OPI DS Desire

DS Desire is a beautiful brown/tan holo that I've been eyeing around the blogging world for a long time, but haven't been willing to spend the high price for it (I planned on trying to make my own frankendupe with some spectraflair). It's funny, because pictures of this polish tend to give the effect of all different colors: some pinkish-brown, some dark brown, and some golden. Here is the best representation of the color that I could get.

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OPI - DS Desire

In my eyes, DS Desire is a light brown holo that leans a little mauve in some lights, but has a golden cast as well (You can see it inside the rainbows on the sun picture. It looks fairly neutral on my skin tone, and is incredibly flattering.The holo is typical OPI DS holo: very bright colors in a "grainy" linear holo.  This type of holo is lost in dim lighting as shown in the second photo, but shines beautifully in the sun.  I tried layering it over a dark brown and a gold as well, and it was awesome!

Now I'm not one to drop a lot of money on a nail polish unless it was really worth it, but the reason I ended up with this one was because the money from my purchase was going to go to leukemia and lymphoma research.  The girl I bought it from, Christine, lost her brother Derick to leukemia and was raising money through her nail polish sales.  I was very honored to get the chance to contribute and support Team Derick!

Tony Moly Galaxy: Swatches and Review

I finally caved in and bought the Tony Moly Galaxy collection. We all know how much I love glitter, so it was only a matter of time... At first I was only planning on picking up the two or three that were my favorite, but I'm glad I got all of them because most of the others won me over completely!

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Tony Moly - Mercury

Mercury is made up of lots of small silver glitter with some sky blue and red mixed in. The base is slightly tinted grey, but it doesn't make much of a difference because the glitter is so dense. This is the most shiny of the set, and ended up being one of my favorites.

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Tony Moly - Earth

Earth is a translucent navy blue base with steel colored micro glitter and small fuchsia holo glitter. It's not as sparkly as Mercury, but still incredibly interesting!

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Tony Moly - Mars

Mars is a mix of small copper and micro orange glitter with a sprinkling of royal blue micro glitter that's not always apparent. In fact, I couldn't really see it in the bottle until I held it in the sun. I kind of wish the blue glitter was a tad bit more prominent but it's still a really awesome accent! I love brown and copper glitter so I figured this would be one of my favorites.

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Tony Moly - Neptune

Neptune is a crazy blend of green glitters in a sheer green base. From what I can tell, it has olive/gold and forest micro glitter as well as medium grass green hexes. I love green polish and glitter, but didn't expect to like this one as much. I wish it had another accent color like the rest of them to add a little bit of pizzazz.

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Tony Moly - Jupiter

Jupiter is comprised of small lavender and indigo glitter and medium cerulean blue holo glitters, but to spice things up it also has a sprinkling of copper micro glitter! I wouldn't be nearly as captivated if it didn't have the copper, but this ended up being one of my favorites as well!
*Aside note:  This one kind of reminds me of The Hungry Asian's Sea Creature because of Sea Creature's purple micro glitter accent amongst the teal and blue.  LOVE.


I was surprisingly impressed with this collection! All of them had wonderful formulas that were opaque in two coats (however, they all required at least a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite to make them glassy smooth) and they weren't too thick like some glitters can be. I was so enamored with the "accent" colors in all of them, especially Jupiter.  The odd thing about them was that none of the bottle actually have the planet names on them (in English, anyway). They are labeled GT01-GT05.  Also, Neptune is 04 and Jupiter is 05... weird.

My only complaint is that they didn't do one for ALL of the planets! MOAR GLITTER!

I bought my set of these off ebay and they range from about $32-35 for the set or $7-9 each.

Paris Sparkles - Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise: Swatches and Review

Most of the polishes I've bought in the last two months have been from Etsy shops. Here are two from a shop called Paris Sparkles: Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise.

Paris Sparkles - Chataigne

Chataigne (which is "chestnut" in French, I believe) is a tinted auburn base with small tan and medium silver holo glitter. This is my favorite of the two, especially since I recently discovered my love for brown glitter. It's just incredibly flattering and sparkly! It takes three coats to build up to be opaque, but it seems to dry quickly so it's not a hassle at all. It requires a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite to be smooth.

Paris Sparkles - Cobalt Surprise

Cobalt Surprise is a royal blue jelly with lots of small silver and medium silver holo glitters. I think it originally had pink and/or purple glitters, but they may have bled off their colors into the base. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful royal blue glitter that's easily opaque in two coats. This, too, requires a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite to be glassy smooth.

Chataigne and Cobalt Surprise (as well as MANY other beautiful polishes) are available in the Paris Sparkles Etsy shop for $7.00 for a full-sized (15mL) bottle.

Lacquistry - Oh Yes I Did: Swatches and Review

If you haven't yet gotten into the Etsy/indie nail polish craze, you NEED to check it out (especially if you love unique glitter polishes)! This is one I picked up from Lacquistry's Etsy shop a week or so ago.

When I first swatched it on a stick, I thought it was incredibly unique and very pretty, but I didn't really understand how GORGEOUS it was until I put it on!

