WIDE AWAKE...

I'm wide awake. Yeah, I was in the dark. I was falling hard. With an open heart. I'm wide awake. How did I read the stars so wrong? I'm wide awake. And now it's clear to me. That everything you see. Ain't always what it seems. I'm wide awake. Yeah, I was dreaming for so long. I wish I knew then. What I know now. Wouldn't dive in. Wouldn't bow down. Gravity hurts. You made it so sweet. 'Til I woke up on. On the concrete. Falling from cloud 9. Crashing from the high. I'm letting go tonight. Yeah, I'm falling from cloud 9. I'm wide awake. Not losing any sleep. I picked up every piece. And landed on my feet. I'm wide awake. Need nothing to complete myself, no. I'm wide awake. Yeah, I am born again. Outta the lion's den. I don't have to pretend. And it's too late. The story's over now, the end. I wish I knew then. What I know now. Wouldn't dive in. Wouldn't bow down. Gravity hurts. You made it so sweet. 'Til I woke up on. On the concrete. I'm wide awake. Thunder rumbling. Castles crumbling. I'm wide awake. I am trying to hold on. I'm wide awake. God knows that I tried. Seeing the bright side. I'm wide awake. But I'm not blind anymore.........

I’M WIDE AWAKE.

Hey yall! The Olympics are coming to a close and so has my patriotic 'Team USA' mani. But i can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to do this current mani, and more to actually write up the blog post, about my inspiration. I've always loved the insanely gorgeous & inspirational Miss Katy Perry...but never as much as I am in love with her right now because of "Wide Awake".  She has always just been this genius of instant hits, she makes ridiculously catchy songs, has been very unique & quirky with her sense of fashion.  During/After the release of Teenage Dream, she just really started coming out with new deep sensitive material with some thought-provoking messages in her videos & an insight into her personal realities. The lyrics & the video for 'Wide Awake' does just that & then takes it 10 levels deeper. We all know about Katy getting a divorce from Russell...that's a nice big scandal for the ruthless & heartless paparazzi/media.  There is so much symbolism in this video, I'm just in love with it. I can't get enough!

I love how she tells this intricate story in just 4:37. It's her own autobiography mixed into this creepy edgy dark fantastical fairy tale. She's lost in this labyrinth, of life really... just that feeling of being lost in the midst of all the shit & you can't find your way out of the trials & struggles.  I love how she is saved by the nostalgia of her childhood, her young innocent self saves her from herself when it seems hopeless. In turn, she teaches her former little girl self some better versions of reality....like the fact that all the fairy tales about 'Prince Charming' arent exactly accurate. I LOVE WHEN SHE PUNCHES HIM! Don't we all wish we could go back & tell ourselves not to be so naive & be less vulnerable??? I sure know that I do. But the reality is, we cant. So we have to learn things the hard way & come out stronger. I can't get over how much I'm in love with the song & video. Some days, I just listen to it on repeat...every time I'm driving in my car. Both heartbreaking & empowering. 

All of this inpired my current mani. I could never pull it off, but i freakin LOVE her blue/purplish hair in the video. But Katy Perry can look stunningly beautiful no matter what her hair color, or even without hair in her amazingly patriotic video for 'Part Of Me".  She's simply wonderful. So to go with her beautiful blue hair, I painted all my nails with 3 coats of a Revlon classic, "Royal"....pretty fitting for Katy since she is music royalty.  Then to go along with the lyrics, "...how did I read the stars so wrong?" For my ring finger accent nail, I used the new Wet'n'Wild Fergie star glitter "Hollywood Walk of Fame"...also ridiculously fitting for this because the video gives some symbolization of the crippling effect fame & celebrity has had on her. I told yall I was excited about this entire mani/blog post ensemble!! :) The star glitter is set in a pretty thick clear base, making it difficult to work with. I didn't like how it looked when I tried to place the stars individually separate from the whole base. I wanted a more natural, randomly placed look/feel...plus theres little tiny flecks of glitters & hairies mixed in so I wanted all that incorporated onto the gorgeous Royal blue jelly. 

