Sapphire Moon

For today's look, I was inspired by haute couture - specifically the CND Ruffian nails for the NYFW. After seeing photos on a few blogs, like Polish Swatches, I just had to see if I could recreate the look, with my own twist! For more pics of the originals, check out: CND Fashion Week.

Maybelline Matte Sapphire. True navy satin matte with silver shimmer. This is 2 coats, plus one coat of China Glaze Matte Magic, to protect the polish and increase the matte factor. On its own, the Maybelline is a satin finish and more blue than this appears. Nice application, very forgiving for a matte polish.

I found this tape at Dollar Tree. I laid a strip of the silver on a piece of wax paper, and cut out crescent moons. I stuck the crescent moons into place, and voilà!

Here's the result still matte, but I knew the tape wouldn't last more than a day (probably no more than a hand washing, LOL), so after a few hours, I added a shiny topcoat:

Now, I know they're not perfect, but it looked MUCH better IRL. As many of you know, the macro setting shows every flaw and blemish, but they lose too much detail without it, so there ya go. Next time, I might cut the tape a little narrower, or maybe try a chrome polish for the effect. If I use the tape, I may reinforce the adhesive with some nail glue.
For anyone who's curious, that last pic is taken on my dog! She thought I was nuts! LOL Here's the look she gave me during the proceedings.

I liked it both matte and shiny, and couldn't stop staring at my nails. It was totally awesome! I loved the chrome shine, and it was so different from anything I've ever done or seen. What do you think? Matte, shiny, too amateurish?

Thanks for reading!

Snowy Skies

I changed up my mani again yesterday for a more wintry theme. I started with another Dollar Tree find - Maybelline Express Finish in Matte Blue:

This is 2 coats, no topcoat, under full spectrum lamp.

This was pretty enough, but I was really hoping to do a water marble over the top, to make it look like a pretty frosted glass ornament. I still wanted the base color to show through, so I was going to use it in the marbling. This is the point where I discovered that mattes (apparently) don't work for water marbling. (:P) I may try some more experiments, but for now, I'm still too much a n00b to make it work. I'm not going to show the epic FAIL, since I didn't take a pic of the one nail I attempted.
So, I went for the NK Sparkling Silver, which I got at a little local beauty supply shop:

I've never heard of this brand before, so naturally I had to try a bottle. :)
I didn't want to cover up the whole nail, since I wanted to retain the matte finish of the blue for contrast, so I just did a thin, uneven layer of sparkle from the cuticle down, using very little polish on the brush. I think it turned out okay, but it kinda  looks like a funky french, which wasn't the look I was going for. Still, not bad for a n00b with no nail art skills!

These two are under the full spectrum lamp.

This one's in a sunny window. Sorry, I'm not going outside for pics, cuz it's 19°F right now. Brrr.
I couldn't get the sparkle to show up very well on the nail. The bottle shows it much closer to reality - it's all silver square glitter, no black like some of it looks. Totally blingy and fun, with no topcoat required. It lays fairly smooth, and really sets off the matte finish of the blue.

Bonus pic, because I can:

Here's the inspiration for my screen name, all grown up. Yes, she is as sweet and soft as she looks. :)
Thanks for reading!

I'm back, and changing things up a bit!

Boy, this blog is sad! I haven't posted since January 08? Really?!?! Anyway, I've decided that my blogging horizons need to expand, so it won't be just BPAL anymore. Though I will still blog about them occasionally. Nope, my focus has changed to include any and all beauty products that I'm obsessed with at any given moment.
Right now, that obsession has been nail polish! I've always liked polish, mostly because I love anything with COLOR, and even more so GLITTER! My only trouble was just that: polish always seemed like more trouble than it was worth. That all changed about a month ago, when I stumbled across my first nail blog (Scrangie, I'm lookin' at you!) All those gorgeous swatches, and I was hooked! So, here I am, back at my own blog, and I was inspired to update it, mostly so that I could post my own blingy, beauteous swatches.
Enter the painted Lady fingers contest, at http://paintedladyfingers.blogspot.com/2009/12/ladies-choice-of-diamonds-contest.html, and how could I not update my blog? Since she's hosting a contest to give away Diamond nail polishes, and I haven't tried them yet, it seemed like perfect timing. Thanks for the little push I needed, Ms. fingers! :)
No more rambling today. On to some pics!

Maybelline Salon Expert Lavish Sable. One of the best things ever found in a Big Lots for $1! Love this polish - it's a rich, burgundy/cognac/mahogany type of color that never looks black. Lavish, indeed. For some reason, I just want a subtle black woodgrain Konad for this one. This is 2 coats with topcoat, no major application issues (other than my usual sloppiness), taken under a full spectrum lamp. Seems color accurate on my monitor.

Thanks for reading!