Model's Own Spam

Hello everybody! SNOW DAY #5 today whoo! New Jersey has been CRAZY these past few days! I have some Model's Own polishes to share today that I picked up when I was in London last spring. I have 1 creme and 4 glitters, 3 of which are from the mirrorball collection. These are all kinda old, I never really got a chance to wear them though. I had to change the light setup for these pics to get the glitters to show up better, so please don't mind the messed up pics :/

China Glaze-Light As Air

Hey guys! Happy Tuesday, how is everyone? It's suuuper hot over here, we're kinda going through this thing called a HEAT WAVE.*insert expletives here* I am like so sweaty and gross right now from walking home from camp. One perk though is that I bought some nail polish on the way home! Yay me. Also I saw this reeeaaally cute little deer cross the street and SHE WAS SO CUTE!!!!! She was all little and stuff. I named her Bambi. Haha I'm really original.
So today's color is this pretty purple, China Glaze-Light As Air. It's a light lavender leaning purple creme polish and it applies like a dream!

The formula on this was uber nice and creamy. It was basically only one coat, but I just used two to even it out a bit. In real life this polish is a little brighter/lighter, not this greyish. But the pics are pretty accurate. How weird is that normally it's the other way around!My camera usually makes dusty colors look too bright but now it's like reversed. Lol. 

That's all I have for today guys! I've actually got other stuff to do today *gasp* that does not include watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer *bigger gasp* I'm leaving for China on Friday so I have to actually start packing...maybe. And I've got some gifts to make for family and stuff so yeah. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post when I'm in China, so we'll see. If I can't you'll just have to survive without me for 2 weeks. Oh the horror! In fact, most of August I'm not even going to be around, so...I dunno. We'll see.
Thanks for reading everyone!
~Nova

Kill Bill Nail Art

Hi fellow humans demons and vampires how is everyone? Hope you're all having a good weekend. I finished Buffy the Vampire Slayer the other night, sigh, many tears were shed...Can't believe the most amazing show ever to grace the mystical land of tv is over :( So, to cheer myself up, I resorted to one of my feel good movies, Kill Bill. No you read that right. Kill Bill is a serious feel good movie for me. I used it to get over Buffy because, well, I needed to see more blonde kickass women. And who better than the lovely Beatrix Kiddo to do that for me? (Sorry spoiler alert there). So without further ado, here comes the bride.

So what do you think? Some nice blood and gore and cutting off of limbs is enough to make anyone get over, well...anything! The yellow base is Sally Hansen-Mellow Yellow and the red used for the blood is Essie-She's Pampered.

These nails were super easy to do. I used the brush from the bottle of black polish to make the stripe. To do the blood spatter I took a skinny straw, like one of those coffee stirrers, dipped it in the red, then just blew through the other end!

It's sorta funny cuz I had to do a couple practice spatters before feeling confident enough to do my nails. But honestly they were so easy! The only thing is, silly me probably should have taped around the edges of her nail before blowing polish onto them...I think I spent more time cleaning my fingers than actually doing my nails! 

I also thought I'd include some swatches of Sally Hansen-Mellow Yellow on its own because it's such a pretty yellow! It's a little more muted in real life than in these pictures, but it's my favorite shade of yellow! And I don't really wear yellow, honestly I only have like 3 yellow polishes, in comparison to my at least 20 blues and greens! Mellow Yellow is a super pretty yellow creme, and in my opinions the word mellow is the perfect way to describe it!

The formula was a little sheer, I'm wearing 3 coats in these pictures to get it nice and opaque. 

So here's the poster I used for my nail art inspiration:

I really liked doing these blood spatter nails. I think I'm gonna end up doing more splatter nail art in the future!

So for those of you who read my blog you'd know that this is right about the part where I would post pictures of Kill Bill and make funny references about them. I tried to stray away from the bloody ones.

But I mean honestly, can you blame me for using this movie to get over my immense sadness? And just to include one of my favorite scenes from the movie that's not totally R rated

Sigh Lucy Liu...

And I'd just like to say that Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all its amazing characters, even the evil ones, will forever have a place in my heart as the best show the tv world has ever seen.

Thanks for reading guys and I'll see you next time!

