Sinful Colors - Splatter Spell, Cauldron Couture and Mystery Moonshine Swatches & Reviews

Firstly, these swatches suck large amounts of horse hineys (autocorrect wants to change "hineys" to "chimneys" which, if horse chimneys were a thing, these swatches would be sucking those as well). I wouldn't even pretend to be mad if somebody told me so, either. I agree with you, friend. Such suck.

But it's what I have, soooooooooooooooo...

Found these bishes at Walgreens a couple weeks ago on an un-built display, still in their boxes. I sneakily snuck one of each out, even though I'm pretty impartial to glitter toppers. I figure for Halloween maybe I can get into it a little bit.

Bleh.

The problem with drugstore glitter toppers, I've found, is that the ratio of glitter to base is pretty weak. I mean, obvs I'm not looking for a full-coverage glitter, but as thick as these polishes were, I would have liked to have gotten a better payoff, you KNOW? I had to do some fishing for an even layer of glitter. All swatches were taken under OttLite (even though it's a beautiful day out and likely one of the last of its kind this year :/  ).


First up is Splatter Spell which is a metallic orange shard/hex and various-sized black hex glitter mix in a clear base. Shrug. I kind of wish the orange was more saturated, I guess.

Shown below is two coats plus a few dabs over Sinful Colors - Enchanted.

Cauldron Couture is similar to Splatter Spell but it's, oh you know, metallic green and black instead. There also seemed to be a much higher glitter concentration in this one, making it my favorite of the three, and I still don't really even like it that much.

Shown below is two coats plus a few dabs over Sinful Colors - Innocent.

I thought Mystery Moonshine was going to be my favorite because of the lack of black hex glitter, but this one can just go straight to heck. It was a goopy nightmare with very little glitter payoff, plus the super-thick base was tinted pinkish (though I don't know if it was intentional or because of glitter bleeding).

Shown below is two resentful coats plus countless dabs over Sinful Colors - Cool Gray.

I'm only keeping these guys because I collect Sinful Colors and they look pretty in the bottle, but I very highly doubt I'll be actually using them anytime soon. Whatever, they were $2 a pop (because somebody didn't just wait until Walgreens was having their $.99 Sinful Sale...).

Whatever, I say. Hey, Halloween isn't until, like, a month from now. I have time to find successful Halloween polishes, right?

Sinful Colors - Eva So Bright Swatch & Review

1. We're all moved-in to our new house.

2. I'm using my old computer again which means the new font I downloaded for my watermark isn't, uh, in use yet (because, okay, my boyfriend is doing this really top-secret computer nonsense and has been for a few months now... He's not a big 'keep secrets from Brandy' kind of guy, so I have this inkling that it has to do with some sort of future proposal, but I'll keep you posted. Oh anyway I have my own user account or whatever on this computer, but my permissions are limited and we keep forgetting to have him edit them. Stuff's password protected so I can't go snooping around on his account. No, it's not porn related either, which I know you were probably thinking).

3. After three small tears on two nails, I decided to reshaped my tiny claws. I present to you:

Tah Dahhhhhh!

They're actually kind of the perfect shape for me regarding how often they tear, but also super bizarre because I've always been a squoval kind of girl. I don't know that I'm necessarily the type of lady to be able to appropriately pull off the sass, but whatevs. Better than nubs, riiiiight?

So I got my PinchMe box a few days ago and I was able to snag a Sinful Colors for it. That's how I got this polish, yeah? Free as heck.

Eva So Bright is a, uh, bright pink/coral creme with a surprisingly good formula -- no streaks, dawgs! My photograph sort of makes it look like it has a fine pink shimmer, but it really is just a straight creme. Self-leveling and super shiny, to boot! I wish all Sinful Colors performed this well.

Shown below is three thin coats (no topcoat) in direct sunlight.

Yeah, sorry about the one picture. I mean, you get the idea though. In other news, I'm starting to show a baby bump a little bit these days. Truth be, it's still mostly food-dependent, but at least I'm pretty unmistakably pregnant now and not just paunchy, which I'm generally pretty okay being anyway. This was taken after a delightful dining experience at a Hibachi restaurant called Yukiho which is located freaking four minutes down the road. They, soon, will know me by name.

You can't tell that well from the picture, but our bathroom wallpaper is this super-faded pink and metallic silver seahorse/shell print that I love and hate equally. I would like it more if it wasn't accompanied by a pink tile border, maybe. Redoing the bathroom is high on our list of cosmetic improvements for our little bungalow. Where did that name come from, btw? Bungalow.

All right, buddies. See you next time.

Legend of Zelda Triforce Nail Art

Just to, you know, really drive it in that I'm a huge geek.

