Jordana FTW

Serious win all up in this post. As mentioned I have a serious thing for creams and also purples and greens (that almost rhymed), and Hypnotizing and Rich Green by Jordana did not at all disappoint me. They both went on in two easy coats and came off quite easily. What really impressed me though, was the formula. Of course it's not O.P.I quality, but it's better than some of the Sinful Colors of I've come across, and they're the same price. I didn't clean up these swatches of Hypnotizing, because I wanted to get the immediate shine from the Quick Shine Top Coat. Almost made it too shiny for pictures though haha

Yes, I have a nubbin nail :( I actually have one on each hand right now. Very frustrating that not even one hand is good for swatching! I'm being as careful as possible, so hopefully they'll be all normal soon. Anyway! I probably should have waited until the top coat dried more, as you'll see in the pictures of Rich Green, the shine is normal and not so glaring like in the above pictures. The color and formula of this polish were just awesome - well worth $1.99. The brush was actually really nice too. Kinda reminds of me of a China Glaze brush. Now for Rich Green:

I freaking love greens.

So... I didn't clean up these swatches either. This polish was just so easy to work with, and the brush covered so well, I didn't make any mistakes big enough to warrant busting out ye olde acetone and make up brush. After gushing over the awesomeness of this amazing green for awhile, I added some stamping so I could test the Quick Shine Top Coat for nail art effectiveness.

Not the best stamping job...

The verdict: Holy crap it works. I waited until I was done stamping my entire hand, applied the top coat, and there was no dragging! The dragging you see on the middle finger was completely my fault, I left some hangy bits of the Konad polish. I know Seche Vite acts the same way, but this is only $1.99. I cannot attest to how long it wears or keeps your mani looking fresh, but I can say it's great for nail art, dries as quickly as all of the top brands, and leaves a shine that lasts for days (well as far as my impatience would allow me to test, 3).

I had also purchased a black crackle from Jordana, it worked like any other crackle would. Nothing special to note. It did the job! :)

All in all, I recommend giving Jordana nail polish a shot. If for nothing else, their amazing top coat!

Thanks for reading :)

Purple glittery goodness

In my time in Pennsylvania I made sure to hit up a few Dollar Generals because they have discounted Xtreme Wear polishes and there isn't a single one here in my area of California. Because of this I ended up with a ton of Xtreme Wear colors, but that's ok because they water marble really well, and I need all the help I can get in that department. This is Purple Potion. A shimmery purple with hints of blue all throughout. It didn't look that special in the bottle, but once I had it on I couldn't stop staring. Two coats is what you see here. 

Then, of course, there had to be GLITTER. Rockstar Pink is another of the Xtreme Wears I picked up. This is the only thing I have done with it so far, but it's so damned pretty in the bottle I imagine it could really spice up a few manicures!

I was really just going for a light gradient and a little shine. I think this manicure accomplished both :) 

Thanks for reading!

A Manicure for the Weekend

While home with my dad, we listened to a lot of music together. Good times, food, and brews were had. We were listening to one of his favorite bands, X-Japan, and he suggested I do my nails in tribute to X-Japan! I thought it was a pretty great idea so we came up with a few ideas and this was born!

The thumbs are the name of the song that inspired this design - Weekend. Check out the video here:

The blood splatter design was taken from the video - I really do love splattering..err splatter painting? I don't know how to phrase that right now, but I love it!

The X is obviously for the name of the band, but I did it in pink in dedication to their late guitarist, Hide, who was famous for his pink hair (and ridiculous guitar skills). 

I decided to post this today because I found out my dad randomly checks my blog, so this post is dedicated to him! :) He has been insanely supportive of my nail art stuff and always has something nice to say about even the worst manicure that I do. Hi dad! Love you!

Thanks for reading!