Lunatikitty

China Glaze 2NITE & the earthquake in Japan

2011-03-14T09:02:00.003-10:00

I was supposed to work on this post last Friday but recent events have me preoccupied. Meaning, I've been anxiously watching the news since Thursday night. But pictures first.

China Glaze 2NITE, sun

Not much to say other than its gorgeous linear holo from the OMG collection. Two coats without a base coat. I still wish I had ordered more of them. *sigh*

Not much about polish in this post, sorry about that. I'm going to talk about the earthquake in Japan now so feel free to stop here if you want.

When we first heard of the massive earthquake in Japan, Mr. Kitty and I worried about the possibilities and sure enough a tsunami was generated. My heart went out to the people in Japan because here in Hawaii we have seen what tsunami can do.

I spent the weekend first worrying because we were under a tsunami warning ourselves and all coastal areas had been evacuated. I'm fortunate that we don't live near the coast but we know people who do. I didn't sleep Thursday night, partially because of trying to keep up with the news and mostly because the tsunami warning sirens were sounding every hour until impact (there is one near our house). We were lucky here on the Big Island, while there was some damage (and a few destroyed houses) on the west side, no one lost their life. The rest of the weekend I spent trying to keep up with what was happening in Japan.

Mr. Kitty and I have friends in Japan and friends here from Japan who have family still in Japan. Emails were sent and phone calls were made trying to find out if everyone is okay. Its was nerve-wracking as more and more information was made available of the scope of destruction. We finally heard from our friends, which was a relief, but I can't help but feel distraught for all the people who are still struggling. Please understand if my heart isn't in posting right now.

China Glaze Let's Do It in 3-D

2011-03-09T09:08:00.000-10:00

Remember how I said I was skipping over some posts to show you the new Color Clubs I got? Well, it's time to go back! And oh my gosh I forgot how short I had cut my nails...for your viewing pleasure, some holo-rific sparkle!

China Glaze Let's Do It in 3-D, sun

Do I need to tell you about this color? I mean look at it! What more needs to be said?! (Except that it's from the Kaleidoscope collection and is discontinued...why, China Glaze, why??)

China Glaze Let's Do It in 3-D, two coats

I wish we could all find that special store that time forgot and buy the polishes we missed. I wish I had ordered more from this collection when it was available. Silly me I thought I'd get around to it. *facepalm*

Color Club The Lime Starts Here

2011-03-04T08:22:00.000-10:00

Quickie post today! Lost of things going on around here (some good and some bad) and I really should be getting ready for work but...well. You're more important! Remember how Mr. Kitty ordered me polish for Valentine's Day? This is another of those polishes, this one from the scented Sweet Temptations Collection by Color Club.

Color Club The Lime Starts Here, daylight lamp

The Lime Starts Here is a pretty standard lime neon green (and yum, I love neon green!) that has a sweet sugary scent, very candy-like. Skittles came to mind when I put this on-- the candy, of course! I worried about the scent because some of these scented-type polishes are too strong and give me a headache, but this one didn't bother me at all.

I used three coats of polish with a base and top coat, but no "underwear" polish. Application was a little streaky on the first coat but the second coat settled nicely and the third coat was to build opacity.

There's probably a dupe for this color out there, possibly even one from Color Club. They have a great line of neons. The real draw to this one is the fun of wearing a scented polish. Of course, after a day of wearing it I just couldn't leave it alone and...

Color Club The Lime Starts Here with China Glaze Broken Hearted, sunlight

...yeah, Mr. Kitty got me Crackle polishes too! I still wanted unadulterated green so I left one nail as an accent. After applying the crackle and another layer of top coat, you could still smell The Lime Starts Here. (Once it dried, I mean. Please don't sniff your wet top coat! xD)

What do you think, yay or nay for scented polish?

St Patrick Contest from Color Club

2011-03-02T07:03:00.006-10:00

So I just got this in my email and I thought I'd share it with you! Color Club is holding a nail art contest on Facebook:

St Patrick Contest from Color Club

Art Club Sprinkles

Is your heart set on finding the end of the rainbow? How about a Color Club Collection instead!

Art Club Sprinkles

Are you seeing stars in your future? Become a Color Club winning 'Star' ! See details below!

Color Club/Art Club is having a contest to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! From March 2 to March 14th post your St. Patrick's Day themed nail art on our facebook page with the winner being announced on St. Patrick's Day March 17th! We are looking for the most creative and best use of decals, appliques and free-hand nail art! Can't wait to see what everyone has to show! The winner gets a Wicked Sweet Color Club Collection.