Let me tell you a little story about my first Legend of Zelda experience. I was 12 and I was staying at my dad's apartment for the weekend. I had brought my Nintendo 64 over for entertainment purposes (not that he wasn't entertaining, exactly, he was just studying to be a paramedic) and we had rented Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I haaaated it. My problem was that I couldn't find the frigging Kokiri Sword. I played for all of 20 minutes, decided the game was lame, and went about my life.

Fast forward a year; waiting at a bus stop with my friend from elementary school's big scary sister. I was a freshman in high school and I didn't belong anywhere. This big scary sister and I started talking video games, and she lauded about a game called Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I was like, girl, whaaaat? That's shit's lame. And she's like NO. So she let me borrow it (and helped me with the sword) and thus began the most epic journey of my life up to that point and a best-friendship that's still intact to this day.

We defeated Ganondorf during New Year's Eve of 1999/New Year's Day 2000. EPIC.

Ocarina of Time is very near and dear to my heart (I say it's my favorite video game of all time but I'm pretty sure that's just in a sentimental way... it's definitely in my top 3). That's the end of my story.

Courage! Wisdom! Power! I know I'm holding a GameCube controller here (I don't know where my N64 controller is, thanks) but just go with it. Windwaker was pretty great too, if we're going to get all crazy about it.

Colors used were:
Zoya - Storm & Raven
Sinful Colors - Ruby Mine & Emerald Envy
Ciate - True Blue
OPI - Oy-Another Polish Joke!

I was going to freehand the Marks of the Goddesses instead of just the individual Triforce bits but I just so happen to be taking a medicine that makes my hands kind of shaky, which is also super awesome for doing nail art.

I was going to re-take the pictures after I reviewed them because I kind of hated how they turned out, but I was going to do it after we went to the grocery store. But then something suck-filled happened, which you can read about tomorrow </3 

Sinful Colors - Hot Chilli Swatch & Review

I was pretending to go to sleep on this pile of blankets with my almost 2-year-old which is by the couch with a surround sound speaker on a stand next to it. Little rambunctious boy does some kind of Tasmanian devil/ninja move and knocks the speaker over onto my face. I caught the edge of it with my forehead so now I've got this enormous goose egg and this is one of those rare moments I'm actually thankful for cutting my bangs. At least I was the one who got smashed, if we're going to look on the bright side like sensible people.

Today I have kind of a bizarre polish to share with you. It's called Hot Chilli and it was part of the Sinful Colors Spice It Up! collection out last Fall. I never ended up seeing the collection for sale anywhere so when I saw Hot Chilli for sale on Storenvy I figured I may as well get it.

It's got a silver cap, which for Sinful Colors means the polish is textured or part of the Diamond Lust collection, neither of which it is (though please correct me if I'm wrong here; I only did a little research here and by research I mean I Googled "Sinful Colors silver cap" and those were the only two things that came up).

Hot Chilli is sort of this metallic red base with small and micro holo glitters hanging out in there. It's a little on the thick side, but it wasn't frustrating to work with.

Shown below is two coats with topcoat.

I'm so kind of 'eh' about this polish. I don't hate it because it's kind of nice to look at, but there's just something about it that I don't love. I don't really know how to describe it. Or maybe this is just the self-diagnosed concussion talking. I don't know, guys. I probably won't ever wear it again but I'm going to hand on to it because I'm intrigued by the whole silver cap thing.

The siiiilver caaaap.

Any ideas as to why it's silver?

Nail Art (Super Loosely) Inspired by Rangoli

Hiya!

Colorsutraa's hosting a giveaway that has two ways to win: via Rafflecopter and by submitting your nail art that's inspired by a category chosen by a blogger. I chose 'Inspired by India' (which was, of course, prompted by Colorsutraa) for many reasons, but mostly because of how freaking awesome Indian color palettes and designs are.

After much Googleage, I found information on an art form called Rangoli, which is where beautiful designs are made on floors using materials like colored rice, flower petals and sand during Indian festivals. There's a lot more that goes into it, but that's the Lazy Brandy description. Anyway, it's awesome, and I totally wish I could have dedicated more time to my design because actual Rangoli is super intricate and stunning and my nails are, you know, neat and all but pretty watered-down. Hence the super-loose qualifier in my title, there. Ha.

I used sixteen colors of polish (most of which were Sinful Colors) and topped it all off with copious amounts of Essie G2G to try to hide the insane amount of teeny tiny brushstrokes. I love this and I wish I was ambidextrous.

Side note: I don't know if it's my hand anatomy or what but doing the claw hurts me. It, like, tugs on this tendon in my arm. My thumb doesn't rotate like a normal person's, or something. Buuut you get the idea, even if it's presented in a gimpy way.

