Femme Fatale Cosmetics - Keeper of the Grove

     Well, it's been a little while since my last post. Work has been murder on my nails and cuticles. The wear and tear my hands suffer while bartending has reached a whole new level. I'll spare you the details, but the damage caused by my job made it impossible to maintain any kind of length. I even went to work with bare nails a couple of times. (Quelle horreur!) Believe me, people noticed. They asked if I was okay. I'll admit, I was kinda bummed about things, nail related and otherwise. Then, one of my fellow bartenders told me something that motivated me to get back into the polishing, blogging, swing of things. She said that I was her nail polish idol. That I inspired her! As I was admiring her glittery fuchsia nails, she confided that I gave her the confidence to wear colour on her fingers, not just her toes. She had always worn clear polish or french manicures, scared that colour would look weird on her or make her feel self-conscious. However, after discussing nails with me and admiring mine for the past year, she recently felt comfortable enough to come into work wearing pinks, reds, purples, blacks, and even some glitters. She said that she was still working up the nerve to rock green or blue, but that I was the reason that she felt brave enough to expand her polish horizons and wear what made her happy. She had even started researching new polishes and brands online. (Is it just me, or is that the sound of a baby polish addict being born?) Now, isn't that just the coolest compliment ever! I felt so humbled, but at the same time proud that I contributed to a friend feeling better about herself. :)

     Still with me? Want to see the polish I was wearing during the above conversation? I present to you... a glitterbomb!

 

 

 

     Femme Fatale Cosmetics Keeper of the Grove is super blingy, and I la-la-love it! This baby is definitely an attention grabber. It's inspired by the Path of Cenarius from World of Warcraft. If you're not familiar with WoW, look it up. (Or just believe me when I say that I can totally see the connection.) WoW aside, I think the name sounds magical/mystical and is totally appropriate. Keeper of the Grove has a sheer lime green jelly base, and is packed full of holographic greens and golds. There are also scatterings of pale pink hearts, teal and pink dots, and bright pink holo hexes. This polish is definitely reminiscent of flowers in a luscious garden, but it also reminds me of crushed gems.

 

 

     I've seen swatches of Keeper of the Grove both by itself and layered over another polish. I much prefer it by itself, because the brightness of the base and glitter is preserved that way. This polish is so packed with glitter that achieving full coverage was pretty easy. I only used two coats here, and that was enough to make me happy. (You can still see tiny spots of nail peeking through, but it wasn't noticeable in person.) I had no problems getting any of the different kinds of glitter out. In fact, I had to be careful to not get too much glitter on the brush. I applied the polish in full strokes, then spread out any clumps of glitter to make things even and flat on the nail. This didn't bother me at all, and I wouldn't confider it problematic. I waited a few minutes between coats to make sure to not drag either the glitter or jelly base. As to be expected, this polish did dry with some texture. I topped it off with two coats of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite to make it perfectly smooth. I wouldn't say that removal was easy, but it was easier than I thought it would be. (Oh, and pics are from both the first and second days of wear, so there are stray glitter specks in some and minor tipwear in others. Whoops!)

 

 

 

     Isn't this just sooo pretty?! I couldn't stop looking at my nails, especially under low lighting. All that holo glitter twinkled like crazy. I wore Keeper of the Grove for three days, including two at work. I did get some tipwear and a chip on my dominant hand after the second day. Still, I really didn't want to take this off. I just love that lime green, and the glitter mix is so complex. I got tons of compliments, and surprisingly, a lot of questions about this polish. People seemed baffled by how much glitter was on my nails and how I got it there. Lol. I was happy to explain. :)

 

     If you live in Australia, Keeper of the Grove is currently available from Femme Fatale Cosmetics. You can also find it at Color4Nails. Elsewhere, it's not in stock at the moment, but I purchased my bottle from Llarowe for $13.

