Fierce Friday: Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers

Fierce Fridays is something fun I want to do for my blog. What I'm going to do is post a fierce polish, stamp-icure or whatever I might come across that I believe is to die for. Now this polish is nowhere near new and has been on a lot of blogs, but I had to have it. I have been dragging my feet on purchasing Deborah Lippmann (because its pretty expensive $16-$20 per bottle), so I chose 4 amazing ones when I was finally ready to and this was one! Today I have Ruby Red Slippers which is fabulous! It has a black jelly base with red regular and hexagonal glitter! The sun was out so I swatched it and ran outside to take pictures so that you can see how amazing it looks on my skin tone in natural light!

It took 3 thin coats to reach opacity. I've seen others say that it was a difficult paint, but I thought it was amazing for it to be a jelly polish that has so much hexi glitter. The formula wasn't thick at all, it doesn't dry to a rough or bumpy finish like some jam packed glitters (its smooth so I used a regular top coat), but you should definitely be careful around the cuticles. Dry time was pretty good which surprised me because jellies usually take a bit more time in my opinion (OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston), but I don't have many jellies so I will find out along the way. Here are a few more pictures from different angles for you:

I hope you enjoyed my Fierce Friday babes!


Kisses
Marketta

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well not quite like Christmas, obviously its not snowing but the weather is rapidly changing. It's been getting pretty cool out and the sun has been in hiding on most days, so I thought I would try a color that I normally would never try. Kleancolor's Winter Wonderland (which can be purchased from Beauty Joint), an icy white silvery (if that's even a word) polish with a rainbow assortment of glitter:



I'm not crazy about this polish, this is part of my being open-minded when it comes to polish because I love it so much. I thought it would be somewhat similar to Deborah Lippmann's Glitter In The Air (not a dupe, just something in that general direction, SIKE) because the polish color looks like a silvery blue in the bottle (but definitely isn't). The brush holds a lot of polish which isn't bad in this case, and its extremely sheer. In the pictures above I painted 3 coats to reach opacity. The formula was fine and easy to paint with. Drying time wasn't bad but it wasn't the fastest either. I would suggest layering this polish instead of wearing it on its own because its rather blah. Clean up kind of sucks because the base color has a lot of shimmer. Hope you enjoyed and have a great Thursday :)

Kisses

Marketta

Zoya's Ivanka

I know that Ivanka by Zoya has popped up many times on other lovely blogs, but I just HAD to have this polish! Ivanka is my first metallic and first green polish. It has an emerald green hue with green and gold micro glitter. In the pictures below I used 2 coats and it was completely opaque. The formula is easy to work with and an easy paint with minimal clean up:

Please excuse the cuticles, I had an accident with the cuticle cutter and pure acetone is making the skin around very dry. They will look better soon I promise, I'm ordering Nfu Oh cuticle remover and stocked back up on my hand lotions and oils :)

Here's a picture with flash so that you can see the gold glitter! I LOVE this polish its so amazing and it will definitely make my fall favorites list.

Kisses
Marketta

Pink Wednesday

Today's Pink Wednesday polish is Kleancolor's Holo Pink. I was really excited when I bought this polish because it would have been my first holo nail polish, but I don't consider this a true holo polish. This polish is amazing, I love this color so much. Pink Holo is a dusty colored pink with a rainbow assortment of micro glitter and it looks amazing on the nails.

I was disappointed that it isn't easily captured by a camera. I took tons of different pictures with and without flash, but nothing worked so you can't see the true color of the polish. It's a bit darker than this and you can REALLY see the different colors of the glitter! I have a few different shots for you so that you can see more:

I tried to get as close as possible so that you can see all the different color glitter but it still wasn't captured.

Polish actually comes out the true color that the bottle shows, this picture is pretty close.

I used Bundle Monster plate 221 and Konad special polish in white for this stamp-icure. Hope you enjoyed!

Kisses

Marketta

You win some, you lose some...

