Essie Yogaga

Good morning!

It's pretty gloomy and wet outside right now. Luckily, we were spared of the flooding and power outages that happened all over the city, but still...not a pretty site outside.

Today I have for you Essie's Yogaga. With the weather, I wasn't feeling in the mood to do something brightly coloured, so I did a neutral instead.

The picture is blurry, but it's the only one that came out colour accurate, unfortunately. Yogaga is a pale taupe colour from one of Essie's Yogaga collection (Fall 2012). The formula is very good for a shade this pale. The photo above is 2 coats. Essie's actually been improving formula and colour-wise the last few years or so. I used to avoid buying them simply because their formulas left something to be desired.

Yogaga has become a go-to interview colour for me, and I assume it's a colour that will be getting a lot of wear in the next year or so as it is very work-appropriate. (Which is unlike so many other colours in my collection!)

Meanwhile, I'll be sticking to glitters and neons until the summer ends. Let's hope that we get some sunshine in here soon!

Cupcakes, Glitter, and Rhinestones, oh my!

At the beginning of the school year, I told myself that I wouldn't let myself get behind on anything: school work, social life, extracurriculars, and this blog. Sixty days later, and I'm 0 for 4 -- especially when it comes to posting on here. 

BUT today is my BIRTHDAY, so as a present to myself, I'm going to try and get caught up. (Or, at the very least, I'm going to post my birthday mani.) It's my last year of school, and it's only fitting that, after 4 consecutive years of birthday midterms, I should have one last birthday midterm to deal with before I get the heck outta here. 

The concept for my birthday mani flip flopped through a number of different concepts, many involving Halloween nail appliques, gold leaf, and glow in the dark nail polish. I tried to combine all the ideas in my head, but when I finally got down to painting in all the base colours, it looked so tacky I could have died...sort of like a skittles mani on acid. So I made an executive decision: to bring on the bling.

Lightbox (more colour accurate)

Flash

Lightbox

I used Nubar Violet Sparkle (3 coats) on the pinky, middle, and index fingers. Violet Sparkle is mixture of densely packed, finely milled glitter in a purple base. The purple leans more to the red side than to the blue, as seen in the lightbox pictures, which are more colour accurate. I do have to warn you, however, that this one is topcoat hungry. I used 2 coats of clear polish + 1 coat of Revlon Quick Dry, and it still feels gritty.

The cupcake was a last minute addition to this ensemble. I love cupcakes, I love to make them, so why wouldn't they be featured in my birthday mani? I painted a french tip on my ring finger with Essie's She's Picture Perfect and used a striping brush to paint on the stripes in Joe Fresh Iris. The icing was painted on using a large dotting tool, and the sprinkles with a small dotting tool.

And just in case there wasn't enough bling already:

I have never actually used rhinestones before, and when I bought these at Walmart I thought that they were simply rhinestone "stickers", so I waited for my 2 coats of Iris to dry before I even opened the package. Lesson learned.

Blurry shot to show off the SPARKLE

I ended up using a wooden cuticle stick dipped in clear polish to help me place the rhinestones, which worked well enough. The sheer number of rhinestones I used was just cray. The second "2" is a little wonky just because I didn't have enough space for it. :S

By the time I finished the "22" on my left thumb, I was in no mood to do it all over again on my right, so instead I stuck with a simpler (but by no means easier) heart design:

Right Thumb

Despite the fact that I didn't end up putting in my most extravagant ideas into my birthday manicure, I'm pretty pleased by how it turned out. It took forever to do, but I would say it was worth it if only just to have awesome nails on this gloomy, rainy day.

Back to work, I guess. :(  Happy Birthday to Me!

Green Velvet

On the list of nail art trends that I've wanted to try but haven't due to lack of time (as well as fear of judgement from my friends) is the so-called "Velvet" manicure, or whatever it is Ciate is trying to market at 1000% markup.

It started when I saw a blog post on using flocking powder from the scrapbook aisle at the craft store. I was really into scrapbooking the summer after I graduated high school, and I can tell you that flocking powder had me completely stumped. Still am.

In fact, although I wanted so badly to try it out, the reason behind this becoming a trend mystifies me. Was it just curiosity about what crazy thing we could stick onto our nails next? Or maybe it was a muppet fetish?

