Ruby Kisses Nail Polish swatches part 1 of 3.

I recently discovered this brand when I was skulking through some old school beauty salons 2 weekends ago. They were on sale for $1.25 and I saw quite a few promising looking colors so I loaded up by basket with 16 colors without a second thought.

Once in the car I started my super scientific ritual of setting up the passenger side dash board as a swatching station and began the shaky business of painting skittle swatches over my existing manicure in a moving vehicle. I am sure it's great entertainment for my fiance who was driving.

I quickly realized that the polises in this collection are almost all dupes to other popular colors BUT at a much more affordable price. All the "creme" type polishes turned out to be jellies that closely mirror the Nfu-oh jelly collection. The glitters are mostly all dupes of China Glazes and Sinfuls with a few original polishes thrown in the mix.

Here are the first 5 Ruby kisses swatches. 

 Gorgeous true blue Jelly. This is 3 coats and It's still sheer. This is gorgeous enough to warrant applying some underwear. Although it doesn't look like it here, this is very close to Nfu-oh 119 with an extra coat and underwear.

 Ridiculous dark blue jelly. This is a dead ringer for my favorite Nfu-oh polish, 557 at 3 coats. Shown here at 2 coats. This one is pigmented about as well as a jelly can be and still be a jelly. So freakin' happy I got this! If you are fair skinned like me, there just isn't a nail color out there that makes your skin look better than this one does. Also, could the name be any more hardcore awesome? I would have totally made a deal with the man downstairs for this polish!  It would have been about the same price though since from a christian view my soul is only worth about a buck anyways.

This pic is with the flash on to show the glitter. This is really close to China Glaze Ruby Pumps, one of my fav polishes of all time, AND the polish my bridesmaids will wear at my wedding. BUT it's about 1 to 2 shades darker and has some silver micro glitter. This is super well pigmented and 2 coats makes it perfect. LOVE THIS.

 Here it is without flash in direct light to show the shine.

 Oh. My. God. HATE! I almost didn't upload this photo this polish makes my hands look so filthy and gross. It's unique but poorly executed. This has quite a bit of frost and shows brush marks. VOMIT!!!

This charcoal grey with tons of silver micro glitter is really close to Sinful colors Secret Admirer. Secret Admirer covers better and dries faster so I would go with the sinful and skip this one. Shown at 2 coats.


I will have the next 5 swatches in a few days.


Love, MM

Crazy Crackle Combos! Part 1

Yes, I realize that at this point crackle polishes are totally played out, overdone, lame, and down right aggravating. I am doing this series anyway. Why? Because crackles are still new to me being behind the times and all. Also, I do whatever I feel like. K? 


I admit, when I am shopping I cringe at the sight of YET ANOTHER brand releasing YET ANOTHER set of crackles. The thing that irks me the most about it is that all these polish companies don't even TRY to be inventive or original in any way. They just keep cranking out the same exact crackle colors that every other company has already done. I find it kind of insulting to tell you the truth. I realize we are all in the business of making money so why not actually MAKE MONEY by offering us some new freakin colors? The other day I was in Walgreens and saw the new Sinful Colors display of nothing but rows and rows of BLACK CRACKLE! It made me want to take a step back and round house kick the display off the shelf and send it crashing to the floor. NEWS FLASH- I ALREADY HAVE BLACK CRACKLE!!! I'M PRETTY SURE WE ALL DO!  I am sorry that I am adding to the onslaught that is the crackle catastrophe, I just like crackles and I like how all the colors look layered over different stuff. Since I mess around with different combos all the time anyway I might as well take pictures and post them. 


So, here we have the first installment of crackle pics. Enjoy, and try not to vom. :D

 China Glaze Cracked Concrete over Finger Paints Vintage Velvet.

 Cracked Concrete over Finger Paints Lavender Highlight.

 China Glaze Fault Line over China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le.

 China Glaze Platinum Pieces over Finger Paints Art of Theft. I REALLY don't like this silver crackle. I can't find anything it looks good over.

 OPI Black Shatter over China Glaze City Siren. LOVE!

