OPI Muppets Layering: Excuse Moi! over Pepe’s Purple Passion (matted)

I love how this turned out!!

1 coat Seche Rebuild (base)
2 coats OPI – Pepe’s Purple Passion
1 coat OPI – Excuse Moi!
1 coat Essie – Matte About You (matte topcoat)

Confession: I HEART the Muppets
Confession 2: I haven’t seen the movie yet:(
Confession 3: But I do have all the Muppets polishes 🙂

Pepe’s Purple Passion is an oddly gritty, thickish polish that isn’t really purple.  It’s more burgundy but I can forgive it for all of its weaknesses because of the name, lol.  It’s actually not a very easy polish to apply but I think if you thinned it a bit and had a ton of patience, you can make it work.  I have a ton of patience, so it wasn’t terrible:)  Mel reviewed Excuse Moi here.  It’s an awesome glitter.

This layering combo was gorgeous without the matting (forgot to take a picture) but matting it brought it to a new level of sophistication.  What do you think? 🙂

Wet n Wild Color Icon – Rockin’ Rubies

Another gorgeous Ice baby polish for you today…

1  coat Seche Rebuild (base)
1 coat Wet n Wild Wild Shine – Red Red
2 coats Wet n Wild Color Icon – Rockin’ Rubies
1 coat Gelous (glitter tamer)
1 coat Seche Vite (top)

This one is not as dense as Back Alley Deals or Believe Me, It’s Real but still a pretty glitter with easy application.  I layered about 2 coats over a Wet n Wild red called Red Red that regularly retails for 99 cents.

More under the cut…

Revlon – Whimsical !!! (over OPI – Planks A Lot)

1 coat Seche Rebuild (base)
2 coats OPI – Planks A Lot
2 coats Revlon – Whimsical
1 coat Essie – Good to Go! (top)

Revlon definitely wins brand of the year for this one.   Those of you that know me know that my biggest lemming of all time is Deborah Lippmann’s Glitter in the Air.  There’s something about that cotton candy-like light blue and pink hex glitter (with blue and silver micro glitter) floating in milky blue base that makes me drool.  I could look at swatches of it alllll day.   What doesn’t make me drool is the cost of one Deborah Lippmann polish ($18-$20).  I know they’re worth it, but I was waiting for a sale to happen (ANYTHING) and it just wasn’t going happening in my area.  When I first heard about Whimsical being a GiTA dupe, I knew this had to be mine!!

More, more, more under the cut…

Wet n Wild Color Icon – Believe Me, It’s Real

1  coat Seche Retain (base)
1 coat Essie – Sexy Divide
1.5 coats Wet n Wild Color Icon – Believe Me, It’s Real
1 coat Wet n Wild Color Icon  – Back Alley Deals (ring accent nail)
1 coat Gelous (glitter tamer)
1 coat Seche Vite (top)

*cue Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby*

*whispers* Ice Ice baby!

The song was stuck in my head EVERY.TIME I walked into a Walgreens.  The search for Wet n Wild’s Ice Baby collection was long and hard (like most awesome Wet n Wild collections) but this was worth it. I’d do it all over again if it meant the end result were these gorgeous polishes.

More under the cut!!!

Mattese Elite Crackalacquer – Deep Purple

1 coat Seche Rebuild
3 coats Mattese Elite – Intoxicating (magenta shimmer)
2 coats Mattese Elite – Passion (glitter)
1 coat Gelous
1 coat Seche Vite
1 coat Mattese Elite Crackalacquer – Deep Purple
1 coat Seche Vite

I had a very Mattese Elite Thanksgiving holiday which is why there’s so many layers.  I literally did not have time to do my nails again after I had on Passion. It was an extraordinarily busy holiday, and if I can offer some advice: don’t offer to host Thanksgiving… ever! lol

But Thanksgiving is an awesome holiday and the Ravens were playing that night so adding on this deep PURPLE Crackalacquer on top of the many layers I had seemed logical.  Honestly, even though there are so many layers, it didn’t really feel abnormally heavy or thick.

I know the crackle polish trend is heading south, but if your nail polish is chipping and you don’t have time for a full manicure, buck the trend and slap on some crackalcquer!  The effect is always cool. Seriously, how does it work?!?  How does it separate and make your nails look like a dinosaur egg?!!  lol  I actually love how this polish didn’t crackle toooo much so it looked like a solid purple with a hint of glitter peeking out in some angles.

