Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless

Please enjoy the following press release from Illamasqua!  I have Kink and Vice here and love the rubber finish... I think I'm going to have to get a bottle of Faux Pas on my next Sephora trip!

llamasqua invites you to indulge in darker, bolder nail colors this holiday season.

Dare to be noticed with the new Theatre of the Nameless Nail Varnish Collection inspired by the sensuality of Wittenberg Platz’s domineering Boot Girls.

Illamasqua’s AW11 Nail Varnishes are rich and mysterious, with a unique rubbery finish, unlike any other varnish.

Hardwearing and chip-resistant, you only need one coat until you’re ready to try your next favorite in the collection.

Taint (stone brown)

Kink (bottle green)

Vice (deep cerise)

 Faux Pas (blue violet)

All Illamasqua Nail Varnishes can be purchased at Sephora or Sephora.com for $14.

Sally Hansen Holiday Prints

Hello friends!  I'm back from a small vacation to Florida for Thanksgiving... got to meet my boyfriend's family and spend some time on the beach.  Now that I'm back, I'm hoping to get back on the ball.  Let's start off with a great press release from Sally Hansen!

SALLY HANSEN INTRODUCES A NEW TWIST ON TRADITION

WITH HOLIDAY EDITIONS OF SALON EFFECTS REAL NAIL POLISH STRIPS

THINK: Festive, fast, no-fuss nail color.

WHAT THEY ARE: Limited-edition holiday prints of Sally Hansen’s hit, Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. When Sally Hansen first introduced its peel-and-apply nail polish strips, the manicure breakthrough took the world by storm. Now Sally Hansen introduces trendsetting prints exclusively for the holidays, putting the spirit of the season at your fingertips. Like all the prints in the Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips collection, the five festive prints let you peel, apply, file, and go, delivering a real-polish manicure without mess or stress. Whether you’re playing Santa and stuffing a stocking or heading to the party of the moment, these seasonal strips are the ultimate accessory.

The new prints include Plaid About You (red and black plaid), Peppermint Twist (red and white candy stripe), Snow Bunny (white with red snowflakes), Prep’s Cool (black and silver argyle), and Winter Funderland (black, silver and blue glitter).

Each Salon Effect Real Nail Polish Strips kit includes 16 nail polish strips, a cuticle stick, mini file/ buffer and instructions for easy at-home application. When you’re ready to change your nail strips, simply swipe nails with your favorite Sally Hansen polish remover for an instantly clean slate.

WHAT IT COSTS: $9.99

WHERE TO FIND THEM: Sally Hansen products are available at chain drug stores, food stores and mass merchandisers nationally.

Color Club Perfect Mol-ten

Just two more in the Foiled collection and this is Perfect Mol-ten, a green metallic foil.  It's a bit of a cross between a mint and a forest green.  Formula was very good.


I used a base of Zoya Get Even, and 1 coat of polish.  I did not use a top coat.

In the sun, you can see the reflective surface of this polish - great for stamping in Konad so I've heard.

In the shade, you can see the color a bit better... I think this could be a great Christmas color.

Finally a slightly blurry indoors photo with the flash.  Not my favorite but not a bad color.


Have a great Thanksgiving week to all my American friends!

Color Club is located on several etailers, including Head2Toe Beauty which has it for $3.00.  You can also Like them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Color Club Hot Like Lava

I don't know why, but this Color Club color Hot Like Lava keeps making me think of the Maroon 5 song "Moves Like Jagger."  I don't get it.  If the song is now stuck in your head, I'm sorry!  Hot Like Lava is a red metallic foil from the Foiled collection.  I originally hated this - thinking it was too much like the rest of the metallics out there.


I used a base coast of Zoya Get Even for my ridges, and just 1 coat of Hot Like Lava.  I did not use a top coat.  This polish was a little on the thick side but I used as thin of a coat as I could and it was completely opaque.

Okay, so this color is a lot more pink than I originally though - and surprisingly, I really like it!  It just pops on the nail, and I enjoyed wearing it.

I felt like I had mild lobster hands in the shade but still - look how smooth the formula is on my nails!

Finally indoors with the flash - hot color.  LIKE LAVA.  *ahem*


If you had to get a color from this collection, I'd say get this one.  I'm a big fan.

