Saturday, December 24, 2011

Two quick photos




Attached to the SinfulColors holiday collections (see it here) were these two nail art polishes. A silver glitter in a clear base, Fashionista, which I found sparse, and a gold shimmer, Flower Girl, which I adore. The latter is a very, very yellow gold. A bit gaudy, and entirely perfect. They're shown here over AA Imperial Purple in a variety of designs (otherwise known as me goofing off). I have animal print and scroll-work in Flower Girl and a full coat of Fashionista as well as some stripes.


Now this is a fun one. American Apparel Neon Green with Dare to Wear Celestial Blue on top. Isn't it lovely?! So fun and summery. Celestial Blue is from DtW's Crack-m-Up line. It cracks nicely and is shockingly pigminted. I have one last Dare to Wear to show off (another crackle :D), but that can wait.



Some of these polishes were sent to me for review. I still gave an honest and fair opinion of them

Friday, December 23, 2011

On the technicalities of blogging....

I have been thinking about things recently, puzzling over a few small changes I'm thinking of making to the blog. I thought I should let y'all chime in, after all, you are the reason I'm blogging.

So, you might have noticed that there are a lot more posts with items given to me recently. Firstly, please understand that my review is entirely honest. I'll tell you if I hate the product, I'm not going to compromise my integrity and the integrity of this blog just for the sake of free stuff.

Now, you also may have noticed (thought I wouldn't blame you if you didn't) that I never post about upcoming launches. I don't like that usually when other blogs do it as the colors are SO different from the promos generally. Here's question one: Would you like it if I posted the launch info I get emailed to me from various companies?

Question two is also about advertising, more specifically if I should put up paid ads on the blog. I'm trying to save up some cash for travel (hence the no-buy) and monetizing the blog would help. But I don't want to degrade Painted Tips with those icky ads Google puts up. I'm thinking about selling some ad space independently, but I'm not even sure how to go about that or if I really want to. Would you mind if there were ads on this blog? If you blog, do you have ads? Why or why not?

It'd be AWESOME if you'd answer a few of these questions for me. And it might possibly help you out in the next giveaway (but don't hold me to that. There won't be one, likely, until I hit 500 followers, and even then, I AM trying to save some money! But, any giveaway I have will have little extras for my long-suffering readers like yourself).

Edit: I put ads up. If they aren't making enough money to be worth it, I'll take them down. Still, any extra cash for my trip will be helpful. I do promise that ads won't be so blended into my blog that my content and paid content are indistinguishable. Let me know if you have any strong feelings about this!

THESE ARE SO PURDY

I've ranted and raved about how awesome Valerie is (find her here) before. Here's her polish. No, it's not polish I got from her, it's literally her polish. She mixed it and is, last I heard, planning to sell it. I got it for my birthday from the lady herself.
IT'S SO PRETTY. It Came in the Night is this uber complex jelly purple with iridescent pieces. I LOVE IT. Fluffed Dove is pretty, reminiscent of Glitter in the Air (a polish Valarie loves, I know), but not super my taste. Yes, I do enjoy it, but not like I do ICitN. ICitN will be on my tips for the rest of eternity. Or maybe just 2011 (don't worry, I have some stored pics for y'all if that ends up being the case).

I think I'm getting a new camera soon, so keep with me and my awful pictures for a bit, please! The lamp I used to use to light photos broke and the new one and my camera do NOT get along. Nothing I shoot is fully lit AND color-accurate, only one or the other. Ugh.



Saturday, December 17, 2011

Dare to Wear a Dollhouse

Hehehe, I'm clever. And funny. No really, I am.

or not.

Anyway, Dare to Wear sent me their lovely Dollhouse collection. This was one of the most exciting moment of my month as the colors are GORGEOUS. A hint of pastel, holographic glitter, and a jelly base. YUM.

I wanted this collection for its yellow glitter, Fashion Fever. Sadly that yellow glitter is actually a green-yellow, emphasis on the green. So my quest for a bright yellow glitter continues....

They all have small specks of silver glitter, medium sized holographic circles, and holographic bar glitter. I repeat: yum.

I like Pop Artist, a bubblegum pink, the best, I think. Though Rock Star is awfully pretty, as is Social Butterfly. Lady Luck would be PERFECT for St. Patty's Day, and Dream Princess is a unique and rather odd shade of pale orange, I've never seen a glitter quite like it. All in all, they're gorgeous.







The products in this post were sent to me for review. This did not, in any way, affect my opinion.

Friday, December 16, 2011

SinfulColors' Holiday Collection!

