Sparkled Beauty

Looks like it's going to be a super busy week at work for me, and it's Halloween in a few days (i.e. Halloween parties and Trick-or-Treating for Squirt). I started making to-do lists like mad :)

But I have an exciting mani today to show you. This is Sinful Colors Leather Loose!

Besides being matte like the rest from the Leather Luxe collection, Leather Loose has shimmers, making it a must have in my book. The black and orange colour tone is very Halloween appropriate too.

This is just one coat of Leather Loose, with base coat but no top coat.

The base is red toned and totally matte, but the glitters on top of it seem to glow from underneath, creating so much depth and beauty to the look. I couldn't bring myself to applying a top coat as I love how it looks matte.

The satin finish you see on my pinky was the result of a little hand lotion smudge. Funny enough, I did not realize the change in the finish until I took pics. So, if you want the mani stay matte, be mindful with the hand lotion and/or cuticle oil :)

See the glitter glow, both on my nails and in the bottle?

Leather Loose would be a more subtle version of Halloween nails compared to China Glaze Fortune Teller, but I still couldn't stop staring. If not anything else, I love Halloween for the special nail polish like these two :)

EDIT: Sinful Colors is unfortunately only available at Lawtons in Atlantic Canada.

So besides being busy, what's new with you guys? What will you (or your kids) dress up as?

You got a hint of what Squirt was 2 years ago from the Fortune Teller post above, I think this year she's going to be a "grown-up" butterfly. Yes, it is different from a kiddie butterfly, she told me lol.

Have a great start of the week, everyone!

I have worn this nail polish 3 times since I showed it in the Weekend finds post 2 weeks ago. Couldn't help it, it was so much fun :)

This is Claire's Splatter nail polish in Flashing Lights with beautiful mini/ medium/ large hexa and bar sky blue glitters, in the mix with small hexa white glitters.

I have fallen off indie nail polish because of shipping cost, was glad to see the Splatter line at Claire's. 7-8 shades to test the water (I heard there might be more coming), with fun colour combinations.

Since Flashing Lights has a clear base, I experimented it on top of different colours, options become endless :)

The base in the first pic is La Couleur Couture (lacc) 2011, a soft butter yellow with fine shimmers. The brand is based in Vancouver, I'll have more NOTDs of it up soon.

The second base on the left here is Sinful Colors Show Me The Way, an olive green that flashes old gold.

Both were done with 2 coats, not fully opaque to show the glitters in depth.

Check out the closeups below, 2 manis side by side and the gorgeousness of the glitters inside the bottle! I love this blue, I really do. Don't mind my nail shape and length, crappy post move condition :)


Which base do you like better? What would you pair Flashing Lights with?

I have been testing out a few Layla Bubbly Effect shades, mixed results. I am showing you one today, it is Meringue Pie, a while colour.

The base for this mani in Sinful Colors Why Not, a beautiful pigmented one coater aqua blue. You see, I had the image of the blue sky and white clouds in my head but did not want to do any stamping or free handing. So this was what I came up with :)

Why Not applied pretty true to the bottle colour but since we put a white nail polish over it, the end result looked a bit lighter. Note though, it slightly stained your cuticle during removal.

The trick to Layla Bubbly Effects is to apply one very very thin coat. Wipe almost all the nail polish off the brush, leaving a tiny dollop at the tip and paint the whole nail with it, over the base of course. Any more than this and the bubbly effect would not happen.

And when it did happen, it was pretty random. Some days, it really bubbled up, showing spots (in different sizes) on the nails. Some other days, we see this - mostly stripes with a few spots here and there. On day 2, cracks even appeared on my middle finger (see closeup below).

In the 3 - 4 times I wore Layla Bubble Effect, this was the first that it cracked, with Meringue Pie. It was a bummer, but at least it was only visible when you looked closely. Also worth noting that after day 2, the white layer seemed to rub off a bit around the edges somehow.

All in all, I am not fully in love with Bubble Effects. Though this blue and while combination does look pretty on the nails, with the Layla price tag (between $10 - 15), I would expect a bit more quality control. I bought mine on clearance but still have expectations. Well, on to the next experiment, I guess :)

Have a good Thursday, ladies!

