Lumina Lacquer The Sorcerer's Haunted Mansion

Hello! I have yet another Halloween inspired mani today. One of my favorite indie brands, Lumina Lacquer created a few Mickey themed polishes a while back. I wanted them but I never did pull the trigger. Several months down the road I found a bottle of the The Sorcerer's Haunted Mansion through a blog sale and this time I was very quick to buy it. I have been wanting to wear it for a while and I finally did about a week ago. Here it is!

The Sorcerer's Haunted Mansion is a mix of black, gray, gold, and silver glitters all in a clear base that also has a pretty but subtle gold shimmer. There are hexes, moons, and of course Mickey heads. Some of the glitters are holo, which is my favorite kind. It's a beauty.

I wasn't sure what to wear it over at first but after testing it over China Glaze Recycle, my mind was set. I used two coats of Recycle and just one coat of The Sorcerer's Haunted Mansion. I let my bottle sit upside down before applying and it really helped with application. The Mickey glitters didn't come out as much as I hoped they would but I was still pleased. I got one on my pinky nail and middle finger nail, though some of that one got buried by the base. I topped it off with two coats of Rica Glossy Glam.

I am so in love with The Sorcerer's Haunted Mansion! It's gorgeous but the fact that it's Mickey/Disney inspired makes me love it that much more. Sadly this one is no longer available from Lumina Lacquer but it's definitely worth grabbing if you come across a bottle.

My LA Kings Look!

Months ago I mentioned that I was going to a LA Kings Stanley Cup Final game with my dad. For those of you that don't follow hockey, the Kings did end up winning the Stanley Cup, which marks the second time they have won in the past two years. I couldn't be more happy about it. The game I went to was game 1 and it was an amazing experience for me since I had never been to a playoff game before and I also got to see it go into overtime, another first for me. Here's what I wore on my nails. Keep in mind I was running low on time and was severely lacking imagination.

I used black, silver, and white to match the colors on their jerseys. Not super creative as I said but I was happy with the simplicity. The black was China Glaze Liquid Leather, the silver was China Glaze Cheers To You, and the white was OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Out of the three, Liquid Leather was the easiest to use. It was opaque in two coats and applied smoothly. The one I had the most trouble with was OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Ugh, I got so frustrated with it! It went on streaky and did not want to dry whatsoever. Everyone raves about this polish and each time I have used it, I've had less than stellar results. I don't know if it's my bottle or my application, but it's not my favorite. My Rica Glossy Glam top coat really helped to make it look better.

I took a million photos at the game, some of which I thought about posting but I honestly do not feel like going through all of them. Just trust me when I say this, it was awesome. I'll never forget it. Now I'm just counting down the days that hockey is back on. I miss watching it.

Random Skittle Mani!

I've been back from camping for almost three weeks. I had a great time, even though the weather in Carpinteria wasn't the greatest this time around. I took several walks along the beach and got so many pretty shells, including some whole sand dollars. I also spent time drawing, which I hadn't done in a while and my niece and I even watched The Amazing Spider-Man in our tent.

I missed painting my nails a lot and the look I'm sharing with you wasn't really planned. I guess you can call it a happy accident. I was in my room last weekend playing around with some of my untried polishes. I just grabbed what called to me and painted each nail a different color. I planned to remove all of the polishes and go with one choice, but I kind of fell in love with how my left hand turned out and decided to keep it on. Here's the result!

What you see from index to pinky is China Glaze Electrify, OPI Jinx, China Glaze Tail Me Something and Barielle Swizzle Stix. On my thumb, but not pictured, is Sally Hansen Big Money. This is such a random look but I can't help but like it. I will definitely be wearing these colors separately in the future. Oh and in case you're wondering why Tail Me Something looks different in the second picture, it was taken before I added a second coat.

Here's what it looked like before adding top coat.

So am I crazy for liking this? If I am, that's okay!

That's all I have for today but I have a post scheduled for tomorrow and I'm also working on a haul post, my first in 8 months. Thank you for stopping by!

China Glaze Graffiti Glitter & China Glaze It's Alive

Yesterday, I was getting bored with my current China Glaze It's Alive mani and wanted a new look, but I wasn't quite ready to take off polish that didn't have any chips. Naturally I started digging through my glitters. My goal was to create a look that could be worn for Halloween, but also any day of the year. I settled on my unused bottle of China Glaze Graffiti Glitter. Here are the results!