Lacquistry - Oh Yes I Did (shade)

Lacquistry - Oh Yes I Did (sun)

Oh Yes I Did is a combo of small brown and blue glitter with larger brown holo and blue holo hexes in a lightly tinted brown base. It took only two coats to get nice and opaque, but took a couple layers of Gelous and Seche Vite to get it perfectly glossy smooth (even a day later after fully drying).

This is one of those rare glitters that looks amazing both in the shade AND in the sun. I walked around the Arizona Renaissance Faire on Saturday and couldn't stop staring at my fingers all day. The brown in this is such a rich auburn brown and it's perfect paired with the bright sky blue holo glitter. I had no idea how much I LOVE brown glitter until I tried this beauty - now I'm HOOKED!

Lacquistry's Etsy's shop has been pretty busy lately so she's taking a break to fill orders, but you can sign up to be notified when she returns.  Oh Yes I Did sells for $7.50 (plus shipping) for 0.5oz (15 mL).

You Mix Cosmetics Magnetic Polishes

These are amazing.  Every single one, I kept thinking "I'll just put this on for now and swatch the rest later."

Sham Rocks (with chevron magnet)

I wanted to try this one with the chevron magnet to try and make it look like leaves. It does a bit, and I love it. Such a beautiful fern green with amazing depth with the magnet. I think this is my favorite on my nails and probably the one I'll actually wear first.

Now, when Sasha (Nihrida) first posted a magnetic polish without a magnet design I thought it was crazy! Why would you do this?! Well, I can totally understand it now. When the color is gorgeous enough to be worn on its own, then sometimes there's no need for the magnetic "frills." So I decided to show these at one coat (before I put on the second coat and used the magnet on them).

Sham Rocks (no magnet)

Sham Rocks is a pretty subdued green shimmer. Very beautiful on its own.

Blurple (with diagonal magnet lined up straight)

This one is really neat because it shows two colors with the magnet effect. The magnetic shimmer is lavender and the magnet brings out navy blue. It doesn't really seem to have the "depth" of the one-color magnetic polishes, but it still so awesome.

Blurple (no magnet)

This one is not quite a one-coater (you can see bald the bald spots), and it only shows the lavender without the magnet.

Teal Abyss (with diagonal magnet)

This one frustrated me in photographs. It's more green than the picture shows. It's a true vibrant, rich turquoise/teal with amazing dept when it's magnetized. Very stunning!

Teal Abyss (no magnet)

This is one that I would definitely wear alone if I was looking for a plain teal shimmer. I don't have anything else like it. It applies nicely in just one coat, too!

Toasted (star magnet)

This is the one I was most thrilled about when I tried them on swatch sticks. The glitter is so amazing in this one, but you have to see it in person to understand. Also, I'm not sure why it appears slightly green in my photo. It's really more of a tan shimmer with brown jelly highlights from the magnet and gold micro glitter throughout. It's incredibly sparkly. On my nails I had trouble applying the star design. It's hard to center it AND get it close enough without touching the nail. So it took a couple of tries on some of them, but it came out nicely in the end.

Toasted (no magnet)

On it's own, Toasted looks a bit dull (although the gold sparkle livens it up a little). The problem is the brushstrokes. This one for some reason just didn't look nice and smooth like the others.


These are available on You Mix Cosmetics and are $8 each. The magnets they offer are sold separately and are $3 (awesome price in my opinion!). I didn't bother to buy the horizontal one because you can actually see the lines on the diagonal one and it's pretty easy to just rotate it and line it up yourself to get vertical or horizontal lines. The magnets are nice and large enough to cover a whole nail very easily.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed and am already planning my next order! I love the glitter in Toasted because it's not gritty and hangs so perfectly in the magnetic designs, so I want to try more of those!

Jessica Cosmetics Peacock Queen Collection (Chanel dupes!)

Jessica Iridescent Eye

Chanel Peridot (index and ring) and Jessica Iridescent Eye (middle and pinky)

I had been starting to panic just a little recently because I was wondering if anybody really WOULD be duping Chanel Peridot, and I hadn't gotten a backup bottle (I'm reluctant to buy ONE bottle of $25 nail polish, but Peridot was just so special to me...). So when I saw this comparison over on Body and Soul, I was SO thrilled, hopped right on the Jessica Cosmetics site and ordered them all!

I would pretty much call Iridescent Eye a dupe for Peridot. If I didn't KNOW I had two different polishes on, then I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Sometimes in particular light I think that Peridot might be the tiniest bit more vibrant than Iridescent Eye, but then I think it might be my eyes playing tricks on me or my mind trying to justify the $25 for Peridot, haha. Either way, if there IS any difference, it's NOT worth the $17.50 difference (AND the fact that the Chanel bottle contains less volume). I'm SOOOO happy to have my Peridot backup!! Here's another pic to remind you of the awesome color shift in this one:

Next up is Smoky Feather:

Jessica Smoky Feather

Chanel Graphite (index and ring) and Jessica Smoky Feather (middle and pinky)

Now this one I see a tiny bit more difference. To me, Graphite seems a little bit more sparkly or mirror-like, while the foil effect on Smoky Feather seems just the tiniest bit dulled. Not TOO noticeable, but I would probably be able to tell which was which pretty easily on a "blind" test. Still, is it worth the $17.50 difference? I don't really think so.