They're all re-promos, I believe, meaning that we've seen these exact colors before and the only thing that's changed is the display. I did own Midnight Blue and Daddy's Girl before receiving these, and, as far as I can tell, there's not one thing that's changed. However, these are (for the most part) PERFECT for the holidays. I'm thinking of doing a Hannukah manicure (I've previously moaned and groaned about holiday collections falling flat due to CHRISTMAS themes. I like me some red and green, but bring on Gelt-Gold and that shade of blue that matches Israel's flag! But I digress) with Midnight Blue and Out of This World. Daddy's Girl is rather 'odd man out' for me, as I don't traditionally associate purple with any hoiday. Whatever, it's so pretty.

The shimmer in all these is INCREDIBLE. Super complex and pretty. Enlarge the photos if you dare, but I must warn you that my nails are awful right now. Awful. I swatched Last Chance right before one tore and I had to cut them all. I miss my long nails :/
Last Chance- A green creme/jelly. Pretty. I wonder how it compares to Illamasqua Rampage... A bit less jelly, I think.

Out of This World- Possibly my favorite from this collection. A pretty, delicate white shimmer. So complex and very, very dainty. I wore this one with white shatter.

Midnight Blue- An electric navy. The shimmer looks almost alive.

Daddy's Girl- So much more purple in real life. SUPER purple. A purple jelly. I promise, this is purple. It's not blue. It's purple. Pink shimmer.

Sugar Sugar- Some gold flecks, pink shimmer, and a red base. Pretty standard but the gold makes it interesting. Very pretty.


The products in this post were provided for review. This did not, in any way, affect my opinion or my review.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Easy Galaxy Nails


Wet 'n' Wild Morbid coupled with this pretty flakie make for nails that could be otherworldly- no? Significantly less of a hassle than either galaxy nails method (see one here) and stunning in its own right.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Barielle Sailors' Delight


LOVE this pink. It's so universally flattering, I brought it to a slumber party and it looked incredible on everyone. It's also $4 at Ulta right now, so go snatch it up. And, to top it all off, it looks incredible with OPI's Gold Shatter. Yup.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Things I am thankful for....


Well Chanel, of course! But also my wonderful family, one member (my lovely aunt) gave me this nail polish (<3 you Aunt Pam!). It's beautiful, no? The perfect holiday red. It has some pretty pink sparkle, too! And it may or may not have been perfect with a Starbucks cup once I added some white snowflakes... :)

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Look what the cat dragged in...

I have no excuse for being so absent lately. None. I'm so sorry, y'all, I'll definitely try to do better.
So, here's a bunch of pretty pictures of pretty polishes for you. It's the Dr.'s Remedy Winter collection. Dr.'s Remedy polish is supposed to be all special and good for your nails, which is pretty awesome, I think. But, more importantly (at least to me) they have good, non-boring colors. Actually, fantastic, unique colors. Your going to love this...
Revive Ruby Red-
This is a re-promo, it came out last year or so, I believe. It's a darker, glowy red. Takes two coats to perfect, and it'll be adorable come Christmas time, though it's lovely now.

Essential Emerald-
Yeah, it's essential. Really, get it. A unique green with slight silver shimmer. Just adore this one. Two and a half coats.

Passion Purple-
Didn't want to by photographed. I gave it my best, though, and I think I captured it okay. It's a pretty purple, the shimmer isn't as prominent as other, similar colors. Of the collection, this one was one of the less unique.

Now, the glitters. A quick note on these, they chipped like I've never experienced before. I can honestly say that I've never painted my nails, let them dry, top coated, went to bed, and woken up with severely chipped nails. I did give each polish a shot, and they both chipped so quickly. Maybe they just don't like my nails. A shame, as they're both super gorgeous and unique at two coats.
Resolution Red Glitter-


Serene Silver Glitter-


The names are pretty bad. They just don't make sense aside form the alliteration. Really, though, a complex silver glitter labeled as 'serene'. No. Just no. Still, Dr.'s Remedy made some of my new favorite polishes, and I'll be reaching for some, like Essential Emerald, all the time. So pretty.

These were sent to me for review, that did not affect my opinion of them in the slightest.

And because I'm quickly becoming obsessed with this guy, one of the best songs I've heard in a while:

Thursday, November 10, 2011




Uber belated Halloween mani (China Glaze Let's Groove and Milani nail art in White), Sinful Colors Show Me the Way, and Sally Hansen Coco a-go-go.
All very pretty.
Again, I'm sorry for being gone so much. And these aren't watermarked. That's because my computer now hates Photoshop and it was either this or no post at all. Please don't steal my pictures.