 

XOXO,

Riotbettyx





Zoya - Zuza

     Well, hey there, lovies! Hope everyone is doing well. Super busy past week and a half here. I made a quick last minute trip back home to see my mom while she was in the country. I also got to hang out with my dad on Father's Day and spend time with my delightful little nephew. It was a good couple of days. :) My restaurant reopened after its remodel. The bar is completely different. It's beautiful, but we're still working out the kinks in its functionality. Between making some major adjustments and having the bigwigs from corporate hanging around, work has been pretty stressful, and I've just been wiped out. All I want to do is paint my nails, but I get home from work and pass out...

     Today's polish is one I wore a little while ago to brighten up a dreary day. Zoya Zuza is from the Summer 2012 Surf Collection. I love this one! It's such a beautiful, beachy, summer colour.

     Zuza is described by Zoya as a "deep, saturated, oceanic turquoise with gold and silver metallic shimmer and a foil-like finish." I absolutely adore this shade. Such a perfect mix of blue and green! I can see this one being flattering on most skin tones. I have a bunch of aqua/turquoise polishes, but Zuza is unique to my collection. The formula is wonderful. Coverage was really good with one coat. Photos show two coats, topped with Seche Vite. (I know that I previously mentioned occasional shrinkage with the Zoya/Seche combo, but no problems this time!) I didn't have any issues controlling the polish, but if you're like me and have ADD when it comes to application, beware of leftover shimmer particles post clean-up.

 

     Sadly, I only got to wear this beauty for two days. I blame it on a busy night at work, but a weird thing happened. I didn't get tipwear in the traditional sense. It didn't chip, either. It just kinda shredded off. That's the only way I can describe it. Random jagged little pieces tore off my tips. I tried to patch up my mani, but the same thing happened after the second night. Sad panda. I'll have to wear this one again when I'm not guaranteed to wreck it.



 

     I'd normally babble on more about this polish, but seriously? Look at it! It's gorgeous. The pictures should be enough to convince you. Also, I'm currently watching/listening to the director's commentary on the Les Misérables DVD. So, yeah, I'm a little distracted. To make it up to you, how about a pic of the always adorable Luna? She's always around for my polish related activities. She loves "girl time." Lol. Little princess usually falls asleep by my feet while I'm snapping away with the camera. Below is her normal napping position of choice. <3



     Zuza is available for purchase from Zoya for $8. Zoya is always doing awesome promotions, so you should follow them on Facebook so that you don't miss out.

XOXO,
Riotbettyx

White Owl Lacquers - Water Lilies

     Well, hey there, lovies. Hope y'all had a good Easter. Quick post today. Or it might be long. I don't know. I do know that I'm behind on my blogging. Work was crazy busy last week and fairly full of drama, so I was both mentally and physically exhausted. I'm still feeling kinda bleh and drained. What I am stoked about, however, is today's polish. White Owl Lacquers Water Lilies, from their Spring 2013 collection, is the vernis du jour.

     According to the White Owl Lacquers site, Water Lilies is a "light mint green jelly base with purple, teal and aqua matte hex, metallic turquoise dots and bigger magenta dots." I don't think this fully describes how beautiful this polish is or all the different types of glitter in it. The purple hexes come in three different sizes and shades. There are also small pink hexes that they didn't mention, as well as very subtle shimmer flecks. I originally tried to wear this on it's own, without any undies, because I love the way the glitter suspended in the green leaning base really does remind me of water lilies. Fail. I just need to learn that certain jellies look awesome swatched on a nail wheel but not so much on my slightly stained nails. (Oh, and two coats of precious polish wasted... breaks my heart.) Maybe I'll try it alone again when I'm rocking supernubs.

     This is one coat of Water Lilies layered over China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint. I didn't want to alter the colour of Water Lilies too much by picking a mint base that was too blue or dark. Compared to bottle colour, I think I did pretty well. I'm not so great at applying jellies, but this one didn't give me much trouble. For the most part, it was self-leveling and non-streaky. (All of my White Owl Lacquers jelly based polishes seem to have wonderful formulas. Some of them actually apply effortlessly. Total score.) I did make sure that I had a good amount of glitter on the brush with each dip, but I didn't have to place it on the nail at all. I also didn't have to fish for the large magenta circles, which I love. Removal was what you'd expect from a polish with glitter, a little bit of work, but nothing crazy. As usual, I topped this off with a coat each of Gelous and Seche Vite.

     I kinda feel the need to apologize for the less than stellar clean up job on this mani. I was just so tired and my contact lenses were dry from being awake for so long. I couldn't really see straight and thought I did much better than I did. It should also be noted that the boyfriend picked this polish out. My brain was too fried to make a decision, so I shoved this and another polish from the same collection in front of him and asked him to choose. BF to the rescue. ;) I ended up wearing this polish for five days. (Yes, five! I told you, I was shot from work. Good thing I really like this polish.) These photos are from the second day of wear. I only had one chip after day three and two more after day four. Really, though, the chips weren't that noticeable. Tipwear was almost non-existant.

     A couple of final thoughts... Mara, the creative mind behind White Owl Lacquers, seems super sweet. A few months ago, I expressed interest in two of her polishes that had been recently retired. She offered to make them for me even though she was no longer restocking them! I had never bought anything from her before, and this totally impressed me. I was thankful for her kindness, and she earned herself a loyal fan. Her polishes have a certain delicate beauty to them, and I honestly think they deserve all the attention they can get. Ohhh, and how ridiculously cute are those bottles? Water Lilies can be purchased from White Owl Lacquers for $9.

     Aaand for no reason other than it being stuck in my head for the last 24 hours, I'll leave you with a song. Nail world, meet my first love, Music...

XOXO,
Riotbettyx

Pretty & Polished - Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

     Hope everyone had a great weekend and made it through Monday with a smile. I personally love Mondays. Nothing like a fresh start to the week! (It also doesn't hurt that I have the day off from work. Lol.) One more green mani to show you today and some general blabbing about the blog.

     Pretty & Polished Kiss Me, I'm Irish! is the polish I was wearing on St. Patrick's day. I also wore it to work the day before, on "St. Practice Day." I figured the pretty green would help distract from when my hands inevitably got dyed green from the food colouring we were putting in the beer. ;) It's a fun holiday to bartend but certainly has its downsides.

     Kiss Me, I'm Irish! consists of small matte green and white micro glitters in a clear base. I had originally planned on wearing it layered over a green base to make removal easier, but I was hopped up on cold meds and didn't trust the steadiness of my hands. I figured that wearing the glitter by itself would result in a more forgiving application. So, this is three coats of polish. You can still see a little bit of nail peeking through, but it wasn't noticeable in person.

     Application was easy. The polish went exactly where I wanted it to and didn't require any clean up. It definitely had some texture to it. I used a coat of Gelous and another of Seche Vite to smooth things out. By the second day of wear (when these pics were taken), my nails were feeling bumpy again. Oh, you hungry little glitters. Including base coat, this mani consisted of 6 layers, so I'm surprised that I only got one chip while at work. It did start to lift on one of the fingers on my dominant hand by the end of the night, but managed to not peel off. Removal was, well, not fun. I'll be trusting my first instinct and layering this next time.

     You can see the glitters better here. From a distance, they combine into a kinda grassy look. Up close, you can see white glitter (which sometimes looks silvery), green glitter, and slightly larger more cool toned green glitter. So pretty! As much as I like sparkle, I'm honestly a fan of matte glitter.

     So, I'm sure you've noticed that my hands look lobstery in these pics. A little about that... I don't really have any photo editing software. I can do some basic colour correcting, but that's about it. My camera isn't fancy. I have some art training, but no photography background. I know that there are blogs out there with fantastic, flawless photographs. This is not one of them.

     My photos have been taken in daylight so far, but I don't see that being the norm. It's just not practical for me. I normally polish my nails after I get off work, which is anywhere between 2 and 4 AM. Yes, AM. Gotta love that bartender vampire schedule. Taking daylight pictures means snapping a bunch of random pics right before I leave for work and praying that some of them end up being usable. I plan on working on some sort of lighting set-up that I can use at night, when my manis are still fresh.

     Also, I don't plan on doing much actual "swatching." I love when bloggers do posts showcasing full collections, but it's just not something I can do. My hands get beat up enough at work as it is. They wouldn't survive swatching. :( My posts will show you the polishes that I actually wear. On the plus side, I'll be able to comment on how they hold up in the real world. Still, I'd be totally down for doing posts with comparison requests.

     Well, I think that's enough for today! I'll leave you with one last picture. :)

XOXO,
Riotbettyx

China Glaze - Running in Circles

    Happy St. Patrick's Day, lovies! Hope everyone is having a great day and celebrating safely. This holiday is close to my heart. Unfortunately, I'm only celebrating in spirit. Allergies, asthma, and crazy Florida weather have combined to leave me nice and sick for the past couple of days. I've pretty much just been waking up to go to work and passing back out when I go home. I have today off, so I'm putting my rest time to good use and actually getting some posts up!

    In the St. Patty's spirit, I've got a gorgeous green polish to show you today. China Glaze Running in Circles is definitely an attention grabber. I wore this for two days at work and got so many compliments. One of my coworkers actually stopped a story mid-sentence to comment on my nails. She was distracted by the shiny. ;)

     Running in Circles is a beautiful bright green glassfleck shimmer. It has a bit of a golden flash and is just so bright and stunning. I loved this on. It was more opaque than I thought it would be and covered fully in only two coats. The formula was wonderful and there were no problems with application. (Okay, there was one problem, but it wasn't the fault of the polish itself. My brush was a little wonky. Actually, about half of my brushes from China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil collection were messed up. A couple of them were so bad that I actually took scissors to them to trim the frayed parts. Not the end of the world, but I hadn't read about anyone else having this problem, so I thought I'd mention it. This particular brush left me with a little more clean-up than normal, so I apologize for the little gold specks that just didn't want to come off my skin...)

     This polish wore pretty well. After a busy night at work, I only had one chip on my dominant hand. Patched it up when I got home. The next night was even busier and left me with a chip on my other hand. I can't totally blame this on the polish though. I might have added a little too much thinner to my bottle of Seche Vite. Whoops. Tipwear was minimal. Removal was easy. Not creme finish easy, but still easy. I was careful with the cotton pads so that I wouldn't be left with tiny gold sparkles everywhere.

     One last pic to show you how pretty it is! If you love greens, Running in Circles is definitely one that I would recommend. It was released last year and should still be pretty easy to find.

XOXO,
Riotbettyx

Pretty & Polished - Irish Brawn

     Well, I haven't been feeling too great the past couple of days, so no posts. Medicine free at the moment, so I'm going to try to write this before I have to go back to feeling loopy. I apologize if it doesn't end up being completely coherant. ;)

     Today's polish is Irish Brawn by Pretty & Polished. It's one of their St. Patrick's Day polishes. St. Patrick's Day is very special to me, because my father's side of the family is very proudly Irish. I grew up learning about the history and struggles of the Irish people, both in the United States and the old country. This little pretty was made "to signify the amazing strength of the Irish Immigrants here in America."

    Irish Brawn is a black jelly with three types of green glitter, including the ever popular circle glitter! I used three coats here. I probably could have just done two if I had been more careful. The black ended up being pretty solid and dark with three coats, but it didn't loose the jelly look completely or swallow the glitters. You could also layer this over a solid black if you don't have the patience for jellies or want a more opaque look. Consistency and application were both great. The bottle is packed with glitter, so I didn't have any problems getting some on the brush. Still, the jelly base applied smoothly. There was a little bit of texture because of all that awesome glitter, but nothing a coat of Seche Vite couldn't fix.

