Fast like Flash!

So I received my Barielle package today, so unexpectedly quick! I ordered it on Thursday and got it today. AWEEESOME. (except that they didn't have June Bug on the site, bummer).

Group picture!!

Group 1 (left to right) - Falling Star, Myrza's Meadow, Blackened Bleu, A Bouquet for Ava and Slate of Affairs

Group 2 (left to right) - Swizzle Stix, Decadence, Belly Dance, Uninhibited and Lava Rock

Which ones would you like to see me swatch first? :) Comment!

hope you enjoyed,

<3katherine

Quick Mini Haul: Rite Aid

Along with my mini haul from Walgreens, I decided to hit up Rite Aid for some nail polishes too! :) I picked up 3 brands that I haven't used or tried yet so I was excited to see the outcome.

Group photo:

Swatches!

Petites Color Fever Electric Indigo

a shimmery frosty blue. The swatch is 2 coats and no top coat. Easy to apply and came out really nice. I love the shade and the shimmer!

Petites Color Fever Candy Green

a shimmery frost green. The swatch is 2 coats and no top coat. Easy to apply and the color is amazing.

CQ Tahitian Green

a shimmer kelly green. The swatch is 2 coats and no top coat. My first CQ and the formula wasn't that bad. It was great to apply and the color was so pretty.

Brucci Heidi's Glow

lavender purple with gold shimmer. The swatch is 3 coats and no top coat. The color is beautiful and I like it a lot. I had a hard time debating whether I wanted it or not but I'm glad I picked it.

Brucci Jaded

shimmery jade green. The swatch is 3 coats and no top coat. I kind of rushed after each coat. But I really like the color.

Quick Mini Haul: Walgreens

I went to Walgreens to check if there were any sales or discounts on any nail polishes and found none. But I did pick up 5 bottles of Wet N Wild and 3 of them I've been eyeing and debating about for a while. I finally had the guts to pick them up, buy them so I could try them.

There are no swatches for the clear and the black since I used them only to franken with and everyone knows how it comes out.

Wet N Wild Tickled Pink

a very light baby pink. The swatch is 2 coats and no top coat. I'm not a BIG fan of Wet N Wild but this one made me have more faith in them. I really love the color as well as the formula. It wasn't too thick or too thin, and it was easy to apply. Not as easy as Essie, OPI and China Glaze but close to it. :)

Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up

a yellow orange creme. The swatch is 2 coats and no top coat. Easy to apply and it wasn't thick either. This is the first orange bottle of nail polish I have. And I don't think it's that bad and that oranges aren't that bad with my skintone.

Wet N Wild Blazed

a strawberry coral. The swatch is 3 coats and no top coat because the formula was a little thin. But it applied well and easy and it comes out really nice. :)

I hope you enjoyed,

<3katherine

Busy Bee

So this past week has been hectic for me, studying for finals and finals. Today was my last day of final exams so I'm glad my summer has just begun. I'm happy to say that I did not break my 1 month ban of no buying nail polishes & it's almost over!! ~ June 4th will be the day I can finally buy nail polishes again :p! I have pictures of my nails for this week as well as swatches from my recent haul (that is excluded from my nail polish ban).

Haul:

- Color Club Si Vous Please

- Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau

- Essie Lapis of Luxury

China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Strawberry Fields, Medallion, and Nova

OPI What's With The Cattitude, Rumple's Wiggin', Jade is the New Black and Alpine Snow

This week's nails:

- OPI What's With The Cattitude (Shrek Collection)
- OPI Rumple's Wiggin'

+ Sinful Colors Black on Black (mickey mouse)
+ Rhinestones
+ China Glaze Nova (gradient)
+ LA Colors Nail Art (gradient)

left hand:

right hand:

Afterwards, a day later, I kept looking at my nails because the mickey mouses were not proportional and slightly disorted and being a perfectionist I am, I redid them into silver gradients rather than mickey mouse.

Swatches:

*note: the swatches are each on individual nails because I don't have much nail polish remover left and I forgot to buy some. So I'm trying to make sure I could finish swatching and still be able to remove them, lol. :P

Index: OPI Jade is the New Black (dusty unique green)

Midde: Essie Lapis of Luxury (rich cornflower blue)

Ring: China Glaze Strawberry Fields (strawberry pink & gold flecked shimmer)

Pinky: China Glaze Lemon Fizz (pastel yellow)

* all the above were 2 coats with no top coat. LOVE THEM♥ :)

Index: Color Club Si Vous Please! (frost shimmer)

Middle: Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau (pastel blue) + Si Vous Please!

