Lupus Awareness Day - Illamasqua Seance

Today we're wearing purple for Lupus Awareness Day. Lupus is an auto-immune disease that affects 6 million people worldwide. 9/10 of of people affected are women. Here is a document with some facts that my friend, Michelle, wrote up. It's really informative and it's well worth a read!

I have my newest purple polish, Illamasqua Seance. It's a pretty berry type purple that has a silver shimmer. It actually glows under a UV light but I don't have a UV light, so I can't demonstrate that effect for you!

My friend, Laurie (who is obsessed with suede mattes!) from Dressed Up Digits, thought this would look really good as a matte. It's semi-matte without a top coat, so I just added a thin layer of Seance over my existing mani and also added a matte top coat over another nail.

in the sun.

No top coat on pointer.

Matte top coat on middle.

Regular top coat on ring.

with flash.

I really love this. I couldn't quite capture the color of this, it's more pink than this but I love it anyway. This can currently be purchased at the Illamasqua site and at a few other places in the UK. Hopefully it will be available soon at Sephora in the US.

Dandy Nails Perspective

Today I have a very special polish for you! This is a custom made polish for Sheila over at Pointless Cafe. It's made by the amazing Sandy over at Dandy Nails! Whenever I see a polish that's this berry color, I immediately think of Sheila. This one has the added bonus of blue shimmer and micro flecks! It's gorgeous!

How beautiful is this??? I couldn't stop staring at it!!! The wear was pretty good on it, I believe I had it on for 4 days. This is a LE polish and not available in the shop. Here is Sheila's post about this polish. Her swatches are 10 times better than mine, so definitely go check them out. Dandy Nails is available at her etsy shop. Here is her Facebook page! Go like it for updates and new releases! And here is Sheila's Facebook page!

Tiffany Blue Comparison

For a long time, I was obsessed for finding a dupe for Chanel Nouvelle Vague because I didn't think I'd ever get my hands on it since it sells for crazy prices on ebay. The closest dupe I have is Mavala Lagoon but the color is kinda murky and I wasn't too impressed by it but accepted it as I wasn't paying the price for NV. Then, as if by magic, I received NV in the mail as a birthday present from an amazing group of friends. I won't list them all but they know who they are! I was shocked and amazed and overwhelmed and I love it long time. I wore it as my birthday mani (March 15th) and I put it on my toes for a while and it was everything I wanted it to be. But I kept wanting to do a comparison. I got H&M Norwegian Sky from Ashley as Smashley Sparkles as a belated birthday present and my friend, Marissa, sent me Julie G Shark's Cove as well and I knew it was time for the comparison! Here are the polishes I used:

Illamasqua Nudge, Chanel Nouvelle Vague, Mavala Lagoon,

Julie G Shark's Cove and H&M Norwegian Sky

And here is the comparison (sorry for the sloppy swatches!):

Thumb - Illamasqua Nudge

Pointer - Chanel Nouvelle Vague

Middle - Mavala Lagoon

Ring - Julie G Shark's Cove

Pinky - H&M Norwegian Sky

In my Julie G Shark's Cove post from yesterday, I said

that it was comparable to NV. I think the color is comparable

but obviously the shimmer sets it apart from each other.

Nudge and Norwegian Sky are too pastel to be similar to NV.  Lagoon is probably the closest but it's just that tiny bit different but at £3.50 it's worth it if you want something to satisfy that NV itch and can't afford to pay £75 for it on ebay. Shark's Cove is just beautiful, so if you have any of the others, you still need it.

Julie G Shark's Cove

Today I have for you the amazing Julie G Shark's Cove. This is a beautiful Tiffany type blue with an amazing silvery shimmer. I put this on Saturday because I was in the middle of cleaning and needed something on to protect my nails and thought this would be good and it'd last for a day and I'd just change it on Monday. This picture was taken on WEDNESDAY! This is after 5 days of straightening up rooms, doing dishes, cooking food, sweeping and washing floors, vacuuming, dusting, rearranging... you get the idea. I did a lot of cleaning.  And the only thing in these pictures is a bit of tip wear and a mysterious scratch that appeared on Tuesday. On to the pictures!