I was thinking myself that these nails channeled a bit of everyone's favourite talking frog.

I used 2 coats of Essie Navigate Her and some lime green flocking powder that I got on sale in a card-making kit with a bunch of other glitters. It was a much less messy effort in comparison to the microbead manicure. This time I was smart enough to use a plate to catch the excess powder after I shook it onto and pressed it into my nails. Also, fluff balls are not round and do not roll!

This manicure was an adventure in texture, which I loved. I could not stop feeling my nails or brushing them against my cheek. Amazing. But, of course, it had no staying power. Little bits of flocking powder would fall off periodically and I can only imagine that a whole day's worth of hand washing would wreak all sorts of havoc on this. It also reminded me of a tennis ball, which I did try to replicate on the nail (e.g. white lines), but I failed terribly and pictures do not even exist of this fail.

This was definitely a fun manicure to try out, but don't expect it to last too long. It would probably last a day, more if you don't eat or bathe or live...I'm not one to judge.

Essie Navigate Her

When Essie's Spring 2012 collection originally came out, the only colour that called my name was Navigate Her, the colour that lent its name to the collection.

A pastel, pistachio green, Navigate Her was the only colour that I thought was unique out of the 6 that came in this collection. Also, it was green. If it's green, I have to have it. Naturally.

When I first put it on, I thought it looked pretty unflattering. Which was kind of a disappointment, since this was a lemming of mine for about a month before I finally got my hands on it at Winners. However, after a few hours, I got used to the colour and it started to grow on me once again. I might classify it as one of those "so ugly it's beautiful" colours. The second picture kind of gives me lobster hands, but the first is more colour accurate.

The formula was pretty good for an Essie polish as well. (Not that I've had very many problems with Essie. I've heard stories, though.) The first coat was very streaky, but, if left to dry, it evened out a bit and was smooth and perfect by the second coat. The pictures above are 2 coats with no top coat.

It's been a pretty long week and right now I am really looking forward to painting my nails again, to be honest. I've gone back on a Strange Days at Blake Holsey High kick -- does anybody else remember that show? It was my absolute favourite all through high school. I must have re-watched 10 episodes, plus the movie conclusion, since Thursday evening. Love it!

Essie Mojito Madness vs. Orly Mint Mojito

I know, I know, I've been going on about these colours forever and ever. But this is the last one, I promise.

While I was wandering through Wal-Mart, trying to decide whether or not Essie Mojito Madness was too similar to Orly Mint Mojito, I scoured the internet on my smartphone trying to find some comparison swatches. I bought it anyway, despite the lack of comparisons; not sure the outcome would have been different had I found those swatches...

From these pictures, you can tell that these two are not exact dupes of each other. Mojito Madness has a much more saturated colour, while Mint Mojito is slightly paler and dustier.

The flash pictures show the difference a little better:

So, do you need both? Probably not. To the average person, these colours probably look exactly the same. From a distance, it's hard to tell the difference, but they are definitely not the same. You will probably only want both if you LOVE THIS GREEN, like me. If you were to only get one, I would say the Essie is the best choice, based on formula.

This picture is after a single coat of polish. Placed right, the Essie comes close to being a one-coater. The above swatches were 2 coats of the Essie, 3 of the Orly. The Essie reaches opacity much quicker, and is also probably easier to find.

I got Mojito Madness at Wal-Mart for $8.99. Mint Mojito was $4.99 (+ $5 shipping) from an e-Bay retailer.

Essie Mojito Madness

When I first saw the new Essie display at Wal-Mart for their summer collection, I was prepared to turn away without another thought. That was until I saw Mojito Madness.

If you know me, when it comes to purchases, I am the most indecisive person alive. Give me enough time to kill in a store, and I will agonize over whether or not to buy something for hours. Anyway, I was in Wal-Mart after work one day, trying to kill an hour before I had to go and pick my brother and his friend up from school, and I saw the display. I held Mojito Madness in the palm of my hand for the entire hour I was there, save for the five or so times that I put it back in the display thinking that I didn't want it after all. Honestly, sometimes I think I have that tiny angel and tiny devil on each of my shoulders trying to tell me what to do. The angel was telling me that it looked too much like Orly Mint Mojito and it wouldn't make sense to spend the $8.99 on it. The devil told me that the colours were wayyyy different from each other and that I needed to own both.

