Candy Lacquer Modern Love & Rarity

Blaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hi. I don't have any energy to blog lately so I tend to do like 10 posts all at once and schedule them. I'm determined to be on schedule for the Glitter Challenge with Amanda and Madeline!

I ordered some Candy Lacquers back in the day and my bottle of Modern Love had a funky formula. Just really thick and no glitter came out... so I emailed Sandra and she offered to refund me or send me another polish while she reformulated it. I really just wanted ML, so I asked if she'd just send me a reformulated bottle, which she did, plus a bonus bottle of my choice! Now THAT'S customer service. I know I've said this a bazillion times, but Candy Lacquer is one of my top 3 favorite indie brands, right up there with Lynnderella.  SO ANYWAY.

This is the reformulated Modern Love over Orly Decades of Dysfunction. As you can see, it was awesomesauce. But then again, I love heart glitter. I HEART heart glitter, as a matter of fact!

Rarity is the polish I chose as my freebie and, let me tell you, it was so hard to narrow down but this was a great choice! I'll be honest and tell you I have no idea what this base is because I spilled acetone on my notepad specifying it, but I'm willing to say probably Essie French Affair? Sorry about that.

What do you think? I'm pretty satisfied with my choices, if I do say so myself!

xoxo,
Amanda

Lazy 15: Dessert

Hey everyone - another Monday is upon us! However, for my fellow Americans, it'll be a short week for us because of Thanksgiving on Thursday. I'm out early on Wednesday and then off the rest of the week, so I'm definitely looking forward to some quality time off. I'm going to be doing Thanksgiving with my dad, boyfriend, and boyfriend's mom this year and I'm pretty excited for good food and our families to mix and match ;)

The challenge for today is dessert nails. My first thought, and probably many of yours, was cupcakes, but I worried they'd be overdone. I decided to go for a cookie theme: sugar cookies with sprinkles! Every year for Christmas, I make sugar cookies and I can never resist leaving some without frosting and just adding sprinkles to them before they bake, so that was my inspiration.

For the nails themselves, I used a basic white, then Smitten Polish Confection, and topped with Orly Winter Wonderland. They kind of look like if sugar cookies and snickerdoodles mated, but that's okay. I'd still eat a cookie if it looked like this ;)

Smitten Polish is quickly becoming one of my favorites: this one was a white jelly base with rainbow glitter and it was really pretty and easy to work with. I just bought another one recently with pink and purple glitter in a white jelly base and it looks like pop tarts! Here's Confection on its own, in case you were wondering :)

 Anyway, that's all for today, go check out my fellow challengers!


xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Week Part 5

Hi girls! Quickie post as I'm trying to type and schedule as many posts as possible in case I lose power for an extended time. Please read my last post for some safety tips if you are in the area of Frankenstorm and stay safe!

Today's Halloween journey begins with Orly Decades of Dysfunction, which actually I wore alone for a day. This is almost mannequin hands on me, but a little pinker in real life. I compare it to the color of a piglet. This was two coats with Wicked Fast top coat and application was really easy.

Then I added Hit Polish Witches Brew on top. This is lime green, navy blue, and orange glitter in a clear base. It applied really easily! I'm also happy it had navy blue glitter and not the typical purple for Halloween.

What do you think? Sorry this post is quick and my pictures aren't 100% what they usually are. A bit stressed lately.

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Week Part 3

Hello out there my pretties! Whoa, that sounded in my head like the witch from Wizard of Oz. Weeeeirdddd. Halloween is really getting into my brain.Anyway... Today's post is another quickie because (shhhhh!) I'm writing this at work. Don't get too huffy and puffy, I'm currently not being paid for this time at work so it's fine. :P I'm hosting a Halloween party this evening so I knew I wouldn't have time to write this post otherwise (no, this isn't my party mani, but maybe I'll show that belatedly!).

Today's mani was made using Orly RIP which came out this year. I actually whined about not finding this enough that TWO people sent me bottles haha! Glad to have backups ;) It's your quintessential black base with orange glitter. I did two layers over Wet n Wild Ink Well. On my ring finger I skipped RIP and put orange crackle (because, sadly, I didn't do ENOUGH crackle when it was popular so I sneak it in now and then...). Unfortunately, this crackle didn't crack too much. Humph. Stupid crackle making me look crazy!

Then, because I can never leave well enough alone, I matteified (matted? added matte? mattied?) the glitter and it's BEAUTIFUL. For some reason it still looks glossy on all but my middle finger, which I'm guessing is from a) the top coat not being 110% dry when I took this or b) the lighting reflecting. Either way, pretty cool!

xoxo,
Amanda

Guest Post: Dolores from Colorful Bottle

Hey ladies, today I have a post from my lovely friend Dolores in Slovenia who swaps with me all the time so I can get international goodies :) We decided to do guest posts for each other to show off some of the stuff we got in our swaps, so check out what Dolores did and then check out her blog Colorful Bottle!

 

Hi!

I'm Dolores from Colorfulbottle and I got honoured to prepare a guest post for The Nail Polish Enthusiast!

When me and Amanda completed our last swap package we got a really crazy idea. We decided to prepare guest post for each other with our new goodies =). I really couldn't wait to make this post, but I sadly had some other obligations so I couldn't prepare my post as fast as I wanted to prepare it. Now I finally made it, and I'm really happy with the result =). 

It was really difficult for me to pick one polish out of so many new pretties in my stash, because of my BIG problem I decided to do a gradient( I got to use 2 colours and not all polishes match, so I ended up with only 3 possible gradient combinations), I used pastel colour for the base because Amanda once said to me, that it is probably my fault that she started liking pastel polishes. I also wanted to include glitter in my manicure, but glitter really isn't my thing. I also have to admit that I cheated a bit. I wanted to do soft stamping on top, but out of all gorgeous nail polishes that Amanda sent to me, there wasn't a pastel polish that would stamp great, this is why I ended up using KONAD special polish, 

Here is what I prepared:

 

 

For this gradient I used Orly Lollipop as a base ( 2 coats) and then I made a gradient using Color Club Mr. Socialite and Orly Lollipop

I upgraded my manicure with KONAD polish in pastel violet and BM 16

 

I was really satisfied with what I ended up with and I hope Amanda likes it too =)

This is all from me!

Thank you all for reading my post and big thanks to Amanda for hosting my post!

Have a lovely day!

 

 -----

xoxo,
Amanda

 

Fail and Unfail: Orly Snowcone & Depend 243

Hi girls! Here's my first NOTD since returning, kind of nervous! Please be kind, my cuticles are still... um, awful. But I've maintained my painting technique so hopefully that's redeeming.

My original idea was to do Depend 243 on my nails with accent nails of Orly Snowcone, and then do opposite dots of each. But, it doesn't always work out. Here they are pre-dots:

Orly Snowcone is a perfect blue creme. Seriously. This was one coat, and no top coat. Look at the shine and perfection! It was also really easy to control (this picture is no cleanup!).

I got Depend 243 from Dolores in a swap, and it's a really pretty purple with gold shimmer (or microglitter, I can't really tell, TBH). These swatches are two coats and no topcoat. This one was also really manageable.

Here it is once I added the dots...

 Disasticure 2012. For some reason, I hate the way Snowcone looks dotted. So I took it off and gave up on the accent nail idea, and this beauty was born:

This is actually my first full dotticure (hehe) and I kind of love it! I need to do this more but for some reason I always back down.

Oh, also! I used my Chick Nail Polish top coat here, and I love it! Look how shiny this mani looks! I got it free with a promo way back when but never really got around to trying it. It works well especially when I'm taking my time and not using a quick-dry necessarily :)

What do you guys think? Disasticure? Cute? Was I right to switch from accent to full mani?

xoxo,
Amanda

Amanda Does Fauxnad

Hi all! I know a whilleeeee ago I asked you all what you'd like to see more of, and the resounding answer was nail art and stamping. I've slacked on that, but this mani reminded me why STAMPING IS AWESOME AND YELLING ON THE INTERNET IS NOT. Sorry for your little virtual eardrums.

My base color was two coats of Orly Frisky which I snatched up on clearance at Ulta recently. My nails are little nubbins here which always means my cleanup process suffers... sorry. I just hate to look at them so much I avoid thorough cleanup, I guess ;) Anyway, so, yeah... Orly Frisky. A lovely blue creme which is sooooo much more mint green than it shows up here.

Then I thought, "Oh! My readers! They want stamping!" and so I found the single Bundle Monster plate sitting within reach - BM210. (hey, how did he get out of his dungeon?!) I used my favorite design from the plate and Icing Chrome Teal and voila! My favorite mani of the longest time was born. (it's a newborn here, that's why the cleanup is so messy. see how I made it work?)

xoxo,
Amanda

Fresh Snowfall

Hello again, how's everyone's week? It's Saturday, which is awesome because it's the day before Christmas (for those of us that celebrate)! Today I have some wintry nails inspired by snow - which, coincidentally, I despise. Yes, yes, I'm fully aware, I live in New England and I shouldn't complain and blah blah blah but I cannot help where my parents decided to raise me!

I digress... so I started off with Orly Snow Cone (yes, I am such a cheeseball that I even picked a polish with "snow" in the name). This is a lovely periwinkle-ish light blue that covered beautifully in one coat, but I did two for good measure. Here she is alone (and ignore the fact that blogger, again, has tilted the photo beyond my control).

Then I added what I affectionately call Mini Snow Globe, which is The Icing Crystal Heat (I have no idea where they got this name, absolutely none!). It's small, iridescent glitter:

Behold, a close up showing all the prettiness:

I really liked this mani BUT it came off in sheets and was chipping within 24 hours. I don't know if I should blame my base coat, the Orly, or the glitter... actually, scratch that. I refuse to blame the glitter. So this mani lasted about half a work day and one night before I had to peel it completely off because I looked like a moron.

Oh, and just for good measure, here's the two bottles together. Grown up Snow Globe on the left and baby Snow Globe on the right: 

Snow Globe looks so much iridescent-ier than it's baby, but they both are really gorgeous and I can't really complain about it either way. As you can see, I'm very attached to both *tucks them into bed*. Also interesting that they essentially have the same bottle, but different brands. Wonder whose bottle shape came first!

xoxo,
Amanda

More Christmas Nails...

Two days in a row?! I admit, I'm cheating: I wrote these two posts in a row. But STILL. Give me some credit for trying ;) This mani was intended for a party with my friends from school and we exchanged secret Santa. I liked this idea more in my mind and it looks sort of funny until step two... Also, please ignore my cuticles which are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo drrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I'm sorry.

Anyway, step one: Nubar Reclaim (green holo!) and OPI Log on to Love accent:

Check out this gorgeous linear holo... yummmy!

Then I did a gradient over the Nubar with China Glaze Snow Globe using my Orly Smudge Fixer (basically, drop a dollop of a glitter polish and then paint over it with the Smudge Fixer and voila! gradient). And thennnnn I added China Glaze Ring on the Red over the OPI (sheesh, that's a lot of brands!). Here's what I got:

As you can see, I'm obsessed with Snow Globe. I got a backup bottle from my nail secret Santa and I'm so relieved - I was hoarding my bottle (seen here) and refusing to use it as often as I'd like. Now I will be using this wellllll into the summer, probably year round, calling it Sand Globe or Snow Cone or something so that I can justify it...

xoxo,
Amanda

I'm Not a Nail Artist... Part Two

Hi, I'm back! More nail art! Hopefully you all haven't lost faith in me after the last attempt :/ This one came out much better, but was much simpler. I decided to go for wrapping paper nails. Each nail is themed differently, but I think that made it even more fun! Behold:

For this I used base coats of a basic white, Ulta The Jungle Look, Cult Nails Iconic, and Orly Sweet Peacock. Then I added green and red polka dots on the white, a red bow on the green, green swirls on the red, and silver ribbon on the blue.

This was pretty simple and I liked it a lot! My favorite were the polka dots, they were just so cute! I wish I had done the bow facing out but hindsight is 20/20. Which nail is your favorite?

xoxo,
Amanda

I'm Not a Nail Artist... Part One

Hi gals! Today starts a series of nail art I'm, um, attempting. I decided practice makes perfect and blah blah blah but anyway, I wanted to do some Christmas nail art that perhaps you guys could be inspired by and do better than me. So here we go- part one! I had this idea like enlightenment: it came to me, I thought I was genius... and then found out it's been done a million times before. Oh well, here's my take on Christmas lights.

I started off with a basic white creme and added Orly Winter Wonderland to make some sparkle. Then I used my Migi Nail art pens to make green squiggles, and then the nail art pens in corresponding light colors for the bulbs. These pictures are pre-top coat which is good, since I smudged the heck out of it.

(Remember, I'M NOT A PROFESSIONAL. I don't do nail art very often. Please don't judge me for how poorly this turned out; the concept was so much prettier in my mind.)

Here's a close up of my favorite nail, which is what I wanted the entire concept to turn out like (sorry the picture is fuzzy, my macro wasn't cooperating):

Anyway, it was really simple, and with some practice I'm sure I could do this concept justice. There's lots of other people out there who have done this, so check theirs out too if you need further inspiration!

xoxo,
Amanda

Bluey Comparisons

Hi loves! Happy Tuesday... except I'm not really a Tuesday person either ;) On Tuesdays I do outreach therapy in people's homes for part of the day which is always interesting, but mostly I don't like working 9am-7pm on Tuesdays. Anyway, enough whining! Call the wahhhhmbulance ;)

MariJo requested that she wanted to see this comparison on my last Butter London Bluey post, so I scrounged up not only Zoya Noel, but a few other blues in my stash to compare. Good news: I may have found a dupe, you be the judge!

I decided to compare these four: Orly Sweet Peacock, Butter London Bluey, OPI Yodel Me on My Cell, and Zoya Noel. Here's how they compare in the bottles (pretty diverse, to us polish addicts!):

And a side view of the bottles so you can see the colors better (in retrospect, I should have shaken Noel a bit more, it looks much more silver and metallic than it truly is).

Here they are in the same order, on a nail wheel. Orly is 1 coat, BL is 2 coats, OPI 2 coats, and Zoya 1 coat.

Close up of Orly and BL:

Close up of OPI and Zoya:

And altogether at a different angle.

So overall, here's the breakdown:

Orly: Metallic/foil finish. The most unique of the bunch; glows from within, color is most similar to OPI. Bluest of them all.
BL: Shimmer/microglitter finish. Similar to Zoya.
OPI: Shimmer/microglitter finish. Similar color to Orly but different finishes. Second most blue of these four.
Zoya: Metallic/foil/shimmer finish. BL's possibly twin sibling, looks pretty similar in these pictures. I would say these are fairly close to dupes, in my opinion. My untrained eye (read: boyfriend) studied these two in the bottle and couldn't notice a difference. BL is a hair greener.

So for the short of it: Orly is kinda dupey for OPI, BL is dupey for Zoya. Could you have all four (like, ahem, me)? Sure, I suppose. I don't think these four are different enough to own them all, and some of these may end up going to other polish mommies from my stash, but definitively: all four are lovely colors :)

xoxo,
Amanda

My Camera is Suspected of Fowl Play...

... in the slaughtering of photography of Orly's Fowl Play.

(Yes, corniest title ever. You should know to expect these sorts of things from me by now!)

