Star Spangled vs Runway Sparkle

While browsing through a beauty salon catalog I came across Venique and their new Holiday Collection. I immediately fell in love with their Twinkle Surprise gift box. It contained two of their three holiday reds — Runway Sparkle and Heels of Dazzle. Today I'm bringing you a swatch of Runway Sparkle and a comparison on how this shimmery red holds up against Orly's Star Spangled.

Here is Venique Runway Sparkle on my nails. It's a lovely rich red with a sparkle of bright red shimmer. I knew the moment it went on my nails that I had a polish very like this in my collection. It didn't take much digging since I don't own many reds.

I decided to use some fake nails to test these polishes against each other since I was already sporting some nail art. Here is how they hold up with one coat over clear fake nails. There's really not much difference at one coat except that the Orly is a much more sheer polish.

At two coats you really start to see that Venique's Runway Sparkle is a deeper shade of red. You also see that it layers much better than Orly's Star Spangled. Orly is still very much a sheer while Venique has turned nearly opaque with just two coats.

At three coats Venique has taken on a very noticeable, darker shade of red and has reached full coverage. However, you also begin to see a big difference in the amount of shimmer. Orly is packed full, with nearly every inch covered in shimmer. Venique isn't quite so lucky. The shimmer is more thin and spread out leaving it to get a bit lost under its darker red base.

Top coat is definitely needed as shimmer polishes almost always have a texture to them as the base settles around the shimmer. With some top coat the difference in shimmer is really noticeable as light gleams off the shiny surfaces.

The reason I chose to use clear fake nails was for just this reason. In the bottle, Venique looked to have a lot more shimmer than was showing on my nails. It left me wondering if the shimmer was sticking to the sides of the bottle. Flipping the nails over shows that, while Venique still doesn't quite live up to Orly's shimmer packed polish, it does have more shimmer than it shows. It doesn't stick to the bottle though, it just sinks on the nail!! When I buy a shimmer, I definitely want shimmer so I lean a bit more towards Orly for this reason but the deeper shade of red Venique uses makes me want to reach for it more during the holiday season.

In the end, the question is: Dupe or Dupe Not? The answer is that Venique Runway Sparkle is definitely not a dupe for Orly Star Spangled. Over all though, I'm happy to now own Runway Sparkle, and I do like the Venique formula a little bit better because at three coats Orly Star Spangled still wasn't getting full coverage. I just wish Runway Sparkle had a more present shimmer.

Nail-Aween Bloody Nails

I've done a lot of bloody nails in my time as a nail artist. Splatters and drips and everything in between. I dislike redoing one of my nail art ideas unless I know I can make it better or unless I have a slightly different take on it. So when I saw that the next challenge in the Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge was bloody nails I was a bit stumped ... until I came up with this.

I call these Just Bitten. I used a three coat base color of Revlon's Bare Bones. I wanted a paler 'skin tone' like my nails had been drained of blood and were left slightly ashen. As for the rest, I followed the Kayla Shevonne Vampire Bites Tutorial again. I added some blood dripping vampire fangs to her original idea though. I think these are some of the best blood drips I've done yet since I tried to keep these drips very thin and realistic.

Out of the Halloween nails I've done so far, this is definitely my favorite. I didn't want to take these nails off!! What do you guys think?

C is for ...

Here is my mani for C in the ABC Challenge. I had so many ideas for C. The classic caged bird flying away design, cats, checkered, color blocking. However, I finally decided C is for ...

Chucky complete with blood drips. The Bride of Chucky movie is definitely one of my favorite 'horror' movies, right up there with Seed of Chucky. The only horror movies I like more are the Resident Evil movies.

I love the blood drips over white in this mani. These come from a tutorial over at Nails by Kayla Shevonne. I was left slightly disappointed at my Chucky. He came together so well but the overall effect just doesn't scream Chucky at me. I don't think I managed to capture that essential craziness he does so well.

However, this mani is chilling no matter if it looks completely like Chucky. So, if I must, C can also be for chilling.

Fashion Inspired

'ello girlies. Check out the Under Construction post if you're wondering if you found the right blog. I'm just making a few changes. However, that's not what today's post is about. Today's mani is fashion inspired.

