Taxi Cab Nails: with Cover Bands – Sticks and Stones

I’ve been sick as a dog this week, which mainly means being curled up watching Netflix and painting my nails trying not to sound like I’m dying of consumption (I know, I’m starting off on a real upper!). But that meant I had time to sit around and think about what to start back on the blog with and I decided on doing a taxi themed mani! Something a little New York, even though I usually am more likely to be cheap and take the subway or call up a gypsy cab… Anyway!

I am in love with Sticks and Stones. I probably use it at least 3 times a month, and I always get rave comments when I wear it. The yellow I used is some random bottle I picked up at a beauty store on Flatbush, but it’s probably my favorite yellow ever. The brand is called “NK Nail Enamel” and the color is Amarillo. Formula is amazing; a two coater for coverage, but no hassle at all! and it’s YELLOW, not a neon yellow or a yellow leaning red or white. Why are good yellows so hard to find? haha. If I can find it again, it’s going to end up in Mel’s next care package.

Overall, I think I hit pretty close to my inspiration, don’t you?

I’m not sure where NK – Amarillo can be found, but Sticks and Stones can purchased at NinjaPolish.com for $9. (expect to see it a few more times on here!) She also has the great feature where you can get email notifications for restocks, so sign up to keep tabs on it if you can’t score it immediately!

China Glaze- Dress Me Up w/ Essie- A Cut Above

I have many mixed feelings about this manicure. Dress Me Up was one of the colors from the Colours From The Capitol collection I was most excited about, a brownish rose color that’s right up my street in terms of an office friendly polish. And A Cut Above was second to last on the list of polishes I would buy from the Luxeffects collection (after its silver glitter sister). However, I’m left unsure on how I feel about DMU on its own, but really like it with ACA. So much so that I needed a reminder from Gina about how much of a PITA it is to remove glitter to keep from doing a full mani with ACA.

Dress Me Up is a brownish leaning rose-pink creme. I rarely say this, but I found this formula to be frustrating. It’s runny and takes a lot of patience to apply to the nail. Because it pooled in the crevices, cleanup also took longer. I like the color on my skin tone, and it is definitely an office appropriate color. This is two coats.

I added A Cut Above after looking at DMU on its own for an hour or so. I never would have bought this glitter myself, but I was surprised to find myself semi-excited to get this bottle in my March Teen Vogue Birchbox. I decided to test an accent nail, and found I really liked the combination! It’s just the right touch of sparkle to a neutral color. It’s a rose-pink hex and microglitter in a clear base. What I like about this glitter is the base is thick enough that it doesn’t have a lot of texture. One coat of Seche Vite was enough to smooth this glitter out. I am now excited to try this glitter with a bunch of other base colors, and will probably attempt a marshmallow mani with it in the near future.

Hit the jump for a few more photos of this combo!

Mattese Elite- Je T’Aime & Je T’Adore

Today I wanted to share 2 of the new shades from Mattese Elite’s new collection, Me Amour. I’m posting them together, rather than giving them each their own post like we usually we do, because I think they compliment each other really well.

Je T’Adore is a very basic nude color, which a really subtle shimmer. It’s so unfortunate that it gives me mannequin hands because as one who rocks nude shades a lot this would have been a really nice addition to my collection. that’s not to say that it’s not a great polish for one who was gifted with the right skin tone to pull this polish off. Per usual for a Ricky’s polish, the formula was pretty fantastic. 2 coats for full opacity and it goes on smooth and with out brush strokes. This is a really classy looking polish, something one would wear for a highly formal event.

Je T’Aime is an “iridescent Molten glitter,” which is a much more apt description than I could ever come up with! The silver and gold glitter will pair nicely with colors in the brown/taupe family, something I haven’t had much luck with. It applies really well for a glitter of its size and doesn’t eat top coat. I’m showing y’all a picture with flash, as well as a slightly unfocused natural light photo so you can get an idea of the true effect of the holo glitter. I thought this looked really pretty together.

