Layered Polish: Crows Toes Cheshire Over American Apparel Nail Polish in African Violet

Here's another indie nail polish from Crows Toes called Cheshire. I believe this is one of their bestsellers. It has huge gold hex glitter, medium purple hex, holo hex, and smaller purple, holo and magenta hex glitter. Amazing how much glitter is in the bottle! Crows Toes is known to put a chockful of glitter in every bottle, so you might want to add some nail polish thinner to the bottle to aid in application. That is what I did, and it made the glitters behave and apply nicely on the nailbed.

I used my American Apparel African Violet for the base, a beautiful, rich purple cream. American Apparel nail polishes are some of my favorite creams. One-coaters, can you believe that? They apply like a dream on the nailbed, beautiful shades, and quite affordable. They are easily some of my top favorite nail polishes out of the hundreds that I own.

More nail polish looks soon!

Thakoon for NARS Nail Lacquer: Ratin Jot Swatches and Review

Ciate Nail Lacquer in Talent Scout Swatches and Review

Ciate is the newest nail lacquer in Sephora, created by entrepreneurial nail artist Charlotte Knight. I was able to try one of the shades called Talent Scout. It comes in a squarish bottle with a bow in front. I really don't care much for the bow, but I think that's how the company would like to differentiate itself from the rest of the brands. I was pretty surprised with the formula, it was rich and opaque in one coat. It is a bit of on the thick side, but it didn't need thinning in my experience, and it applied evenly without giving me problems.

Talent Scout is a rich purple cream, and I really like the opacity of this shade.  As I said, it was opaque in just one coat, and it covered the ridges and uneven parts of my nailbed effortlessly, creating a seamless finish.

The formula reminded me of American Apparel's (one of my favorite cream formulas ever); the colors are rich, intense and quite pigmented.  I like the formula and I hope to try more Ciate polish in the future. Select Ciaté colors launched on Sephora.com and Sephora stores across North America this past month and retails for $15 each.

The Shades Of U Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Note: Media sample was provided by a representative of the brand for consideration. All opinions are completely mine.

Nail Stamp Art: Finger Paints Nail Polish in Purple Pinstripe and XL Image Plate B

Remember these XL plates I purchased at Magnonails.de earlier this year?









I used one of those full nail designs from XL plate B. These are like machine cog wheels, so cute! I used one of my favorite nail polish brands, Finger Paints, a Sally Beauty exclusive. I used Purple Pinstripe which is a purple cream that is very pretty. I used Konad special polish in Pastel Violet. I missed a spot on my ring finger, but I think it still looks nice. The good thing about using an image polish in the same color family as your base polish is that the design turns out a lot more subtle, so you can actually wear it to conservative venues like the workplace without attracting too much attention.

I'll be using more of these full-nail images from my XL plates for you to see how pretty the designs are. Stay tuned!

Nail Look: Orly Birds of A Feather Collection in Fowl Play

Fall leaves in a bottle!! Fowl Play is hands down the most popular and most coveted polish from the Orly Birds of a Feather collection. I got the last one from my neighborhood ULTA. It is a beautiful dark purple base with gold, purple, green, and orange flakies. It is also opaque in two coats.

You will really appreciate the complexity and nuances of the polish outdoors or under sunlight. Unfortunately, it is just your usual plum/purple polish in low light unless you peer closely. It is a dupe of OPI's Merry Midnight that OPI came out with in their holiday collection a couple of years ago, so it's not technically an original from Orly. However, since Merry Midnight was limited edition and quite rare, the closest you can get to it is via Fowl Play.

Nail Stamp Art: Orly Rio Nights and XL Image Plate D

Here's one of my favorite nail images. I love purple polish so I find Orly Rio Nights amazing. It is a jelly though so it took a few additional coats for me to get the opacity I wanted. I used one of my favorite image plates of late, the XL image plate D:



I used China Glaze khrome polish in Millenium for the image, and I added a couple of lilac rhinestones in each nail to complete the look. So fun and easy!

Nail Look: Nail Stamp Art Using OPI A Grape Fit

Here's a funky French tip using OPI A Grape Fit, one of my favorite purple polishes ever. I am such a sucker for purple polish and this one is right up there on my list. It is a medium creme purple that I love so much. I used a funky French tip using Chez-Delaney plate in A21. I also added a lavender rhinestone on the tip to give it dimension. I really like this nail look. I am glad I was able to find base and top coats that make these kinds of nail looks last a pretty long time without chips (and no rhinestones falling off!).

My favorite top coat is Gelous that you can get at Sally Nail Supply. It basically coats your nails with gel which makes the nail polish adhere so much better on your nailbeds. Then I added Toughcoat Top Coat over the rhinestones and the entire nail bed to make them chip-resistant, and for the rhinestones to adhere to the nails a lot longer.

Nail Look: China Glaze Crackle Polish in Fault Line Over OPI Houston We Have a Purple

Here's another one of my favorites from the OPI Texas collection. Houston We Have a Purple is an extremely forced and corny name, but I like the color a lot. I have also mentioned in my previous OPI Texas entry that six of the shades are in the new "sorbet" formula- sort of like a jelly but fluffier, creamier, more "airy" because it doesn't settle too low on the nailbed. It's super sheer but very easy to apply.

I applied one of my new China Glaze Crackle polishes over it, Fault Line, a bright orchid purple.











Crackle is the new fad for 2011- the equivalent of the 2009 matte polish. I like Crackle/Shatter a lot better than mattes, honestly.

What do you think? Is Crackle a yay or a nay?

Konad Nail Art: Zoya Nail Lacquer in Pinta

My 19 Zoya polishes arrived in the mail a couple of days ago, and I am super stoked because they are soooo pretty! I ordered during their BOGO sale and I think I now have a little more than 75 Zoyas, and I couldn't be happier with them. They last a long time on the nails, hardly chip, and the colors and textures are just fabulous. I will be doing a Zoya haul post soon, but for now, I am featuring Zoya Pinta with some Konad nail art. I love Zoya's creams, and this is no exception: beautiful dark bluish purple cream that is a dream to apply. It is opaque in two coats and the dark eggplant color is perfect for fall and winter.

I used my Konad image plate in S06, and my Konad special polish in Pastel Violet. The stamped image may look white in the photos, but it is actually a pale purple, a pretty lavender.

Stay tuned for the rest of my Zoya swatches.

Nail Art Using Bundle Monster Image Plate and Orly Cashmere Cardigan

I am beginning to really love Orly. I am more of a cream formula fan so even though I like the Cosmic FX collection, nothing compares to my elation when I stumble upon really good creams. Orly Cashmere Cardigan is one of those creams. It is a very pretty periwinkle/purple/cornflower cream. I can't exactly describe the shade because it looks purple under one kind of lighting but a bluish cornflower in another. One thing is sure, though: it is very easy to apply and the formula is neither goopy, runny nor too thick. Creams are my favorites and I can never have enough of good, smooth purple creams like Cashmere Cardigan.

I used my Bundle Monster image plate in BM17 for the funky french:


Top right (BM17)