Color Club is located on several etailers, including Head2Toe Beauty which has it for $3.00.  You can also Like them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Ozotic Pro 506

Nom nom nom, I love this color.  Ozotic Pro 506 is multi-chromatic pearl finished polish.  Like my review on 528, I have the older bottle brought to me from Australia by Kimmi at The Plastic Diaries.  Also like 528, this polish has the same purple/blue/green color to it, but also has some red and gold in it (promise!)

I used a base of nubar Noir, 2 coats of 506 and a top of Seche Vite.  I wore this color to a family reunion and got a ton of compliments, even some from the ladies of the San Antonio Del Sol store.  :] (Hi ladies!)

The sun puts this color in a hard blue light, but that's okay because it's still a pretty blue.  However in the shade...

Oh yes.

Nom!  See that purple and blue shift?


Then I decided to get some indirect light.

More purple!

I love the color shift so much on this polish.

Extreme hand holding!  But now you can see that gold and red that I talked about above.  It's there!

Finally indoors with the flash put more of a turquoise spin on it, like in the sun.  Lovely color.  The formula is super smooth and you can probably get away with just one coat instead of two.  I layered this color on its own for my nail stick but it took many many many many coats and it never got to be opaque - this is definitely a layering polish.

You can purchase piCture pOlish and Ozotic from piCture pOlish's website directly, but know that it's coming from Australia, so your shipping will be a bit more expensive than you're probably used to.  You can also like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. The cost is $14 for the 15 mL bottle.

For the USA crowd, there are two US distributors Llarowe and Overall Beauty.   Llarowe has the new bottles for $17.50 and Overall Beauty has the new bottles for $18.00.  Both offer free shipping for orders over $50.00.

Guest Posting: Amy's Nails!

Please go check me out at Amy's Nails today!  I'm modeling a purple franken that Amy created for me named Krystal.

Amy's also having her 50 Follower Giveaway here.


You can also like her on Facebook.  :]

Zombies!

Forget vampires (for a moment), and let's talk about zombies.  Walking Dead is one of my much-catch shows (despite some of the acting and hilarious memes being created due to the show's awkwardness from time to time) and while I've never done it, I love the Zombie Walk that several cities participate in (San Diego, Austin).


While in college, I worked for my campus newspaper, and our editorial cartoonist was a man named Jeremy Martinez who has decided to continue his artistic abilities beyond the pages of our newspaper.


This past Halloween, he was offering zombie caricatures for $10 digital or $25 for digital and a 11" x 14" print.  (FYI: He's still doing this!)


I told him to basically have free reign on it - I preferred purples and didn't want any cleavage bearing (conversation zombie?) and gave him a few pictures to reference.


So here I am in my zombified glory!

Love it.  Jeremy, thumbs up.  Thanks!


Jeremy's website is My Talking Head and you can also like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.    He has another website at Jeremy the Artist which has its own Facebook and Twitter.  All his Zombie creatures can be found on Zombeez Galore (no affiliation with Polish Galore but it's hilarious).  And finally, Jeremy has started creating comics related to the We The People 99 movement (which also has a Facebook page).

NOTD: 17 November 2011

Okay, so this was really 8 November 2011, but whatever.  I was looking for a way to wear my Sephora by OPI Be-Claus I Said So which is a red glitter in a clear base, so I decided to put it with OPI Wocka Wocka! from the Muppets collection.  I forgot to take bottle pictures, but I'll be individually reviewing each shade and will link those reviews to this post at a later date.


I used a base of OPI Natural Nail, 1 coat of Wocka Wocka!, 1 coat of Be-Claus I Said So and a top of Seche Vite.

Full on sun does this no justice.  It looks lumpy and kind of weird.

Shade is so much better!  I love the large and small red glitter reflecting over the red base.  I couldn't stop staring at my nails for 2 days straight.

Indirect sun and again you can see how the larger glitter is reflected weird - almost like strawberry seeds or something.

The indoors with the flash makes the polish look harsh again, but I really really love this combination.  I'm debating on wearing this for my next pedicure or just going my normal China Glaze Ruby Pumps...

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Miranda Kerr: Get The Look

Please enjoy the following press release from Y! Public Relations!

