MAC Rain of Flowers

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was looking for a purple to wear today, and I settled on an untried polish, MAC Rain of Flowers.  It's a deep purple shimmer which is well pigmented, completely opaque in two coats, and easy to control.

MAC Rain of Flowers Nail Polish, Two Coats

Other than that, I don't have a heck of a lot else for you today.  If you're not wearing purple yet today, Google "wear purple 10/20" to see why you might want to, then go slap on something purple.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

MAC Bad Fairy & WowSoCool Contest

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I had the good fortune to get MAC Bad Fairy when MAC's Venomous Villians was released, and I have a picture of it for you today.  It's kind of a red/orange duochrome with the new-ish pigment that's been all over in recent months.

I was somewhat disappointed to find that the brush in my bottle of Bad Fairy had a bunch of splayed out stray hairs - for what MAC charges, it seems like a flawed brush should not be an issue.  The polish was a bit sheer going on, and I needed three coats to make it opaque.  Here it is in the sun.

MAC Bad Fairy Nail Polish, Three Coats

I like it and I think the color's unique, but I find that I'm completely burned out on this pigment, which keeps me from being as enthusiastic about Bad Fairy as  I otherwise would be.  This kind of finish wowed me at first, but a billion Fall and Winter collections later, I'm just not as impressed.  I assume I'll come to like it better once I'm a little further away from all the collections with this sort of finish though.

The other news is that Jessica from WowSoCool let me know that she's having a giveaway taking entries through the 15th of October.  The prizes are things like a $50 and $25 gift certificate for WSC, which is pretty generous.  You can find details on how to enter at the WowSoCool blog.

That's just about all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

MAC Jade Dragon

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I haven't had a chance to swatch the rest of Color Club Untamed Luxury yet, but as soon as I do, you'll know. In the meantime, I just changed my nail polish to MAC Jade Dragon, so I have that to show you today.

I'd worn Color Club Resort to Red for five days, and it held up really well, with no chips or tip wear.  It was starting to look a little grown out, but otherwise I could have waited longer to change.  I just received my MAC Jin Soon nail polishes yesterday, so I wanted to try one of them.  The last time around, I passed on all of the MAC Jin Soon polishes, but there were a few I decided to spring for this time.  One of them is Jade Dragon, a deep green shimmer.  I used two very, very thin coats, one medium would probably be enough.  I finished it with top coat, and here it is.

MAC Jade Dragon Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

MAC Brown Bag

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I got some MAC nail polishes this week, and Brown Bag was one of them.  After seeing swatches, I wanted a nail polish the color of a grocery bag - I do not know why that appealed to me so much, but it did.  Today, I did a manicure with it and promptly compared it to corrugated cardboard, and yep, it's a match!

Brown Bag took three coats to be completely even and opaque, and it has a nice subtle shimmer.  It's not the most flattering color I've ever worn, but I like it just the same.

MAC Brown Bag Nail Polish, Three Coats

That's it for this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

MAC Blue India Nail Polish

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm showing you MAC Blue India, one of their Liberty of London nail polishes, for a few reasons: I had a fimo fail, I took Diddy Mow out of the box and couldn't face another green yet, and Blue India is flying off the shelves, so I thought I should show it to you while you still can get it.

It's another muted blue, much darker than RBL 360, and a creme. It took three coats for me, even though the formula seems way better than most MAC nail polishes - I had a few bare patches after two, so a third was needed to fix them up. The other Liberty of London shade is Vestral White - they must have truckload of that stuff, since they keep releasing it with the special licensing collections (this, Hello Kitty, ...), and it's not especially coveted. Who knows?

Anyhow, this is Blue India.

MAC Blue India Nail Polish, Three Coats, from MAC's Liberty of London Collection

The fimo fail was disappointing - I got some cool fimo sticks. However, I don't have a reasonable cutting tool to slice them thinly enough. I cannibalized a disposable razor for a new razor blade to try, but since the blade was flimsy, the slices were not the nanometers thick that I wanted. I'm determined to get one for them soon - some are pretty entertaining.

