Layered Polish: Barielle in Myrza's Meadow with Candeo Colors in Sprouse

Remember this manicure two and a half years ago? It was my birthday manicure and I loved it. It's called Myrza's Meadow by Barielle. I love the light green with silver micro glitter. I loved that the glitter was very small and generally unobtrusive. I loved it so much that I even did a couple of nail art with it:


St. Patrick's Day manicure with green leafy tips


Konaded with special polish in Black and m26 image plate (I'm glad I'm not sporting talons now!)

Well those were two years ago. I revisited Myrza's Meadow and after two years, I was surprised by how thick in consistency it became. Most of my other 2-year old polishes like OPI and China Glaze still have perfect consistency. I had to add at least 20 drops of nail thinner to make the consistency a bit decent, but it was still thick.

This time, I added a black and white glitter polish from Candeo Colors (an indie store) called Sprouse. It's a pretty clear base so the black and white glitter really stand out from the light green background:






I still like Barielle Myrza's Meadow even though it's still thick in consistency, mainly because I absolutely love the color and the shimmery micro-glitter.

American Apparel Nail Polish and XL Nail Stamp Image Plates Haul

OMG, I am so stoked right now!! I celebrated my birthday last week and I got myself some nail-related stuff for my birthday. First of all, I don't know why I have never tried American Apparel nail polish before. All I know is that this is HG status for me. Creme is my favorite formula of nail polish, and when I found out that American Apparel has the most buttery, creamy, glides-like-a-dream creme polishes out there, I just had to snag them. I like no-fuss creme polish a lot better than those fussed-up glitters, duochromes, mattes, etc. I think cream polish is the most sophisticated out of all the nail polish formulas out there. That is why when I found out that AA has dozens of the most beautiful, no-glitter, no shimmer, no duo-chrome, no holo, straight-up cream polishes, I caved in.

See rest of the haul after the jump

Barielle Nail Polish Winter Collection Swatches and Review

Here are some amazing Barielle nail polishes I got from my neighborhood ULTA. So glad ULTA carries this brand now, so I don't need to go online to buy them. I was also glad that ULTA had the buy 2, get 1 free promo when I got these shades.


Elle's Spell shade




Elle's Spell sunlight









Elle's Spell is the most gorgeous and breathtaking of all the new polishes, and it's obviously a cult fave. It is a red jelly with multi-colored foil flakes, but I think gold is a predominant color. I believe this is a universal color and would look great on anyone.


Wrap Me In Ribbon sunlight






Wrap Me In Ribbon shade



Wrap Me In Ribbon is a metallic raspberry with purple and copper undertones. I kinda don't like the metallic sheen as it reminds me of '80s frost. Not a fave.


Snowy Day sunlight




Snowy Day shade

Snowy Day is an ice blue metallic with silver undertones. A tad better than Wrap Me In Ribbon. I like the ice blue and silver tones; very wintery indeed.


Jess' Champagne Toast sunlight




Jess' Champagne Toast shade



This is a lovely color. It is a metallic violet with rose gold glitter that is not really all that metallic to me but has more of a glass finish because of the micro-glitters. I am a sucker for purples so this is one of my favorites from this collection.


Coalest Day of The Year sunlight






under shade

Gorgeous! Coalest Day of the Year is a carbon black with white pearls. The white pearls soften the harshness of the black so it looks quite alluring.


Gelt Me To The Party sunlight







Gelt Me To The Party might not look that impressive but it is very pretty in person. This would be perfect for those with warm undertones. A very easy to apply copper bronze metallic.

All in all, I like a few of the shades from this collection. The hands-down star of the collection is obviously Elle's Spell, but you can't go wrong with the others like Gelt Me To The Party and Coalest Day of the Year. Application is smooth, easy, and it dried pretty quickly too.

The Shades Of U Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

Konad Nail Art: Barielle Nail Lacquer in Sweet Addiction

under shade

Hey everyone, how's Labor Day treating you? On my way out to buy more stuff for the house, but before I do, I leave you with a Konad art I did using Barielle nail lacquer in Sweet Addiction. I LOVE the color. It's not the bright green that's too in-your-face; it's a kind of subdued, not-too-light mint green that I really like. It looks great on my skintone, and the high-watt shine I get after I add a top coat (Seche Vite) is amazing. I used m8 image plate for this, and Konad special nail polish in White. I added a 1.5 mm green rhinestone on each nail and I really like the overall look.

That's all for now and hope you're all having a great evening/day!

St. Patrick's Day Manicure: Barielle in Myrza's Meadow and Konad Leafy Tips

Here's a green manicure for St. Patrick's Day. I am currently loving Barielle's Myrza's Meadow which was my birthday manicure, but I decided to add some green leafy tips just in time for St. Paddy's. Don't you love the micro-glitter in Myrza's Meadow's bottle?

I used Konad special polish in Green and m56 image plate.

