Glitter Gradient - Finger Paints It's an Original and Ozotic Elytra 528

Now, before you move on to the pictures I want to say that this wasn't nearly as spectacular as it looks here. The first three pictures are taken underwater, and the rainbow is much more prominent than it is in person.

This is Finger Paints It's an Original (shown alone here) with Ozotic Elytra 528 on the tips (about three coats starting father down the nail each time).

The following two pictures are not taken underwater, but are in very indirect, dim light, which is the only other time I could see the rainbow at all (besides in the water).

Unfortunately, this was so disappointing that I ended up taking it off pretty quickly. Mostly, it looked like simply teal glitter on the tips of the purple, and it just didn't "pop" like I wanted it to. Oh well, at least the pictures look pretty.

First Snow! (Orly Pixie Dust and Nubar White Polka Dot)

I can't believe it! It actually was SNOWING here in Pine, AZ on October 7th! Only briefly, and it didn't stick, but still... FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON! I had on Orly Pixie Dust because it was rainy and stormy, so I just added a coat each of Confetti Tiara and Nubar White Polka Dot over it. Check out my snow nails - I love them!!

Orly Pixie Dust w/ Confetti Tiara and Nubar White Polka Dot

I've seen a few swatches of Nubar White Polka Dot (which, by the way, is the same formula as the Painted Nail Moon drops) over dark colors, and it looks awesome. But I'm really in love with it over a stormy grey! It has the most beautiful pearly, silvery white glitter hexagons as well as smaller while pearl and iridescent glitters. Honestly, one of my favorite glitters that I own (and I have a LOT).

And for good measure, here is Orly Pixie Dust by itself:

For Nihrida: OPI Ink and Finger Paints It's an Original

Here's a comparison for my dear Nihrida <3

OPI Ink and Finger Paints It's an Original:

OPI Ink (index and ring) and Finger Paints It's an Original (middle and pinky)

The finish is obviously different, with Ink having a slightly duochrome glass fleck thing going on, and Original is just a straight blue-purple shimmer. To me in person, the flecks in Ink make it look a bit more blue, which doesn't show in the picture. Both only take two coats.

And to refresh your memory, here is how Finger Paints looks alone (except a bit too blue, but this picture shows the vibrancy quite well... maybe it's because it has a top coat).

Finger Paints It's an Original

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Midnight Sky Swatch

Another one "from the vault." This is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Midnight Sky. It's darker than OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous and Chanel Graphite, and covers in two easy coats. I originally intended to layer something over this (like my Orly prismatic gold top coat, or China Glaze Fairy Dust) to make it more interesting, but as it turns out I loved it so much that I just left it alone.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Midnight Sky

Tuff Scent Wisdom and Inner Strength Swatches

Today's swatches are "from the vault" seeing as I REALLY don't want to take off my Magneffects polish (I have Velvet Groove on right now...  LOVE) and also because I'm waiting for the breaks in my nails to grow out.

I ordered these Tuff Scent polishes directly from their site a little while ago, and had an excellent experience.  I originally ordered Wisdom and Loyalty (as a present for my mom because her favorite scent is Lilac).  When they arrived, the Wisdom had been open a bit and dried out in transit.  I contacted them about it and their co-owner Sylvie got back to me right away and let me know that they'd send another out immediately and they she'd throw in another bottle of my choice for the trouble.  And that's how I ended up with Inner Strength as well.

Here they are!

Tuff Scent - Wisdom (grapefruit scent)

I love gold glitter, so Wisdom was a winner right off the bat. However, the formula is kind of "gloopy" (even the non-dried out one), but not unmanageable. Also, in the bottle it looks more pale and warm-toned, but the slightly yellow-tinted base gives it a more bright cool-toned look overall. The scent is very nice and not overwhelming, and really does have a nice grapefruit smell once it dries.

Tuff Scent - Inner Strength (almond scent)

Inner Strength reminds me of all the other taupes out there these days, but it's still a very nice chic color. It's a little sheer, so it took me three coats for this picture and it may still have a couple bald spots. Also, I'm not sure of the scent on this one. Maybe I didn't wait long enough for it to dry all the way (since this is only a swatch), but it was a little bit strong. I'll have to try it again for a full mani and see if the scent becomes lighter once it's fully dry.

I'll have to borrow Loyalty (lilac scent) from my mom sometime to do a swatch, but I CAN tell you that both I and my mom have tried it on and it's a beautiful two-coat dark blue and the scent is very nice.  I definitely recommend Loyalty.

I do recommend buying Tuff Scent polishes from their site - they are truly unique in the scents they offer, and they have EXCELLENT customer service!  I will definitely be ordering more in the future!

Finger Paints It's an Original Swatch

Just a quick post today. This is Finger Paints It's an Original, and it's one of most bold, beautiful blue-purples I own. If you've seen Sinful Colors Let's Talk in person, then just imagine a darker version but just as saturated. It's a tiny bit more purple in person than in the picture.

