The Challenge.

Due to my recent overspending on nail polishes (I've purchased over 50 in less than 2 months), I've decided that if I buy them, I must use them. Therefore, I've developed a challenge for myself....

A new nail polish color and/or design EVERY SINGLE DAY. Yes, you read correctly. 365 NEW designs, combinations, colors in a year.

Every day I'll post a picture of my nails and list the polishes and items used to create that look.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Here we go....

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Nail Polish

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I did manage to carve out a bit of time for the swatches I wanted to do for you, and I have them here. Before I show them to you, I have to take care of something really quickly... Indi? Michael? If you're still reading, please run, run like the wind! Below are pictures of matte nail polish! Okay, now the rest of us can carry on.

These swatches took a bit longer than usual because I left a good 10-15 minutes for them to dry before taking pictures of each, testing to make sure the polish was dry as well. The application was excellent - it was like that of normal nail polish. From the application, I would not have known it was a matte, I would definitely have known it was three free (but in a controllable way, not in the gross slippery way). Three of the four shades took two coats, the last required a third (but is well worth it).

The finish on these is both noteworthy and consistent amongst the four, which are all cremes. If you recall (or if you don't, I'm about to remind you), with the Orly mattes, there was inconsistency between the three shades with respect to the degree of matteness of the finishes, and I had a preference for the middle and least matte. The four Diamond shades are roughly in the middle ground between my preferred two in terms of having a nice, satiny matte finish, and that is consistent throughout the collection. I'll get right to the pictures now and start with the one where that is the most surprising to me (with no real order after that).

Matte Black is described by the manufacturer as "a classic matte color without the intimidating punk vibe." I think that's accurate. Now, I know a lot of people don't care for matte black on my nail length, but for a moment, let's look past that and look at the polish. Do you see how satiny the finish is? This is the first matte black I've seen that is not flat. I really like this one, and am thinking that I'll be using it with white Konad over it. That finish is just great. The reason is surprises me is that when Orly's were satin but for the black, I figured a satin black was just not doable, but here I have been proved wrong.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Black Nail Polish, Two Coats

The same satin finish is on Matte Mulberry, which is like a pinker, softer version of Sephora by OPI Domestic Goddess Matte. I think it's feminine, and I like it. This is two coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Mulberry Nail Polish, Two Coats

Matte Smoke was the one that really caught my eye when I opened them. I so love greys, and I think this is a great shade of it. I think the finish sets off the shade beautifully, and this is one that has a great simplicity that even I would leave alone.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Smoke Nail Polish, Two Coats

Matte Burgundy is the one that required three coats, and I do think it's worth the effort and extra dry time - it's the one I chose to wear after swatching, so I didn't just have to wait for it to dry enough to take a picture, I had to wait for it to completely cure. It's described as "a sophisticated, deep, rich, burgundy." It is. It also looks a bit like dried blood. Too Elvira, Mistress of the Dark for you? I'm sorry. That's just what I thought. Blood makes me pass out (literally, I fall over), this polish doesn't phase me, so it's just an interesting similarity, not too literal. I think it's cool as heck, which is why I'm wearing it even as I type.

Diamond Cosmetics Matte Burgundy Nail Polish, Three Coats

I was a little reluctant to swatch yet more mattes, to be honest with you, Dear Reader. As I mentioned at the start, I wait 10-15 minutes after applying each color to make sure it's as matte as it's going to get, so I put about an hour into just waiting with these swatches. Mattes are time consuming! These though, were worth it, I think. I'm really impressed with the satin finish, the application, and the colors. The other thing is, they're $2, so I wanted to show them to you in case you were on the fence about getting some mattes this season - if you don't want to spring for a $9 or $18 matte black, you have a $2 alternative. In swatching, I thought these might appeal to those on the fence about the finish itself - they're sort of "matte light." Whether you like them or not, now you've seen them. If you do, they're at Diamond Cosmetics' site.

I am definitely done with nail polish for today, Dear Reader! Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Edit: I just got word that these are a limited edition collection.

