Coco Allure Swatch Spam

Hello everyone! Recently Leah Ann from Llarowe had multiple random sales on her birthday and I could not resist. One of the sales was for the brand Coco Allure, which I had never heard of before but I'm always curious about trying new indie brands.

This post is actually quite photo heavy, so I've included everything after the jump!

Team of Destiny

I'm not sure how many of you are football fans, but last night was the AFC Championship game and the Ravens beat the Patriots. Which was a pretty big deal, considering the Ravens played the Patriots in last years AFC Championship and lost. Now WE'RE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL! (I'm really excited incase you couldn't tell) Last night, before the game, I painted my nails Ravens style.

I used these images for the pointer and middle finger:

And I did sort of a glitter gradient for the rest of my nails using Julep Oscar and Cover Band Sticks 'N Stones.

Overall, I'm really happy with how they turned out and even more excited that it's gonna be a Harbowl!

Will you be watching the Super Bowl in two weeks?

Whimsical Ideas by Pam - Seuss

Today I have swatches from the indie brand Whimsical Ideas by Pam. I'm gonna go ahead and show you Seuss now, since these photos were taken pre nail breakage, and I'll post Georgia Peach Fuzz in a week or so.

Suess is a sky blue polished filled with various glitters. There are medium red hex glitters and both large and small silver hexes.

I really think Pam hits the nail on the head with this polish. I immediately think of Dr. Seuss when I see it. Seriously, all sorts of in love right here.

Formula on this was pretty good, I waited between coats to make sure I didn't brush the glitter off with each layer.

I do wish the smaller silver glitters were more noticeable. I've seen others swatches and there seem to be a lot more, but I still love this polish regardless. I used three coats for the photos above.

Any information on how to purchase Whimsical Ideas by Pam can be found on her facebook.

31DC2012 Day 8: Metallic

I spent the whole day yesterday thinking Day 8 was rainbow and came up with the perfect idea. Then when I went to do my nails, I double checked and realized it was metallic. With no idea what to do, I just did whatever popped into my head first. 

Anyway, I only have one photo for today as well because I was having a hard time photographing this polish.

I used Maybelline Mirror Magic, OPI Mermaid Tears, and a Jordana Pop Art white striper polish.

Go ahead and check out some other bloggers participating in the 31DC2012!

31DC2012 Day 6: Violet

It's 10:20 pm where I'm at, so sorry that this is being posted so late. I had school and blah blah blah let's talk about these nails!

For day six, I honestly had no idea what I was going to do. I spent the day at school thinking I was going to paint some purple pansies and by the time I got home, I didn't feel like it anymore. Then it came to me, I wanted to do The Count from Sesame Street. I don't think I've ever done anything this complicated before and I'm so happy with how he turned out (and those cute little bats...awwww).

I used a medium length striper brush for this manicure. 

The polishes I used are Orly You're Blushing, OPI Funky Dunkey, Julep Meryl, a mixture of Julep Anne and Penelope, Julep Emilie, Finger Paints Pop Art Purple, and Jordana Pop Art striper polishes in black and white. 

Check out other ladies nails for today :)

31DC2012 Day 5: Blue

Day five is blue. I had to do something simple because of school so I figured I'd try out a seran wrap mani. I like it, it looks like water to me. if I would've had time I would've done bubbles or pool toys.

For this I used Julep Jessica, Color Club Chelsea Girl, and OPI snow for the little white dots.

Check out the other bloggers participating in the 31 day challenge!

31DC2012 Day Four: Green

Okay, I said yesterdays nails were my favorite, but I think I love these wayyy more. Also, I own too many green polishes, I even have tons of green glitters but I was trying to limit it to cremes. I used twelve green polishes all together, and I wouldn't have had to repeat if it wasn't for my thumb.

Here's the long list of polishes used-

Julep: Alma, Courtney, and Emilie.

China Glaze: Four Leaf Clover and Electric Pineapple.

OPI: Did It On 'Em, Jade Is The New Black, Mermaid Tears, Who The Shreck Are You?, and Stranger Tides.

Zoya: Tracie

Orly: Viridian Vinyl

and Jordana Pop Art striper brushes in black and white.