I know Jess made it her mission in life to own this entire collection, so I shipped these two up to her earlier this week. Do NOT get the wrong idea, they are both great polishes, I just don’t think they work well with my Casper skin tone. So I think it’s better that they go to a good home where they will get a lot of use!  You can pick up the Me Amour collection at any Ricky’s NYC store, or online at http://www.rickysnyc.com for $5.99.

Revlon – Starry Pink (now released as Popular) gets Color Club – Orna-Minted!

When Starry Pink was first released, I think all three of us were excited. Then we put it on and were all a little mehhh. Mel did the first write up, here, and we both wondered if using it as a top layer over something else would make it more user friendly.

Well, the answer to that is yes, at least when it comes to formula. I layered it over two coats of Sinful Colors – Easy Going and it worked much better as a top coat. The glitter was easier to maneuver and it made it a normal thickness on my nail instead of the 3-4 coats of goopy thickness it was on it’s own. However, still not sold on the color. The shade is just nqr on my skintone. Since it’s original release, it’s been renamed as Popular and is out in the new Revlon displays that include all sorts of other goodies like Whimsical, Stunning and Naughty. All colors the Clique LOVESSSS.

To jazz it up a little, and because I felt like smelling minty fresh all day, I did an accent nail with Color Club – Orna-Minted. Loved the pop it gave to my ring finger and how it brought out the silver on my other nails too! I loovveeeee the smell of Orna-Minted. It’s a perfect mint smell, and a perfectly proportioned smell. It’s not over powering like some scented nail polishes I’ve tried, and it doesn’t fade super fast either. Lasted through my whole work day 🙂 Also, added relatively scientific bonus? Spearmint is an aphrodisiac, and this def has some spearmint scent mixed in 😉 I didn’t get to use that particular bonus, but hey, maybe one of you will get the chance to haha.

Mattese Elite – Gold Glitter (and Blue Star) + Times Square = A Spectacular NYE

So, life since I moved to NYC has been a bit of a whirlwind, although most of it hasn’t been city livin’ related. I’ve been traveling to MD and MI to get my stuff, trying to organize my room, and settling into my job. Moving is hard work y’all!

BUTTTT all that craziness made my NYE weekend extra super special 🙂 One of my girlfriends from MD came up for the celebrations and scored us vip passes (read: we had an FBI escort, it.was.awesome. And only slightly ego inflating haha) to the Times Square festivities, and it was just an all around fantastic weekend. Of COURSE we had to have amazing manis for the night! So we busted out some Mattese Elite and had a mani party before we hit the town.

I rocked Mattese Elite – Gold Glitter, which is sheer amazingness. It does take a couple coats to get full coverage, 2-3 depending on how much patience you have moving the glitter, but with it being gold, small gaps only show up under a microscopic view. (I will admit in the photos below the cut that in my rush to get ready, it got pushed back on the tips a bit. Didn’t realize it until the photos though) Also, it could work as a top coat too! It’s a clear base with gold hex glitter and holo flecks. I’ve worn it several times since picking it up, and my roomie even added it to her lemming list. The holo flecks really add dimension and movement to the gold glitter; it makes the glitter dazzling. It’s been a while since I had a “OH MY VARNISH” glitter come into my life, this one certainly fits the bill! If you are a glitter lover, this should be on your wish list.

Tori had brought a polish with her, but seeing as she wanted little monster worthy paws to put up when Gaga came on, I let her raid my stash for something fun. She grabbed the new Mattese Elite – Blue Star crackle; her good taste is one of the many reasons we’re best friends haha. I suggested she put Funky Fingers – Sand and Stilettos underneath it, and when she said on the subway for the 5th time that she couldn’t stop staring at her nails, I knew we had chosen well 😉 Blue Star was one of the new ME crackles released in December and I had played with it a few times before doing Tori’s nails. It’s honestly one of the best crackles I’ve ever used. It’s super easy to put on; you can even play a bit if you want thin or thick coverage, both ways it will crack! It’s also just a unique color for a crackle, the gold microflecks in it make me stare at the bottle, let alone when it’s on a mani 😛

If you need a little vicarious NYC living, hit the jump for a gallery of my fave NYE pics as well as some shots of the Mattese Elite – Blue Star bottle and Mattese Elite – Gold Glitter in various lighting!