~Nova

Orly-Snowcone

Hello readers! How's everyone's week been goin so far. I've been havin a swell time up in New Hampshire but I am leaving today :( It's been so nice up here, yesterday I went hiking with my mom, and it was actually a lot of fun! Tomorrow Imma be goin back to camp...back to all that normal life stuff. Ugh.

So today's featured polish is Orly-Snowcone. It's a nice dusty shade of light blue, it's not quite as bright as it appears in these pictures. This is just such a gorgeous color, especially on me and my skin tone. Greyed out dusty colors just look good on me! Don't make my hands looks all red or ghosty or anything. Yay!

The formula on this was EXCELLENT!!! It was one coat, smooth and perfect and awesome. The only thing is that it got a little streaky you can see on my ring finger and I probably should have smoothed that out with another coat. But other than that blip it's like the most awesome formula ever. The application is smooth and not runny and opaque and ugh I'm pretty sure this polish dropped out of nail polish heaven!

That's all I've got today guys! I should have some nail art for y'all towards the end of the week if I get the chance. I've been thinking about doing nail art more often, you know not just once a week. Lately I tend to get sick of a design if I've been wearing it for more than like 2 days. I have some real fun designs planned/stored up in my dusty old brain, so should be fun!
Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll see you all next time!
~Nova

Essie-Maximillian Strasse Her

Hello readers how is everyone on this lovely Tuesday morning? The weather over in NH is just sooo nice! It's breezy and cool and the fresh air is just so..fresh...does that make sense? Lol it's just really refreshing here. I'm going hiking later in the afternoon so that should be fun. I haven't been hiking in a really long time. I used to love it. 

To match the intense love of nature that I am feeling right now, today's color is green! Essie-Maximillian Strasse Her is a beautiful dusty muted greyed out green. Which of course means my camera is really not capturing this color accurately because, well, it fails at those dusty tones. In real life this shade is darker with more grey in it. 

And please ignore the dry as a desert state of my cuticles in these pictures. Ugh I shudder just looking at them.

The formula on this was quite nice. It was a little streaky on the first coat but it was nice and opaque by the second. It had a very smooth and even application and flowed onto the nail very well. That sounds weird...but you know what I mean!

Essie polishes are available at CVS, Target, and other drug stores for about $8 a piece.
That's all I've really got for today guys. I'm off to my date with Netflix and reruns of Doctor Who. Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time!
~Nova

Butter London-Bossy Boots

Hey fellow nail obsessors! Wow I didn't know that was actually a word...obsessors...hm. Happy Monday! Doesn't feel like a Monday really because I'm still in New Hampshire and I'm not going to camp or anything. My mom has conferences in the morning and evening so I basically just hang around watching movies and Netflix-ing on her computer. And blogging. That too.
Today's color is suuuuuuper purdy. I got it a while back around Christmas time, it's Butter London-Bossy Boots. I have to say I reeeeaaaallllly love this color! This is probably one of my favorite greens in my collection! It's a very spring color to me, I probably should have used it more in the spring. These photos are a little too yellow toned, it's a little bit greener in real life. It's really more of a pistachio green. It's actually an exact pistachio green. Like, this is exactly the color I think of when someone says pistachio green. Also can we take a minute to get over what an amazing word pistachio is. Pistachio. Pistachio. Ok I'm done.

The formula on this was very nice, all my Butter London's have really nice formulas. The application was smooth and creamy and beautiful. It was a little streaky on the first coat but perfect by the second coat, which is what I'm wearing.

I have to say I'm really in love with Butter London polishes. The formulas are just so nice! The only thing I don't like is that the brushes are freaking tiny and they don't spread out very well. Like they're kinda stiff. Which I guess is good for some people, but for me those super skinny/stiff brushes make it hard to get a nice round cuticle, which you can probably see in the pictures. I dunno, maybe that's just my problem.

Butter London polishes cost $14, so yeah, they're quite a pretty penny, and you can find them in department stores like Nordstrom and Macy's or beauty retailers like Sephora or Ulta.
Ok I lied I'm totally not done:

Now I'm done. Promise. 
Teehee
K guys thanks for reading and bearing through my pistachio fetish.
Byee
~Nova

OPI-Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?

