Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!

Yay, it's Halloween. I have to be honest, this is the first year I've decorated for Halloween...ever. I'm not anti-Halloween at all, but where I used no one decorated and no one trick or treated. It was pretty depressing. The new place I live people decorate, there are kids to trick or treat, so I figured why not.

I'm ready for Halloween this year! I wanted to share my nails for Halloween with you today.


Polishes Used:
Milani Purple Gleam & KBShimmer Jack.

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Way-Cool Mani Wednesday: Sparkling & Soft

One of my favorite nail looks to do are ones that have softer elements, but have something sparkly thrown in the mix. I don't think you'll ever find me with a straight up neutral or nude creme polish without some embellishment. I think the combination keeps the look clean, but far from boring. 

Here is a mani I did recently featuring soft and sparkle!


Polishes Used:
Zoya Kennedy and Deborah Lippmann Champagne Supernova (from the Starlight collection)

Manicure Description: I painted all nails with Zoya Kennedy, and followed up doing a glitter gradient on top with Deborah Lippmann Champagne Supernova. 

I don't know, but I think this is probably one of my all-time favorite manis I've done. I can't even really explain why really...I just love it!

Happy Wednesday! 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Zoya Chyna

I'll keep today's post short after yesterday!

I love red glitters, don't you? Red is a classic color that's blinged out, and honestly I think looks good on everyone. You cannot go wrong with a great red glitter. I recently found out you can't go wrong with a textured red glitter either!

Zoya Chyna

Chyna w/ top coat
Chyna is a ruby red textured glitter.

Color: Awesome, rich, and sparkling red. This is a pretty standard red, but look at it? Chyna with top coat is pretty much any other red glitter, but textured it's a whole new ballpark. Chyna is amazing!

Formula: Excellent. I used 2 coats for the swatch above.

Price: This is $9.00 on Zoya's website and is part of the PixieDust line.

Overall: Great textured red glitter polish. You cannot go wrong. I think everyone needs this polish in their collection. Must have!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters
Happy Tuesday!

Monday, October 28, 2013

HARE Polish Rococo Grandeur & History Lesson

 *If you don't like history, you can skip this first part. I rarely get to share another interest of mine in this blog, so I'm using the opportunity to combine the two! 

I adore art history and am always intrigued by how much we can learn about humanity at one particular time through the art we created. The simplest details of shapes, colors, and lines in any piece of art can help us dictate what a kind of political ideals, religious beliefs, and values a society had. To see history depicted so beautifully and creatively throughout human history is very inspiring and fulfilling to me.

I'd say my favorite art definitely comes between the 16th and 19th centuries. That's A LOT of artistic movements to cover in that time span, but from the Renaissance to Impressionism it's so hard to choose a favorite! What falls between that time frame is Rococo.

Rococo was an 18th century artistic movement that developed in France. The Rococo movement was like most artistic movements--a reaction to the previous one. The previous Baroque style was rigid and majestic. That pretty much got old, and Rococo artists desired a more a fluid, fanciful, and flamboyant style.

This movement brought us what I find to be the most iconic piece of the period, The Swing by Jean-HonorĂ© Fragonard. The use of pastel-colors, curvy lines, and ornate embellishments were major themes in Rococo art. I loved this movement as it was a complete break from tradition, plus it was soft and pretty. Many people of the time disapproved as this art because they felt it was hedonistic and not serious. They were poopy heads.

Sorry, I think I forgot this was a nail polish blog for a second! Thank you though for letting me share another one of my passions though.  This all brings me to HARE Polish Rococo Grander, which I was instantly attracted to because of how spot-on to the Rococo movement it was.

Rococo Grandeur 
Rococo Grandeur is a soft pale blue jelly with a subtle blue shimmer, pink glitters and gold glitters.

Color: Beautiful color polish, and totally true to the theme. I love it for so much for personal reasons, but outside of that it is a great color. I do not own anything like this in my stash either.

Formula: This is where this loses brownie points for me. I used 4 coats in the swatch above, the formula is a bit thick, and doesn't even out completely smooth. That being said, it did manage to get it to work for me, but I'd prefer it was better. 

Price: I got this for $10.00 on the HARE's etsy site. This is currently out of stock though. Check back on HARE's website for stock updates though. 

