Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Barry M Bright Purple

Hi. I'm sorry I look like I've been abandoning my blog lately but I just haven't felt like blogging about anything recently. I have a couple of really awesome polish/manis in my backlog which I will definitely post when I feel like it.

I was going to write this post yesterday but I fell asleep (with the lights on, and my brother switched off the lights, leaving me to wake up in a daze and in the dark). I decided I can't leave this any longer because if I don't post this sooner, I probably won't do it later either.

My mood has been crushed, blended and fed to the Kraken by the news of the death of my cousin's 12 year old dog. I've known her for the longest time ever and she was such a darling. She was so well-trained and obedient. She was afraid of fireworks and would tremble whenever they were played. I am absolutely devastated and heartbroken that I didn't get to see her in the last few months of her life and that I will never get to run my hands through her fur or scratch behind her ears and on her neck, feed her crackers or even just see or hear her running to the gate when someone came home. I will miss the way she used to cross her front legs when she lay down and how she would move them if I touched them, the way her nails clicked on the floor, how she would stand up her two hind legs and bring her front paws together when she saw the people she loved most.

Rest in peace, Angel. If there was ever a dog worthy of that name, it would be you.

Sorry for the sob story. Back to the polish. I did 2 coats with China Glaze Fast Forward. I love the formula of Barry M polishes, the only exception being Mint Green. Not too thick and not too runny, and opaque in two coats. Gorgeous colors too.



















That's all. I apologise for the lack of enthusiasm in this post but I really don't have an ounce of enthusiasm in my body right now.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

These OPI Polishes - Fake or Real?

The story: Last year, I missed Mad As A Hatter and was desperate to own it. My mom's manicurist didn't have any left so I went online to find it. I found one on Amazon (will not reveal the price because it's embarrassing). My mom very kindly bought it for me and also picked out Thanks So Muchness! (also from the Alice In Wonderland collection) for herself. I'd read about an Amazon etailer selling fake OPIs but it wasn't the same as the one I was ordering from. The polishes were supposed to be shipped to us here (outside the US) but they were prohibited items and had to be sent to my aunt's house in the US or be destroyed. Um, no destruction, please. Earlier this year, my mom's manicurist said she found a spare bottle of MAAH (wonder where that was hiding) and asked if we wanted it. YES! Here we are a year later, when my other aunt has come back from the US, helping me bring back some precious polishes.

You probably skipped all that didn't you.

Well now I have two bottles of MAAH (and one of TSM!) and I need you to help me decide if they're both real. I'm pretty sure the MAAH is real, but I still have doubts. I've never taken much interest in TSM! until now so I don't know what it's really supposed to look like but from swatches, it looks real I guess.

The 'original' bottle is the salon-bought one, and I didn't know how to label the other possibly fake bottle so I didn't. This is probably my paranoia speaking, seeing as there are so many fakes out there.

OPI Thanks So Muchness! and Mad As A Hatter


Does the print look crooked to you? It looks crooked to me :/

Both bottles have the code printed near the base, but the print on the bottle on the right looks funny.

You can't tell from this photo but the color and alignment of the label on the right is a little different.

Both have the dot in the middle of the 'P'.

OPI on both the brush stems.

Okay this is the part that worried me. The edge of the original bottle is sharper than the edge of the other one.

The one on the right is more curved. Maybe it's a bottle defect? I don't know ):

Swatched on cellophane tape. If it's a fake, it's extremely good. Click to enlarge!


 
Swatched on my bare nail, no top coat, no base coat. 1 coat of both MAAHs. Click to enlarge.


 
The printing seems crooked and is printed lower than usual (I checked a couple of my other OPIs)

 
This was printed lower than usual and was vertically squished.

 
OPI on the brush stem again. I didn't know about this until recently.

 
This was THE most suspicious thing to me. WHY is it in a plastic thingy? I don't know if it was sent like that by the etailer or if my aunt put it in there but since when are there plastic thingies to hang OPI polishes?

