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

Funky Fingers Sand and Stilettos

 

Funky Fingers Sand and Stilettos

Sand and Stilettos consists of small, holographic silver glitter. Let me tell you, it is AMAZING in any kind of light. Below is a video so you can witness how awesome it is. My friend describes it as "like crushed diamonds". Anyway... Sand and Stilettos is dense; it's definitely not for layering. It's made to be worn on its own (and who wouldn't wear this little gem like such?). I don't know how the original formula was because I bought it from a blog sale, but it seemed like it was drying out. As a result, the polish was a little thick, but surprisingly still easy to apply. The next time I wear it, I'll put in some thinner. It dried quickly and gritty. I ended up using 3 coats of topcoat, which made it a bit lumpy to the  touch. I didn't have much clean up because I used a glue basecoat, which I will be posting about soon. Sand and Stilettos reminds me of China Glaze Glistening Snow (based on swatches online), but much chunkier and possibly more holographic.

I did some googling and, sadly, I believe the only place you can purchase Funky Fingers is at a chain discount store called "Five Below". No idea where any of the chain stores are located, but they are definitely not in the area that I live! But don't give up hope because you might be able to find it on ebay or stumble across it on a blog sale like I did! :D

I hope my glittery offering made your Monday a little better! See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Julep Gold Box

My family came up for a few days for Thanksgiving. We went to our relatives' house for a couple days and had a great break and feast. My brother and I got our very first food comas. (NOT fun!) Before we went to our relatives' house, my mom gave me an oddly-colored Julep box that was accidentally sent home, instead of the dorms. When I came back today, I got a better look at it... Turns out I won the Julep Gold Box!

Included were the 5 matte suede polishes (Minka, Amber, Hailee, Nora, and Brit), Trina, a matte topcoat, and the body scrub kit. I guess it was fate that I now have all the matte suedes (I didn't want any so I got the Maven's Choice box - Trina, a matte topcoat, and the body scrub kit - instead) and my roommate gets Trina (which she lusted over). Now onto the swatches of the matte suedes!

The following swatches have the polish without topcoat on the left and with topcoat on the right. Also, so sorry about the lighting. My camera decided to make some of the pictures show up yellow. Argh!

Minka, a reddish copper

Amber, a tarnished, antique gold

Hailee, a khaki green

Nora, a dusty eggplant

Brit, gunmetal

I liked all these matte suede polishes more than I thought I would! All polishes took 2 coats to become opaque. With the exception of Amber, the formula on all of them were very consistent. They had good formula, flowed easily, and dried quickly. You could immediately see the finish within a few seconds of applying the polishes. Amber, on the other hand, was a bit clumpy and I had to dab it a little onto a couple of my nails. You can see the clumping on my pinky best. As depicted, topcoat makes these polishes less silvery, shimmery, and pretty. I like all these shades, except for Minka. I'm just not fond of the color copper.

How was your Thanksgiving? (Or break, if you don't celebrate it.) What do you think of matte suedes?

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Essie Absolutely Shore

Essie Absolutely Shore

Absolutely Shore is a very pale seafoam green creme. It is actually a smidge greener in real life, but the white base washes it out in pictures. It took 3 coats to become opaque, which I expected because it's such a light (but very pretty!) color. The formula was good and easy to apply; I had no problem with it whatsoever. I loved how shiny it was when it dried, but the dry time was pretty average. I haven't used an Essie in a while and Absolutely Shore reminded me about how much I like their thin brushes. It makes painting my small nails so much easier and creates less of a mess! I'm so glad I decided to finally get Absolutely Shore as it was on and off my list ever since it was released. I was not disappointed!

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

P.S. I hope the trademark's new placement doesn't bother you too much. I just don't want my pictures to be taken without any credit. This new placement makes it harder to crop out the blog name. (At least I hope so...)

China Glaze Concrete Catwalk

China Glaze Concrete Catwalk

Concrete Catwalk is a dark grey creme and is a great alternative to black. I used 2 coats, but it's so opaque that I almost didn't need a second coat! The formula was great and a "good" thick, just the right balance of opacity and viscosity. It flowed smoothly, almost as if it was applying itself, and dried in a reasonable amount of time. When dried, it was very shiny and darker than the bottle color. I had this on for a week and only had very little wear and minor chips. I can already tell I'll be wearing Concrete Catwalk a lot!

P.S. Sorry about the horrendous cuticles. :( I've been babying them with cuticle balm and oil, but the weather just keeps getting colder and colder!

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Julep Maven September 2012 - Classic With a Twist

Look who's back! :D I'm so happy to have the time to swatch and paint my nails again! And I know, I know.  These are really late swatches, huh? I'm trying to catch up on everything so there'll be lots of collection swatches! But unfortunately, the weather has been getting colder and gloomier. There wasn't much sun when I did these swatches so I used my dental lamp and the ceiling light instead. (Also why the lighting is inconsistent... Sorry! :( )

Julep Sophie

Sophie is a cool taupe creme and is opaque in 2 coats. Depending on the lighting, it either looks dark or light (both are pictured). Though it had a good and dense formula, was easy to control, and dried with a nice shine, it did not level well. Even a top coat (I used Seche Vite) could not help it hide its imperfections. :( It's a nice color though! I'll probably wear it often regardless. I  love taupes and can never get enough of them! 

Julep Brandt

Brandt is a blue-toned black creme so it isn't actually "black". The blue-tone, which really surprised me, makes it less harsh and much easier to wear. And get this, it only took 1 coat to become opaque! I even had my roommate check to see if there were any bald spots! Anyway, the formula is thinner than the usual Julep polish, but opacity is definitely not a problem. It dried really shiny and was easy to apply. This is my surprise favorite of the bunch. I can see myself reaching for it often.

Julep Alma

Alma is a mustard creme that is opaque in 3 coats and is one of those "ugly pretty" colors I like. I had a lot of trouble trying to capture the color correctly. The best I could do was this picture and I'm really sorry that the lighting is so poor, but it was the only way to get it color-accurate. Anyway, Alma was quite disappointing. The first coat was streaky and the formula was again thinner than the average Julep polish. Its shininess and controllability are its saving graces. 

Julep Eileen

Eileen is your basic white creme and is opaque in 3 coats. Once again, the formula is thinner than the average Julep polish. I'm starting to think that either this is the new direction of Julep polishes or I just got lots of duds... Though it does have a nice shine when it dries, it doesn't level well. I think you can find a better white polish for much cheaper. I'm not sold at all. A bit off topic, but I do like how plain white nails look! I think it looks very clean and fresh, kind of pure.

Overall, I'm definitely not impressed with most of the polishes I got. The Classic With a Twist box, which I am satisfied with, came with Brandt (which I am really fond of) and Sophie (which I will pull out often regardless of the formula since I love taupes so much). I regret adding on Alma and Eileen though. I think they were a waste. :/ Sorry Julep, but no me gusta!

It's getting late and I should get back to studying again... (More midterms - and also finals - are coming soon! Ugh! At least this week is a break!) See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Princess Fuchsia

A few weekends ago, my friends and I held somewhat of a surprise party for one of our friends. We had a delicious, pretty chocolate cake that we destroyed with our poor knife-wielding/cutting skills and a nail art party while watching White Chicks (which never gets old!). I cheated with this mani because I had my friend (and, "unfortunately", roommate) do it for me. I wanted to see what she would come up with... And I loved it! It's too bad I couldn't stand the length of my nails any longer and chopped them!

My friend used:

2 coats of Love & Beauty Fuchsia (base)

1 coat of Sinful Colors Pearl Harbor (glitter topcoat)

Color Club It's a Hit! (glitter accents)

Sorry for the tip wear! The top coat I brought along for the nail art party wasn't meant to protect manis. (Lesson learned! Definitely need to bring the good stuff next time!)

