L'Oreal Masked Affair

*Purchased by Me*

Hi everyone! I promise I have some new collection things coming this week, but I took a brief swatching break due to a break in one of my nails. I'm going to commence swatching new things tonight, so I'm hoping to have a new collection preview for you tomorrow!

For now...it's yet another L'Oreal Masked Affair post! About a month or so ago there were a slew of posts about this polish so I held off on mine, but I hope I haven't waited too long! It seemed like, at the time, that L'Oreal didn't have very good distribution of this particular collection, so I hope by now it has made its way to your local shops and you have been able to snag it if you were on the hunt. If you do happen to see it and you are even a little unsure about it, pick it up! It doesn't look like much in the bottle, but on the nail it really packs a punch!

L'Oreal Masked Affair is a grey/lilac tinged silver holo with scattered holo flake pieces. I've heard all sorts of horror stories about the formula, but it applied really well for me (it seems to be hit or miss). This is the sort of holo formula that is quick drying, so I found it best to work quickly and sort of float the polish on over the nail without applying a lot of pressure. Using this method from the start, I didn't have any issues with pulling or dragging. Light touch is key! I used 3 light coats for this mani. When I first heard about it, I thought "another silver holo...yeah...THAT'S what I need", but it isn't your typical silver holo. The slight lilac lean of it and its ability to really pull out the entire spectrum of the rainbow make it really special as well as the addition of the holo flake bits which give it some sparkle.

JulieG Bourbon Street

*Purchased By Me*

Hi everyone! Today I have a really awesome drugstore find from JulieG's Mardi Gras Collection, which I stumbled upon recently in my local Rite Aid. I found it to be sort of an odd time of the year for a Mardi Gras themed collection, but they are pretty, so who cares? The polishes in this collection are meant to be worn textured, but you can add topcoat and they have a whole new look! I only have one from the collection today, but BeautyJudy has the entire collection up on her blog, so you can check it out and you will see that this collection is pretty awesome! I can already see a few more that I want to pick up before they disappear.












 

Tribal Stamping with Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate

*Press Sample*

Hi everyone! Today I have a stamping plate to show you that I received from Born Pretty Store. This plate has several tribal designs, so I decided to do a skittle manicure with it. For my base, I did a subtle gradient using Pink Punch and Coral Heat from Maybelline's Bleached Neons Collection. Then I used Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate D14 and Mundo de Unas Black for the design. I thought that this plate was etched very well, stamped crisply, and as you can see, the images all go together perfectly for a fun tribal mani. My only complaint was that the images were a bit small, so this plate would not be ideal for someone with larger/longer nails. My nails are on the shorter/smaller side so it worked well for me on all nails except my thumbnail, and the images weren't wide enough to cover it completely.

*I realize that I neglected to take a picture of the full plate for this post, so I will add that in tonight!*

Be sure to check out Born Pretty Store for all of your nail art supply needs (you can use my coupon code JCX31 for 10% off your order).  I've always had great experiences with ordering from them at very reasonable prices. Also, you can't beat free worldwide shipping! You can also follow Born Pretty Store on Facebook and Instagram.

What do you think about this design? I think it is a fun summer look! Thanks for looking everyone!

Studio M Slammin' Red

*Purchased by me*

Hi everyone! Today I have an oldie but goodie for you. I remember when I first started hanging around the MakeupAlley nailboard in 2010 this polish was posted often and I always thought it was so gorgeous. I had never even heard of the brand, so for some reason I assumed that it was an old discontined brand and thus my hopes of ever owning this polish were just a pipe dream. Fast forward 4 years and I somehow stumble upon the knowledge that this brand is alive and kicking, it is just not sold in my area. Through a lovely custom purchase from Meijer, I was finally able to own it (along with its equally beautiful conterpart, Purple Medallion). The lesson here is: ASK QUESTIONS!

Studio M Slammin' Red isn't so much red but more of a raspberry reddish-pink jelly filled to the brim with silver holographic microglitter. It's definitely not the most unique thing out there, but it sure is sparkly! I used 2 coats for this mani. It is very gritty and requires a thicker topcoat + quick dry topcoat to smooth it out. Also, the bottle is super awkward to hold in pictures (#bloggerproblems). This is one of those polishes that totally gives your nails that jewel-encrusted look.

As I mentioned, the only place that I personally know of that Studio M Polishes are sold is at Meijer, but there could be other drugstores out there where it is sold that I'm not aware of, just none in my neck of the woods. Thanks for looking everyone!

Hare Polish Perfect Storm and L.A. Girl Brilliant Blue

Hi everyone! Today I've decided to do a glitter mani! I've been neglecting my glitters a lot lately, so I'm going to try to mix it up more this month. I recently ordered Hare Polish Perfect Storm because...LOOK AT IT! It is just a magical mix of glitter and shimmer! This is part of Nikole's Jackalope series, meaning it does not belong to any particular Hare Polish collection. It has a mixture of fuchsia dots, neon pink squares, and gold dots and hexes in an inky blue jelly base. There is also a ton of gold, purple, and fuchsia shimmer in the base. You guys know I love to layer my Hares, so this is 2 coats over L.A. Girl Brilliant Blue. The formula was well behaved with excellent glitter payoff (which is why I like to layer my Hares, I feel like using 3 coats is maybe too much glitter for me.). I am in LOVE with this polish! It has rocked way up my Hare Polish favorites list!

