Essie Luxeffects Swatches and Dupes

Tonight I have a few swatches of Luxeffects. I ordered them online before I realized I have a lot of dupes. The duplicates are swatched on my ring finger.

A Cut Above - large and small pink hex glitter in a clear base. Some enchanted evening is on the ring finger.

Pearl Perfection - white shimmer topcoat. I have China Glaze White Cap on the ring finger which is more golden.

Set In Stones - small and large silver hex glitter in clear base. I have Today Was a Fairytale on the ring finger. It's less dense and has a smoother application (must be the diamond dust ;)

Shine of The Times - clear flakie with golden highlights. I have Hidden Treasures on the ring finger. Its also less dense.

As Gold As It Gets - golden shimmer topcoat.

And a few bottle pics of duplicates.


Hidden Treasures and Shine of The Times

Some Enchanted Evening, A Cut Above and Sparkled (not a dupe, color reference)

Today Was a Fairytale, Set in Stones and Sparkling Diamonds

I was so excited to see Essie expand their horizons and include more glitters in their line but I was disappointed with the number of duplicates in this collection. It's great if you've been looking for a less expensive option to the Lippman polishes or a back up to Hidden Treasures, but not so great if you own the dupes.

10 Day Challenge - Day 1 Pink Nails

Woohoo one more day until Friday! I hope you're having a great week so far. I'm on vacation so everyday this week has been great :)

Today I'm sharing my first manicure as part of a 10 Day Challenge. I'm sure you've seen a lot of challenges floating around the blogoshpere lately. I wanted to participate in the 31 day challenge but with Christmas quickly approaching I'm afraid I won't finish before the year is out. Well the other day I came across a challenge created by Marketta at PinkPolishAddict Blog. Her 10 Day Challenge has some of the same elements of the 31 Day Challenge but it's shorter so I can commit to it knowing I'll finish.

For day 1 I used Zoya Lindsay a pink jelly shimmer. It's very sheer so it's great for layering or a syrup manicure. I used 2 layers of Lindsay and sponged the edges with Milani Hot Metal. Then I topped it off with another layer of Lindsay. For a more sheer look you can use 1 layer instead of 2. To complete the look I stamped with Konad M51 using Konad Violet Purple.

It's much prettier in person. My camera has a difficult time capturing pinks, reds and purples.

And that concludes my first day. The only ladies doing the challenge so far are Jess and Kelly but they are almost complete so you can feel free to join me on this mini challenge :)

Christmas Penguin using Born Pretty Acrylic Paints

Happy Wednesday! Today I have a cute Christmas penguin mani to share with you. I've been practicing my freehand skills and I have a long way to go but these didn't turn out too bad. For the penguin colors I used the Born Pretty Acrylic Colors Nail Art Kit.


A closer view to show more details of the penguin. I learned how to make snowflakes here.

The kit comes with 2 paint brushes, 12 colors and 2 palettes. I usually paint using an old coffee lid so it was nice to work with a more professional palette. The palette's are about 4 x 6.5 inches.

Overall this is a nice set and has a good selection of colors. I love working with acrylic paints because if you make a mistake you can wash it right off with water or alcohol. I wish I would have known about them when I first started working with nail art. I started off using real polish which is a pain to remove when you make a mistake. I think this would be great kit for a beginner or a more seasoned nail artist that wants a lot of color options. There are no pastels, besides yellow, but the paints can be mixed with white to lighten the colors. I used a pink I already had in my collection for the snowflakes.


So what do you think about freehand nail art? Have you tried any freehand designs?

Oh and I almost forgot. Tomorrow I will start a 10 day nail challenge. Feel free to join me if you like :)

~Sent to me for review~

Nicole by OPI Holiday Giveaway - Closed

The giveaway is now closed. Thanks for participating. I'll announce the winner soon!

Let's have a little fun with a giveaway! The winner will receive all 4 polishes from the Nicole by OPI Holiday 2011 Collection: Oran-ment for Each Other, Glitter in My Stocking, My Sleigh's in the Shop and Snowman of My Dreams.



Swatches are from my own personal set. You will receive new polishes!

Rules and How to Enter

1. This giveaway is open Internationally
2. You must follow me via Google Friend Connect
3. Optional 2 extra entries when you click my "like me" icon on Facebook
4. Must complete form below to enter
5. Winner must respond via email within 48 hours so that I can mail your prize :)

Ends December 9th at 6pm US Central Time

~Sponsored by OPI~

Deborah Lippman Lady Gaga Edge of Glory Franken

Hello beauties! I hope you're enjoying the Thanksgiving weekend so far. I've been having a ball shopping online for Christmas presents. It's a lot more relaxing than fighting through the feisty Holiday crowds. I've gotten most of my girls Christmas gifts and a few polish goodies for myself :)

Yesterday while browsing online I saw a swatch of Deborah Lippman's new Holographic Duo. I was wondering if it was a true holo although it looked like a flakie in pics. Since I didn't want to spend so much on the set I attempted to franken it.

I started out with a base of Wet N' Wild black creme.

To make the franken I added 1 part Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure with 2 parts Sinful Colors Grean Ocean. Throw in a couple of balls and shake. Super easy!

I layered 1 coat of the franken over black. I don't own the duo set but I think it turned out pretty good using the polishes I already own. I didn't have to spend anything and I have a hot new look for tonight. Here's a swatch of the actual set. According to pictures, the franken flashes more green and red/gold vs. the Lippman's blue and red/gold. Green ocean also has tiny glitter that is not found in the Lippmann but it's not very noticeable (or at least not to me).

The result appears more dense than the Lippman but clear polish can be added to thin things out a bit.

And that's it! A super easy franken. I hope you enjoyed :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you have a lot of fun planned for today! I was up late last night cooking and decided to remove my glitter mani. I went with Julep's Boris & Nicole, a reddened brown. Then stamped with China Glaze Hi-Tech. I used Revlon's base and topcoat because it's supposed to prevent chips and so far so good. I made it through at least 20 hand washings and 5 side dishes!

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the Holiday :)

NOTD: Jelly Sandwich

A quick post to share my NOTD. I got this idea from NailsandDriffs. Her mani is much prettier. You should go check it out!

I didn't have Hare A Positive so I used a red jelly franken and topped it off with Correction Tape and Pretty in Pink.

Gotta love a quick and easy mani!