Diamond Crushed Velvet & Konad M69

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I said I thought I'd be using Diamond Cosmetics' Crushed Velvet for a Konad base, and what do you know, here it is! Two days of sixty degree weather and I'm beginning to come to some acceptance of Fall, and this is a great cool weather purple.

Since I just showed you Crushed Velvet alone yesterday, I didn't bother with new pictures of it alone. I did two coats of it for the base, then decided to be a little understated with the Konad and went with one of my favorite patterns from plate M69 in Blue Konad Special Nail Polish. Since when I walk around there's not a bright light shining on my hands, it's quite subtle. Here's the finished manicure.

Diamond Cosmetics Crushed Velvet Nail Polish, Two Coats, and Konad Plate M69 in Konad Blue Special Nail Polish

That's my Nails of the Day today. I have more polishes to swatch for you, which I may or may not do today, so maybe I'll have more for you later. Until next time, whenever that is, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Diamond Cosmetics Winter 2009 Nail Polish Collection

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Diamond Cosmetics sent me samples of their upcoming Winter 2009 Collection to review, and I just finished swatching them and doing a full manicure with the fourth (the collection is four colors). I've got pictures of them for you today.

I'll show them to you in increasing order of preference. They all applied well, with the basic thick 3-free formula, which is not a problem for me. It was easy to control, and did not seem to have that thick-yet-runny thing happening. Each took two coats to be completely opaque.

First up is Smokey Rose, which quite simply is a smoky rose creme. There's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't excite me. If you don't have a basic rose, this one's $2, so it's not a bad choice, but I have a million.

Diamond Cosmetics Smokey Rose Nail Polish, Two Coats

The next one, Mulberry Mayhem, I kind of underestimated in the bottle. When I swatched it, I was more impressed. It's a bright red-berry creme. I like this one quite a bit.

Diamond Cosmetics Mulberry Mayhem Nail Polish, Two Coats

The next two struck me right when I took them out of the box - I'm fired up about these two. Which would be third and which would be fourth was a matter of inspecting the bottles as I swatched. Number three is a purple creme called Crushed Velvet. It's a rich, deep, slightly blue shade, and will definitely be the base for Konad manis.

Diamond Cosmetics Crushed Velvet Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last shade in this collection is my Nails of the Day, and the only shimmer in the collection. It's called Cherry Tobacco, and is a very rich blackened red brown shimmer. It's my top pick from this release.

Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco Nail Polish, Two Coats

So overall, I'm really pleased with this collection. Two I love, one I really like, and one I simply have dupes for. Not bad at all.

As I mentioned above, these go for the princely sum of $2 on Diamond's site. What I don't know, and am about to email them to ask and will later add as an edit to the bottom of this post, is whether this seasonal collection is permanent or limited edition. In any case, I don't think there's any need to panic yet! I've been happy with all the polishes I've used from them though, so for $2, what the heck...

That's all for today, Dear Reader. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you.

Edit: I just got word that these are a permanent addition to the line.

China Glaze Glitters? I Got 'Em.

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have yet more China Glaze glitters for you today. I'm pacing myself! It's another four today, and this time I'll just show them to you in alphabetical order - that places my favorite, and then my NOTD, last.

First up at bat is Cleopatra. Now, this one, and another today, are really hard to photograph because in normal lighting they reflect a bunch of colors, but when I get enough light to take a picture and show the base color, it washes out the glitter. So picture this with multi colored glitter! This is two coats.

China Glaze Cleopatra Nail Polish, Two Coats

Next up is Glacier, which looks like a slightly white jelly with multi colored glitter in the bottle. What I didn't see in the bottle was its pink flash. This is three coats.

China Glaze Glacier Nail Polish, Three Coats

That brings us to Gold Digger, a very dense light gold glitter. This is two coats.

China Glaze Gold Digger Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last swatch I have here is of Shooting Stars, which I'll use as a top coat. It's a sheer silver holographic base, just like Wireless Top Coat, with holo hex glitter in it. This is two coats. This is the other where the light washed away the colors.

China Glaze Shooting Stars Nail Polish, Two Coats

I kind of saw this one over a silver, so I put on Lippmann Stardust and topped it with Shooting Stars when I was done swatching. Walking around without a bright light on my hands, it's really holo-y with lots of colors reflecting.

