NYC Empire State Blue

I couldn't help it. I bought another blue nail polish. XD

NYC Empire State Blue, shade


This was tagged as a "New Shade" on the display. Blue. Shimmer. Yum. There was a deep plummy color too. Silly me, I didn't get it. I'll have to go back. The shade pic is most color accurate. The sun pic is reflecting a lot of cloud.

NYC Empire State Blue, sun


I used 3 coats (plus base coat) for these pictures. No top coat because I was testing dry time -- pretty good at around 30 minutes to be mostly undentable. Except for the little nick on the edge of my index finger; I dinged it throwing the deadbolt on the front door. Completely my fault. Polish consistency was nice and fluid. The first coat was patchy but a second coat evened out the color. I used a third coat only for opacity. There was some visible nail line I wasn't going to ignore. Overall, another 99-cent polish that I'm happy with!

And, I've been meaning to post this! Dionela from Short And Sweet Nails and Kris from My Lucid Bubble have given me an award!

That was so sweet of her, I'm tickled pink. =) I know there's rules for these types of awards, but I'd feel so guilty trying to remember all the blogs I love and be worried that I missed one. So I want to pass it on to all my fellow bloggers out there, keep up the good work!

Golden Rose & No. 146

A few weeks ago I first read about Golden Rose at Black Nail Polish and Lip Gloss and was tempted by the idea of a red holo polish, so I placed an order! (Of course, the free shipping on orders over $20 really helped sway me too, lol) I haven't had time to swatch them, but I did want to show you what I ordered and I did a full manicure with No. 146 that you can see at the end. Now, these polishes don't have names, only a number so I've added it to the pictures for your convenience.

First up are from the Golden Rose Paris line. The bottle size on these (I don't believe it is mentioned on the website) is 11ml or 0.37fl oz. Number 113 is from the Paris Holographic colors. Number 86 is from the regular Paris line.



These next two are from the Super Shine & Lasting line. Bottle size is 10ml or 0.34fl oz. Number 146 is the one I chose to try first. (Which is why there's such a large air bubble in the bottle...I did a full manicure before I remembered to take pictures, hehe.)



Can you tell I was having fun taking these pictures? These are from the Care + Strong line. The purple of Number 166 is not quite color accurate; it is a bit more red toned than my camera would capture. Notice the bar glitter? I think these will be nice glitter topcoats. Bottle size is 11ml or 0.37fl oz.



And finally, the cutie babies of the bunch. Numbers 58 and 36 are from the Fashion Color line. Number 119 is from the Holographic Color line. Bottle size on these is 6ml or 0.20 fl oz.



You've waited so patiently! This is what you really came for, the manicure pic! Two coats plus base coat and quick dry top coat, taken under a daylight lamp due to a depressing lack of sun.

Golden Rose 146


Application was great. The polish consistency wasn't too thin or too thick, it flowed smoothly from brush to nail and didn't drag. The brush itself was nicely shaped and the bristles spread just the right amount. I did no cleanup for these photos. The color is lovely, a soft purple with a strong blue-green shimmer. It is a bit sheer, but a third coat would fix that. I bet it would look great layered over a purple cream.

The sun peeked out for all of half an hour one day, so I snapped a quick picture. This is after four working days of wear. You can see there is slight tipwear but no chips.



Overall I think this is nice, reasonably-priced brand with a good range of colors. Prices for the polishes I've shown you ranged from $1.49 for the Fashion Colors to $3.49 for the Paris Holographic. The site I ordered from (here) only ships within the USA, but these polishes are made in Turkey. I'm sure with a bit of searching you can find them outside the US. I tried searching myself, but the sites I found weren't in English and I couldn't be sure you could actually order from them. So, tell me what you want to see next!

Rimmel Night Life

Another Rimmel for you today, this one from the Play Fast collection (series?). I have to admit, after I put this one on, I took it off and wore something else. Nothing wrong with it, I just wasn't feeling the color at the time. Endless cloudy days and cold weather leave me aching for bright colors.



Rimmel Night Life, "daylight" lamp


Night Life is one of those taupe mushroomy colors but this has a nice twist, a fine golden shimmer that in the bottle reminds me of the veins in marble. This is three coats that applied smoothly, although very thin, almost watery. You can see a bit of patchiness on my index finger that could have easily been corrected with more careful application. Somehow I always do worse with the daylight lamp than with natural sunlight. Anyhow, thanks for looking and next time I have something new to show you!

Rimmel Hit the Street

My mom bought me a new cabinet for my nail polish a couple of weeks ago and I've been slowly transferring polishes into it. There's no way that they'll all fit and I'm having a hard time deciding which ones I want put in the cabinet and which ones are going to stay in the plastic containers I currently use. The fun part of this is that I'm touching bottles of polish that I haven't seen in a while. Like my collection of Rimmel!

Rimmel Hit the Street, "daylight" lamp




Hit the Street is a sheer dark orange with gold microglitter. This was three coats and yes, that is visible nail line you see. But I like it anyway! Application was absurdly easy. I didn't use base or topcoat for this and it dried quickly. And it didn't stain either! (At least, the parts of my nails that aren't stained didn't get stained.)

