Color Club Wild at Heart

There is so little to say about a polish this amazing. After filing down my nails, I was craving something darker, and I realized I had not worn this polish in a long time and I don't think I've ever posted on my blog. Wild at Heart is a beautiful purple holo, I got this version when the collection came out a couple years ago. I'm not sure if there are "dud" versions of this color like there apparently are of Revvvolution, Worth the Risque  and Fashion Addict. I don't have too much to say, as this polish is pretty close to perfect. It has that perfectly starry rainbow holo going on, the purple is deep and rich, the formula is flawless (this was 2 coats but one is pretty decent coverage), and it dried so shiny. Seche Vite didn't dull the holo for me (though I don't usually find that it does).

Here she is, in all her glory:

If you don't have this color, you simply must. Color Club makes excellent polish, and this is no exception. Oh Holo, how I love thee.  You are always a special treat to wear on my nails.

Neon Leopard

I'm super annoyed with myself. I had a whole post written and set up about Essie Absolutely Shore, and my photos have disappeared. They're not on my camera, hard drive or Photobucket. *seethes* Anyway, I'll share another manicure that I wore this weekend for general partying, swimming and lazing at Grand Beach north of Winnipeg.

I take no credit for this one, but people on the MakeupAlley nail board have been trying it (I apologize, but I'm not sure who it originated with, but to you--kudos! Good idea!), so I decided to give it a whirl. It reminds me of something from my punk rock teenager-dom mixed with the Lisa Frank-dom of my elementary school years. All of this is kinda awesome.

Here's my rendition:

This is after 3 days of wear, so excuse the growth and lack of shine. I lacked a clean, crisp white, but I used American Apparel Cotton instead. The image plate is the ever-ubiquitous m57 (the first plate I ever bought), with Konad black Special Polish. The spots are all Color Club neons: 220 Volts (blue), Yell-Oh! (yellow), Pucci-licious (purple), Screamin' Fuchsia (pink), Limelight (green) and You got Soul-ar (orange--this has glitter, I couldn't find my basic neon orange, I must've left it in NY). I put those on with an ancient L'Oreal dotting tool I had lying around. Despite Seche Vite sorta smudging the black (and macro being unforgiving--it makes my clean up job look super shitty), this was definitely fun to wear, and my mother-in-law was pretty much freaking out about it, which was cute.

Hope your weekend went well! Anyone out there have any other great Konad ideas? I have like 90-something image plates (uhhm, yes, I have a problem), so hit me up with ideas. It's a creative wasteland over here.

The return & 16 manicures!

Hello readers, if there are any of you still out there!

I disappeared for a few months here, and with good reason: I was writing my Master's thesis. I thought I might be able to keep up with my blogging, but with two jobs and various life-craziness-health-related things going on, it just wasn't possible. But: on Friday, I turned in my thesis, and now I'm trying to remember how to resume a normal life! I just turned 25 in October, and finishing my Master's degree is a big deal for me. I finished my Bachelor's in 3 years (I was already a year ahead in high school, too), and after that I sort of lost my way. I turned down a full scholarship to do grad work at Emory University (after driving all the way down there with my stuff, no less). I took some time off and went back to the University where I got my Bachelor's. I did 3 semesters of grad coursework and then... never wrote my thesis. The university gave me a lot of trouble, they kept "forgetting" to notify me about course sign up and advisement.... and I inadvertently took a (calender) year off. This made it harder to get the project going, as to do your thesis it's good to have a current relationship with a professor, so they can serve as your advisor. I seriously considered abandoning my grad work. I was 23, burnt out on school, and feeling drunk on freedom. But... in the end, I opted to go back and finish, and I'm so glad that I did. It was a huge accomplishment, and I graduate on December 5th (finally!). I've considered going back to do Ph.d work, but that will be for another time in my life, I think. My Master's is in English, my focus being American literature, specifically Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Over the months, I did manage to take a few pictures... My nails have been of varying length over this time, tending towards the nubbin side of things... they're still kind of finicky. I hauled a lot too: Burlesque, NARS vintage, RBL sale, ChG holiday, and lots of Old OPI's that I've been acquiring... But anyway... what I have to show you isn't representative of everything, to say the least, but it's something.

Random spam for the last few months:

OPI Wing It!

Barielle June Bug (wore this for 4th of July... that's how old this is!!)

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

Sephora OPI Midnight Mambo

China Glaze Foxy

OPI Diva of Geneva

China Glaze Midnight Mission

China Glaze GR8

Streetwear FX Flash (green) (awful pic, sorry... hard to capture)

Borghese Nero Magico (seriously gorgeous... underrated)

MAC Bad Fairy

OPI Show Bring on the Bling

NARS Midnight Express (I think this was day 2 or 3, looking a bit worn)

Color Club Pucci-licious

Orly Galaxy Girl

My Current Nails: China Glaze Zombie Zest (a bit late, I missed Halloween!)

The varying lengths are kind of amusing. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things here! Not sure I'm up to posting every day or anything, but I'd like to keep it up :-)

Thanks for looking!!

