Layla Soft Touch in Mudhattan

You may recall my appreciation for the Layla Soft Touch line in my posts here and here. Well, it hasn't wavered with my latest experience with Layla's Soft Touch in Mudhattan; I'm still loving this smooth semi-matte nail finish! Mudhattan is, as you might guess, the colour of mud. More particularly, it's the dusty taupe brown of dried mud. And it's also got the coolest red micro shimmer- seriously, click the pictures to make them bigger and scope it out! 

Very cool. This manages to feel chic and edgy at the same time. I can't recall if I bought this particular bottle through Nail Polish Canada or Ninja Polish, but I can vouch for both of them being fantastic retailers!

Have you tried any of the Layla Soft Touch polishes? If not, have I piqued your interest in them?

OPI Suzi Says Da! + Dandy Nails Grave Robber

I'm ashamed to say that these pictures are from a manicure I wore waaaaay back at the beginning of last November. I guess they just kept getting pushed to the back of my un-posted folder. Nevertheless, you're finally seeing them tonight. Suzi Says Da! is one of the polishes I picked up from the OPI Russian collection (which I'm extremely enamoured with- it's an older collection from Fall 2007, but there are still a few polishes kicking around from it if you look hard enough). This is a deep red-toned brown creme. It reminds me a little of darker Chanel Rouge Noir. From what I recall, the formula was good, and I used two coats for these pictures. 

This one was taken under bright artificial light:

This was also a perfect base colour for Dandy Nails Grave Robber, a combination of metallic orange and steel-blue shredded glitter in a clear base. Very unique, and such a cool colour combination. I applied it as a gradient to the tips of my nails. I really love how this turned out, and it wore for ages. 

I'll also take this opportunity to show you a really cool bracelet I picked up last fall- it's a white "blood vessel" motif cuff that I really loved pairing with the vampy-ness of Suzi Says Da!. I purchased it from Nervous System's Etsy store. I highly recommend checking them out- they make some really amazing and unique items!

What do you think of my accessorizing? Have I piqued your interest in anything I've shown you today?

Enchanted Polish - Vampire's Dessert

Today I have a lovely Enchanted Polish to share with you- this is Vampire's Dessert, a gorgeous deep brown linear holographic polish. I love how this looks like molten dark chocolate, with a bit of velvety red/brown shimmer thrown in just to top it off. The holographic effect in this is apparent indoors, but really lights up in direct sunlight. The formula was perfect, and what you see below is two coats. 

Just looking at this makes me hungry for chocolate cake! Delicious. And it has such an awesome (and fitting!) name. What do you think of Vampire's Dessert?

Gosh Galaxy

I've got a short and sweet post for you today- this is Gosh Galaxy, a sparkly and complex mixture of pewter-y taupe with multicoloured shimmer (including particles of blue and pink and flashes of gold). It has a similar finish to Zoya Fei Fei and other related colours. In fact, it reminds me a little bit of The World Is Not Enough from the OPI Skyfall collection, except more brown in tone. 

What do you think?

F4 S'mores (with Barry M Mushroom)

Brace yourself for a whole 'lotta awesome! I've got another F4 polish to show you today: S'mores! This is one I knew I had to have as soon as I heard about it; the concept is just too delicious to pass up. I figured Barry M Mushroom would make the perfect milk chocolate base for this glitter, so I'll show you Mushroom by itself first. 

And with F4 S'mores overtop- how incredible is this?!

I absolutely love this combo! S'mores is such a perfect mixture of brown, bronze and white glitter. It definitely makes me think of chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows! And I'm really happy with how this looks over Barry M Mushroom, which is a lovely polish in it's own right. What do you think of this combo? Are you as thrilled with it as I am?

Maybelline Color Show Fall 2012

Today I've got three polishes from the Maybelline Color Show Fall collection to show to you! All required about two-three coats for opacity. Price-wise, these are pretty reasonable at $4 to $5 dollars, and some of the shades are fairly unique. 

Left to Right: Auburn Ablaze, Metal Icon, Downtown Brown 

First up I have Downtown Brown; I think this is the most unique of the bunch. It's a chocolate brown base with very strong blue-green shimmer running through it. I haven't seen anything quite like this, and it reminds me of MAC Blue-Brown pigment (or MAC Club eyeshadow, which I've heard others mention in regard to its similarity to this polish).

Whether indoors or outdoors, the teal shimmer is very apparent on the nail. No hidden shimmer here!

Metal Icon is a taupey-silver foil that is very much the kind of shade I typically gravitate towards. I quite like this one, although it had the sheerest formula out of these three- definitely a three-coater.