 Fault Line over Icing Pretty as a Peacock. I love this combo! It was like having jewels on my nails.

 This is most likely going to be my Halloween Mani. It's Black Shatter over Orly Fresh.

 Mia Secret Gold Crackle over Ruby Kisses Deal With the Devil. I LOVE this Combo and also the Ruby Kisses polish and the name of the polish! I will have swatches and reviews of Ruby Kisses polishes in a few days.

 Mia Secret Green over Ruby kisses Purplelicious.

 Fault Line over Ruby Kisses Green Tomatoes.

 Opi Red Shatter over Ruby Kisses Steel Magnolia.

I have found the best way to get crackles to work well and make a lot of cracks is to apply the polish very thin. It will look sheer when you apply it but as it shrinks and cracks it becomes opaque. Also it never works for me if I go over it more than once. I never bother to let my base color dry all the way either. I haven't found a crackle yet that looks good without a topcoat.


Love, MM

OUCH!

Somehow I have managed to injure my freakin neck in an epic way. I have been to the doc and to the ER and next is the ear nose and throat doc. I cannot stand going to the doctor!!! I somehow always manage to get an insanely HOT doctor to examine me as I scream in pain, cry and shoot snot out my nose. I am an UGLY crier you guys.


I have a load of swatches ready but I am super looped out on pain medication and have no business talking to more than one person at a time in my condition, much less the internet. I SWEAR I am not disappearing again and will begin posting as soon as I can form coherent sentences. 


For now I will leave you with my favorite pet chicken. Fern. AKA Fern Gully the Last Rain Forest. (It's a joke about her beard ok)

Please people, do not under ANY circumstance mention her facial hair issues. She is very sensitive about her appearance! We are going to come up with some creative ways to help her appear a little more refined and feminine later, but for now she is seeing a good therapist and is working on accepting herself the way she is.


MM

Prehistoric Polish- Zoya Edition.

I thought it would be fun and interesting and hopefully helpful to swatch some old polishes. I'll be adding installments to this topic every so often. 

The thing with really old polish is that when you find it at beauty supply stores, salons or flea markets you really have no way to fact check it. What I mean by that is, there are usually no swatches or references online to compare your polish to in order to find out if it has been frankened, or what exactly has been done to it.

It's insanely common for nail salons to franken polish. They aren't being malicious or trying to decieve you, they simply want their polish area to look nice and they need to make room for more colors so they often pour mostly empty polishes into one bottle and stick it back on the shelf. This normally isn't a problem for everyday salon goers. They like a color on the rack, get a manicure with it and don't care what the polish name is or even think about whether it's a franken. 

The problem arises when a salon has a nail polish sale and a nail fanatic finds a hidden gem of a rare or discontinued polish on the racks, takes it home and looks it up to find it is not what it is supposed to be. Even worse, a blogger buys a franken, and brings it home to find there are no swatches of it, so puts her own swatches online and the whole nail comunity ends up with an incorrect reference.

There are lots of things that can happen to your polish before you buy it. It can be thinned, frankened or even straight up replaced with something else. So, for this reason please keep in mind that I have NO IDEA if the polishes and polish names I am showing when I swatch old polish are correct. 

My latest find at a lightly traveled beauty supply store was a hoard of old Zoyas! They had a crap ton of them but I only got three because it was extremely clear to me that they had been thinned half to death and I wasn't sure if I would even be able to use them. The store seriously thinned them to the consistency of WATER.

I was able to get them opaque enough for pictures (FIVE COATS EACH!!!) and I have got them all sitting out with the lids off to thicken them up. I'll be going back to get one of each color soon. 


They only had very light colors like nudes and whites but it's still cool, I think. I photographed each polish outdoors in direct sunlight and in the shade. Here are the swatches. I wish I knew how old these babies are!

 Shade.

Sun.

 Shade.

 Sun.

 Shade.

Sun.

Even though these colors aren't my style or taste I still think they are neat. It really is a testament to the quality of Zoya nail polish that these old polishes that have been through god knows what still held up to the test of time. They dried FAST and weren't gummy or goopey. They also had fantastic luster in their shimmer and shine.