By the way, today is the last day that Wowsocool.com and OCNailArt.com are honoring 30% off coupons, so stock up while you can! I made this huge order on Wowsocool last night so I won't ever have to buy any Konad stuff until I see new plates or polish, or if I run out of staples like top coat. My order totaled $115 (I know, I told it you it was huge!), but with the coupon I paid $80. I got I think 8 plates, 2 top coats, and several special polishes: White, Black, Sky Pearl, Black Pearl, Princess Pop Green, Princess Coral Blue, Princess Psyche Pink. I got some pastels in a previous haul which I will be featuring in a bit.

Anyways, if you are eyeing some Konad stuff, better get them today, as 30% off coupons will also stop working after today.

Here are the coupon codes for those interested:
Wowsocool.com - nailphile
OCnailart.com - scrangie

Birthday Manicure: Barielle Nail Lacquer in Myrza's Meadow

My Barielle order containing all 6 new shades of their Spring 2010 collection finally arrived, together with their amazing Natural Nail Camouflage, an anti-aging ridge filler and base coat. It is a bit expensive for $16, but then Barielle had their 15% off sale with free shipping for orders over $50. Also, their nail lacquers were Buy 2, Get 1 Free.

I tried two of them, namely Darling Dahlia and Myrza's Meadow. Here's what Darling Dahlia looked when I wore it on a girls' night out to celebrate my birthay:



It was Konaded using Konad special polish in Black. I honestly didn't like Darling Dahlia. The jelly formula is very streaky and I usually am not a fan of jellies and how the finish looks like after it dries.

For my birthday dinner with the family, though, I used Myrza's Meadow and I liked it a LOT better than Darling Dahlia. It is a beautiful lime green with silver sparkles. What I liked about it was that the glitters were quite small, not chunky at all and very unobtrusive, and yet it gives a subtle shimmer that is very pretty:





Here's how it looks like during dinner:




Eeek, sorry for the flyaway!


Konaded with special polish in Black and m26 image plate

Konad Nail Stamp Art: Silver Over Coffee

I really love Barielle's Make It A Latte color. It is the perfect fall color for me, and since I love browns, this is totally up my alley. I like it paired with a light color for my Konad. China Glaze in Millenium is my staple silver, I used it over Make It a Latte. I like the combination, and even my nail technician loved it when I went to the nail salon to have my pedicure.

I like dark brown colors especially during this season. It can be neutral enough to be worn at work and yet it gives this edgy look.

Konad Nail Art Using China Glaze Khrome 2009, Barielle and Color Club Nail Polishes

Here are a couple of Konad nail art attempts I did recently. For the first one, I used a pretty, opaque light milky pinkish cream polish from Color Club called Coastal Creme. It is my first and only Color Club polish, but I am still looking out for Revvvolution. Anyways, the minute I saw this shade, I knew I had to have it because it looks clean and nice on the tips. It was pretty streaky at first but I was able to fix it by layering another coat. The light shade contrasted well with the Konad special polish in Black, which is one of my favorite Konad polishes.


Blurry, I know. Sorry!



I found the new China Glaze Khrome Fall/Winter 2009 polishes at my local Sally Beauty Supply store, and although I don't think I will love them as regular nail polishes, these are my new go-to Konad polishes. They are amazing as image polishes because they are so easy to apply on the stamp and the image they create really sticks to the nail. I am especially in love with the silver one I used in this picture named Millenium. The image in the picture doesn't do it justice. Millenium is absolutely breathtaking as a Konad polish. It is vibrant, and it shows really well on the nail. I also have the gold one called Twenty-Four K (I will do some Konad stuff with it soon). These are my new go-to silver and gold polishes for Konads. In my opinion, they are even better than the Konad special polishes in gold and silver. I am so in love with these Khromes. I can't wait to use them on Konads. Maybe China Glaze called them "Khromes" with a "K" to send out a subliminal message to the Konad-ers: "Pssst, these Khromes are for Konads".

Barielle Nail Polish Swatches Part II

Here's part II of the Barielle swatches series. This was supposed to include Razz-Berry and Glammed Up Garnet, but my photos were too ugly so I am saving them for later.

Anyhoo, here are some of my favorites from my haul:



Coco Bar is a dark cocoa brown that is more similar to MAC's Rich, Dark, Delicious than the other Barielle shade in Make-It-A-Latte. However, I think I prefer Coco Bar over Rich, Dark, Delicious as the former is lighter and is obviously brown even indoors. RDD just looks black (to my eyes) until sunlight hits it. Coco Bar is a beautiful dark chocolate that is an amazing shade for fall.



Slate Of Affairs is perhaps one of the very few blue shades that I absolutely adore. It is described as the color of worn denim on the website, but I am not entirely sure if that description fits. It is a beautiful blue that I am wearing right now with silver french tips. Love it.



Shell Shock is another favorite. Very clean, very pretty, very classy. Enough said.



Beaches and Dreams is a cream peach that I'd thought would be streaky, but it was kind of easy to apply. I love the opacity of this color. I would also love to add dark-colored Konad images to this one.

There you go, another installment of my Barielle swatches. Watch out for more in the coming entries!