Essie Wicked

Hello again, dear readers! I apologize for my extremely long absence. Things have been rather topsy-turvy for me in the last few months, but I'm happy to report that things seem to be settling down and I'm trying to get back to blogging.

This is last minute and of poor quality due to my actual camera being about 2000 miles away, but I thought it would be a start and rather fitting for tonight. Essie Wicked is a deep dark reddish brown, and of course, very vampy. In dim light it appears nearly black. I found the base color to be a rich wine or berry color, but it darkens to a deep chocolate with a few coats. Wicked indeed.

I love the gloss and durability I get from Essie polishes. I only have a couple, but I've really fallen for the formula. This lasted nearly five days with only minimal tipwear and no chipping.

I think a manicure like this deserves some classic Film Noir, don't you?

Until next time~!

LacquerMuse

Painting the Roses...Red?

Here's another Borghese. This is Borghese Red, a bright tomato-red creme. Formula was great on this one, I did two coats here but one was completely opaque and sufficient. The pictures without flash made me look incredibly jaundiced, so I chose not to scare you with them. :P

I used Konad plate m65 for the roses. They remind me of ladybugs from farther away, though. Either way, it was a lot of fun!

Until next time!

Borghese Rubino Red + Nfu.Oh #59

I hope everyone's weekends went swimmingly. In advance, please excuse the large chips on my index finger. I used two coats of Borghese Rubino Red, a lovely pinky blue-toned red. Ruby red is a pretty good description of this creme, and it applied very well, perfect application with two coats, but if you were neater than I, you probably could have gotten away with one. The Borghese cremes I've tried are all extremely opaque and glossy. The colors are not particularly unique, but the formulas are superb. I change my polish every few days, though, so I can't comment much on wear.

I added two coats of Nfu.Oh #59 to Rubino Red, which made it a bit redder and very squishy/jelly-like in appearance. The flakies were really eye-catching, changing the tone of the polish from cool to warm.

Flash:

Natural lighting (more color accurate, but I look extremely pale)

Until next time!

Quick R&J Post + Giveaway

I apologize for the lack of posts, this week has been a really busy one. I'm hoping to get the Orly Sweet collection by the end of the week, so that's something to look forward to, anyway.

This is an old one from the vault, if you will. As a lover of Shakespeare, I just had to try out OPI Romeo & Joliet (I believe this was from the Route 66 collection?). It's a rich burgundy brown frost. I think this was three coats. To maximize the tragicness of R&J, I added a black rose with Konad plate m 54. I don't think it's quite this red in person, but it's pretty close. R&J is a pretty color. It's not one I usually wear, but great for fall.

It's really late, but if any of you are interested, Crystaliciousss is having a fun giveaway for spring. It ends tomorrow, the 7th of April, so hurry and enter! Check out the prize:

Find more details here.

Until next time!

Revlon Valentine (slightly pic heavy)

I am officially banning myself from Rite-Aid. I happened to glance at their weekly specials and realized that nail polish was Buy One Get One 50% Off! with the exception of Revlon, which was Buy One Get One Free. Having the amazing willpower that I do, I only bought 6 bottles. When I went back (my vitamins were 50% off, I had to go back) I gave in and picked up two Revlons I had managed to avoid the day before. This, as you may have guessed, is Revlon Valentine.

Today's nails are inspired by my lust for Essie Lacy Not Racy. I love dark reds and purples, I have more of them than any other.

Revlon Valentine is one of my new favorite reds. On my color wheel it looked like a jelly but I think semi-jelly is more appropriate. At three coats it is opaque with very slight visible nail line if you look carefully. Application was exceptional. The polish was thin but went on without streaks (!!), very smooth and jellyish.

I used a pattern from Konad plate m78, shown without topcoat

Without flash, artificial light:

With flash:

Natural light:

Artificial light:

Until next time!

Happy New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year! This is the year of the Tiger, so in honor of that beautiful creature, I did my nails to match.

This was a many-layered manicure, one I did over the course of an evening, so I don't recommend trying it if you are planning to go out not long after.

Steps:

1. Nubar Nu Nails

2. OPI Comet Loves Cupid

3. OPI Dear Santa (2 coats)

4. Nfu.Oh #58 (2 coats)

5. Jordana Black (tiger stripes and kitties)

6. China Glaze 2030 (stars)

7. Konad Top Coat

8. Nubar Diamont

Konad Plates: m2, m3, m57

Whew!

Until next time! ♥