Look. At. How. Crooked. My index finger is. What the heck? I've never broken it or anything. Yet my nail insists on growing straight up, parallel to the rest of my fingernails, like a tree growing on a hill. It's weird how woman-y my hands look in pictures. Is that a strange observation to make? I always thought I had little girl-looking hands. I guess I am almost 30 and all, perpetual sigh/vom.

St. Patrick's Day Nail Art

Hey! Hey, guys!

Once upon a time I used to celebrate St. Patrick's Day the only way Americans know how: green wearin' and copious amounts of alcohol starting at the crack of dawn, usually in the form of Killian's, Guinness and Baileys or any creative and shudder-inducing combination of the three. St. Patrick... Patron Saint of hangovers.

Now I'm all old and wrinkly and fun-resenting (but hangover free, bitches!) and I celebrate St. Patrick's Day by making corned beef and cabbage (the recipe is, like, a freaking book and kind of all over the place but i results in DELICIOUS WONDERS). Holidays seem to be the only thing inspiring nail art out of me these days. Meh. Too busy being a grumpy old person I guess.

I started with a base of Essie - Good As Gold and after that was completely dry I used page hole reinforcements to tape off  at the base of each nail. Then I applied two coats of Sinful Colors - Emerald Envy. For the accent nail, I just used my super fancy DIY detail brush and, starting at the cuticle, painted rainbow arches! I had this really great idea to use the reinforcement labels so that the arches would be super crisp and perfect buuuuut no. Nope. Too impatient for that noise.

The rainbow consists of:
Formula X for Sephora - Hyped
Color Club - Wild at Heart
Colors by Llarowe - Young Turks
Sinful Colors - Happy Ending 
Cult Nails - You're My Dandy Lion 
Essie - Meet Me at Sunset 
Colors by Llarowe - The Mighty Red Baron 
..and a coat of Essie G2G

Uh, yep! That's a potato.

Valentine's Day Gradient Nail Art

I say this a lot, but I don't often have time for nail art-- if I do manage to do any, it's while the kids are napping so I only have around an hour these days. I wanted to do something cutesy and pinksy and heartsy for Valentine's Day since that's what people do, right?

I found a tutorial about sponged gradient hearts (which can be found here) and being that I haven't successfully done a sponge gradient yet, I wanted to go a little bit out of my nail comfort zone (which, I guess, is a thing for me now) and gradate the sh out of my nails. But with a heart for good measure because Valentine's Day!

I used Julep - Joan, Essie - The Girls are Out and Madison Ave-hue for the gradient, and Sinful Colors - Pale for the background of the accent nail. Essie G2G topcoat to finish 'er all up.

 
It's not the most intricate design in the world but for me for V-day, it gets the message across all right. Happy Valentine's Day, guys. If you're not into that sort of thing, happy Day-Before-a-Bunch-of-Chocolate-Goes-On-Sale Day!

Sinful Colors - Jasmine Jazz Swatch & Review

I somehow didn't even know thrift stores had nail polish until a couple months ago when I found this guy for sale in a bag with a couple pink Sally Hansens and an unlabeled pearly taupe nightmare at good ol' Village Thrift.

Jasmine Jazz is a gray/lilac base with lovely pink/purple flash. The formula was straight-up meh for me... pretty close to opaque in 3 coats but streaky and thin and unrelentingly non-leveling (possibly due to its thrift store-ness?). I think I'll try layering this over a gray polish next time to give it something to stand on, you know?

Photos show three coats with Essie G2G on top. The shimmer looks a lot more purple than pink, here.

I'm suuuuch a sucker for shimmer or "flash" (how do I use this term correctly here even?) that's close to the color of the base but brighter -- I love how it pops in the light. Sinful Colors does this super well, but the formula often leaves something to be desired with their lighter colors. For $2 at most, I guess, it's not the worst thing in the world.

I seriously have so many untried SC (thanks to <3 Big Lots <3). I really need to get on those, yeah?

Tape & Texture Polish Rainbow Chevron NOTD

I love chevrons, okay? Like, a lot.
They make even sad, small nails look rad. And they're easy with tape.

The thing about texture polish is that it dries super fast, plus it's textured. It's easy to bump the brush of a different color against the dried already-painted section so I don't have to go crazy with the tape. Loads easier to work with than non-textured polishes and the result is just as awesome.

For this manicure, I used good old Scotch tape aaand (starting at the cuticle):
Sinful Colors - Got a Blush on You
OPI - Jinx
Ulta - unnamed lime green texture
Sinful Colors - Emerald Envy
OPI - Alcatraz... Rocks
L.A. Girl - Sands of Time

And with a couple layers of Essie G2G for good measure: