Holy Rainbow Rhinestones Batman!

I think this just might be my favorite manicure ever.  It's my NOTD and I am in freakin LOVE with it.

This took quite a while! WnW black creme dries super fast so I had to apply the rhinestones at the speed of light to get them to stick.  This was the whole reason I got rhinestones in the first place, so I could do a rainbow over black. Just as I suspected, it's AWESOME. I think I might set a record with wear time on this mani. I  just might rock this out through the weekend!

I know you want to copy me. Go ahead, I give you permission. 

Love, MM

Drugstore Deals- Confetti Swatches!

I love a great bargain and these new Confetti nail polishes certainly fit the bill. At $1.99 I can already tell these will be my new "go to" drugstore polishes, sorry sinful!

This is my favorite of the bunch I got. Such a unique green color! This is a yellow green jelly packed with what seems like green micro glass fleck glitter. It took 3 coats but it was totally worth it. Awesome name also. 

Gorgeous mauve creme. Yum! 2 coats.

I love this one. It's a dark pinkish purple creme. Also 2 coats. (all the cremes were 2 coaters!) This polish is almost a dupe for Nfu-oh 552, it's just a hair too purple.

Super vibrant dark cherry pink creme. LOVE. This sets off light skin tones like CRAZY. 

I think this one is my second favorite. I just adore these kinds of grey leaning purple polishes. This one was the most watery of all the cremes but it was still a 2 coater.

OMG! This is a really complex polish for $1.99! It's a dark purple/blue jelly jam packed with 3 different colors of shimmer. Bright blue, purple and pink. This one was 3 coats. 

Overall these polishes are freaking amazing for the money. The cremes are all smooth 2 coaters that are super easy to control. The glitters are complex and unique, and the brand has an awesome color selection for a drugstore polish. This particular brand is carried by CVS stores. 

The only problem I had with these was that out of the 6 I bought, 2 of them had messed up brushes. That is REALLY bad odds. Especially bad odds when you consider that out of the 125 or so China Glazes I own, I have never come across one with a messed up brush. Certainly not a deal breaker but it's something to consider. 

Love, MM

Sparkly

This was my "cheer me up" NOTD today. It kinda worked...I was a good girl and left it on all day long which is about impossible for me to do. I usually have 5 or 6 NOTDs before bedtime rolls around. 

This is China Glaze Heli-yum with lots of tiny little rhinestones I just got in the mail yesterday. I ordered a shit ton of them off ebay last week. I can't wait to try these on black. I love this polish BTW, this is one single coat. 

I just got back from CVS where I returned SH HD LASER. The checkout lady asked me what was wrong with it and I said, "It sucks ass".  She then opened the polish and tested the brush out by swiping it on the rim of the bottle about 15 times. Then she started to peer into the bottle opening to see if it was all used up...So I was like, "the bottle is clear". She continued to strain her eyes looking down into the tiny bottle opening as if she hadn't heard me at all. I let her go about her investigation for at least 5 whole minutes before I lost my cool. 

Loosing my cool consisted of shifting my weight from side to side, making a very mean face, and huffing and puffing REALLY LOUDLY. She eventually gave me back my 6 dollars but She left me with so many questions. Do I really look like some sort of nail polish criminal? Does she think I skulk from CVS to CVS using up nail polishes and returning empty bottles for full refunds? Do I look like the kind of person that runs a nail polish smuggling ring out of my apartment, victimizing drug stores all over the east coast?  Was she really too stupid to realize that nail polish bottles are CLEAR?

While I was at CVS I got 6 of the new confetti polishes that look very promising. I also hit Walgreens while I was out and got some Sinfuls. So, I'll have swatches of those soon.

Love, MM

The Great Misa haul 2010 - part 3

Click here for part two.

So here's the deal.  I am becoming more hostile toward my new Misas by the day. Last night I sat and scowled at them while surfing the net for over an hour. I want to punch them in the face. I should have let it go by now but all I keep thinking about is what I could have gotten instead of these crappy Misas. With all the new collections coming out containing polishes I HAVE TO HAVE it's easy to get overwhelmingly bitter about this bad purchase. 