Overall: This is a beautiful polish. I love the combination of colors, and clearly I adore the theme. The formula disappoints though. For me, the theme and color > formula. This is certainly not the case for all people or all polish, so you can be the judge on whether you want this.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters
Happy Monday! 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Share With You Sunday: Important Update

I'm sure you've noticed over the past few months I've been missing a lot of Sunday posts. Honestly, the weekends are my catch day for my blog. Sundays are when I plan posts for the week and do swatching. This can be very time consuming, but a necessary part of my blog. If I didn't have this day to work on this, my blog wouldn't have any content!  When I'm done with all this, I've really run out of steam.

I've also been receiving less and less mani and post submissions. I'm sure this due in part to my lack of posting, but in general over the past year this has been the case.

I've always said when something starts to feel like a chore on my blog, I'm either going to modify it to make it work for me, or stop doing it. I like these posts because they not only show me new blogs, but they show you them too. So, they're not going to go away completely, but I need to adjust the scheduling.

Starting in November, I will be doing monthly "Share With You Sunday" posts. The last Sunday of the month I will share an accumulation of my favorite posts of the month, the links shared with me, and reader mani. This means the lists might be longer, but based on recent activity, I don't expect them to be honestly. If that is the case though, I'll adjust it so it's reasonable, and move the rest over to the next month.

I will still be accepting link submissions and reader mani submissions. The ones that I currently have will be moved to November's post. The post will be posted on November 24th. I will post reminders on FB and this blog a week before that month's post, so people can submit if they'd like.

I hope this will work out alright. I hope you all understand too.

Happy Sunday!


Saturday, October 26, 2013

Glitt-A-Licia Guest Post: Evil UnDead

Once upon a time there was a little house in the woods....
 *(Photo from New Line Cinema Evil Dead)
*(Photo from TriStar Pictures Evil Dead)

Then one day a girl was in the house and a terrible thing happened...
*(Hmmm...pretty clear instructions...)
*(...I better read it anyway!!!!)

...the house in the woods inhabited by an evil force greater than what the world has ever known!!

The girl...

Turned into....

THIS!!!!!!!
(Yes, I am sporting this hair in public, but it is just an empty parking lot to pick up my baby. I was THAT tired! Lol)

Oh wait...did you think I was taking about The Evil Dead??? Nope! It's worse!! It's The Evil UnDead!! This horror movie is for real yall!

I do happen to live in the woods, and my house is overrun by tiny terrors! As a matter of fact, I love Halloween. It is my favorite holiday! Once upon a time I decorated my whole house totally spooktacular!!!! Now, my house is Halloween ready every single day, no decorations needed! Here we have cobwebs all over the porch, the foulest stench that ever invaded your nostrils, dust bunnies the size of softballs, a crazy woman that at times turns into an evil witch, and  even a life sucking force haunts us daily...our kids!! (As a matter of fact, one of the foul smelling life suckers just whacked me in the head with the tv remote.)

I guess I actually morph from a witch at home into a vampire at work. I work nightshift in a local lab, so I sleep during the day and am surrounded by blood at night.
(My eyes! My eyes! The sun is burning my eyes!! Where is my coffin?!)

I needed a dark, vampy,  spine chilling polish in honor of of my favorite holiday and my spooky alter egos. I tried to think of a mani that was fitting of an evil witch and blood sucking vampire. And I came up with this combo!
I started with Orly Bonder, then put one coat of Super Black Lacquer Murdered Out. SBMO is a richly pigmented black but dries to a satin finish, so I topped it with Colors by Llarowe Licorice. CbL is an amazing black jelly that looks fantastic over SBMO!!! The combo is a rich, smooth, shiny, pure black! This combo will be my go to for a shiny black! I then put a layer of Cult Nails Disillusion. Disillusion is a black jelly with gorgeous pink flakes! Some of the flakes stand up and you can use tweezers to pull them off or do like me and keep adding layers of other stuff to smooth it out! ;) I round out the colors with a polish I made called "The Evil Undead aka Zombie Mom." I wanted this polish to have a black base with just a hint of blue and green glitter.
(Under my stove light)
(In my window. Sorry about minor tip wear a d rough cuticles. This is day 3 of this mani after MANY hand washings at work and wrestling toddlers at home.)
*So remember, if you ever see a woman who looks like this...
...she may not be locked in the basement by her loved ones against her will because she is possessed by an evil force! She may be a girl who is locking herself in the basement of her own free will to get a few minutes of peace from the loved ones who are evil forces running around the living room hitting her in the head with the tv remote.
*(This is how I feel when I have enough time alone to paint my nails. Just instead of being covered in blood, I'm covered in ketchup.)

