M.A.C. Bad Fairy Konad nail art on O.P.I. Alpine Snow

I was planning on doing another swatch of O.P.I. Burlesque today, however, I really wanted to do some nail art stamping. So I went with what I wanted to do rather than what I SHOULD be doing. hehe.

I started with 3 coats of O.P.I. Alpine Snow. It's a pure white color with very good coverage. It did take 3 coats for decent coverage, but they dried well. Each coat of nail polish didn't have to be thick.

O.P.I. Alpine Snow base
M.A.C. Bad Fairy
Konad Nail Art Plate M54

I did the nail art using Konad stamping plate M54 and M.A.C. Bad Fairy from the Venomous Villains collection. It is not the easiest polish to stamp with as it's very sheer. But It created a beautiful dainty image on the nails. It looks splotchy close up, but I assure you its not. If you decide to stamp with Bad Fairy then I'd suggest double scraping the plate and hoping for the best. It slightly shows up on the dark pink stampers so you can get an idea of placement.

Flower Nail Art

Tomorrow, hopefully, I shall go back to the Burlesque Swatches.

On a side note, I'm trying to rebuild my Blogroll list. If you'd like to exchange blog roll links please email me or comment.

M.A.C. Venomous Villains Mean & Green

Today is horribly crummy out, rainy and cold. Luckily, I had prepared my photos for todays swatch post today. I had promised to show you all MAC Venomous Villains nail polish in Mean and Green.



I really can't stop staring. I really thought this would be my least preferred off the three in the Venomous Villains collection. I really enjoyed Bad Fairy, and while it's beautiful it seems to lack some depth that both Formidable! and Mean & Green contain. I suppose because Bad Fairy is pink on pink while the other two are two clashing colors.


Mean & Green under warm light

As you can see, like the other two in my earlier posts, Mean & green also takes on a different look in different lighting. It's a deep forest green with pink sparkles. It reminds me of the beautiful colors of gasoline floating on water. Beautiful and dangerous.


Mean & Green under 14k light

It definitely doesn't come off as dark as Formidable, nor as light and airy as Bad Fairy. It also took 3 coats for full coverage of the lacquer. As I was staring at my nails I really wished the beautiful shimmer Mean & Green has would show up in my other MAC nail lacquer - Earthly Harmony. The similar pink sparkles barely show through.



The collection sold fast, and I'm sure while you can probably find a few bottles scattered between M.A.C. Stores and Macy's it'll be a hard time finding some. On a good note ORLY Space Cadet is an almost exact match.



I'd actually suggest tracking down ORLY Space Cadet first only because it's cheaper and because M.A.C. seems to be having brush issues.

MAC Formidable!

for·mi·da·ble : arousing feelings of awe or admiration because of grandeur, strength, etc.

I'm liking this definition based on the new MAC Venomous Villains Formidable! color. OK yeah, so obviously it's supposed to be based on the actual Disney villains, and therefore should strike fear. I figured it would be the next best one to swatch besides Bad Fairy. The one I was second most excited about.



Formidable! is a beautiful deep purple base, with green glitters. In some light it looks more wine colored. I'm not a dark nail type o gal. I shun black. It makes me look too pale. However I really enjoy this color, and I swear it makes my finger nails look sophisticated. I mean, as sophisticated as nail polish can make one look.


Formidable! Nail Lacquer Under 14k lighting

It's also a GREAT halloween/fall/winter color. It's deep and dreamy, perfect for the cold weather months, without being over-bearing and making me look washed out. I'm very very pale anyways, I don't need help in the vampire look department.



It glided on like butter, even with the glitters. Even better than Bad Fairy did. Maybe this was also partially because the brush on Formidable! was perfect. I assumed with the dark color I'd only need 2 coats of the polish. I was wrong. It also needed at least 3 to not have transparent spots. Luckily, MAC dries super fast.



I really can't think of any color that would go good with Konad stamps on it, because I don't want to hide the polishes own beauty.



Again, this one is also Limited Edition. I had a REALLY hard time tracking these down, even though I began looking the first day it was released. My biggest suggestion, call ahead. If you're at your wits end, ORLY's Galaxy Girl is supposed to be near identical.

MAC Venomous Villains Bad Fairy Review

This was such a struggle getting the new M.A.C. Nail Lacquers in the Disney villains line-up! I could've pre-ordered them (or at least one) through Macy's I suppose. That didn't register in my mind I guess.

On the official release date (apparently, some had been released earlier) of September 30th I went to the local mall and bee-lined for Macy's since I have a gift card there from last Christmas. To my dismay they had every cosmetic counter available EXCEPT M.A.C.! So I cruised the mall for an actual M.A.C. store front, but to no avail. I left empty handed and disappointed.