Ring: China Glaze Medallion (clear base gold glitters)

Pinky: China Glaze Nova (clear base silver glitters

* all the above were 2 coats with no top coat. LOVE THEM♥ :) it's my first color club bottle and I'm VERY pleased with Take Me To Your Chateau <3.

hope you enjoyed,

<3katherine

Day 2

Day 2: no temptation to look for nail polishes. :) busy with law & calculus - then headed off to 5th avenue to eat Halal food and go to the NBA store with my boyfriend. No time to look around, thank goodness or else I would've gotten sucked in by Rite Aid/Walgreens/Duane Reade! :P

I received my Sally's order in the mail today. There's no Sally's Beauty anywhere in my neighborhood or in NYC so I had to order online. White Polar Bear buffer block, pumice bar, and two base coats: Poshe and Nail Life Gripper. I heard good reviews for Poshe and half good and half bad reviews for NLG. So I'm going to try both of them out myself to see which one works for me. :) I also used a 10% off my online purchase so I saved a little!

Swatch Of The Day

Zoya Akyra

The formula seemed sheer but came out really nice using only 2 coats! My first experience with Zoya and the application was smooth and enjoyable. The color is really nice & since I came home in time for the sun - I have the swatches with sunlight! Usually I swatch with my regular light in my room at home, but since the sun was still out, I might as well take advantage of it. :D The color is dark blue green but shimmers and shines more green in the light. A very beautiful color & I'm definitely happy with this exchange so far! (: The second picture is closest to how you see it IRL, without all the sunlight.

Nails Of The Day

Zoya Akyra

LA Colors Nail Art Black

LA Colors Nail Art Gold Glitter

LA Colors Nail Art Turquoise Glitter

Don't forget about considering the Zoya Polish Exchange which ends on June 30th!

I'm promoting the colors I got from this exchange during my month of nail polish ban. :)

hope you enjoyed this post,

<3katherine

Oh Happy Day!

Today is a great day! :)

• I saw my box of Zoya's on my doorstep and made me happy
• I received my fyrinnae samples from an online seller
• Two posts in one day

* this post was supposed to be posted after the Essie French manicure post, lol.

My fyrinnae samples:

(from left to right, top row then bottom row)

- Android Angel: purple; the cover broke before I opened the package :(.

- Gilded Wings: gold-bronze

- Chrome: powdery silver/dusty grey

- Biker Chic: blue with light blue shimmers

- Sorceress: dark blue with very little blue shimmers

- Atomic Afterglow: dusty tan

- Meerkat: fuchsia/purple with gold shimmers

My experience with Zoya's Polish Exchange: very smooth and easy to order for the exchange, the only hard part is choosing which bottles since there's TONS of bottles to choose from. It took a little longer than expected since there was a mix up with Goldie and Midori. But the service was great, they notified me via email to confirm the color I wanted. They told me when it was processed & shipped. Tracked it and arrived on the delivery date. They packaged it well, bubble wrap on the bottom with packaging peanuts around the four boxes of Zoya's. They even included their catalog in there for treatments, colors, and etc.

Here's a group picture of the Zoya's from this (my first) year of Zoya's Polish Exchange:

Here's subgroups in alphabetical order of my Zoya's:

- Akyra

- Ava

- Charla

- Harley

- Indigo

- Ivanka

- Ki

- Kotori

- Lexi

- Luna

- Midori

- Pippa

- Raven

- Rea

- Richelle

- Shivon/Shivan

- Suvi

- Trixie

- Veruschka

- Zara

hope you enjoyed this post

<3katherine

Revlon

Revlon Purchase

*swatch pictures are not available for lilac pastelle yet. after resizing the swatch pictures i had, the color was not accurate - and not that close to it. :\ will definitely redo.

185 Lilac Pastelle - 3 coats and no top coat

pastel lilac/purple. The formula and application isn't that bad. The first coat was a little sheer and two coats was better but still had spots that the polish didn't evenly cover. Third coat looks best and relates closest to the bottle color. Not bad for my first Revlon.

900 Gold Get 'Em - 3 coats and no top coat

yellow-gold shimmer microglitters. The color is amazinginly beautiful?. The formula and application was excellent. Two coats was nice yet sheer but 3 coats gets to the bottle color. Definitely my favorite out of these 3 Revlons :). It was kind of hard to capture. It's a lot more yellow and shimmery than the pictures.

918 Silver Screen - 2 coats and no top coat

light dusty charcoal shimmer. The formula and application was excellent! Surprisingly, it was pretty good with only one coat of Silver Screen but 2 coats looked better. Looks a bit streaky but still beautiful.

<3katherine

Quest for YELLOW nail polish!

Heart tips on ring finger and french on the other fingers. I couldn't think of another way of describing it, lol. Since I'm a righty, it's easier for me to do the nail art on my left hand rather than the opposite. My nail art isn't as nice on my right hand & the heart isn't as nice looking as my left. The glittler outer part of the heart is thicker than the other side :(. On the bright side, it still looks like a heart.

So after I prepped my nails & applied base coat, I used Essie's Mint Candy Apple. Be careful with this polish because although the color looks nice and the formula is good and thin, the application is tougher than you think because you have to make it equal. Though the first coat might not look equal, be sure to make your second coat equal. I used 2 coats of MCA and then applied a top coat. When it dried, I drew the outline of the heart on the ends of my ring finger, filled in the heart and applied a gold outline over the white heart. Wait until it dries & seal it with top coat again for the finishing touch.

