I Dare to Wear!

Mmmm, these are pretty polishes. I have to say, Dare to Wear is quickly becoming one of my favorite polish brands. I had not anticipated liking these so much and have in fact worn some of them post-swatching *GASP*. Currently, actually, I have a quite pretty rose manicure with a base of Always and Forever and flowers done in Angel From Above with itty-bitty Moon River (not pictured, I lost my swatch of that. I'll do another soon for you all) leaves. Please note, I also lost the swatch of Our Sweet Eden, but I'll post it when I locate/re-swatch it.

Any way, these are all so unique, but I'll do the talking after the pictures.

Shangri-La- Okay, this one has a story. Basically, I'm not a turquoise polish fan. I'm a teenager and I just find SO many of my peers to wear that same turquoise frost that seems so abundant at Rite-Aid. Not to be a snob, but really, it always looks rather off-putting to me. So, I try to avoid that look. I have nothing at all against bright polish (clearly), turquoise just doesn't do it for me usually.
So, when I opened the package and saw Shangri-La, I figured I'd swatch it and give it to a friend (Helene) who would wear it more than I. Well, sorry Helene, but I LOVE THIS POLISH. It's so pretty, a blue base with no frost at all, just pretty green shimmer. I am so sorry, Shangri-La for expecting so little of you when you are so absolutely gorgeous. So, yeah, it's a keeper.

My Sweet Dreams- Looks so pink with one coat, gradually growing redder and then oranger with two and three coats. It's pretty, but not as mindblowing as the other colors.

Always and Forever- Mauve. I know mauve isn't loved by many of the polish crowd, but this is that special mauve. That dirty, greyed out, trendy mauve. Just a bit more mauve that the mauves of last year, a little more classic. I actually love this polish the most. It's work-appropriate and so pretty and classic. ADORE.

Angel From Above- A pretty light lavender. I think there might be some slight shimmer in there, but it's practically invisible on the nail. Opaque in three coats.

The items in the post were sent to me for review. This did not impact my opinion of them or comments on them.

Cath Kidston Nails

Aren't they pretty? I really liked them. Mix and match floral nails will NEVER get old. And the base color for the middle finger really was the same color as the medium pink of the roses. I think my camera hates me.

A salon franken

Yup. I went into a dusty planning on looking for some cheap but rare polishes but didn't find anything that looked interesting until I saw this. I have NO idea how they made it/acquired it, but it's obviously not *actually* OPI. Anyway, it's pretty.

EDIT: Apparently I stumbled into OPI Paris Couture For Sure. Lucky me!

In which I am very much not dead

SO SORRY!

Life just gets in the way of blogging. Things, like school, happen and then there's no time in the day to post. And, to make matters more stressful, I'm in a play right now. We opened last week and close this Saturday. At the conclusion of all that, I'll actually be allowed to paint my nails. It remains unknown if I'll actually have time to post. The winner of the giveaway was Becca O.
Fun facts: most of y'all like To the Stars and Daddy's Girl. Some of y'all are awful at reading instructions, much to my amusement.
Anywho, here's nail polish.

I was sent this Bon Bons polish for review. Isn't it AHDORABLE?!
These are ittsy-bittsy cheap polishes intended for, as far as I know, use as party favors and such. I know I had quite a collection of Bon Bons polishes when I was little. This color's a frosty white. Here's the amazing thing, though: that was two coats. Two. Coats. Of cheap polish. That's WHITE.
A two coat white, y'all. Color me amazed.


Some items shown in this post were sent to me for review. That did not, in any way, change my opinion or representation of the product.

You have me in stitches

Bows and stitching and navy blue (China Glaze First Mate), oh my!
Love this, so cute and fun. I had some issues with the bows on my right hand, but that was to be expected.
Idea is stolen from this tumblr

Here's your last warning- ENTER MY GIVEAWAY NOW! Go here.

Sally Hansen Polished Pearl

LOVE this one. It's super pretty and clean and got a ton of compliments.

