Blog Anniversary: Romance de la Luna Turns 1!

December 31st.

One day before the new year starts.

Time will never cease to go onwards.

Romance de la Luna turns ONE!

I honestly didn't think I'd reach this milestone. It's been quite a long year. I remember when I first applied to college (2 years ago!), I used a past prompt from the University of Chicago or some other college to inspire me. It asked me to choose an object from the kitchen or garage and explain why it personified me. I wrote that I was a tire. The following words are taken from the closing paragraphs of my senior project back in high school: "In the beginning of the school year, I wrote that I was a tire. That I rolled over pesky trash bags, cups, dogs... That I ran over cracked streets and jagged terrain. I still am a tire". The last five words have never ringed so truly before. I still am a tire. There were, and still are, many obstacles on the path I created for myself. However, I know these falls from grace are necessary for my growth. It's been one year, and I've been through quite a lot. Let the new year come. Let us embrace these continuing cracks and jagged terrain that lead us to something more. May we stand up and "keep on truckin'," as my AP Spanish Literature teacher liked to say. (Good teachers stay with us forever.)

"Nevertheless, I still strive forward."

I will see you on the other side of the day.

Thank you so much for your love and support.

Michelle 

Barielle Girls Nite Out and Elle's Spell

The second scheduled post! Bringing you guys my first Barielle polishes. I'm not one to wear cherry red polish very often. I largely prefer wearing vampy or pinkish reds. Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it! :) Regardless of whether or not you celebrate this particular holiday, I hope you have some time for your family and friends!

Girls Nite Out

Girls Nite Out is a burgundy-red crelly! It took just 2 coats to become opaque. It had a great, smooth formula - typical of crellies. It was easy to apply and very pigmented! True to its jelly qualities, it dried very shiny. Nice dry time. I thought Girls Nite Out was going to be similar to Revlon Vixen, but Vixen is redder and less dark and has very little brown to it. Let me know if you guys would like to see a comparison!

Elle's Spell

Ah, Elle's Spell... It was on my wish list ever since I saw ThePolishAholic's swatch of it. I was very excited to finally have it, but let's see how it lived up to my expectations! Elle's Spell is shown here on its own. It has flakies that flash red, orange, yellow, and green in a sheer raspberry jelly base. The pictures show the base as a brighter red. I used 4 coats here and my suspicions were confirmed. You can definitely see my nail line here, but not as easily in real life. Therefore, Elle's Spell is best used as a top coat. Reds, blues, and maybe even purples would be a great combination for it. It had a nice, easy-to-apply formula and dried smoothly and shiny. Also, the flakies were well-behaved. However, the dry time was slow and the flakies do not have an intense shift in colors. (See the pictures below). I'm much happier with Essie Shine of the Times, which has intense color-shifting flakies and a clear base so it can be layered over any polish. Elle's Spell gets a pass from me.

Elle's Spell over Girls Nite Out.

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays! See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Rescue Beauty Lounge Bring It Back 4 and Vintage Bring it Back - Aqua Lily, Jane, and Insouciant

Bringing you guys the first scheduled post! I've been itching to post this one up! I love these Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes SO much! Aqua Lily and Insouciant are both from the Bring It Back (BIB) 4 while Jane is from the Vintage BIB. Both Insouciant and Jane are still available. Very unfortunately, Aqua Lily is not. It sold out in a record-breaking time. :( (You're VERY lucky to have gotten it if you did!) Onwards now, my friend!

Look at all the pretty, pretty shimmer!

Again, this post is picture heavy. Click for more!

SpaRitual It's Raining Men

Hi guys! Sorry for being MIA! I've been studying for the DAT and I've finally gotten a chance to sneak in a few posts... (Shhh! Don't tell!) Upcoming posts will be scheduled so I'm sorry I won't be able to approve of and respond to comments as quickly as usual. Anyway, I have a stunner for you guys and LOTS of pictures too!

SpaRitual It's Raining Men

It's Raining Men is a stunning, shimmery duochrome. My oh-so-lovely roommate described it as "a cross between the cosmos and magic of unicorn land with a dash of fairies". Umm. Yeah. I have interesting friends... Anyway... The base color is a greyish periwinkle that has flashes of gold and pink. You can also see flashes of orange in the bottle. It's Raining Men is sheer. I used 4 coats for these swatch pictures because I was afraid that my nail line would show, but I think you could pass with 3 coats. Luckily, the dry time was good! The formula was a bit thin, but was still alright to work with. Paint this one a little carefully, though, because it's so packed with shimmer that it can show brushstrokes once completely dried. It's Raining Men is my first SpaRitual polish. I absolutely LOVE the brush! It's thin and easy to control. The quality of the polish is also great.

