Color Club Red Velvet

Traci and her blog sales and giveaways are going to be what fills out my polish collection haha and I love her for it!

Traci is running what seems to be an on going Blog Sale. She keeps updating and adding all kinds of new polishes at super fair prices and she ships fast and all over. So make sure you check it out.

One of the gems I was able to snag from this sale was Color Club's Red Velvet from their Fall 2010 collection. Its a black jelly base with a whole lot of bright red glitter.

I can't believe Traci never got around to swatching this one. It's amazing. I should have done my True Blood mani and used this!

So this is basecoat and then 2 coats of Red Velvet (first thin, then a thick coat. I was too impatient to do 3 coats and if I had done all thin coats I think it would have needed the 3rd coat) and then Out the Door topcoat.

There's nothing I really need to say beyond the fact that these pictures don't do it fair justice. These are only a hint at how amazingly the red glitters pop from the base which is a very true black.

She's at it again!

That's right, the fabulous Traci has hit a new milestone and is doing something special to celebrate!

The TraceFace Philes: The Trace Face Philes 500 Followers Giveaway!!: "YAY!! My blog has hit another milestone thanks to YOU!! OF COURSE we need to celebrate!! I am pleased to announce The Trace Face Philes ..."

True Blood Inspired cupcakes!

So if you're cool you know that tonight was the True Blood Season 4 premiere. If you didn't know, well, I'll forgive you if you promise to take a crash course in that awesomeness that is this show ;-)

So in honor of the premiere I decided to whip up some Bloody Cupcakes!

(click image to enlarge)

So these were really simple and super yummy.

They're just strawberry cupcakes with some strawberry filling and cream cheese icing with some drips of red food dye for the blood.

Now I can't wait till next weeks episode!

China Glaze Crackle Metals

Alrighty then. Have you been won over by all the companies putting out their version of Crackle and Shatter polishes? If not, I think you're about to!

China Glaze has recently (or is very soon depending upon if your local stores are slacking) released a second set of crackle polishes. This time they're all metallic! Instead of black and white they've added bronze and gold. I happen to not care very much for anything in those colors so I didn't bother grabbing them when I was lucky enough to stumble upon these beauties at my local Sally's Beauty Supply this week. They did keep the aqua, pink, purple, and grey (silver) shades.

All I can say is that these are PERFECT! They have great application. They don't start to dry and crack so fast that you can't even get your coat finished. You actually have a moment to play around with them a bit before your committed to whats on the nail. And the way they crack? Just WOW! I don't think I can describe it any better so I'll just show you what I mean....

This is Platinum Pieces over Color Club's Alias

I love the patterns this stuff creates!

Platinum Pieces over Alias again.

Despite the tip wear I needed a shot of the incidental Star-burst on the middle finger =) 

Here is Oxidized Aqua over an unnamed Funky Fingers purple and Latticed Lilac over SH Celeb City 

Here are my Beauties!

Platinum Pieces, Haute Metal, Latticed Lilac and Oxidized Aqua 

(and ChG Broken Hearted since I finally got that one too) 

Each over Sinful Snow Me White and Hard Candy The End

 Comparison

The top swatches are OPI Silver Shatter

The bottome swatches are China Glaze Platinum Pieces

As much as I love the OPI shatter I think I like the China Glaze Crackle better. The chunky bits that it breaks into appeals to me more. I think that's part of why OPI chose the name Shatter for their line since it does have more of a shattering lengthwise vs a all over crackling pattern.

 I just want to note real quick that there are several different opinions on what works best to get the best performance out of any of these polishes. Some swear by topcoating in between your base color and your crackles. Some of the brands seem to work a little better on bases that are not completely dry yet. But on a cream or shimmer polish I, myself, don't see the need. All I can suggest is to play around and test out different methods with each brand till you find what works for you. I personally chose to apply these to dry base colors without topcoat in between. I think if I did a glitter base I would definitely want to add topcoat in between to smooth the surface.

Now, who else is excited?!

Traci's "Just Because" Giveaway

Go...Run...Enter!!!...she's got some BRAND NEW RELEASES that you're sure to want!!

