Konad Coraline Kit B and ATTACK OF THE BUBBLED POLISH

Okay, I'm going to warn you ahead of time: my polish looks horrible. Remember when I complained about the humidity ruining my Illamasqua? Now you get to see what I was talking about! It was hot and humid and I applied my polish near the air conditioning vent because I was so hot... and this is what happened.


But then I thought I could cover it up with Konad! Well... not quite... but I did get a few pictures out of it. And instead of removing all my polish, re-applying and waiting for it to dry after each set of Konad pictures, I removed just the Konad design. So, please, ignore the smudgy, bubbled polish.


Anyway. Konad Coraline Kit B. Here's a picture of it from Konad's website:

The kit includes four image plates (CO2, CO3, CO4, CO6), three full-size Special Polishes (Psyche Pink, Yellow, Blue Pearl) and a special purple stamp and metal scraper.


Plate CO2 with Yellow special polish. Flowers, a cat with a funny tail, boots, a squiggly heart that looks like the Smashing Pumpkins logo, Coraline saying "talk to the hand", Coraline saying, "wtf?", another flower.


Plate CO3 with Psyche Pink special polish. A Dragonball, pissed-off Coraline, a worried or surprised-looking Coraline, a dragonfly, a Scottie dog silhouette, a seated Coraline in a raincoat?, Coraline doing the 'mime stuck in a box' thing.

Plate CO4 with Blue Pearl special polish. A Key, Coraline saying, "Oh &*^*&%!!", Coraline looking to the side and holding something, Coraline looking to the left and smiling, a beach ball looking thing, a crooked bat, creepy grabby hands.


Plate CO6 with Yellow special polish. Creepy grabby hands french tip, flowers made of paperclips french tip, Button-and-crossbones french tip (Jolly Tailor?), squares french tip, leaves/hearts/Smashing Pumpkins logo french tip, swirly french tip.


All of these images transfer very nicely onto the nails- crisp lines, no missing parts of the design, good size. The special polishes in this one rock. They're opaque and interesting.

Now, I have not seen the movie Coraline, nor have I read the book, so I don't know the meaning behind any of these images. I'm assuming the animals have names, and the poses Coraline is doing are from scenes in the movie.

This is a really cool set, lots of really fun designs. My personal favorites are the dragonfly, the boots, the scottie dog and the flowers. I thought I would like the bat the best, but it doesn't look too much like a bat on the nails, just kinda... squiggly?

Set A is even cooler than this one, so stay tuned for that.

I got my kits from OC Nail Art- use code SCRANGIE for 20% off!

Starting off Konad week!

Okay, Konad Week got off to a very late start. New collections take precedence over old stuff since they're more useful if they're posted before or at the same time they're released... So Konad had to wait a couple days.

I'll make up for it by carrying it into next week!

Anyway, to start things off, here are some random pictures of me playing with Konad plate m70. I've discovered a few new favorites!



My goal for this week is to review one or both of the Coraline Konad kits, possibly review my prize from the OC Nail Art contest (the Konad Salon Pro case!) and post a few pictures of Konad designs on my nails. I've been trying to do a Konad tutorial but I keep messing it up and starting over... I need a second person to take pictures while I'm doing it!

Eyeko Nail Polish: Manga Makeup

Last week I got the cutest polishes ever.... They're from Eyeko, a makeup brand from London.

Here are the shades they have:


Disco Polish (for nighttime nails). Silver glitter. My personal favorite! This is a very dense, opaque silver glitter that's also very smooth. Most glitter polishes are like sandpaper when they're dry, but this one isn't! It's a little bumpy but with a coat of topcoat you don't even notice it's glitter. It's super sparkly, it really looks like a disco ball! This is three coats, I could have even done two but I had a couple bald spots.


Pastel Polish (for nice nails). Pastel blue with blue flash. I love the color of this one, it's a soft baby blue with a subtle bright blue flash. Very nice! However, the formula on this one gave me a lot of trouble. It's streaky and thick, very difficult to apply. I needed four coats to get this one even.

Pretty Polish (for neat nails). Pastel pink creme. Pretty Polish is just that- pretty. It's a very cute shade of girly pastel pink. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I can appreciate a color even if I don't wear it. Unfortunately, the formula on this one was a nightmare for me. Like Pastel Polish, it was thick and streaky, but also sheer. It took five coats to cover all the streaks and patches and bald spots. I think that a few drops of polish thinner would help the formula immensely.