I knew this day would come but I was hoping that it wouldn't happen with one of my favorite colors BLUE! Truth be told blue can be a little touch and go on the nails. In my opinion the shade can either be fab or meant for a kid to wear. That's what happened here with OPI's Teal The Cows Come Home. I bought it at ULTA and it caught my eyes because it has silver micro glitter that you can see in the bottle, and I thought it would have a slight metallic look to it. Fail Mission, that is not the case:

This picture is taken with no flash. If you look at my ring finger you will see a very noticeable brush stroke, there are brush strokes on all my nails but very bad on this one. The application was terrible, the formula was runny, the brush holds a lot of  polish (which isn't always bad, but in this case is), and after 3 coats it still has brush lines and not an even finish. I don't like to put 3 coats on of any polish unless it is to die for and totally worth it, this one wasn't. Here's a few more pictures:

The two pictures above were taken with a flash. I'm just not sold, what do you think?




Kisses
Marketta

My First Stamp-icure!

I finally sat down to give stamping a try. I was a little nervous at first because I didn't want to mess up and have to redo polish coats and that whole process again. Naturally I would try pink first :)  I painted my nails with OPI's La Paz-itively Hot which is an AMAZING hot pink:

It took 3 thin coats to reach opacity. The formula is easy to work with, and has minimal cleanup. Here's a different view:

I took this picture with a flash so that you could see the blue micro glitter that shimmers on the nails. LOVE IT! Next I wanted to jazz it up so I used Konad image plate M65:

I used Konad black special polish to stamp with. When stamping you have to press the stamper on the plate very firm, and roll it evenly but very firmly on your nail to get an even consistent pattern. I messed up on my thumb nail which was the first nail that I did :(  :

But after that one I learned my lesson and got the hang of it and I love it! You'll see plenty of stamping from me!

Not to shabby for my first stamp-icure!


Kisses
Marketta

~COLSED~ Shadow's Nail Art 1 Year Anniversary Giveaway!

I love giveaways and I can't wait to do my own. Today I am sharing Shadow's Nail Art 1 year anniversary giveaway. Click here to enter the giveaway. In this giveaway there are 3 chances to win and the prizes are great:

Prize 1:

OPI Black Shatter

OPI Whats Dune?

Orly Fowl Play

Deborah Lippmann I know what boys like

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

Color Zone Halloween set

Color Club Starry Temptress collection

Prize 2:

China Glaze Mrs. Claus

China Glaze Mistletoe kisses 

Color Zone Purple

Color Zone Black

Color Club Wicked sweet collection

Prize 3:

Pure Ice crackle catwalk

Pure Ice crackle shattered 

Beauty UK midnight minx set 

OPI Crown Me Already!

I just couldn't resist trying this polish as soon as I got home and I am not disappointed! This polish has a clear base with just about every size glitter you can think of:




With flash




With flash




No Flash,  just natural light


Bling Blowwwwwwww! LOVE IT! I used 3 coats of Crown Me Already and 2 coats of Seche Vite so that I could get a smooth finish. It was just to good to be true right? Right! I painted my nails yesterday around 4pm and today by 3pm it chipped :( . A plus is that this nail polish dries very fast, and I do mean completely dry in less than 5 minutes after 3 coats. I used Seche for the sole purpose of getting a smooth finish because this polish has a ruff finish to it. I wash my hands A LOT so that might have had something to do with it but I doubt it. The good thing about this polish is that it doesn't need nail polish remover! When it chipped I just put another fingernail under the chip area and went around the edges and it comes off like an acrylic nail but without the damage. Would I use this polish again, absolutely! I would definitely wear this on a night out, but I would paint my nails no more than 3 hours before leaving the house and not the day before or earlier that day.

What I stubled upon in ULTA

Yesterday I made a long overdue trip to ULTA and they didn't have a few things that I wanted but they had a few things that I really did! Right now I am trying to get a few Halloween collections together so that I can compare who did the best this year. China Glaze, Orly, and Fantasy Makers all had parts of their collections that were sold out :(  (I already have the OPI collection), but I made up for it :)  :

Left to Right: Fantasy Makers by Wet n Wild - Creepy Pumpkin, Purple Potion, and Night Glow (missing Black Magic). OPI Miss Universe Collection - Swimsuit...Nailed It!, Crown Me Already!. China Glaze - Its Alive (I actually didn't want the rest of this Halloween collection).

What made up for Orly being out of their Halloween collection and one of the Fantasy Makers was the OPI polishes! They are the only two that I bought from the Miss Universe collection, but they are the only ones I actually wanted, so that made me VERY happy!

