Disney Beautifully Off to the Ball w/ Sephora Formula X Demolition

Hey! Long time no post! I've been doing my nails a lot but never posting. I had to share this mani though, because I think these polishes are just super gorgeous!

So this is 2 coats of Disney Beautifully Off to the Ball, with 1 coat of Sephora Formula X Demolition, and 1 coat of Nails Inc Kensington Caviar top coat. These two polishes go really well together! I bought Off to the Ball a few months ago when I was in Disney World, but I hadn't used it until now. It's really, really pretty. It's a fairly sheer light, light blue. After 2 coats, I had no VNL. Good formula, and the bottles are just adorable. I'm a sucker for Disney!
Demolition is awesome...it's from the Xplosives part of Sephora's new Formula X line. Formula X has a great range of colors and effects. I'm so glad to see Sephora introducing these fun polishes! Demolition is a mix of different sizes of glitter, in white, light orange, lime green, and light blue. I LOVE the matte glitters!! So different. I'm in love with this, and you can pair it with so many different base shades. I had pretty good coverage in 1 coat, but you could definitely go with 2 if you wanted. I'm really interested in getting some more of these Formula X polishes...I've tried a couple of different finishes, and the ones I've tried have all been really nice!

Sincerely, Cat

Jindie Nails Rave

I. Love. This!

Here's Rave by Jindie Nails! I can't stop looking at my nails. I just adore this.

I used 2 coats here and one of Seche Vite. I think 2 coats is the perfect amount, at 3 you just cover up a little too much of the glitter, unless you do really really thin coats. Application on this was awesome. I didn't have to do any fishing and I got a great variety of glitter on my nails. I did set my bottle upside down for 5-10 minutes before applying, not sure if that makes much difference but it usually helps with glitters.

In real life, the glitter's a little bit brighter, but it was hard to capture in the pictures. The neon just looks perfect with the milky white base. Ugh. Gorgeous. And my nails are actually at a pretty good length right now. I've been growing them for a few weeks, and they're getting longer, slowly but surely. I keep debating if I wanna go back to square tips or stay rounded! The eternal question. I think I'll stay rounded for a little while longer.

Oh and speaking of Jindie, my backordered Honey Blue Blue shipped the other day! Exciting! It's supposed to be here by Friday, I just can't wait! And of course since I have absolutely no self-control, I'm already planning my next Llarowe order...Candy Land, you will be mine.

Sincerely, Cat

Emily de Molly The Fifth Element

Uber-excited to post this. This is one of the prettiest polishes I've worn in a long time!

This is Emily de Molly the Fifth Element, one of the new polishes I bought from Llarowe a few weeks ago. How gorgeous is it?!
I used two coats here, and one of Seche Vite. Turquoise creme-jelly base, larger orange hex glitter, smaller blue and orange hexes, and some smaller blue glitter. I swear, the orange and blue are the perfect combination. The crelly base lets the glitter peek out perfectly.
Application was perfect. No troubles at all. I did put my bottle upside down an hour or two before doing my nails so the larger glitter would go on my nails easier. I also tried to do thinner coats so the glitter would be more visible...not sure how good of a job I did on that but I tried my best, haha. Also, this being my first EdM, I noticed that the brush and the formula were really great.
Seriously, I'm loving this. I really don't want to take this off my nails, except for the fact that I want to try my other new Llarowe polishes! Lol.

Sincerely, Cat

Llarowe Haul

I'm back! It has seriously been FOREVER since I've posted, and I've missed blogging so much. I absolutely needed to post this though, because I'm just so excited about it! Check it out.

