Swatch & Review / Nail Art

   At first I was planning a regular swatch post for the few Layla Mirror Effect polishes that I picked up.  But the plain fact is that there are already awesome swatch posts out there with all the individual colors, my favorite example being at A Polish Addict.  (Here's part 2 from her, as well!)  All the polishes have an identical finish so rather than more plain-ole' swatches, I had fun with nail art!

   I bought my Layla polishes from FabulouStreet.  I managed to pick them up on sale, their regular price is $15.50 per bottle.  The special chrome formula is intended to be used without a base coat on freshly buffed nails.  (You can even buy a special Layla file for this purpose, which came out with their holographic collection.)  I ignored this.  Instead I used a peel-off base coat on my unbuffed (nonbuffed? buffless?) nails.

   As you can see these truly show every little imperfection in your nail.  They dry super-fast into a thin foil.  Personally I hate to go without a base coat, and these applied just fine over what I had on, so I think next time I will try tricking them with a super-thick glossy base!  I used a fast-drying drying topcoat on all my fingers and a thick topcoat on my thumb, no issues there either.  Wait for the polishes to dry before top coating them!

   The opacity on these metallics is wonderful despite their thin, almost watery consistency - you're looking at just one coat of each polish, both in the base and each layer of the cloud design that I free-handed with the polish brush.  The least opaque seemed to be Titanium Sky, which if seen at the right angle in certain lighting had a thin spot.  Can you tell?

  Layla did a very nice job with this line of polishes.  Finally, metal-finish polish without frosty brushstrokes!  They are the most chrome-like metallics I've ever seen, but nothing as shiny as their bottle caps.  Because of how they show every tiny ding and dent in your nail bed I will probably stick with using these for nail art.  I'll probably hold off on buying any more of them until they release more unique colors, though.

   Layla is an Italian brand, specializing in various "effect" polishes, and all Big 3 Free.  They are on the pricey side for my budget, but I've enjoyed every polish I've bought from them.  Have you tried anything from this brand?  Do you these metallic nail polishes?  Let me know!  =)

   ...More like October 2012 Updates, haha!  =P  Honestly I misplaced a few of the things I picked up over the month of October, so rather than my usual big group shot I'm just going to share some of my Instagram pictures and blab about what's been happening...  (I'm fighting a yucky cold, cut me some slack!)

  

   New Jeffrey Campbell Blyke shoes!  I had been wanting a pair of these and snagged them when they went on clearance - yay!  This is the baby pink suede color.  They are really soft to the touch...  And yes, they don't have heels!  They feel like regular heels, though.  Love them.  =)

   A peek into my cell phone...  My husband was kind enough to root my smartphone, and now it is looking very pretty!  Prettier since this capture, in fact.  I've switched to a new live wallpaper that is more delicate, but still black with teal, white & purple!  Time for another screenshot, I guess.

   One other gift from my other half was a new washer and dryer set!  They are white high efficiency models by LG,  No pictures of those but they are wonderful~  ^-^  Finally, no more toting laundry out of the house to get it done.  I did the Happy Housewife dance that day.  =D
 

   New Layla nail polishes from www.FabulouStreet.com!  Must swatch these soon!

   One of the reasons I've been away from the computer is that I've gone on a sewing kick...  Mom let/made me take a bunch of her sewing goodies and fabrics.  My sewing room was in a state of chaos thanks to all the new doo-dads that had to be put away, and I'm sure that is why I'm missing a few things around here!  Still, I got it back in working order and finished a few projects, as well as made this crazy nightcap for my guy.

   How can that not put a smile on your face?  =D  He loves it and now his noggin stays nice and toasty through our chilly autumn nights.  It is made of flannel and love.

   One day I was feeling depressed and had very little motivation, but I got myself to mix up a franken polish that I had dreamped up forever ago.  It helped lift my spirits and after that I was productive again.  This is Stardate, and it is a black jelly packed with holographic glitters!

   I'm wearing it right now but it has been on my hands since last week and is not at all worthy of photographing.  It came out very nicely, though!