My giveaway ends TONIGHT, so enter here (click the word 'here' to be taken to the right entry)

Painting the roses red

I love me some floral nail art. This isn't my usual floral+rhinestones+glitter, but it's still super pretty. Super-duper pretty. Base color was OPI A Grape Fit and the swirling colors were ChG Ruby Deer and Milani White Canvas nail art.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here! Three more days left on it!


Some items in this post were sent to me for review.

A pretty (rare) polish

Found a bottle of OPI What's Dune? in an old nail salon. It's a duochrome holo polish from ages ago. Make my hands look red as lobsters, but it's mesmerizing in the sun.

lovely layering

OPI I Pink I Love You was an Ulta Valentine's Day exclusive two years ago (I think. Don't quote me on that, maybe it was three?). It's so pretty and jelly and filled with itsy-bitsy gold glitter and I LOVE IT. But, it's rather hard to get ahold of nowadays, so I have to conserve.
I wore it over Lippmann Pop Life, a pretty creme pink. Honestly, you don't *need* Pop Life, tt's a pretty standard color. I got it for cheap, I certainly wouldn't have dropped $16 on it.

If you haven't entered my giveaway, do so now!

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!

This is one pretty polish

I bought this ages ago, when the collection first came out. It's nothing new, obviously as China Glaze hasn't made a holo this fabulous since the OMGs. Very holo and very pretty and very pink. I like it lots.

If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, you're obviously insane. Get your booty over there and click a few buttons for the chance to win some AWESOME polish!

500 Follower Giveaway!!!!

Hey all, it's finally that time! There's a reason why this took so long for me to get together. That secret surprise I mentioned? Well here it is!

I'm starting my own line of nail polish! I honestly love these frankens. I'm not saying that because I'm trying to sell them to you all, I own my own bottles and I wear them on a regular basis (and get SO many compliments every time. People love these!).
I'll be selling my Jane Eyre polish collection for $7.50 a bottle or 3 for $20. The collection is three beautiful greys, all smoky with that mysterious and tragic feel of my favorite novel of all time: Jane Eyre (of course!).














The colors are (in order from top to bottom!):
A Strange and Unearthly Thing- light grey with delicate green/blue shimmer. The shimmer is more apparent on the nail than my pictures would like you to believe.

Mrs. Edward Rochester- a something blue that isn't the usual. Light slate blue with fine holographic microglitter. Gorgeous.

To The Stars- a dark grey chock full of that beautiful holographic shimmer. A bit of blue in there, too, to keep it interesting.

Email me at paintedtips@gmail.com if you're interested in purchasing, limited amounts are available, so buy soon! Shipping will be $2.50 for the first polish with $.50 for every additional bottle.

And now for the giveaway! I'm giving to you, my lovely followers, a FULL set of my Jane Eyre polishes. All three of them will go home to one lucky winner.
BUT, that's not all! SinfulColors has teamed up with Painted Tips to also offer SIX lovely polishes. That's a total of NINE polishes in this giveaway, three of which you can't get anywhere else!
Sinful will send one lucky winner one bottle of each of the following polishes:
This Is It
HD Nails
Forget Now
Vacation Time
Daddy's Girl
Midnight Blue


So what do you have to do to win? Easy!
1) You have to be following me. There's no ifs, ands, or buts on this and I'll check to make sure the winner is legit. Press that little follow button, it's not too hard.
2) Fill out the following form.

Yup, that's it! If you do decide, though, to up your chances, here's ways to get bonus entries:
1) Put me on your blogroll. It'd be awfully nice if you'd keep me there, too.
2) Tell me which of the Jane Eyre polishes is your favorite and which SinfulColors is your favorite.
3) Suggest another color I should franken. I may end up end up making it!
4) Comment on my posts. Anyone who has commented at least 5x will be getting one more entry.
5) Recruit someone to my blog. They have to enter, too, and tell me that you've recruited them or it doesn't count.

So that's all! Just fill this in :D
Also, please note that this is only open for my US ladies. Sorry, international gals, I'll have another giveaway sometime for you!
This ends on February 10th. No entries after that date will be counted.

A post, a post!

CND Plumville
It's pretty but I don't love it on me. Too red, maybe?

