Guest Post for Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll - Sonoma Nail Art Sincerest Pumpkin Patch

Check out my guest post over at Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll. It's Sonoma Nail Art Sincerest Pumpkin Patch!

Illamasqua Venous and NailVenturous Lacquer Rainbow Fish

Sorry for not posting a lot lately. I spent nearly 3 weeks cleaning my house before my BFF, Oriana, came over from NY for a visit. She was here for 10 days and we went to Wales. Here's some of my favorite pictures from there!

Sunset in Llandudno on May 22nd.

Street in Caernarfon 

Conwy Castle 

Church in Betws-y-Coed 

Sunset on Lake Bala on May 25th.

I took a LOT of pictures. It was really hard to pick out just a few to show here!

Anyway, on to the mani! This is Illamasqua Venous with NailVenturous Lacquer Rainbow Fish. Here's a sorta blurry picture of Venous with Flash. The following night I put on Rainbow Fish and I LOVE it!

with flash.

Illamasqua can be purchased at their site or at Sephora in the states. NVL can't be purchased any more except in some auctions and groups on Facebook.

Lupus Awareness Day - Illamasqua Seance

Today we're wearing purple for Lupus Awareness Day. Lupus is an auto-immune disease that affects 6 million people worldwide. 9/10 of of people affected are women. Here is a document with some facts that my friend, Michelle, wrote up. It's really informative and it's well worth a read!

I have my newest purple polish, Illamasqua Seance. It's a pretty berry type purple that has a silver shimmer. It actually glows under a UV light but I don't have a UV light, so I can't demonstrate that effect for you!

My friend, Laurie (who is obsessed with suede mattes!) from Dressed Up Digits, thought this would look really good as a matte. It's semi-matte without a top coat, so I just added a thin layer of Seance over my existing mani and also added a matte top coat over another nail.

in the sun.

No top coat on pointer.

Matte top coat on middle.

Regular top coat on ring.

with flash.

I really love this. I couldn't quite capture the color of this, it's more pink than this but I love it anyway. This can currently be purchased at the Illamasqua site and at a few other places in the UK. Hopefully it will be available soon at Sephora in the US.

Tiffany Blue Comparison

For a long time, I was obsessed for finding a dupe for Chanel Nouvelle Vague because I didn't think I'd ever get my hands on it since it sells for crazy prices on ebay. The closest dupe I have is Mavala Lagoon but the color is kinda murky and I wasn't too impressed by it but accepted it as I wasn't paying the price for NV. Then, as if by magic, I received NV in the mail as a birthday present from an amazing group of friends. I won't list them all but they know who they are! I was shocked and amazed and overwhelmed and I love it long time. I wore it as my birthday mani (March 15th) and I put it on my toes for a while and it was everything I wanted it to be. But I kept wanting to do a comparison. I got H&M Norwegian Sky from Ashley as Smashley Sparkles as a belated birthday present and my friend, Marissa, sent me Julie G Shark's Cove as well and I knew it was time for the comparison! Here are the polishes I used:

Illamasqua Nudge, Chanel Nouvelle Vague, Mavala Lagoon,

Julie G Shark's Cove and H&M Norwegian Sky

And here is the comparison (sorry for the sloppy swatches!):

Thumb - Illamasqua Nudge

Pointer - Chanel Nouvelle Vague

Middle - Mavala Lagoon

Ring - Julie G Shark's Cove

Pinky - H&M Norwegian Sky

In my Julie G Shark's Cove post from yesterday, I said

that it was comparable to NV. I think the color is comparable

but obviously the shimmer sets it apart from each other.

Nudge and Norwegian Sky are too pastel to be similar to NV.  Lagoon is probably the closest but it's just that tiny bit different but at £3.50 it's worth it if you want something to satisfy that NV itch and can't afford to pay £75 for it on ebay. Shark's Cove is just beautiful, so if you have any of the others, you still need it.

Autism Awareness Day for Ethan

Today (and the whole month of April) is Autism Awareness Day. There's a lot that can be said about autism but for me, it's all about my nephew, Ethan. Ethan is 8 years old and is the most loving, adorable kid. He's  been attending the Center for Spectrum Services in Kingston, NY since he was 3, where he's learning all the things that other kids take for granted. He loves Thomas the Tank, Pixar movies, carrying around books, and his favorite food is potato chips and french fries. He loves giving hugs and kisses and this was the thing that made me think that he didn't have autism. I was mistakenly under the impression that all kids with autism didn't like to be touched but there are many different types on the spectrum.  For more information and to help by making a donation, check out the website Light It Up Blue (and their Facebook page).

