The Digit-al Dozen Does Skittles - Day 3 - Lace
- Wednesday, October 16, 2013
- By Missy
- 0 Comments
 | I have something fun today! Not super cool nail art fun - but educational fun! Boo...educational!?! Well....NAIL-acational! If you know me decently enough, you probably know I have an affinity for Matte Top Coats...so today I decided to show you a comparison of all of the ones I currently own! |
Butter London - Matte Finish Top Coat
American Apparel - Matte Top Coat
Hard Candy - Matte-ly In Love
Cult Nails - Wax That Top Coat
NYC - Matte Me Crazy
MASH Nails - Matte
Let's get this Matte Top Coat Comparison underway!
To conclude...
If you want a flat, matte finish, your money is on:
Hard Candy Matte-ly In Love (Discontinued)
And if you want a more satin, semi-matte finish:
I found all of the flat top coats to be pretty much identical, and surprisingly enough, I found the same to be true of the more semi-matte formulas to also be near dupes of each other. At least all close enough that you dont need all 6 of these. But I do!
I knew at some point I was going to need to work in a St. Patty's Mani alongside the Indie Month challenge I'm doing - so this is the one!
Swatch & Review - Shimmer Cristina
- Friday, September 28, 2012
- By Missy
- 5 Comments
Welcome to the last day of Shimmer Week on Gnarly Gnails!
I've saved MY favorite for last.
The lovely Cindy of Shimmer was kind enough to send me a bucketfull of her beautiful polishes to review.
Since I had so many to work with I decided to swatch them a bit differently. Each of the 10 polishes I have to show you this week will be done as 50/50 Manicures so you can see the base vs. over the base, to see how well these cover. I will walk through the review picture by picture. Let's get started.
Cristina:
 |
| Here we are at the last Shimmer of the Week. And it's a Shimmer of the Week alright! My hands down favorite pick of the 10 I have swatched - Cristina! I've got her paired up with a gorgeous polish by Butter London - Bluey! |
 |
| Cristina is described as Deep Forest Green with a hint of Red and Fuchsia Glitter. It really gave me the impression of a green on the verge of teal...so you had to know, amazing... |
 |
| Of course, layering this polish over a teal polish such as Bluey, will really pull the blue from it. The red and pinks and green all compliment each other so perfectly in this polish. |
 |
| This polish, along with the other 9 polishes I tested from Shimmer this week, was perfection to apply. If I could wear these polishes every day, I would! |
 |
| This is one thick coat of Cristina over 2 coats of Bluey. |
 |
| Look at the smoothness of this glitter after top coat! Stunner! |
 |
| Butter London Bluey is a new favorite. I recently got this during a special promo that Coterie had for bloggers to introduce their site before it was launched. Otherwise, I'd have never known the awesomeness of this polish. |
 |
| Can words really even describe the perfection you see before your eyes?! |
So here we are at our very last Shimmer swatching. I feel a certain sadness, but I am leaving you with my favorite today and a special Shimmer feature later today!
As you can tell, Cristina was one I was partial to from the moment I laid eyes on it - but you never know, the bottle to the nail will sometimes leave you disappointed. Obviously, there is not one disappointing thing about a Shimmer polish as I have come to learn.
Basically - you need them all.
For this weeks swatches, I have finished off each manicure with a coat of Gelous and then a standard Quick Dry top coat. Shimmer can be found on Etsy and they retail for $12 per bottle.
Swatch & Review - Shimmer Natalie
- Wednesday, September 26, 2012
- By Missy
- 5 Comments
Welcome to Shimmer Week on Gnarly Gnails!
The lovely Cindy of Shimmer was kind enough to send me a bucketfull of her beautiful polishes to review.
Since I had so many to work with I decided to swatch them a bit differently. Each of the 10 polishes I have to show you this week will be done as 50/50 Manicures so you can see the base vs. over the base, to see how well these cover. I will walk through the review picture by picture. Let's get started.
Natalie:
The lovely Cindy of Shimmer was kind enough to send me a bucketfull of her beautiful polishes to review.
Since I had so many to work with I decided to swatch them a bit differently. Each of the 10 polishes I have to show you this week will be done as 50/50 Manicures so you can see the base vs. over the base, to see how well these cover. I will walk through the review picture by picture. Let's get started.
Natalie:
 |
| Shimmer Natalie is being paired up with Butter London All Hail the Queen. |
 |
| Dusty Blue, Copper and Turquoise Melange glitter is how Cindy of Shimmer describes this polish. Of course there is gold, silver and holo glitter at the LEAST included in this! |
 |
| I really love how these two polishes played off one anothers strengths. |
 |
| Natalie was very easy to apply, which as we know, is no surprise with the Shimmer brand. |
 |
| This is one heavy coat of Natalie over 2 coats of All Hail the Queen. |
 |
| All Hail the Queen by Butter London was also a dreamy polish to wear and apply - a must have for everyone I believe! |
Every Shimmer I have tried so far this week applies so easy and dries quickly. They do dry gritty, which is why each one I finish off with a coat of Gelous and then a standard Quick Dry top coat. Natalie is a stunning blue glitterbomb that you should not miss out on. Shimmer can be found on Etsy and they retail for $12 per bottle.
Alot of us ladies are always looking for a cheap alternative to beauty products.
Alot of us ladies also have so much stuff we don't realize we could have saved on cheaper alternatives if we knew what we even had!
Case in point - 2 coral polishes I recently found in my stash that appear identical.
I bring you - Butter London Trout Pout v. Sinful Colors Island Coral...
Both polishes are shown with 3 coats and no top coat.
What do you think?
The only difference I seemed to see in them was that Island Coral was slightly pinker and Trout Pout was *slightly* more neonish.
Both formulas took 3 coats, the Butter London dissappoints me here as it seems to have the capability to apply in 2 coats but simply did not. I expect more for $14. The Sinful Colors formula was what I'd expect and more from a $2 polish. And it dries to a glossier finish.
For my money, I bet on Sinful.
Don't forget to enter the Gnarly Gnails 400 Follower Giveaway!
Ends 7.31.2012 and is open Internationally!
And also the Gnarly Gnails 500 Follower Giveaway!
Ends 9.01.2012 and is open Internationally!
Monkey See Monkey Do Mondays! Skulls and Roses!
- Monday, May 14, 2012
- By Missy
- 7 Comments
It's time for some good ole fashioned copycatdom!
It's Monkey See Monkey Do Monday again - the day when some of us girls in the PCF FB Group do mani's based on inspiration by other bloggers, nail artisans, etc...
This week, my inspiration comes from Emily of Macabre Manicures.
How cool is that, right? Check her blog out, she does some pretty cool jazz.
Now here is my interpretation...
I'd been really itching to do a mani with olive green and red for some reason. This seemed like a great opportunity, it added a slightly different spin on Emily's design.
I used Butter London Wallis as the base, then stamping polishes were Konad Black and Sally Hansen Rapid Red. 2 different rose stamps and 2 different sized skull stamps.
Check out these other Monkeys!
P.S.
Don't forget to enter the Gnarly Gnails 300 Follower Giveaway!
Ends 6.15.2012 and is open Internationally!