I caught a glimpse of a dress on television last month or maybe the month before. I can't find a picture of it sadly, but I'll do my best to describe it. It was a black and white striped dress that had a sort of veed slit up the back. The vee was filled with this beautiful red fabric. I was immediately hit with inspiration and sketched out both the dress and a nail design.

Don't mind the claw. I didn't want to take the chance of smudging my nails by holding anything.

I finally remembered to get a work in progress picture. I always forget these pictures since I zone out while doing nails. It's almost a form of meditation for me. For these nails, I used three coats of white polish before using a 'V' cut piece of tape. Once they were taped, I used black polish to draw the stripes. After that it was simple to use three coats of an awesome shimmery red polish to fill in the vees after removing the tape. Before adding the red you can touch up your stripes if they're jagged. I was feeling shaky while doing these so I used a small flat brush to dab on the stripes. This left the edges slightly jagged in places but going back through and touching up what I could, filling in what I couldn't with more white, fixed that right up!

That's all I have for you today. I saved my favorite picture for last. Not sure why I like this one so much, but I do. It might be because I took it at a different angle than usual. Variety is always good. :)


Polish Used

• China Glaze - White on White
• LA Colors - Black
• Orly - Star Spangled

Shimmering Mauve

Today I bring you a swatch. Not my usual lately, I know. I'm more of a nail artist to be honest, but I've had this color sitting in one of my polish drawers since Christmas. Looking at it now, I really don't know why I never used it before.

This is Orly brand polish in Shimmering Mauve. Personally, I wouldn't call this mauve. To me, a color has to have at least a hint of purple to qualify as mauve. I would say this is more one of the many rose shades. Rose vale, maybe? 

And yet, no matter the specifics of naming, it is gorgeous! Shimmering Mauve is a polish I mistook for a pearl in the bottle and might contribute to why it sat around unused for so long. Even on my nails it still has a slight pearl finish in certain lights.

It goes on very smoothly. I found it had little to no streaking. It is also very opaque. It was simply habit that had me putting on two coats. This can certainly be a one-coater polish! Every girls dream, right?

Taken in the shade. It looks nearly pearlescent here, doesn't it?

This color reminds me of old fashioned elegance with a new age flair. This is a color that can travel generations. It's a color, without the pearly metallic, that I recently saw my 103-year-old Great Aunt wearing. God rest her soul, she's no longer with us as of last week. This is a color that my mother would love and a color that I am greatly enjoying wearing.

What do you think? Is it a color for you?

First Post!

This is so exciting! My first post. Having a nail blog is something I have been contemplating for a while, and I finally feel able to begin.


I love doing my nails and others nails ... and fake nails. Nothing makes me happier than to see a flash of color or an adorable design as I go through my daily routine. I'm hoping this blog will help me share that happiness with people who aren't family and friends. :)


You'll see a little of everything around here. I dabble a little in nearly everything, and my nails are painted 24/7. Whether it's a simple paint and go, a stamped design, or nail art that sometimes takes me all day to complete you'll see it here. So stick around and see what pops up.


Just a warning before we kick this post off right. I hardly ever cut my nails. I'm always in one attempt or another to grow them out. They don't cooperate most of the time. What this means is that my nails are almost always in varying lengths and things might get quite ragged at times before they grow back in enough for shaping. I know this is a major peeve for some people ... so, you have been warned. :)


So, I say we kick this post off with a color swatch since this is my current mani. I bought more than a few polish collections and samplers in the after Christmas sales, and I finally got around to trying one. This is Orly's Star Spangled (two coats, no top coat), and it is certainly shaping up to be one of my favorites. I told my mom I feel like I'm wearing Dorothy's ruby slippers on my nails. Great color!!

 By no means am I clean when putting on polish. :) Star Spangled is a wonderful shade of red. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: I feel like I'm wearing Dorothy's red slippers.

 A look at the side. This is a must have color for the red and glitter fanatics.

What color swatch is complete without a close up view of the glitter? These nails really sparkle in the sun but are just as great in a room with little light.