Green and white water marbling!

My first successful water marble! I'm mostly impressed, especially with the minimal amount of clean up I had to do. I took the picture before clean up to show how careful taping can make cleaning up easy.

First, I used two coats of China Glaze Snow, which is a white creme. Then for the actual marbling, I used China Glaze White Cap and China Glaze Glittering Garland.

I dipped the index and ring fingers together, after drawing a sort of four-leaf clover in the water. I also dipped the ring and pinky fingers together, after drawing a design that was more linear. I quite like the designs on the index finger and the ring finger. I also like how the designs on the ring and pinky fingers line up with each other!

I tried water marbling a few days after this, and ran into problems. The polish all migrated to one side after dropping it in, and it dried before I could draw in a design. I tried changing the water, and the same thing happened. I'll have to figure out what went wrong that time, because water marbling is pretty easy, and it looks great. I definitely want to do more marbling!

If you want to learn how to water marble, I recommend the YouTube channel by SimpleLittlePleasues. Her marbling is incredible, and I watched a bunch of her videos before trying it myself.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Shortly, anyway. This semester was so busy and weird, I've only painted my nails three times since the beginning of September. I have three exams left to write: one today, one tomorrow, and one on Thursday. After that, I have three weeks off. I intend to do a LOT of swatching to make up for the long hiatus.

Next semester, my schedule is much better. I crammed all my labs onto one day, so I will be able to paint my nails and swatch pretty regularly.

Good luck to anyone writing exams! Go fight win!

China Glaze Midtown Magic

This is a really, really gorgeous polish. Midtown Magic is from China Glaze's Fall 2011 collection, Metro. It's a very deep berry-red (maybe claret?) with orange and gold shimmer. In general, I don't get excited over fall collections and darker colors like this, but I think Midtown Magic is special.

I used three coats on every finger but the middle, where I did two coats to show the base color better where it's thinner. It applied nicely but I had expected this to be more opaque, and maybe only needing two coats in the first place. However, as I'm sure you know, doing more than two coats really doesn't bother me if the color is nice or unique enough.

Tomorrow, I will have for you swatches of the other polish I bought from the Metro collection. Next week, I am planning on doing water marbling for the first time, and I'll have pictures of that, no matter how it turns out. See you next time!

Wear-test with Misa Endless Keys

You guys, the wear on Misa's polishes is seriously amazing. This is after one week of wearing it, with no base or top coat.

As you can see, there is absolutely no chipping. There is a small bit of tipwear, however. This is, hands down, the best-wearing polish I've ever used.

There's not really much else to say. If you've never tried Misa polishes, I strongly recommend them.

China Glaze Senorita Bonita

Senorita Bonita is another polish from China Glaze's Summer 2011 collection, Island Escape. It's a gorgeous almost-frosty purple, with blue and red shimmer. I love it on my fingers, but I think it makes an even better pedicure color.

This was two coats. It went on great, with your standard China Glaze formula. It makes me think of what might be the end result if two other China Glaze polishes, Coconut Kiss and Flying Dragon, had a baby.

Tomorrow, I have for you the results of the wear test I've been doing with Misa Endless Keys. Spoiler alert: Misa seems to be superior to the other brands I've tried, in terms of wear. See you tomorrow!

China Glaze Blue Iguana

Blue Iguana is a bright blue glass-fleck from China Glaze's Summer 2011 collection, Island Escape. In some of the pictures, the bottle looks like it has some purple glass-flecks, but it doesn't show up very frequently on the nail. I saw it a few times from certain angles, but it's not obvious. It's a pretty color, and it reminds me more of those really nice-looking beaches that you see on TV, with the crystal clear, bright blue water, than an iguana. However, I really like iguanas, so I'm a fan of the name.

Blue Iguana was pretty sheer, and this was three coats. Another downside is that it stains pretty badly when you take it off. I always find that blues stain my hands though, so maybe it's just me.

If you're looking for a bright blue glass-fleck, don't mind doing three coats, and are perhaps a bit more careful with your removal technique than I am, I think you'll like Blue Iguana.

Misa Endless Keys

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I didn't anticipate being as busy as I was. I have a couple weeks of vacation now before I start the new semester, so I am going to work really hard at swatching a lot of things that I want to review, so that I have a bit of backlog to work through as I begin school. I will be able to have a couple days a week where I can create more of a backlog once the semester begins. Hopefully this will allow me to post as regularly as I want to!

As some of you may know, Canadian politician Jack Layton died today. As such, I wanted to do an orange manicure today as a small tribute to a great man. I chose Misa Endless Keys, a tangerine-orange loaded with gold glass flecks, from their Summer 2011 collection.

I've never bought or used a Misa polish before this one, and it blew me away. The formula was great; it wasn't thick at all, but I don't want to say it was runny, because it wasn't. I guess I would say it was "pleasantly thin," while not being totally sheer. For these pictures, I used three coats. One thing about Endless Keys is that I wanted it to be as orange as it is in the bottle, but it has more of a golden yellow tone once you put it on. I bet it would look great layered over an orange creme, and it would look more like the bottle.