Auburn Ablaze is a cool brown shade that leans auburn. It has a red shimmer running through it, but it's  quite subtle. I actually wish this leaned more red than brown, but in most lights it looks like a brown/mahogany shade. What you see here is two coats, but it could have used a third to eliminate the sheer patches.

What do you think these new Maybelline Color Show lacquers? Do any of these shades appeal to you?

F4 Mint Chocolate Chip

I've got a tasty polish for you today- F4's Mint Chocolate Chip! A creamy mint base with tiny "chocolate" brown glitters. This was opaque in 2 coats, and application was easy. I really like how this looks on the nail; the glitter distributed nice and evenly. 

The shade name label is on the bottom of the bottle of F4's polishes.

What do you think of this lacquer? Are you a fan of minty colours? Myself, I'm filing this one under "delicious".

This polish is available through F4's Etsy store for $8 and is currently in stock.

Pirate Polish - Halloween Collection!

Today I'm really excited to share the Pirate Polish Halloween Collection with you! I absolutely adore Autumn and all things Halloween, and I think I've captured some of that whimsical excitement with these lacquers- I hope you like them!

Left to Right: Autumn Embers, The Witching Hour, Fangs, Trick or Treat, Zombies! 

The first one I want to introduce you to is The Witching Hour:

The Witching Hour is a magical mixture of metallic purple and turquoise shredded glitter, small magenta glitter, and medium hexagonal navy metallic glitter. The base is clear, and below you can see The Witching Hour layered over a black creme.

Just for fun, I've included some extra photos pairing spooky decorations with the bottles; I thought the purple witch's hat and skull were nice companions to The Witching Hour.

I've dubbed the next lacquer I'm going to show you "Fangs"; it contains a wide array of black, white, and metallic red glitters in various shapes including diamonds, hexagons, bars, and squares.

Most notably, the white diamonds made me think of vampire fangs. Whether you like your vampires to be of the sparkly variety, or, uh, the Eric Northman variety, this lacquer has you covered. ;) Below you can see Fangs layered over a grey creme base.

Next up is Trick or Treat, a classic Halloween mixture of orange and black. This is Halloween in a bottle.

Orange and black glitters in a wide variety of shapes and sizes swim in a clear base. Below you will see Trick or Treat layered over a plain white creme, but I think it would look amazing over a wide variety of other colours (purple, green, etc).

How cute is this next picture of a mouse with sweet treat? He looks pretty satisfied. After all, who wouldn't want a giant sparkly candy corn (not to mention awesome Halloween lacquers)?

I think this next one might be my favourite of the bunch; it makes me think of falling leaves. I've named it Autumn Embers. 

Autumn Embers is a mixture of fine metallic copper, orange holographic, and rich purple-brown glitters, with the addition of medium and large reflective copper hexagonal glitters. Below it is layered over a black creme, although it could be opaque on its own in several coats.

The warm holographic sparkle makes me think of glowing embers. Gorgeous.

The fifth and final Halloween lacquer I have to show you is called "Zombies!".

For a long time I've tried to find the perfect avocado green shade, and I think I've achieved it here. It's not too bright or clean, and leans more yellow than blue. It's just a little bit "dirty" looking. Perfect for a zombie polish! I've also added black glitters in various sizes (including tiny black squares) to the avocado green base. It's just squishy enough that you can see the layers of glitter, but it's still opaque in 2-3 coats.

What could be more appropriate for Halloween than a horde of zombies? 

...it's particularly terrifying for a couple Domos out for a walk in their Halloween costumes!

"OMG! Zombies! Run!"

Uh oh, someone can't keep up. Remember: in the event of a zombie attack, you only have to run faster than the next slowest person.

Unfortunately, this little Domo wasn't fast enough.

Even worse, he was abandoned by his Domo buddy. Tragic!

But of course, if you abandon someone in the zombie apocalypse, they'll probably find you again... as a zombie!

"Braaaains...."

I hope you enjoyed this little zombie/Domo drama. And even more, I hope you enjoyed my Pirate Polish Halloween lacquers!


The Halloween collection will be available tomorrow (Sunday) on the Pirate Polish Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/piratepolish. All full size (15ml) polishes are priced at $10, although these five Halloween lacquers will also be sold as a set for $45. Supplies will be limited until I can determine what the demand for these will be, so if you're interested, get yours early!

You can keep up to date on Pirate Polish releases by following Pirate Polish on Facebook: http://www.etsy.com/shop/piratepolish