Hello everybody! Hope you're all having a nice week so far. I've been enjoying my summer camp, except for the long walk home :( Good news though yesterday I got to blow some of my money on nail polish! Yay! I got a few Essie's, and I don't really remember being a huge Essie fan, but all of a sudden I noticed how many Essie's I had in my collection and I was like woah! I'm also like super exhausted and sweaty as a write this because I've been biking a lot recently. My friend and I have been going on these daily bike rides, we average about 11 miles a day, it's crazy fun but it's soooo tiring!
Today's polish isn't Essie though, but it is one of my favorite colors, OPI-Did You'Ear About Van Gogh. Can we just take a second to laugh and marvel at the name of this polish? I swear I'm pretty sure I bought this just for the name.

The second I said this was one of my favorites you could probably figure it was a nude polish:P I am such a sucker for nudes/tans/off whites. This nude leans more in the tan department, it's a nice light tan with yellow undertones. 

This polish is from I think the Dutch collection from a couple years ago. I could be wrong though, but I know this polish is a little "old".
God it's so pretty! Reminds be of another favorite, Zoya-Farah. 

Didn't hurt that the formula on this was like utter perfection! Almost a one coater, for people with small nails this is definitely a one coater. I needed two just to smooth out a couple areas, but the formula was actually flawless.
OPI polishes cost about $8-9 and you can buy them in beauty retailers and in places like Target.
That's it for today guys! I'm planning a couple of fun posts for the future so stay tuned! Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!

Essie-Lilacism

Hi everybody! How was everyone's Tuesday? My summer camp started yesterday. It's pretty fun, it's an art summer program and there are only 2 other girls in the class! Which may sound awkward but I LOVE small classes. Plus the teacher's nice. Plus I can stop in down town and buy nail polish on the way home. Which is the best part :P I actually did this same program last year and did a still life oil painting of some of my nail polish bottles. But that will never be shown...because I hate it :0
Today's nail polish color is kinda an oldie, at least for my collection, Essie-Lilacism. It's a very pretty sorta dusty light blue. The pictures are making it look WAY brighter than it really is! My camera can never capture these dusty colors properly. If you want a better idea of what Lilacism actually looks like you can check out my flower outline nails here. 

The picture below is probably the more color accurate of the two, though it's still a tad brighter than the real shade. but just a tad ;)
It's funny because in my opinion, this color isn't lilac at all! It is DEFINITELY a light blue! I've seen other pictures of this shade and all of them lean more purple, but for some odd reason mine is just totally blue. Not that I'm complaining; it's a super pretty blue :)

The formula on this was kinda sheer and it was pretty streaky on the first 2 coats. You can still see a little bit of streakyness in the pictures. I'm wearing 3 coats here, a couple of the nails needed a fourth, but I think you can get away with just 3.
Essie is available in most drug stores like CVS or Walgreens, and also in Target and retail for about $7-8.
Overall I REALLY love this color even if it's not really a lilac. I prefer this color to a lilac polish anyway. That's all for today guys thanks for reading!

OPI-Berlin There, Done That

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a nice fourth of July. I just kinda chilled at home...watched some Buffy the Vampire Slayer...fun stuff. 

So today's post is gonna be a short one. The color I have for you all is OPI-Berlin There, Done That. It's from their Germany collection, and it's like one of my favorite colors!

Berlin There Done That is a lovely taupy putty-ish brown creme, I don't really know how to describe it! It leans towards brown, but it's a very warm looking brown, it's soft and mellow. It has some purple undertones in it, which I think is what makes it look this nice and warm. I love warm browns with purple undertones like this. I have at least 2 more polishes like it. 

This is a brown polish, but I sorta file it under the "nudes" category, just because I can use it as a background for any color and it goes with everything. My thinking process is a little weird like that. 

Let me not forget to mention the flawless formula on this one! Perfectly opaque in 2 coats, probably one if you have smaller nails. Let me also just say right now how much I LOVE those OPI brushes! I understand why some people with tiny little nails don't like them, but for me, they are just so perfect! It's just like smooth, even coverage in only 2-3 strokes. And it just covers the nail so well! God I promise OPI didn't pay me to say this, I just love their brushes so much! 