Here is L.A. Girl Brilliant Blue on its on. It is just gorgeous and certainly worthy of standing on its own without the addition of glitter. The jelly formula is very easy to work with and it is perfectly opaque at two coats. This L.A. Girl collection is probably my favorite drug store collection ever (or maybe tied with the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms.) Zoya Dream is a pretty much dead on dupe of this polish (this one may be a smidge darker, but not much) , but I have both and have no shame because it is one of my favorite polishes!

Hare Polish is available from Nikole's Etsy Shop as well as from several other e-tailers around the world (complete list found here). Be sure to check out Hare's website, Instagram, and Facebook for updates on new collections and restock info. Thanks for looking everyone!

Enchanted Polish Water For Unicorns + NYC Shimmer Blast Sweet Candy

Hi everyone! I was lucky enough to finally slay my Enchanted Polish Water For Unicorns lemming recently via a swap. I was worried I would be let down when I finally saw it in person, but nope, it is amazing! What I was hoping for was a blue holo that was close to the color of my beloved Illamasqua Fern, and this one was really close. Water For Unicorns is a bright, medium blue linear holographic with a creamy base. The holographic effect isn't the strongest out there since it is in a creamy base, but it is still very nice. The color is just mesmerizing. The formula was fantastic and required 2 coats for full coverage. I'm very much in love with this polish!

After wearing this for a day, I still didn't want to take it off. I decided to add a little sparkle to it to see what would happen. I picked up NYC Shimmer Blast topcoat in Sweet Candy. This topcoat has a clear base with purple/ pink shimmer. I used 1 coat of Sweet Candy over Water For Unicorns here. I loved how it added a whole new dimension to the polish without completely obscuring the holo. The shimmer was even more obvious in real life than in these pictures. I absolutely adored this combo!

I found NYC Shimmer Blast Sweet Candy at Rite Aid in the newer displays. Be sure to pick this beauty up before it's gone!

Enchanted Polish is available from their Big Cartel shop as well as from Nail Polish Canada (Canada), Mei Mei's Signatures (Singapore), and Femme Fatale Cosmetics (Australia). These polishes sell out really quickly, so be sure to check out restock times so you can snatch them up when you can! 

NYC Top of the Gold Topcoat

Hi everyone! Today I have a drugstore beauty for you from NYC. NYC's Top of the Gold topcoat consists of gold flakies in a clear base. These flakies are very sparkly but do not have any sort of color shift like traditional flakies. Amanda from Pretty Girl Science did a comparison, and Top of the Gold is pretty much an exact dupe of Maria Luisa from Zoya's Fall collection. The formula was great and the flakes spread very evenly. I used 2 thin coats of Top of the Gold over OPI Memaid Tears for this mani.

Then I added some matte topcoat to the mani because I loved the way it looked in Amanda's post. I really liked it this way. It reminded me of some sort of tumbled stone. Such a cool mani!

I have seen NYC's Top of the Gold topcoat on current displays in a few drugstores, but I bought mine at Rite Aid. Thanks for looking everyone!

Maybelline Nighttime Noise

Hi everyone! You might have noticed that I've been pulling out some older releases and department store polishes to post lately. I feel like I post indies indies indies all the time and I have so much more in my stash to share, so I want to diversify my content a bit. I also feel like I sometime ignore drugstore polishes, so I'm going to be posting more of those as well. Some of my favorite polishes are actually drugstore polishes, so don't ever think I don't love them. Pure Ice Heartbreaker, all of the LA Girl holos, and Sinful Hottie are some of my favorite polishes in my collection. Hopefully this will give you guys a break from the indie polishes and show you some things you can pick up when you are out and about!

I found a display of the Maybelline Color Show Street Art Collection at Rite Aid recently and I just loved the graphic look of them. I only picked up one to give it a try, but after using it I am definitely going back to pick up a few more of them. My pick was Nighttime Noise, a mixture of matte black and bright blue glitters in a clear base. I feel like this polish utilizes bar glitter in the most perfect way. It really accents the polish instead of taking it over, as I have seen bar glitter do in some polishes. I used 2 coats of Nighttime Noise over American Apparel Factory Grey. The formula was really great with good glitter payoff and even distribution without being too thick. It was almost good at one coat, but I decided to add a light second coat for just a bit more glitter. Isn't the final look striking?

To see all 5 shades from the Maybelline Color Show Street Art Collection, visit Maybelline's official site. I have seen displays for this collection around at different places, but I bought mine at Rite Aid for $3.99. Thanks for looking everyone!