Halloween Nails: Maybelline Colorama in Black Magic with Swatches

It's that time of year again, Halloween. I've never been much into the holiday and I happened to have married a man who's birthday is November 1st, so he's not into it either. It's no fun to have your birthday overshadowed by a holiday and you can trust me on that one and mine's only memorial day. I've never been big into dressing up and this year I decided to add a little festive-ness to my attire by sporting fun nail colors. Yesterday I showed you Color Club Limelight and today I wanted to share with you Maybelline Colorama in Black Magic. This line has been discontinued but that's a shame because Black Magic is super sexy. If I'm going to go black (which I do very rarely) I want it to be black black and this one is. There is no shimmer and it doesn't look dull or gray, as a matter of fact one coat will do you, I promise. I also love the small bottle size since there is no chance in hell I will ever finish one as large as the regular OPI size.

I'm not a huge fan of dark polishes on me, I just don't like them at this point in my life. I always gravitate towards bright colors, especially for my toes. This year since I was in a Halloween-y mood I went for it on my tootsies. Take a look.

PS-The third picture was a finger swatch I did a while ago, you'll be seeing more of those in the coming weeks as I post my nail posts from the summer that never made it to the blog.

I have no complaints about the wear of this one but I will let you know if anything changes.

Halloween Nails: Color Club Limelight with Swatches

Hey guys! Sorry I've been away so long. I'd like to say it's because I'm so busy but in fact it's been the opposite. I'm been enjoying some relaxing before starting (hopefully!) two jobs early in November. I promise not to be away for so long again and I'm actually working on posts for the coming weeks today.

Today I wanted to share with you a polish I got a while ago but have never worn and you'll probably understand looking at the pictures. It's very much a neon green and on my long nails it'd probably look stupid under normal circumstances. Since it's Halloween weekend and all I decided to go for it and I'm glad I did. This polish is so fun that I can't stop staring at my nails and wanting to show them off to the world. Even though we got a couple inches of snow last night I still managed to have the most fun night with a few girls I haven't seen in a long time and a few I've never met and more than once the topic turned to nails. Take a look at these pictures of Color Club Limelight and read more about the finish and wear after.

Truth be told I had to do my nails two times this week with Limelight. The first time I didn't use a basecoat since I normally don't and ending up with major chippage on day two. Since I was actually leaving my house for once I decided to do them again Saturday morning and this time I used Sally Hansen Double Duty as both the base and topcoats and it seems to have worked like a charm. One of my actual nails is a little scraped and scratched up and I polished right over it and that is the only one that has a chip even after a night of partying and a day spent cleaning and doing dishes. I suspect that is just my nail itself and not the polish. Moral of the story with this one is to use a basecoat and a topcoat.

My Essentials Monday: Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Golden Tourmaline with Swatches

You might remember in my Nails Inc post that I mentioned I'm in love with holographic polish, well that fascination started a long time ago with the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line. I remember seeing ads for it in just about every magazine I read back in 2002. I was 17 so I was reading Seventeen, CosmoGirl, Teen Magazine and YM as well as my beloved Cosmo and Glamour (did you know I've collected every issue of both Cosmopolitan and Glamour since 2003? Oh yeah, now you do!). These nail polish ads were everywhere. They showed you both the color you'd normally see and the color that the holograph would reflect back at you. I think with most of them you have two main colors but you always get a rainbow hologram as well. So pretty.

Today I'm going to show you Golden Tourmaline. Tourmaline is a semi-precious stone that's actually really popular in Maine, the first state where it was mined back in 1822. Since Maine Tourmaline is usually a strawberry pink-red color I thought it was appropriate to mention with these swatches. Take a look...

Sorry for the peeling paint, this one is getting up there in age.

I popped this color on quickly over last weeks Sinful Colors in Boogie Nights but the color is definitely still true to Golden Tourmaline.

Wet 'n' Wild Gray's Anatomy with Swatches

Sorry to flood you with nail polish swatches but there is one more that I picked up on my vacation that I wanted to share with you, Wet 'n' Wild Gray's Anatomy Swatches. Unfortunately this one is going back to Rite Aid. While it's interesting and pretty it's not me. Here are some pics to see if it might be a better fit for you.

The pictures don't really tell the whole story with this one. Sometimes it appears to be green other times purple, taupe or gray that does not appear in pictures. It has a watery effect even though it is fairly opaque, all I can think is faeries. The wear is pretty good but the shade seems to be less complex as time goes on, I'm mostly seeing purple sometimes a little bit of green.