OPI retails for around $8-9, although my local drug store totally rips me off by charging $9.50 a bottle. All their nail polish is overpriced. But I chose not to bring it up. You can buy OPI in most beauty retailers like Ulta, and in places like Target or CVS.

Ok guys that's all I have for today. Happy Friday, and if I don't get to post over the weekend have a nice weekend everybody!

Ciate-Apples and Custard

Hello everyone! How is everyone's week going? I've been lounging around the house, enjoying my free time...watching Firefly till my head explodes from the sexiness of Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion). So sad there are only 14 episodes :( I'm going to have to keep watching these episodes over and over again until I get enough...
So today's color is Ciate-Apples and Custard. I picked this up when I was in London several months ago. It's a UK brand, so shipping to the US is MONSTROUS! I got lucky when I saw them in this department store my mom and I were in. They had quite a few colors there, but I was kind of on a budget and only got one, the only that really called out to me. Of course, it was green (I am such a sucker for green. I have more green polishes in my collection than any other color).

Apples and Custard is a lovely spring green, but not the same as Illamasqua-Nomad, which is a bit lighter and brighter. Apples and Custard is a little grey toned, though less so in real life than in these pictures. These pictures are showing it a little darker than they really are.

And I just love those bottles! That's one of the main reasons I wanted a Ciate polish so bad, just look at that awesome bottle shape! And the little bow... *dies* it's so cute!

Unfortunately the formula on this was a little less than ideal. It was REALLY streaky and kind of lumpy, which is weird because I've worn this polish before and don't remember it being so lumpy. Maybe I just applied it bad this time around, but I'm wearing 4 (!) coats in these pictures, and it needed all 4 coats to be even and smooth. But I think some of that was my fault, I was kind of rushing :-/, and if I applied it more carefully I could probably get away with 3 or 2 coats. It would be a pity of the formula on this was really that bad, because in the US these retail for about $15. It's a high end brand man! 

You can buy Ciate polishes in certain Sephora stores, and on their website.

Well that's all for today guys! I have to go board the Serenity and fly around space now...yay!

Teehee Malcolm Reynolds

Oh and uh...my new catchphrase

Julep-Eloise

Hello everyone! Happy first day of summer! Hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather! Today's post will be a short one cuz I gotta run to a birthday party after this. The polish I'll be showing you all today is Julep-Eloise. This is a nice blue-grey creme. It's a very soft looking shade, but dark at the same time. I love colors like this.

These photos are showing the color a little darker than in real life. While the polish does apply a little darker than bottle color, it's not as dark as these pictures. It's hard to see the grey undertones in these pictures, but it's definitely there!

 The formula on this was a little streakier than expected, but not too bad. I used 2 coats for these pictures. For most polishes I wouldn't be upset about having to use 2 coats, but seeing as Julep bottles are FREAKING TINY(see picture below) and are als FREAKING EXPENSIVE, I kinda hoped it would only require one coat. I was sort of hesitant about swatching my Juleps, because I didn't want to waste them! They dry pretty fast, and also nice and shiny. These pictures do not have top coat.

The bottle color in this picture is closer to what the polish looks like on the nail. It's really pretty! I love smoky grey looking colors.
Julep costs $14 (!!) each(!!!!!) for a bottle that only has .27 fl oz, which is about half of a normal bottle (!!!!!) I did get all my Juleps on a sale though, when I first signed up on their website. It's kind of complicated, but I got 4 bottles for about $10 (!) and then 2 more later. But I'm not going back to that site and paying $14 for a teeny tiny bottle. 
You can find Juleps on their website, and at places like Sephora.
That's it for today's post have a good rest of the day!

Zoya Kristen

Hello everyone! Glad it's Friday? Took my chem exam today, totally aced it! Jk I had no clue about a couple of the questions, but that's my chem teacher for ya! Just throw some random topic we've never covered on the exam, it's k.
So today's polish is a nice faded pink/purple color (leans more pink in my opinion) Zoya-Heather

Heather is a really nice color on my skin tone. It's nice and soft and doesn't make my hands look sickly. It's sort of looks lavender in this picture but it is a little more pink in real life. 