Shine on reader, shine on,
Licia

*All pictures from Evil Dead movies belong to TriStar Motion pictures and New Line Cinema. All credit must must be given where credit is due :)

Friday, October 25, 2013

OCC Man by Man

I have to share with you today a nail polish from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics a.k.a. OCC. OCC had a booth at The Makeup Show Orlando this year, and I gave them a pretty penny! They had an awesome selection of nail polishes. They also had their Moderncraft fall collection which featured this beaut! 

Man by Man

Man by Man is a teal shimmering glass fleck/shimmer.

Color: This color is outstanding, but very hard to describe. This isn't like your Zoya Charla or OPI Catch Me in Your Net variety. This is more unique than you may assume. The shimmer/glass fleck particles are more sparse and fine. This shade of teal also leans more to the green side than blue. Beautiful and rich shade that truly comes to life when light touches it. 

Formula: Easy breezy. Great formula.

Price: This is $10.00 on the OCC website. I paid discounted rate at the show for $7.00.

Overall: Gorgeous polish. I was instantly drawn to it when I spotted it at the show. It's a unique to me teal shimmer among the vast ones available out there. The formula was great. Their retail price point isn't my favorite, but for $7.00 at the show I didn't winch. I would pay $10.00 for this shade though. 

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters
Happy Friday!


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Wet n' Wild Poison Ivy

Is it me or are dark shimmery greens hard to come by? I mean a green shimmer, not glitter, glass fleck or holo. I think the only time we really see them out is holiday time. That kind of surprises me since green, or shall I say, emerald was the color of the year. I would have expected to see some dark shimmery variations of it for fall? Oh well, what do I know?

Thankfully, Wet n' Wild brought us Poison Ivy. This was actually a Halloween release last year, but I never found it. This year as soon as I spotted it, I snatched it up!

Poison Ivy

 Poison Ivy is a deep emerald green shimmer.

Color: Ah-mazing. The richness and depth to this color makes me swoon. This is the type of color that makes me fall in love with nail polish all over again. Insanely gorgeous.

Formula: The formula was good. I used 2 coats with the swatch above. My issue with this is the brush in these Mega Last polishes. The brush provides kind of a win/lose situation. The brush is thick, wide, and fluffy, which means the formula applies nicely and opaquely. However, I find the brush a little too wide for the size of my nail, so I have to do some brush contortionist moves to make it work for me.

Price: I bought this for $1.99 at Walgreens.

Overall. You need this now. This is a must have. Go to Walgreens and get it. Have you left yet?

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Tuesday!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Milani Fall 2013 Textured Creams Swatches & Review

* I received the following products in exchange for my honest review.

I have the new Milani Fall 2013 Texutred Creams to show you today. I was very impressed with Milani's first textured collection. Milani is definitely in my top 2 as far as brands with textured polishes. The fall collection followed suit and equally impressed me.



Gracious Green
Gracious Green is a sage green textured cream.

Mystery Mauve
Mystery Mauve is a medium muted pink-brown textured cream.

Lovely Lavender
Lovely Lavender is a pale lavender textured cream.

Charming Carmine
Charming Carmine is a true red textured cream.

Velvet Violet
Velvet Violet is a medium muted purple cream.

Beautiful Bordeaux
Beauitful Bordeaux is a blackened plum textured cream.

Color: I can confidently tell you, I have no other textured colors like this at all or even remotely close to these. The colors in this collection are completely fresh and new to me, and are definitely new to the drugstore market. The colors are also perfect for fall.

Formula: Lovely Lavender and Gracious Green I used 2 coats for, and the rest I used 3. I found the formula to be expected with these. The formula was good, not bad, but not perfect either. The darker colors need a little more care with application. What I was surprised most with these is that while they are textured, they don't dry completely matte. These do dry to have a bit of shine to them. I waited 20 minutes on each just to make sure. That being said, yes these do have a longer dry time, but nothing excessive.