Check out the other ladies doing the 31 Day Challenge!

31DC2012 Day Three: Yellow

I'm loving these nails. One of my favorite color combinations is yellow, black, and white, so these are perfect. I just wish my topcoat didn't go all smeary on me. It's not really noticeable in person at all, so just pretend you don't see that, okay?

For these nails I used China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, HGL mixes with white (that I used on my jellyfish nails), Sally Hansen Whirlwind White, and China Glaze Liquid Leather.

These are definitely my favorite nails of the challenge so far, but it's only day three.

Here's a recap:

Check out others participating in 31 Day Nail Art Challenge!

31DC2012 Day Two: Orange

Day two is orange nails. I'm definitely stumped when it comes to these color days. I've done something similar to this before and I liked it so I thought I'd recreate it in orange.

Took my photos outside this time but there's no sun. I usually take photos in my room, but if you follow me on instagram you'd know my room is currently under construction.

For this, I used Julep Alyson (my favvvvvv nude), Orly Old School Orange, Sally Hansen Whirlwind White, and China Glaze Black Leather.

Here's a recap of all the days coming up. Only 29 to go!!

Check out other bloggers taking part in the 31 Day Challenge!

31DC2012 Day One: Red

I've decided that I'd take part in the 31 day nail art challenge. I'm going to try my best to post everyday, we'll see. Day one is red. I'm not really sure what's going on with my nails, but I kinda like it. Can't go wrong with stripes and diamonds, right? Right.

Yeah, I know in my last post I said I only owned like two reds, but I lied. Not purposely, I just forget about the OPI minis I have, like all the time.

I used OPI Sanguine, OPI Pedal Faster Suzi, and Julep Delaunay. 

And heres a photo describing all the days (from Chalkboard Nails).

Julep September It Girl

It's the first of September so I thought I'd post swatches of Julep's It Girl September box! In this month's box I received Otte, Delaunay, and Alma. I also decided to make the Boho Glam Lengthening Mascara an add-on. Julep partnered with designer Trina Turk to create these fall nail colors, inspired by Turk’s Modernist Maverick Collection. On to the swatches...

Otte is a camel creme color. Awesome formula, two-coats, quick dry-time. Don't think it goes with my skin tone, whoops. Honestly, I don't even care, I love nudes, I love this, love.

Delaunay is a nice, bright, red creme. Again, amazing formula, two-coats, quick dry-time. I don't own very many reds, actually the only red I own is China Glaze Phat Santa, so I love this. It stains quite a bit though, as you can see, I had a hard time removing it from my cuticles. 

Alma is a dijon mustard creme. It's one of the many ugly yet pretty green/yellow shades (CG Electric Pineapple, OPI Did It On 'Em, OPI Who The Shrek Are You, etc). However, it's not a dupe for any of those. It might be more like OPI Fiercely Fiona, but I don't own that so I can't say for sure. I love this though, mustard yellow is one of my favorite colors. And Alma also has a great formula, two-coats, quick dry-time. Seriously, some of my Julep's have not-so-great formulas, but these are just awesome!

Now for the awkward, 'let me show you mu eyeballs' part of the post.

I'm gonna start off by saying I don't know much about mascara. I think I've went my whole life only using two different brands and I'm happy with my current one, but I've never used brown mascara and wanted to try it out.

So there's my left eye mascara-free.

And here's my right eye wearing the Boho Glam Lengthening Mascara. Hands down, adds length. Seriously, awesome. It's not really as brown as I thought it would be, but it's definitely not black. My eyelashes are kind of dark naturally, so I'm sure it would look more brown on someone with lighter lashes. I really like this product, it does what it says, it isn't clumpy, it doesn't feel too heavy, my eyelashes don't stick together. Like seriously, I'm wearing it right now and I completely forgot I was wearing mascara because I can't even feel it.

If you’re not a Julep Maven yet, click here and take the quiz to receive your first box.  Use the code COLOR2012 or PENNY at check out to get it for only a penny! As always, let me know if any of those codes do not work!

Octopi, Octopuses, or ... Octopodes?