What do you think? Look interesting? If you want to check it out, you can visit their Facebook here.

Color Club Wink, Wink, Twinkle

2011-02-26T20:30:00.000-10:00

Okay! So far today you've seen Otherworldly and Space Case from Color Club's new Starry Temptress collection. The last one I have to show you is the seriously neon purple Wink, Wink, Twinkle. I admit, when I was choosing polishes to order I wavered between this one and the green. Wink, Wink, Twinkle won because I thought the name was cute. xD

Color Club Wink, Wink, Twinkle; daylight lamp

Like the others, this is a neon with silver oh-so-faintly-holo glitter. The purple base is semi-opaque and the glitter causes a bumpy texture when dry. So don't forget your top coat! You'll be wanting it anyhow to make that neon shiny.

Looking back at my notes, this was two coats of color (no base). Sadly, purple neon freaks my camera out. In the bottle and on the nail the color is a shade darker than shown here. You can see some of that bumpiness I was talking about on my middle finger below.

Overall, I'm glad I got these. I do want the other three colors in the collection and I'm curious about the Starry Temptress top coat, but I think I'll wait a bit and stalk the local Ross before I go ahead and make another order. There have been reports of the Altar Ego sets showing up there already so who knows? Maybe I can snag a Starry Temptress set without having to pay for shipping. Thanks for reading!

Color Club Space Case

2011-02-26T14:06:00.000-10:00

This morning I showed you Color Club Otherworldly from the Starry Temptress collection. Now I've got Space Case for your viewing pleasure.

Color Club Space Case, daylight lamp

Space Case is not a jelly like Otherworldly was. While still neon, Space Case is more of a pearly bright pink with the same silver glitter. Because the base is more opaque, the glitter doesn't have that sinking-into-the-polish effect that Otherworldly has.

The texture of Space Case is also much more bumpy than Otherworldly was. Even with generous application of top coat, some bumpiness is still visible. Opacity is good though, this is two coats of color (no base).

Again, I don't think I have another polish like this in my collection. I do wish it were a jelly like Otherworldly and have a feeling that the fuschia pink in this collection would have been more to my liking. Anyhow, stay tuned for Wink, Wink, Twinkle!

Color Club Otherworldly

2011-02-26T08:54:00.003-10:00

There aren't many swatches of Color Club's new Starry Temptress collection so I'm skipping over some other posts I was working on to show you this one. Mr. Kitty ordered me polish for V-day (he's such an enabler!) and I chose a few from Color Club's new collections because I was curious.

Color Club Otherworldly, daylight lamp

Otherworldly is a neon blue jelly with silver holographic glitter mixed in. The holo does not really show up well, indoors it looks almost like white glitter in a jelly base. This is 2 coats without a base coat. I did apply a top coat because it is matte (as most neon polishes are) when dry and has a bumpy texture.

Here's a closer bottle pic. If you click for the bigger picture you can see how subtle the holo is. Strong sunlight might draw out the holo more, but I think it's better to just consider it a silver glitter.

I rather like Otherworldly. I definitely don't have another polish like it. In retrospect, I wish I had ordered the Starry Temptress Top Coat. I want to know how it changes the overall look of these polishes. I do have 2 more from this collection to post, Space Case and Wink, Wink, Twinkle. I'll be posting those later today.

Zoya Yasmeen

2011-02-25T07:11:00.001-10:00

Zoya Yasmeen is the most perfect plum shimmer I have. I can't believe I left this untried for so long. I must be cracked in the head, right? I wish the sun were out so you could fully see how gorgeous this is.

Two wonderful coats. Perfectly smooth. Lovely even coats. Excellent pigmentation. Am I gushing?

I'm gushing. I can't help it. I love this polish. I want to buy a bottle for my sister so she can love it too. I want to lick it off my nails. I'm...being weird. Okay, I'll stop now. I have to go stare at my nails anyway. ;)

Sinful Colors Hilo Hawaii

2011-02-23T08:08:00.001-10:00

Okay, I'm done wallowing now. I'm still sad (refer to my last post for why) but I'm not weepy every time I think of Tom-cat now. I want to thank you for your kind words, they really helped me out when I was down. Y'all are the best! So let's look at some polish! Today's is an old one and I've never seen again since the day I bought it on eBay. But don't worry, you're not missing much. This is one that I bought for the name alone. I love polishes with Hawaii-related names!