Well, as usual...the devil won out.

Essie's Mojito Madness is a bright grassy green colour that has a slight blue undertone. I say slight because it is so very subtly more blue than some other similarly toned greens that I have. The formula was a dream -- it could have gone on in one coat, but the second was just to level the colour out.

Flash, indoors

Natural light, indoors

I honestly think that I can never have too many greens in my collection. This is such a stunning colour,  I can't even deal with it. I've filled another nail polish wheel, so I'm thinking it's time for me to go on yet another no-buy. With the exception of OPI's summer releases, the other collections have been calling my name. Heck, China Glaze Anchors Away from Spring 2011 is STILL calling my name! I've picked up White Cap and Ahoy in the past week, and my subconscious is still eyeing First Mate. 

I'll admit that I have a problem. ;)

My First Ruffian

Remember how I said  I had bigger plans for Orly Wild Wisteria?

My very first ruffian manicure! I was really excited about doing it, since I waited until my nails were of a good enough length. The decision about the colour combo took a little while, though. I saw the new Revlon French Mix duos at Wal-Mart last week, and the light purple/pink glitter duo drew my eye. The pink glitter looked sheer as hell, and I wasn't willing to pay $7.99 for 0.26oz of that gorgeous purple shimmery polish, so I got Maybelline Iced Queen (from their new Color Show line) instead and topped it off with Essie Pure Pearlfection. I think it replicates the general look of that purple polish. I've read that it's pretty sheer, so I'm happy with the decision I made.

I didn't know how difficult it could be to get a good shape on the design. I ended up going over the darker part near the cuticle again with Wild Wisteria to get the shape right, but  there are a few nails on my right hand where I got the hang of shaping out the lighter part with just a once over with the lighter colour. There's also a bald spot on my pinky because I used too many brushstrokes. I could have fixed it later, but I didn't notice it until after I had put on a coat of the Pure Pearlfection, and...I'm pretty lazy.

This photo here is probably the most colour accurate. My camera doesn't do well with anything that has blue in it because that seems to be the only nuance that it likes to pick up. I had to colour adjust for temperature on these to get them to even remotely resemble the medium purple that Iced Queen is.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with myself and how well this turned out. I really enjoy the look of it and I will definitely be trying this trend out again!

Essie Smooth Sailing vs. Finger Paints Grape Gumball

So I just spent the entire day watching movies, each movie sharing something in common with the movie that I watched before it. I complained to my friend yesterday that all of my days off were filled with activities and I couldn't wait for the one day off where I would just get to sit at home on the couch like a fat ass and do nothing all day long. 

In keeping with my doing nothing all day, here are some comparison swatches I did awhile back! (Read: I really didn't do anything today)

Essie Smooth Sailing and Finger Paints Grape Gumball are both blue-purple shades with chunky, almost glass-fleck-ish shimmer.

In this light, you really can't tell the difference between the two. I almost didn't buy Grape Gumball because they looked the same to me at first glance.

 The differences are very subtle. Smooth Sailing is a touch more blue than Grape Gumball. They're not exactly the same, but if you have one and you're not obsessed with blurple like I am, you probably don't need both. The formula on both is similar, this is 2 coats each. There's a bald spot visible on my thumb, but that was more due to my application of it rather than the formula itself.

Flashback: Smooth Sailing

Most of my flashback posts come with some sort of story. This one will be no exception.

My simple-minded existence consists mainly of thinking up "the one perfect colour" that I absolutely NEED to have, and going about my days looking for it. Mainly. You know, in between work, school, and social...commitments. But anyway, in the early moments of the summer of 2011, "the one" could be described as periwinkle.

