2-in-1 - Swatches AND Konad!

I picked up a set of five summer e.l.f. polishes a few weeks ago for my birthday. It looked fun, and it was only $5 so I figured, "Hey...what the heck." I should really learn to stop buying things just because they're cheap. I guess I figured that they might be good quality since Wet 'n' Wild polishes are about a dollar and are pretty awesome for the price. Anyway, onto the review...

First I swatched elf's Lilac. What a unique name ;) This was three coats of Lilac. It was pretty sheer and I got tired of adding coats. You could probably get it opaque with four, but that's more than I normally like to do. The color is nice though -- sort of a muted, dusty, well... lilac color.

Next, I swatched elf's Mango Madness. This color covered better than Lilac, but was still pretty sheer. This color is really pretty though. My camera was FREAKING OUT when I was trying to photograph this puppy. It's not so orange in real life -- it's more of a lighter coral color. These pictures make it look really orange, but it's more subtle. This one is three coats too.

Bottom line, these polishes are $5 for five...take that as you will. I was pretty disappointed in them only because I have some of elf's cosmetics and they're pretty good. I guess you can't expect much out of a dollar polish, but I thought maybe these would be up to par with Wet 'n' Wild's dollar line. The colors are nice, but nothing I couldn't live without. I feel like there's a ton of dupes to the colors in this collection. I still have three that I haven't swatched, but I don't know if I'm feeling up to it. Here's a picture of the whole collection if you're interested:

From: dollmeup2.com

Anyway! On to the fun part (wow this is a long post...). Mama ordered us both sets of these Mash plates off Amazon. I didn't know that these were exactly the same as Konad plates, just cheaper. But that's ok with me :)

If you've been reading this blog for some time, you'll know that Mama and I have not been the best at Konad in the past. Perhaps it's just from lack of practice. So when I was home yesterday for a doctor appoint I picked these up to play with today. I probably could've just waited since I come home for the summer in 4 days...but you know me. :) I had one successful attempt and one er....not so successful attempt with the Konad. My unsuccessful attempt is too embarassing to show you, so I'm just posting the one I did over elf's Lilac.

Not too shabby for not having Konad-ed in months, right? Please say yes ;) I think this is so girly and subtle and cute! I used plate m64 and just a basic Sinful white polish for the stamping. Those Konad polishes are so expensive!! Anyone have any alternatives for stamping polishes that work well and won't break a hole in my bank account?

Until next time,
Amanda