China Glaze Shooting Stars over Lippmann Stardust, Two Coats Each

That's it for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Glitters & A Dead On HTF Dupe!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I just got a great big ol' sparkling*nails order of primarily China Glaze Glitters, and thought I'd show it to you in manageable bits. I picked out four to show you now, and the last that I swatched was a happy surprise - it's a dead-on dupe for a hard-to-find nail polish! I'll show that to you at the end...

This is just the order that I swatched them in. The sun was being pesky and pooped out on me, so I switched to artificial light after the first, which is Moulin Rouge. This is a red jelly which is sufficiently (for me) opaque in two coats with relatively fine multi colored holo-y glitter. It'd kind of a maraschino red.

Two Coats China Glaze Moulin Rouge Nail Polish

Next I did Goddess, which was not as dense on the nail as I expected, even after three coats. It's a fine, light gold glitter.

Three Coats China Glaze Goddess Nail Polish

The third one is a stunner that I was really anticipating: Atlantis. It's a teal jelly, opaque in two coats, with holo glitter.

Two Coats China Glaze Atlantis Nail Polish

Finally, that brings us to Techno, the one that really caught me when I opened the package. It's a clear base with fine silver glitter and bigger holo hex glitter. I noticed what it was a dupe for swatching it, got all excited about the comparison, and forgot to take the second pic! See if you can tell - does this look familiar to you?

Two Coats China Glaze Techno Nail Polish

Here it is: OPI Disco Ball Sparkle, from the Reflecting Glitters. Look at them side-by-side. They're indistinguishable. Ring and index and OPI, middle and pinky and ChinaGlaze.

Dupes: OPI Disco Ball Sparkle & China Glaze Techno

How is that for a happy little surprise? On the down side, the OPI wasn't cheap (not like ebay not cheap, but still not cheap), on the up side, I had it handy to show all of you that you don't need to get it shipped from the UK! I've already used DBS three times (two manis, one pedi), and was kind of wishing I could get a backup, but not willing to spring for one - now there's no need for it. There an under $5 alternative!

Now I have to go run an errand before the place closes with my Disco Ball Sparkle/Techno comparison left hand and a naked right hand. That's a good look! Can you tell I was eager to share with you my findings? I was all excited...

Well, that's it for today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Barry M Turquoise & Konad Plate M51

Good morning, Dear Reader!

It's been weeks since I've used Konad - probably the longest time since I got it over a year ago. I missed it! So today, I went for a fun Konadicure.

The base is Barry M Turquoise, which gave good coverage in two coats.

Two coats of Barry M Turquoise nail polish over a base

To it, I added a pattern from Konad plate M51 using Blue Konad Special Nail Polish, then finished it with a top coat. This is the completed manicure.

Barry M Turquoise Nail Polish & Konad M51 in Konad Blue Special Nail Polish

That's today's Nails of the Day! Today's a special day around here - it's my sister's birthday, and it marks the end of a fun little time where we're the same age. She's 11.5 months older than me, so for the past 12 days, we've been the same age. Today, she'd officially older again!

I hope you have a great day today, Dear Reader, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Toenails In Light Blue Nail Design

Nail art design for toe nails light blue fantastic

Chanel Ming & Chanel Pepite

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I went back to bed for a little nap this morning, and when I awoke, just wasn't feeling very much like disco Halloween, so I took off Spellbound. It was fun while it lasted.

I looked at my untrieds, and the one that called out to me was Chanel Ming. It's the color of, if I recall correctly, a Crayola crayon in Carnation Pink. It has a really cool mica shimmer, too. This is three coats.

I still felt like a little glitter, just not disco glitter, so I added one coat of Chanel Pepite to it. Pepite is magic in a bottle. Here is the finished manicure with a top coat.

Much better! It's happy and girly and festive, just how I feel today. I was too groggy when I chose earlier!

I think I'm in such a good mood today because I had so much fun with my dad last night, get to have fun with friends today, and so being pink and sparkly is really the only way to go!

I'm definitely done with nails for today, so until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!