It's not like I can sell them now. I already told the world how much they suck ass. So what am I supposed to do, try and peddle them off on you guys for a dollar a pop and ruin my ability to sleep at night? Yeah right. I can't make up my mind what to do with them.  They certainly can't stay sitting here on my new desk rack starring at me and ruining my day each time I glance over at them. I have thought of emptying them and saving the bottles for frankens and such but that idea pisses me off because it just emphasizes what a waste of money this was.  I am not sure what to do on this one guys. I also thought about pouring them out and pouring in other polishes I love but hate the bottles, like Milanis. I can't freakin STAND gold handles! I hate gold so much I want to buy it all up and throw it in the ocean never to be seen again. But then some jerk would just find it all and get rich selling it back to everyone all around me and I would be stuck looking at it again. 

I wish Misa did a polish exchange...

Extreme frost and brush stroke alert. This was 2 coats. This is just so ugly, so very ugly.  I have renamed it "wet hairball".

Super brush strokey pinkish coral shimmer. 3 coats.

Medium tone berry red with loads of gold shimmer. Why does this have to be so PRETTY in the bottle? This was 3 coats.

Check out this masterpiece. Misa really did a great job on this gem. WTF? This is a yellowish clear base with pink shimmer. Seriously? This is FOUR coats of polish.

Okay. I actually kinda like this one. It was a 2 coater and even though it's frosty it isn't too brush strokey. I might actually wear this. MIGHT.

WHY? What is the purpose of these super sheer polishes Misa? This is FOUR coats once again...Is it just me or does the name tick you off?  Because guess what, when my nails look like this I am not going to be LOUNGING anywhere. I am going to be working feverishly on a new freakin manicure! "lounging by the pool" sounds care free and dreamy. What the hell is carefree about a polish that is still sheer after 4 coats?  This should be called "lounging in the salon" while I get a new freakin polish put on, or maybe "lounging in a dark corner" because I don't want anyone to see my hideous nails. God I wanted to like this one SO BAD.

I absolutely adore this. This is a creamy coral that borders being a jelly. This was 2 coats. So glad I got this one.

Another good one. It's still not as pretty on the nail as it is in the bottle but guess what chickas?  This is one single coat! HURRAY!

Love, MM

Speechless

There are no words...

This photo was taken indoors, in a semi well lit room. No sun. I'm afraid to take it in the sun. I think it might jump off my nails and steel my car or something crazy.

Love, MM

Messing around: kinda sorta rainbow tips, and another stamping attempt

I thought this was a super cute look. Not for ME personally but I will definitely try this out on my step daughters! I was only messing around, it's not like I am going to wear this out or anything...I am way too hardcore for rainbow tips ok. Srsly. 

I am lying. I will so totally rock this out!

Stamping attempt number 4...Zoya Blair with screwed up, cut off, mangled stars in Orly Dazzle.  This is the best one yet. Perhaps there is hope for me and stamping? Maybe a smidgen? I'm going to keep trying dang it!

Love, MM

Thanks for the free swatches Sally.

GAH!

Why can't I learn my lesson about Sally Hansen?  I saw the new HD polishes at CVS last night for the first time and about DIED over Laser. I mean it's about the most beautiful thing ever in the bottle under the florescents at CVS.  Then the advertisement photo really did me in.  I stood there with Laser in my hand looking at the picture above the display, marveling at the blue and purple rainbow effect, literally WHINING. I was whining like a 6 year old in the candy isle, for REAL. I ended up leaving without it, then begging my fiance in the safety of the car to buy it for me.  I then took his $6.50 and went BACK in CVS to buy it. 

Laser will officially be the first nail polish I TAKE BACK.  WTF Sally? Why did I have to actually loose count of the amount of coats this polish took to even get CLOSE to bottle color? Was it 4 coats? Was it 5?  I DON'T EVEN KNOW.  Not to mention WHERE IS THE PURPLE???? Seriously, the purple that shows up in the display picture and even in the bottle is NOWHERE to be seen on the nail. NOWHERE!

I NEVER spend more than $2 on drug store polish as a rule.  And now I have learned my lesson for breaking that rule. I mean COME ON. $5.99 for this sheer, false advertising, waste of time? That is enough for 2 China Glazes or 3 sinful colors people.  That is half the cost of an Nfu-oh for god sakes! 

Observe:

Here it is in the shade. Don't be fooled dudes. It only SEEMS opaque in the shade. I kinda see the purple in the bottle...but none on the nail. OK lets try some sunshine.