Here is one coat of China Glaze Graffiti Glitter layered over China Glaze It's Alive. It's a simple glitter, with just green hex glitter and black bar glitter. I'm so in love with the look I created! Graffiti Glitter looks so much better on It's Alive than I expected it to. I think it's kind of perfect for Halloween but in a unique way. I love how the black and green glitters pop. Obviously the green glitters in both polishes don't perfectly match but I think they end up complimenting each other. I topped off everything with one coat of Gelous and one coat of my Orly top coat.

I'm so happy I made the decision to use China Glaze Graffiti Glitter. I love that I was able to create a totally new look with just one polish. That is one of the many reasons why I'll forever love glitter.

China Glaze It's Alive

Since Halloween is coming up, I wanted to start wearing all of my Halloween themed polishes. As of right now I only have three, but when I get some of my recent indie purchases, I'll have a few more to add. To be honest, Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, but I can appreciate a fun and beautiful polish when I see one! For today I have China Glaze It's Alive.

It's Alive is the first Halloween themed polish I ever bought when the collection came out two years ago and I'm only now just wearing it. I wish I hadn't waited so long because it's seriously gorgeous! It's a mossy green jelly base filled with what is either small hexes or circle glitters, and micro-glitters in the same color. The glitters glow and sparkle beautifully. I'm so glad I love it on my nails as much as I do in the bottle. It's so different from all of the greens I own.

The formula was a dream! It was easy applying and very opaque, even on the first coat. I only needed two coats. It was really fast drying, but that's not a surprise with a glitter like this. I barely had any clean up, which is always an added bonus. It dried a lot smoother than I thought it would, but it was still top coat hungry. I have a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and one coat of my Orly top coat and it's not completely glass smooth like I was hoping it would be.

It's Alive, in my opinion, is one of the best Halloween polishes China Glaze has made in recent years. I'm so glad I finally pulled it out and wore it. I can't wait to try out my other Halloween polishes now!

Las Vegas Haul!

First off, happy birthday to my mom! Here is the second haul I had originally wanted to post a few weeks back after my Las Vegas vacation. I already knew that when I went to Vegas, I wanted to hit up the ABC Store and the beauty supply store. I was prepared to bring home some polish, but the rest I got mainly on a whim. Anyway, I came home with 23 new beauties and here they are!

 ABC Store:

Island Girl polishes: Diamond Head Breeze, Honolulu Orchid, and Island Color.

Beauty supply store:

China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, China Glaze Sea Spray, Dare To Wear Ready For My Close-Up , Morgan Taylor Let Them Eat Cake, Morgan Taylor Make A Statement, and Morgan Taylor Under The Stars.


  
Nabi Multi Jumbo Glitter, Sation Most Hue-nique, OPI Liquid Sand Get Your Number, OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and OPI Pirouette My Whistle. 


Marshall's:

Sation Just Lilac That, Sation Plenty of Frogs, and SpaRitual Deep Shimmer.


ULTA:

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, China Glaze Orange You Hot?, Essence Chic Reloaded, Essence Hello Marshmallow, Essence Oh My Glitter, and ULTA Blues Cruise. 

As you can see, I have a lot of new polishes that I need to start wearing ASAP. I'm probably most excited to try out the Essence's, since they are my first and hopefully not my last. Thanks for taking a look!

China Glaze Ingrid

Today I have a polish that I bought on a whim. I might have been suckered in by the $1.99 price tag. It's China Glaze Ingrid.

Ingrid comes from the China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection of 2010. It is a chocolate brown with beautiful shimmer. I have no prior experience with brown polishes. I have never found myself lusting after them, but figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a chance. I could end up loving it. Well, I don't love it, but I do like it. It's different from what I'm used to. It's still pretty. I used three coats, plus one coat of top coat.

I'm really glad I tried Ingrid, even if I don't love it. It was nice to get out of my polish comfort zone.

China Glaze When Stars Collide

I have my last China Glaze Hologlam polish to show you today! Color wise, it is probably the most unique out of the three that I got and in the entire collection for that matter. It is When Stars Collide.

When Stars Collide is a dark maroon polish with a linear holographic effect. Like I said, it is very unique. I've never seen a holo in this color before. I really like that China Glaze didn't just give us any old purple, even though the purple lover in me probably would have liked it no matter what. The formula was just like the rest. It was relatively easy to work with and as with the other two, I only needed two coats. Again, no top coat was used.

So, that's all my Hologlam polishes! It's hard to choose a favorite because I genuinely love each of them, but it is probably a tie between When Stars Collide and Galactic Gray. I must say though, I wasn't blown away by the collection as a whole. For the price of $14, the holo should be much stronger. Luckily, I got mine for a little less than half that, so I'm not upset, nor is my wallet, but I'm not sure I would have paid full price. With the exception of the darker ones in the collection, the colors aren't terribly unique either. They're definitely pretty, but not worth $14. Still, I'm happy with the three that I have and I don't regret purchasing them.

