYX Ultra Pearl Mania Swatches

HauteLook has NYX on sale this Thursday. You have to sign up to use the site if you aren't already a member, but the deals are worth it. So I thought this would be the perfect time to swatch their loose eye shadows. I also have swatches of NYX Glitter Mania loose glitter.

Here are the Ultra Pearl Mania loose shadows. The top row has no base, middle is Elf Studio Eye Primer, and bottom is a white cream base. Some of these colours work well without any base, but most do need a primer to help them stick. As always, click any picture to enlarge it.

L to R: White, Pearl, Nude, Baby Blue, Baby Pink, Lilac, Fanta, Grass

White is actually a true white, even though it looks more cream here. Pearl is a very soft pink-beige. All the others are colour accurate.

L to R: Lime, Very Pink, Yellow, Orange, Mink, Sky Pink, Yellow Gold

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.

Born Pretty Fauxnad Review

I didn't really need any more fauxnad image plates but when I saw Born Pretty Store had one with penguins on it, I couldn't say no. So I bought the set for my sister, with one catch--I need to use the penguin image. For about 12 bucks, you get a stamper, scraper, and twelve image plates. Shipping is free on all orders.

Most of the images are floral designs but there's a good selection of seasonal stuff, and plenty of hearts, stars, and butterflies. They also have another set with more floral and other images. There aren't any full nail designs in either set, though, so if that's what you're looking for, the Bundle Monster set or Konad plates are your best bet.

I tried out a few of the images using my trusty Wet n Wild Black Creme and most of them stamped well, but one or two took a few tries. It seems like the images just aren't deep enough to hold enough polish after you scrape off the excess. Overall, this is a great set for anyone just starting out with fauxnading, or anyone that wants to expand their image plate collection without paying a lot.

Clicking the image will take you directly to the product page.

If you're interested in this set, use promo code OPENTENOFF before January 31st to save 10% on your order.

My New Favourite Nail Polish

I hinted on twitter the other day that I had found a new all-time favourite polish. And that is not a title I take lightly. Sure, just about any colour can make it into my revolving top ten for a day or a week, but to declare something an all-time favourite, you know it must be good. Charla good, or even Space Cadet good. Are you all dying to know what has me so worked up?

It's Joe Fresh in Peacock. A gorgeous dark blue-teal-green shimmer with purple duochrome. In most light, it's about equal parts blue and green, but at certain angles or lights, this looks royal blue or emerald green. And if you move your hand just the right way, you see the most amazing purple/fuchsia. I played with the bottle for seriously ten minutes before I painted my nails, turning it each way to watch the colour shift. (I know, air bubbles...eek.)

Joe Fresh is a grocery store brand available in Canada and what I've tried from them is so much better than I would have expected. These polishes retail for $4 and are sold at Real Canadian Superstore and Fortinos (and probably any of the other Loblaws brand stores, but I'm not certain of that). I never bought these before because $4 for 6mL seems too pricey. (It's like paying $12 for an Orly or $10 for a China Glaze.) But I got this one for just $2.33. Much more reasonable. How?

Superstore has a store coupon right now for $1 off any nail polish. And if you buy three of the Joe Fresh polishes it's $10 (instead of $4 each). So combining three of the coupons, you save a total of five bucks! I wasn't sure if they would let me use three, but it wasn't a problem. Have I mentioned how much I love couponing?

Now on to the swatches. This was a tough one to capture so check out the pic spam after the jump.

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?

LA Girl Rockstar Double Platinum swatch

Here's Double Platinum from the LA Girl Rockstar collection. Taupe with holographic glitter. This one really comes to life in bright light but even inside, it's a gorgeous, slightly subdued polish. It starts off sheer but is buildable. I think this was three coats, maybe four.