Okay now I really see the purple in the sides of the bottle...and guess what else I really see? I really see RIGHT THROUGH THE POLISH.

Lets try some flash action...  Still no purple.

How about some REALLY bright sunlight. Nope. No purple. See how SHEER this stupid thing is? This is 4-5 coats! The only reason you can't see through the polish on all my nails is because the bottle is behind them.

I am seriously going to drive the 20 mins back to CVS and return this ONE polish, but thanks for the free swatches Sally!

Love, MM

The Great Misa haul 2010 - part 2

Click here for part one.

In light of how incredibly negative and disappointing yesterdays swatches were I decided to go ahead and swatch some of the better Misas today. Of course this leaves me with basically nothing but crap to swatch for the next two posts, but whatever.  I'm going against my better judgment by not saving these to mix in with all the stank swatches, but I'm in a good mood today and I don't feel like complaining so here are most of the "good ones" from my haul. 

I'm totally in love with this.  It's a well pigmented berry colored jelly.  It looked AWESOME on my very pale skin. This isn't just a boring berry polish, there is something about it, something unique I can't quite describe.  This was 2 coats.

Aqua shimmer that has a greenish flash.  This was 3 coats. It's a super sheer and overdone color but still a pretty polish.

This is a horrible photo.  This polish is actually a true orange with redish shimmer but my camera just wanted to pick up the red in the shimmer and ignore the orange. This is a pretty unique color IMO and one of the only oranges I own because I freakin hate orange.

Gorgeous medium purple shimmer. But guess what cowgirls, it took 4 coats to get my nails to bottle color, FAIL.

This is a dark nude shimmer. I like it.  It's a little brush strokey but manageable.  This was a 2 coater, but aren't koalas GREY?

I have posted this before but it deserves a repost.  Listen up! If you are pale like me and cannot wear light purples and lavenders because they make your hands look red and disgusting THIS IS YOUR PURPLE.  This color complimented my light skin tone and is absolutely gorgeous.

I want to call this a dark coral creme but it leans more towards a berry tone.  This one is also very pigmented and required only 2 coats. Love.

Your basic metallic silver.  This is a 3 coater. It was brush strokey when wet but they seemed to settle out as it dried. I'm glad I got this one.

I hope you enjoyed these swatches because it's gonna be rough waters from here on out people.

Love, MM

NOTD

I have this new obssesion with wearing polish only on the tips of my nails ever since I FINALLY got my stains out.  I have been wearing nothing but naked nails and colored tips for like a week and a half now.  I absolutely love how it looks for some reason.  I also love applying seche vite over my bare nails. For some odd reason it makes me feel cool.

Today I decided to wear a glitter over my naked nails before painting the tips and I think it looks pretty neat.

This is my beloved Orly Royal Navy and a base coat of China Glaze fairy dust. Before Royal navy came out there was only ONE blue that could come this close to my heart and that was Nfu-oh 557, Royal navy and 557 have the same exact base color except the nfu-oh is a jelly and lacks the AWESOME turquoise shimmer. The Nfu-oh is still my favorite polish of all time though.  Please excuse my STAINED ring finger. If you would like to know it was China Glaze paper chasing that stained my nail like that.  I had it on for about an hour while I was comparing greens... Oh yeah, that is my seche vite in that extreme wear bottle. I always keep it in that type of bottle because I love the brush, you should try it.

It feels so odd to have any part of my nail exposed because I'm so used to hiding my stains. Wearing them naked is so addicting!   I can't get myself to paint my whole nail anymore now that I have gone naked and felt the breeze on mah fingas! FYI My favorite so far has been black tips.  If you are wondering how I got my stains out I tried everything man! Finally the solution was 10 denture whitening tablets in about 1/2 cup of warm water and soaking my nails in it for over an hour.

Love, MM

The Great Misa haul 2010 - part 1

Actually there really isn't anything all that great about the huge freakin' Misa spree I went on last week.  Since I ordered online and my mission was to haul ALL the older Misas I have been eyeballing for months, I basically had nothing to go by but those USELESS color dots.  I did my homework and googled each and every polish I bought but there aren't really any swatches out there of round label Misas...I looked at this as sort of a good thing because, " hey, I'm going to swatch them, so maybe I can be a resource and help out some people looking to haul old Misas as well".  All I can say about that ridiculously STUPID idea is YOUR WELCOME.  I once again have taken one for the team.

