NOTW: Layering with Essie Sexy Divide & Milani Totally Cool

Hi everyone!  Hope you are having a great weekend.  I am spending it with my daughter and parents, so that is always great for me.  :)  Also, when my daughter and I were going shopping yesterday, I broke both (not one) of my thumb nails. O_o  Yep.  So I had to go back down to nubbins just when they were growing long again.  Oh well, what do you do?  Well, you go dark and purple, that's what.  And while Sexy Divide is gorgeous on it's own, I could never really get into Totally Cool.  So I put Totally Cool on top of Sexy Divide.  Check out the results!

So what do you think?  I think it's pretty awesome, the only problem is that I couldn't really capture the Totally Cool purple that it really is.  Thanks for looking!

Haul/Swatches

First off, let me just say that I really suck at taking pics.  These pictures do not really show how pretty these nail lacquers are.  All of the swatches are 2 coats except Mystic Lilac which is 3 coats.  Please excuse my sad cuticles (100% pure acetone wrecked them) and there was no clean-up on all swatches. So here we go!

SH CSM Fedora, SH CSM Sequin Scandal, OPI YDKJ Suede, OPI My Private Jet, OPI Tease-Y Does It, Maybelline Gray-T Glamour, SH Xtreme Wear Mystic Lilac

I have to say that I really, really love the brush on these Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes.  I can usually get by with little to no clean-up with these.  This lacquer is from Tracey Reese for Sally Hansen Fall 2010 color collection.  Fedora is a nice "nudey" neutral with some gold microshimmer.  I wasn't really able to capture the shimmer, again, I suck at taking pics.  I love nudes, so this one is right up my alley.  Almost a 1 coater, smooth formula.

Hmmm, what can I say about this one?  Well, it appears to me to be an olive green glitter and maybe some silver glitter in a black base.  It almost looks like antique gold in certain lighting.  This one is also almost a one coater.

I know I am late getting with the suede/matte scene, but honestly I am not too fond of it.  As you can see in the last pic, I added topcoat.  I like it better that way.  Certainly does not look like the original You Don't Know Jacques! now does it?  Great formula and very fast drying.

Well now, this is OPI My Private Jet.  I think I got the version nobody likes, because I am not thrilled with it.  Where is the holographic goodness?  It just looks like multi-colored glitter in a dark brown base.  Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, I like it, I'll wear it.....maybe.  Meh......kinda bummed with this one.  Great formula, nice and smooth.

This beauty is OPI Tease-Y Does it from the Burlesque Collection 2010.  It appears to be a brownish red base with lots of gold flakes and glitter.  It almost looks like a sparkly black in some lighting.  Awesome formula, but definitely needs 2 coats.

The following pics will have both nail lacquers, either alone or layered.  I present to you Maybelline Gray-T Glamour and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mystic Lilac.

Gray-T Glamour is gorgeous!  This appears to be a periwinkle base with greenish, maybe turqoise, teeny tiny flakies.  I do love this one.  The formula is not the greatest though.  It is streaky on one coat, definitely requires 2 coats.

Mystic Lilac is a lovely muted lavender with green microshimmer.  The formula is very smooth but is shear, so this needs at least 3 coats to be opaque.  Perfect spring and summer color.

Here I did some layering with Gray-T Glamour and Mystic Lilac.
#1 is GTG with 2 coats of ML.
#2 is GTG with 1 coat of ML.
#3 is GTG alone.
Phew, this was a super duper long post.  I sure hope you are still with me and didn't fall asleep.  Is that snoring I hear?  Oh that's just Billy, my daughter's cat.

NOTD: China Glaze Ingrid

Ingrid is from the Fall 2010 China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection that was released in July 2010.  She is a medium brown with a micro gold shimmer.  The shimmer isn't as noticeable unless in direct sunlight.  I still like her though, just not in love.  She is very office appropriate, which is great for me.

 These are the products used:

• CND Stickey Base Coat (Love this!) - 1 Coat
• Gelous Advanced Nail Gel Coat (Love this too!)  - 1 coat
• China Glaze Ingrid - 2 coats
• Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat - 1 coat
• Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (Smells yummy)

See how she kinda looks like a regular dark brownish taupe creme indoors?

This was taken next to the window.  I was able to capture some of the gold shimmer.

Had to open the front door to get some sun for this shot.  Pretty gold shimma!