What do you think? I thought the mani made me feel very pretty. :P

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Zoya Caitlin and MASH Dried Flower Decals

Zoya Caitlin

Caitlin is a grey creme that can look purple or bluish depending on the light and takes 2 coats to become opaque. (The application on my middle finger was a fluke... I blame my non-dominant hand.) It had a smooth, easy-to-control formula and levels well. It dries with a nice gloss and dry time. I had this on for almost a whole week and there was little chipping and tip wear. I have come to expect great quality from Zoya. I can't wait to try out my other Zoyas! :D

After a few days of wearing just Caitlin, I got a bit bored of her. I also haven't worn anything pink on my nails in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (which is this month) yet. I received my MASH dried flower decals from Amazon and decided to try them out. I found that they were quite delicate and could easily be torn apart if not handled carefully. But when applying one onto the nail, the flower was much stiffer (but not too stiff that you can't mold it to your nail) than I thought it would be. I used an orange stick and a little bit of clear polish to pick up the flower and apply it on my nail. It wasn't too hard, thankfully! I used two coats of Butter London Hardwear P.D. Quick Topcoat and the flower stayed until I took off my mani. When I removed it with diluted acetone, the flower sort of "melted" off onto the cotton ball. I feel like it was a bit overpriced ($5.97, sold by MASH Nails and fulfilled by Amazon), but I didn't know of any other way of getting them. :( I say give dried flower decals a try! They're pretty and really fun! :D

The other colors that MASH offered. The container was easy to open. Be careful that you don't lose any flower decals!

A close-up to see the details on the flowers.

What do you guys think of flower decals? Willing to try them?

P.S. School has not been very forgiving. 3 straight weeks of midterms so far. I'm losing sleep and missing meals in an attempt to get more studying time. Not good! Keep expecting erratic posts.

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle

What I've Been Up To

Hi guys!

I'm sorry I left you guys hanging and don't post as often anymore. Since I didn't do as well as I hoped last school year, I've been studying a lot... I still want to graduate in 3 years (this school year is my second year already) so that's added pressure. Lately, I've been isolating myself in the school library until the evening or late at night. On top of all this, I've been trying to get more sleep and stay healthy. Some of you guys are probably thinking that it's "just studying", but I'm trying to get in dental school (and graduate earlier than my program) and I have a lot of other people I have to compete with in my program (and from other schools as well). Sometimes, I think I'm lagging behind and/or can't match up to them... I hope you guys understand.

Since I had 3 exams on Friday, I decided to crash and take a break. I bought 50 clear swatch sticks from Amazon and I used most of them up (one I messed up on and another cracked) to swatch all the Fall colors in my collection. I have to buy more so I can swatch two more Fall colors and the Spring, Summer, and Winter colors. Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed in the quality of the swatch sticks. I had to file down the ends of the sticks and the nails and, with enough pressure, I could probably break them in two.  It was also pretty expensive (around $18 or so dollars). It doesn't help that I found a swatch stick with a cracked nail either. Though they did include some Doraemon fimo slices! The swatch sticks were sold by La Demoiselle and fulfilled by Amazon. Since I need more swatch sticks, I'll just wait until my friend (the one mentioned at the end of this post) orders from Born Pretty Store again. Their merchandise is cheap and appears to be of good quality. I'll let you guys know how they are.

Here is what I've been working on (the Fall colors are mostly done!):

(I care a lot about politics and the upcoming election, huh?)

Once I'm done with the Spring, Summer, and Winter colors, I'll do a whole post on what colors I chose for each season. :D

Last weekend, my roommate and I hosted a little nail polish/nail art party with a few of our friends. Three of my friends did their nails, but I only have pictures of one of them... But only because she photographed her own nails. She decided to do a Batman-and-Joker mani! I think it's pretty cool! :D

Left hand:

Color Club Almost Famous (not too sure though)

Essie Licorice

Right hand:

Essie Blanc

LA Colors Striper in Red

Maybelline Ice Queen

Sinful Colors Clementine

an Ulta green or Maybelline Go Go Green

My friend has a tumblr that you guys can check out here! She posts a lot of awesome nail art and Tom Hiddleston stuff, along with other things. (You've been warned! LOTS of Tom Hiddleston!) Enjoy! :D

Now, I'm going back to studying.

See you guys on the other side of the day!

Michelle