NOTW/E - CM's Midnight Imposter & Sation's Silver Glitter

Well, my bizarre foray into glitters continues on. I'm going on a road-trip this weekend. I went w/ a glitter b/c, in my experience, they can go the longest w/out chipping.



2 Coats Midnight Imposter on all fingers except pinky. Navy blue base w/ silver and light blue glitter.
And b/c I'm a habitual skittler, 3 Coats Silver Glitter on pinky.
A thin coat of SV smoothed both of these out.

Mignight Imposter applied very well and is kind of a kissing cousin to SSN.

Enjoy your weekend!

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China Glaze's Wagon Trail and CM's Persian Jewels

This was my NOTD. I guess I'm on a glitter kick now. Huh.

I really like Persian Jewels but idk if it's such a good layering glitter. It's pretty dense. This was just one coat layered over Wagon Trail. Good news for building opacity though!

Essie's MAY, middle and ring fingers.


(Flash)


(No Flash)

Wagon Trail does not hold up well to a matte top coat. Much of it's lovely glow is lost, the shimmer is too subtle. It's only visible if it is directly in the sun.

I do think the mattified Persian Jewels looks pretty neat.

Interestingly, I did dishes after dinner and the manicure held up very well except for the nails w/ Persian Jewels and MAY. Wagon Trail + MAY was fine, as was Persian Jewels w/out matte top coat.

*shrugs* Go figure.

read more "China Glaze's Wagon Trail and CM's Persian Jewels"

A couple of green swatches (Orly Enchanted Forest, CM Night Beat & Misa Toxic Seduction) and another Essie/Orly/Nubar matte comparison

Good-ish news about the article I co-authored! The professor heard back from the journal triage (like an emergency room...) and though it was not accepted for review as was, the editors did want a shorter version of it that has a chance of being sent out for review. This is, of course, not any guarantee of publication, especially not in a journal as popular as the one that the article was submitted to, but it's the first hurdle. Apparently, my contributions were useful -- yay! All I wanted was to be helpful and it would seem that I was. To celebrate, here's some swatches of my favorite nail polish color, green!

Orly Enchanted Forest

Everyone's seen this one a thousand times already but it bears further showing because it's a lovely polish that was opaque in two coats (the picture shows three because I do three automatically) and applied super smoothly.

Misa Toxic Seduction

In theory, I like this polish. Nice dark green base with dark green shimmer. But somehow, it felt kinda boring to me. Like, the color is pretty but not gorgeous. It's kinda interesting but not stunning. It felt like one big "eh" to me... for no good reason, really.

Misa Toxic Seduction with matte topcoats

From left to right:

Index: non-mattefied (no topcoat)

Middle: Orly Matte Top, makes a slightly boring polish to me even more boring by making it just a bit duller (but still kinda sparkly in the sun)

Ring: Nubar V for Men, mattefies but still retains a bit of reflectiveness and the color of the polish.

Pinky: Essie Matte About You, mattefies more than Nubar V BUT makes it really dull and even darkens the color a little bit.

CM Night Beat

I enjoy my inexpensive polishes. I really do. This is a good example of one. It looks like it could be dupe-y to OPI At Your Quebec and Call (which apparently is HTF). Similar gorgeous olive-y shade and sometime when I'm not lazy, maybe I'll pull out AYQC and make a direct comparison (since CM Night Beat is fairly easy to obtain). The difference as far as I can tell is that the brushstrokes are more obvious in Night Beat, Night Beat is greener where AYQC is more golden-toned, and AYQC has subtle bronze shimmer that catches sunlight. Overall, AYQC is brighter but I think I like Night Beat better. (...not about to de-dupe by AYQC though.)

For more matte topcoat comparisons, click on the "comparison" label below.

Also, coming soon, as per reader request... After swatching LA Girl Disco Brites Hustle (and loving it!), I decided I had to get a couple more Disco Brites. I got five or six more, which I hope to swatch sometime in the coming week!

read more "A couple of green swatches (Orly Enchanted Forest, CM Night Beat & Misa Toxic Seduction) and another Essie/Orly/Nubar matte comparison"

Gray and Purple

When doing a mani, I am incapable of using just one color. Unless I'm doing a nude mani (i.e. going for understated), I am a chronic skittler.

My mani today has 5 different polishes all shades of light purple (my favorite nail polish color on earth) and gray.

Thumb - Jade's Serenity

This one is my least favorite on my mani. It's quite pink and unexpectedly frosty. Also the brush was all frayed and gross. Color me displeased.
3 coats.

Index - CM's Lunar Plains

I saw this on Flinty spam post on MUA and I said, "I MUST HAVE."
Notice the subtle shimmer! Lovely.
3 coats.

Middle - OPI's Done Out in Deco

I'm strangely underwhelmed. I think it's cause I wasn't crazy about the application. It was a touch thick for my liking. It wasn't horrible, but I expect better from OPI. However, I like this color better than CG's Agent Lavender.
2 coats.

Ring - CG's Recycle

Ugh - am I the only one that is consistently pleased w/ China Glaze's application? My god.
2 coats, smooth as butter.

Pinky - Jade's Thinking of you

Another sneaky frosty. The application however is quite superior to Serenity.
3 coats.

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Cheap thrills: Quirius (Part III) and Diamond Cosmetics swatches

For $2 and $3 each and non-inflated shipping (around $4-5 for about 10), you can't really beat Diamond Cosmetics and Quirius for getting a decent polish fix at a reasonable rate.

Quirius Autumn Bronze

Here's my issue with Quirius. I love the colors of the cremes and the applicability of their shimmers. It's not that the applicability of the cremes are terrible nor are the colors of the shimmers bad. They just leave a bit to be desired sometimes...

Quirius Love is Blue (on ring and pinky; CM Maiden Kiss are on index and middle)

Bright cobalt blue. Easier to apply than the other cremes.

Quirius Paris Nights

It looks amazing in the bottle, like it will be a dark dusky blue with purple shimmer but it becomes flatter on the nail.

Quirius Jamaican Dream with Diamond Cosmetics Moonglo (glow in the dark) on top

Diamond Cosmetics Moonglo is actually sheer so the color you see here is entirely the Quirius. And yes, Moonglo does glow in the dark.

Diamond Cosmetics Midnight Passion

Dark blue with blue and purple shimmer.

Diamond Cosmetics Yukon Gold

I really don't like most bronzes or golds on my skin... so I compulsively buy them to try to find one that works. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that this works, I really like it: it's so very rich, like molten gold.

Diamond Cosmetics Tropical Dream

Bright, shimmery, summery, yummy.

Diamond Cosmetics Plum Pie in the Sky

Dark rich eggplant creme. Gotta love 'em.

read more "Cheap thrills: Quirius (Part III) and Diamond Cosmetics swatches"