Ruby Kisses Nail Polish swatches part 1 of 3.

I recently discovered this brand when I was skulking through some old school beauty salons 2 weekends ago. They were on sale for $1.25 and I saw quite a few promising looking colors so I loaded up by basket with 16 colors without a second thought.

Once in the car I started my super scientific ritual of setting up the passenger side dash board as a swatching station and began the shaky business of painting skittle swatches over my existing manicure in a moving vehicle. I am sure it's great entertainment for my fiance who is always driving plus passing cars and my stop light neighbors. 

I quickly realized that the polises in this collection are almost all dupes to other popular colors BUT at a much more affordable price. All the "creme" type polishes turned out to be jellies that closely mirror the Nfu-oh jelly collection. The glitters are mostly all dupes of China Glazes and Sinfuls with a few original polishes thrown in the mix.

Here are the first 5 Ruby kisses swatches. 

 Gorgeous true blue Jelly. This is 3 coats and It's still sheer. This is gorgeous enough to warrant applying some underwear. Although it doesn't look like it here, this is very close to Nfu-oh 119 with an extra coat and underwear.

 Ridiculous dark blue jelly. This is a dead ringer for my favorite Nfu-oh polish, 557 at 3 coats. Shown here at 2 coats. This one is pigmented about as well as a jelly can be and still be a jelly. So freakin' happy I got this! If you are fair skinned like me, there just isn't a nail color out there that makes your skin look better than this one does. Also, could the name be any more hardcore awesome? I would have totally made a deal with the man downstairs for this polish!

This pic is with the flash on to show the glitter. This is really close to China Glaze Ruby Pumps, one of my fav polishes of all time, AND the polish my bridesmaids will wear at my wedding. BUT it's about 1 to 2 shades darker and has some silver micro glitter. This is super well pigmented and 2 coats makes it perfect. LOVE THIS.

 Here it is without flash in direct light to show the shine.

 Oh. My. God. HATE! I almost didn't upload this photo this polish makes my hands look so filthy and gross. It's unique but poorly executed. This has quite a bit of frost and shows brush marks. VOMIT!!!

This charcoal grey with tons of silver micro glitter is really close to Sinful colors Secret Admirer. Secret Admirer covers better and dries faster so I would go with the sinful and skip this one. Shown at 2 coats.


I will have the next 5 swatches in a few days.


Love, MM

Crazy Crackle Combos! Part 1

Yes, I realize that at this point crackle polishes are totally played out, overdone, lame, and down right aggravating. I am doing this series anyway. Why? Because crackles are still new to me being behind the times and all. Also, I do whatever I feel like. K? 


I admit, when I am shopping I cringe at the sight of YET ANOTHER brand releasing YET ANOTHER set of crackles. The thing that irks me the most about it is that all these polish companies don't even TRY to be inventive or original in any way. They just keep cranking out the same exact crackle colors that every other company has already done. I find it kind of insulting to tell you the truth. I realize we are all in the business of making money so why not actually MAKE MONEY by offering us some new freakin colors? The other day I was in Walgreens and saw the new Sinful Colors display of nothing but rows and rows of BLACK CRACKLE! It made me want to take a step back and round house kick the display off the shelf and send it crashing to the floor. NEWS FLASH- I ALREADY HAVE BLACK CRACKLE!!! I'M PRETTY SURE WE ALL DO!  I am sorry that I am adding to the onslaught that is the crackle catastrophe, I just like crackles and I like how all the colors look layered over different stuff. Since I mess around with different combos all the time anyway I might as well take pictures and post them. 


So, here we have the first installment of crackle pics. Enjoy, and try not to vom. :D

 China Glaze Cracked Concrete over Finger Paints Vintage Velvet.

 Cracked Concrete over Finger Paints Lavender Highlight.

 China Glaze Fault Line over China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le.

 China Glaze Platinum Pieces over Finger Paints Art of Theft. I REALLY don't like this silver crackle. I can't find anything it looks good over.

 OPI Black Shatter over China Glaze City Siren. LOVE!

 Fault Line over Icing Pretty as a Peacock. I love this combo! It was like having jewels on my nails.

 This is most likely going to be my Halloween Mani. It's Black Shatter over Orly Fresh.

 Mia Secret Gold Crackle over Ruby Kisses Deal With the Devil. I LOVE this Combo and also the Ruby Kisses polish and the name of the polish! I will have swatches and reviews of Ruby Kisses polishes in a few days.

 Mia Secret Green over Ruby kisses Purplelicious.

 Fault Line over Ruby Kisses Green Tomatoes.

 Opi Red Shatter over Ruby Kisses Steel Magnolia.

I have found the best way to get crackles to work well and make a lot of cracks is to apply the polish very thin. It will look sheer when you apply it but as it shrinks and cracks it becomes opaque. Also it never works for me if I go over it more than once. I never bother to let my base color dry all the way either. I haven't found a crackle yet that looks good without a topcoat.


Love, MM