     This isn't the best picture, but I think it shows the depth of the polish. Look at that pretty green glitter! I love black and near-black polish, but don't wear it a lot. I have to wear all black at work, and solid black polish makes me look too goth. I look goth enough as it is, with my vampire schedule, dark hair, and pale Irish skin. This polish is perfect for me. :) There is just enough beautiful sparkle and colour to make this something I can wear whenever.

     Final verdict? I love this polish! I also love the company that makes it. Pretty & Polished was the first non-mainstream brand that I bought from. I was hesistant at first to buy indies, but I'm so glad that I gave it a go. It probably helped a lot that I started with this brand, because all of my purchases from them have been nothing short of fantastic. I now have a growing Pretty & Polished army, which you'll see more of on here for sure.

Irish Brawn is still available from Pretty & Polished for $9.

XOXO,
Riotbettyx

Mint Chocolate Chip Nails: Zoya Neely w/ Dollish Polish Creme De Menthe

Well, lovies, here we go...

     I've been considering starting a blog for a little while now and have decided to just dive on in, sink or swim style. I really want a spot to share my love of my "colours" (my boyfriend's term for my ever expanding stash) and interact with people who love nail polish as much as I do. There are a couple of girls (and one guy) at work that have shown interest in my ever changing manicures and nail polish in general, but I've been hesitant to "out" myself as being a little obsessed. Mostly, I just interrupt my boyfriend while he's playing xbox and force him to look at my nails. He politely assesses them because he loves me, but I suspect that he secretly thinks that I'm crazy. Anyway, more about the blog and what to expect from me later. On to the polish!

     My idea here was to create "Mint Chocolate Chip" nails. I love anything sweet. Chocolate, cake, cookies, candy, pastries, ice cream... I have a sweet tooth of Buddy the Elf proportions. Mint chocolate chip was my favourite flavour of ice cream as a child, so it gets the honour of inspiring my first published manicure. (Please excuse the tipwear and cuticles. I bartend long shifts, which is really rough on my hands. I'd already worn this for two days at work before I took these pictures. I kinda figured that if I kept waiting for the perfect opportunity to start this blog, it would never happen. So, yeah, I've set the bar low.)

     I started with a base of Zoya Neely from this spring's Lovely Collection. Zoya describes it as a "full coverage earliest spring green in a glossy creme finish." I'd say that's pretty spot on. Two coats was all I needed. The formula was wonderful, and I had no problems with streaking. All my recent Zoya purchases have been a joy to apply and wear time has been impressive.



     The glitter topper is Dollish Polish Creme De Menthe from the 2013 Valentine's collection. It's a sparkly mix of different sizes and shades of green and brown glitter with some white bars thrown in. I know it's not available anymore, but due to some issues, I wasn't able to get it before Valentine's Day and am only now wearing it. It's super shiny and also pre-St. Patrick's Day appropriate, so I don't mind that much. (Sidenote: Dolly's customer service is pretty wonderful.) Application was easy. The glitter payoff great, so I only needed one coat. I didn't even have to do any dabbing to get the large hexes or bars!

     I do have to mention that I've worn this combo for four days now without any chipping and only some inconspicuous tipwear. That's pretty miraculous considering the 30 hours of bartending I did in that time period. The constant handwashing, contact with cleaning chemicals and alcohol, endless amounts of glasswear to wash, and banging my fingers against numerous glass, metal, plastic, and rubber surfaces... CND Stickey kept it anchored, a coat of Gelous smoothed the glitter, and Seche Vite was, well, the chemical filled awesomeness that is Seche Vite.

     Well, that's it for now. I'll leave you (my currently non-existant audience) with a picture of my darling Luna, who is the partial inspiration for the title of this blog. :)

XOXO,

Riotbettyx