Price:  The polishes in this collection are $4.99 each on the Milani website. This collection can also be found in select CVS and Fred Meyer stores.

Overall: I love this collection. The colors cover the full spectrum of fall shades (muted, soft, and vamp). The formula was good. This is an excellent collection featuring a popular nail trend with popular shades at a drugstore price. My favorites in this collection are Gracious Green, Charming Carmine, and Beautiful Bordeaux. You cannot go wrong here!

My Rating 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters
*The above products were sent in exchange for my honest review.

Happy Monday!

Friday, October 18, 2013

OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster

Crustacean polish names always amuse me. I don't know what it is about crustaceans, they're not necessarily my favorite food, but when they're included in polishes names, I'm sold. I felt this way with Spoiled Shrimp on the Barbie . I guess it's also the colors. I always love a good coral, and crustacean-themed polishes are in the coral family. Plus, they give me a giggle. This is why I reached out to this next OPI.

I Eat Mainely Lobster
I Eat Mainely Lobster is a pinky-coral shimmer.

Color: This color actually came from the OPI fall 2011 collection. I know a coral and fall doesn't necessarily make since, but I think this one that could read any season. It's not too bright and it's not to dark, it's just right. The shimmer makes this one unique.

Formula: The formula is a bit tricky. I found it to be streaky to apply. I used 3 coats above. I find OPI polishes to be streaky in general. I'm not found of it considering their price and the popularity of the brand. Fix this, OPI!

Price: I got this for $8.50 at Ulta. I believe this is part of the core line.

Overall: Great coral for any time of year. The shimmer makes it special, and the color I think would be flatteirng on most. Formula irritates me though, and this is probably the 6th or 7th OPI I've reviewed this year with formula problems. Not impressed.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Zoya Marina

My tastes are always evolving as a nail polish addict. Believe it or not, I never wore blue or green nail polish when I first got into nail polish. Now, those are some of my favorite colors. I also notice that colors in past seasonal collection that did do anything for me at the time, I'm drawn to later on. This is why I love Zoya's BOGO sales, because it allows me to pick up some shades I neglected in the past. This is when I picked up Marina that was from the fall 2011 collection.

Marina
Marina is a smokey blue-grey metallic shimmer.

Color: This color takes on the more muted and softer fall-type color trend. I always tend to go for more of the richer and vampy shades for fall, but the touch of steely blue in this is great. The color is soft, shimmery, yet subdued---a likable combination in my opinion. 

Formula: The formula on this was easy to apply. The issue with the formula really falls with this metallic shimmer. You can definitely see some brushstrokes in this, and being "Imperfectly Painted", you can see my flaws in application near the cuticle. I've been caught! Most polishes level out, so you don't see my mistakes! This one, they will show.

Price: $8.00 on Zoya's website

Overall: I love this color, it's not a typical color I'd wear, but that's why I'm drawn to it. The brushstroke thing is a minimal issue to me, it does detract from it being a perfect polish, but in real life the strokes are barely noticeable. All around nice color for fall!

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Paint Splatters
Happy Thursday! 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Way-Cool Mani Wednesday: Queen of Hearts

One of my favorite stories of all time is Alice in Wonderland. Actually to be more specific, I prefer the sequel ,Through the Looking Glass. My all time favorite film version of Alice in Wonderland is the 1985 TV version. I wasn't born until 1986, but I know they aired this on occasion afterwards. The Jabberwock scared the living daylights out of me, but the rest of the film is amazing.

If you haven't seen this version of Alice, you need to. The songs are so fun, memorable, and will stuck in your head for ages. I decided to the a mani inspired by the Queen of Hearts dress in that film, using red, gold, and black.


Polishes Used:

Cult Nails Evil Queen, Feedback, and Nevermore

Manicure Description: Painted all fingers except my ring finger with Evil Queen. I layered Feedback over Evil queen on my middle finger, and painted my ring finger with Nevermore topped with Feedback.

This is great color combination! These colors look very elegant and rich together. I love these nails.

Comment below if you've seen the 1985 Alice in Wonderland film! I want to know who else loves it! 

Happy Wednesday!