My favorite thing to layer under any crackle polish is glitter, of course.  Mattese Elite just came out with some good ones *wink*  😉  Crackling with this polish requires a medium thick coat, and after a few minutes like magic, it crackles.  The crackle itself dries matte so a shiny top coat is a must on top of it all. 🙂

Deep Purple Crackalacquer is new crackle polish by Mattese Elite.  You can pick up Mattese Elite online, or at any Ricky’s NYC location for $5.99.

Mattese Elite Seductive Winter Wonderland – Passion

Here’s my purple glitter! (I really love purple if you couldn’t tell)

So at first this seems like your standard super dense glitter.

1 coat Seche Retain
3 coats Mattese Elite – Intoxicating
2 coats Mattese Elite – Passion
1 coat Gelous
1 coat Seche Vite

That is, until I turned my kitchen lights on (I have bright kitchen lights) and washed my hands…

More under the cut…..

Mattese Elite Seductive Winter Wonderland – Intoxicating

I’m usually the purple person so I really wanted Intoxicating because I thought it’d be purple. WRONG, it’s actually magenta, with slight blue/pink shimmer that isn’t really visible to the naked eye.  At first when I put this on, it felt LOUD because I’m not used to a jewel toned magenta but it’s probably good for me to be out of my comfort zone every once in a while.

1 coat Seche Retain
3 coats Mattese Elite – Intoxicating
1 coat Poshe top coat

More, including a better look at the blue/pink shimmer under the cut…

Nails Inc. – Houses of Parliament

1 coat Seche Retain (base)
1 thin coat of Essie – Sexy Divide
1 thick coat of Nails Inc. – Houses of Parliament
1 coat INM – Out the Door (top coat)
1 coat Seche Vite (top coat) … yes, 2 top coats.

I have a confession… I have an issue with $16 polishes.  Especially $16 polishes that are .33 oz.!!  As a huge nail polish fan, I’ve accepted the 8 dollars Essies, the 8.50 OPIs, but at least those are .5 oz.!  When you want to charge me more and give me less, maaaan I just have to really love you to buy it.

This was absolutely the case for Houses of Parliament.  I fell in love with this polish first from the swatches online.  As you all know, I am a HUGE Baltimore Ravens fan and this color could not capture the team colors (purple and black) more perfectly.  I justified it that way, plus, the magnetness make it worth more, right??

Tips and more under the cut!

Essie – As Gold As It Gets (the new gold glitter from the Luxeffects 2011 collection!)

Just to get this post up, I had to take off Shine of the Times after a little less than a week.  The sacrifices I make for this blog! haha.  But let’s just admit it: we saw the Cosmoprof 2011 preview for the Essie Luxeffects 2011 collection and were like OMG ESSIE FLAKIE!!! (referring to Shine of the Times) and then you looked at the others, and the second that caught your eye was probably that gold one.  We know it’s probably nothing we haven’t already seen but the idea of Essie glitters is exciting, and who doesn’t love a gold glitter?  I purchased both of these on the same day, they were together – you could say I struck gold 🙂 (yes I just about fainted from excitement the day I got them)

1 coat Seche Retain (base)
2 coats Essie – Decadent Diva (red in the bottle, practically brown on the nail)
2 coats Essie – As Gold As It Gets (gold glitter)
1 coat Essie – Good to Go! (top)

This, while not as special as Shine of the Times is pretty freaking awesome.  It’s a gold fleck glitter.   I hesitate to call it a flakie because I feel like a true flakie should be kinda holo and glow-y (like SotT) but the flecks are of various sizes and shapes, which are similar traits you see in a flakie.

More under the cut!!

Essie – Shine of the Times (the ESSIE FLAKIE glitter!!!)

First of all, YES THIS IS THE REAL ESSIE FLAKIE glitter polish that you (and I) drooled over in those Cosmoprof 2011 previews. (If anyone important is reading this, I want my invite next year please!)  This is Essie’s Shine of the Times, part of the Luxeffects collection coming out later this year 2011 for the holidays.  Shine of the Times is an iridescent flakie glitter nail polish that looks best when layered over dark colors (though I’m sure it works on all kinds of colors, just need to experiment).

It is AMAZING!!  I can’t even begin to describe the feelings that I have surrounding this polish.  It makes me realize I really need to get a life, but wow, this polish is truly  stunning in every sense of the word.  I actually got nervous writing this post because I  was afraid I wouldn’t do this polish justice.  It is just that freaking beautiful.  And looking at my pictures, I still don’t think I did this enough justice.  I did my best though!

I layered 1 coat (JUST 1!!) over Essie’s Sexy Divide:

1 coat Seche Rebuild (basecoat)
2 coats Essie – Sexy Divide (dark purple)
1 coat Essie – Shine of the Times
1 coat Essie – Good to Go! (topcoat)

MUCH more under the cut!