This is Illamasqua Fern (named after an employee that worked for Illamasqua when the polish was released) and it's the most amazing blue I own. I love love LOVE it! The puzzle piece pendant I purchased from Ethan's school when I visited in November. The Puzzle Piece symbol reflects the mystery and complexity of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Also, since every puzzle piece is different in some way, a puzzle piece accurately represents the diversity of the individuals affected. Please take a few minutes to watch this video that my mom made a few years ago. I can't get it to post here and it's not available on YouTube.

With all my heart.
(image source)

Illasmasqa Noble and Serenity Comparison + Glitter Gradient

Sorry for such a long absence again. I'm really not sure what happened. I've been taking pictures of my manicures but I haven't posted anything for various reasons. Sometimes it's because I don't like the way the pictures came out or because I just didn't like the mani.

Today I have for you a comparison post. Firstly because when I saw these two bottles next to each other (in the first picture) I couldn't believe how similar they were and I knew I'd have to do a comparison post. Secondly because comparison posts have been my most viewed posts, so I know everyone likes them. Here's the picture that started it all.

 Noble, Serenity, Nurture, Aorta, Prosperity and Cameo

I was really surprised with how similar they looked. Especially since they came out within a few weeks of each other. Noble is a creme finish and Serenity is a rubber finish, so I guess you can say that it's okay to have both but equally, if you have one but not the other, then it's not a huge deal. Here are the comparisons. I apologize for the crappy cuticles. No top coat in any of the first 4 pictures.

Serenity on pointer and ring fingers.

Noble on middle and pinky fingers.

With flash.

 Serenity on pointer and ring fingers.

Noble on middle and pinky fingers.

Under fluorescent light, no flash.

Serenity on pointer and ring fingers.

Noble on middle and pinky fingers.

In sun, with flash, I believe.

 

Serenity on pointer and ring fingers.

Noble on middle and pinky fingers.

In sun, no flash.

I really do like both these colors. As you can see, there's a very slight difference between the two. With top coat, they were even more similar, in my opinion. Here are some pictures with top coat but also with glitter gradient tips with Nails Inc Rainbow Street.

I'm not too happy that Illamasqua put two such similar colors out within a really close time. I realize that they're different finishes but it seems a bit pointless to me. The only reason I actually got Serenity is because it was about to get it for $9.90 instead of the usual $14 (at Sephora) or the very high price of £13.50 at Illamasqua here in the UK. What's your opinion?

Illamasqua Nomad and Whimsical Ideas by Pam I ♥ NY

Today I have for you Illamasqua Nomad with Whimsical Ideas by Pam I ♥ NY. My good friend, Ana, sent me I ♥ NY as a Christmas surprise. I was so excited and I love it so much. Thank you! Before I went to NY I actually painted my toenails with Nomad and as soon as I put it on, I thought it was a typical Statue of Liberty color and it would look great with I ♥ NY (at this point, it was on my wishlist and I was thinking about getting it eventually). So, as soon as I got it, I couldn't wait to get back to the UK and put it over Nomad!

Overall, I love this color combination. I did have a few issues with application. Nomad was kind of streaky and very unusual for an Illamasqua polish. It seems a bit thick and I don't know if that's how the formula is or if it was open for a while before I got it. Sometimes that happens and leaves the polish thick and gloopy. I ♥ NY was okay to apply but I had to fish around for the hearts, which I guess is typical for a polish like this. The hearts aren't that plentiful so I wasn't too surprised that I had to fish around for them.

Illamasqua can be purchased at Sephora or from Illamasqua. For information on how to order Whimsical Ideas by Pam, go to her Facebook page.

Illamasqua Cameo and Cirque Galinda

Welcome to my first post of 2013! I'm really sorry it's taken so long to get another post up but after 7 weeks in New York with my family, I was upset to leave and come back to the UK. On top of that, I was really sick starting at Christmas which turned out to be viral laryngitis and a double ear infection. Such fun.