LOVE, MM

A few more Finger Paints.

Last night I went back to Sally's to grab a few more Finger Paints. I am pretty sure I spotted another nail junkie while I was there. We're a mysterious and illusive species and you rarely see us in the light of day, but I feel like I have the knowledge to identify one of my own kind when I see one. 


She was a 20 something woman with neon green nails filed to perfection. I noticed this from 20 feet away the second she walked through the door at Sally's. Yeah, I always obsessively STARE at strangers until I get a glimpse of their nails. So what? Anyways, she walked in, looking down at the ground, and made a straight B line to the polishes. A dead giveaway. Then she ninja grabbed the China Glaze Crackle Haunting 4 pack that I had JUST PUT DOWN!!! DAMN IT! She instantly bought it and I cursed under my breath for the rest of the night for putting it down. 


So, fellow nail junkie who STRAIGHT UP STOLE the new China Glaze Halloween collection from me, I hope you like your new polish. PS- I licked the package. Enjoy your strep throat. I'm pretty sure I have a swollen lymph node.


When I checked out at the register the SA went out of her way to give me a free purse. I think that means I am spending too much money there. I ended up buying 3 new Finger Paints, a new Orly, Fresh, marked down to 1.99 and China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le. It's one of the only CG's in the core collection that I don't already have. So, I got it.


I'll go ahead and swatch all of my new ones even though the title of this post expressly says Finger Paints. Whatever. I do what I WANT!

 First up, this gorgeous hidden gem from China Glaze that I have somehow managed to ignore until now. So weird because I absolutely LOVE this color and I am wearing it right now. It's a little sheer but worth it.

Pretty redish purple. I really like this one. I have found that all the Finger Paints I have purchased dry super duper shiny. Mama likey!

HOLY SHIT! Dark blue super pigmented jelly with loads of super tiny pink shimmer. I LOVE THIS! I am so glad I got this one, I put it down 3 or 4 times.

 Here is another view of the polish above without flash to show the insane shine. Sooooo shiiiiiiiiiiiiinyyyyyyyyyyyy.

 Wow. A perfect lavender that does not make my skin look red. Love it.

 Last we have my clearance polish. I think they sold everything from this new collection but this one polish so they marked it down. I saw this last weekend and it was 6.99. It's a neon so it dries matte. Pictured here at 2 coats with no topcoat. I'm not crazy about this but I am fairly sure that for Halloween I'm wearing this with OPI Black Shatter on top because it looks CRAZY AWESOME.

Love, MM

Lessons From the Looney Bin- De-Pocket before you Paint!

 De-Pocket Before you PAINT!!!

It took me over a year to figure out this lesson. It's something that is SURE to happen about 5 seconds after the last brush stroke of your perfect mani. BAM! Your cellphone rings or a text comes in. WHERE is your cellphone? Of course it's deep in the pocket our your jeans or burried in the abyss of your purse. What happens next is a frantic attempt to fish out your phone withut ruining your nails which, let's be honest, is so impossible it's hilarious.

So... Before you paint your nails, remove your phone from your pocket or purse. Your mani ritual should go like this-

1- Choose polish.
2- Go Pee.
3- Locate cell phone and remove it from wherever it is WEDGED.
4- Paint nails.
5- Grin ear to ear over how brilliant you are.


HTH,
MM

My first Finger Paints.

 For some reason I have always resisted Finger paints polishes. No matter how much I have ever loved any of their colors I always told myself NO! I think I may have been scared to open the gates of collecting a whole new brand? Maybe it's because I don't have any space on my nail polish racks? I'm not sure, but that business has come to an end. This past weekend I bought my first 6 Finger Paints.

 LOVE! This smokey light green creme reminds me a lot of something else but I can't put my finger on it. Is this an Essie Sew psyched dupe minus the shimmer? I am fairly sure that if I searched my stash long enough I would find a dupe of this. I don't really care though.

 Drop dead gorgeous teal creme that leans blue. This one is a crowd pleaser for sure. It's my fiances fav out of all my polish purchases this fall and both of the girls went home wearing this last weekend.

