A Lot of Catching Up!

I apologize, I've been MIA, but I assure you I'm still alive. Life always has the tendency to get in the way, and although I've been keeping up with painting my nails often, I slacked with updating the blog. Once I get a couple posts behind, it's just harder and harder to catch up. I've taken pictures of all my manis and I just have to sporadically update them in bulk. Although I fell behind in updating the blog, I have been regularly posting on instagram. My account name is ihatebaconn (completely random, I know, and I just came up with the name on a whim just because bacon is one of my non-preferred foods). Give me a follow on there if you'd like to see frequent nail posts. I'd like to thank everyone for remaining loyal followers, and I'm going to try harder to get back into the swing of things.

First up is Revlon-Sparkle Aplenty. I believe I purchased this one around fall of last year. It's very similar to OPI- Metallic 4 Life, only the silver hexes are somewhat mattified. It is suspended in a black jelly. There are also black hex glitters in this mix. The formula was great on this, and it only needed two coats! 

Indoors without the flash. This is such a great pre-made jelly sandwich in a bottle shade.

Indoors with the flash- if you look carefully you can see some of the black hex glitters. I really like what Revlon has been releasing lately.

This one is an oldie! This is Loreal- Fatigues. I have no idea how old this one is, but judging by the packaging, it looks like early 2000s. I got this one from a lot on ebay. It is a olive-green shimmer. It was absolutely gorgeous and long-lasting. 

The formula on this was a little bit on the thin side, and it needed three coats for even application. 

Here's a shot taken in my car (which I pretty much live in for work). Absolutely stunning! 

This was a nice layering combo. It is Sally Hansen- Multi-Faceted layered over Revlon- Peach Smoothie. Multi-Faceted is a very unique glitter. It was released in the Diamond Strength Jewel Overcoat collection around Spring 2012. It consists of silver, black, and irridescent medium-sized hex glitter.

Here's what it looks like with the flash indoors. You can see all of the different colors in the iridescent hexes. Unfortunately my Seche Vite had a lot of bubbling with this combo, but this is the only complaint I have. 

Here's Revlon- Peach Smoothie by itself with the flash indoors. I believe this only needed two coats. The best thing about this polish was that it was scented! It held true to its name and smelled like a delicious peach smoothie. The scent lasted for the whole two-day span that I wore this mani!

Here's Peach Smoothie without the flash indoors. You can see the subtle hint of shimmer. I really like this peach shade! It's practically nude and so elegant, even though it doesn't exactly match my skin tone. 

The next combo up is ORLY- Sashay My Way layered over Wet n Wild- 450A. Sashay My Way was released as part of the Flash Glam FX collection in summer 2012. It is a glitterbomb for sure! I'm talking so concentrated with glitter that this is only one coat of it! It's filled with gold prismatic medium hexes as well as gold prismatic bar glitters.

Here's a picture taken indoors with the flash. I just love all of the different dimensions of color Sashay My Way has!

Wet n Wild- 450A is definitely an oldie! It's so old that it was before Wet n Wild started giving actual names to their polishes and instead a combo of numbers and letters. I believe I purchased this one from a blog sale. It is a unique shade, almost a light bronze. I am only wearing two coats of it, and although the formula seemed kind of thin, it built up nicely. This picture was taken indoors with the flash.

Indoors without the flash. It kinds of has a mix between a frosty and shimmery finish, but the brushstrokes weren't terrible.

The last combo for this entry is Revlon- Heavenly layered over ORLY- Unlawful. Heavenly is a rather new release and I believe I purchased it around December. It is a pretty close if not exact dupe to Deborah Lippmann's Stairway to Heaven, but I do not own it since I have this one. The names are even similar. This is an ideal layering polish and it's filled with iridescent glitter. 

I only used one coat of Heavenly over Unlawful and it looks amazing! I'm always intrigued by all the different colors shown through iridescent glitters.

Here's ORLY- Unlawful by itself indoors with the flash. It was released in ORLY's Holiday 2012 Naughty or Nice collection. It was practically a one-coater but I added two out of habit. It had a great formula, but I own so many reds so I wasn't really impressed with how unique this shade was. It's just a typical red creme to me.

Indoors without the flash

Revlon- Girly and China Glaze- Fast Track

First I have Revlon-Girly. This is a recent release that has been popping up amongst displays at Rite Aid lately.

Girly definitely lives up to it's name: various shades and sizes of pink and purple glitter suspended in a sheer jelly-pink base!

Although it doesn't look like it in the bottle, Girly is quite sheer. It took three coats to build up to opacity. I absolutely loved the final result!

I used the glue base coat for this, so it peeled right off with ease. I recommend using a regular basecoat if you'd like to wear this longer.

