Sephora X Ice Princess

Sephora has been my weakness ever since I was a pre-teen. I used to be into makeup a lot more. I honestly purposefully have distanced myself from makeup simply because I know I'd want EVERYTHING. I keep my makeup very simple, that way I can go crazy with nail polish! Sephora used to not carry a lot of nail polish, so it was safer place for me to go. We all know nail polish as blown up in a recent years, so Sephora has let their nail polish offerings blow up. I cautiously went in there recently, and found myself transfixed by all their nail polish displays. So many pretties...so many expensive pretties :(.

I first spotted their new Sephora X line. This line is divided up into categories like classics, sparkles, and so forth. I instantly caught eyes with a really unusual rose gold polish called Ice Princess I just had to have.

Ice Princess

under outdoor light lamp

w/ flash

Ice Princess is a gold-champagne iridescent micro shimmer base with larger rose gold hex glitters mixed in.

I could not describe this well if my life depended on it. The base is so unique, it has this cool iridescent color shifting effect that is indescribable.  The base is sheer, but since it has that cool color shifting sparkly effect your nail underneath is unnoticeable in real life. I used 3 coats in this picture. Ice Princess is part of The Sparklers section of the Sephora X line, and these polishes are described as 3D glitters. I wouldn't call it 3D, but it certainly has an usual effect I have not seen in nail polish before.

This could definitely be layered over a base if you'd like. Last week, I used it as an accent nail and layered it over Zoya Gloria

I read another review on this recently where the blogger had major chipping issues with this polish. I personally did not have any chipping with this polish at all. I wore it for 4 days. I'm not saying that blogger is wrong or that I'm right. I just think chipping issues can be due to so many factors like body chemistry, top coat, or base coat that it's hard to determine the type of wear everyone will experience. I personally used Cult Nails Get it On base coat and Wicked Fast top coat with this polish.

The price of this a little hefty. It was $11.50, but it's Sephora, so I get it. If you're a glitter fan and looking for something really different I think you may want to take a look at Ice Princess!

Happy Thursday!

I ♥ NP- Up To Snow Good

I spotted this I ♥ NP polish on someone's instagram a few weeks back, and had that impulsive reaction of "OMG I NEED!". I'd say it was about 2 minute later I instantly purchased it. I loved the colors this polish had in it, and it would be unique to my collection. So, why not?

Up to Snow Good over China Glaze For Audrey

Up to Snow Good is made up of a variety of translucent, teal, blue, white, aqua, prism, and pearl glitters in  a clear base. (I used I ♥ NP's description of this because I could not describe it this well!)

I love the color of combination of glitters in Up to Snow Good. I think this combination of glitters is unique, light, airy, and is perfect for winter. The bottle of this polish is also amazing. I love the professionalism  of  I ♥ NP. They have cute fancy boxes for the polishes and fast shipping.  Sadly, I had application issues with this polish. The polish itself was the not the problem, it was the brush. The brush in this polish was thick and wide. This is a type of brush regardless of the brand of polish I have issues with. I also find a brush this size hard to apply because my nails are smaller. While I do adore this polish, the application issues I had because of the brush were disappointing. 

Please note that while viewing other blogs about I ♥ NP I did not see any mention of any application issues, therefore this could just be my problem. I see how the wide and thick brush is useful, as it collects a lot of polish/glitter and requires less coats for coverage. I personally just find thicker and wider brushes harder for me to use. The polish itself on the other hand is great, so if wide brushes do not bother you I don't think you will have a problem with this one. 

I purchased this from I ♥ NP's etsy shop for $10.00. 

Happy Tuesday! 

Layla Ceramic Effect Killing Red (CE 53)

I was excited when I spotted Layla Ceramic Effect polishes at Ulta recently. This was the first time I had seen Layla Ceramic Effect polishes in store. I instantly gravitated towards the Christmas in Laylaland display with all the holiday colors. The polishes were unnamed  but did have numbers. This particular color was numbed CE 53. I googled the number, and found out the name is Killing Red from the listing on Ninja Polish.

Killing Red (CE 53)

Killing Red is a cherry red jelly with golden-red flakies.

This is a beautiful red flakie polish. I love jelly flakie polishes, and I wish they were easier to come by! This is also a great holiday color, and I think it would be suitable for year round. The formula on this was nice, and it applied well.