Color Club Haute Browns - Part II

First I apologize for the delay getting these posted. My weekend was taken over by an adorable ball of fuzz that my nephew found in my mother's backyard. Grandma said she would keep it but recruited me to de-flea and babysit the little monkey for the weekend. Luckily for you, I didn't have my camera ;)

So, Part Two of the Haute Browns by Color Club are the two "darker" colors of the collection and a gold. All of these swatches were done without base or top coat.

Color Club Golden Girl, shade


Color Club Golden Girl, sun


This was 2 coats, very easy application, I didn't have to do any cleanup. You can see some brushstrokes, however.

Color Club Black-ish, shade


Color Club Black-ish, sun


Black-ish is a nice reddish brown. This is two coats, again no trouble with application. There is some bubbling on my ring finger, but I believe that had more to do with the strong wind that was blowing through the house.

Color Club Haute Couture, shade


Color Club Haute Couture, sun


Last is Haute Couture. This is my favorite from the collection. A deep vampy brown, this is two coats. Smooth application, although the camera did pick up what might be a bald patch on my ring finger. It could just be a reflection. It wasn't visible to the naked eye. Haute Couture has a very glossy finish even without topcoat.

Color Club Pink Lust

I know I was going to show you the second part of Haute Browns, but I had to sneak this one in. These pictures barely begin to show the hotness of this neon pink from Color Club's Flower Power collection.

Color Club Pink Lust, sun


Color Club Pink Lust, shade


This was three ridiculously easy coats plus topcoat (I have to admit, I'm a habitual 3-coater) and this polish just *glows*. I thought I would have to use a base of white under it, but Pink Lust popped quite nicely without it. I can imagine how retina-searing it would be over white. If you don't have a neon pink and are looking for one, you might want to consider this!

Edit 4/12/10 for jaljen:

There was no sun when I did this so instead of doing a whole hand, I did two fingers so you can see the difference side by side instead of trying to compare it to another photo.

Color Club Pink Lust over white (index and middle), alone (ring and pinky)


The difference doesn't show up as well in the photo as it is in real life.

Color Club Haute Browns - Part I

A while ago I mentioned that I picked up a set of Color Club polish from Ross. I even drafted the beginning of a post about them, then somehow lost it, and now found it again so here it is!

Today I will show you the three light colors. Urban Edge is the lightest of the Haute Browns collection. Its a tannish brown with a pink tinge that really leans pink on me.

Application sucked. Almost enough to make me want to skip the other two light shades in this collection. At three coats this was still streaky. At four coats it finally evened out enough that I didn't want to take it off immediately. A good coat of topcoat helped.

Color Club Urban Edge, daylight lamp


Color Club Urban Edge, sun


(I think it was the difficult application of this that "encouraged" me to forget about finishing this post. That's why the rest of these swatches were done more recently, with a longer nail length.)

Next is Diva In Brown, which is a touch less pink. This is 3 necessary coats, although application was much better than Urban Edge.

Color Club Diva In Brown, shade


Color Club Diva In Brown, sun


Finally we have Out and About, again 3 coats. Out and About is slightly more brown than Diva In Brown.

Color Club Out and About, shade


Color Club Out and About, sun


Of the three, Out and About had the best application. It could have easily been done with only two coats. While I don't think these are colors I would wear often, they are nice "safe" colors that I would feel comfortable wearing in a more conservative setting. Check back soon for Part II of the Haute Browns!

Icing My Blue Heaven

I know I've been on a roll with Icing polishes, but I thought I'd do one just one more. I promise this is my last one for a while. I have some Color Club waiting for me.

Icing My Blue Heaven, shade


Icing My Blue Heaven, sun


This was 2 coats, and it was actually very easy to apply. The bald patch and bubble on my ring finger are due to a wonky, moppish brush. I wanted to exchange this when I bought it, but it was the last bottle in the store. I'll decant it when I have another empty bottle.

Icing Roger That

I have another great polish from Icing to show you today. This is Roger That, a sparkly jelly-like teal.

Icing Roger That, 3 coats, shade


Icing Roger That, 3 coats, sun


Application was almost absurdly easy. Smooth and streak-free at two coat, I chose to do a third coat because of visible nail line. I didn't have to do any cleanup, that's how well behaved this polish was. If only all polishes were this easy to apply!

Icing Chase Me

*WARNING: This post contains pictures of bare yellow nail.

Yesterday I couldn't stand it anymore, going to work with bare nails. So I woke up extra early and reached for the polish I bought at Icing last weekend. The name is Chase Me and its one of their new Matte polishes.

Icing Chase Me - 3 coats for opacity, outdoors on a rainy day


While I love the color, I don't like the polish itself. It bubbled like crazy and was difficult to work with. This isn't the first matte polish I've used so I don't think its my technique, but maybe it will be better next time...if there is a next time. When I took this off at the end of the day, it smurfed my fingers completely! Blue everywhere...on my fingertips, my cuticles, nail beds...people asked me if I had started dyeing Easter eggs early. It took three hand scrubbings, a sink full of dishes and a shower before the color faded .





And its still not completely gone =(