See? Amazing! My friend, Marissa, sent me this as a surprise last month. I love it so much! I think it's pretty comparable to Chanel Nouvelle Vague, so I'm going to try to do a comparison to them (and a few others) sometime soon! I believe this is available at Rite Aid in the states, not sure if it's available anywhere else and I've never seen it in the UK.

Lynnderella Garden of Even

For a long time, I kept saying that I'd never own a Lynnderella. This was partly because they were very hard to come by and I didn't want to have anything to do with the crazy store openings or having to deal with wish lists or anything like that. I got the Bride of Franken with a swap at the start of last year and I wasn't very impressed so I thought that would be the end of it. I don't like the crazy glitter mixes, especially when they're a bunch of different shaped glitter. But then I realized there actually were ones that I liked. I purchased The Stars in Her Eyes at Christmas time because I love the mini stars in it. The bigger stars in it are spare and so when they end up on the nail, I can get them off without a problem. Since then, I've gotten LavenDear as a gift from Sheila at Pointless Cafe and this week I got Garden of Even and Once in a Blue Rune (a surprise gift from my friend, Marissa) in the mail. I don't think I'll be going crazy for them but I do love the smaller glitters that are all pretty much the same shape and colors. So, what's this rant about, you ask? I don't know. I just felt like I needed to explain myself.

So, anyway, here's Garden of Even. I've been obsessed with this one since I first saw it. I purchased it and had it sent to Marissa and she had to send it on to me in the UK since the Lynnderella ebay store doesn't ship internationally. I surprised to see that this was in a pink base because I mainly focused on pictures that had been layered over a creme polish. I've layered it over Sinful Colors I Love You.

Not sure what's going on with the one stray silver glitter on my ring finger and pinky. Or why there is tip wear since I just put it on yesterday. Might have to do with the top coat. But other than that, I think this is gorgeous and I love it!!!

NerdLacquer I Aim To Misbehave

Today I have for you a polish from the infamous indie NerdLacquer. This is I Aim To Misbehave. I've put it over Chanel Fantastic (mostly because I had that on for a couple of days and I thought that I Aim To Misbehave would look nice over it!). Here's a quick shot of that with a flash (because I couldn't capture the shimmer any way else).

Now here is 1 coat of I Aim To Misbehave over Fantastic.

I Aim To Misbehave has officially become my 2nd favorite NerdLacuqer (after All of Time and Space). It's so much more complex than I could capture. It's a beautiful polish!

Even though NerdLacquer has recently come back, these are still pretty hard to get a hold of. I got mine from Ninja Polish but there are other stores selling it as well. Here is Ninja Polish's Facebook page and NerdLaquer's Facebook page to check for updates.

Sonoma Nail Art Science Experiment

Yesterday I go an EPIC package from my friend, Tina, who was sending over some polish for me and she also sent me some amazing extras.

Sonoma Science Experiment, China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots & Infa Red

Dior Colorvision Lilac, Chanel Taboo, Illamasqua Harem & Fragile

Julie G (if it has a name, I can't find it haha) Maybelline Intense Teal & Passionate Plum

I was really, really impatiently waiting for Taboo after seeing all the amazing swatches around. But once it got  here, I decided that since all my friends had already done Taboo swatches, I'd try the Sonoma instead. Here, I have it layered over Illamasqua Smash. Sorry for the poor cleanup but I really don't like doing cleanup. At all.

I LOVE this polish. I love all the Sonomas that I have. And they have an amazing wear time as well. They've always lasted at least 5 days on me. 

Sonoma Nail Art polishes can be purchased at this Etsy shop. Like the Facebook page to get updates for new shop opening and new products.