This is Zoya Roxy. I used three coats.

As I applied it, it quite reminded me of a cross between red and black raspberry jam! Yummy.

My first and second coat I was a little unsure of the color, to be honest, but by the third it was awesome and mega gorgeous.

This was meant to be underwear for Clarins 230. I have been expecting it in the mail for nearly a week now but am having all sorts of problems with the post office (long, boring story).

Needless to say, I should be able to pick up my 230 after work tomorrow. *le sigh*

I don't know that Roxy will make it until then - or I should say that by the time I'm poised to apply 230 Roxy might be a little banged up. But we'll see! Maybe it will be fine. If not, I can always reapply Roxy. :) Or maybe I'll think of some other really great underwear.

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This is two coats of Rococo Andromeda.

It was storming out when I took pictures, so I only have one (less than dazzling) natural lighting look.

This applied perfectly. I really enjoyed wearing it and looking at the holographic particles many times throughout the two days I wore it.

And yes, it is a glorious dupe for OPI My Private Jet. It may be easier to find, as well!

The picture below I took in the rain.

Not feeling well today. I hope you are all doing well!

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For this mani I started with two coats of Nicole by OPI Nicole's Nickel, one of the new Spring Target exclusives. Nicole's Nickel is a black and silver glitter extravaganza! It has at least two sizes of silver glitter, which I love.

Next I added China Glaze Crackle Broken Hearted.

I REALLY like how this turned out! I would have been happy to wear it all week.

Alas, I made a tragic error in top coats and it only lasted just under a day. The polish nearly popped off my nails in whole or mostly whole pieces!

I should have known better, but I guess I don't use Seche Vite enough to really get all its ins and outs. I'm guessing my problem was in putting SV over Nicole's Nickel, then putting CND Air Dry over Broken Hearted. Live and learn!

For those of you who use SV to dry your base polish before adding Crackle or Shatter, what top coats do you like to use at the end that don't anger the Seche Vite? :) I'm guessing I could just use one of the several regular (not quick) drying top coats I own...but wondered what you all like to do. Thanks for any tips!

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This is my wacky accidental Mardi Gras crack manicure. I say accidental because I did not set out for this to look like a crazy Mardi Gras party, but after I sat with the final result for a while, I realized that that is what it reminds me of.

Really I just wanted to pair China Glaze Fault Line with a color that contrasted nicely. Also, I do like purple and green together (those used to be my favorite colors together some years ago when I was a kid). I started with one coat of Nicole by OPI One Time Lime, from the Justin Bieber collection. It looked great in just one coat, Nation!

Then I added two coats of Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada. I really wanted to have glitter under my crack. In the future I think I'll stick to smaller glitter because I'm not sure I like how the bigger glitter looks under the Crackle.

Next I waited for everything to dry. Then I added a coat of China Glaze Crackle Fault Line. It applied pretty well but I do think I'll thin it some next time around (I read on MUA that this helps it behave and crack better). I suppose I need some more practice in applying Crackles because I'm so mad at myself for not getting the purple all the way over the green near my cuticle, most especially on the index finger. :P

I was not sure that I was feeling the over all look, so I added a coat of Zoya Sparkle Gloss to try and make things better.

I have to say that it did grow on me through the day. :) Not a total disaster, but definitely not what I had hoped for when I first dreamed it up.

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Earlier this week at work, my buddy Jaysen came back from a little trip to NYC. He kindly brought me back this awesome set from The Addams Family musical! How flippin' cool is that? THANK YOU, JAYSEN!!

The back of the box is shown below.

Now for outdoor swatch pictures I took this evening before the sun set.

I used three coats with no base or top coat. The bottle shown above and below is Blood Curdling.

It's a gorgeous dark red creme with a squishy, shiny finish.

Don't mind my awful, dry skin (thank you pure acetone!). I was rushing to get these pictures before the sun disappeared.

Bone Chilling is pure clean white.

And here is Midnight Tango on the ring finger.

Dark navy blue with beautiful shimmer.

The bottle above and below is a mini Midnight Cami. It sure seems to be a dead-on dupe for Midnight Tango.

In the picture below, Midnight Tango is the top bottle and Midnight Cami is the bottom one.

I'm super happy to have this awesome set! I love the colors, box, clever names, and the formula seems great on all three.

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Two nights ago I put on OPI DS Diamond. I used two coats. These first few pictures are from weird outdoor lighting at night.

This applied fabulously.

It's a really neat color that looks somewhat gray, somewhat silver, a little bit purple, and also a bit mauve at times.

I really like it!

I pretty much love all the Designer Series polishes - even the ones that aren't holographic.

Yes, it looks crazy and green in the bottle. I don't know why, but my bottle had green looking stuff in it when I bought it and no matter how much I shake it, it really won't completely go away or mix in.

I was lucky enough to find China Glaze Crackles yesterday! I cannot tell you how excited I was and am! I've been stalking them for weeks now and as I'm sure you know, they are quite hard to find (for a reasonable price). Needless to say, I found them all between two different Ulta stores, and was wanting them so bad I didn't mind too much paying a little more than what I would at Sally's.

Here it is, my very first crack manicure! This is Crushed Candy.

I really love this and am very happy with how it turned out. I'm thinking I'm going to have a lot of fun with my Crackles.

I realize I'm a little slow here catching on to this trend, but hey, better late than never, right?

I wasn't 100% sure that I would like the whole Shatter/Crackle thing, but I think I can safely say now that I do!

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This is two coats of Essence What Do U Think? I put this on the other night when I knew I wanted a quick-drying no fuss polish change.

It did dry pretty quickly, which is a definitely bonus. And great coverage in two coats.

I have quite a few Essence polishes that I've acquired from Ulta (so glad they have this brand now), but I think this is my first post on one! I used one as a base under an Illamasqua, but that's it.

In any case, I do love them. They are cheap - super cheap, perform well, and have cute colors!

This polish is supposed to be a dupe for Chanel Orange Fizz, if I'm not mistaken. See the pretty gold shimmer in the bottle? Doesn't really show on the nail.

The funny thing about this was that it looked like a lovely pink peach coral after I applied it. As I put Poshe top coat over, it instantly turned much more orange looking! I couldn't quite believe my eyes. I checked my bottle of Poshe - picked it up and stared at it, expecting it to look yellow or something. Nope. Crystal clear.

How bizarre! It's still a gorgeous color - kind of a softer orange, along the lines of peach, but I'm not going to lie, I liked it even better before the change! It does dry darker than what you see in the bottle, too, if you are wondering.

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