I will definitely be buying more Misa polishes in the future. I got this one from TransDesign, which ships internationally, and paid $3.75 USD.

China Glaze Hey Sailor

Hey Sailor is a bright, true red creme from China Glaze's Spring 2011 Anchors Away collection. It applies very smoothly, and dries to a very shiny finish.

I did two coats here, but it was honestly opaque after one; I just did two because leaving it as one feels strange.

I'm not really a red nails person. I have two red polishes: this, and China Glaze Ruby Pumps. However, I really love Hey Sailor. I like that it's a true red, and doesn't lean too warm or too cool. I also liked that it didn't give me lobster hands! I think it would be a great pedicure color, and that's probably how I'll wear it from now on. It's not the most unique color, so I'm sure there are dupes of it, but if you are looking for a red creme, I certainly don't think you'll be disappointed by Hey Sailor.

China Glaze Life Preserver

Life Preserver is from China Glaze's Spring 2011 Anchors Away collection. It's a dusty-looking orange creme. The name is a great fit because it's exactly the color of those hard, plastic, orange life preserver rings. It also reminds me a bit of autumn leaves.

Life Preserver applied SO nicely. This is two coats, and it was nearly perfect after just one! I like that it's not the typical kind of orange you would find in a spring collection. The dustiness makes it more interesting.

I feel like I can't express enough love for China Glaze polishes. You can buy them at really inexpensive prices at e-tailers like TransDesign and 8ty8 Beauty, they almost always apply like a dream, and they have a huge range of colors in addition to seasonal collections. They're my favorite nail polish brand. Typically, my favorite collections are the spring ones, although I thought that the 2010 Holiday collection was AMAZING. If you've never tried China Glaze, I highly, highly recommend them.

China Glaze Lemon Fizz

Lemon Fizz was released last year as part of China Glaze's spring Up & Away collection. It's a light, buttery, pastel yellow creme. I'm sure most people know the whole song and dance about how difficult most yellows are to apply. How they're streaky, chalky, lumpy, or any number of other things. But Lemon Fizz wasn't bad!

I used three coats and I'm very happy with how it turned out. It was a little streaky, but it evened out nicely as I put more coats on. I did find that it was really hard to get it to even out nicely if I didn't have a steady hand, so my right hand looks pretty bad. But I'm pleased with my left hand, and as that's the swatching hand, that's really all that matters!

This is really not the most flattering color on me. I'm not sure if it's because I'm so pale, or because I have so much pink in my skin, but it looks kind of funny in person. I still love it, however.

SpaRitual Chill

Chill is the second SpaRitual polish that I bought. It's really a medium lavender shade, I promise. This one was really, really tricky to photograph. It always turned out much more blue than it really is. I took 35 pictures before finally settling on this one.

It has the same nice application that Dreams Becoming Reality had, and the same brush and cap, although being a mini, the cap was sort of strange to maneuver. I did two coats of Chill for this picture.

I wish that this had photographed more true to life. It looks like a rather boring shade of periwinkle in all the pictures, so I tried to make as accurate a swatch as I could just in Photoshop. This swatch is more like what Chill looked like on me.

Chill is much darker than polishes like China Glaze Light as Air or OPI Rumple's Wiggin, so if those gave you lobster hands, this might be a better polish for you. It's also brighter and slightly more blue than OPI Done Out in Deco. Purple is my favorite color, and I do like Chill, but it's not one of my favorites.

SpaRitual Dreams Becoming Reality

This is my first experience with SpaRitual. I didn't leave the house planning to buy any today, or even thinking I would find some, but when I found them and saw Dreams Becoming Reality, I knew I had to buy it.

Dreams Becoming Reality is a dark, slightly murky teal creme. It makes me think of a peacock! It went on like a dream, easily covering the nail. I did three coats, but I probably could have gotten away with two. It dries to a very, very shiny finish.

I really, really like the cap and the brush. The cap is rubberized, and tapers upwards, with small grippy ridges on the sides. The brush is a bit shorter and more densely packed than China Glaze brushes, and it reminds me quite a bit of the Orly brushes.

SpaRitual polishes are a bit more expensive than what I usually pay for polishes. I paid $12.50 for the full sized bottle, but there are places online where you can get them cheaper. Some shades also come in mini sizes, which are 5ml/0.17 fl oz., but the full sized bottles are a better deal. I bought a mini in Chill, of which I will have swatches for you next time!

Take a look at how very shiny and reflective Dreams Becoming Reality is. Like wee, distorted mirrors!

Wet N Wild Fast Dry Teal of Fortune

This is my first time using a Wet N Wild polish since I was really young. I have to say, I'll be buying WNW polish much more often after the experience I've had with Teal of Fortune!


This is a bright blue/teal glass-fleck polish, and I've seen around the internet that it's a dupe for Zoya Charla and OPI Catch Me in Your Net, which is why I bought it. I did two coats, but next time I will do three, because out in the sun you can definitely see some spots that it didn't cover completely.

I like the brush on these Fast Dry polishes. It's shorter and seems a bit thicker than the China Glaze brush, which is what I'm most used to. When they say Fast Dry on the bottle, they're not kidding. It does dry super fast, and I didn't need to wait around between coats.