The TraceFace Philes: The Trace Face Philes "...just because!" GIVEAWAY!...: "Yesterday I was fortunate enough to snag the Nice Stems Collection and newest Serena Williams sets for cheap! I thought of you..."

Slacking

Yes yes, I know, I'm being the Queen Slacker of the nail blog world. Ok, that might be an exaggeration but close enough. I just wanted to throw in here that I have not forgotten about this fabulous little page of mine, nor any of my fantastic followers. I've been super busy with work and some stress that I don't really feel like blabbling about here. But I promise you that I have quite a few fun manis that I've done in the past couple weeks and I will be doing a couple entries, one of which will most likely be a spam post.

In the mean time, if you haven't already joined my Facebook group, Polish-aholics Anonymous, get on over there and submit your request. Anything and everything you'd ever want to know about polish is discussed there, or can be if you bring up something new ;-)

So for now, I bid you Adieu and Happy Polishing!

Memorial Day Weekend (picture heavy)

First I hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial Day. Thanks to all those who have served our country and deserve an honor on this, and every, day!

Even though I had the weekend off from work I was still rather busy.

Saturday my buddy Traci (The TraceFace Philes) and her pal Casandra came down and we went on a polish shopping expedition. We hit 3 Five Belows, 2 JC Penneys. Ulta, 2 nail supply stores, Trade Secret, Mac, Lush, Sephora, Nordstrom and a CVS. I believe they also hit another Ulta and Nordstrom Rack on their way home lol. Grand Total for my day was 14 stores, 3 malls, and several shopping centers. That's a lot of hoofing. But it was all worth it. We had a blast. Joked, laughed, mocked...and also found a ton of polish! Including a few lemmings. So don't let me bore you with things you had to be there to find interesting. Let me just show you the pictures!

Traci and Casandra enjoying some Rita's about half way through our day.

By the end of the day our nails were the ultimate tester skittle mani ;-)

Back to my house. Traci's at the top, Cas' in the middle, mine at the bottom.

this includes the couple of things Traci and I swapped before hand.

There's all mine again...

Shatters!...until this day I had none and was very sad. JcP had all their OPIs bogo half...

The Silver was one Traci swapped me.

and of course Purple is Sally Hansen which I got at CVS

Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, PotC Stranger Tides, Sparrow Me the Drama, and Steady as she Rose, Not Like the Movies (new version) and Simmer and Shimmer.

Sparrow me the Drama I actually had to get at Cedar on Sunday but it completed my Pirates collection =)

Hard Candy Fabuluxe (a Traci swap), Ulta- Pinata Yada (another Traci Swap) Little Black Dress, Underground, Green with Envy,  and Funky Finger- Baby Baby Baby, Sand & Stilettos, and Snakeskin

And of course some much needed extras... 

Of course as soon as I got home my sister (and even my mom) started drooling and I could see the gears turning in their heads for what they wanted to use first...ugh. Even my dear 2 1/2 year old nephew Brody was getting handsy haha. So my mom asked for me to do something patriotic on her nails that very night. I thought for a second and came up with this:

Flags!

My mom's poor stubby nails. We put our hands through hell at work. 

 This is Sinful White (i forget the exact name) with China Glaze Dorothy Who? and OPI Red Shatter

I swiped the shatter sideways across the nail hoping for a horizontal "striping" 

Then of course I had to play with my new polishes on me =)

This is Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous with Turquoise Shatter. 

Sunday was also busy. Employee Appreciation Day at work so I could actually shop in my own store. Got a couple pairs of jeans and some jammies. I love 50% off sales in this respect. I also had to bake and decorate my sunflower cupcakes for our bbq at work. And my friend Carrie spent most of the day tagging along. Sunday was also when I made a point of going to Cedar to look for my last PotC color. 

Today, oh boy, today. Hectic and crazy and definitely not a holiday I got to celebrate. We always have a 50% off sale on Memorial Day. And when you team up the words "Sale" and "Thrift Store", well, all hell breaks loose. Staff meeting at 8 am, doors opened at 9 and then near constant pandemonium until 5 pm. Needless to say a nap, dinner and a long hot shower helped round out my day.

So now I'm well past tired and still have another day of work before I get my "holiday". I'll have 2 whole days to spend mixing and matching with all my new goodies. =)