LOVE how she ends it with little Katheryn getting back on her bike, stronger & more aware of the world around her. EPIC. Did you notice Katy rocked 4 different manis in just that 1 video??? That's it for now...this is probably my longest post to date.  But I just couldn't say enough about the beauty of this song, this video, how it inspired my nails, and just how beautiful Katy Perry is. FABULOSITY! Hope yall liked the mani too! Did you buy any of the Fergie glitters/polishes? I always love to hear your stories! Until next time....

Lovely As The Lavender Fields of France

"...Imagine fields of bright purple and delicate mauve under a deep blue sky, take a deep breath and experience the true scent and colour of Provence, France." 

So I had picked up two absolutely stunning, classy, elegant colors from the new Revlon ColorStay polish line: "Provence" (named after the famous lavender fields in Provence, France) and "Calla Lilly".  When I bought them, I was imagining a nice dainty mani with these used together as a duo.  This is a total 180 from my last edgy vampster mani ;)  I really loved these 2 polishes together & they are so sophisticated.  And you can't beat the $4 price for this quality of lacquer! Makes me wish I was really in Provence!

 Revlon ColorStay: "Provence" by itself

 It's a very light muted greyish lavender....very pretty

 How about a little lavender scent to go with lavender nails???

 now let's add some subtle shimmer with Revlon ColorStay "Calla Lilly" - a sheer milky base filled with gold fleck shimmer (in some lights shines iridescent green-blue) beautiful.

 some outdoors shots for direct sunlight on the shimmer

It's a great look for Spring & is a knockoff of many other polish brands' new nude-ish style color lines....plus its so much cheaper than the average $8+ dollar brands like Zoya/Essie/OPI

Swatches, Comparisons & Dupes...Oh My!

It's my first comparison/dupe swatching attempt....I was subbing for high school Spanish & during my lunch/prep time, I had brought along a mini-salon to do some comparisons ;) Some of these ended up looking more different then I originally thought when first glancing at the bottles.  But they are pretty similar & it was fun checking them all out on my nail. Let's get started already!

Here are some of my shimmery milky whites: Revlon "Calla Lilly", China Glaze "White Cap", & NOPI "All About The Glam".  They look similar in the bottle but not on...

The NOPI goes on opaque white in 1 coat, a milky white with silver/white shimmer.  The ChG ends up being more of a clear base & PACKED with gold flecky shimmer. The Revlon would actually make a great shimmery topcoat.  It's very sheer, very fine white/gold shimmer...took 4 coats to get it semi-opaque

 Love my blues! Ok these are very similar shades of blue but very different formulas as whole.  The ChG is a jelly based blue filled with fine flecks of silvery-white glitters.  The OPI is more of a frosty creme blue which I ended up not liking as much bc I'm not too into frosts.

 I can't remember the last time I had pinks on my nails...but mom got me this OPI for Christmas & the ZOYA was from their 2 polish promo deal last month that I hadn't tried yet.  They were both a nice fuchsia base with fine iridescent shimmer.  The slight different was that the OPI was more blue-toned & the Zoya was more red-toned & more densely packed with glitters.

 I think these greens are my most identical dupes of the whole post.  I bought these 2 on the same day too, not realizing id purchased 2 identical greens...guess my subconscious was really feeling green that day! ;) Anyways, Ive swatched this OPI before (from the Texas Collection) & have been wanting to compare it to this Ulta green.  Only slight difference is the Ulta is more blue-toned & dries a tiny bit darker.

 This certainly isn't a 'dupe', seeing as they're both OPI's, but wanted to compare these 2 colors seeing how similar they are.  I'm sad that my photos suck the big one & don't capture the sunset shimmer in both of these deep purple-toned blues. They look almost identical in the bottle..."Play 'Til Midnight" is just touch more purple & "Russian Navy" is more bluish, but both have spectacular gold-pink shimmer.

 With these 2 black cremes, I am not comparing colors obviously, but more the quality of the polish formula.  These are both fabulous highly pigmented black cremes.  I'm sure most out there own "Black Onyx" as a staple essential.  If you've seen my swatches of other Revlon ColorStay polishes, I can't stop raving about the formula, quality, application of this line (supposed to be similar to gel polish without needing the UV light).  Dare I say that the Revlon "Stiletto" is better than "Black Onyx"!?!?!? **gasp** ;) Both are great...OPI will always be a dependable classic, but I am highly endorsing you all to try some of Revlon's ColorStay!!!!!! 

What do y'all think of these comparisons????