Happy Halloween Ghouls and Gals!

Being a nanny I have to get in the Halloween spirit if I like it or not, even if my back has been a nightmare the past few days ( note to self: sleep on side, not on back). But it's also nice to have an excuse to dress up (the ever original witch costume) and bake cookies!

But to also do a Halloween inspired manicure! Now I have to confess I'm not a huge fan of candy corn, I'm actually more privy to the ones that have chocolate at the bottom, The Indian candy corn. ( Insert the tune of Moose and Zee's "But I don't like candy corn!")

Don't judge me.

But onto the manicure! I used Zoya Sooki to make the various shades of orange, because I don't own an actual orange nail polish. Shocking, I know. And for the yellow, I used this detailing yellow nail polish that Renee got for me as part of my b-day gifts when I visited her in Japan.

For the glitter I used.. those awesome glitters that I got from AC moore, that I keep talking about. I tried to make the tips more opaque (mostly because I was happy with the redish orange tips and too lazy to paint them white) But in real life, it is much more obvious that they are white and I don't look lazy (thank you very much flash for basically sucking up the white and ruining my reputation as someone who took the time as actually painted the tips white instead of just drenching them in white glitter)

I love how the thumb came out /modest.

The ever amazing ettisais topcoat!

Okay, well off for now, tata and Happy Halloween!

Pa A32 with Pa AA37 blue flakie

First, a shot of Pa A32.

This picture kinda stinks.. mostly because my polish job kinda stunk. It needed another coat to be even (I applied 2) but I was too lazy to wait for it all to dry that day. Dark cream green. Got this one as an extra in a discounted set. A so/so color.. though hubby likes it. I paired it with Pa's AA37 blue flakie (with opaque base) for a nicer look.

Pa A32 with Pa AA37 blue flakie, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

I took the clear-fuzzy gradiation pic on purpose to give you an idea of the look of this polish. Pa's A32 with Pa's AA37 blue flakie on top (man I wish they named their colors!) I really thought this would be a great combo, and though the blue does bring out the green, making it very "emerald-y", it just didn't stand out as much as I though it would. I guess it's a combo of the dark color I layered it on top of plus the opaque base the flakie has. I'll try it next over a lighter color and see how it goes :)

However, I did like this combo better than with Nubar 2010 on top, something about the blue flakies just worked better. The warmer tone didn't work as well (at least in my opinion.)

Comparison of Nubar 2010 and Pa AA37 over Pa A32

(blurry on purpose) The bluematches the green much better, but I have to admit the Nubar 2010 stands out so much more! What do you think? :)

Just a quickie! (not that kind..get your head out of the gutter!)

I bought beetle from Hard Candy a long time ago, when it was RARE. Now you see them all the time when you go into Walmart.

The color is just gorgeous! It looks purple, no wait now it looks green.. but wait again.. it's a shimmery brown.

I put the glittery pink topcoat on just to try something. Its not a polish, its just that super fine glitter that came in packets of about 16 colors for 5$ that I scored in AC Moore awhile back( seriously guys, if you go to AC Moore, buy this glitter).

What I did was coat my nails in a normal topcoat and then I dipped my nail in the glitter. I used this awesome topcoat on top of the glitter that I got in Japan called Etti Sais. Renee told me to get this, and I am glad. It makes your nails look crazy nice and shiny.. the good kind of crazy though!

I just tried it on the glitter nail as I had already put my Seche Vite on my other nails. And you can see a huge difference. My ring finger was 3x as thick as my other fingers polish wise. I am very glad I bought this!

Okay, off to bed, it's almost 2am.. Yeesh. Night!

Sephora by OPI 212-Sephora

Sephora by OPI 212-Sephora, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Left: Natural light
Right: Indoors/artificial light (slightly blurry to show sparkles)

I love this polish! I was totally unaware of it until a friend spotted it in a NY Sephora over the summer (I must admit, I'm a little late to get into Sephora by OPI polishes.) It has a shimmery black base (which can look olive green depending on the light) with holo glitter and orange and green flakies. It was also made for the 5th Ave. Sephora opening in NYC, to look like NYC's after dark scene. What's not to love?

Giveaway!

Sorry guys for this uber late post! It's been a little hectic in the lives of the APL girls! But the giveaway begins now! All you need to do is enter in this post. Leave a comment! That is it. The contest will run for one month starting now.