Would y'all mind if I put some ads up? I'm trying to save up for a trip to Israel this summer, so I need to earn $500 in not much time, and I thought this would be a good way to get some cash.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sorry for disappearing!


Orly Space Cadet is pretty.
There's two reasons why I've been slow posting:
1) My computer doesn't like Photoshop anymore, which means I can't watermark and thus can't post.
2) School.
So, yeah, I'm really sorry. I'm going to try to fight through the aggravating slow-ness and get a half-dozen pictures watermarked.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Not Nail Polish

Don't say I didn't warn you. This post is not about nail polish. This post is about my passion pre-polish- make up. I went to Walgreen's yesterday to pick up some chapstick and what I came away with was INCREDIBLE. A lipstain, two lipsticks, foundation, three nail polishes (two for me, one for my sister), foundation, eye shadow, and lipgloss. All for under $25 total. All Revlon. How? Wally's had 40% off of Revlon, and then the woman helping us gave us coupons for $2 off EACH ITEM. The foundation alone was $13, the lipsticks were $9 a piece. And my total was so low I felt like I was stealing. I swatched my haul for you, just for kicks and giggles. Lemme know if you like me swatching make-up products, or if I should just stick to nails. Also, tell me if you'd rather I show the products on my lips.
In order from left to right: Celestial Silver eye shadow, Crave lipstain, Lilac Pastelle lipgloss, Siren lipstick, Baby Pink lipstick.


Revlon Diamond Lust Eye Shadow in Celestial Silver-
My mother and I each bought one of these, and I just sent her out on a mission to buy me the other three colors on display. A sheer silver eye shadow with iridescent glitter. SO PRETTY.

Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain in Crave-
A red based purple. Not usually my cup of tea, but something about this screamed out to me. And I'm glad, it's perfect! It gives me perfectly stained lips that still look natural. A note about the lipstains- my mother, sister, and I now have acquired a total of around ten of these in the past two days. They're usually somewhere around $10, but we got them for $2 a piece and they're just so awesome that now we combined own almost the whole collection (with Passion x2, as that pink is incredible).

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Lilac Pastelle-
Pretty purple. I like that this can be sheer, if you apply with a light hand, or more opaque. It's also pretty trendy, and rather out there, but the sheerness makes it wearable. And oh, how wearable it is. I could see myself rocking this over Baby Pink all winter!

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Siren-
A pretty red-leaning orange. Very bold. It's on trend for those orange lips that have been everywhere since Spring Fashion Week, but it still has some red to make it not too dated. I just want to wear this with a bodycon turquoise dress and minimal other make up. Wouldn't that be SO pretty?

Revlon Lipstick in Baby Pink-
There's a little bit of shimmer to this, which disappoints me. I think it's a pearl (?) in make up terms. It's semi-opaque, so it doesn't quite cover my naturally pigmented lips. Still, pretty and rather natural.

After swatching all of these, I figured that I might as well swatch one more makeup product- Dr.'s Remedy Enriched Instant Cover.

It's a concealer, I have it in medium. It comes in this GIANT tube, 3.5 oz, and is made to conceal on the body, not the face. It has a sponge type applicator, which is effective at distributing the product, but there's still some blending required for a natural finish.




Here is is over my entire arm, still stained with the Revlon lipstain. As you can see, the lines where it is on my skin is very evident. This is not my shade. Th
is is nowhere near my shade. This is too yellow and far too dark to be my shade. Funny, as I've always been a medium. That's my main beef with this product, there are only three shades available and, apparently, it's not as easy to choose one as it seems. It's $40, a steep price to pay, especially if the concealer isn't your shade. It did cover the lipstain, though, and had I taken the picture after a few minutes, the shine wouldn't have been there at all.
I do like this product, but I'm disappointed as I think that a variety of skin tones should be covered, and this is certainly very limited in that aspect. If you can find your match, though, it would work to cover birth marks, tattoos, and spider veins- all with natural, good for you ingredients.
Some products in this post were sent to me for review. That did not effect my opinion of them.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Seeing spots


So, I saw Color Club's scented polishes, turned up my nose, and then forgot about them. They all like like CC neons I already own, and the gimmick of scent is actually a turn off for me (what if it makes me smell noxious?). But then, then Yum Gum happened. And it's so darn pretty. I wore it alone for 3 days, added the leopard print tonight, and will wear it until tomorrow night. It's walks that fine line between a true neon and a polish that's wearable for non-polish freaks. It's BRIGHT, but not retina-searing. It's actually perfect. Though, it's rather photo-shy, only reveling that pretty pepto-color in the worst of lighting. Please forgive me and my awful pictures (at least they're color accurate!).