Awful lighting because the polish and my camera don't like behaving.

New favorite color combo

CC Take Me To Your Chateau over Lippmann You Can Leave Your Hat On. Bundlemonster stamped. It looked great matte, too.
I love the light blog over the nude, so interesting looking. I really loved this.

Sweaters for my nails!

It snowed! It snowed here and it so rarely does, so I made little sweaters for my nails :D
I didn't take pictures like normal because... well... this is more fun. Yeah, let's go with that.
I used Wet n' Wild's French White Creme and Red Red and then an itty-bitty brush. A little messy, but they looked good enough, I thought. I like the moose the best :D
(Inspired by NeverTooMuchGlitter)

I'm working on getting the give-away stuff together. It'll be soon, I promise. Thanks for helping me hit 500, everyone! Remember, I'm rather partial to people who are with me PRE give-away, rather than post. There might be an opportunity for an extra entry if you've been active on my blog before I announce what you can win ;)

News on My 500 Follower Giveaway

I'm at 498 followers, 2 away from a HUGE milestone.

So, when I do get those two, I'll be revealing exactly what it is you might win. So, if you're reading but not following, now's the time to follow.

Can't wait to let y'all in on the big surprise!

China Glaze- Go Go Pink

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An oldie and a goodie. A bit streaky but that perfect pale pink that just screams femininity. Adore this one.

Essie Sand Tropez

I liked this.

Serena Williams' Polish

She partnered with OPI and made these shades, each sold in a duo with a corresponding crackle.

I didn't mean to buy any. No, I swear, I didn't want the crackle and I didn't want her nail polish.

The crackle was separate at Ulta and on sale. I had lots of coupons, and it totaled somewhere around $4 a bottle, so I bought several colors (black, silver, white, and gold are now all of my OPI crackles. I think. Uh oh, I might be missing a few)

And then the polishes were on sale, 30% off at Trade Secret. I bought these three. The names are silly (aren't they always?!) but the colors are complex and pretty. Please enlarge all pictures. Really, do it. And just in case you won't, I provided an enlarged bottle photo for each. Unique colors with complexity like we don't see very often from OPI, I'm sold!

I really should photograph Simply Smashing, the other SW for OPI color I have. I might just do that now. If so, I'll edit this post with it. I don't have Rally Pretty Pink because someone (achem, Valarie) talked me out of buying it 30% off. She's mean. I also don't have, or really desire, any of the Wimbledon polishes.

Love is a Racket-
This is going to be my V-Day mani. It'll be my own personal inside joke and I will enjoy it (and maybe do a crackled heart on it, that went well last year). It's this incredibly complex pinkish red. Or reddish pink, I don't know.
It has these itty bitty flakies (or, as I call them, microflakies! Let's make that catch on, yeah?) and pretty shimmer. I liked this one the best, actually.

Spark De Triomphe-
A clear based silver glitter with large circular gold glitters. I think. Honestly, this one's so odd I don't even know. I've seen it described by bloggers as gold, champagne, silver, greenish, yellowish.... Just look at the close-up, okay?

Pros and Bronze-
I see what you did there, OPI. Clever name.
This one was pretty sheer. A rose gold-y, bronze-y color. I can't decide if I like this on me, but it's interesting. Please note, immediately after taking this photo I filed my nails so they don't look so silly. I promise they're better now.

Grrrrr

Google took away my ads because they suspected fraud. I made $60 in no time flat, and I swear I didn't cheat. I never once clicked my own ads, and I have nowhere near the expertise to make some kind of auto-clicky thingy-majig. So I lost the $60 and the ability to have ads. It is really awful that I can't contest this because I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG.

Anyway, I just got a new baby, a Canon Rebel T3. Yup, finally I'm upgrading. I still need a macro lens before I can take nail pics with it, but look at the lovely pictures I took. (I'm proud of myself, I don't consider myself any kind of photographer, but I took these AND edited them all by my self :D)

I obviously have a thing for high-contrast, darkened, saturated images. And broken buildings. And doors, but no wonderful pics came from that small obsession.