On Saturday I went to yet another mall up in N.H. and I was in luck, they had a M.A.C. counter, with the Venomous Villain setup. The girl working there just watched me, closely, but didn't speak. I grabbed the polishes and begin swatching and went "What the HELL? Why are these colors here?" They had placed Concubine, Jade Dragon, and Ming Blue bottles from the Fall 2010 Limited edition line in the place of the Villain line. I was so excited I didn't even notice they were so wrong until painting. At this point the young girl working took notice and said "Oh...um... We sold out of the real ones the first day".

Finally, I hit Natick Mall. The awesome people at the Macy's counter said they had one of each bottle left. I was only going to grab Bad Fairy, but this news and troubles led me to purchase Formidable! and Mean & Green too.

Anyways onto the swatches!



Bad fairy is a deep pink, with lighter pink sparkers. I have NO complaints about the color, I love it. I'm usually not a pink girl, but this is lovely. In the darkness it actually looks more red with pink sparkles. So it's not overbearing in different settings.



I have a complaint about the brushes though. Two of the three polishes had ruined brushes. The only one that survived the manufacturing defect was Formidable!. I was extremely disappointed. I'm not really sure what to do, since everywhere is sold out around here. It's not like I can exchange them! I think I should call M.A.C.



My only other complaint, and it's a smaller one. I had to use 3 coats to get this looking right. Even then it was still slightly spotty. I, personally, really hate using more than 2 coats as I'm afraid it will never dry. You know, unless I have a whole day to devote to painting my nails.




In the image below, you can see the beautiful deep pink color best. But also how translucent it is in places, even after 3 coats.




Next Up in the coming days, Formidable! and Mean and Green.

ELF Moonlight and MAC Earthly Harmony GCOCL m10

It's my friday! Somehow I ended up with not one, but three bottles of E.L.F. Moonlight nail lacquer. Figures? I guess I really liked it.

I was going to stamp with black, but I realized the tiny bits of my MAC nail polish would look much better. I actually am beginning to think my little one only poured out about half the bottle.




E.L.F. Moonlight ($1) is much like OPI Kyoto pearl, only a warmer color. It has a slight golden hue to it which is beautiful.

The Earthly Harmony ($13), which was recently sported on Lady Gaga, perfectly complements it for a stamp. It also stamped exceptionally well, even though it has sparkles.

For the plate, I used my E-Bay image plates to find something that reminded me of cherry blossoms. This design is on plate m10. Although I don't enjoy most of the images on GCOCL plates I was surprised by this design.

I did mess up a little trying to fill in some gaps, but overall am pleased with the outcome. My short nails have not been fun lately, but I've begun using Mavala Nail Hardener. I hope they start growing soon!




Have a great weekend! I hope it's warm enough to go fishing.

Konad image plate m60 on M.A.C. Earthly Harmony

I've been wearing the last of my M.A.C. Earthly Harmony polish. I did a swatch and full review in August. It makes me sad that most of the bottle is gone after the toddler disaster. It's a lot of fun to Konad stamp on though!



The bottom of the bottle gets very very grainy though, which is disappointing. It really needs a top coat to look smooth and even then.

I used Konad special polish in black to stamp. On the ring finger I used the plain pattern that is also found on image plate m60, which as you can see is "off". I've tried this stamp several times and never once have gotten it right. I decided to wing it for the pictures because I liked the way the rest of the nails turned out and I ran out of time.



I really like this flowery stamp, it looks much better on the nails then on the plate. I played with placement so not every nail looks the same. This pattern stamps amazingly well.



If you haven't tried Konad yet, you should enter the contest we have going on(there is a link at the top of the page). The last entries will be taken tonight and the winner will be announced Wednesday. The coupon for $5 off $75 is still valid for the time being.

MAC Fall 2010 Earthly Harmony review and Swatch

Our Giveaway still has under 50 entries. You have a good chance at winning a custom Konad set!



It's 9am here and its hot, HOT, HOT! Certainly not time for fall? Well, maybe on my nails.
I purchased M.A.C. Earthly Harmony Saturday when taking my niece shopping. This is a part of their new Fall 2010 release of polishes, and I was surprised Macy's had it because usually each counter just has the basics when it comes to nail polishes.

Im glad I swatched it when I did. Yesterday, my hubby being the logical and intelligent person he is, decided to take a shower while my daughter played alone in the bedroom. She's 3 now, so she must be OK alone around electronics, fish tanks and who knows what else! (end sarcasm). He's usually VERY protective but I guess in our own home he has a false sense of safety? Maybe it's a man thing.

Well somehow she found the very well hidden Earthly Harmony polish, and decided to paint her body. I checked on the two of them only to find him in the bathroom and her painted a beautiful earthly harmony from the torso down! She managed to not get a drop on the floor!

After the long clean-up, I checked the bottle to find maybe 1-2 applications remaining in it. I like the color a lot and may replace it.



The polish in the bottle has beautiful orangey-pink sparkles. However, on the nail they just make the taupe-grey polish look bumpy. I didn't really see ANY sparkle except in VERY direct sunlight. When it does sparkle, or the color of the sparkles show through it is GORGEOUS. I really am overall in love with the color regardless of the lack of shimmer.



What fall colors are you buying this year?