   Well, that's all I've got for this quick post.  Once I have the rest of the clutter cleared out of my sewing/crafting/nail polish/shoe stash room maybe I can share some photos!  =)

The amazing strawberry shortcake with ice cream that I shared with my husband last weekend.  Yum!

   I've got more magnetic nail polish swatches to share with you today!  Last week I tried two more colors by the Layla brand.  One I loved, one I was slightly let-down about.  First I tried Brown Sugar:

   There were very few swatches of this one Online and it was really hard to judge if it would fit my skintone or not, so I chanced it.  I'm very glad I did!  I ended up loving this even though it is an unusual polish color for me.  It tends to look just a bit darker, like this:

    It is a very neutral brown and doesn't lean too red, too orange, or too anything else.  The silver magnetic particles really pop, and the diagonal line design made me think of turkey feathers.  I tried straight lines on my thumbs... not bad.

   The other thing that was just great about this polish was the application.  This is just one coat and it was completely opaque.  I didn't have any "dead" spots where the magnet didn't effect the polish, and it dried on it's own fairly quickly.

   I'm going to venture to say that Layla Magneffect Brown Sugar has a lot of movement, meaning that the magnetic particles show a strong illusion of moving within the polish.  The silvery lines in this were constantly shifting and changing width, disappearing and reappearing.  It's a fun color to wear.

   The next polish I wore was Layla Magneffect Velvet Groove.  I was hoping for a rich cool-toned burgundy red, but to me it looks mostly purple.  After enjoying Nails Inc. Houses of Parliament I was hoping for something different in my collection.  I did use the Nails Inc. magnet on this color, though!

   The pictures show it as being more red-tinted than it looked in most lighting.  A pretty color anyway, though... oh well!  Hopefully another brand will come up with the perfect rich red magnetic polish.  (Or Layla could just come out with more colors - that's cool with me!)

   The good news about both of these colors is that they both wore well with just minor tip wear.  What do you think of them?

   Today I have some quick magnetic polish swatches.  I'm comparing green-blue colors.  These swatches were done super-quick and I apologize for the slight mess.  Layla brushes hold more polish than Nails Inc and I wasn't expecting it!

   On my nails here you see Layla Turquoise Wave, Nails Inc Whitehall, Turquoise Wave, Whitehall.  In my opinion Turquoise Wave looks like the teal color, and Whitehall, often mentioned as Whitehall Teal, is an evergreen.  It is a deep green that definitely leans blue, but not quite enough to be called teal.  And Turquiose Wave?  Well, to me turquoise is a much brighter, lighter aqua color.  Either way they are pretty polishes, especially if you're a fan of darker jewel tones.

   On the nail wheel I swatched LCN Green Temptation and Ferromagnetic Blue.  Green Temptation is a true green color, Ferromagnetic Blue has a hint of purple but mainly appears blue.  The fingernail swatches are Whitehall and Turquoise Wave.

   Here is one last shot of Layla Turquoise Wave using the Nails Inc. wave-pattern magnet.  Perfectly pretty!

   I hope this comparison post was helpful to you, these colors are pretty similar and you most likely don't need each one in your collection.  Now that I have them all I don't know which one to let go of, though!  And in other news WOW I have hit triple-digit followers!  Be sure to check out the giveaway poll~

   I'm enjoying another Glitrix polish today.  The color is called Oceanic, and it is a blue jelly franken with small blue glitter and silver bar glitter.  This is my second time wearing it and I have to say I just love it!  Have a bit of cute bottle picspam!

      I have some nail wheel swatches of this one, as well, as it is really good for layering.  Oceanic dries to a gorgeous glassy shine and the glitter isn't gritty at all.  My photos show it without top coat, but I do like to add one to enhance the smooth shine even more.

   Left to right: 1 coat of Oceanic over China Glaze Caribbean Blue, 2 coats over L.A. Girl Alkaline Blue, 1 coat over L.A. Girl Alkaline Blue, 1 coat alone, 2 coats alone, 3 coats alone.