This is a haul, plus sale updates, from my first shopping trip since the end of November. Please ignore stuff that isn't new news to you, as I am a month behind on new products :)

Shoppers: I went to two different locations on Saturday to check out clearance items, as Boxing Week sale plus x20 points equal awesome :)

As part of the one-day deal for Saturday, Revlon nail polish were $3.99, including the dual ended Moon Candy Nail Art (reg. $8.49). I got Galactic, Meteor and Moon Dust to join the two I already had (Cosmic and Supernova).

Also bought this Calgon Take Me Away! set with two pair of body cream and body mist (full sized) in the scents Marshmallow and Red Velvet (50% off, reg. $12.99). How awesome is this? I have been wanting to try Red Velvet for a long time, didn't expect to get it so cheap.

Saw some Quo holiday products also 50% off but no sign of the Back to Basics palette. I bought the master brush set, reg. $60.

Lawtons: Remember I told you about Layla Hologram and MagEffect nail polish were cleared out a while ago and replaced by the Softouch Effect and Ceramic Effect shades with $14.99 price tag. It is now their turn to be cleared out for $2.74-$3.74 but not many shades left.

From L-R: Layla SE in 03 Stone and 10 Turquoise Splash, and CE 54 Green Gala and 55 Space Cowboy. I looked up the names as the bottles only had the numbers printed on the lids, a little annoyed by that.

If any of my local readers finds SE 05 Cherry Diva and CE 52 The Butterfly Effect from the clearance corner, please kindly let me know or even better, grab them for me, I kinda have a lemming :)

And more good news: There are two more new displays from the brand.

- Layla Bubbly Effect (imagine OPI Spotted-ish): 01 Meringue Pie (white), 02 Black Forest, 03 Red Velvet Cake, 04 Cherry Muffin (darker red) and 05 Anise Shake (blurple), plus a Bubbly Fix top coat.

- Layla Caviar Effect (don't think I need to explain): 11 shades in individual bead colours and one shade with multiple bead colours (only numbers, no names), plus tiny funnels to drop the leftover beads back into the bottle without a mess.

Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolor collection is 50% off this week, I picked up A Gold Winter's Night (left, first row), around $5.50. After checking swatches, I might have to go back for All Is Glam, All Is Bright. On the right is a random find of OPI DS Mystery, $9.99 from a clearance basket with no other OPI shades :)

Second row: Sinful Colors Nova, Super Star, Faceted and Ice Dream (Holiday Shimmers collection), on clearance for $0.99 each.

And before I forget, all Marcelle and Annabelle holiday products I posted about before are half price at Lawtons right now. Best time to get them! I can't confirm the same deal at Shoppers, just because I didn't see any sets at the locations I went to.

Winners: I found a CND display with their famous Effects shades (Pearl, Shimmer and Sparkle finishes) together with other coloured shades, $7.99 a piece.

I was only interested in the Sparkles (who knew, lol) and got all three that I found: Amethyst Sparkle, Jade Sparkle and Raspberry Sparkle. Now on the hunt for Sapphire Sparkle and Crimson Sparkle. Do I need any Shimmer Effects, what are your favorites?

Please keep me in the loop of what goodies you have found at Winners lately.

Lush: My first time checking out their Boxing Week BOGO sale. I only got two gift boxes, reg. $39.95 each.
- Honey Farm (pictured): with It's Raining Men shower gel, Honey I Wash the Kids soap, Honey Bee and Butterball bath bombs and Soft Coeur massage bar (my favorite).
- Holiday Candy Box (not pictured): with Snow Fairy shower gel, Rock Star soap, Candy Mountain bubble bar, Butterball bath bomb and Bubble Gum lip scrub.

I used a stock pic here as it is easier for you to see the products inside and their sizes.

The BOGO sale also includes the Emotional Brilliance colours (reg. $18.95), selected holiday bubble bars and soaps. I am tempted to get the Do Knot Disturb set (reg. $29.95, also on BOGO) as it also has Soft Coeur (retails $8.95 by itself) besides the Sex Bomb bath bomb, French Kiss bubble bar and Lust soap.

I walked by Sears and noticed that selected fragrance sets were discounted between 25-50%, including Kary Perry's and Lady Gaga's, etc. I know Shoppers also has seasonal fragrance sets on sale for 40% off, so if you are looking for a scent, price check to get the best deal among stores.