Day 7 of the Superfluous Nail Art Challenge is animal spots. I had to think about what to do for this one quite a bit, but then it hit me. I decided to do the Blue Ring Octopus. A quick google image search will show you that these octopuses are any color from a light beige to a bright yellow but they always have these vibrant blue rings.

And now for a little English lesson. I've done some research, and while all my life (and maybe yours too) I've been told that the correct way to pronounce multiples of octopus is 'octopi.' However, throughout history it has been referred to as 'octopi,' 'octopuses,' and 'octopodes.' Here is a nice little video about that, if you're interested.

I decided to go with the taupe/beige color for the base, and put a bright orange/yellow in the middle of the rings. I do think this manicure is sort of strange, but for some reason I can't stop staring at it, seriously, I just love it.

The colors used were Julep Alyson, Julep Parker, Color Club Chelsea Girl, and China Glaze Liquid Leather.

And, out of curiosity, what word to you use for multiple cephalopods?

Color Run 2012 New York

This past Saturday, I participated in the Color Run in New York. On their website the Color Run is described as "a unique experience focused less on speed and more on crazy color fun with friends and family. Color runners come from all different ages, shapes, sizes, and speeds; but everyone toeing the start line has a blast. Whether you are a casual morning mall walker or an Olympic athlete, the 3 miles of the Color Run course will be the most memorable and colorful run of your life!"

Of course, I had to do my nails for the occasion! I decided to base my design on this photo from their website.

I started with a white base, used black polish and a striper brush to create a path, and then used the splatter method with a straw to make the splashes of color.

For my right hand, i just used the splatter method, I'm not sure which hand i like better.

And here's a photo of my manicure after the run.

So. Much. Pink!

It was a lot of fun and I'll definitely be doing it again next year. Here is the Color Run website in case you're interested. 

For this manicure I used Sally Hansen Whirlwind White, Color Club Chelsea Girl, China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, China Glaze Four Leaf Clover, China Glaze Make An Entrance, Zoya Arizona, and a black Jordana striper polish,

Windestine Swatch Spam!

Today I decided to show some swatches from the indie brand Windestine. This post is very picture heavy so let's get started!

First up is Spica *Swirl*. Windestine used to sell a polish just called Spica, which was very similar, but from the swatches I've seen, it looks more like a royal blue than a navy. Spica *Swirl* has a navy blue/turquoise base with various sized holographic silver and light gold glitters.

There are even little crescent moon shaped ones!

Each brushstroke is filled with all different types of glitter and I had no problems with glitter placement.

I used three coats for the above swatches. There was a teeny tiny bit of shrinkage that you can probably see in the photos but it wasn't as noticeable in person.

Next up is Bellatrix, which I would say is the sister polish to Spica *Swirl*. It has a dark maroon base with blue, pink, gold, and silver glitters. There are crescent moon glitters in this one as well.

This polish doesn't appear as glitter heavy on the nail as Spica *Swirl* is, but I'm not sure if that's because there aren't any larger glitters besides the moon.

I used three coats for the photos above and Bellatrix also had a little bit of shrinkage. The shrinkage could be caused by my topcoat; however, I've never had it shrink anything on me before.

Next is Asbestos, a polish with a clear base filled with tiny white square glitters.

I wore this recently in my ombré manicure. Love this polish.

I wore one coat of Asbestos over Zoya's Arizona (which appears to be a color my camera hates).

This last one is Carbon Copy. Carbon Copy is the brother... sister... (whatever you would like to call it) to Abestos. This polish is full of teeny tiny black glitters in a clear base.

There's also a slight shimmer to it, which isn't as present on the nail but can be seen in the bottle.

In the photos above, I used one coat of Carbon Copy over OPI's Stranger Tides.

Overall, the formula for all of these was thick, but I had no trouble with glitter placement for any of them. I was a little bummed about Bellatrix. When I saw swatches of it, I thought it was going to be my favorite; however, it just is kind of blah to me. Maybe it's just because it's still summer and the base color is so dark or it could be something as simple as I could have used another layer of top coat. Either way, I love all of the others.

Windestine polishes can be bought at either her Etsy or Big Cartel stores. Spica *Swirl* and Bellatrix are both $8 each for a full size a bottle, where Asbestos and Carbon Copy are $6 each.