Punk Polish (for neon nails). Bright pink creme. So cute. Ack! The description states that this is a neon- it's really not. It is bright but I can't call it a true neon. It doesn't dry matte, it doesn't have that retina-burning dayglo look and it's not really bright enough for me to consider it neon. But still, it's a nice bright medium pink. The formula on this one was a little difficult to control but not as bad as Pastel Polish or Pretty Polish. It was thick but three coats took care of the unevenness.


Hot! Hot! Hot! Red Nail Polish (for naughty nails). Bright red creme. This really is naughty! Red Nail Polish is a very bright, loud, obvious red with a retro sexy pin-up girl feel to it. I actually really like this. And, on top of the hot red color, the formula was excellent. It practically applied itself. Smooth and opaque and all-around nice. Two coats.


Vamp Polish (for nasty nails). Extremely dark blue creme. I love the name! Adorable. Anyway, Vamp Polish is blue, but it looks nearly black. The first coat is obviously blue and the second coat looks more black. You can see that it's blue in some lights. It's like ink. The formula on this one was also good- smooth, thin, even, no streaks. This is two coats.


Take a look at the bottles. Aren't they just the cutest things ever?! They're stubby little jar-like things with metal caps. They're smaller than the average polish bottle- I can't remember the exact amount but I believe it's 9ml (about... .3 fl oz?)- larger than a mini, smaller than full size.

They have a wide opening and a fairly short brush, but they're nowhere near as bad as Hot Topic's similar bottles. The bottle and brush shape didn't give me any noticeable application difficulty- they were easy to hold and use. Just be careful not to knock them over!

I can't get over just how cute these bottles are. I love them. I am a total sucker for packaging, and these are no exception. In fact, everyone who saw these bottles in my purse commented on them! They look too cute to be nail polish!

These can be purchased directly from Eyeko and they're £3 each, which is $5.50 US. The cool thing about buying them from Eyeko's website is that they offer FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on all orders. No, that's not a typo. They will ship your order for free anywhere in the world. That's awesome.

They also have a bunch of other really adorable items on their website- I've already built a decent sized wishlist!

Seriously, aren't these just the cutest polishes you've ever seen?

Essie Loves Diamonds by Judith Ripka

This collection is a set of three "Diamond Dust"-infused polishes with a hidden twist- a chance to own a valuable gemstone. Here's what Essie says about it:

Essie Cosmetics and Judith Ripka Hit the Diamond Mine

Introducing Essie Loves Diamonds by Judith Ripka

A Nail Color Collection Infused with Diamond Dust and Hidden Gemstones

How do you wear diamonds? Prep nail and polish. Essie Cosmetics and Judith Ripka – two iconic luxury brands – joined forces to create the ultimate luxe accessory. Introducing Essie Loves Diamonds by Judith Ripka – a limited-edition collection of 3 nail colors infused with genuine diamond dust.

In this collaboration, nail polish and diamonds come together to create a new ‘woman’s best friend.’ Essie Cosmetics, the go-to nail color authority, worked with award-winning jewelry designer Judith Ripka to develop a collection of polishes that would give women the best of both worlds – fashion-forward nail colors with the decadence of diamonds. The alluring sparkle of diamonds dust has been infused into three wearable shades, each with a unique name and slight-glimmering color.

To celebrate the launch of this collection, Essie and Judith Ripka are offering 3 lucky winners the chance to find and own a genuine precious gemstone. A sapphire, emerald and diamond will each be hidden separately inside three different polish bottles. The lucky finders will become owners of these stunning stones.

“Judith Ripka is a visionary brand with stunning jewelry pieces and they are the perfect partner for this collection,” says Essie Weingarten, Founder/President of essie. “With Judith, I created this collection for every woman who loves diamonds – the colors are chic and classic.”

When you buy any of the three polishes, go to www.essie.com and www.judithripka.com and enter the UPC code on the bottom of the bottle for additional discounts and promotions.

Essie Loves Diamonds by Judith Ripka launches in spas, salons and beauty destinations worldwide in August 2009. SRP $15 per bottle.

Let's have a look!

Heart my JR Jewels. Deep brown creme with diamond accent. This is a really fall-like vampy red-brown creme. It has barely-perceptible sparse silver glitter- the Diamond Dust part of the formula.


