Dior Lagoon

Today I have for you Dior Lagoon, which is a beautiful blue jelly! I think this is pretty HTF in the USA but you can still get it here in the UK on some sites. It's an amazing application (like almost all Dior) and has a beautiful glossy finish, even without topcoat (although I have applied topcoat here). I do have some tip wear but that's probably down to my impatience and not waiting until it's fully dried. Onto the pictures!

 

LOVE! The funny this about Dior (and Chanel and any other expensive polish) is that for a long time, you tell yourself that you're not going to buy those polishes because they're so much money. But once you start buying them, you look at prices and think "Actually that's not too bad of a price for that!" And then you realize you've gone a little bit crazy. But a lot of these polishes are totally worth it. If you see a polish that is LE but expensive that you LOVE, just get it. Otherwise, you're looking at ebay, where they are $70 and kicking yourself for not getting it when you could. Saying that, there are some amazing prices on ebay as well, so check that out too! Rant over.

Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day Mash Up

I was trying to figure out if I actually wanted to do a Valentine's Day manicure since I don't really give one little crap about Valentine's Day. I tried to make some hearts with a dotting tool and I just couldn't do it so I opted out of a Valentine's mani. Then I was looking at some ideas for a Mardi Gras mani, trying to figure out if I would be any good at doing some beads with a dotting tool. I decided it wasn't really something I wanted to do and be annoyed with because it wasn't coming out how I wanted it to. So, even though I'd just done gradient glitter tips, I decided that I was going to do them again with China Glaze Glitter All the Way (which I added specifically to my wishlist, and was gifted over Christmas, just so I could use it for Mardi Gras!) with Dior New World Purple (which I ALWAYS call New World Chocolate in my head because, ya know, it looks nothing like purple) because that's what I was wearing and didn't feel like taking it off because it's beautiful. While I know little to nothing about Mardi Gras, I don't there's any brown colors associated with it but it does make a great base with Glitter All the Way. So how many polishes does it take to create a Mardi Gras/Valentine's Day mani?

The answer is 5.

Sinful Colors Let's Talk and San Francisco, butter London The Full Monty,

Dior New World Purple and China Glaze Glitter All the Way.

My cuticles look horrible again. And my hearts are not that great at all. And there's shrinkage from all the top coat I had to apply to get the glitter smooth. And the blue heart? That's actually a royal purple. But you get the idea.

These two taken in really dull light, next to the window.

With flash.

I actually really like how this came out despite the fact that it's not anywhere near perfect. Happy Mardi Gras (from a Northerner and current UK resident!) and Happy Valentine's Day (even though I don't really like it haha). Do you have any plans for either day? And please post your MG and VD manis in the comments!

My Most Expensive and Least Expensive Polishes.

For this group collaboration we're featuring our most expensive and least expensive polishes. I knew right away what my most expensive polish was. That was Dior Shadow that I purchased from my friend, Bénédicte, over at I'm Anaa. She lives in France and was able to get it for a few of us when it first came out there in February or March instead of having to wait until July in the states (some ladies might have waited until July but there was no sign/news from Dior as to when or if it'd be available in the states). Not sure if even came out here in the UK or not. On to the pictures!

*click to enlarge!*

Not sure what's going on with my ring finger. Oops.

For my cheapest polish, I went for Sinful Colors (as I think most people will since they have a fantastic formula and a HUGE range of colors). But then I remembered Pure Ice Heart Breaker. And then I thought I'd use both because I'm a cheater like that! :) So here is Sinful Colors Amethyst and Pure Ice Heart Breaker. I had a really hard time with this. I think it was the top coat. Almost all my nails had bubbles on them and looked absolutely horrible. I only got one good picture and I HAD to take it off ASAP because I just couldn't stand the bubbles. I used the NYC Grand Central Station top coat and I've heard wonderful things about it but it was nice the first couple of times I used it but I'm not sure I'll use it again. It's back to Seche Vite for me because that's what I have at the moment! 