My first order ever from Llarowe! Eeep!!
I actually ordered 5 polishes but one is backordered (which is Jindie Nails Honey Blue Blue), but the 4 I have are (from l-r) Jindie Nails I'm a Star Dot Com, Jindie Nails Rave, Emily de Molly The Fifth Element, and Emily de Molly Flutterby Garden. How gorgeous are they?!
So far I've tried I'm a Star and Fifth Element (I'm actually wearing Fifth right now) and they are just stunning as can be. I didn't photo I'm a Star but I for sure will soon, and I'll be posting Fifth shortly. I am sooo excited to try the others as well!
Never having ordered from Llarowe before, I have to say, they are AWESOME! I had no issues with shipping or anything like that, and my polishes all arrived safely and timely (besides the backordered one of course, but I actually don't think it's a bad thing...now I have something else to look forward to!) And of course, I'm now already deciding which polishes to order next. Ha.

Sincerely, Cat

Deborah Lippmann Lara's Theme with Sephora by OPI Naughty is the New Nice and OPI Simmer and Shimmer (accent)

A mani I did recently...2 coats of Deborah Lippmann Lara's Theme, and on my accent nail, 1 coat of Sephora by OPI Naughty is the New Nice and 2 coats of OPI Simmer and Shimmer. I really liked this combo! The orange and blue really go pretty nicely together.

Lara's Theme is great as ever, still one of my all time favorite polishes. Definitely the best orange I've ever used. Last time I used Simmer and Shimmer, I didn't use a base color, and that helped sooo much this time. Naughty is the New Nice looked great under it.

So, pretty sure I'd say this mani was a success!

Sincerely, Cat

Franken -- Heavy Metal

Eeeee!! Look at one of my newest frankens! I'm in love with it :)

I named this baby after Lady Gaga's song Heavy Metal Lover, one of my favorite songs at the moment. It just seemed so fitting, cuz I mean...look at it! The glitter, the shimmer, the base color...it's crazy! I adore this.

I don't even know how to describe the color of this. I used two coats, and it's like a dark charcoal, multi colored foil, filled with every shade of shimmer, some random glitter, a couple flakies and some larger silver holo glitter. In the right lighting you can see the almost-duochrome-ness of it, and in certain lighting, it even looks a little holo-y.

This is so ridiculously random with the shimmer and everything...I'm in love with it. I can't even stand how much I love it. Ah!!

Sincerely, Cat

Essie Pretty Edgy w/ OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air accent

This is an oldie from this summer that I found in my drafts! Here's Essie Pretty Edgy with an accent nail of OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air.

Obviously since these pics were taken a couple months ago, I'm not positive on number of coats, but I do remember that Pretty Edgy had a great formula, so I'd assume I used 2 coats, and Fresh Frog was not so much a great formula. I used at least 3 or 4 coats of the glitter, if not more. It wasn't actually the formula that wasn't good, it's just that it's one of those glitters where full coverage is nearly impossible. That's fine with me, though.

I really like this combo. Pretty Edgy is so gorgeous. I can't believe it was still in my untried pile! Crazy!

Sincerely, Cat

OPI Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue w/ OPI Servin Up Sparkle w/ Sephora by OPI Beam Me Up Hottie!

Another of the Germany collection...I felt the need to spice this one up with some glitter, lol! Also, as you can see, my long nails are long gone...time to break out the short tips again! Nothing wrong with that of course, but it does feel weird to adjust to short nails again. Ah well.

This is 2 coats of OPI Unfor-Greta-Bly Blue, 1 coat of OPI Servin' Up Sparkle, 1 coat of Sephora by OPI Beam Me Up Hottie!, and 1 coat of Seche Vite. Excuse the tipwear...it looks a LOT worse in pictures. I didn't realize how bad it was till I started looking through these pictures, ha.

Unfor-Greta-Bly was a good polish, if a little boring. The formula was great, the finish is nice, it's just that the color's not all that unique. Pretty much your basic blue shimmer. I mean, it's obviously a great polish if you don't have anything like it in your collection, but looking through my few hundred polishes...yeah, I see some very similar ones just at first glance. SUS is great as always, but I thought my nails could use a little something more...so I added Beam Me Up Hottie (hahaha I absolutely love that name...that's basically what I bought it for, but it is actually great), my recent glitter obsession. BMUH is all glitter of the same size--large holo silver hex in a clear base. It's seriously awesome and looks good over anything, but it goes especially nicely as an addition to SUS. So nice.

