And the winner is...

Thanks to all of you that entered our follower appreciation giveaway! We really enjoyed reading your comments about your favorite nail trends and looks.

We are pleased to announce that the winners of our giveaway are:

Joy Cozart

and

Minty!

Emails have been sent notifying the winners. Please respond within 48 hours to claim your prize.

Thank you all for participating and look out for future giveaways here on Mad Manis!

OPI Be A Dahlia, Won't You?

Last night I returned from vacation and in the process of getting to the airport, I snapped a nail.  The break isn't bad, but I did have to trim all my nails down.  Hopefully they will be grown back out in a couple weeks but until then you'll have to tolerate my nubbins.  Here is a post I had saved from before I left.

Today's post is 2 coats of OPI's Be A Dahlia, Won't You?  What more to say about it - it's a lovely bright pink glass flecked polish that is well pigmented, flows well and dries fast.  This is one of my favorite pinks.

At the end there are a couple shots of some french tips I experimented with before I removed it using black konad polish.

China Glaze - Royal Tease

Hello ladies!

Today I have a swatch of China Glaze Royal Tease. I'm not sure if this is from a particular collection or not -- I got it from an e-tailer last summer when I first started getting into nail polish. This is one of my first China Glazes. Ahhh, the nostalgia.

 

Royal Tease is a frosty purple color. This is one of those shades I can't decide on whether I like or not. I like the color....but it's so....frosty....and application on this SUCKED. This was three coats. The formula was so runny and kept seeping into my cuticles. Also the brush strokes on this thing are crazy (you can see in the next couple pictures).

 

I suppose the color is pretty enough, but the application of this really turned me off. It was pretty frustrating to deal with. I've never really seen any other swatches of reviews of this color though so I don't know if this is the norm or not.

Royal Tease....more like royal pain in the ass. What do you all think?

Take care,

Amanda

Sinful Colors Adventure Island

I have looked ALL over my town and the next town over for the Sinful Colors Adventure Island collection.  I've stalked 6 different Walgreens for the period of about a month and still have not found this collection.  So while I've been here in Boston my super awesome boyfriend took me to not one - BUT TWO different Rite Aids so I could get my hands on this collection.  I was able to pick up all but one color in the collection - the elusive Starfish.  I'm so happy that I found this collection as they are supposed to be dupes or close copies of OPI's Pirates of the Carribean collection (which I only bought the mini set of).

So first up is the namesake of the collection - Adventure Island.  I don't even know how to describe this color.  It is a dusky yellow green - sort of like a greenish putty or a light olive.  At first look it seems similar to Stranger Tides or Seaweed but there is significantly more gold in it.  It's a very unique color and since there is no color in OPI's line to compare it to, I thought I'd do it first.

The formula was good, I had a little bit of dragging on the first coat which was all cleared up with the second coat.  At two coats I had full coverage.  I think SC dries a bit slow, so I always give it extra drying time otherwise I end up with bubbles.  My hands look lobsterfied in these pics but the polish color is pretty accurate, so try to ignore the inaccuracies of my skin color.  Also, since I'm away from home, I don't have access to all my tools so my cuticle cleanup isn't as neat.

So that's it for today.  I'm so happy I got my hands on this booty - I hope you have the same luck!

Eyegasm: Zoya Jacy + Studio M Purple Medallion

I'M IN LOVE I'M IN LOVE AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS!!

I started with two coats of Zoya Jacy. This is a boooootiful color -- definitely one of my absolute favorites. It's a purpley berry color that applies wonderfully (as if you could expect any less from Zoya..).

Then I applied Studio M Purple Medallion. This puppy is perfection, seriously. It's a scattered holo glitter in a burgundy purple-ish base. It's GORGEOUS!! I really tried to capture the holo goodness but it was a bit cloudy today so I had to take the small amount of sun I could get.

 

I'm in love with this. I've had this polish for a long time and have never gotten around to using it. WHY OH WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?!

omgomgomgomgomgomgomg

Studio M is very dense and a top coat sucker upper, so if you like your glitter bomb nails smooth you will want to do a couple coats of top coat. The grittiness doesn't bother me, so I only did one.

This one might actually stay on longer than a day! :)

Take care,

Amanda

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