This is a huge collective haul from different places at different points of time. I was waiting on things to come in the mail to post them all together :)

I jumped on the W7 bandwagon in a heart beat as soon as I saw all 3 shades I wanted were in stock on Nail Polish Direct.

I didn't know much about this UK brand other than the fact that they made cheaper Nails Inc Sprinkles alternatives, only £1.95 a piece vs $11.

From L-R: Mosaic (dupe of Nails Inc. Pudding Lane), Salt n Pepper (close to Nails Inc. Sugar House Lane) and Lava Flow.

The brand only has these 3 shades with this type of glitter mix so far that I know of.

W7 is also known for some cool duochrome shades, I took full advantage of the cheap shipping - £2.95 for 9 bottles.

First row: Metallic Mercury, Metallic Jupiter and Metallic Neptune

Second row: Metallic Mars, Metallic Venus, Metallic Saturn and Diamond top coat (free with purchase of 5 W7 nail polish).

Shipping took a bit more than 2 weeks. My Metallic Saturn came without a name sticker, I tried to email and FB them with no answer. This turned me away from ordering more from them (was lemming some Barry M), so be warned.

With Shoppers' very first BOGO event on nail polish about 2 weeks ago, I got:

- Quo Center of Attention (from a LE display)

- Nicole by OPI Back to Reality... TV (Kardashian Kolor 2012 collection), Coral Denominator (One Less Lonely Girl collection, supposed to be a Canada exclusive originally), and A Million Sparkles (a 2012 shade).

I was glad to see Shoppers starting to offer some great sales like this. The key point to success is to pick the location with good stock level.

From the Cult Nails birthday sale near beginning of the month for $7 a bottle (reg. $10), I got:

- Annalicious, Feelin' Froggy, Manipulative (all are to be discontinued soon), and

- I Got Distracted. I've been eyeing this one for a while now, glad to finally own it.

Shipping for 4 bottles was $8 to Canada. I am already looking into another order, cause Cult Nails is coming out with the colour changing top coats, hard to resist.

Killed 2 long time lemmings via Ninja Polish: Floam and Sticks 'n Stones, $9 each.

These weren't on sale or anything, but they were really really hard to catch whenever they were back in stock on the site. They sold like hot cakes, I was just lucky that day.

Floam was originally from Nail Venturous but now is bottled under Ninja Polish brand, I'm not sure what the story is, doesn't really matter though.

Canada shipping starts at $3.50 for the first bottle, then $1 for each additional bottle.

I heard about Candy Lacquer over at a few nail blogs and loved the shades they offered. The day their etsy store opened, great shades were sold out within 5 minutes. Craziness!

I missed out on the great LE shades, only got Honey Bee, City Girl and Argyle, $8 each. These are glitters with interesting shapes and combination, definitely stand out to me.

Canada shipping was $5 + $1 for each additional bottle. A little higher than I wanted, but it was worth it to splurge on these.

A CP from the US, thanks to a blogger friend, for some shades that I couldn't get here at the time.

- Revlon Moon Candy in Supernova and Cosmic. These have showed up at our Walmart now :)

- Sinful Colors in Why Not, Dressed to Kill, Let's Meet, Leap Flog and Cinderella.
This wish list was before the drama that Sinful had with nail bloggers. I'm glad to have these colours now, but probably won't buy anymore until I hear some good settlement.

I did really well at Sally this month. These are from 2 different trips - one when I first heard the China Glaze Summer Neons collection was on clearance for $3.29, and one when clearance items were extra 50% off (last weekend).

First row: Beach Cruise-R, Under the Boardwalk, Ride the Waves

Second row: Hang Ten-Toes, Love's a Beach, Surfin' for Boys, and Orange You Hot.

Still missing the green and yellow :(

Other random shades on clearance, also at Sally.

First row: Finger Paints Go Van Gogh; and Late Night Rendezvous (Summer in the City collection)

Second row: Orly Forever Crimson; Sterling Silver Rose; After Party and Dayglow (Feel the Vibe collection).

No sign of the great bright shades from Feel the Vibe nor the Orly Glam Fx :( If you can find them, you'd be one of the luckiest people in the world.

