Barielle Misbehaving Mistress

Hey out there on a quiet Sunday night! 

I have a simple swatch/work mani to show you today - Barielle's Misbehaving Mistress, from Fall 2008.  I found this medium, taupe, with subtle, silver shimmer, gem-of-a-polish at Marshalls last week for $2.99... This is my first bottle of Barielle.  I don't know where to buy these offline, anymore.  Ulta use to be the only place I knew of, but they replaced them with Zoyas.  Now its just transdesign.com... who is having a sale on their Barielle multi-packs, BTW. 

Anyhow, the formula on this is really nice too; two coats, no issues.

I used Nina Ultra Pro's quick dry top coat for this mani for the first time.  Just recently they changed their font, bottles and brushes.  I like the new packaging but the new brushes are huge!  Double barrelled, wide and soft.  See the picture above?  I don't know if people are going to like this....

This is just a preliminary review because I've only tried this top coat once.  Nina's top coat does dry fast, 2 minutes to touch but I had some major shrinkage, noticeable at the tips after three hours.  (I do wrap my tips).  Shine was okay, but after 12 hours the shine started to fade. 

Well, that's it for now, TTFN!

NOTW WNW Fergie New Years Kisses, NUP Sangria

How's every one's week going?  I've got two polishes to show you today.  First, is Wet N Wild's, New Year's Kisses from the Fergie line.  This is a clear based, silver, holographic bar glitter, with silver micro glitter and smaller blue bar glitter.  I did one coat with two coats of Jelly Pop top coat.

I probably should have layered this, but I really was craving something sheer.  My yellow tips are more apparent in photos than in real life.... I don't know why.  This was super pretty by itself.  Light, bright, and super sparkly in low light. It feels like a veil.  This mani took only five minutes and dried really fast. 

Wet N Wild's Fergie polishes are at Walgreens for $3.49 a bottle.  A few are dupes from the Spoiled line.  I only picked up two, New Years Kisses and their multi-colored star glitter.  Also the brushes on these are broad and flat, similar to the Spoiled line.

Next, was this weeks work mani. I wore for four days: Nina Ultra Pro's Sangria.  Sangria is a deep dark red shimmer, more appropriate for fall, but something possessed me to wear this to work.  I got lots of compliments on this one.  Unfortunatley, the pictures came out lighter, and a bit flat than in real life.  I want to re-shoot this color again.  Maybe in the fall I might have more time?

Nina Ultra Pro is at Sally's, I think, for $4.99 a bottle, but they have them on sale frequently for $3.49.  I don't think NUP gets enough attention.  I have about 5 bottles and they all have been very nice polishes.

That's it for now, thanks for stopping by!

Nina Ultra Pro - Burnished Bronze

Earlier I did a post on a half moon mani using Nina Ulta Pro's Burnished Bronze, and today I'll show you a swatch of just this polish by itself because it is a beautiful metallic burnt orange.  If your a fan of orange, this should be in your collection.  AND if you are NOT a fan of orange, this should be in your collection.  I don't own very many oranges, maybe only three. However, I LOVE Burnished Bronze, and I really could care less about the other two.  Deep and rich in color, its probably best for late summer and fall, but oh well, here it is, two coats.

Burnished Bronze could be a thick one coater but the color deepens with the second coat.  The formula is fantastic, even, streak free, and the consistency is just right.  Application was a breeze. 

Nina Ultra Pro is at Sally's for $4.29. If you can catch these on sale they can be a real bargain.  This month they are buy 2 get one free. So three for roughly $8, not too bad. 

Click here to see the half moon mani with China Glaze's Hook and Line, in case you missed it.

Do you have any oranges that you absolutely love?

Half Moon Mani with China Glaze Hook and Line

Hi Guys!
Today I'm excited to show you my first half moon mani!  I used Nina Ultra Pro's Burnished Bronze and China Glaze's Hook and Line from the Hunger Games collection. 

I know this picture is blurry but don't you just love how blurry pictures can convey an impression? 
Like what this mani might look like from afar?

How did I do this?  It was pretty easy.