Color Club Rebel Debutante & Konad M78

Funny that this is the first Color Club polish that I've featured on my blog, because I have half a Helmer drawerful of them! So, if anybody would like to see a Color Club polish, do ask me because I just may have it (especially any of the older neons, etc.). This was the only Color Club polish I bought from the newest release, which was a couple of collections at once. I'm lucky enough, being in Albany, to have one nail-related luxury. We have a beauty supply that stocks Color Club, both their core colors and their collections. They're not terribly overpriced either. A bit more than online but not too bad.

Oddly enough, a couple years ago, I bought my first Color Clubs (four neons) at a flea market! There was a beauty/cosmetics booth. I paid $5 each for them, which I now know is way overpriced but then I didn't care because I'd never seen polish so bright in my whole life! Anyway, I've always been pleased with their quality and color selection. Rebel Debutante is no exception. It's a weird neon: bright, but not blindingly so. Neon (dries a bit matte) but creamy and gorgeous with topcoat. This color reminds me of a slightly amped up version of OPI's Gargantuan Green Grape. The formula was great and 2 coats was all I needed for opacity. It dried well also.

I slapped on a creme because I was really in the mood for Konading today, and this color harkened me back to my days as a teenaged punk rocker. I wore mostly black and dark purple (occasionally red) on my super-short bitten nails, but I like to think I would've loved this on me back then. So I Konaded with the most punk rock thing I could think of (that Konad made a plate of, that is): leopard print. Actually, I didn't use the popular one from M57 that most people use, I used the mixed leopard/zebra one from M78, which is a newer plate. It worked really well (I used Konad Black Special Polish) and stamped so clearly! I loved it, it felt kinda badass :-)

Loved it! I would've worn it longer but I had a slight break so I had to take it off later that night to file down (left ring finger, boo!). Anyway, I've babbled quite a bit tonight, we'll be back tomorrow with more!

BB Couture For Nails Paradise

This is part of BB Couture's Hand of Hope collection which benefited the Haiti relief. Unfortunately, this was the only polish in the collection that appealed to me. It is the lightest taupe that I've ever seen and I think it's awesome. It's not off-white or beige, it's definitely got some weird brown/mauve tones to it, but they're so slight. It also has some gold shimmer which is more apparent in the bottle than it is on the nail, but that's OK. It still works. I really like this polish, I'm so glad I bought it while I had the chance (the collection was discontinued).

It reached full opacity in 2 coats, applied and dried well and was super shiny with Seche Vite. I had a few more tiny breaks/catches while I was wearing Sinful's Happy Ending, so these are my slightly revised shorties. I'm digging them, and they'll grow back soon.

Photographic evidence:

I really love BB Couture, and I can't wait 'til I can afford to expand my collection a bit more. I'm on a semi-no-buy until Winnipeg (2 weeks) so I gotta be good. I made an exception today because I had some exciting news: I got my thesis project approved and will finally finish my MA! Wahooooo!! It also means I actually have to begin work, so maybe less time for blogging. In celebration, I went to the local beauty supply and picked up some CND Cuticle Eraser, the huge one for $5.95. I think it must be mismarked, as the small tube is $10.50 at Trade Secret. I made a mental note to go buy more before they realize it's wrong. I also got a look at the new Color Club collections and I was a bit meh. But I grabbed Rebel Debutante because it seems like a neato dusty lime creme, if there is such a thing. I also grabbed a CND Effect in Crimson Sparkle, which I threw over Paradise. It's VERY awesome and these pictures don't show it. A goldy red shimmer, with large particles... gorgeous. I didn't like any of the other effects that they had (only 6... not sure of these others but they weren't that great).

Here's a couple pics:

In this one, you can sort see the sparkle but I couldn't photograph the color. Look at the bottle between my ring & pinky fingers. It's like that, super-super gorgeous. Opalescent in the best way.

Here you can see the shimmer particles better, if not true to color.

Thanks for looking!

BB Couture For Nails Joker, Konad Plate M78

My fiance bought me this polish! I showed it to him and we both thought it was pretty awesome looking. I looked at quite a few swatches online before we got it, but when it came in the mail I was ever-so-slightly disappointed. Alas, in real life, this polish lacks the brilliant blue flash I thought it would have. It's there, it's just not as dramatic. And dramatic was what I wanted. That aside, it is pretty wonderful otherwise. A medium blue/purple, reminds me of the Joker's suit in the cartoon version of Batman. I'm pretty much in love with BB Couture's formula and their interesting polishes.

This is 2 coats:

Then, I got bored (and snowed in), so I threw on a Konad over it. I used one of the new plates, M78, and Color Club's Worth the Risque (a pretty silver holo) for the stamp. I love Color Club polishes, and I'm lucky enough to have a beauty supply nearby that sells them and carries the new collections.

It looked pretty nifty, got a compliment from the girl at Sally's today while I was out picking up Instant Artificials. I'm about 3/4 down my bottle, but I had a $5 coupon that expires in a few days so I picked up a extra. I'm in super-hate with Sally's right now. Literally the week after I renewed my card, they raised the prices... I mean the 2 $5 coupons for renewing do cover the cost of the card but now you only save like a buck on Seche and IA... I dunno. I doubt I'll be shopping there much this year, except for essentials... Anyway. BB Couture's Joker! I like it.

Thanks for lookin'!