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

MAC Mercenary & Dior Gold Nugget

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'd heard that MAC Mercenary and Dior Gold Nugget were dupes, but when I saw Mercenary I did not think so. This morning, I thought I'd compare them for you. Unfortunately, there's no sunlight, but I can still see the diffference in artificial light. They're close, but not the same.

Here they are side by side, with my middle and pinky being Mercenary and index and ring being Gold Nugget. Gold Nugget is more golden and the sparkle is more pronounced, while Mercenary is more bronze.

If I had more pictures to show you, I would, but I don't so I won't.

Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

On the Prowl for Roses

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I was in the mood for a Funky French, and did what is for me the funkiest of Funky Frenches!

I started with a base of MAC On the Prowl, then added the rose pattern from Konad plate M65 to it, using the pink Konad polish.  Rather that use plate M19 for the tips to just fill in the gap between the edge of the pattern and the ends of my tips, I used white Konad polish to place the line where the white part of my nails actually starts.  That still left a gap between the stamp and the ends of my tips, so I freehanded over the tips pattern using Misa Heaven White, using the line from the stamp as my guide.  I now habe a very Funky French, and not only does Hello Kitty appeal to the nine-year-old in me, but the combination of pink, grey, and white does as well.  This is a childhood fantasy mani for me!

 

 

That's what I have for you for now, Dear Reader.  If the stars align properly and my energy holds up, I hope to have something really cool for you tonight.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Something About Fishnets...

Happy Valentine's Day, Dear Reader!  Or Happy VD, as my sister likes to say...

I picked a fun mani for today.  It's pink and black.  The pink is because I'm still cheerful on Valentine's Day, and woke up to a message from a reader that included a happy picture of tulips and daffodils for today (virtual flowers!).  The black is because I'm at the front end of a divorce, so it seemed appropriate to put a little black in there.

I started out with my MAC Something About Pink manicure from yesterday, and used that as my base color.  To it, I added the fishnet pattern from Konad plate M57.  In doing so, I discovered my nails are now longer than the patterns again (oh, happy day!!!), so I added tips from plate M19 to fill in the gap.  The result is Something About Fishnets, and here she is.

 

 

That's my VD mani, and I'm happy with it - I think it's fun.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

MAC Hello Kitty!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

This morning a package arrived with my MAC Hello Kitty polishes, and the sun peeked out for a bit just now, so I thought I'd show them to you.

Here they are all lined up in their little boxes.

 

Cute as a little button, huh?  

Now, I haven't shown you a whole lot of MAC polishes because they tend to be chippy on me.  On the whole, they have great drying time, but are chiptastic, so I don't have a huge collection of them.  However, Hello Kitty makes me happy, so I have these now.

Each of these is three coats (all were three coaters) over a base, and the pink is the only one with a top coat.   The pictures were taken in natural light.

First is Vestral White.  In three coats, it's not as even as Misa Heaven White is in two, but the Misa doesn't have Hello Kitty on the bottle.

 

Next up is On the Prowl, which is a creme about midway between Carolyn New York's Hanging on the Stoop and Handball Courts.  But the CNYs don't have Hello Kitty on the bottle.

 

Last is Something About Pink, a hot pink creme that's almost a dead-on dupe for OPI In Sync with Pink.  But the OPI doesn't have Hello Kitty on the bottle.

 

Have you noticed a theme here, Dear Reader?  None of these are fantastically unique, and the dupes for them are better in quality with respect to wear.  I'm just a sucker for the packaging, so MAC got me on this one.  I'm still happy with them, and had planned to use them as a base for Konading, so all is well.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

MAC Dame Edna: Asiatique

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I have MAC's Asiatique for you today, which is a well pigmented red creme.  This is two coats.

 

 

That's all for today, Dear Reader!  Love and nail polish to you!

MAC Dame Edna: Varicose Violet

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I now have MAC's Varicose Violet, and thought I'd give you a peek at it.  It's not wuite what I expected, but I like it just the same.  It's a slightly sheer pale violet with a strong flash.  This is three coats.

 

 

I like it - I think it's very Spring-y.  Tomorrow I'll have Asiatique from the same collection - noe the red I had in mine, but a red just the same.  Until then, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!