 OMG!!! I must be dreaming! Super dark green creme that isn't streaky, doesn't get gummy, covers well, and dries fast??? I will be needing another bottle of this no doubt!

 This is my mani today. I adore this greenish bluish greyish creamy polish. This is a one coater.

This photo is showing the polish about 2 shades lighter than it is in person. I really like this red jelly but it takes a good 3 coats to get it to the opacity pictured and I still had visible nail line. 

 

I also picked up my first crackle ever! I have since gotten several more but I still really love this one.This is over To-Teally Chic. I am WAY behind on this whole crackle business.

Over all I really love Finger Paints. I think the name is so cute and the bottle is awesome. Good colors and formula. I am going back for more this weekend. I just wish they were cheaper. 

Love, MM 
 

China Glaze Metro Collection.

I love this collection SO MUCH I just had to post it. This is one of the rare China Glaze collections where I love almost all of the colors. Normally I have to have no more than 6 of a 12 piece set but for this collection I had my heart set on 9 of them!

I was so obsessed with these that for the first time ever I went to Sally's and paid retail for them so I could get instant gratification. For someone as cheap as me that is really saying something.

This collection is so incredible but for some odd reason the promo pictures and advertising are really misleading. In the promo pic the polishes are arranged in such a way that the collection really looks STANK. It looks like burnt oranges and nothing but reds. YUCK! They really screwed up with that photo. I am willing to bet this collection would have been 50% more popular had they pulled the purple, grey and green polishes to the front of the display in the photo and let the red and pink polishes hide in the back. 

The formula on these is amazing across the board. All the cremes except one are careful one coaters and 2 of the glitters cover in a mere 2 coats.

One of the reasons this collection is so mesmerizing to me is that the colors are super complimentary to one another. They look fantastic side by side making you feel like you need all of them. 

Swatches!!! Please keep in mind I am re-learning to photograph nail polish since it's been FOREVER!

Purple and silver micro glitters of a few different shades in a clear base. This is 3 coats. This one is my least favorite of the 9 I bought but I still like it. It's sort of different.

 I adore this dark grey creme with a hint of blue. This is my all time favorite grey creme. This is the only grey I own that doesn't make my skin look over the top red.

 This is an eggplant base with duochrome micro glitter. The glitter flashes from orange to lime green. This is 2 coats. Amazing color!Even though I mostly stick to cremes these days I really love this one and I can't wait to wear it.

 Another view.

 Simply stunning dark blue, almost navy blue jelly with loads of silver micro glitter. This is only 2 coats!!! This is a must have.

 Darkish pink creme. Nothing new but I really like this for a pink. It makes my skin look so creamy and fresh. I can actually see myself wearing this on purpose.

 Mustard yellow with subtle shimmer. I bought this because it's so different. It makes my skin tone look horrible but this is probably the only yellow polish I will ever wear. 2 coats.

 Really gorgeous red based purple creme. This is really pretty but not really unique. This one needs more coats than all the other cremes. It's a minimum 2 coater.

 My favorite polish of the collection. Sort of an army or olive maybe a camo green creme. This dries at least 2 shades darker than the bottle. I adore this color! It looks incredible with Urban Night and Concrete Catwalk. MUST BUY!!!

 I really LOVE this red. I am so into red polish lately, especially cremes, and even more especially "different" red cremes. This is kind of murky almost with a tint of grey. Dies super duper shiny and makes my skin tone look amazing. This is the best red to come out all year.

Some updates on yours truley. After an 8 year relationship I am finally ready to get married and I am currently deep in the trenches of wedding planning. Man, it's insane but a lot of fun. I have been on this crazy hardcore diet for the last 6 weeks and planning on staying on it until my wedding 16 months away. Wish me luck on that rediculous crap! Also, I got CHICKENS! Thats right, you heard me correctly. I have PET CHICKENS now. They are so entertaining and sweet! The super cool thing about my new chickens is that they should start laying eggs in about a month and I just figured out that the reason I have been so sick lately is that I am alergic to EGGS. AWESOME!  


I am so excited to be posting after so long! It's nice to be back! 

Love, MM