Black Spots Over Green

Hi all!

Sorry I've been a little absent, between school and christmas-type social obligations my 'me' time in which I blogged and such has been scarce. For those of you who commented on my post about my friend's passing, your words really meant a lot and I wanted to let you all know that his death saved 5 other lives because of organ donation. We said our goodbyes to him on Thursday and, while it was very hard to see him like that, I always find funerals help to start the healing process. He is and will always be incredibly missed.

Let's get ourselves happy and look at some nails, yes? This is a mani I did last week when I was super rushed and contemplating some type of self harm because of a presentation I had due the next day. In order to keep my sanity, I decided to take a break and do my nails but it had to be quick so I grabbed from my untrieds pile on the table and these two looked perfect for each other.

I have two coats of Essie Mojito Madness with Sation I Paint in Peace on my accent nails and I topped everything with one coat of the black Fergie glitter from Wet 'N Wild.

I originally passed on Mojito Madness when it first came out but I saw it the other day and just had to have it. It's such a nice bright color and it has a great formula so I'm definitely psyched to have found it. Sation I Paint in Peace is a gorgeous deep green with silver shimmer and I LOVE IT. The formula is a little thick but not unmanageable and it covered completely in one coat! I really suggest picking up the Sation polishes if you can find them, I've yet to be disappointed.

Thank you for looking and have a great day lovelies!

NO H8 - Taking a Stand Against Bullying

Hey all!

Super quick post in support for NO H8, a big movement between bloggers against bullying. Who am I kidding? You've probably seen a million of these posts today!

I don't know if it was a regional thing or I was just exceptionally lucky but there was never real bullying in my school. Yes, there was the odd prank that maybe went too far and I definitely got made fun of but never anything as soul crushing as I've seen other people witness and experience firsthand. Until senior year, there was this girl who, I'll admit, was not likeable at all. She had this particular attitude that she was simply the best around and had a huge ego and self esteem, so the guys in the class decided to bring her down a notch and created a group on Facebook specifically to hate on her. It was brutal and she was devastated. I'm 100% sure she's since recovered and that event didn't truly scar her, but we always have to be conscious of the power of our words and actions. No one is invincible and we always have the power to hurt.

Two coats of the extra purple Sation Little Miss Emo. I tried color correcting the pics a bit to show the true color of the polish (it photographs too blue) so pardon my weird looking skin.

"Bullying is not funny. It is not cool. It is not right. And more importantly, it is not okay.  Most of us are, thankfully, residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason. Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish blogging community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer. Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color...even to our polish application techniques. To marginalize anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that. I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog.   

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No H8 movement. Today, November 8, I dedicate my post to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community."

Comparison Mini-Spam!

Hello there!

Today I have some simple comparisons for you. This is mostly newer polishes I've acquired that bear a big resemblance to others in my stash. Maybe this could help you save some moolah. Yeah, I just said moolah.

First up, some comparisons to the new Essie Winter Collection. On my pointer I have Where's My Chauffeur, middle Turquoise and Caicos. Ring finger is Butler, Please and pinky is Nails Inc. Baker St.

Where's My Chauffeur definitely stands alone in my stash since it's bluer than its other mintier turquoise counterparts. Although, if you have China Glaze Aquadelic you might not need this one. Butler, Please is very close to Baker St. but, maybe this was just my experience, BP had a hoorrible formula! Streaky, pulling up polish and it dries to this weird lumpy semi matte finish. Baker St. is still just a touch brighter and the formula is absolutely wonderful so, while I don't regret having Butler, Please, Baker St. is the clear winner for me.

Next up, a reader request! It's some blue jellies. You know I love me some blue jellies. Pointer finger is Sation It's All Navy Baby, middle is China Glaze Ride the Waves, ring is Nina Ultra Pro Cobalt and pinky is Revlon Royal.

As you can see, no real dupes here. Sation is definitely the darkest and every polish was 2 coats except Ride the Waves, which needed 3. I'm wearing the Nina polish as I type and it's absolutely beautiful, a welcome addition to this blue jelly hoarder's stash.

And finally, some Illamasqua comps! Pointer finger is Revlon Jaded Night from a LE collection a while back, middle is Illamasqua Kink, ring finger is Sation Little Miss Emo and pinky is Illamasqua Prosperity, from the newer Rubber Brights.

Kink and Jaded Night are extremely close, I could barely tell these apart IRL. In macro mode, the rubber finish sets them apart and it looks a little lighter. Little Miss Emo is not quite as blue as it photographs, so its really just a touch darker than Prosperity. These would make for a very subtle gradient.

All in all, I'm happy with the polishes I have. The little differences are enough justification to keep them all. I may have a problem.

Hope this helps and please be smart tomorrow when voting. I know people here get involved in the fanaticism and euphoria and vote 'for the color' (the political parties here are very associated and identified by their colors), not the leader so I can sincerely hope it's not the same in the US.

Have a good day!

31 Day Challenge Day 24 - Inspired by a Book

Hi guys!

Today's challenge was Inspired by a Book! I really hit a wall with this prompt too, I looked at my little bookcase hoping to be inspired by one of the book covers or one of the scenes in the book but no such luck. In a desperate attempt to not miss another challenge day, I asked my mom what my favorite book was when I was little. The answer was El Principito.

"The Little Prince" is a children's book that is insanely popular here (and maybe elsewhere?). I have very fond memories of it though I admit I have no idea what its about anymore. I just know I remember the cover vividly, and he was standing on a moon for some reason.

I decided to do my nails just from memory instead of looking it up. I started with two coats of Sation It's All Navy Baby, which is an awesome deep inky blue jelly. It has so much depth and just glassy shine and I'm so happy I found it by its lonesome at TJ Maxx.

I think the lighting is making the color look a smidge lighter. IRL, it looks more like my thumb. Then I added a pretty silver holo glitter from Forever 21.

This macro was taken after topcoat, which made my tips matte again for some reason.

Then I re-did my middle finger so I could do the moon without the glitter disturbing the background. I did the moon mixing Illamasqua Load with China Glaze Elephant Walk.

I totally regret the yellow stars but, by then, I had looked up images of the book cover and it had really pretty yellow stars, so I added them and promptly effed it up. Here's an image of the book:

Image Source

I hope you guys like this and can forgive me for skipping 'Inspired by a Movie' day. To make up for it, I have some unrelated posts lined up, starting tomorrow with a spanking new top coat comparison!

Have a great last day of the weekend and visit the other ladies participating!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

-Kat at Hooked On Polish

-Diana at Nails By Diana

-Aly at Wonderland Beauty

-Meredith at Perfectly Polished

-Nicole at The Color Republic

-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

-Cee at Absolutely Cee

-Sam at Polished Art

-Nail Narcotics

-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

-Mixed Mama

-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine

-Patty Greenberg

-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 

-Mari at Nailista 

-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

-Gini at Sassy Paints 

-Chameleon Stampede 

-Pam at Nail-E-Glance

-Me, Myself, and Polish 

- Robin Sparkles