Want to see something beautiful?

Deborah Lippmann's Cleopatra in New York

In the words of Rachel Zoe: "I die"

(two or three coats over black, I believe)

Yum

Pure Ice Five-Some is a black jelly with some blue, red, purple, and silver glitter thrown in. It's really pretty! Three coats to opacity and dries a little gritty, so be sure to put some topcoat on top! Unless you're into the mock-liquid sands look. I don't think I am (sorry, OPI).

Disclaimer: Sent to me for review. That didn't do anything to change my opinion.

Alpha Nail Polishes!

Alpha Nail, a polish company for men, sent me some of their nail pens and Clean Slate remover for review. Check their products out here, just don't do it at work!

The polishes come in a pen applicator, which is, I suppose, intended to look less feminine for their target audience. Honestly, I found it just made things more difficult, especially on Cocaine. I eventually got the hang of application, though, and the nails came out a little better looking. My method was pumping the pen for polish, dabbing that on a piece of paper, and then using the brush to put that on the nail. More complicated, yes, but also more uniform.

Now, as for the colors, these were pretty darn cool! Deep Ocean has this shimmer that's unbelievable and Burnin' Rubber is SO matte. Gasoline has a slight holographic effect. It's not a lot, but it's there. Cocaine, though, wasn't salvageable. I love how dirty and off-white it is, but the formula was too chunky for the unforgiving finish.

The remover Alpha Nail sent me is called "Clean Slate" and comes in a twist-off cylinder that contains the pre-moistened pads. It smells a little odd and feels a little greasy. They weren't my cup of tea, but my little sister now uses them and swears by them, saying she can get all the polish off her fingers and toes with just one wipe. They're acetone free.

Overall, I'm never super crazy about products being branded for one specific gender but I see what Alpha Nail is trying to do here. The polishes deliver cool "toughness" without looking too feminine, though they just as easily work on any girl.

These products were sent to me for review. I still have given my honest opinion of them.

Things that make me laugh

Seven visitors to my blog have been led here by the search "that awkward moment when nobody cares". I'm so happy to have all this apathy?

Yeah, that made me giggle.

Anyway, here's a water-marble. It's not great looking, I rather unfortunately double marbled and smudged, when I should have a) left it alone and b) been patient, but it looked alright when not under a macro lens. 

Some people tell me they don't have nice nails because they can only buy cheap nail polish. Well, this look costs a total of $2 (if you want to get fancy and buy topcoat, that's available for an additional $1), and that's when it's not on sale. With our Rite Aid card and general sales I think this might've been $1.50 worth of products.  Wet n Wild French White Creme and whatever they call their black. And then a plastic cup, toothpick, bit of tape, and water from a tap.

So, yeah, you don't need to buy pricey indie polishes to have pretty nails (though it'd be lovely if you bought mine). 

Okay, this is pretty cool...

I got these in the mail a few days ago and let me tell you, I was EXCITED. I had seen swatches on a blog or two and had no clue how on earth these new crackles worked. Well...

Firstly, they all come in two packs, one white base and one crackle. The crackle is where the magic happens (to prove it, I've swatched over silver in the second pic. That's Zoya Trixie, by the way). One crackle's purple (Remix), one's green (DJ Spinner), one's yellow (Emcee Me), and one's orange (Rave). They all appear as their respective colors but with black crack on top. It's hard to explain, so just look at the pictures!

The idea with these is to create art: rough, 80s street style art. You can apply them a whole bunch of ways and in any combination. 

My verdict? I kind of adore it. Yes, it's a bit gimmicky and yes, you've seen crackle polish 10000x before, but this seems new and different and the result is actually really cool. I've worn them out a bit and no complaints here!

 Items in this post were provided for review. This did not change my opinion of the product at all.

Modern Animal

I loved this. The pictures just don't do it justice, it was so shiny and SO pretty. All freehanded, obviously I need more practice. Still, love it!

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.

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.

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

Blue glitter galaxy nails!

I cannot express how gorgeous these were. I've showed you how to do this kind of manicure here. Lovely.

This polish couldn't have stolen my heart anymore

So, I'm a new Gaga fan. New as in, until last weekend I had never listened her. Well, now Speechless is the most played song on my iPod, so you can see how things have changed.
So when I went to Nordies with a little extra cash, I knew I needed a Gaga-polish.
And what a polish this is. Bad Romance, purple glitter (hex and small) in a jelly black base. One coat over WnW Night Prowl (wonderful base for this, the glitter matches perfectly).
Stunning.

The find of the year

A holographic OPI My Private Jet. Goes for $40 on eBay, bought for $4 in a nail salon. I almost screamed when I saw it.
And yes, all the pictures were necessary.

A poor girl's minx

Love this. ChG Agent Lavender, F21 Salmon, F21 Purple, Ulta Blue Streak, SH Mellow Yellow, and DC Matte Black. BM plate 16.
Though some products were given to me for review, I test all polishes fairly.

GALAXY NAILS TUTORIAL

Okay, I did it as promised :)
I'll go through with pictures step by step, I hope it works for y'all!

Materials:
Base coat (I used CC Stuck on You)
A black polish (I used Sinful Colors What's Your Name)
A set of glitter in whatever colors you'd like (I used Martha Stewart)
A empty franken bottle (not a necessity but it's nice)
A paper to catch the extra glitter
Top coat. Lots of it (I used SH Insta-Dri)

Steps:
1) Paint nails with base coat.

2) Paint nails with black. I only used one coat.

3) Sprinkle black glitter sparingly over WET polish.

4) Sprinkle color one over WET polish.

5) Sprinkle color two, three, and four accordingly over WET polish.


6) Shake/tap excess glitter off onto paper.

7) Add top coat

8) Move on to next nail. This NEEDS to be done one nail at a time.

9) Now remember that frankening bottle I recommended you having? Add your excess glitter into there with some clear. It looks awesome. (Nails on right, franken messily swatched on left)


10) Tada!


If you use this tutorial to do your own nails, please email me a picture! paintedtips@gmail.com

A new take on Galaxy Nails

Y'all know galaxy nails, right? The navy background, swirled with holos and sheers until it looks like a picture from a spaceship?
Well, this is better.





I'm thinking of making a tutorial, would anyone be interested?
I used the Martha Steward glitters and Sinful Colors What's Your Name.

Mwah! Raven

The lovely Selina gave this to me (I"M SENDING YOUR PACKAGE! I PROMISE!)gave this to me. It's really, really thick but SO pretty. If you can get your hands on this, do it!

A polish from Japan

I hate showing you all things that you (probably) can't have. But, this is so pretty! It's s 100yen mermaid-y polish that has green and pink semi-translucent sequins in a clear base over DC Matte Black.
Matte Black is one of the best blacks I've ever found, the formula is perfect, the opacity is great, and it dries in no time. If you don't want it to be matte, just add topcoat.
Speaking of, the topcoat I used here is Nailene Acrylic Strong, which is honestly awesome. My nails are on the second day of wear and there is no problems with them, Seche chips a few hours in, or at least causes shrinkage but these look great, plus, the shine is unbeatable.
Diamond Cosmetics and Nailene sent these products to me for review but that did not affect my opinion at all. These are honestly great products, I would not tell you otherwise just because they were provided for me by the manufacturer.