Put A Ripka Ring On It. Pale pink creme with diamond accent. This is your standard milky pink Essie creme, but with a small, hidden amount of silver glitter. I put a little too much of this one on and didn't wait for it to dry- please forgive the thickness of the polish in these pictures.


Queen of Hearts. Bright classic red with diamond accent. Another traditional classic shade, this time bright clean red with the same subtle silver diamond dust shimmer.



You will have to view the images full size to see the diamond dust shimmer. It's almost invisible on the nail, but you can see it more clearly in the bottle:


As you can see, the diamond dust sparkle is very, very subtle. Little tiny flakes and flecks of irregular-shaped silver glitter.

The formula on these was really good. I had zero application problems. Opacity was good as well, they really only needed two coats, but I did three to see if I could get the diamond dust to show up better. Drying time is also very good.

The Diamond Dust in the descriptions had me totally intrigued. I was envisioning sparkling, gem-like shades with flecks of glassy shimmer, or even better, holographic shades. After all, OPI Designer Series claims to have diamond dust as well, and they're holographic! That is sadly not the case with these. The diamond dust is extremely subtle and you might not even know it was there unless someone pointed it out ahead of time.

Not a bad collection, but not too exciting either. These are all safe, reserved, classic shades- red, brown, sheer pink. If you're into classic work-safe shades, you might really love these. Personally, I was hoping for a lot more shimmer and was somewhat surprised that the diamond dust was nearly invisible in the polish formulation. I guess I'd call these cremes with a little extra- a hidden surprise. A surprise that you can only see when you hold your hand up to admire your (Judith Ripka?) rings! :)

Orly Fall 2009 Once Upon A Time

Way to go, Orly (YARLY!), this is a really cool collection!


Enchanted Forest. Deep green creme. The star of the collection, in my humble opinion. It's just too gorgeous. The sunlight picture washes it out slightly, but it's a rich, dark green that doesn't look black! Before you ask, it's absolutely nothing like Nars Zulu. But it is super beautiful, deep and dark but not too dark. It's a little more on the blue side rather than the yellowish side.


Happily Ever After. Medium red purple shimmer. This is an unusual color- it's a very dark pink or perhaps and extremely red-toned purple. It reminds me of beet juice, actually. It has a very subtle but very interesting bright pink-purple shimmer. Much, much prettier in person- my pictures don't really capture the play of shimmer against base color.


Pixie Dust. Shimmering grey. This is so cool! It's a very light blue-leaning grey creme with little glassy flakes of shimmer. They look like broken glass on cement. Fascinating to look at.


Poison Apple. Red-Orange creme. This is pretty similar to SpaRitual Intrigue. It's a very, very orange-toned red... I'd almost call it more orange than red. It looks more red in some lights, more orange in others, but I'd say the overall tone of the polish is a rich orange color.


Prince Charming. Taupe-brown creme. I love these types of colors. I'm glad they have been so popular the past couple of years! This is a little lighter than some of the other taupe-brown shades out there. It's really milky looking, almost chocolatey but heavy on the grey. Really cool.


Mirror Mirror. Very light grey creme. Of course, I had to stick my finger in it while the polish was still wet and then try to cover it up with another coat of polish... That didn't work so well... Please excuse the giant smudge. Anyway... This is a plain grey cream, slightly blue-toned. It's much lighter than the other grey cremes in my collection, lighter even than Illamasqua DWS.


The formula on these was pretty good. I normally find Orly's formula to be pretty thick, but these are much more thin and even than a lot of old Orlys in my collection. The opacity on all of them was very good- two to three coats each, I did three coats just because. The drying time is a little bit longer than I like, but not quite as long as some of my old Orlys. They must be tweaking the formula, and if so, I like it!

Overall, I love this collection. Nothing too wild or crazy, but still full of colors I adore. Grey, green, murky taupe. I love the fairy tale theme, I love the cute names (even if they don't seem to match perfectly with the colors). I'm thrilled to bits about Enchanted Forest especially.

The deep forest green, the dirty grey-brown, the muted shades the fairy tale theme all remind me a little of this:

Awesome.

Upcoming Posts?

Okay, so I won't be around long enough to do an actual post today, so how about some nice bottle pictures?

All of these are things I'm trying to swatch for upcoming posts. Some are new, some are old, some are harder to find. Personally, I love looking at bottle pictures... maybe I should do some more often!




Have a great weekend everyone!