Kisses
Marketta

CLOSED. Aly Loves Lacquer 200th Follower Giveaway!

Yes, I have another giveaway posting today. As you may notice I am new to blogging, so I am just finding out about a lot of things. This giveaway is in celebration of Aly of Aly Loves Lacquer 200th follower and it is great because she is giving away DEBORAH LIPPMANN! Deborah Lippmann is an amazing brand and because of that it comes with a pretty hefty price tag. I for one was very excited about this giveaway because I recently drooled over these colors (which were named after and or designed with celebrities) on the Deborah Lippmann website. Click here to enter this giveaway. Below is a picture of what you have the chance of winning:

The colors (L to R): Sarah Smile, Just Walk Away Renée, Hit Me with Your Best Shot, and Believe

Spellbinding Nails 1000th Follower Giveaway!

A blog that I am following - Spellbinding Nails - is celebrating their 1000th follower by hosting a giveaway. This is by far the BEST giveaway I have see thus far. There are so many things that the winner will get by winning this amazing giveaway. Click here to enter the giveaway. Below is a picture and names of the items that can be won:

 

- Beauty UK Nail Sets - Midnight Minx , Urban Girl & Wild Child ( that's 18 polishes!)

- A set of the New Fab Ur Nail plates.

- 4 metallic Stamping polishes.

- HB Plates 21-40.

- Image plates SdP C02, SdP C07, SdP D07 & SdP D18.

- A pack of Rhinestones.

- Packs of Nail Stickers

- A essence stampy plate, 4 essence liners and a essence stamper and scrapper

OPI Blue My Mind

So I was going through some of my old OPI polishes that I bought a while ago, and I stumbled across a beautiful blue that I couldn't beleive I haven't worn yet. I didn't think that it could get any better than OPI's Russian Navy, and Essie's Smooth Sailing but this is added to my top favorite blues. Blue My Mind is a royal blue that is just to die for. It is a very easy paint with, only needing 2 coats and it dries FAST!

Isnt it GORG?! I love how it looks on my skintone! Let me show you a few different angles.

And this is with NO top coat, it just shines so beautifully on its own. I wanted to stretch this beauty for as long as possible, so I decided to try another blue that I recently purchased to layer over it!

This is Kleancolor's Vegas Night. LOVE THIS GLITTER! I tried it on its own but it dries very slow and still doesn't reach opacy after 3-4 coats.

Isn't the glitter amazing?! LOVE IT! It was a very inexpensive buy at Beauty Joint.
Kisses
Marketta

CLOSED. Polish Vixen is having a giveaway!

Polish Vixen is one of the first blogs that I started following, and I love her blog. She always has different designs to show and she is a consistent blogger. This giveaway is in celebration of her 200th follower! You can enter the giveaway here:

The giveaway is from 9/10 and goes until midnight 9/30. Please complete entry form once, you have up to eight entries in the form. Please only U.S. residents. I will email the winner once chosen :)



Prize 1 The Pinks: Sinful Cream Pink & Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink



Prize 2 The Purples:

Sinful Frenzy & Sally Hansen Purple Potion

Each prize also comes with a nail file, OPI Avojuice Coconut Melon hand & body lotion, & OPI Top Coat as shown below.

My first Pink Wednesday! China Glaze Purple Panic

A day dedicated to my favorite... PINK. For my first Pink Wednesday I wanted to do something very bright. I know what your thinking, "Purple" Panic is NOT pink but it so is! I didn't look at the name when I grabbed the bottle off the display at ULTA, I just thought it was a pretty hot pink. When I finally got around to trying it I looked at the name and thought maybe it was mislabeled. The color is also a neon, which I have never bought. I also had no idea that neon's dry matte! Here goes:

I can't begin to explain to you how hard it is to capture the true color of this polish. I tried indoor and outdoor. This is the best out of 20 pictures I took. The brush holds A LOT of polish, so you will have to be careful about that. This could have been a 1 coater if the first coat didn't have such bad streaks. This is 2 coats (I messed up on the middle finger) which turned out good, but it needs a patient hand to paint with. I didn't have that, so I will try this again at a later date.

I didn't care for the matte this time around, maybe next time when I really take my time. I applied 1 coat of Seche Vite and OMG this color is cray cray! I LOVED IT! I really wish that the true color would have shown because you would be blown away.