Anywho, I have some swatches of Fowl Play for you today... it didn't play nice with my camera. It just couldn't capture the depth and gorgeousness. FP is (for those of you who don't know and may or may not reside under a granite stone) a deep red-leaning purple with all sorts of fun stuff going on: glitter, small flakies, more glitter... *ahem* My swatches below are three coats. Lots of people complained this formula was tricky, mine wasn't bad at all! I think I get lucky with these things sometimes :)

Sorry for the shadow... it only shows up in pictures sometimes once they're on my camera and I don't want to edit it out and make it color inaccurate :P

So there you have it! I hope most of you have picked this up but if not, I noticed my Ulta has a spot for it in its core line, so maybe it's here to stay!

xoxo,
Amanda

Teeny Tiny Sally's Haul

Hi all! Sorry for my absence... I had some, err, house problems and had to vacate for a few days. But I'm back again. As long as no more storms knock out power or things kick me out of my house, we're back on track!

Above you can see that I've been doing some haulin'. This was actually a complete accident: I went to Sally's for FingerPaints Fun-fetti only to discover it's an online exclusive. I couldn't just leave empty handed! So Sally's had the holiday displays out and I picked up the following:

Color Clubs from the Scent-uous collection: Kiss Me Mistletoe, Very Merry Berry, Sugar Plum Yum

Orly gift set including Sweet Peacock, Lucky Duck, and Fowl Play (and a bonus wristlet!)

So it was a good trip overall! I was especially excited for the glitters and Fowl Play, but the wristlet and accompanying Orlys are pretty :) I already wore Fowl Play, so you'll be seeing that soon!

xoxo,
Amanda

Quick Comparison: China Glaze White Cap vs Orly Winter Wonderland

Hey hey hey! How is everyone out there in the interwebz?! It's Friday, which is always great anyway but my one client of the day canceled - so I'm pretty pumped to have the day off now! :) Today's post is a quick comparison. I recently bought China Glaze White Cap, thinking it might be a backup bottle for Orly Winter Wonderland, which happens to be one of my favorite polishes for lightening up or refreshing a mani. Here they are layered over a black creme, in front of their respective bottles:

Immediately you can see that, nope, they are totally different (well, to a nail polish addict; my boyfriend thought they were comparable). ChG is much more sheer than Orly, and Orly pretty much takes over the scene. (What an attention whore!)


Bottle shots; Orly has much larger chunks of glitter, it seems



And up close, you can really see the difference: ChG has a golden glow whereas Orly is all silver. I prefer Orly, but that's because I prefer silver; but both are pretty! Which do you like?

xoxo,

Amanda

Orly Rock Solid

Hi ladies! Wanted to post today since I missed yesterday due to hangover haha. I'm feeling really tired and I caught a cold, so this will be short and sweet.

I posted about Orly Rock Solid last night on twitter, and I'm actually still wearing it today. The verdict: unimpressed. It's a nice enough polish, but it's not really that interesting. For a Mineral FX polish they're pricing higher, putting it in the category of Halley's Comet and the previous FX collection, it's disappointing. I'm okay with this as a few dollar polish, something like Finger Paints or Nina Ultra Pro, but not for Orly retailing at $9 a pop. Anyway... Rock Solid is the blackened gray or black base with sparse holo glitter (and I mean sparse, you'll see below).

Two coats and topcoat. Natural light.

Blurry to show the sparse glitter.

So it's not a bad polish; application was easy, it's opaque quickly, and dried pretty fast. But it's just kind of... boring. I don't know. I already put it up for swap so if you're interested, contact me on MakeupAlley as az270890.

xoxo,
Amanda

Orly Lemonade + $OPI Spark-tacular

Hi ladies! I'll be picking my giveaway winner soon! Thanks for everyone who entered :) I did this mani with my BFF on a Friday night. I had a tough week at work and needed to cheer myself up, so this mani is completely out of season and overly glittery but I. don't. care.

I used three coats of Orly Lemonade below to get it opaque. It was streaky, as most yellows are, but not difficult to work with. This is without any cleanup, so you can see it wasn't too hard to work with (and my painting skills are improving!). Then I added one coat of Sephora by OPI Spark-tacular for the glitter.

It reminded me a lot of a Deborah Lippmann polish, and I wanted to name it. So I'm naming this Happy Days Are Here Again :)

xoxo,
Amanda