This picture also looks too lavender, the pink just really doesn't want to show up in these pictures! The formula was very nice, it was a little runny but it was nice and opaque by 2 coats. 
Zoya polishes cost $8 on their website. 

Color Club-Coral Cascade

Woah check out the alliteration in the title! I don't know why but it reminds me of "I would like to partake in your pecan pie" :P

Aaaaanyway... today's post is just a simple nail polish, Color Club-Coral Cascade. It is pretty coral-y color, but it leans more orange. I would definitely put it in the orange family. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect coral polish, with the perfect balance of pink and orange...

The formula on this was alright. It was rather thin and streaky, though it eventually evened itself out. It tends to apply streaky, but then it smooths out and is smooth when it dries...does that make sense? You can see a bit of lumpiness and stuff on my pinky. I'm using 3 coats in these pics.

Unfortunately this is real ugly color on my skin tone. I've never been one for reds or oranges. I do use this color for nail art at times though cuz it's pretty, just not on me :(
Color Club polishes can be found at beauty retailers, I got mine at Harmon's. I think it cost $7? I could be wrong.
That's all for today thanks for reading!

Zoya Farah and some glitter!

Hi everyone! So today, instead of studying for finals which I should have been doing :/ I decided to paint my nails. This was a fairly simple rush job, but I thought I would post it anyway. It started with a color a picked up recently, Zoya-Farah. I LOVE this color! Have I ever mentioned how much I loved neutrals like this?

This is such a nice color, it's a sort of tannish color with the ever so slightest tint of an olive green in there. Zoya always puts out such beautiful colors! The formula was also lovely on this, it was definitely a one coater, but I always like to do 2 coats of polish. With smaller nails, a second coat really wouldn't be necessary! 

Now I can never go out with just a plain color on my nails (it's so, yaknow, plain) so I decide to try one of the new untried glitters I have. This is Model's Own-Freak Out! and it's from their Mirrorball collection, which is a collection of 5 crazy fun glitters. Model's Own is a UK brand, so when I was in London a couple months ago, I was excited to get my hands on some of their polishes. I ended up buying 4 in total, and 3 of them are from the Mirrorball collection. I'll be posting those at a later date. 

Freak Out! is a mix of dark fuchsia (lol I had to check the dictionary on how to spell fuchsia I can never get it right!) hexagon shaped glitter, larger dark blue glitter, and teal shard and bar glitter. The bar glitter is slightly holographic but you can't really see it.

 The glitter applied super nicely in one relatively thick coat, and only a little bit of dabbing was required. The only thing I don't like is that it dries SUPER slow, even with a fast drying topcoat. I did a gradient on my ring finger and thumb(I love accent nails!), and by the tips of the nail where I have like 3 coats of the glitter is still not dry and it's been like 30 minutes! Maybe I'm just impatient :P

   Zoya polishes cost $8 on their website (and I've never been able to find them in any stores!) and the Model's own were £10 I think, but you can't buy them in the US :(

So that's it for today, hope everyone enjoys the rest their week!

Illamasqua Nomad

Hi happy Friday! Any weekend plans? I'm just hangin with some friends tonight, then really doing nothing over the weekend. Today's post is of one my favorite colors Illamasqua-Nomad. I got this, along with another Illamasqua, from Sephora around Christmas with a coupon, I basically got it for free. I haven't tried it really since then, and I don't know why, because the color is gorgeous! 

These pics are in sunlight. I bumped my index finger so it's just not in these pics. The formula on this was perfect:nice and creamy,(which is expected of a polish that costs $15!) I'm wearing two coats in these pictures. They also dried to sort of a matte/satiny finish, so these pics have one coat of Seche Vite on top.

 I have lot's of photos of this, it's just so pretty! It's a perfect spring green, in my opinion. 

Ack my hands look really red in these picture :/

These are in the shade. I think the shade pictures are a little more color accurate.

I can't wait to do some nail art or water marble or something with this color it's BEAUTIFUL! I think it might be my favorite green in my collection!

Illamasqua polishes cost I think $15 at Sephora, so not cheap!

Thanks for reading all, have a good weekend!