Sinful Colors Hilo Hawaii, lamplight

Top of the bottle pic 'cause I'm tickled that it's named for a town on the island I live on. Usually the Oahu towns/beaches get that privilege. Hilo is pronounced HEE-low. *does a little dance*

This was three coats and its still streaky and uneven. I was swatching so I didn't use a base or top coat but I remember from the first time I tried it that even with a base it was streaky. The polish was also thick and goopy, possibly due to the age of it. I thinned it a bit but...*shrug*. Like I said, I keep it for the name only. I do like this shade of blue but I'd be happier if it was more of a shimmer or a cream and less frost-ish.

Next time: a gorgeous Zoya and after that something new!

Misa Blueberry Glaze

2011-02-16T09:07:00.002-10:00

I've had a rough time since my last post but I'll talk more about that after the polish. This polish is an old one from Misa that unfortunately is discontinued but still pops up on eBay and blog sales.
Misa Blueberry Glaze

I had a ding that was bugging me on my index finger so I covered it up. Sorry about that!

I didn't use a base coat or top coat since I was swatching that day. Polish consistency was very thin as older polish can be but the color built up nicely. This was three coats of color.

I had more to say but my thoughts have deserted me. I've been distracting myself by creating fantasy carts at various polish etailer and keeping tabs on the nail care board at MakeupAlley but simmering under it all is depression.

Last month I told you my Tommy-cat was very sick and then we tried a new medication that seemed to be working. Sadly it was only a brief respite because last week he health went downhill again and on Friday I had to make the difficult decision to have him euthanized. His kidneys were failing and anything more I tried would only prolong his life as he slowly starved to death. I still feel overwhelmed and guilty. I miss my baby.

Thomas 2001-2011

China Glaze Sneaker Head

2011-02-10T09:05:00.000-10:00

China Glaze, I love how you love me! (Seriously, I get some of my best wear time from China Glaze. I wish it were so for everyone...) Today I have for you another polish released a while back, this one from the Summer 2009 Kicks Collection.

China Glaze Sneaker Head, "daylight" lamp

(Sad, I had to break out the lamp because of no sun...*sigh*)

Sneaker Head is a light reddish creme (or pinkish-red? you decide!) that applied well in two coats. Polish consistency was smooth with an easy flow and self-leveling. My base and top coat were the usual NailTek Foundation II and Poshe.

Orly Wild Wisteria

2011-02-08T09:01:00.002-10:00

I don't have too many Orly nail polishes but what I do have I love. This one is no exception. Wild Wisteria is from the Spring 2010 Bloom collection. Sadly my pictures are not quite color accurate. Purples are so vexing to photograph! Imagine it a touch less blue.

Orly Wild Wisteria, shade

Wild Wisteria is a rich grape creme and very pigmented. This is two coats but I almost got away with one. Dreamy application with very little cleanup required. I love polishes that stay where you put them. Let's see...base coat was Nail Tek II Foundation and top coat was Poshe Fast Drying. Wear time was excellent: according to my notes, 5 days with no chipping, only minor tipwear. Perhaps longer if I hadn't felt the need to change colors. =)

Barielle Blossom

2011-01-27T08:25:00.001-10:00

Barielle Blossom is my new favorite peach. It feels delicate and fresh. I didn't want to take it off. (And then things happened and I ended up wearing it for weeks. It held up pretty well too; the only major chip was on my dominant hand pointer finger.)

Barielle Blossom, shade

Two careful coats of Blossom over a ridge filling base coat and topped with a coat of Poshe.

Barielle Blossom, sun

Application was good. The polish consistency was a little thick, which worried me, but the second coat settled very well. While I don't mind doing multiple coats, polish that is opaque in two coats is always a plus!

Barielle Elle's Spell

2011-01-25T13:30:00.000-10:00

For Christmas this year my husband gave me Barielle. (Well, he gave me the money and told me to go pick out colors I wanted, lol). I'd never tried Barielle before and the timing was just right because I was all aflutter over Elle's Spell from the Holiday Hustle collection.

Barielle Elle's Spell over SH Celeb City

I chose to layer Elle's Spell over Celeb City because I wanted to see how the shimmer would shine through the red jelly base. Click for the bigger picture, it's beautiful.

This was two moderate coats of Elle's Spell over one coat of Sally Hansen Celeb City.

Sadly my Poshe top coat caused slight shrinkage. But I'm blaming the weather. ;)

I'm glad I ordered a backup bottle. This polish is so beautiful alone or layered. Absolutely no application issues...I have a feeling I'll be posting about this one again.