Next up is China Glaze- Fast Track. I also chopped down all of my nails and I'm enjoying how this looks on nubs. Fast Track was released in last spring's Hunger Games collection.

I always thought Fast Track was underwhelming in the bottle, but on the nails I really liked it! It is a tan/taupe color and it is filled with gold shimmer particles!

Indoors without the flash, you can see the gold shimmer. I was very impressed with the formula on this. Smooth application, fast-drying, and it only needed two thin coats.

Indoors with the flash, you can see what the gold shimmer particles look like against the tan/taupe. This is a great neutral shade and it would even be great for a job interview.

Massive Accumulation of Polish!

I figured I would make another post dedicated to the amount of polish that found its way to my house within the past couple weeks.

Here are all of my new bottles huddled together :)

My friend Traci sold me OPI- Glow-ink in the Dark and Boo Berry, I purchased OPI- Hoodoo Voodoo?! off of ebay, and OPI- Black Spotted finally found it's way to me! I purchased that one from a seller in France.

New A-Englands from the promo. Luckily I ordered early in the promo and they were able to ship in the US. I hope they can ship to the US again soon so that I can order more! Here is Lancelot, Dragon, Saint George, Holy Grail (new version), and She Walks in Beauty.

OPI Skyfalls: Moonraker and Live and Let Die, ORLY-Synchro, China Glaze- Jungle Queen, and Sinful Colors- Beau Khaki

New Color Club Halo Hues! Beyond, Over the Moon, Kismet, Eternal Beauty, Miss Bliss, and Cosmic Fate

Chiralitys; Special BTK, Raisin Gein, Bundy Berries, Dahmer Crunch, Bloodshot, Kale, and Katydid

Cult Nails- Scandalous, Sally Hansen- Diamond,  and Nailtini- Frappe

Color Club- Electro-Midnight, Nails Inc- London Town, and Revlon- Hearts of Gold FX

Wet n Wild Saved by the Bell Collection: Pom Pom Kelly, Straight A Jessie, Pin 'Em Slater, Nerd Alert: Screech, Chick Magnet Zack, and Fashionista Lisa

I won a Rescue Beauty Lounge Lot on ebay. Here is Mismas, Scrangie, and Orbis Non Sufficit 

I received these goodies from a Valentine's day swap that I participated in. Here is China Glaze- Awakening and Unpredictable, Savina- Hearts (my first Savina!), OPI- Bling Dynasty, and Essence- Make it Golden

Deborah Lippmann- Almost Paradise and Glitzology- Guardian Angel

For this combo, I layered Glitzology- Guardian Angel over Deborah Lippmann- Almost Paradise. This kind of reminded me of icing on Christmas cookies! I took this picture in a diner because I really liked the lighting.

This was my first time trying a Glitzology polish and it was packed with glitter! I am only wearing one coat of Guardian Angel over Almost Paradise. Guardian Angel had a clear base with gold shimmer, and red, pink, and white matte shards, and pink and white hearts! It was so unique. Glitzology polishes can be found in the Etsy Shop and retail for $8.50.

Here is a picture taken indoors with the flash.

Here is Almost Paradise on it's own. This was part of the Footloose collection during Winter 2011. It a spring green pastel creme. It reminds me of Essie- Navigate Her, but it has more yellow in it.

Here it is with the flash. The formula on this one was streaky; especially with the first coat. The second coat smoothed that out. 

My fiance got me a $200 gift card to Ulta for Christmas, so I went shopping!

Essie- Bonded (via Ebay), and Where's My Chauffeur? 

China Glaze- Swanky Silk, Want My Bawdy, No Plain Jane, and Creative Fantasy

Revlon- Heavenly and Girly and Sation- Pyramid Princess and Starlight Covers (given to me in a swap)

OPI- The Spy Who Loved Me, Goldeneye, Skyfall, and Tomorrow Never Dies

Pretty & Polished- Slime Time, Jessica- Cloud Mine (given to me in a swap), and Layla- CE 54 and CE 53

OPI- Gift Cards for Everyone!, Baby it's "Coal" Outside, and Wooden Shoe Like to Know?

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Revlon Whimsical

This is Revlon- Whimsical. It is a sheer milky blue base with medium blue and pink hexes as well as smaller particles of glitter. Whimsical started popping up in the drug stores earlier this year. At first it was rather difficult to track down, but over time it has become more commonly found.

Although this shade is sheer, I didn't think it was as sheer as others perceived it to be. I am wearing three coats of it, and I probably could have even added another to make the color more bold. A white or light blue would look neat layered under this as a basecoat, but I really enjoy the way glitter looks when it is suspended in a jelly alone. This shade is a pre-made jelly sandwich in a bottle.

This is a very close dupe to Deborah Lippmann- Glitter in the Air. I was just about to purchase that one until I discovered this. Whimsical is a much less expensive alternative and very close!