Tarte Cosmetics Sale on ideeli!

There is a Tarte Cosmetics sale on Ideeli today!! it ends at 11:59 PST (so, approx 24 hours from this post). There are check stains, brow kits, foundations, mascara, and other odds n ends. Decent prices, too! :)

Check it out! Tarte Cosmetics Sale on Ideeli

Cross-hatching a Plan

So I broke down and checked out the MAC Venomous Villains collection tonight at the Pro Store. Bad idea. I have far more willpower than I thought, because it's all super pretty!! The mineralized shadows from Maleficent's color story are crazy sparkly and beyond gorgeous. The three polishes are pretty too, though, as I'm sure you know, two are dupes for the Orly Cosmic FX collection. The third, however, is called Bad Fairy, and is a magenta foil duochrome that flashes an orange-red color. Super pretty. While in the Forum Shops, I also came across Inglot, there is a STORE AT THE FORUM SHOPS NOW! (that is my excitement typing) I've never seen any of their products in person until tonight, and let me tell you, everything I saw was crazy awesome, and once I have money again, that place is going to be Dangerous (yes, capital D). Anyway- today's manicure utilizes Bad Fairy (yes, I broke down, I'm not a saint :-P)

I used MAC Bad Fairy as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the crosshatch design. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

This pictures don't do this polish justice. It's super shiny, sparkly, foily goodness.

He's Got a Way With Murder

We know him as Dexter, loving family man by day, serial killer that takes out the 'trash' by night. He's America's So-Called Favorite Serial Killer, and tonight IS the night... for the season premiere, that is. I'm one of the devoted followers of Dexter. Love the books, love the tv show. I actually SQUEALED when I saw the first commercial for this season on Showtime! Seriously. I re-watched the entire series AGAIN to prepare for tonight. :-D Lame? Perhaps. Awesome? Definitely. Today's manicure is devoted to the man who likes to dismember... Dexter Morgan. :) (I'd considered painting each nail a different color as an homage to the ice truck killer in the first season, but thought it wouldn't really be considered nail art, so I didn't) The cartoon Dexter on the thumb is a mash-up of Dexter Morgan, and the illustration style and some characteristics of Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, I dug it when I first saw it, and thought it'd be a fun addition to an otherwise gory manicure. :)

and the close-up/right side up picture of Dex on my thumb:

I used Essie Bone Chilling White as a base, with A Beautiful Life Poison for the blood spatter and DEXTER logo. For the thumb, I used American Apparel Summer Peach for his face and neck, OPI Ginger Bells for his hair, Orly Snowcone for his eyes, and American Apparel Hassid to outline everything, with, again, A Beautiful Life Poison for the blood spatter on his face and collar.

Did you watch Dexter tonight? It was a good one, for sure. I freakin' love this show!

Beauty Salon Dimensions 2010 & A dupe for Chanel Paradoxal?

Beauty Salon Dimensions Event

Hi guys! Today Daphne and me went to an event called Beauty Salon Dimensions. This fair is visited by cosmeticians and nail techs mostly, but everyone is welcome there. A lot of awesome brands were present, showcasing their beautiful products. Nailwise, you could visit stands with brands like China Glaze, OPI, CND, Herome, Trind, Nfu Oh, and the list goes on.
The Netherlands is a bit behind when it comes to new collections, so unfortunately I won't be able to present hot scoops to you, but I do have some eyecandy for you to see. Read More after the jump!

Trind Cosmetics

Dutch brand Trind Cosmetics gives us a sneak peak of their newest collection for this winter. Pretty huh? The representative told me Trind adds four new colors to their selection every winter and summer, so I'll definitely keep an eye out for those!

Nfu Oh

Nfu Oh Nederland was there as well. I've never seen so many Nfu Oh's Together. Heaven! I've added a lot of these to my ever-growing wish list.

OPI

OPI had such a beautiful and impressive stand. Their entire range of products were beautifully showcased. The products were selling so fast they had to keep restocking non stop. I was really hoping to catch a glimpse of the Burlesques, but as I mentioned before, Holland is a tad slow.

OPI's current Designer Series Collection. The two new shades Magic and Radiance were also there. DS Magic looked insanely close to my manicure of the day: ORLY's Lunar Eclipse! Dupe alert?

OPI Swiss Collection swatches, how convenient!

I also took this picture of the Go Goth! collection. They sold these mini packs as well, too bad I couldn't purchase anything since I'm just a consumer.

Hollywood Nails

I LOVE discovering (new to) me brands. Hollywood Nails is a German brand, but their products are available in 12 European countries. I picked up four polishes here, 3 of them cost 2.99 EUR and one of them cost only 0.99 EUR! I hope I will be able to swatch these soon, they're absolute stunners. Further down in this post you will see #509 compared to a high end nail polish..

Aren't these pretty?! From this collection I bought #04 and #509.

ProNailFoil

ProNailFoil is a company that specializes in foils for nails. Appliques seem to be hotter than ever! They gave a nice demo and they looked really cool. I didn't really like the designs that much, but they did have a huuuge selection to choose from.