I basically ended up with a huge pile of polishes that looked 100% NOTHING like what I *thought* I had ordered.  I was almost in shock as I sat and looked at the wreckage that was and is my saddest haul to date.  Somehow my order consisted mainly, like 80%, of two colors,  dark redish brown and light brown. 

I had no idea Misa had so many liquidy, sheer ass, light freakin brown polishes, but somehow I bought them ALL. 

Don't even get me started on the pile of nearly identical dark reds I ended up with... 

I am trying to stay positive as I swatch all these disappointing polishes but it's very hard.  I think Misa must have gotten a new quality control department since these older polishes came out. I adore current Misa polish but these older ones are SUPER SUCKY batman. OMG some of them are so sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer I could barely swatch them. 

I hauled some newer Misa as well so I am going to mix them in randomly to try to keep the SUCK at a minimum as I post all these older pieces of junk. I'm just a little bitter. Can you tell?  It might be hard to pick up on. I even bought a special acrylic table rack JUST for all my pretty new Misas..Awww how sweet of me. I have to admit there were a few diamonds amongst the rough, just not enough of them to outweigh all the crap.

I know what you're thinking. I am being totally over dramatic about this. You're right by the way. It's not all that bad and overall I'm glad I got what I got... kinda.  I just can't help myself from blowing things way out of proportion, it's my nature. 

Gah, this is so pretty in the bottle and in swatches I've seen of it.  Just check out how freakin sheer this is at THREE COATS. So annoying.

Again, super gorgeous in the bottle but at three coats it's just "ok".

I kinda like this. It was sheer and took three coats though.

What about this polish says "chocolate"? Oh yeah, NOTHING. This "gorgeous in the bottle but boring on the nail" crap is about to drive me nuts. I swear these aren't all the SAME polish just pictured under different lighting, even though that's what it looks like. 

I like this one despite it's misleading name.  I think this one was a 2 coater.

This was one of the "diamonds" I ended up loving.  It's a watermelon colored jelly. This is three freakin coats.

At least this one is named properly. It's a pinkish nude with blue and pink shimmer. A 2 coater, FINALLY.

What a piece of crap this is.  Three coats of this polish and I can barely tell I'm wearing anything at all. Super disappointing as I was really looking forward to this one based on the color dot. Lesson learned.

What do you all think about these 8 Misas? Am I crazy or Amirite? 

Love, MM

Summer nails and FAILS

I've been feeling a bit off lately so naturally my nail painting patterns have followed suit. This has resulted in me painting my nails all sorts of summery pastels and impulse buying all kinds of super girly rhinestones and nail art thingies on ebay. One of the things I got is a nail art stamping kit. Yeah, I've had konad before and gave up after 3 tries but I bought it AGAIN to give it another go. Before we get into the horrific FAILS I have captured on film let me get all these cutesy summer pictures out of the way. 

It all started out innocently enough as seen above.  I actually really love Jasmine. But sooner or later things always seem to take a turn for the worse when it comes to pastels and me. 

This is Misa Push up bra with craptastic chevron tips in Misa's shake it to the samba.

Here we have Misa Jester ate the king cake with Misa Blame it on fat tuesday.  Borderline fail.

Okay. Now let's see what happens when Manatee Mama feels a little under the weather and is high on dayquil for a week. 

Sweet lord.  This is my first attempt at stamping. Feast your eyes on the fail people. 

If you can see past the neon yellow ring fingernail check out the horrid color combo and terrible stamping application...This was attempt number 2. 

HOLY CRAP.  This is what happens when you get fed up with failing at stamping and try some free hand nail art instead. Notice the smeared ring finger and tacky 3-D flower. Yes, I bought those flowers on PURPOSE in 4 different colors.  I guess four different pastels painted with mix matched chevrons just wasn't QUITE summery enough for me, OH NO. I need a 3-D flower with a little jewel in the center to REALLY say summer with my nails. Sad.

I hope you all learn something from this.  Cheers to summertime nails applied using a healthy amount of RESTRAINT.  

Love, MM

Some China Glaze Love

Some old and some newer. I hope you enjoy the swatches! 

 Love, MM