Jesse's Girl Baked Eye Shadow Collection with Swatches

Take a look at this beautiful collection. I think baked eyeshadows are my favorite because of the subtle shimmer in them. MAC makes some pretty great ones but you don't have to shell out that kind of money to rock this look. This Jesse's Girl Baked Eye Shadow Collection is from Rite-Aid (also in New Hampshire) and cost me $6.99. Yeah, you heard that right. As you can see there are 9 beautiful colors to choose from and I think they are universally flattering for both cool and warm and light and dark skin. They're gorgeous. Here are some swatches so you can see for yourself.

The first shadow is a medium purple based blue. The good thing about baked shadows is that you can wear them as sheer or built up as you want to. This would look beautiful lightly applied or worn as a darker shade. The pale pink is a gorgeous color for all. I normally can't wear pinks but this one looks like it will look great without making me look like I'm suffering from pinkeye. The light green has a slight goldish tint. I'd wear this one as liner with a matte nude on the lids. Last in this picture is my favorite shade, a lavender that has the perfect intensity. It perfectly matches the shirt I'm wearing right now if I wanted to go the matchy-matchy route.

This orange shade is probably the least flattering for me but the light rust shade would look glorious with the last color in this picture for a sunrise eyeshadow. Second is similar to the first color in the image above but without the purple, this one is a clear blue. If you're looking for an instant eye brightener pick up the shimmery nude that's third in this picture. It really makes the eyes look alive and would work amazingly with a bolder lip. I swear it's not as coppery as it looks in the picture. If you're more into nude gloss try the black shade, it's perfect for a smoky eye, not too dark but deep enough to be flattering. Lastly is a gorgeous cranberry shade. Again, I know this shade is not the most flattering for my skintone but sheered out I could wear it as a wash or even a blush.

If you're still on the fence about baked shadows you should pick up this palette. If it doesn't work for you you're not out too much money and I'm sure someone would be willing to take it off your hands. Plus, it's beautiful to look at. If you want something more intense layer it over eyeshadow primer.

PS-I'm completely aware that my swatches went downhill. Shoot me! LOL.

Sinful Colors Paradise with Swatches

One of the best parts of vacation is buying a few new beauty products. You see I brought my nail polish remover but I was hoping to find some nail polish while I was there. Would be a little easier if I'd vacationed in a more cosmopolitan area than the mountains of New Hampshire where your choices for nail polish stores are Rite Aid or Walmart. Luckily after striking out at Walmart I found the Sinful Colors display at Rite Aid after I'd all but given up hope. Why do they hide it on a supposedly easy to find display? I don't get that. Take a look at the aptly named Paradise, perfect name considering I bought it in my own personal paradise.

Paradise is a rich baby blue shade just a smidge darker than North Carolina Tarheels blue for anyone who gets the reference. It had no sparkle but didn't look the least bit flat on my nails. You'll have to excuse the peeling my nails were doing, I'd just done a six mile hike a couple days before that included a lot of pushing and pulling on rocks for balance.

Sinful Colors retail for $1.99 (seriously!) and are fabulous. I got 6 day wear without a topcoat which is basically unheard of for me. The only issue I had was due to the condition of my peeling nails and nothing to do with the polish itself. If you feel like picking up some inexpensive nail polish head to your local drugstore and scour the shelves until you find this brand. I assure you that you will not be disappointed. Check back tomorrow for what I picked up for my toesies.

Orly Snowcone with Swatches

Ever since I was a pre-teen I've had a love affair with nail polish. Back in the day I would change my polish a couple times a week and probably even got to the point where I would do it every day. In those days I was pretty liberal with my choices, anything goes including every finger a different color. I still have the luxury of doing that as I don't work anywhere that wouldn't allow for nail polish and/or funky manicures and my tastes haven't calmed down. Do we have any fans of the blackberry mani out there? You know you have your thumb a different color than the rest of the nail? I don't know if I'd go that far but I'm far from a neutral girl.

Enter Orly Snowcone (in this less than flattering picture of my hand) The name alone makes me happy but it's not what I would picture when I think of a snowcone. Orly's version is more of a cotton candy blue color, perhaps slightly brighter yet at the same time very pastel. This blue is neither green or purple leaning just a straight up baby blue shade.

I love the way this color wears. I could easily get away with one coat and the polish didn't drag or skip over the nail. Orly's one of my favorite brands for their fabulous brush and brush handle, the rubber no-slip grippers really help when you're impatient like me and have to do 10 things at once in order to feel successful. Or is that just me?


The wear with this polish was pretty good. I'm so hard on my nails and don't use a base coat (although I'm in the market for one and strongly leaning towards one from Orly) but I got a good 2 1/2 days of wear which is GREAT for me. A lot of times I'm lucky to get one full day and such is the case with MAC.

What do you think? Is this a color you'd wear for a mani or could you only get away with it on your toes? Come on and let me know in the comments. Stay tuned tomorrow for a pedi post with China Glaze!