Chanel versus Hollywood Nails

Woah look at that! The colors in this picture aren't true to life AT ALL, but it shows the similarities very well. The base color and even the shimmer is practically the same! The shimmer in Paradoxal is a little bit bigger, but damn, it's close. I'd say this is closer to being a dupe than Models Own's Purple Grey! And it only cost me 3 euros.

Overall

I had a great time today! I absolutely loved oogling all the pretty polishes and makeup. I've bought some awesome polishes by Hollywood Nails and the new fall colors by CND. Score! Me and Daphne had a really nice talk with one of CND's representatives from BeautyXL and she told us CND will be releasing a gorgeous deep navy blue polish this winter. Can't wait!

I hope you enjoyed this little report of our day, thanks so much for stopping by!
- With love, Michèle

ZOYA Wonderful review

Hello my Sweet Nail-Art Lovers.
Today i am posting my review of new "Wonderful" collection by Zoya, that i recently received in my mail. I will Also soon post the rest of Zoya's Seasonal called "Wicken" .
Even that i was so excited to get it and try these colors out, every time i look at these polishes i have a deja vue feeling. I mean don't get me wrong, colors are gorgeous, and quality is as always outstanding, however some of the polishes really reminded me other colors by zoya.
I also want to mention that i was surprised with how colors came out on the nails, some look way much nicer that my first "bottle" impression. My only wish for Zoya, is to stop cloning redish colors and add a litle spalsh on something unexpected. May be more in blue tones...
Anyway, here are pictures, so you can judge yourself.
Shawn

Cola
Kristi
Burke
Stacy
Kelly

Bridal french + lace nails.

A lovely set of bridal nails. I want this for my wedding!!!

Bridal french + lace nails.

A lovely set of bridal nails. I want this for my wedding!!!

Gel nails.

Sharing a few designs that are not so commonly seen. ;)


Black and pink stripes with black lace and ribbons! I tweeted about this set of nails and received quite a bit of positive comments. ;D
A design from Nail Max.


A cute and sweet set of nails.


All done using gel colours.
Modified the design from Nail Max.


And now, the colours look like they're airbrushed on eh? I did them all using gel colours!! hehehe.

Gel nails.

Sharing a few designs that are not so commonly seen. ;)


Black and pink stripes with black lace and ribbons! I tweeted about this set of nails and received quite a bit of positive comments. ;D
A design from Nail Max.


A cute and sweet set of nails.


All done using gel colours.
Modified the design from Nail Max.


And now, the colours look like they're airbrushed on eh? I did them all using gel colours!! hehehe.

I'm Not the Villain Here!

As all you makeup addicts out there know, MAC Cosmetics is releasing a new collection on Sept 30, and if you have Pro Store access, you can even get it NOW. Obviously, I'm talking about the MAC Venomous Villains collection, which is separated into four color stories representing and emblazoned with the images of 4 Disney Villains...The Evil Queen from 'Snow White', Maleficent from 'Sleeping Beauty', Doctor Facilier from 'The Princess and the Frog', and Cruella de Vil from '101 Dalmatians'. I was going to go to the Pro Store today to check it out, so I did today's manicure in honor of it, but got sidetracked, and it's too late to go because I have to be somewhere else- so I'll go tomorrow! I want to buy stuff, but seeing as I JUST started my job, I'm still broke (and will be for a while), so just window shopping for me! :-P

I'm not in love with how these turned out, Cruella looked better when I did her for the 101 Dalmatians manicure a while back, but my hand was super shaky, so I did what I could. I also think that I need to get a new paintbrush! The only one I'm pleased with is the Evil Queen on my ring finger, I think she turned out pretty ok. :-P

I used:

Thumb: MAC logo

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the logo.

Index: Maleficent

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with Orly Gumdrop for her face, Barielle Grape Escape for her eye shadow, A Beautiful Life Poison for her lips, American Apparel Hassid to outline everything, and Essence Pointbreak to outline her horns. I also used Barielle Grape Escape for her collar.

Middle: Cruella

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with a mix of American Apparel Summer Peach, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud, and Eyeko Punk Polish for Neon Nails for her skin, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for her white hair, Essence Pointbreak to outline her black hair. American Apparel Butter for her fur coat, China Glaze Flyin' High for her earring, A Beautiful Life Poison for her lips, Pure Ice Wild Thing, and American Apparel Hassid to outline everything.

Ring: Evil Queen

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with American Apparel Summer Peach for her face, Barielle Grape Escape for her eye shadow, Barielle Aura Angora for her crown, A Beautiful Life Poison for her lips, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for her collar, and American Apparel Hassid to outline everything.

Pinky: Doctor Facilier

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with Color Club Best Dressed List for his face, then mixed with Barielle Unraveled Rust for his lips, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for his eyes and teeth, Orly Snowcone for his pupils, MAC Rich, Dark, Delicious to outline, American Apparel Hassid for his hat, A Beautiful Life Poison for the sash on the hat.

Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

What are you going to buy from this collection? I'm excited to see it, but I'm praying for lots of dupes to stuff I already have. :-P