NOTD: Colorful Pastels For Spring/Easter

After much redoing of my nails I finally settled on one for the rest of the week (or at least until Saturday night). These are all from Color Club's "Reveal Your Mystery" set from their Spring 2011 Alter Ego line. When I first swatched these on the fake nails I thought it was going to be be disappointingly sheer, but they are nicely opaque after 3 coats! I am very pleased since I like the colors a lot. My favorite out of the ones I am wearing here is the lilac. The pink is nice and the orangey shade is alright (nice because it has some subtle shimmer though) but the lilac definitely wins. On the pink and the lilac I layered OPI I Juggle...Men so the cremes wouldn't be too stark with the shimmer. And just because it's lovely.

Click to enlarge both pictures to better see the shimmer/sparklies.

NOTD: Sparkly, Neon and Bright!

Last Friday I decided I wanted to do a wild and crazy NOTD, although in the end I wasn't too big of a fan it was fun while it lasted :). Color Club neons with some NYC and Essence sparklies on top! While this was short lived it was fun...I think I would have kept it on longer if I didn't attempt to, and somehow mess up, using OPI Black Shatter over this and having to fix it...it was just kind of a mess and I think soured me on the whole manicure... Click the pictures below for a closer look :).

NOTD: 80's/Early 90's Crackle

This isn't exactly my most original manicure ever, but I have been dieing to try it since I saw Scrangie do it on her blog. The accent nail however was my idea. Originally I was just going to do it plain, but realized that the black crackle would tie it together more and really go well with it. I chose that color combo because I wanted to do something showing the neon aspect of that era, but as I hate/don't own neon polish I chose something that captures the electric feel. And the polish IS from a neon collection, so it's close enough for me!

Here is what I used:

Accent nail - Color Club Ultra Violet (luminous purple with a bright blue flash) + OPI Black Shatter.

All other nails - Essie French Affair + China Glaze Crushed Candy + China Glaze Cracked Concrete.

I just have to say I love this manicure! Retro is awesome!!

Color Club, NYX & Essence Haul

Last night we took the slight schlep out to Ulta (it's not super far, but it's far enough that we don't go all the time), I had heard that the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils were easy to use and good and I remembered that Ulta carried them so I wanted to pick up a couple. Also I've been using eyeliner on my lower lash and water line that coordinates with my eyeshadow, so I thought these might be a good way to have a variety of colors to do that with. I was also looking for a cheap concealer stick that I could keep in my purse since I tend to touch my face a lot so even if I apply concealer in the morning by lunch it's pretty much gone.

There is a Ross next to Ulta, and I'd seen some Color Club nail polish sets there before but either one is stolen or broken, finally I got one that had all the polishes in tact so I picked it up. Not bad, you get 7 for $8! I haven't tried these yet, but I've heard a lot of good things about Color Club so I am looking forward to trying them. I think because of all these shades of pinks I am probably good on pink for a while unless there is something really amazing. Purple too. I pretty much collect blues, and there was only one in the set anyway so I don't see this stopping me from getting more blue :).

I just put on the gold NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil, it went on super buttery smooth but only time will tell how the staying power/creasing goes. Hopefully it's good because I really like these things in theory and I have 4 more colors and the sharpener on my Amazon cart to get if it goes well. As much as I like Ulta I am probably not going back out there for another week or 2 at least..

The concealer I got is by Essence, I haven't tried it yet other than quickly on my arm so I am not really sure how good it is but I like the creamy texture a lot. I just hope it works. Originally I had a $10 concealer stick in my basket, but then I saw this one for $2 and decided to just go with it since I had no idea how good the pricier one was and it was just going to end up in my purse anyway. I know I should probably invest in a good concealer, but maybe later on...