Kisses
Marketta

Yay, another delivery!

So yesterday I posted a few pictures of new additions to my small growing collection. Most of my polishes are OPI and I want to try as many other brands as possible, and not be so limited. My delivery today is from two brands that I have not yet tried Kleancolor and Zoya. Zoya I have been dying to try but didn't know where to start. Since I didn't know where to start I decided to start outside of my comfort zone. I'm not big on red AT ALL, I just don't care for the color, the same with gold and yellow. Here is what I chose:

From left to right Zoya's: Purity, Pippa, Sooki, and Ivanka. I am in love with the show True Blood so that is why I chose this particular red. I really wanted a blood red for my first red polish and I definitely think I got that.

From left to right Kleancolor's: Winter Wonderland, Holo Pink, Silver Lining, Vegas Night, Chunky Silver.

From left to right Kleancolor's: Concrete Gray, Metallic Purple, Metallic Yellow, Metallic Red, Wild Rose.




All the colors that I chose were selected randomly so that I could have variety, except for Wild Rose and Vegas night with are pink and blue lol. I wanted to try a holographic nail polish so I chose pink as my first. I can't wait to share with you how these colors look on my nails :)


Kisses
Marketta

Mail Time!

I just checked the mail and I am super excited! Over the past couple of months I have seen the name Ciate pop up so I was curious. Ciate is a UK brand that was founded and created by celebrity manicurist Charlotte Straughan. One thing that caught my eye was the bottle, isn't if fab? So naturally since I am on the hunt for the perfect pink and perfect blue, I started with 2 pinks.

On the left is Cupcake Queen which is a hot pink cream polish that has a slight shimmer to it. In the bottle the shimmer has a blue hue to it, so it will be interesting to see what it looks like on my nails. On the right is Knickerbockerglory which is a fuschia pink, and it is also a cream polish.

Spookettes is OPI's Halloween 2011 collection that I really wanted to try. I didn't want full size bottles so I decided to try the minis. From left to right: He's My Boo is your basic regular orange. Mummy Knows Best is white (I already own Alpine Snow, another reason for going mini). I Only Date Werewolves is black (I also own a black by OPI). Zom-Body To Love is a dark green which glows in the dark. The last polish I actually tried to buy in the regular 0.5 oz but it only came in a duo with black shatter which I already own. The week of Halloween I am going to have fun with all 4 colors and try different manicures, and I can't wait!


Kisses
Marketta

OPI Rumple's Wiggin'

OK so this is my real Tuesday post! I was very busy all day yesterday and by the time I was able to post I missed the Monday mark by just a few minutes. Rumple's Wiggin' by OPI is from the Shrek collection that came out last Spring. It is my first polish that I have bought in years, and I purchased in because Khloe Kardashian went on and on and on about how much she loved this polish, so I thought I would give it a try.

Rumple's Wiggin' is a lilac cream polish. The brush holds A LOT of polish, so you will have to be careful about that. This is 2 coats with a very easy application. I love this polish and its a very easy paint with. This color is pretty hard to capture the true shade of, but the picture above is pretty spot on (or the closest that I could get).




Kiss Kiss
Marketta

Hello Babes! Welcome to my blog!



I thought I would start off with something simple and sweet for my first post, so why not start off with the first 2 polishes I ever purchased! I purchased Naked Tip and Pretty Miss from MAC in 2004, back when I only put polish on my toes. So here goes...



OK so here is my blank canvas. I have Sally Hansen Maximum Growth on my nails which is what I have worn for years when my nails have no color on them.



This is almost 4 coats of Naked Tip. This is a sheer nude polish that would be nice to wear on a job interview, or when you just want something extremely simple and basic on your nails. The formula is very thin, runny, and still after almost 4 coats has very noticeable streaks. Its a sheer polish so I knew that it would never be opaque, so I am not holding that against this polish. However the polish does dry in good time, but the streaks I just cannot do.

This is Pretty Miss and it also is almost 4 coats. The color is a very light pink that could be worn for a french manicure. This formula is thin and runny, and I could not get opacity. I am very disappointed in these polishes especially for the price tag. But because of the price tag I am going to give them one more try with extreme patience and a lot of time on my hands to see if I get different/better results. Please excuse my messy cuticles, they have since been properly moisturized and cut :)