Jessica Bronze Tailed

Last up is Bronze Tailed. I don't have Chanel Quartz to compare it to because I was never even remotely interested in it from the swatches I saw. Now I've sort of changed my mind, and I'm REALLY happy I ended up ordering Bronze Tailed. Let's get this straight first: I HATE frosty finishes, but I LOVE pearl finishes (provided the brushstrokes aren't horrendous), and there is a fine line between the two. I would call this a pearl finish, and in my opinion, it's gorgeous if you can keep the brushstrokes to a minimum. I'm not sure why I didn't like any swatches I saw of it - maybe I thought it was more of a pink-brown? I dunno, but it reminds me of another favorite of mine that I should re-swatch: Misbehaving Mistress.

These all had nice formula, covering in two thin coats, although they seemed to be a bit more thick that their Chanel counterparts.

All three of these can be purchased on Jessica Cosmetics' site here, and I'm not sure if they are limited edition.

Did you get any of the Chanel Fall 2011 Collection? Will you be picking these up instead?

Femme Couture Lip Luster - Sahara Rose

I don't know what possessed me to write this post, except for the fact that this product seems to be pretty dang awesome. I never buy makeup... because I hardly ever even wear makeup... EVER.

I was in my local Sally Beauty Supply (looking for nail polish, of course!) when I came across this display of lip glosses and this one caught my eye: Femme Couture Lip Luster in Sahara Rose. It looked like Orly Galaxy Girl in lip gloss form!  The bottle shows the duochrome pretty well, though it's not as prominent when it's on.

Femme Couture Lip Luster - Sahara Rose

This is how is normally looks: brownish-raisin color base with teal sparkle.

Here's an alternate shot to show the pink/orange/gold side of the duochrome:

It's actually a pretty nice, light lip gloss that's not sticky or gritty in the least.  It has a very sweet scent and lightly sweet flavor.  I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'm pretty pleased with it.  I love the oddball teal sparkle that shows most of the time.

Obviously I don't normally photograph makeup, so the pics aren't that great (also, I ran out of nice natural light)...  I'll work on it for next time, haha.

Now after getting them home I see the differences in the base colors, but the duochrome sparkle seems to be very similar. Here is an old, blurry (bad) pic of Orly Galaxy Girl. I plan on re-swatching this one to compare it to the Purple Blue duochrome from the Model's Own Beetlejuice collection soon.

Orly - Galaxy Girl

What do you think?  Have you tried any of these Femme Couture Lip Luster glosses before?  I'm going to have to go back and see if there are any other cool duochromes in that display!

Essie Little Brown Dress Swatch

Here is Essie Little Brown Dress. Another nice fall color, but not much to say about it. Just a nice brown creme.

Essie - Little Brown Dress

Essie Wicked Swatch

Here's just a quick swatch of a nice vampy color that my mom picked up recently: Essie Wicked. It's the perfect brown-based red jelly that builds nicely in two coats.

Such a perfect fall color! I have a couple like this, but it's a classic and definitely worth having!

New Nail Shape + Old Favorite

After seeing a post by the Polish Hoarder in which she rounded her nails down because of a chip, I decided I liked how her nice short, ROUND nails looked! Of course, I had to try it for myself, but this is WAY out of character for me... I've always had very square-edged nails and never really appreciated rounded tips. Funnily enough, it IS very flattering.

So here are my new rounded nails with an old favorite of mine: OPI You Don't Know Jacques. This is such a wonderful fall/winter color, and it was the perfect glossy creme to test out my new nails!


Because the rounded shape isn't very apparent in this picture, here's one that shows it a little better.


How do you shape your nails? Do you stick to one shape or change it up often?

Halloween nails and Zoya Cheryl

Way back when I got the China Glaze Halloween collection, I tried them all on like this (one on each finger), but since it was only September, it was too early to wear my Halloween nails. So I was really looking forward redoing this but with ALL my fingers! For some reason, I really love how this collection looks together, as a "skittles"-style manicure.

China Glaze Awakening Collection

Anyway, after Halloween, I was really wanting a nice brown fall color, and I couldn't wait to try Zoya Cheryl from my latest Zoya order. It's a gorgeous brown color with copper glass fleck shimmer. I was a little disappointed though because I was expecting it to have much more sparkle to it.

Zoya Cheryl

I did use Zoya's Anchor and Armor for base and top coat since I hear that Zoya polishes do not last as long with others, but Armor didn't give me the awesome shiny look that Seche Vite does, so I ended up putting that on top of the Armor. But then, of course, it caused some shrinkage (you can see it at the tips in the picture).

What do you think of Halloween nails? What are your favorite designs and colors? Do you like Zoya Cheryl?