Dior Shadow was a LE polish, I really don't think you can get it anywhere online anymore unless you want to pay a crazy price on ebay. Sinful Colors can be purchased at a few different drug stores in the US for anywhere between $.99-1.99 (or $6 on Copius, if you're dumb). I know you can definitely get Pure Ice (for $1.97) at WalMart in the states, I'm really not sure where else you can get it though.

Dior Purple Mix and Sonoma Sunset

Today I have for you Dior Purple Mix and Sonoma Nail Art Sonoma Sunset. Purple Mix was a little bit darker than I thought it would be and I wasn't completely happy with the darkness. Not sure if it was just the gloomy weather that made it look so dark or what but instead of taking it off, I decided to put Sonoma Sunset over it! I tried Sonoma Sunset a few weeks ago over Illamasqua Wink (pale purple) and I was not happy with the combo at all. In fact, I took it off before it was even dry (luckily I'd only done 4 fingers). I couldn't quite decide what I didn't like about it but after looking at swatches when I came back from Scotland, I decided that I liked the look of it a lot more over a dark purple then a light purple.

*click to enlarge!*

Overall, I really loved this combo. It's amazing! And I had to show off my pendants because I think they went perfectly with these colors. The heart Gary got for me on Stratford-upon-Avon when we went for my birthday day out. I got the thistle pendant (to replace one that I lost) when we went to Stirling Castle in Scotland a few weeks ago.

My friend, Jacki, over at Adventures in Acetone posted her Sonoma Sunset mani today. Here's what her mani looks like. I love her combo! So much better than a pale purple!

Not sure about the availability of Purple Mix in the states but you can purchase it at Boots in the UK. Sonoma Nail Art is another indie that is difficult to get a hold of and only has occasional restocks on etsy. Go like her Facebook page for updates and here is her etsy shop.

3 Week Long Haul Post.

I have another haul post. I was in Scotland for a week and I haven't felt up to doing a haul post until now. Here's some beautiful polish and a cosmetic bag.

This is a nail polish cosmetic bag!! I thought about this before I went to 

Scotland and found some online. I've never seen anything like this before. 

I think it works okay. I think it might be better if it had a solid bottom and sides. 

The partitions in the middle are removable and are solid enough when they're in the bag 

but they feel really flimsy when you're putting them in the bag and I felt like they were going to rip.

Nails Inc Park Lane, Primrose Hill, Pembroke Close and Endinburgh Gate.

Just noticed all the purple polishes start with P! How weird is that?

Dior Czarina Gold and Purple Mix.

Sonoma Nail Art Sonoma Sunset and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Kiko 397, 235, 300 and 298.

Top Shop Nails Razzmatazz and Ice Crush.

Glitter Gal Light As A Feather and Hits Dreamer

NailVenturous Robin Laid An Egg

The cosmetic bag was purchased at Roo Beauty and were pretty reasonably priced. They do ship internationally but it does cost a lot since they use a courier instead of Royal Mail.

I have been placing a lot of Nails Inc orders lately to help out numerous people on Facebook. They've gone crazy over it! Park Lane and Edingburgh Gate were purchased at QVC when the set was on sale a few weeks ago. I didn't like the other two the came in the set so I've put those aside the sell. Primrose Hill and Pembroke Close came from the Nails Inc site.

I got Dior Czarina Gold from Amazon but they have since sold out. I got Dior Purple Mix from Boots.

I got the Sonoma Nail Art polishes from my friend Ana. For more info on this brand, check out my blog post here.

Kiko is an Italian brand and can be parchased here in the UK. There are a few stores in London that sell them but I don't live near London.

I purchased the Top Shop polishes at my local Top Shop. I don't think they sell the polishes in the smaller stores but I've only ever been in Top Shop twice in the 9 years I've lived here. Don't take me on my word there. They can be purchased online here.

I purchased Glitter Gal and Hits from Llarowe.

My friend Sheila, from Pointless Cafe, sent me the NailVenturous because she loves me and she knows that I've been NEEDING it for ages and ages and kept missing it when the NailVenturous shop opened.

That might be way too much information ;)