   Personally I would be wearing this layered - the jelly base stays sheer even though it is streak free at two coats.  When you're putting it over another polish you only need one coat for good glitter coverage, two if you want more glitters or more depth.  Bar glitters are unpredictable in polish and you occasionally have to fish them out of the bottle.  The brushes in the star bottles have clear hairs so it is really easy to see how many you've caught!

   Glitrix Oceanic is a great color because the glitter pops over any base color.  Over something dark the blue glitter is light enough to pop in a very striking way.  The glitter settles in the bottle and I find the easiest way to mix it is to put it on it's side and keep flipping it over, give it a shake, stand it up and you're good to go.  After painting a few nails shake it again to make sure you're still getting the bar glitters you want.  This polish applies wonderfully and dries pretty quick.  The jelly base color will tint whatever you put it over, in my case of using it over Layla Metallic Sky it brightened the polish to the exact shade of blue I was hoping for!

   I love it over my magnetic polish with line designs like waves.  Doesn't the glitter remind you of little fish swimming through bubbles?  I have to say that if you're planning to place an order for Glitrix polish, which you can buy here on etsy, don't pass this color up!  It is a real gem.  =)  Who can resist something so sparkly?!

   I'm still testing out my ShopRunner membership and here are the last few small orders I placed with either Drugstore or Beauty.com (or both).  First I had to buy some more of my favorite dry shampoo:

   Then I snagged a couple of nail polishes:


   Once again nail polish is full of danger and peril and must be shipped ground, so only my freebie sample of gloss was eligible to be shipped in 2 days by ShopRunner.  (Uh, how is that going to work?)  Layla Magneffect Silver Galaxy has been swatched and blogged about and I highly suggest checking out the post if you haven't already.  Orly Space Cadet is my first Orly polish and wow, huge bottle!

   Then I treated myself during the 20% off Friends & Family-type sale, which made me happy that I skipped the one done by Urban Decay themselves:


   Finally, something that ShopRunner was willing to send to me!  I placed my order around 10-11am, and was surprised when my glosses came the very next day.  I suppose it's because I ordered in the morning but I really was expecting to see them in 2 days, not 1!  These are Urban Decay Lip Junkie Glosses in Red Light and Perversion.


   So in all I liked the fact that when ShopRunner can ship my items it works very quickly, but it's frustrating that so many of the products that I personally want to buy Online are no-goes with them.  Has anyone else signed up for or checked out ShopRunner?  What do you think of it?

   I didn't plan anything special for today being all eleventy-one, but I did try out my new magnetic polish, so I guess that is what I will remember for the date 11-11-11.   I have Layla Magneffect polish in Silver Galaxy here, and I used both the magnet in the cap that it came with and the star magnet from my LCN polish set.

   This polish contains small square glitter, which sets it apart from all other magnetic colors so far.  The base is a sheer gray which is loaded with the magnetic particles and glitter.  I had to use two coats and even then it is slightly sheer.  Here are nail wheel swatches done in one coat:

   We have another trend coming our way.  Nail polish with metal particles that respond to a magnet being held close to them, thus creating beautiful effects on your nails.  These aren't entirely new - people on the other side of the globe have had them on their fingertips back in 2007 with the brand Le Magnetique, and then in 2010 with Alessandro and Essence polishes.

   I had heard of these polishes before but passed them by as unattainable.  Finally they are being sent to the Americas in 2011.  LCN is a German brand, and Layla comes from Italy.  I want to share a quick overview of what the brands are offering, and how this stuff works.  First off, both of these brands are claiming to be Big-3-free.  Their formulas don't contain DBP, Formaldehyde or Toluene.  I say claim because I have not seen an official list of what they do contain, but I'm sure these high-end brands aren't going to mess with their customers.  So, this is great news for people (like me!) who are avoiding these ingredients.  Of course, if you have allergies to metals, these polishes have a whole different reason to be skipped.

Each Brand has put up a video on how to apply their polishes:

Cool, right?  A few more pics, details and my own thoughts after the jump!