Born Pretty Cracking Polish

2011-01-25T11:23:00.001-10:00

I finally feel ready to get back into the swing of things so I have several posts lined up for you! With all the talk of OPI's new Black Shatter I thought I'd show you another option that's been around for a little while now.

I was contacted by Jessica from Born Pretty about reviewing some nail art products. I chose the cracking polish because I've never tried one.

Born Pretty Cracking Polish in Blue
over Sally Hansen Celeb City

Another picture so you can see both sides of the bottle.

Directions for use on the website are a little unclear. Of course I didn't think to check for directions the first time and applied the cracking polish to my already dry & top-coated manicure. Watching the cracks form was so cool. And then they dried up and flaked off. Oh noes! I figured maybe I should read the directions. =)

According to the Born Pretty website you should wait about 5 minutes after applying your base color and then apply the cracking polish. The length of time is really going to depend on how fast your base color dried, the temperature, etc. So you want to apply while your polish is slightly dry but not completely. This will help it to adhere better. Don't forget to apply top coat when it's done cracking! (I used Poshe.) The thinness or thickness of your coats will determine the size and quantity of your cracks. I used one thin coat for this picture. Overall I was happy with the effect. I like that the blue is not opaque; this allowed the shine of Celeb City to to show through.

Right now Born Pretty is offering the coupon code OPENTENOFF that will give you a 10% discount when ordering. This code is good through Jan 31st.

*The product featured in this post was provided for review.

Stash Un-organization

2011-01-21T08:19:00.005-10:00

While downloading my backlog of nail photos from my camera, I came across these stash pictures I took the last time I tried (and failed!) to reorganize.

Blogger does not want to accept a rotated version of this. =/

Hmmm...I seemed to have missed two more shoebox containers from under the computer and my train case (which holds my Zoyas and SH Turquoise Opal).

I think someone had asked to see my stash once...so here it is in all it's disorganized glory. I'm having trouble deciding on how I want it organized. Half of me (the OCD half) wants it by brand so all the same bottle shapes are together (and it mostly is...sorta). The other half want to go by color so I can remember what the heck I have. And a tiny voice was suggesting a purge, but she's locked in a closet now. How do you organize? Brand, color or something else?

Introducing Color Club Alter Ego

2011-01-19T08:59:00.003-10:00

I know you've probably seen this already, but I still want to share. This spring Color Club presents us with the 12-shade Alter Ego collection:

Alter Ego!

Color Club lets you create high-fashion looks for every identity with Alter Ego, their latest collection of diverse, long-lasting lacquers!

Alter Ego’s consists of 12 shades! Go incognito with our opaque shades or rendezvous in full view with our sheers of Alter Ego ‘LIGHTS’ and ‘DARKS’!

Alter Ego’s ‘Reveal Your Mystery Collection’ 7 piece salon pack includes Get a Clue, Revealed, Incognito, Secret Rendezvous, Sheer Disguise, and Give Me a Hint shades plus Milky White Base Coat. Their ‘Keep It Undercover Collection’ 7 piece salon pack includes Alter Ego, Secret Agent, Total Mystery, Alias, Ulterior Motive and Masquerading plus Vivid Top Coat.

I'm very excited to see this collection in person! I love that it combines pastels with rich, bold colors. Springtime for me isn't just about Easter and blooming flowers; it's also the last snow on the mountain, wild out-of-nowhere thunderstorms and the rich scent of the earth being turned over. It's warm and wet and thrilling. It's watching the ocean shift in color from bright turquoise to pale shimmery gray as spring rains roll over. The shades in Alter Ego will satisfy my whimsical moods. And the duochrome? *fans self* Instant lust. If they're anything like Wild and Willing from the Wild at Heart collection, I'm buying back-ups.

So...my favorites from Reveal Your Mystery are Secret Rendezvous and Sheer Disguise. I'm also curious about the Milky White Base Coat. I'm still in search of a good "underwear" polish for sheers that works for me. My favorites of Keep It Undercover are Alter Ego, Alias, Ulterior Motive and Masquerading. I can hardly wait! What colors interest you?

Update #2

2011-01-18T09:27:00.002-10:00

Quickly, before I head off to work:

My grandma is doing better and is out of the hospital. She's in a nursing home right now for therapy and will hopefully be able to return home soon. My Tommy-cat responded better to the new antibiotic and I'm cautiously optimistic that he will recover as well. Thank you all for your support and patience!

Update...

2011-01-08T15:19:00.003-10:00

My first post of the new year and its a depressing one. Sorry...

This is my Tommy-cat. He never looks at the camera.

He's been very ill since the year started. Today the veterinarian prescribed a new medicine that will hopefully make him feel better and start eating again. He hasn't eaten anything for about a week now. My grandmother is also ill and because she lives so far away there is nothing I can do but wait for someone to call and keep us updated about her condition. Sometimes living on an island is not fun, not when it makes traveling so costly.

I want to apologize because I'm afraid I haven't thought about this blog or polish while I've been preoccupied with my Tommy-cat. Even as I type this I looked down and realized I've had the same polish on since Christmas (Barielle Blossom, and hey it's held up pretty well. Aside from some major chipping on one finger it's still intact). Thank you all for sticking with me and I hope to have better news next time.

Sinful Colors Under 18

2010-12-29T09:57:00.004-10:00

Quickie post!

Sinful Colors Under 18, sun

A orangey-red with golden micro shimmer (click for the bigger picture to see that). Strange name. Two coats, kind of sheer but not as noticeable as some of their other colors.

Borghese Bella Berry

2010-12-24T21:19:00.000-10:00

Alrighty, last post of the day and then I'm off to finish wrapping presents and making merry this Christmas Eve. I'll keep it short =)

Borghese Bella Berry, sun

My shade picture gave me ghastly undead hands that I couldn't bear to show. Into the trash it went. Let's see...this was a swatch, so no base or top coat. Two coats had bald spots so I added a third. Otherwise no problems with application. A base coat would probably have helped with the bald spots.

Bella Berry is one of the colors of the Borghese Fashionista collection, this year's spring release. These seem to be popping up in Ross stores across the country, so if you have access you might want to check it out. I also found Stellare Notte, Plumaggio Plum, Mezzanote Blue and Almondine at Ross for a fantastic price of $1.99 each. Can't pass up that kind of bargain!

I meant to keep this short so...Happy Holidays!

Wet n Wild Blue Moon

2010-12-24T12:20:00.001-10:00

About a year ago, the last drugstore to sell Wet n Wild nail polish in my area stopped carrying it. I was devastated. (Okay that may be an exaggeration, but I was certainly sad.) Wet n Wild will always hold a special place in my polish heart because it is the first nail polish brand I ever bought. I still have that bottle, actually. Anyway, for a brand that provides 99-cent nail polish, they still produce some excellent polish. I thought I would never have access again (outside of the internet). Imagine my joy when a new location of that drugstore opened and they were carrying Wet n Wild again! I almost had raptures. Ask my husband, he was there (and probably laughing at me).

Wet n Wild Blue Moon, sun

I adore this blue. If you click the picture to see the larger image, you can see the green shimmers. Did you ever have that Midnight Blue crayon in your box of Crayolas? That was my favorite crayon and this reminds me of it. Two coats of color with base and top coat. My only complaint was it had a lopsided brush. I forgot to check the bottle in the store.

Wet n Wild Blue Moon, shade

Beautiful in the shade too. I want to experiment with layering, marbling, stamping...I am smitten. My sincerest apologies for the dent. There was an *ahem* accident with my camera strap. Happy Holidays!

China Glaze Mrs. Claus

2010-12-24T08:17:00.000-10:00

I've been feeling tired and worn out, due in no small part to the massive amounts of vog in the air the last couple weeks. Vog is short for volcanic smog, sulfer dioxide and other yuck being pumped out of our active volcano. If you're interested in learning a bit about the volcano I live with, you can read about it here.

China Glaze Mrs. Claus, sun

Mrs. Claus is from this year's 'Tis The Season winter collection. Three coats over base coat and cover with Poshe. No application trouble although it is a bit sheerer than I expected. Next time I think I'll layer it over a red jelly like Misa Cherry Topping.

China Glaze Mrs. Claus, shade

I know I've been lax in posting but to make up for it I have two more posts already lined up for later today. And more pictures on my camera waiting to be downloaded. Happy Holidays!

Revlon Powder Puff

2010-12-15T07:22:00.000-10:00

I've been procrastinating again. There are presents to be wrapped, presents to be made, presents to find (Yes, I already lost something I bought. If you have any ideas I would be grateful!) and presents to mail. I've also been procrastinating getting photos edited and uploaded to blogger. It's just that every time I log in I get distracted reading everyone else's new posts...