So, I guess that's basically all for now!

Sincerely, Cat

Incoco purple glitter gradient polish strips!

More polish strips! Yay! This is my first time trying out Incoco because I won these strips free in a giveaway from Seventeen magazine! Haha. I think they're called "Perfect Prom Purple" but I'm not really sure so I just refer to them as purple glitter gradient strips lol. It's funny though because I wore purple to prom this year so when I saw the name of these I was like "perfect prom...hmm." So I compared them to my dress still hanging in my closet and they truly are the perfect purple to match my dress...what a coincidence. Anyways.

Application on these was like all other polish strips I've used: pick your strip, peel off the clear layer, peel off the backing, smooth onto your nail, file off the excess. I found these to be the complete opposite of the Sephora by OPI Trend Tips I tried a couple weeks ago in my last post--the excess was really difficult to file off and my tips ended up really rough because of that. I'm guessing that's because these are glitter strips, which I've never tried before. I've only ever used shimmer polish strips, I'm pretty sure.

That was one downside...the rough edges cause A LOT of tipwear, like HUGE tipwear by the next day. There was no way I could keep wearing them without touching up my tips, so luckily I found that OPI Grape Set Match was a PERFECT match on the tips of these. Sigh of relief! I ended up doing a touchup every day that I wore these (5 days total...I can't handle keeping the same manicure on for much longer than that!) and it really needed it every single day.

Besides that issue, I think these are extremely gorgeous, especially on longer nails. I wanted to use these while my nails were long (I've since cut them down completely :( ) and I'm serious, it looked stunning in person. I got a lot of people asking if I did these myself...ha, I wish! The one thing about the design is that I can't decide if I love it or not that it's not a very gradual gradient..it goes from super light, pretty much clear at the bottom, to dark purple right in the middle, with not too much in between. On the one hand, I wish there was more mid-toned purple in the middle, to make it look like more of a true "fade" look. But on the other hand, I looove that they basically look like glitter-fied purple French tips. I never wear French manicures, but when they're done right, I think they can be one of the prettiest things in the universe. These strips? Totally gorgeous. Love them.

It was nice to get to try out a new brand...I did really like these, but if I use Incoco strips again, I'd probably go for more of the shimmer finish ones. But, I can put up with the hassle of glitter strips if they're as beautiful as these ones!

Sincerely, Cat

Deborah Lippmann Flash Dance

Oh. My. Gahhh. How gorgeous is this?! Just...look at it. I could stare at this manicure for days, seriously.

2 coats of Deborah Lippmann Flash Dance, 1 coat of Seche Vite, and 1 coat of OPI Top Coat. Good coverage on this...two coats was great. The problem with it (as with many glitters) is that it's a total topcoat eater. It was extremely rough and bumpy after 1 thick coat, so every day I wore this I added another coat of the OPI Top Coat over it. Which helped, but it was still bumpy as heck, lol.

Seriously, it's stunning. It's kind of a purple-y, magenta jelly base, with tiny pink and purple glitter and larger hot pink glitter. I feel like I could just gush about this all day.

I can't wait to wear this again! I've been wearing a lot of glitter lately. I'm in looove with glitter, besides removal, but even that's not really that bad, because I've been using one of those little scrubby tub things lately. It's so convenient!

And I love the length of my nails right now, too! I've been growing them out just for fun to see how long they'd get before they broke, and they look awesome. I have to cut them soon and I'm gonna be so sad, lol! But they do get pretty annoying at this length. So, I guess I won't mind going back to super short nails soon.

Anyways, just wanted to show this extremely pretty polish off!

Sincerely, Cat

Tiny China Glaze/OPI haul!