Am I being paranoid? After all the money that went into getting these two (mainly MAAH), I really don't want to one day be told out of the blue by some random person that these aren't real OPI. They both look genuine but who knows how good these counterfeit people are nowadays.

What do you think?

Monday, June 13, 2011

China Glaze Lightning Bolt on OPI You're A Doll

I am such a bad blogger for taking so long to put this up. It wasn't because I wasn't free, but I was really feeling way too lazy to write an entire post.

I didn't want to take OPI You're A Doll off after a couple of days so I did what would be the easiest and most convenient solution: I added crackle. That seems to save my mani when I get sick of it but can't or don't want to take it off. And it never turns out the same twice.

This is China Glaze Lightning Bolt, a white crackle, over 2? 3? coats of You're A Doll. The first 3 photos are without top coat and the rest are with.









Crackles are awesome. But companies need to STOP making them! I admit I am probably all crackled out by now. Just a couple of days ago I was all "Hah" at people who said they were sick of crackles. Now I am one of them. China Glaze's Metallic crackle collection doesn't even excite me. I thought at first that I'd get all of them except the silver but I am trying to save money for swaps and suddenly the crackles don't excite me anymore.

Unless some really pretty and unique colors (not metallic) are released, I think these blue OPI crackles will be my last. For now anyway. Stop it guys. Move on to something else. Here are some things I wish polish companies would make more of:

1. Holographic (the Gosh/Nfu.Oh kind)
2. Color changing polish (heat or UV activated)
3. Multichromes (think Clarins 230)
4. Flakies 
5. A Harry Potter collection. People would go crazy. I'd buy the entire set!

I wouldn't mind numbers 1-3 in crackle if it turned out good. What do you think polish companies should make more of?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

OPI You're A Doll

It's Pink Wednesday! :D

I went shopping for some polishes for a swap today and ended up getting a couple for myself. A couple for frankening and a couple because they look duo/multichrome-y. I tweeted the picture of the rip off of an Nfu.Oh bottle with a really pretty polish inside. The cap doesn't align with the body of the bottle. Haha.

I got OPI You're A Doll from Kellie in a swap. I don't usually wear pink polish, because some pinks don't agree with me. Thankfully, You're A Doll isn't one of those pinks. It's a sister to Sheer Your Toys from the same collection (Holiday in Toyland, 2009) which I have now bought thanks to Kirsten's swatches. I felt You're A Doll was lonely and needed her sister ;)

I did um... crap. I can't remember 2 or 3 coats. With top coat. I love this. It's pink with pearly shimmer and red (maybe copper) flecks.









Omg my nubbins. I am never filing my nails this short again.

I'll conclude this Pink Wednesday with one of the few quotes I remember from Mean Girls:

"I don't hate you because you're fat, you're fat because I hate you."

Monday, June 6, 2011

Make Up Store Victoria

I am back! It's been awhile. I wanted to write this post yesterday but I was too tired. So, to make up for my lack of posting, I decided to post this.

I have no holidays or break between my last exam paper and the first day of my second semester, which is tomorrow. Or today, since it's 3am.

This color is so awesome I can't describe it. I will let the picture spam speak for itself. I did 3 coats with top coat. Make Up Store Victoria caught my eye in the store but I didn't want to buy it until the lady said that it sells fast and that it was the last bottle in store. SOLD!

As always with this kind of colors, there was a bit of VNL and wrapping the tips didn't look like the tips were wrapped. And as always, the pictures are clickable and lead to the full size version. Which is about twice as big. The close-ups are worth enlarging, trust me!

Shade 

Shade

 
Shade

 
Sun

 
Shade

 
Shade

 
Artificial lighting

 
Shade

 
Shade

 
Artificial lighting

I want to wear this again! It is gorgeous.

I have to wake up in less than 4 hours to cook breakfast and drive to class. I wish someone would just fly me there in a Weasley flying car.