This was in the pre-Sally Beauty and Chatters era, so I only went to Trade Secrets for non-drugstore brand polishes. It was a Friday morning; I had work at 10AM and I was at Trade Secrets at 9:30 sharp to search for a purple colour my aunt had used for a pedicure. It was buy 1 get 1 half off on Zoya and Essie that month, so I got Zoya Mira, and this baby, Essie's Smooth Sailing:

At the time I thought my search had ended -- dark periwinkle, subtle but ever-present silvery shimmer, wonderful formula...but you know it never ends with me. Within the next week I bought 2 other periwinkle shades, including China Glaze Secret Periwinkle on my first trip to Sally's. Still, I'll remember this as my first.

I'm a sucker for anything blue/purple/blurple, so I don't see my accumulation of like colours ending anytime soon!

Blocked!

Now I'm really excited about this mani, despite the fact that it took nearly 2 hours and now I have a headache...

This was another scotch tape mani. I painted my nails with 1 coat of Sally Hansen White Out, and then I laid out thin pieces of scotch tape (cut up, of course) in a grid pattern. The colour pattern that I used was mostly random, but I did try to pick colours that would flow with each other:

Blues: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, China Glaze Secret Periwinkle, American Apparel Mount Royal
Purples: Joe Fresh Iris, Essence A Lovely Secret
Green: Essie Turquoise and Caicos


It was a huge pain in the butt to do, but I am quite pleased with the result. The last few days have been lived out in a sort of high school reminiscent theme, so it is only fitting that tonight I will be heading down to my old high school to watch my brother's concert. I was going to do music themed nails as a result, but I decided I wanted to do something more all-purpose. I'm currently laid out on the couch, enjoying today as much as I can, since I'll be going back to work tomorrow, boo. :P

Flashback: Blue Gradient

Before I got my netbook for my 20th birthday, I used to be a good student. Like, print-out-my-notes-write-down-every-word-give-loud-people-the-stink-eye good.

But then of course I fell victim to browsing the internet in class afterwards. One of the first things I did was look up nail art tutorials on Youtube with the sound turned off. The first one I looked at was this one, by MissChevious:



So, having a whole day off from work last summer, I decided to try it out:

I'm going to say right now that I prefer her choice of colours over mine by a long shot. To this day I still don't have a paler blue colour in my collection that doesn't suck formula-wise. I painted the lightest blue on as a base and then sponged the rest of the colours on. The colours used were (from cuticle to tip): Nicole by OPI Baby Blue, China Glaze Periwinkle, Essie Smooth Sailing, Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, China Glaze Grape Juice, and Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope.

Tomorrow I have another day off from work, so hopefully I can finally get started on some nail art. I bought some holographic glitter at Icing at 50% off, so I'm also hoping to make some frankens in the next few weeks, if my discount glitter doesn't melt in nail polish. Fingers crossed!

Forever Alone...?

Happy Valentine's Day! Quick (or maybe not-so-quick) mani that I did this evening as a wind-down from my midterm this morning:

It's 2 coats of Wet 'N' Wild Tickled Pink, with one coat of Essie Pure Pearlfection, and hearts and lips drawn on with American Apparel Angeline and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cherry Red. The shimmer that the Pure Pearlfection adds can be seen in the picture below. Brilliant.

And the piece de resistance...

Even Forever Alone guy needs some love. Just trying to keep it real this Valentine's Day! :P

Essie - As Gold As It Gets

I've been meaning to get to this, since our secret santa exchange on Tuesday, when I got 2 lovely Essie Luxeffects polishes, yay! :)

I've been on a real flakies streak lately...still kind of bummed about my impulse purchase of Barielle Elle's Spell, but flakies.

Lamp light, no flash

Flash

This is the mani I did while watching the beginning of SNL tonight, and, let me tell you, it is hard to paint your nails while you're laughing your ass off -- particularly good episode tonight. The base is Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle "Sweet Sunrise" and I used one coat of Essie "As Gold As It Gets" on top. It sort of gives it this antiqued sort of look, I think.

The pictures I have of the finished product sort of wash out the colour, so I have a picture of Sweet Sunrise on it's own. I really like this colour, and that's saying a lot, because I don't normally wear pink. It has just the right amount of warmth to it (good call on naming it sweet sunrise) and there's this really subtle silver shimmer that's just...ugh (in the "so amazing" and not in the "so disgusting" way).

Off to work tomorrow, so I really should be going. Once again, thanks for the awesome gift Stef, if you're reading this (though you probably are not. :P)

- K