Since I have so many pictures, click for more after the jump!

PANTONE Unveils Color of the Year 2013 and Spring 2013 Fashion Color Trends

Color of the Year 2013: Emerald

For more information, click here.

Spring 2013 Fashion Color Trends

For more information, click here.

Earlier this year, Pantone unveiled Tangerine Tango as the Color of the Year 2012. (Sinful Colors Citrine was extremely popular for being so close to that color.) Excited for the color trends next year? Are there any colors you're looking forward to? I'm really loving Emerald, Poppy, Grayed Jade, and African Violet.

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Pastel Galaxy Nails and Pastel Skittles

Saturday night was Girls' Night! My roommate and I held a nail polish party that lasted from 8:30 pm to around 4 am! My friend from the-nail-smith came over for some nail art fun! No regrets! It was GREAT fun and stress-relieving! And don't worry, we didn't inhale polish fumes the whole night. There was lots of getting to know each other (two foreign exchange acquaintances came~), some gossip, manga, snacks, and Nail Pro magazines. I'd really like to do it again sometime! :D

Anyway, I was feeling quite confident and decided to do a pastel galaxy mani (on my left hand). Yeah, I was lazy... And I also didn't know how it would turn out since I've never even done a "normal" galaxy mani before! (By the way, this post is quite wordy!)

Pastel Galaxy Nails

Since it was my first time doing any sort of galaxy mani, I tried to follow a tutorial. I ended up just doing whatever I wanted! Le sigh. However, there was a template for how I achieved this look.

Polishes I used: Sephora by OPI Havana Dreams, Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty, China Glaze Peachy Keen, Sinful Colors Easy Going, China Glaze Re-fresh Mint, Essie Lilacism, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and China Glaze Fairy Dust

Tools I used: The second smallest dotting tool and a small nail art brush

1. I painted on around 3 coats of Havana Dreams, a light blue, for my base and a fast dry topcoat to speed up the drying process. If you're using a somewhat sheer polish as your base, don't worry about any patchiness since it will be covered up when you're sponging on the galaxy.

2. I sponged Yellow Kitty, a light yellow, at the center of my nails.

3. I sponged on Peachy Keen, an orange-toned peach, at the corner of the yellow. I did it very carefully because it was such an opaque and relatively dark color. Be careful not to cover up the yellow.

4. I sponged Easy Going, a pale pink, near the yellow and on other areas that I think needed it.

5. I sponged Re-fresh Mint, a mint, onto areas near the light blue base.

6. I sponged Lilacism, a light liac, onto areas near the pale pink.

7. I used my second smallest dotting tool and a small nail art brush to make some stars. (Be careful not to go overboard with the stars.) I used my friend's Snow Me White, a white.

8. After waiting for the mani to dry a little bit, I applied 1 coat of Fairy Dust. I found that one coat worked best because it lets the mani retain its delicacy. Two coats would also slightly obscure the galaxy.

9. I finished off with a quick dry topcoat.

Throughout this mani, I went back and used whatever colors and sponged them onto whatever areas I thought needed more umph. Don't be frightened to do galaxy nails! I found them to be very fun to do!

Pastel Skittles

As you can see, I was quite lazy. I (or rather my friend, the-nail-smith) did a skittle mani on my right hand. Again, I used Sephora by OPI Havana Dreams, Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty, China Glaze Peachy Keen, China Glaze Re-fresh Mint, Essie Lilacism, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and China Glaze Fairy Dust and a small nail art brush for the stars in the lower left.

What do you guys think? Willing to try pastel galaxy nails?

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

P.S. Check out my friend's tumblr, the-nail-smith! She has some great nail art! (She's currently doing the 31 Days challenge.)

Sinful Colors Timbleberry + Funky Fingers Sand and Stillettos Mani

I loved Funky Fingers Sand and Stilettos so much that I used it again, but as accents. On my other hand, I painted all my fingers with Sinful Colors Timbleberry, which I swatched here. I wore this mani for almost the whole week and I LOVED every minute of wearing it. I love the Christmas lights-like holo. I loved the neon-ness. The weather has been very dreary lately. It's dark and rainy and windy. :( The brightness and glittery-ness of this mani was much needed! Not much else to say, I just wanted to relieve a little stress. Finals are coming up (and then winter break~) so I'm trying to survive with all my might. (Not that I have much from lack of sleep...) STUDY, STUDY, STUDY!!! Me pongo loca! I'm going crazy!

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle