Konad Nail Stamp Art: Misa Lacquer in For Women In The Know

Here's another girly-girl Konad, this time I used one of my untrieds: Misa in For Women In the Know. It's a nice rosey-mauve-pink with subtle shimmer that is very easy to apply. I love the Misa formula- it hasn't streaked on me and the consistency is perfect- neither too runny nor goopy. I found this at my neighborhood beauty supply store that sells Misa for $3.00. Nail polish heaven if I may say so!

I used Konad m69 image plate using Konad special polish in White.

Gradient Manicure and Konad Nail Art Using Misa Nail Lacquer

Here are a few attempts on gradient manicure and Konad nail art. The nail look above is an attempt to use the fishnet image in the m57 image plate, which is okay I guess, except that I missed a spot in the corner of my pinkie finger. I am not as adept in using full-nail images as compared to the smaller, daintier images, hence the imperfect look. I love the combination of colors, though. The base polish is a shimmery neutral from Misa called Beautiful. I used Konad Princess Polish in Chocolate over it, which is such a pretty color. I love how understated the whole nail art looks; you can hardly see the image unless you peer closely.





It was my first time to try a gradient (or syrup) nail look, and I made a lot of mistakes, but I was pretty satisfied with my first attempt; it looked pretty decent to me. I used Misa polish in Be My Lover as a base, a beautiful, light milky pink. I freehanded french tips using OPI Designer Series in Signature. Using a miniature pizza slice-shaped sponge which I cut out from a circular one, I carefully dabbed a miniscule amount of Signature onto the sponge and carefully applied it under the french tip going towards the cuticle. I let it dry and applied Orly Smudge Fixer to blur harsh lines, make the color borders seamless and to create a gradient look. I applied a top coat and allowed it to dry, then Konadified it using m20 image plate and Special Polish in White. I liked how dainty the design is. With gradient manicures, I can now fully utilize and appreciate my holo/Designer Series/glitter polishes, because I don't like the idea of bling-blings all over the nail bed. A few sparkles on the tips would be nice, but everything looks garish on me once the whole nail bed is decked with glitter.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed the nail art!

China Glaze, Barielle, and Misa Nail Polish Hauls

Here are some hauls I made recently. I've been on a roll after discovering this hole-in-the-wall nail supply store in our neighborhood that sells Misa for $2 each, China Glaze for $2.50, Essie for $3.50, and O.P.I. for $4. Amazing prices, eh? Ever since I've discovered this store, I absolutely refuse to buy nail polish at ULTA or Sally Beauty supply anymore because their prices are social sins compared to the ones at the nail supply store. ULTA sells O.P.I. for $8.50. Give me a break.

Here are some colors I got from China Glaze. Afterglow is a bronzey shade that would be good for fall. I really don't own a lot of blues, especially the lighter ones, so Caribbean Blue is a welcome addition to my stash. Recycle is my favorite of the bunch. This is a very well-known shade among polish enthusiasts because of the edgy color. I would love to layer Let's Do It In 3D over it, a beautiful grey holo. Rich & Famous is a barbie pink that I hope would work well with my skintone. I was iffy on getting it but got it anyway because the price was good. Cherish is from the Romantique collection which would work great as a Konad polish. Golden Enchantment is a gold holo which would work well layered over golds and warm colors.



Also from the same nail supply store, I got these Misas for $2 each. I love the consistency, quality and staying power of Misa. The colors are amazing as well. I fell in love with Wishing On A Star. It's black with overwhelming silver speckles. It's so beautiful. I've been meaning to get Green With Envy for a long time now - a beautiful yellow green that reminds me of MAC eyeshadow in Bitter. For Women in the Know is a shimmery light mauve-ish pink that would look great for work, and Beautiful is a shimmery peachy pink that truly deserves its name.



During Barielle's outrageous Labor Day weekend sale, I snagged 29 (yup, you read that right) polishes from their website. If the polishes were originally $8 each and the sale brought down the price to below two bucks a pop, you would think about getting a few as well. I don't regret it. The colors are nothing short of breathtaking. I literally gasped when I pulled out the first polish out of the package, Blackened Bleu. It was that gorgeous in the bottle. I did a nail look with some Konad images using this polish a few days ago, and my friend loved it. It's a beautiful black with sapphire sparkle. Cotton Candy is a blushing pink shimmer that looks dainty. Bikinitini is a hot, sexy pink shade that should be a staple in every polish stash. Date Night is a metallic green that I can't wait to wear as I love greens. Hidden Hideaway is another sparkly deep purple that would be an amazing pedicure color. Berry Blue is a cream navy blue that I bought to work with Konad nail art as a base color.

I have 23 more polishes from Barielle to feature on this blog, so watch out for those. Swatches are coming up as well.

OPI, Essie and China Glaze Nail Polish Swatches

I swatched some of my nail polishes, and I did a lot, only for my memory card to get corrupted after taking the photos! Thankfully, though, I was able to salvage some of the pictures, so here they are. I did some haulin' at my favorite nail supply store, so here are some of the stuff I got:



Gawd, I love this color. In a previous entry, I blogged about Essie Fiesta, which is an electrifying hot pink. It can be similar to Big Spender, but the latter is more of a magenta or deep fuchsia with such beautiful purple undertones. It's amazingly pretty and would look gorgeous on any skintone. This is such a beautiful color especially for summer. Imagine this worn with sexy strappy heels. Wow.



Another great summer color. I love the electric teal, and it is pretty on the toes as well. I also love the finish of this polish - it is cream-based but has amazing shine with tiny gold flecks.



I am attracted to mauves in the bottle, but don't like them very much when I wear them. This one is pretty nice when worn, however. I love that it doesn't give your usual mauve hue, but it gives a nice purplish touch to it.



This is another mauve, but more brown-based. I don't like the consistency of this particular polish as it comes as too runny for me.


This is one of OPI's bestsellers, and the color explains why. The dark inky purple based color is such a gorgeous accessory statement. It's a head-turner. Period.


Lastly, here's a Konad attempt using China Glaze Romantique polish in Passion. I am so impressed with Passion. I read that Romantiques make great Konad polishes, so I tried one of my Romantiques lanquishing in my drawer, and I am amazed at how easily it transfered from the plate, to the stamp, to the nail. I also like that the Romantiques have a metallic finish to them, so that when the image on the nail is created, it comes out as a lot more subtle, and not as in-your-face as the other Konad special polishes. I am so glad I have read that these are great Konad polishes. I can't wait to try the other Romantiques that I have.

China Glaze Romantique and OPI Nail Polish Swatches

Here's a short installment of my OPI and China Glaze polish swatches. I shall be coming up with some more swatches, but for now, here are my thoughts on these.

I was able to score some China Glaze Romantique polishes, and I posted pictures of the products in this haul entry. I love how rich the colors are, but frankly, I wasn't too keen on the metallic finish when used on the fingernails. These would be great pedicure colors, though, because they really stand out and the metallic colors are eye-catching.



China Glaze in Joy is a beautiful, deep blackish maroon with lots of metallic sheen. This would look amazing on the toes, with sexy strappy heels on a night out in town. Absolutely delish!





China Glaze in Magical is a pretty metallic pinkish beige. The chrome-glass finish is really attention-grabbing. This would look very clean on the toes.



Lastly, here is my Nail Of The Day, OPI in Golden Rules!. It's my favorite gold out of the many gold nail polishes I own. It has the perfect balance of gold and shimmer. The gold is not too yellow like that of Lippmann's Nefertiti (although I love this shade as well), but it's not on the bronzey side of gold like Misa's Ghetto Fabulous. The latter is amazing as a pedicure color, though. Seriously. Anyways, I love Golden Rules! on the tips because it's fancy enough for nights out, and yet not too loud for the office. I am super-thrilled with this color. The finish is outstanding as well - neither too frosty, metallic nor too creamy. Just perfect.


Compared to Lippmann Nefertiti

I will be swatching more of my nail polishes soon!

Misa Nail Polish Swatches Part II

I posted Part I of my Misa nail lacquer swatches HERE, and as promised, here are the rest of my Misa polish swatches.





Bellacious is a beautiful medium pink that to my mind is similar to watermelon pink. It would be a lovely shade for the toes (and yes, the tips) for summer.







Paradise Sand is a pretty neutral that works as a french manicure shade as well. It looks very clean on the nails. I want to wear this on days when I don't want any fuss or color on my nails, but still want them to look professional and polished.