Are you planning on getting anything from the Hologlam collection or just skipping it altogether?

China Glaze Galactic Gray

I have another China Glaze Hologlam polish today! This time, it's Galactic Gray. Here are pictures!

As the name obviously gives away, Galactic Gray is a gray holo that leans brown. I fell in love after the first stroke. It's just so pretty and the holo effect is absolutely gorgeous! It is the strongest out of the three I have and it might be the strongest in the collection. It too had a fantastic formula and was easy to work with. I was impressed with how self leveling it was. There was one nail that I applied it too thickly but it dried completely smooth. I only needed two coats and again, no top coat was used.

I can't explain how much I love Galactic Gray! I think it's a must have from the collection.

China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots

I've made some tiny changes to my blog. The font for my titles/gadgets is different and as you can see at the top of my blog, there is a new picture collage, featuring random manis of mine, that I made. It's a little blurry, but I think it turned out okay. Oh, and I'm three posts away from my 100th! To celebrate, I have some gorgeous polishes coming up. They're all going to be holos! I recently got three from the new China Glaze Hologlam collection and today I have my first pick, Strap On Your Moonboots!

It is a dark midnight blue, but it still maintains a gorgeous holo effect. It seems like this one, along with the other darker ones in the collection have the strongest holo. It's not as strong as the OMG or Color Club holos, but it is stronger than the Tronica polishes. I love it.

Unlike some holos, this one was thick and creamy. It was relatively easy to apply and each coat leveled out quite nicely. Patchiness wasn't that much of a problem, although it would start to happen if I went over a spot once or twice. I didn't use a special base coat, just my typical China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat and no top coat was used.

I love Strap On Your Moonboots, I'm so glad I got it! I can't stop staring at my nails when I'm outside. I definitely recommend this one from the collection.

China Glaze Fancy Pants

I didn't plan on getting anything from the China Glaze Avant Garden collection. It's not that the colors aren't beautiful, they are, and I definitely could use some pastels in my collection, but I didn't feel like I absolutely needed any of them. Then, I saw Fancy Pants in person and I had to get it!

Fancy Pants is kind of complex. Is it purple, is it blue? Sometimes it looks more purple to me, but it definitely leans blue. It looks different in certain lighting. I must say this polish is insanely gorgeous! The pinky purple shimmer really takes it to the next level. I had some trouble capturing it in photos, so trust me when I say this, it is much better in person.

The formula was awesome. It was buttery and easy to apply. I only needed two coats for opacity. There was hardly any clean up either, which was an added bonus.

Fancy Pants is a must have from the Avant Garden collection in my opinion! This might be one of my favorite China Glaze polishes so far this year.

China Glaze Water You Waiting For

My nails were growing back quite fast but I'm back to nubs again. Sadly, my index nail broke while at work and the rest is history. Today on my nubs is China Glaze Water You Waiting For from the Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away collection. I regretted not picking it up at first it but recently I was able to find it for a $1.99!

Water You Waiting For is a deep blue jelly base with blue, green, and purple glitter. It is absolutely gorgeous! I love the depth it has. This is now one of my favorite glitters in my collection. I'm sure most of you know by now that it is similar to NOPI Kendall On the Katwalk, which I have been wanting, but I don't feel the need for it now.

It was a little thick and kind of "dry" when applying, if that makes sense, but it was still easy to work with. I used two coats, but a third probably wouldn't have hurt. I only used one coat of top coat, but I should have added a second.

Water You Waiting For is amazing! I'm so glad I was able to add it to my collection. I can't resist a gorgeous blue like this one, especially when in glitter form.

KBShimmer Elle

For Christmas, I was happy to receive indie polishes that I had been wanting for a while. KBShimmer was one of the brands I had been lusting after and today I have one of them to show you. Elle was one of the top polishes I wanted from the brand.

Elle is from the KBShimmer Circus collection. It's a beautiful grey jelly packed with pink, gray, and white glitter in various shapes and sizes. The combination of grey and pink together is absolutely gorgeous. The polish itself is really unique, at least to me.

I contemplated wearing it alone but I decided to conserve it, so I layered two coats over one coat of China Glaze Elephant Walk, which made a great match. The formula on Elle was good. It had great coverage and thankfully no fishing was required.

I'm so happy with Elle! I have no complaints, I love everything about it. So far, I'm impressed with KBShimmer and I can't wait to wear my others.

China Glaze It's A Trap-eze

Today I have the only polish I picked from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil World's Away collection, It's A Trap-eze.

