amyopoly » black

China Glaze Haunting Halloween Collection

Amy — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:30:57 +0000

While at Cosmoprof 2011 I got a nice look at some future collections, including “Haunting,” the upcoming Halloween collection from China Glaze.

Here we have a 2 glitters, 2 creams, and one very awesome glow in the dark top coat! Check out swatches below! :)

My descriptions of the colors:

Haunting: black base with bright silver round micro-glitter
It’s Alive: sheer olive green base loaded with chunky round glitter and small round micro-glitter
Crimson: deep eggplant-purple cream (looks mostly black)
Near Dark: murky deep olive green cream (looks mostly black)
Ghoulish Glow: transparent glow-in-the-dark top coat (!!)

edit: Scrangie just posted swatches of the Nars Fall 2011 collection, and Haunting looks pretty similar to Night Breed. The only thing, it seems, is that Haunting was comprised of all the same sized round glitter, and Scrangie says that Night Breed has irregular sizes/shapes. Will wait for comparison shots of the two!

Beacon Winner 2011

Amy — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:56:02 +0000

This year I was lucky enough to attend PBA Beauty Week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here’s a little bit about why I was there:

As an esthiology student at Aveda Institute Charlotte, I applied to become a Beacon winner, which is an annual nationwide contest for cosmetology and esthiology students focused on the business and marketing side of the industry. Though Beacon, NAHA, and Cosmoprof have much more to do with hair than make-up, I applied anyway. I had to do 3 before and after pictures and create a marketing piece for myself, in addition to submitting a professional resume. I was thrilled to find out in May that I was one of 100 winners nationwide, and the amazing company that owns my school, Beauty Basics, paid for my flight and hotel in Las Vegas for the weekend of July 30 so I could attend! I’m hugely grateful to them for sending me over to get a taste of Beauty Week. Thank you BB!

As Beacon winners we were set up with a unique schedule of seminars and parties that allowed us to hear from motivational speakers, manufacturers, distributors, stylists, and salon owners, including some of the industry legends. As I said, most of this was directed toward hair stylists, but I still took a lot away from all the speakers and their advice. We got to attend exclusive parties and mingle with tons of people, and we also got to attend the North American Hairstyling Awards. If you didn’t know, NAHA is like the Oscars of hair. It was a fun night hosted by Miss Tabatha Coffey herself.. I’ll post pictures of that soon!

I stayed in the Luxor, which is connected to Mandalay Bay, where all of the Beacon, NAHA, and Cosmoprof events were held. I got to meet a bunch of other Beacon winners from schools that Beauty Basics owns; my roommate for the weekend had just graduated from Aveda Institute Dallas.

I met a lot of great people and took away a lot of really solid advice from the various speakers we heard from. Stedman Graham (yep, Oprah’s boyfriend!) was the opening speaker, just to give you an idea! He’s actually a great entrepreneur and motivational speaker in addition to his famous relationship. ;)

For now, here are the before and after pictures I sent in which won me a place in Vegas. I will list some of the products I used if I can remember what I used… it was done way back in March!

Katelyn’s wearing a custom-mixed lip color, Sable and Twinks eyeshadows, and Stud for her brows.

Amber’s wearing MAC Faux lipstick, Macroviolet fluidline, and Top Hat eyeshadow in the crease.

Nicole’s wearing MAC Hollywood Nights lipstick, Coygirl blush, and Feline eye kohl.

Backlog of Manicures!

Amy — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:37:47 +0000

I have a little treat for you today, several manicures.. mostly nail art I’ve done over the past month or so that I’ve been meaning to share. Hopefully I’ll be able to upload some higher quality pictures another time, but for now cell phone pictures will have to do!

China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle layered over China Glaze Swing Baby

What I call a “preppy” manicure, it made me feel very tennis-club-in-the-Hamptons. Used Essie Cute As A Button, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Essie Tart Deco and (unfortunately) an unknown Essie (the bright pink).

!!Toes alert!! Essie Mint Candy Apple bows outlined in Art Club black nail art polish, layered over Essie Cute As A Button!

I can’t find the nail art inspiration picture I interpreted for this manicure–but I used Justin Bieber for NOPI I’m A Belieber with white and black Art Club nail art polishes for the design.

I am so utterly obsessed with jelly polishes, and this color especially: OPI Big Hair, Big Nails from the Texas 2011 collection!

I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was when I found OPI Sparkle-icious at a salon nearby. I didn’t jump on them when they first came out because I was poorly, and I couldn’t pass it up again!

Nail art with Zoya Dove and some Art Club studs! Loved this one, so chic, so… Rihanna.

I recently bought wall shelves from Target to organize my polish collection. This is a shot of all my polishes as of May 23, not including my MAC polishes (which are stored on a MAC polish display next to my make-up).

Flirt! Cosmetics Giveaway!!

Amy — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:46:35 +0000

This post is where you leave a comment to enter a chance to win the Flirt! eyeshadow palette!
Please don’t forget to leave your YouTube username, as you must be a subscriber! Also, please leave a reliable e-mail address.

Yay, I’m so excited for this, guys!! I am hosting a giveaway, provided by Flirt! Cosmetics, to win a 40 eyeshadow limited edition palette!! If you’ve never heard of Flirt!, they are sold exclusively at Kohl’s, and I am seriously impressed by the quality of the shadows.. especially for the price! See more of my review of this product and a look done using the shadows in the video below:

I am not being compensated in any way to host this giveaway by the company or their PR firm. I was provided the palette free of charge prior to the announcement so that I could test it for myself. All the opinions stated here are 100% true and only mine.

I will close comments on this post on December 21st at midnight, and announce the winner later that day!

China Glaze Party Hearty

Amy — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 21:00:37 +0000

From China Glaze’s holiday collection, ‘Tis the Season To Be Naughty & Nice, is Party Hearty, a multi-colored glitter topcoat for the Christmas season. The polish is clear based with small silver and gold glitter, medium green glitter, and big red glitter. You can do several coats of this polish on its own over bare nails, or layered over other polishes. Here are some layering ideas for you!

China Glaze Party Hearty over OPI Who the Shrek Are You?

China Glaze Party Hearty over China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses

China Glaze Party Hearty over MAC Nocturnelle

China Glaze Party Hearty over China Glaze Mrs. Claus

China Glaze Party Hearty over Confetti White Wedding

MAC Tartan Tale Holiday Set 2010: 5 Naughty Little Vices Nail Lacquer

Amy — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 19:37:33 +0000

The MAC holiday collection is one I look forward to each year. From the unique packaging to the products, I usually find several items I feel I have to have. As a collector, it can be quite draining on my bank account. This year it is A Tartan Tale.

Unfortunately, I have to say that I am simply not as impressed with this year’s holiday collection as I wish I were. Now, a point I would be remiss not to mention: MAC’s holiday collection, this year and every year, represent the only time in the year during which MAC products are discounted. This is a fantastic opportunity for budding enthusiasts and people who otherwise don’t spend much money on make-up to get more bang for their buck. The items all also make great gifts. Another point: there are still a couple items I will probably buy from the collection, which I’ll talk about in another post in the near future.

Since Tartan Tales is such a huge collection, I want to focus the rest of this post solely on the 5 Naughty Little Vices Nail Lacquer set. This post is intended as more of a review than a beautiful post with pictures and swatches, because I have not and will not be purchasing the set.

Let’s get started already!

Set Includes: 5 mini nail lacquers: Nocturnelle, Beyond Jealous, Vintage Vamp, Asiatique & Vice is Nice
Amount: 2.5 mL / 0.09 fl oz each.
Retail Price: $25.50

To start, the only non-repromoted limited edition lacquer shade is Vice is Nice, a yellow gold frost. Nocturnelle is a black cream from the permanent line. Beyond Jealous is a deep teal cream, repromoted from F/W Nail Trend ’09. Vintage Vamp is a red wine cream from the permanent collection. Asiatique is a classic red cream, repromoted from the Dame Edna collection.

My first gripe here is the lack of new products. Yes, there are always “cult classic” colors that everyone can appreciate, but seeing as there is only one nail set, it seems that the colors would at the very least be new limited edition colors. Vice is Nice, on top of being a never-before-seen color is also a unique addition to MAC’s permanent collection (the last metallic gold nail lacquer was Gilded from Antiquitease in 2007).

On that same note, even if all the colors were repromotes, why these colors? Nocturnelle… a black cream… really? Wasted space in my opinion. Beyond collectors, most people will say a black cream is a black cream, and they can easily get cheaper (not to mention MORE) black creams at Sally’s. Beyond Jealous is one of those colors that looks black in low lighting, and isn’t as punchy as the season’s trending teal color (as seen in the collection’s promo picture).

Next, beyond the colors, is the lack of variety in finishes. Asiatique and Beyond Jealous are mistakenly labeled as frosts, but trust me: they are both creams, which makes 4 of the 5 mini lacquers cream finishes. For a set that represents the opportunity for people to try several colors for the price of (roughly) 2 full-sized lacquers, they definitely should have offered more variety here.

Lastly is the seriously minuscule amount of polish you’re given with the set. Yes, you get 5 different colors for the price of (roughly) 2 full-sized nail lacquers. However, the amount of product itself? 2.5 mL in each mini lacquer bottle, compared to the full-sized nail lacquer’s 10 mL. One full-sized bottle of MAC nail lacquer is $13. It takes just a bit of simple math: 5 nail lacquers x 2.5 mL in each bottle = 12.5 mL of nail polish TOTAL in the set. That is just slightly over the amount of polish in ONE full-sized bottle of MAC nail lacquer! You are better off buying 2 full-sized nail lacquers, and you will get more product for your dollar. There is very little value in the set.

So, with all of those complaints, I guess it’s obvious that I wouldn’t recommend this set to anyone. It’s unfortunate, because it’s been so long since MAC did a nail lacquer set, and I was truly looking forward to it. Hopefully next year they will have some better (and bigger, or cheaper!) options. We’ll have to see.

Below, check out swatches of Nocturnelle and Beyond Jealous side-by-side. Does this set really need both colors? Do you agree with the points I’ve made above, or disagree? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

(Beyond Jealous on index & ring fingers, Nocturnelle on middle & little fingers.) Direct sunlight.

(Beyond Jealous on index & ring fingers, Nocturnelle on middle & little fingers.) Indirect sunlight.

(Beyond Jealous on index & ring fingers, Nocturnelle on middle & little fingers.) Indoors, with flash.

Orly Iron Butterfly & China Glaze Millennium Konadicure

Amy — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:25:00 +0000

This is probably the first successful Konadicure I’ve ever done. While I really enjoy hand-painting nail art, I’ve never been able to get good results from the Konad stamping system–there’s definitely a learning curve I’ve been slow to grasp. Anyway, I thought this was a really awesome looking manicure. I love the contrasting textures along with the contrasting finishes and colors. I really suggest getting China Glaze Millennium if only to stamp with, because it’s a fantastically smooth, opaque silver in just one coat. I found this along with other China Glaze Khromes on clearance at Sally’s for $3.99!

Base: Gelous
First layer: Orly Iron Butterfly (matte)
Second layer: China Glaze Millennium with plate M62
Topcoat: Sally Hansen Mega-shine Topcoat (only over the tips)

Chippy Tip Fix

Amy — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:00:07 +0000

I wanted to show you one way to extend the life of a manicure if you get chippy tips after a few days. My original manicure was MAC Earthly Harmony, and I simply used Nail Art Striper in black and a rhinestone to cover the chippy tip!

Do you have any other nail art ideas for chippy tips?

Aztec Manicure

Amy — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:00:02 +0000

Totally. obsessed.

I follow WAH Nails of London on Tumblr (and Twitter), and I absolutely love getting inspiration from the pictures they post. Even though I am decent with freehand design, I usually feel that their designs are too advanced for me, or I don’t have the right colors or tools to complete similar looks (ie, Minx, gel nails, etc.). But I realized today that I had collected 3 snapshots of aztec manicures for inspiration, and knew I could do my own.

First, the inspiration pictures:

Now, the tools I used:

Revlon eyeliner brush (used with acetone for clean-up)
Thin paintbrush from craft store (used to paint designs)
White Nail Art Striper
Black Nail Art Striper
CoverGirl Boundless Color Fuchsia Girl 525 (I’m not sure if this bottle is really old or if the formula was bad, but I don’t recommend this polish.)
OPI Paint My Moji-Toes Red
China Glaze Lemon Fizz
MAC Peppermint Patti
Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Top & Base Coat

I started off with this base:

(L->R: OPI Paint My Moji-Toes Red, CG Fuchsia Girl, China Glaze Lemon Fizz)

And then added designs freehand!

I am so, so, so happy with the design, but I have one small dilemma.. my right hand has ZERO polish on it right now. I’m not sure if my hand is steady enough to attempt ambidexterity. I’ll figure that out tomorrow.. :P Hope you enjoyed!

Fourth of July Nail Art

Amy — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 04:22:14 +0000

I’m a nerd, so I love doing themed nail art. ~~I can’t find my camera cord at the moment, but I will post higher quality pictures as soon as I do!~~ I also did my toes ~~and am considering posting those here~~ The bottom two photos are my left and my right big toes respectively. I cropped them so you could only see the nail art, so hopefully that doesn’t skeeve anyone out too badly! (I know it’s a little bit of a faux pas to post pedicure pictures, but I do nail art on my toes, too!) Here goes…

USED:
OPI Russian Navy
OPI Dorothy Who?
China Glaze Ruby Pumps
MAC Vestral White
White nail art striper
Black nail art striper

Left hand, thumb: American flag design using OPI Russian Navy as a base for the blue, CG Ruby Pumps as a base for the stripes, then OPI Dorothy Who? and white nail art striper to make star portion, and white nail art striper for the stripes.
L, index: Black “U” using black nail art striper over half CG Ruby pumps and half MAC Vestral White base. Accented with blobs of OPI Dorothy Who? and the white nail art striper.
L, middle: White “S” using white nail art striper over diagonal half OPI Russian Navy and CG Ruby Pumps.
L, ring: Black “A” using black nail art striper over half CG Ruby pumps and half MAC Vestral White base. Accented with blobs of OPI Dorothy Who? and the white nail art striper.
L, pinkie: Fireworks design over OPI Russian Navy base using white nail art striper and accented with CG Ruby Pumps and OPI Dorothy Who?
Right hand, thumb: American flag design using OPI Russian Navy as a base for the blue, CG Ruby Pumps as a base for the stripes, then OPI Dorothy Who? and white nail art striper to make star portion, and white nail art striper for the stripes.
R, index: Gingham-inspired design using CG Ruby Pumps as a base and checkered using white nail art striper, accented with black nail art strpier.
R, middle: OPI Dorothy Who? layered over OPI Russian Navy as a base, white star outlined in black using white nail art striper and black nail art striper. (*This is the only nail I’m not really happy with. I think I should have done several smaller stars instead.*)
R, ring: Playful polka dot design using CG Ruby Pumps as a base and white dots using white nail art striper accented with dots of OPI Dorothy Who? Dotting tool was used.
R, pinkie: Fireworks design over OPI Russian Navy base using white nail art striper and accented with CG Ruby Pumps and OPI Dorothy Who?