NOX Twilight Swatches

hi! i've been a little MIA in the blog world lately, although i did try to pop my head in every so often to check out whats new. again for today, i dont have much to post.

its been about 2 weeks since my no-buy started back up; but i had to break my no-buy on Saturday when i walked into Meijer's to find the whole collection of NOX Twilight nail polishes! i, legit, went crazyyy to see them with my very eyes =P

i ended up picking up my two favorites;

Citrus & Poseidon.

$6.99 per bottle, which is the same price online. i've wanted these two polishes since the first time i saw swatches of them. total beauties! im not sure if im going back to pick up any more of the polishes cause im not really diggin them..but we'll see. i think i kinda like Talon.. =P

on to the swatches -


the beautiful Citrus. i believe this is two coats. Citrus was a bit goopy but it was manageable. coral-ish pink with an awesome gold shimmer. gosh. i have mixed feelings about this one. this was my #1 out of the collection but after i put it on, i didnt like it. then the next day, i woke up & loved it. then i didnt like it again, and then i fell in love with it again. ergh. i dont know how i exactly feel about it. =P


gorgeous Poseidon. three coats here. this one was watery but manageable as well. kinda like a sky blue + turquoise color. total beauty! love, love, love!


im done here for now, hope your week goes well :)

have a great one!,
<3KATRINA

More about → NOX Twilight Swatches

China Glaze Swatches

today was my first day of classes for the semester in my third year at a community college. i have two classes on campus - History & Politics - and im also taking my very first online class - an English class. back in high school, i was a VERY good student. i did everything on time, always did my homework, always studied, i've always been at the top of everything, and i graduated with a gpa higher than 3.8 ... ever since i've been in college, i've been a slacker, i skip classes, dont ever study, and i've been "average" in school. [not that being "average" is a bad thing..but thats just not my thing.] this semester, i REALLY want to do well. my classes are really time-demanding. im also picking up more hours at work on the days that i do not have classes, so im pretty much jam-packed. so i cannot guarantee lots of posts - not that i post very often right now anyway -__- ; but you know what i mean right? please bare with me~

that felt like a semi-heavy-mood-downing beginning of a blogpost. sorry! i just had to let you know.

well, let lighten things up with some random China Glaze swatches~ i wanna mention that my nails are short right now, and when i swatched these polishes last week, i had to put on fake nails cause i like swatching with full nails and not little nubbins.. =P


i have here 3 coats of Ruby Pumps. definitely a gorgeous red glitter jelly polish. i like this polish but i dont like it as much as others do.


3 coats of Emerald Sparkle. the picture is a bit blurry but it was the most color accurate picture i had. its a beautiful emerald glitter polish.


3 coats of Watermelon Rind. kinda blue-teal-green-ish with glitter.


3 coats of Ingrid. beautiful taupe-ish-brown with gold shimmer.


2 coats of Entourage. theres a slight shimmer in the kiwi-green polish.


2 coats of Bahamian Escape. my favorite. sky blue creme.


on my nubbins, i have 4 coats of Dreamsicle. this one was disappointing to me. its a beauty in the bottle, but i didnt really like it on my nails. i probably should have put a colored base on before i applied Dreamsicle. orange base polish with different size opalescent glitter. this is how the polish looks in real life - regardless of the bad picture. it looks prettier in pictures [better lighting pictures - that is] but i posted this one so you'll know how it really looks.

this is all i have for now. thanks for tuning in :)

hope you have a great week,
<3KATRINA

More about → China Glaze Swatches

Zoya Swatches

Wednesdays & Sundays are my only days off of work. i dont really find time to go online during the weekends...so thank goodness i have Wednesdays. and also, thank goodness the sun is out today! because, as promised, today i have swatches of my Zoya's from the Zoya Exchange. its almost been 2 weeks since my package came in and im finally swatching them for ya. so behind! =/

i dont know why...but it took me 5.5 hours to swatch 11 polishes. im not sure why it took FOREVERRRRR but..it did. drove me nuts..but its ok. ;) anyway right to the swatches!.. each swatch has one coat of Poshe super-fast drying topcoat.


3 coats of Harley. such a beautiful concrete gray color. there are very tiny silver/copper flecks of glitter that my camera wasnt able to capture =/ you can kind of see a bit of the glitter in the bottle though...barely.


3 coats of Jo. an adorable periwinkle polish with a silver shimmer.