It's A Trap-eze is pretty much like Deborah Lippmann Candy Shop or Claire's Candy Shop, but instead of a pink base, it's a sheer, creamy white base loaded with rainbow glitter. I wouldn't say it's the most beautiful polish I've ever laid my eyes on, but is it fun and cute? Definitely. That's what I love about it.

It was thick due to all of the glitter, so it wasn't the easiest to apply but it was manageable. It was sheer on the first coat, but three coats got me full coverage. I really like the jelly sandwich effect it has. Clean up was a PITA. Glitter was everywhere and it kept wanting to flake off in big pieces. Totally worth it though.

I'm really happy with It's A Trap-eze. It was one of the standouts from the collection for me and it certainly doesn't disappoint. If you want a party on your nails, this is your polish.

China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses

Christmas is almost here! It's my favorite holiday by far. I love everything about it. So it's only appropriate that I show a holiday polish today. I have Mistletoe Kisses from China Glaze's 2010 collection, 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice.

It was my first time using Mistletoe Kisses and I must say, I love it. It's a beautiful silvery green glitter in a tinted green base. It's not dark like most greens I've seen released during the holidays, but it's still perfect for Christmas.

This beauty is a full coverage glitter, so only three coats were needed. It was mainly opaque by the second but some bald spots were showing. The formula was also really great, not too thick or runny. It dried fairly fast and it wasn't very gritty when it did. One coat of top coat was all I needed to make it completely smooth.

I'm so glad I didn't wait any longer to wear Mistletoe Kisses! It's a great polish for the holidays. I recently got the new China Glaze holiday polishes, so look out for those in future posts!

My birthday mani!

Today is my 22nd birthday! So far it feels like any other day. I don't have extravagant plans, but I am going to dinner with my family tonight, so that should be nice. I wanted to wear something cute and girly on my nails today, so I chose China Glaze Naked.

Naked was my first China Glaze ever and the first polish I bought when I started to fall in love with the stuff, not to mention my first "professional" brand, so it's special to me. Coming from a person that doesn't like pink polish THAT much, I absolutely love it! It's a barbie pink that I find flattering on me. I also love how bright it is and the shimmer is absolutely gorgeous!

I've used it before, so the bottle is running low and it's getting kind of thick. What's weird is that it didn't seem thick at all when I shook it or it was on the brush, but once I put it on, it was. It wasn't self leveling, but uneven. The thickness made the drying time longer. It was also sheer, so three coats was a must, plus top coat.

Overall, I love Naked! I will definitely think about buying a new bottle once I run out. I mighttt add some glitter to it, but I'm undecided about which to go with!

China Glaze Electra Magenta

Lots of sunshine today means one thing: perfect time for a holo! I pulled out my bottle of China Glaze Electra Magenta, a warm toned pink from the Tronica collection. Ever since buying it, I wasn't sure I would like it on me, because I'm not totally crazy about pinks. I can now say that my doubts have been silenced!

I really, really like it. I wouldn't say that I'm head over in heels for it, but it's very pretty. Like all holos, I want to keep staring at my nails. The effect is beautiful. I skipped top coat so it wouldn't be dulled.

The formula, wow! It, along with the other Tronica's I've tried, has the best I've worked with. Two coats of smooth, buttery perfection is all it took and with a super speedy drying time, no annoying dents or smears. Clean up was a cinch too.

I'm really grateful to have Electra Magenta and my other Tronica polishes. They're gorgeous and apply like a dream. I can't ask for anything more!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! I planned to post this much earlier, but better late than never. I wanted to do something with my nails today but I'm not experienced with nail art. So, I just painted all of my nails with China Glaze Dorothy Who? and for an accent nail, I used an unnamed red glitter from Hot Topic on my ring finger. CoverGirl Disco Dazzle, a silver glitter, topped everything.

Yes, back to nubs and not by choice. Basically my index nail had a small split, which lead to complete breakage. I then had to file the rest of my nails after. I hate it. It sucks when this happens, but I know they'll back grow soon enough.

Anyways, I'm happy with how this turned out. It was my first time using Dorothy Who? and it's a perfect blue jelly glitter. It was a tad sheer and runny, but easy to work with. 3 coats were perfect and the drying time was fast. The red glitter was thick, so it didn't go on so smoothly. 3 coats were needed. The glitter in Disco Dazzle took it to the next level. One coat of it was all that I needed.

Here is a shade picture, to better show off the glitter.

So far I've been home all day and I'm perfectly happy with that. I hope the rest of you have had a good day so far, and have a good night whatever your plans are!