Just a few polishes I picked up yesterday from Sally's and Trade Secret. Left to right: ChG Splish Splash, OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, ChG Beach Cruise-r, OPI Gone Gonzo, ChG Exotic Encounters, ChG Flip Flop Fantasy, ChG Hang-Ten Toes, and ChG Sun Worshipper.
The base coat, Flip Flop Fantasy, and Sun Worshipper are all backups of my current bottles...I started using the OPI base coat a few months back and I really, really like it. It's a lot better than the base I was using before. And FFF and SW are 2 of my favorite neons and they're running low, so obviously it was a good idea to get backups.
My Sally's didn't have much for the On Safari collection or the Summer Neons, but I did find a few...the only Safari that caught my eye was Exotic Encounters, which is a really nice dusty green. And the other 3 neons were super cute so I had to get those ones...there was really only a few blues and pinks left mostly, but I do like the ones I found.
And of course I got my base coat at Trade Secret, but I've been really into glitter lately so I decided I might as well pick up Gone Gonzo too.
So yeah...not too exciting but I was still glad I could pick these ones up! I can't wait to use all my new neons...I love neons so much lol!

Sincerely, Cat

MAC Near Beth Experience w/ OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

My mani today! 2 coats of MAC Near Beth Experience with 1 coat of OPI Servin' Up Sparkle, and 1 coat of Seche Vite.

NBE is only my 2nd MAC polish...I was really impressed with my first, Ocean Dip. I like NBE, but yeah, it could've been better...formula and brush wise. The 1st coat was super streaky, and the 2nd evened it out, but there was still a lot of dragging near the cuticle. I do actually like the brush though, even with all the dragging...I like the shape and length of the bristles. I love the shade of yellow...pastel yellow is my jam, haha. It looks really close to China Glaze Lemon Fizz, I haven't compared them yet but off the top of my head they look really similar. That one was a little easier to work with. Lol. Maybe similar to OPI Banana Bandana, too? Hmm. Maybe not. Formula on that one's not very good anyways, ha.

So yeah, application wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't that bad. And obviously 3 coats would've been ideal, but I was in a bit of a hurry and 2 looked fine. Plus I did some layering so that helped, lol. SUS is great as always...it's definitely my favorite glitter to layer with. Works with any color and it's GORGEOUS, plus application is good...you don't need to work to place the glitter or anything.

So yeah...liking this combo! I really do like NBE, I'll for sure use it again sometime. And SUS, of course...one of my ultimate favorites. And my nail shape right now...I'm not quite sure. I think I like it. I kinda miss my square tips, but they were IMPOSSIBLE. ALL of my nails were breaking and they were so so weak. It was terrible. And then I went to rounded tips and they stopped cracking...they're still not very strong but at least I'm not breaking multiple nails every day. Ugh. I just don't know. But anyways.

Sincerely, Cat



OPI Wing It! (with glitter gradient)

Here's OPI Wing It! 2 coats and 1 coat of Seche Vite. Thought about using 3 coats but I kind of like how it looks with just a tiny bit of VNL. Such a pretty color...I use this a lot. Makes a nice pedi. Beautiful pink/red/almost orange at certain angles, with blue-ish glass fleck shimmer. Hard to describe, but just gorgeous. Wish this was still available, my bottle's running pretty low. Hard to believe this was released 2 years ago...seems like it was just the other day. 2010 was a good year for OPI. What was it, Hong Kong and Swiss collections? Alice in Wonderland? Shrek...yeah, that was a good year. Maybe not Burlesque. I wasn't a huge fan of that collection. It wasn't terrible, though. Speaking of which...

Right before I took this off, I decided to mess with it a little. I've always wanted to try a gradient but all the ones I've done have turned out really bad...this time I tried a glitter that totally contrasted with the base color and it turned out kinda cool I think. I didn't actually wear my nails like this (I took it off right after I took these pics), but I would consider doing this type of mani for real. For this, I used OPI Bring on the Bling, from the Burlesque collection (see, I think the Burlesque glitters are actually better for layering, not for wearing by themselves). I like the contrast between the pink and gold...I think it'd look cool using like silver with green glitter, or blue with pink...I think I'll play around with combos sometime. Then maybe I can actually get good at this kinda stuff...I suck at nail art. Haha.

Sincerely, Cat