2 coats of Ali. bright, neon pink. dries kinda matte but topcoat shines it right up!


2 coats of Charity. purple-mauve with a bronze shimmer. this isnt my typical color but i love it!


2 coats of Gwin. bright orange-tangerine with a gold shimmer. so pretty! thank goodness my camera was able to pick up some of the shimmer! =)


2 coats of Trixie. super awesome silver! love it!


3 coats of Richelle. its more bronze that i though..but its ok! its still pretty!


3 coats of Mimi. deep purple with awesome purple, goldish-silver glitter. my camera didnt really pick it up. =/


2 coats of Nidhi. beauuuutiful tomato red with gold glitters. looove this one! ;) my camera didnt pick up the glitters in this one either.. =/


3 coats of Ivanka. it came out lighter than i expected, but its still a beauty! kelly green? with gold glitter..that my camera couldnt pick up..


3 coats of Charla. the famous Charla.. =P its really worth all the rave its getting. dont rely on this picture...its no good. =/

my pictures dont do ANY justice for Mimi, Nidhi, Ivanka, and Charla. those are the kind of polishes that are just much better in person! that way, you can see all the awesome glitters & all!

there ya go! those are all my Zoya's! and im soooo glad i ended up doing the Zoya Exchange! im gunna be waiting for it for next year too :)

- - - - - - -

ok, theres a new polish blog in the blog world. i got an email from Sabrina & here's a link to her blog: Positively Polished. please check out her blog.

any other new bloggers out there? feel free to send me an email & i will be glad to post about you on my next blog.

- - - - - - -

oh, i got a disclosure policy that i posted at the bottom of my page...

lastly, i havent made a tutorial in FOREVERRR. is there anything specific that you want me to make a tutorial on? although i spend most of my time at work...i'll be sure to get around to making a tutorial ;)

- - - - - - -

thanks for your time! im gunna go relax now... =)
<3KATRINA

More about → Zoya Swatches

I'm Behind

- on a LOT of things!

first off, i havent swatched since May 13 which is almost a whole month ago! since then, my "UNUSED" polish stash has been growing. here's a picture stash;


this stash keeps piling up..so i finally decided to swatch some polishes today.

*note: please excuse my excessively dried hands & cuticles. im out of non-acetone polish remover & so im using my pure acetone remover..and its killing me -__-


3 coats of Ulta Orange You Glad It's Summer. application was good & kinda jelly-ish. i got this polish [and the next polish down] from my first Ulta trip 2 months ago! finally got around to trying it out.. =P


3 coats of Ulta Vintage Violet. dark, dusty lavender. easy application; much better than OYGIS.

next, i have some Sally Hansen Inst-Dri's. i've had these for..i dont even know how long! i totally forgot that i had them until i went through my drawer of unused.


3 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Snappy Sorbet. application was ok; my camera was able to capture the very subtle shimmer in this coral-ish polish [and even in the bottle!]. *yay!


3 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Spring Green. a dark mint..easy application. i remember how much i used to hate how wide the Insta-Dri brushes are...but now i've learned to enjoy em ;)


3 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mango Motion. how would you describe this color?..a bright salmon? haha i dont know..but this was the best application of the 3 Insta-Dris & Snappy Sorbet was the worse when it came to application.


ok! continuing my list of things im behind on...awards! a little less than a month ago, i was tagged by Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes & Amused Polish for the sweet blog award. thanks so much ladies ;)





Make a post about the award including the picture and mention the person who gave it to you. Put the award on your blog. Let your nominated 10 know you've awarded them by leaving a comment.

since im so late on this, i decided not to personally tag anyone. anyone & everyone reading this - im gunna tag. you're awesome awesome! =)


finally, the last thing that im late on is...the Zoya Polish Exchange!

i just recently decided to for sure do the exchange. i've been looking at Zoya swatches like crazy..and i LOVE the Zoyas! i need a few bottles for myself! i've already picked 5 polishes that i for sure want & i have a list of 16 other possibilities. haha. im not sure how many im going to trade in..so we'll see.

ok, so my question is, besides for Zoya, Qtica or Nocti, i can send ANY brand bottle in? even Revlon, Wet n Wild, or Finger Paints? - right?


ALRIGHT! i think this post is long enough..so i'll leave it here!

oh! by the way, my sister is going to reboot the computer any time soon...so hopefully i can post once again before i lose all my fonts & adobe photoshop. haha. i dont want to post without my abobe. haha

hope your Wednesday is going great!,
<3KATRINA

More about → I'm Behind

OPI Swatches

hows your Thursday been? --mine started out with pouring rain, thunder, and lots of wind!

i was super mad cause i planned a polish hunt after i failed my math exam...but the way it was POURING RAIN this morning was just crazy! so, i went to class & failed my exam...but when i stepped outside, the rain had stopped! it was dark & cloudy out, full with puddles..but it wasnt raining! so i went on ahead with my polish hunt! =) i was hunting down OPI's Mad As A Hatter & i've already tried to find it at 2 other Meijers..so today, i tried a new Meijer! the whole store set up was different..i felt so lost. haha there is usually a sale end-cap stand by the polishes...and thats where i find the OPI polishes that are on sale. at this new Meijer, i found one end-cap with Bullish on OPI for $2.12 ONLY! so i picked it up! i didnt see any other OPI polishes..so i was quite disappointed. i wandered the polish section twice just to make sure. i was so bummed..and as i was about to walk away, i looked up & found two bottles of Mad As A Hatter, about 6 bottles of Absolutely Alice, and about 10 bottles of Off With Her Head! i literally RAN to the stand, grabbed the last two Mad As A Hatter & i grabbed an extra bottle of Absolutely Alice! then i went home happily =)

hmm..i got home & i wanted to try MAAH right away..but i LOOOOVE Absolutely Alice soooo much, i didnt want to take it off. haha so i decided to keep my right hand polished with AA & i swatched some polishes on my left hand...and now its painted with MAAH.

just a forewarning.. like i said..its super dark out today so i dont have any pretty pictures. some of the pictures look fuzzy / blurry but i made sure they were as color accurate as possible. SORRY! -__- ok!...straight to the swatches..


first, Off With Her Red! 2 coats. its a beautiful, deep red.


here's Bullish On OPI. 2 coats. doesnt it look like OWHR! ? theyre SOOO similar, but theyre not the same. application for BO OPI was better than OWHR.


here's a comparison picture of the two. 2 coats of both polish. you can BARELY tell..but OWHR is a bit brighter whereas BO OPI is a deeper red.


Hot & Spicy. 3 coats. this polish isnt my favorite when looking at it while its in the bottle. but when its on, its a favorite! its a light orange but i think it has some sort of pink undertone. it becomes more coral in some lightings than others.


A Good Man-Darin is Hard to Find. 3 coats. a nice, bright, deep orange.


Lucky Lucky Lavender. 3 coats. this polish is a favorite just looking at the bottle..but when its on...its LOVE!!! its such a beautiful lilac/lavender color. there must be some pink undertones in this polish too cause it leans pink in some lightings. doesnt this polish make my nails look pretty? <--i dont say that too often..but really.. its so pretty that i almost didnt want to take it off! haha


i've had Jade is the New Black for a little more than a month & this was my first time using it. 2 coats here .. and the polish is a bit more deep, hunter green in person than shown in the picture. application was great ! love this color =)


lastly, Mad As A Hatter ! i was literally going mad for this polish...i even had a dream about it..what a weirdo, right? HAHA anyway, its mostly silver + purple glitters but you cant really see the purple in the picture. its a pretty polish but hmm..im not gunna lie, it didnt meet up to its standards. HAHA i think i fell too much in love with Absolutely Alice that Mad As A Hatter just doesnt compare!~ hahaha

again, sorry for the bad pictures! -__-

hmm, in a bit, im gunna go pick up Kiana from school & we're gunna go to the mall & Sally's. so hopefully i'll be able to pick up a few things from there =)

keep posted for *something tmrw ^__^

enjoy your day!,
<3KATRINA

More about → OPI Swatches

Wet n Wild Swatches

this past Sunday, i had a mini haul & i got 8 new Wet n Wild polishes. today, i decided to swatch them for ya =)


Berry Jubilee - 2 coats. bright purple mixed dark azalea + dark magenta. <--haha. what a bad description. but those are the colors that pop in my head when i look at the polish =P pretty decent application.


Blueberry Fizz - 2 coats. pretty, deep, vibrant blue. uhm, application was a bit better than Berry Jubilee.


Mint Fusion - 3 coats. 2 coats would've been ok but i used 3 to avoid bald spots. this one has a shimmer that you can barely see in the picture. Mint Fusion had awesome application and quickly became my favorite of the bunch! i couldnt stop looking at it =)


Lemon Drops - 3 coats. i always feel uneasy buying yellow polishes that havent been reviewed. the first two coats were really ugly. the polish looked like a dirty yellow/golden on my nails. the third coat finally looked like the bottle color.


Sunkist Paradise - 3 coats. first two layers were thin but third layer evened it out. better application than Lemon Drops. this polish color reminds me of a tangerine =P


Bubble Yum Gum - 3 coats. decent application. definitely reminds me of bubble gum! haha


Candy Apple Twist - 2 coats. pretty red-orange polish. good application.


Cherry Pop - 1 coat; thats right! ONE! well, i painted my ring finger with 2 coats just to show you. there isnt much of a difference besides for that fact that it is just a smidge darker than one coated nails. application was theeeee best! =)

the other 4 polishes from this Wet n Wild collection, which are a light/baby pink, a blue/green shimmer, a deeper purple, and another red polish..i probably wont go pick up. if i do pick any of the 4 up, it would probably be the light/baby pink or deep purple. but in any case, how do you like these colors? for $0.99 per bottle, its a good find! =)

oh! lastly, in yesterday's post, i was talking about how i wanted to try to avoid going into Sally's. i forgot to mention that i have two 15% off coupons that expire at the end of May..so of course that means that i have to go back, right!? cant let them expire & go to waste! -haha uhm...but when i went into Sally's the other day, i walked right past China Glaze's Poolside collection stand; the colors arent really my cup of tea...i've seen swatches & all...but still...not exactly digging the colors. although i will say that Flip Flop Fantasy caught my attention for 2 seconds... maybe i'll stop and pick one up at my next Sally's visit. do you think there is a MUST-HAVE Poolside polish i should pick up? ooh, and i also need to go back to Sally's to pick up a few more items for my giveaway =)

enjoy your day!,
<3KATRINA

-edit:
[513pm] i really have no self-control! i just got back from Meijer with 3 OPI polishes - from the Hong Kong collection! after Erin told me that she bought a bottle of OPI's Mad as a Hatter from Meijer, i've been visiting Meijer once every two weeks to see if the Alice in Wonderland collection had come in. sadly, they still are not in..but Meijer had all of the Hong Kong collection polishes on sale, $4.24 per bottle! thats HALF the regular price! so, of course, i had to pick up a few bottles. since i already have Suzie Says Feng Shui, Jade is the New Black, and Dim Sum Plum, i picked up these three....


Hot and Spicy, Lucky Lucky Lavender, and A Good Man-Darin is Hard to Find.

*excitedddd !~

More about → Wet n Wild Swatches

mini swatch & update!

back when i first started my blog [a month ago. haha] i posted "all" of my past nail art into a blog. guess not! i found more that i forgot i did & i didnt post em! so i just wanted to add them in here. [pictures open up in a new screen]



i also bought a few new polishes from over the weekend and today & swatched a few of them.


picked up the Finger Paints polish today & the F21 polishes were bought on Sunday. [icky picture, sorry!]


Finger Paints Blissfully Blue. i LOVE this color! i guess FP came out with a new spring line of colors cause this was with its own display case with 4 or 5 other polishes at Sallys. anyway, two coats for this adorable baby blue! i loooove this one!


Love & Beauty Teal Blue. this color is a real beauty! i didnt think i would like it as much as i do! here is two coats of the polish but one coat would've done fine! there are tiny teal glitters? in the polish so [as in the picture above] in the light, the glitters will seen.


Love & Beauty Orchid. sorry for a bad, goopy looking picture. i got really impatient [again] and yea...thats what happened =P anyway, this looks all silver but theres purple/orchid glitters? in the polish too! when i was putting this on outside, the reflection of the sun in the polish was blindingggg me! haha but this one is two coats; again, one coat probably would've been fine.

i have to say!, im really impressed with Forever 21's polishes! i gotta go hunt more! =)

also want to mention, i've already bought the stuff for my giveaway!!! so excited! i just need three more followers to get to 50! even if i dont get my three followers, some time this Thursday...im going to post up the giveaway details cause i wont have time this weekend to post.

hope you had a great day!
<3KATRINA

More about → mini swatch & update!