My biggest beef with this polish? The price. These did not have prices on them at Ulta, but I stupidly assumed since it was grouped with the other polishes they'd at most be like $8.50. Nope, these are $9.95. I'm not a fan of spending this much on polish when I'm just casually shopping for a few things at Ulta if you know what I mean. This is a nice polish though.

Happy Tuesday!

Urban Outfitters Mystic & Comparison

I need to go to Urban Outfitters more often...well maybe I shouldn't. I've been going weekly lately, because some of my friends wanted some of their holos. Every week I've gone they have a new polish out that wasn't there the week before. What's even better than that is it's always some awesome polish or some polish that seems very familiar to something more expensive. I spotted this polish the other week, and it reminded me a lot of Deborah Lippmann Ray of Light. Is it a dupe?

Urban Outfitters Mystic 

Mystic is a deep indigo blue that leans slightly blurple jelly with coppery pink flakies.

The flakies in the bottle in person look iridescent, however, on the nail and when photographed the iridescent color flash doesn't not really show. The flakies on most all accounts here will look coppery pink. The formula on this was a bit sheer, but buildable. The photograph makes it look more sheer than it does in real life. This is a great deep jelly shade with gorgeous flakies. 

Let us now see how it compares to DL Ray of Light: (I'll be using UO to reference Urban Outfitters and DL to reference Deborah Lippmann below.)

Index & Ring Finger: UO Mystic

Middle & Pinky Finger: DL Ray of Light

Top: UO Mystic

Bottom: DL Ray of Light

These are not dupes, but they're close. Below I have listed the bullet points of differences and similarities. 

• Base color is different. UO is darker and leans more purple than the DL.
• UO base is sheerer and slightly more jelly than DL
• UO has more visible flakies than DL
• They both have iridescent flakies that appear coppery pink on the nail
• DL formula is better and easier to apply than the UO

If you want something similar to DL Ray of Light, but don't want to pay the DL price I think UO is a good alternative. These are not dupes though, but they are very similar  If you have DL Ray of Light, and you're happy with that I wouldn't say you need UO Mystic unless it appeals to you too. I think if you have the DL already, you will prefer that formula to the UO. 

Happy Monday! 

Share With You Sunday: 12/9/12-12/16/12

As you can see from the list below I saw a lot of amazing things this week!

Posts I'm Loving:
Polished Claws Up! swatches Nails Inc. Bloomsbury Square.
Dressed Up Nails shows us her glittery poinsettia nail art.
Adventures in Acetone shares with us her water-marbled Christmas tree and gifts nails.
A diary of a nail polish addict shows us her Matryoshka Dolls nail art.
Polish All the Nails shares with us her wrapping paper inspired nails.
Globe & Nail shows us her One Ring- Lord of the Rings inspired nail art.
Sweet Sugar shares with us her winter nails.
BeautyGnome shows us her festive ornament nails.
Beauty Broadcast shares with us a video of beauty gift picks for every price range.
purrrpolish swatches Essie Leading Lady.
n@ilbox shares with us her white and gold nails.

Posts You're Loving:
Improbable Nails shows us her first franken polish.
Polished Polyglot shares with us her wintery stamped nails.
10 Blank Canvases shows us her black and gold matte nails.
She Nail*d It shares with us her Nightmare Before Christmas inspired nails.

You can submit your links for Sunday posts here. 

Reader Manis of the Week:

Name: Finished10dnails
Location: Montana
Manicure Description: I used Color Club Antiquated and added stripes with Stripe Rite Black.
Favorite Polishes: Sally Hansen Celeb City and Color Club Cold Metal, but I'm a sucker for any blue polish!

Name: Chris
Location: Midwestern United States
Manicure Description: I applied Zoya Holly on all my fingers and OPI Skip The Gift Wrap as accent nails. To make the tree, I used Revlon Rainforest and Charlotte Russe Gold Rush. The star is OPI Rising Star. The ornaments are Essie Play Date, Illamasqua Aorta, Orly Blue Collar, and Revlon Strawberry Electric.
Favorite Polishes: SOPI Seeing Pink Elephants, OPI A Good Man-darin is Hard to Find, Essie Mojito Madness, OPI Skull and Glossbones
Blog: http://thebubblybrunette.wordpress.com/

I need manis for December and  January! You can find information on how to submit your manicures for Sunday posts here.