---

Walgreen Mini Haul/Purchase

first swatch picture is 4 coats & no top coat

second swatch picture is 5 coats & no top coat

Rimmel London French Rose. Sheer jelly light pink chiffon - I bought this color because I needed a french manicure/pedicure color. I never tried this brand and the brush size really surprised me, lol. The formula is sheer and the application is smooth. Doesn't dry as fast as OPI, Essie or China Glaze but not bad in terms of waiting for my nails to dry.

Sinful Colors Rise and Shine: 2 coats and 1 coat of top coat

Turquoise with shimmer - reminds me of China Glaze's Tuned Up Turquoise, unfortunately I don't have that bottle anymore so I can't do a comparison swatch - maybe in the future if I remember. The formula was good and the application goes smoothly. The only thing I didn't like was that a lot of nail polish gets on the brush and the rod that holds the brush and there's always a ball of nail polish rolling down from the brush. :\ But it dries quick and when it's dry it looks like a matte polish but looks better with top coat. Love the color & if you're looking for something similar to CG Tuned Up Turquoise, this should be your color. :)

Sinful Colors Mint Apple: 2 coats and 1 coat of top coat

Dusty mint jade with small gold shimmer - similar to Sinful Colors Rise and Shine but just a lighter and dustier shade. Not really that close to Mint Candy Apple although the name is has 2 of the 3 words of it, lol. Good formula and smooth application. Dries fast too! I likey :).

Maybelline Banana Bamba: 3 coats and 1 coat of top coat

lemon/banana yellow with slight shimmer. Two coats is good also but I wanted the color to be even. The formula is good but applying it isn't that good. If your coat is uneven then then it shows in the second and third coat that it's been applied unevenly. Not a bad color, I really like it but I don't think it looks nice with my skintone.

My journey to find a nice yellow polish that would match my skintone is still in progress. I've tried China Glaze Golden Opportunity which didn't work out and the Maybelline Banana Bamba hasn't quite captured me when I look at my hand. :\ Does anyone have any suggestions to a nice yellow? I'm planning on getting China Glaze's Lemon Fizz to give it another shot, hopefully I'll get it soon.

I'm thinking about doing a giveaway when I reach a certain amount of followers on my blog. I haven't picked out what I'm going to give away but definitely new polishes! :) Keep tuning in to check when I will have my first give away!

---

Thanks to Katrina for posting it in her blog! :)♥ Zoya's is having their nail polish exchange this year! I didn't participate last year but this year I'm definitely going to since I don't own a single bottle of Zoya.

So the deal is, for every bottle you want to exchange is $3.50 and in exchange, you get to pick the Zoya nail polishes you want. :) You could pay by credit card, check or money order.

I picked out 20 bottles of old nail polishes that I'm going to exchange for: Ava, Akyra, Charla, Harley, Indigo, Ivanka, Ki, Kotori, Lexi, Luna, Midori, Pippa, Raven, Rea, Richelle, Shivon, Suvi, Trixie, Veruschuka and Zara

I'm excited to try out Pippa because it's YELLOW! And following this blog post, is to continue my quest for the perfect yellow that will fit my skintone!

Anyways, let me know which Zoya's you like or want or thinking about exchanging for! :)

<3katherine

Cotton Candy, YUM?

For last week, I swatched OPI Mad as a Hatter. It's clear polish with multi colored micro glitter. For the swatch picture, it took me 3 coats without top coat. I thought that I should put a base color under but when I tried it on a plastic tip to test out, it didn't look as nice. So I kept my swatch for the day and liked it. The colors are so crazy. It's hard to make the glitter cover every area equally though. But very easy to remove. One of my favorites :).

Sephora by OPI Leaf Him at the Alter. Two coats and top coat. Easy application and dries quickly. I don't own any greens like this and I love this color! Shiny and smooth. Not very streaky looking. I added a little yellow nail art also. :)

Today, I stopped by Claire's for earring backings and decided to look at the nail polishes {buy one get one 50% off!}. I fell in love with Fresh Water (right) and I saw the Cotton Candy polish - I was so astonished that someone could make nail polish smell a certain way.

Cotton Candy, 3 coats and no top coat. Very sheer light shimmery blue with micro glitter and circle glitter pieces. You'd probably need more coats in order to cover up the white ends or use this over another color. I love the color though and very easy to apply. :) Oddly, it did smell like cotton candy. But it still had the usual nail polish smell from it also. It's a lot bearable compared to the regular nail polish smell. :\

Fresh Water, 3 coats and no top coat. I absolutely love the bottle color and decided to get it. The formula is sheer but very beautiful. Probably need more coats but still a very nice color. Dries very quick so it won't take up too much time if you do more coats.

Overall both Claire's were sheer and thin, but they dried quick and easily applied. Not bad for Claire's and I'd go back to buy some more to try out. :)

hope you enjoyed this post,

<3katherine