Mauve-Elous is obviously a mauve polish that might look like a mom or grandma polish shade to some, but it doesn't really look that dated. It's a warm shade that would look great on just about any skintone, I believe.





This is probably the ugliest shade I got from my haul. My hands looked sick or old with this color. It's probably because it has a lot of copper/orange undertones, and my hands just look horrendous with copper/orange polish. I was tricked by the word "brown" in the product's name. Too bad.





Sun Kissed is a very tricky color. It is lavender shimmer with gold speckles in the bottle, but under the shade it just looks like any ordinary beige polish. I swear, the lavender color just simply disappeared. Under direct sunlight, however, the lavender hue showed up, but basically just a watered down version of the color in the bottle. The gold specks simply ate up all the lavender color in the polish. It looks very clean on the nails, though.



Lastly, Magnolia Majesty is a light frosty pink that was kinda streaky, but I was able to fix it with additional swipes of the nail polish brush. The classic color and finish would make this a great wedding shade, though. Looks very clean and pretty on the tips. This would make a beautiful pedicure color as well, especially for spring.

There you have it, the swatches of all my twelve Misa polishes!

Misa Nail Polish Swatches Part I

I was finally able to swatch my twelve shades from Misa. I love the colors, and although I knew I picked somewhat neutral or safe shades, I am already looking forward to my next order of some more colorful shades. I love the texture of this brand, although some did tend to run streaky, but I was able to fix it with a few additional swipes of the brush. Here are the first six swatches. I will be posting swatches of the next six in another entry.







Jasmine is a beautiful lavender color in a cream formula without shimmer. I love cream formulas so this is such a gorgeous shade to me. This reminds me of my China Glaze polish in Spontaneous, although the latter is a deeper purple.



I love purples so these two shades will get a lot of love from me. If you are wondering how these shades are different from Parlez Vous OPI? from OPI's France collection, Jasmine is lighter than Parlez Vous but the latter has some grey undertones, and Jasmine is a clean lavender shade. Spontaneous is deeper than Parlez Vous with no grey undertones.





I love Sugar Peach Beige. It is a shimmer polish that does look like a marriage of beige tones and the color of brown sugar with peach undertones. It looks great on my skin.





Pink Champagne was one of those lacquers that streaked. I was able to hide most of the streaks, and it looks like opaque milk color with pink undertones. I love the color because it looks very clean on the nails and looks classy. This would be great to use at work; it looks chic and professional at the same time.





I am on the fence about this color. It is probably the boldest color from my Misa haul, and it is a very strong gold color. It might be a great color for the toes but I'm not so sure on the tips. On the right skintone, this would be absolutely gorgeous.





Deluxe Honey Ice is also another great color. This is beautiful on my skintone. It is a cool taupe with shimmer but I can see warm undertones as well. This is cooler than Sugar Peach Beige but they are somewhat similar.





Teddy Bear is one of my favorites from my Misa haul. It is a beautiful taupe-bronze with shimmer and gold undertones. It is wonderful on my skintone and I believe one of the more popular Misa shades. I can't wait to wear this color. It is neutral enough for work but bold enough to stand out.

Watch out for Part 2 of the Misa swatches!

Misa Nail Lacquer Haul

A couple of days ago, I finally got my Misa nail lacquer bottles that I bought from the Srangie blog deal. I love Scrangie's blog and I always drool over her nail polish swatches! She had this deal for her readers that allowed them to get one free nail polish from Misa (just pay for shipping). There is also another deal for 12 Misa nail polishes for only $23.50 including shipping, and all the shades available on the Misa website could be chosen as part of the 12. I chose the 12 for $23.50 deal. It was amazing and I had a field day choosing my shades. I actually ordered on the very last day of the sale. I called the 1-888 number and the lady on the other line was kind enough to help me pick alternatives when a couple of shades from my list were no longer available. Well after 11 days, I finally got my package!


*Drumroll please*


Ta-da!




Close-up

They are gorgeous! If you noticed, I got a lot of neutral shades to wear on my tips for work, but I also got nice girly shades. I opened the bottles and the product just has the right consistency- neither too thick nor too drippy. I am really glad I took avantage of that deal. The invoice enclosed in the box was for $66 not including shipping, so just paying $23.50 was a pretty amazing deal.

Watch out for swatches of the Misa nail lacquers!