This last bunch was a surprise, as I thought they were long gone. Crackle fever might be over, but I couldn't resist the shimmers, especially when they were $1.50 each.

So here are China Glaze Glam-more, Luminous Lavender, Gleam Me Up and Jade-D.

It's always a good idea to call your store before heading over, as I found Sally's sale isn't necessarily the same across provinces. I had one fail trip where a sale hosted at my friend's store was not at mine.

Layla is on 30% off at Lawtons this week, the best sale I have seen on it so far. The price came out to be around $11 after discount.

Lawtons only has the shades from the first release, so I only got Flash Black and Ultra Violet (which, by taking picture, I realized that I grabbed a tester of, lol).

The OPI Spiderman collection was on clearance, $3.49 a piece. I got Number One Nemesis and My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

Phewww, that is all, for now :) Hope this is a fun read for you on a Monday.

Morning! :) Today's going to be a quick NOTD, as I haven't taken pics of a few things I got in the weekend for a haul post. That's coming soon, ok?

I remember how excited I was finding this gorgeous colour during my California trip: Sinful Colors Mint Apple.

It had been a hit for a while on nail blogs, and it was an LE shade (I think, not available at Lawtons), so I thought I wouldn't be able to find it anymore. But the CVS I went to did have a few left, and one came back to Canada with me :)

The colour does follow the "mint" trend in the nail polish world, but is not the mint you have seen so much with different brands. It's leaning toward turquoise, which makes it a little different, in my opinion.

And here is a close-up. Mint Apple has some pretty shimmer going on, I don't know whether you can see it very well in the pic.

I topped it up with Sinful Colors Green Ocean on the ring fingers, for accent nails. I think they go well together. The flakies in Green Ocean are larger and sparse in the base, so it's a bit hard to get them on the nails. I did 2 coats of it on top of Mint Apple.

The wear is reasonable, 2-3 days before the tip wear starts, which isn't bad. Sinful Colors are around $2 in the US, on sale quite often. They are $4 at Lawtons, with a BOGO sale, we're on par with the US, lol.

Oh, and here's a pic under my office light, no flash. An Ott light would probably show the colour most accurately but I don't own one. Fall/ Winter with no sun would suck for nail polish swatches, that's for sure.

It's mid week already, I can't wait for the weekend. I don't have IMATS to look forward to, but at least it is a break.

For my local readers, Halifax Shopping Centre will be having their 20% off Day on Saturday (selected stores, as always, which means MAC isn't part of it lol). And the Friday after that, Micmac Mall has Tax Free event. Guess they are looking for early holiday shoppers :) Have a good day, everyone!

Last weekend was totally fun for shopping. I managed to restrain myself despite the good sales.

From Superstore's tax-free event, I got:
- Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Streak (CAD2.94). Certain shades of Insta-Dri were on clearance, don't know why.
- Joe Butter, Mint and Ink polish (3 for CAD10). They are very tiny, as expected. Stocks weren't that great, and I couldn't find Peacock. That Mint bottle was the last one on the shelf too.
- L'Oreal Color of Hope polish (on clearance for CAD1.27).

We are up for a 2% increase in tax pretty soon, so tax-free days would be greatly appreciated. Love Superstore!

Lawtons has BOGO deals starting Saturday, so I got a few things. The stuff rung in 50% off, so I didn't have to buy 2 items to get the deal.

- Physicians Formula Organic Wear mascara in Ultra Black Organics (CAD7.89). The packaging was cute, and it was a bonus pack (2 for 1), so it was cheap.
- Sinful Colors Rich in Heart and Daddy's Girl polish (CAD1.99 each). Lawtons only has the regular shades, no LE collections, so I'm still missing out on new shades.
- Milani Totally Cool and Pink Out Loud polish CAD2.49 each). Totally Cool is probably the most popular shade from Milani regular line, I couldn't miss it. Pink Out Loud is supposed to be a dupe of China Glaze Strawberry Field, so I was curious.
- Milani Lip Mixer in Lip Party and Lip Fuse (CAD3.49 a piece).
- Milani Perfect Red Lipstick (CAD2.99).

I did well, didn't I? Didn't break the bank on this haul :-) I'm saving up for the LA trip, we'll see how that goes, lol.