Two coats of Burnished bronze.  Make sure this is completely dry and cured. 
About three hours for me.
Then apply stickers, and make sure they are flat so that paint does not seep under them.
I used a cuticle pusher to flatten the stickers.

Paint two coats of Hook and Line.  With one coat the orange was still coming through.

What I used. L to R, reinforcements, CG top coat, CG Hook and Line, NUP Burnished Bronze.

I peeled the stickers off right away, after painting with Hook and Line, and then cleaned up the edges with a brush and pure acetone.  Gooped on some CG fastforward topcoat and that was it!

My nails were really thick.  There are a total of seven coats of polish that I'm wearing.  I used Orly's bonder as a base (nice and thin), two coats of Burnished Bronze, one coat of CG FF top coat, two coats of Hook and Line and one thick coat of CG FF top coat.  I also have to add, after I peeled off the stickers, Hook and Line started to dry, and left kind of a wall of pooled paint that was laying against the edge of the stickers.  CG's top coat did a nice job of smoothing out the line/wall while still maintaining a clean crisp demarcation.  I think this is why CG FF top coat is my go to top coat for glitters.  It is such a great leveler, smudge fixer and delivers a high gloss finish. 

Well what d'ya think?

I think you are going to see more of these half moon manis from me because they are so easy to do and fun.

If you missed yesterday's post on CG's Liquid Crystal click here.

Nina Ultra Pro - Blue La La

Hi guys! Today I have a beautiful cerulean creme to show you - Nina Ultra Pro's Blue La La.  This was two easy coats and will lift your day.  Well at least it cheered me up. 

Nina Ultra Pro is at Sally's, $4.29 a bottle. 

I thought I would do a comparison of all my blue polishes since I have few blue-greys, not that Blue La La is a blue grey, but I tend to re-buy things I like, and forget that I already have a certain color.

In the same order as on the nail wheel.

I have swatched all but five of these.  If you want to see them, click "blue", under "labels" you should be able to see all the posts. 

I can't seem to single out a favorite. Each blue is beautiful in its own right, and I do love love all of them!  Do you have some favorite blue polishes?

Nina Ultra Pro - Never Glum Plum & China Glaze - Techno

This post is going to be a little lengthy because later on, I feature two China Glaze glitters.

Nina Ultra Pro - Never Glum Plum (NGP), is a medium gray creme polish with a teeny tiny touch of purple, maybe.  I really can't see it.  Either way it is still a very pretty gray.  Is it grey or gray?  Well, this is an American blog, so we will go with gray.  NGP was a little watery, but two coats will give you full coverage.  I have used Nina Ultra Pro in the past and find their polishes are quite good.  My favorite of theirs is brushed bronze, the only orange nail polish that I own.  I'll have to swatch that sometime. 

Many bloggers report that Nina Ultra Pro is cruelty free and vegan!  On the back of their bottles, the ingredients are big 3 free, major PLUS! 

In addition, they are quite affordable, I bought my at Sally's back in November for $1.99 each.  Right now they are having a sale on Nina Ultra Pro, for $2.99, I think normally they are $3.99 each.  Bigger Plus!

Last week I found China Glaze's Techno at a beauty supply store for $5.  They had the entire Electropop collection, which are a bunch of bright spring colors I'm not ready for, so I didn't buy any, just Techno.  Techno is a clear polish with big and small holo hex glitters.  You would think, it should not be hard to find a clear polish with holo hex glitters, but it IS!  Revlon makes one, I think, called Sparlking?  I never can find it, its always sold out.  Yes, it is on eBay, but some seller wants $15 for it,  I think not! .... so I was happy to find Techno.

I just did the ring finger on this mani because I really like NGP on its own.  Techno in my humble opinion is a must have glitter in anyone's collection,  it would be great to even layer with other glitters.

On the right hand, I was experimenting with China Glaze's Some Like it Haute.  I applied this glitter on the tip with a big #6 flat brush on top of some stars.  I should have done the glitter first then applied the stars... so backwards!  Oh well.

I posted Some Like it Haute earlier.  See here.

Thoughts or comments?  Are you ready for the Electropop collection or any other spring collection?  I'm ready for warm weather, but I'm still enjoying the dark colors and glitters.