On to the polish! Today I have for you Illamasqua Cameo with a few coats of Cirque Galinda over the top. I  had really high hopes for this but it hasn't turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I got Cameo when I was in NY and I used it there and the whole time I was wearing it I though "this NEEDS a white glitter, it'd look so amazing, just like a cameo!" So I asked my cousin, Gaby, who was my Secret Santa, to get me Cirque Galinda because I'd been eyeing it up for a while. These are both such beautiful polishes but I think because Galinda has a slightly milky base, it's toned down Cameo a bit and therefore it's not as vibrant. And also, Galinda's glitters are a stand out white. I'm not sure that makes sense but here's some pictures and you can decide for yourself!

This is two coats of Cameo, which is just as amazing as all Illamasqua polishes! When I added Galinda over it, I first did a really thin coat on my index finger because I wasn't sure how much glitter would be on the brush. The answer was: hardly anything at all. So, for my middle finger I loaded the brush up with glitter and that was WAY too much (as seen in the pictures) so I settled for a happy medium of having to apply 2 or 3 coats of the glitter so that it wasn't way too much. It might sound like I don't like Galinda but that's just the way I've worded this. I LOVE it. I think it's really pretty but I think it would be better with a darker color and I think it'd be fabulous as a gradient but my nails weren't quite long enough for that right now. I'll definitely be trying a gradient out when my nails are longer!

Illamasqua, as always, can be purchased at Sephora and Illamasqua's own site. Cirque can be purchased from their site here. And here's Illamasqua's and Cirque's Facebook pages!

Stairway to Heaven vs Ascension

Today I have my first ever comparison post for you! Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven and Ninja Polish Ascension. When I got Stairway to Heaven I wanted to love it. It looked gorgeous in the bottle and the swatches I'd seen looked amazing. I put it on and I wasn't very impressed but I was in a hurry when I applied it, so I thought that was the reason. I tried it again a little while later and I still wasn't too impressed. It was really hard to work with (the glitter wouldn't lay where I wanted it to or it wouldn't spread evenly) and it had to have several coats because of not spreading evenly and since there were so many coats, it starting to become gloopy and looked horrible. Also, it looked cloudy because of the white base. I put it away and didn't really think about it again. Then I was asked by Ninja Polish if I could do a comparison post for their new polish called Ascension. They look really similar but I saw straight away that it was in a clear base instead of the milky base and I got all excited. I applied them both over Illamasqua Boosh and I fell in love with Ascension. It's everything I wanted Stairway to Heaven to be and more! Really easy to apply and build up. It spreads evenly and there are zero problems with application. Ascension was created to be a dupe for Stairway to Heaven, so it's no wonder that it's almost exactly the same. On with the pictures!

 *click to enlarge!*

 

Ascension on Index and Ring fingers
Stairway to Heaven on Middle and Pinky fingers

The colors of the glitter aren't exactly the same but I actually prefer the colors of Ascension to Stairway to Heaven. I don't really like the milky base of Stairway to Heaven, so I LOVE that Ascension is in a clear base. It makes it so much prettier. I had to actually add a lot of polish thinner to Stairway to Heaven before I could use it for this mani. It was so thick that it wasn't even moving around in the bottle and was sort of sitting in the bottle like jelly. The milky/cloudy look of Stairway to Heaven might be different on a different base but black shows off the colors so much better. In this comparison Ascension wins, hands down. I love it and I can't wait to try it over some different base colors! It can be purchased here at Ninja Polish and don't forget to like their Facebook page as they always update there when they're going to be stocking their hard to get polishes (such as all the varieties of Floam).

*Ascension was sent as a PR sample to be compared to Stairway to Heaven.

Happy Halloween!!!

Today's mani is all from Illamasqua polishes! I LOVE Illamasqua. I've never been disappointed with any of their polishes. Today I have for you Insanity (orange and discontinued) and Creator (yes, again) over Boosh (black 1 coat creme) and polka dots because I couldn't think of anything else to do!

*click to enlarge!*

I had to take pictures with a flash because it was VERY dull again today. I do love the color combination of orange and black, even if it is over done at Halloween.

And here are some pumpkins that my husband carved last night. He doesn't like Halloween at all (being a crabby British man) but he does love carving pumpkins.

I hope you have a great Halloween! Please link me your Halloween mani!