Last night's 4th Annual Film Benefit at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC brought out A-listers such as Blake Lively, Emma Stone and Olivia, Wilde, however, no one looked quite as radiant as Victoria's Secret super model Miranda Kerr.  Miranda's look was created by makeup artist Rose-Marie Swift and is the perfect combination of classy and modern …

Here are Rose-Marie's tips & tricks for recreating the look: 

Step 1: Start with a luminous base - Rose–Marie combined her RMS Beauty "Un" Cover-Up with a touch of the RMS Living Luminizer to create a flawless glow.

Step 2: Eyes - Rose–Marie used the RMS Cream Eye Shadow in Lunar over the whole lid and highlighted the corner of Miranda's eye (right at the water line by the tear ducts) with luminizer.  She curled her lashes and added a touch of mascara.  Finally, Rose-Marie darkened the brows to make them really stand out.  

Step 3: Lips & Cheeks -  Rose-Marie used the newly reformulated RMS Lip2Cheek in Rapture on both Miranda's lips and a touch over the apple of her cheeks.  

Step 4: Final bit of glow – To complete the look, Rose-Marie added a touch of luminizer over Miranda's color bones and shoulders to attract the light and create the illusion that her skin was glowing.  

China Glaze Snow Globe

China Glaze Snow Globe is a repromote glitter from the Specialty Collection (also called Glitters & Cremes) that came out in 2009.  It's been featured in the Winter 2011 Let It Snow collection.  This has a mix of different colored and different hexagonal sized iridescent glitter pieces.


I used my previous Noir manicure (thank you nubar!) and just added one coat of Snow Globe.  As you can see, I'm back to cloudy days.  I topped the manicure with Seche Vite.

One coat just isn't really enough - the glitter didn't really spread like I'd want it to.

Indoors with the flash pretty much swallows up all the glitter.

I decided to add a coat of ManGlaze #Matte Astrophe to see if it would bring out the glitter more and can we say mission accomplished?  I think this is my favorite view of this glitter.

China Glaze can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty, Sally's Beauty Supply as well as TransDesign.  You can like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

nubar Noir

When I first met Noubar Abrahamian, founder of nubar, while at Cosmoprof 2011, my first words were "Hi, I'm Krystal and I've actually never tried your polish before."  Facepalm.  Not the best introduction I've ever done.  I had Katie Cazorla standing next to me and she looked at me and cracked up.  Mr. Abrahamian is a very firm but soft-spoken man and he just turned and started filling a bag up with his polishes and smiled at me.  I think my face was about 10 shades of red.


One of the colors he put in my back was Noir, "one of our basics".  Noir is a basic black that dries to a bit of a rubbery finish.  I'm calling it "plastic" because it looked a lot like the ORLY Plastix collection to me.


For a simple black manicure, I used a base coat of Zoya Get Even and 2 coats of polish.  When I'm layering something on top of Noir, I just use one coat.

Unfortunately, I have nothing but clouds right now.  I'm not sure if you can fully see the plastic type finish (or rubbery) but it's not as shiny as when you'd add a top coat.

I should have held a different bottle to show where my nails end, but as you can see this is a very opaque color.  It's a great black for me since I ran out of my CND Blackjack and haven't made a purchase yet.  I use it for pretty much every layering I do.


nubar can be purchased on their website for about $7.50 a bottle in the US.  They do have international retailers in Russia, Sweden and the UK.  You can like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter although their Twitter has been a bit bare lately.


Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

CND High Voltage Hands

More Spring 2012 coming your way!  Please enjoy the following press release from CND!

High Voltage Hands

CND Rings in 15 Years of Fashion with Spring 2012 Runway Nail Trends

15 years ago, CND pioneered the concept of manicures as runway accessories at New York Fashion Week. This season, CND worked with 21 designers including 3.1 Phillip Lim, Monique Lhuillier and Altuzarra.

"For Spring 2012, manicures are no holds barred - take your nails to the edge with rock star psychedelic designs, sci-fi illuminated finishes, and retro mod brights," says CND founder, Jan Arnold.

NEW ROCK N' ROLL

From the opening power-chord to the throb of the bass, sport outlaw glamour and pure adrenaline-blasted nails. Glam rock mani attitude bursts with sharp shapes, color, expression and creativity! Rihanna meets Grace Jones with manicures in hyper-sensory brights and dazzling sparkle to match hi-tech fabrics in spandex, polyurethane, stretch canvas and metal organza. Get the "Mic Check Mani," as seen at Nicole Miller, with a checkered pattern of CND Colours in Raspberry Parfait and Inkwell. Slick Ice Blue Shimmer Effect over the entire nail for an iridescent finish. Rock a poisonously bright ombré, like the"Lethal Love" nails from Jen Kao, by using CND Colours in Inkwell and Anchor Blue. To achieve the fierce medium to long almond shaped nails seen at many shows on the runway, try CND Liquid & Powder or Brisa™ Gel enhancements.

ORGANI-TECH

Like the sci-fi classic, "The Twilight Zone," this season's manicure is more than immediately meets the eye. Paired with metallic weaves, opalescent chiffon, pleated muslin and paper-light poplin fabrics, seemingly natural nails are infused with radioactive texture in wrinkled cellophane, lattice airbrushing, holograms or transparent glass shards. This other worldly dichotomy takes a neutral or nude backdrop and illuminates with embellishment, like the "Lucite Lace" manicure from Joy Cioci, which was created by air brushing white lattice designs on a clear tip. At Wayne, white nails were feathered with bold CND Colour in Blackjack brushstrokes to shape "Birds of Prey" inspired manicures.

MOD SQUAD   

The swingin' sixties are back! Grab your plaid cropped jacket, tweed pencil skirt and a potent daytime martini to go with retro bright nails in offbeat orange, yellow and persimmon. Recreate the bold and daring "Orange Crush Mani" from Milly with saturated CND Colour in Electric Orange, or opt for a "Murky Mustard" look from Karen Walker by mixing CND Colour in Bicycle Yellow with seven drops of Blackjack. For true power nails, try fiery coral CND Colour in Poppyfield, as seen at Wes Gordon.

CND Colour retails for $9.00 per bottle, Effects retail for $11.00 per bottle, and Base and Top Coats retail for $8.50 each. For CND Colour & Effects e-tailers or regional salon and spa availability, please visit cnd.com.

To read Jan Arnold's daily backstage blog, visit  http://cndfashionweek.com/Spring2012 and check out CND's Fashion Week Tumblr at  http://cndfashion.tumblr.com/ .  

Cult Nails Unicorn Puke

Cult Nails set up a polish frenzy with Unicorn Puke, a purple blue based multi-colored flakie.  I first got to see this at Cosmoprof when I met with Maria, owner of Cult Nails, but now it's finally mine.  Maria had a pre-sale of 250 bottles of Unicorn Puke, maximum of 2 bottles per customer, so I bought my two.


Please don't go searching for this on eBay unless you want to pay for the Unicorn Puke sticker on the bottom and gold writing on the bottle.  This color has been renamed "Clairvoyant" and will be available in the 2011 Winter "Super Powers" collection which was available for pre-sale last week.  If you'd like to read about the eBay situation, please visit Maria's blog posting here.


Back to this baby.  I decided to layer it 2 coats of it over nubar Noir and top it with Seche Vite.  Before I show you that, here is what it looks like on my nail stick.

On the left is several coats of Unicorn Puke by itself.  As you can see, it has a purple blue base.  On the right is 2 coats over the nubar noir.

LOOK AT THE FLAKIES.  I finally realized what flakies remind me of... fish food!  I love it.  Look at the colors - red and gold and green and purple and blue.  Unicorn Puke!


If you're wondering about the name, it's a bit of a play on Unicorn Pee, also known as Clarins 230.  It's a multi-colored polish that normally sells for around $70 on eBay.  Here is Chloe's Nails' blog posting on the pee itself.  (That was a fun sentence to write.)  Maria originally wanted to make something similar to Clarins 230 but with flakies instead of shimmer, so this is how it came about!

This beautiful girl doesn't like to photograph.  I wore this for several days and this is after day 3, so sorry for the tipwear.

My shade picture is one of the few where you can really see what's going on.  Lots of color, lots of fun.  Almost reminds me a bit of a graffiti wall as well!

Indoors with the flash doesn't do it much justice either.  Again if you missed out on the Unicorn Puke sale, please note that this same formula, color and everything is being renamed Clairvoyant and will be available this winter!


Cult Nails is available in their shop for $12 a bottle.  You can like Cult Nails on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.  Once they reach 5,000 Likes on Facebook, Maria will be offering all polishes for only $5!