Some Rockefeller Glitz: Milani – Red Sparkle and NYX Girls – Gilded Glitter

It’s Christmas time in the cityyyyy… New York to be precise, and I thought I should do a little exploring. To get in the spirit before I went out wandering, I took a cue from Mel and did a festive mani 🙂  I did one layer of Milani One Coat Glitter – Red Sparkle topped with NYX Girls – Gilded Glitter and a little floral stamping in Sinful Colors – Snow Me White all sealed with Seche Vite. My nails were glittery explosions that went quite well with all the holiday sparkle 🙂 I love Milani One Coat Glitters because they ABSOLUTELY live up to their names. They also aren’t total top coat eaters! Gilded Glitter really added a little pop to it too. It’s a great layering glitter, no need to fuss with where flecks end up being placed and I love the effect. I’ll have to share it again soon on a mani that highlights it; in this instance it really made the red glitter pop because of how it caught the light, but it didn’t stand out too much on it’s own. Despite me being lazy and not doing a basecoat (didn’t think I’d end up wearing it to work… glad the “festive” clause worked in my favor 😉 ) it wore like iron and lasted three full days with minimal wear, mainly just the tip area.

Now, my “nail adventure” pics that had my nails in them turned out like crap, buttt that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna share some NY Christmas magic 😉 Here’s a few pics from my holiday explorations! Enjoy!

 

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OPI- Animalistic w/ Essie- Matte About You

It’s taken me a while to get into matte polish. I used to think it looked weird. Nail polish is supposed to be shiny!!! However, I’ve come around. I think it just took the right polish. Animalistic, from the OPI Muppets Collection, is that polish to me. It’s awesome on its own. But when I mattefy it, it has that suede finish that I like much better than a flat, matte finish. Look at that shimmer!! I want Jess to review Animalistic in full, because she’s been lemming it for such a long time. But I wanted to share this manicure because I am loving it. A matte top coat gives a polish a whole new dimension. More importantly, it’s a quick way to update a manicure! Instead of redoing my manicure every day, or every other day, I can use a matte top coat for a quick update! Plus, it dries super quick. I mattefied my nails and 20 minutes later I was assembling my Christmas tree!!

You can pick up Animalistic at Ulta, and many e-tailers for $8.50-$10. Essie Matte About You can be found at most drugstores, Ulta, Target, etc, and online for $7.50-$10 depending on the store.

Revlon- Fashionista + Whimsical

Yesterday I shared Naughty, so today I wanted to share Fashionista. It’s one of the ones I wanted IMMEDIATELY upon seeing the display on Nouveau Cheap, and actually carried around the store for about 20 minutes before putting it back the first time I saw it. But I picked it up at Walgreens this past week when I went in to pick up the Lord of the Rings Pez dispenser set (which, btdubs, was the highest grossing item at my office’s blind auction to raise money for an adopted Veteran family!! But I digress.)

I used:
1 Orly Bonder
2 coats Revlon Fashionista
1 coat Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

Fashionista is a deep, dark teal creme. I’m in love, despite this not being my best manicure ever. It’s dark enough to go with my pale skin tone, but not so dark it looks gothic. 2 coats are needed for full opacity, but only because there is a bit of brush stroke towards the tip of the nail on the first coat. I put a coat of Whimsical over it 1) because I wanted to show y’all what it looked like over a darker color and b) I was so flippin’ excited to use Whimsical now that it was mine!! I’m going back and forth on whether I like the combo (LOVE Whimsical itself). I think the color combo is gorgeous, but due to the cloudy nature of Whimsical, the unevenness of one coat is really apparent over a darker color. And I can’t help but stare at it, in a bad way. Perhaps I will try again with two coats, but I feel like this is a layering glitter, and you should only need one coat for it to look nice. So as of right now, I’m leaning towards using it only over lighter colors.

Fashionista can be found at Walgreens and Kmart for $4.99, or at Bed Bath & Beyonds that sell makeup for ~$3.79.

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…