Finger Paints - It's an Original

I think this makes a perfect "Halloween purple" because it's dark and vampy and goes very well with orange. If I was awesome at nail art (I'm not, I tried) I'd totally do orange pumpkins with pretty green leaves with this as a background.

Layla Magneffect Swatches

I recently had the chance to purchase some of the Layla Magneffects line at AveYou.com during a SaveMore sale (I got $75 worth of stuff for $35, and with an order of $50 or more, you get $1 shipping... all in all I payed only $38.50 for these five, and they normally retail for $15.50 each!). I am SO glad I decided to try these out! They are AWESOME!

The pictures below show one thick coat on index and ring fingers, and two thick coats on middle and pinky.

Layla Magneffect - Velvet Groove

I'm pretty sure this is my favorite one. At two coats it truly looks like soft burgundy velvet... LOVE.

Layla Magneffect - Golden Nugget

This was a color that at first I thought "Ewwww, that doesn't look attractive." Somehow I changed my mind and it ended up in my order, and I'm glad it did!

For this one I lined up the magnet vertically with my nails, and it's hard to see in the picture but it really makes them look VERY 3D and awesome. Although I like the diagonal stripes, I think this is my favorite orientation - it even makes my short nails look long and pretty in person. It's hard to capture the 3D effect in a still photo, but trust me: try this at home!!

Layla Magneffect - Blue Grey Flow

Another neat color. The metal parts end up looking silver and the spaces in between become a navy blue.

Layla Magneffect - Purple Galaxy

The first coat of this looks like a nice rich purple, and with two coats it becomes a vampy dark plum with metallic accents. Very classy, in my opinion!

I'm not too big of a fan of the horizontal stripes, though...

Layla Magneffect - Metallic Sky

And my third favorite of the bunch. The brightest one of all, and just stunning in person.

Now I've been playing with frankening lately, and these made me very curious as to how they would look with holographic or duochrome pigment (doesn't it sound like it'd be awesome?!). However, I'm not ready to decant any of these new preciouses to try it, so I figured I'd try layering them over a holo (the holo-est holo I own - Nfu-Oh 62). Here are the results:

Layla Magneffects over Nfu-Oh 62

Disappointing, no? Oh well, at least I'm not gonna worry about combining them with holo pigment anymore. However, I still think that if they could somehow make a magentic pigment that is also duochromatic, this could produce one of the most epic polishes in the WORLD!

Chanel Graphite Swatch

I have to say, I think Chanel really came out with a doozy of a collection this fall. Well, I don't like Quartz, but two out of three ain't bad (Meatloaf, anyone?). I ended up picking up Graphite recently (and ALMOST got a backup of Peridot), and it turns out I love this one too!

 Chanel - Graphite

Aren't the gold and pewter sparkles gorgeous?? Such a beautiful color!

Nubar Wildlife Swatch

Nubar Wildlife seems to be a true DUOchrome in that it switches (almost "flips" between a pink/copper and a grassy green). It's one of those that looks very nice on my skin with the mossy green and earthy tones.

Nubar - Wildlife

It's too funny... for some reason I ALWAYS want to call this one "Wildfire" instead of "Wildlife." Oh well :o)

Here are the underwater pics for this one. You can see that the color range is not very big on this one, but the colors altogether are quite beautiful!

As you can see, I had a pretty low break on my middle finger (which I tried to patch, but that only lasted a couple days, then it snapped off while I was building my Lego Yoda). But I recently had a company called KKCenterHK contact me and as me to do a review of one of their products, so I wanted to give you a sneak peek:

These are French tip water decals, and I love the pattern because it looks so "autumn" to me!  I can't wait to try them, but with my short, stubby nails you wouldn't be able to see any of the pattern.  I'm going to wait until my nails grow out so that I can get nice, pretty pictures of them!

In the meantime, you can browse all of their neat nail decals and such at their website: KKCenterHK.  They have so many awesome decals and there are so many I'd love to try!

Sally Hansen Burgundy Orchid

This is actually probably one of my favorites from the Sally Hansen Nail Prism line, but it doesn't get much publicity (compared to Garnet Lapis and Turquoise Opal). I love the awesome sunset colors in this one: Sally Hansen Burgundy Orchid.

Sally Hansen - Burgundy Orchid

Here are the underwater pictures for this one. Isn't it STUNNING?! I can't believe how the colors absolutely pop in these pictures (and it really does look like that in the water in person)!

One of the most interesting things I noticed is that the multichrome never reaches green. Instead, after the gold at the most extreme angles it just turns a purple grey (you can see it on the index finger in the last picture).

Someday I'll have to do a "Top 10 Favorites," and I'm sure this polish will be on the list!