3 coats.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Shiny pretty

I could write poetry about my love for Color Club polishes, specifically their neons and glitters- but I won't. You can thank me later.
Anywho, Color Club makes some wicked polish, and for practically nothing. I bought this set of glitters at Ross for somewhere around $8 for six? seven? of them. Good deal, but they came nameless and I'm too lazy to find the names now. Comment if you want to know any of them specifically and I'll go a'looking. Oh, and Black Shatter is awesome.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Long time- no see!

I'm sorry, everyone. Life gets in the way of blogging sometimes. The thing is, I'm now sixteen (!!!!!!!!) and I'm taking a full load of college level courses, basically. I'm taking the most rigorous classes available at my high school, as well as doing a variety of extra-curriculars and I'm so stressed out and pressed for time. I won't blog if it means neglecting my home work, just won't do it.
I've been doing my nails most of the time, and it was just my birthday (!!!!) so I have some new polish.
OH! And, I have a NEW FANCY CAMERA IN THE MAIL. A SLR! But I have not acquired a macro lens, so I might not be able to actually use if for nail photos.
OPI Swimsuit- Nailed It! is stunning. But I might never wear it again as my nails are BLUE. Not just blue, but BLUE. And I took the polish off days ago. I've never encountered a stainer like this one, no bueno, OPI.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Butter London



I bought these last Tuesday when Ulta was selling Butter Londons for buy one, get one free. I used my $3.50 off $10 purchase and so these totaled $10.50, or $5.25 a piece. For polishes that retail for $14, that's a steal! Love 'em both, too. Victoriana is the perfect moody teal and No More Waity, Katie is STUNNING. Elegant and modern and so darn pretty.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Crazy nails

Wore this to school today. Got my index finger's nail stuck in a door (don't ask) right before heading out, so it has a quick polish repairing job, with a short nail. Since this photo, I've filed down all my nails to match.

A funky french manicure with freehanded leopard print. Crazy? Yes. But I liked it. Inspired by Wahnails.com

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Yeah, I don't like that calendar thing... On another note- FRANKEN!



Yesterday, I was in a craft store. I recently decided that I'd like to franken more, and so I went on a mission to find glitter. I did, indeed, find glitter, but more on that later. What is more important, is that I found this. Gold leaf. And I put it in a clear base and now I'd like to have it on my nails forever. It's stunning.

So stunning, that I'd like to share. I was thinking about starting to mix my own frankens and sell them. This one would be included, of course, as I can't imagine not sharing it. There are some kinks to be worked out, like deciding whether the gold leaf needs to be cut finer. I like it blingy-er, like this, but maybe the pieces should be just a bit smaller. I also need to make an order for empty bottles. I don't want to spend that money if there'd be no buyers so, here's my question for y'all, would you buy this franken? I'm thinking about pricing them all at $7, except ones with gold leaf, which would be $10. Is that a good price?

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Polish days 1-4

Here's my red, orange, yellow, and green for that polish calender thing. More to come, I promise!

The red is an OPI I bought at a nail salon, Edin-Burgundy. It's darker than the picture, a shade lighter and less purple than wine.

The orange is Color Club You Got Soul-ar. I hate the name. Hate it. It's more pink than the photo, but no where near coral. Cool glitter.

Essence's Sundancer is my yellow. I assure you, it's more orange. Not quite egg yolk, but more sunshine.

For green, I have Revlon Emerald. Formula was a bit runny, which tripped me up. I bought this at Target for $.25, so I can't complain.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Garden nails

You know that calendar I posted for the nail looks I was going to do? You know, my last post? Well... Uh..... I can't post any more during the week as I have school and studying and I like going for BIG, high impact nail-arty looks now. So. Uh. I'll try and swatch and catch up to that this weekend, okay?



I was going to replicate my gnome nails from ages ago, but after drawing the grass I felt rather lazy and just did flowers. These got SO much attention, it was insane. Everyone had to take a look.

If y'all want, I'll do a tutorial.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Trying something new

Hey all! I've decided that I'm going to try this for the month of September. I'm obviously a tad late, so I'll do a quick catch up post (right after I get my lazy butt off my chair and go find some polish)

Cheap Thrills

They rock! Forever 21 has nail polish (old news) that's scented (recent-ish news) and neon (new news!). Smelled like melon (its name, go figure) when it dried. So pretty. Sorry for the extended absence. I've been camping.