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

A Week of China Glaze

I wore some China Glazes this week. First up is Twilight. This one is an oldie. I found it dustying. It has an older white label, but I was unable to find out when it was released. It is still fairly to easy to find for retail price on Ebay. 

Twilight is a berry-colored shimmer. It doesn't really fit the name Twilight for me. My mind immediately things of dark colors, or even the Twilight franchise. 

For it being an older formula, it applied very nicely in two smooth coats and didn't take long to dry at all. The formula definitely smelled like it wasn't 3-free.

Here's a picture taken indoors without the flash

And one taken with the flash.

Next is I'm With the Lifeguard. This one was a more recent release as it was part of last summer's Summer Neons collection.

I'm With the Lifeguard is a super vibrant neon green! I'm a huge fan of greens, and I was excited to get my hands on this one.

I'm With the Lifeguard has a subtle shimmer effect to it. It's somewhat difficult so see just because the bright green almost blinds you.

Application was pretty nice for a neon. This took three coats and dried to a satin-finish.

I just had to take a picture of it indoors with the flash because the flash does magical things to neon polishes.

This combo is China Glaze- Techno layered over Wet n Wild- Wet Cement.

Techno was originally released in the 2009 Speciality Colors collection but then re-promoted in the Spring 2012 Electropop collection. This is when I picked my bottle up.

It is filled with medium pieces of prismatic silver holographic glitter, and also has some tiny pieces of glitter.

Application was very simple and it only required one coat.

I used Wet n Wild- Wet Cement as the base color. It is a nice muddy-slate colored creme. It is part of the current Megalast line and it is easily accessible in drugstores. I was blown away with the application of this. The Megalast bottles come with a large brush, and it surprisingly conforms to the shape of my nails pretty well. Two thin coats of Wet Cement was all that I needed for a flawless finish.

Here's Wet Cement with the flash.

Last is China Glaze- Cast a Spell. This one was released for last year's Wicked Halloween collection.

Cast a Spell is a dark green shimmer- almost like a dark olive.

The shimmer in this is gorgeous because it's almost like a golden green. This is what I would consider a "vampy" green.

Indoors without the flash, you can see the golden green shimmer more. It only required two coats.

Here's a picture with the flash.

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