When I was initially Googling for swatches of Teal of Fortune, I came across several where the swatcher had layered it over black. It looks really great, and is definitely something that I'll have to try soon. It's just sheer enough that I think you could get a nice ombre manicure out of it as well.

China Glaze Grape Juice

I love this polish. Grape Juice was released in China Glaze's Summer Days collection in 2009, which is one of my top favorite collections. It's a grape purple with glass-fleck shimmer.

This is 3 coats. The only thing that I don't like about glass-fleck polishes is that they tend to go on sheer, and you have to build them up. When you look at them in the sun, they tend to look watery and not very impressive. For this reason, I am including a picture of Grape Juice in the shade, where I think it looks really great. The picture to the left is Grape Juice in direct sunlight.

The sheerness of glass-flecks makes them a great choice to layer over other colors. Lots of bloggers seem to like layering a glass-fleck over a black creme, and it looks really great. I wish I had thought to do one nail that way, just to have a comparison. Perhaps a future post can be photos of all of my glass-flecks over black.

Here is Grape Juice in shaded natural light.

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover

Four Leaf Clover is not at all what I was expecting. This picture is pretty much bang-on as far as color goes. It looks more green under inside lighting, but it's very blue in the sun.

I wanted it to be a bright, grassy green. It's a pretty color, but my search for a great grassy green continues.

As an aside, I'm officially on vacation. My intention is to post daily or near-daily until the end of July. I've got a few ideas lined up, and I'm thinking of doing theme weeks to keep myself more interested in blogging.

Barry M Cobalt Blue with Nail Effects

May was not a good month. I don't even have an excuse. Sorry. Here's what my nails look like today:
This is Barry M Cobalt Blue with white Nail Effects. I also used one layer of top coat. I like this one even better than the Cyan Blue + black Nail Effects that I did back in April. I'm not sure why the white has streaks of blue in it. Maybe I didn't let the blue dry long enough before putting the crackle on?

I also like the different effects you can get by using thicker or thinner coats of the crackle polish. The thinnest coat is on my index finger, and the thickest is on my pinkie.

Barry M polishes are available on their website.

Why China Glaze is one of my favorites.

Sorry for going so long without a post! The new term started at school so I've been busy trying to get settled in to a new routine. I should be back to a more regular posting schedule now. I'm going to shoot for Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

I wanted to do a sort of "official" wear test to demonstrate the great wear I get out of China Glaze polishes. So, the following is two coats of China Glaze Grape Pop, without a base or top coat, after five days of wear.


As you can see, I only had a miniscule amount of tip wear, and no chipping. I really love the China Glaze formula, and now you can see why! Chipping doesn't really bother me much, because I change my nails so often, but I know it's a big deal to some people. For this reason, I plan on doing other wear tests in the near future. Maybe I will even do another one with Grape Pop, except leave it for ten days and see what the results are.

Orly Snowcone

Cats and kittens, Orly Snowcone is awesome. This is one coat. That's right, one. It's a light blue creme, and it applies so easily and evenly. Orly polishes have this lovely rubber cap that is easy to grip and it doesn't slip around while you're applying it. I've only ever tried one Orly polish before, but I will definitely be getting more.

Orly polishes are hard to buy online. I bought the two I have about a year ago, before all my regular e-tailers stopped shipping the brand internationally. So, I have no links for you, because I'm not sure where to buy them myself.

China Glaze Below Deck

This is not the type of color I'm typically drawn to. I usually like very bright, sparkly nail polishes. However, I'm really glad I picked this up. Please excuse my messy application, I thought I cleaned it up better.

China Glaze Below Deck is a mix of purple, grey, and a little bit of brown, with a creme finish. In my eyes, it's a super sophisticated color, so I think it would be good for people who have a more conservative job, but still like to paint their nails. It's a classy color, but it's not stuffy.

China Glaze polishes are available at select salons, and also at e-tailers like TransDesign and 8ty8beauty. I buy mine online.

MAC Goldmine

MAC's Goldmine (which is one of their Frost finishes) is one of my favorite eyeshadows. MAC describes it as "intense gold with shimmer," and that's about right. It's not glittery, but has very fine shimmer throughout. It's not one of those golds that has a green tinge to it either; it's pure gold. I like to pair it with greens and oranges.

I find it hard to get good pictures of MAC's Frosts. It doesn't look that intense here, but it was the best picture I could get! Every other picture had the color washed out by the sunlight. Maybe that's because of the frosty shimmer?

MAC Goldmine can be bought from their website, and at any MAC counter or store.

Barry M Cyan Blue with Nail Effects

As an introductory post, I thought I'd share a picture of my manicure, and talk a little bit about Barry M.

This is my first experience with Barry M products, and I'm very pleased. Cyan Blue was opaque in two coats, and dried more quickly than I'm used to. I topped with one coat of Nail Effects in black, which dries matte, so I added a top coat. It's still bumpy with just one layer of top coat, so if you want a smooth finish, you would need to add more. I didn't because I kind of dig the little bit of texture.

Barry M Nail Paints can be purchased from their website, which ships internationally.


Thank you for reading, and welcome to Squidrangle!