Click for instant link to use on twitter or blog

All we ask is to be a follower of the blog, that is your entry right there! For bonus entries you can do two things. Comment in a post that gets you another entry! and for a total of 5 entries (including following and comment) Just blog about us OR tweet about us. So:

Follow- 1 entry  ( all followers previous to this contest are already entered!)
Comment- 1 comment + follow= 2 entries
Blog or Tweet- 3 + entry+follow= 5 entries! (show proof)

Thanks guys for being super patient with us. I will update this blog entry with some of the giveaway gifts!


Thanks a bunch!

Nautical Mani

Finally, after ages of swatches, a detailed manicure!

First, a swatch of the base color. I used Canmake #50, a navy blue polish.
Oh blue nail polish, why must you be so notoriously hard to photograph?? This is actually a deep navy blue polish, and try as I might I just could not get the actual color to show up. Natural light was even worse, it looked light blue!
I had this planned for months specially for last month when I went to Okinawa(which was AWESOME.) I used Canmake #50, NYC French White Tip, and Homei quick dry Your Person of Destiny

Nautical Mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
I know I posted several months ago about how terrible the Diamond Nail Homei polishes are. The glitter Homei polishes are actually really good, great colors and tons of multi-sized glitter, and mine even came with a free nail tool. It's the Diamond Nail Line (which, incidentally, I haven't seen recently) that bites. I'll post swatches of both in a later post :)

Funky Fingers Melted Popsicle

Another day, another swatch. I've been meaning to focus on swatching more of my collection, as so many of my pretties are still sitting unused! (gasp) I just opened and used my 212-Sephora polish yesterday for the first time, and OH is it purdy! Picts of that to come later.

Anyway, back to today's polish! One of my birthday gifts from Erika. A really great polish with an awesome name! Deep grape-purple with micro glitter flecks. I love it's deep grape soda color!

Funky Fingers Melted Popsicle, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Close to our 500th follower giveaway!

I hope you guys didn't forget about this, I didn't! We have so many goodies! Please keep following, commenting, and also is their a certain color or look that you would like to see? Let us know!

Thanks everyone:)

Revlon, you crafty minx you!

Revlon, you are very crafty.. because you made me buy another one of your polishes. Even after many times I said I wouldn't...I have. This time in the form of the Chanel Graphite dupe called Carbonite.

Mind the obvious"I didn't get all the nail polish of my nails thumb look"

Now I don't own the Chanel version, for obvious reasons. (I am po') But when I saw this polish in CVS last week, I decided to throw caution to the wind(as I always do when it comes to the nail polish gods) and buy it.

Last night, looking at my crazy chipped nails from this past weekends manicure, I gave it a go.

The formula, is.. (is Revlon reading this right now because someone is) so much better! I glided on with ease, no bubbles, fast drying time! I am so glad I bought this because it is so much prettier on the nail then in the bottle. On the nail, when you move it around you can see hints of an olive green and black shimmer.  Definitely almost a dupe for the Chanel version at almost 20$ cheaper! I paid 3.29$ for my bottle.

I think I'm starting to warm up back to Revlon, and I have to say their offerings in the past year have been amazing. I hope they release more dupes for this girl on a budget with a slight(MAJOR) nail polish addiction.

PS. Bubblewrapper brought up a good point, this color sucks up shine, so if you really love a shiny nail polish, this one might disappoint. Even with Seche Vite, it still had a muted finish. 
Ta-ta for now!

L.A. Girls Rock Star Double Platinum

Ok I know it's Wednesday, and I should be posting a pink mani, but I had already done this one, so this time I'm sticking with it :p

L.A. Girls Rock Star Double Platinum, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

I got this in Japan a few months ago, and I didn't get any more (though I REALLY wanted to) as they were all overpriced (as all foreign polishes are here), and the store is all sold out :*( This is a beautiful champagne-gray toned holographic glitter. It's a mix of regular and holo glitter, and in the bad store lighting I didn't notice that it had holo in it until after I painted my nails-a pleasant surprise to say the least! All nails two coats except the middle, which has three. I definitely think it needs the third coat. Awesome polish, I love it!

Nails Inc. London Plum

I got this through Kitten Nails' blog sale about 3 months ago. It was an exclusive Diet Coke limited color in specially marked packages. Sorry for the blah picture, it just wasn't working out that day.

The formula was so-so. I had to actually add nail polish thinner to it as it was too gloopy when I first tried to polish my nails with it. I only have one polish by this company, so I don't know if it was just a fluke or if they're all this way.

Nails Inc. London Plum, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

The color itself is, well, plum. It doesn't seem to be anything that I can't get from another brand (though it is a nice shade- just saying, if you really like it don't despair, it can be found in other brands!)
It did look really nice in the light though :)