Revlon Powder Puff, sun

I'm not usually one to wear white, but when I saw the great photos on other blogs I was intrigued. White with blue shimmer? Sign me up please!

Revlon Powder Puff, shade

Let's see...*consults my notes*...this is three coats, no base or top coat. I went for opacity, but if you like your polish sheer two coats would have been fine. Very smooth application. The bottle says matte (hence no top coat) but it's not a flat matte, more of a suede-like finish (which I like).

More sun, just because

This is a perfect snow-type color to me, a white so bright it shines with a blue tone (says the girl who doesn't live in snow...you must think me I'm nuts XD). I did balk a tiny bit a the price though. It wasn't on sale and I had no coupons so I paid about 5.49 for this. I was miffed but I sucked it up and paid because hey, it's limited edition! (They get me with that every time...*sigh*)

OPI Windy City Pretty

2010-12-09T20:11:00.004-10:00

My computer is dying. It takes about 20 minutes to finish booting up and then is horribly sloooow at doing certain tasks. Dear Husband says its not worth trying to fix anymore due to how old it is (dinosaur!). *sigh* He put together another computer for me as a temporary measure until we can decide on a what to get next. I was really hoping my computer would hold out until the system requirements for this is released. Oh well...

OPI Windy City Pretty, sun

I picked this up at a nail salon in the mall that I've been afraid to go into since they opened last year. My one foray into another salon to inquire about purchasing polish did not go well and I never tried again. But a few weeks ago this salon had a display at the entrance with a sign proclaiming a "Sale" so I gathered my courage and dug through what they had to offer. (I ended up with this and China Glaze Party Hearty.) I even managed to ask the owner if he would sell the used polish in the racks on the walls. He looked perplexed but said Yes. I think I'll go back soon. Mmm, black label OPI.

OPI Windy City Pretty, shade

This is 3 coats without a base or top coat. Slightly streaky but it evened out well. The third coat was necessary to reach opacity. The shimmer you can see in the sunlight is less noticeable in the shade. For some reason I find this color soothing. Maybe it's the association of a good memory chasing away the bad nail salon experience. =)

Thanksgiving...crisis!

2010-11-28T17:21:00.000-10:00

This isn't about nail polish. It's about cats. Just wanted to give you fair warning. Every year, I'm in charge of making the pies for our family Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house. Usually around eight to ten pumpkin pies. (Oh, and sucky cellphone pics ahead. I was camera-less on Wednesday night.)

Let me introduce you to one of the newest family members. This is Snowflake. She belongs to my nephew and lives at my mother's house.

Isn't she cute? She's less than a year old. (She's a foundling so we don't really know her age. Just that she was tiny when found.) Snowflake loves playing. She ran around under the kitchen table while I had pies baking and cooling. Pies number five and six were in the oven. I was sitting down grating soap (making this) when I heard a clatter...

...and found this on the kitchen table.

Yes, those are her paw prints in my pie. Unphotographed were the pumpkin paw prints across the kitchen floor, the pumpkin splatters on the table and the pumpkin crumbs on the wee little kitty chin. Lucky for her that pie wasn't hot. Snowflake went (forcibly) out the door to play outside and I sat down to laugh and cry. (It was about 10pm and I still had four more pies to bake.)

Annie said this is what comes of having little ones around.

I said she was never this naughty when she was little. Annie said she was never that little. Hard to argue with a cat.

I finished my pies and cooled them and stashed them away safely without further incident. In the morning I started loading them into the car to take to my sister's house. The last two were on the kitchen table waiting when Annie announced it was time for her breakfast. LOUDLY.

I obliged.

And came back to this! Kitty Krueger strikes again!

And again!

All I can say is, it's a good thing she's so cute.

Snowflake had a busy night. Time for her Thanksgiving nap!

Orly Mistletoe

2010-11-28T16:55:00.001-10:00

Orly Mistletoe was one of my very first lemmings. I stalked eBay until I found it (along with some Orly a la Modes) for a reasonable price and then it sat in a drawer unswatched for, hmm, about a year. (I had a *moment* where I decided it needed to wait for Christmas). Luckily I had forgotten about it because this meant I didn't build up all sorts of anticipation only to be disappointed. Because I'm rather *meh* about this one.

Orly Mistletoe, morning sun

This is three coats (no top coat) and you can still see bald spots. Maybe it's just my bottle (and coming from eBay it could be), but the polish consistency is very thin. I could have added a fourth coat. I could have worked with it until I was satisfied. But Nars Zulu was sitting there waiting too. And I'm still a bit miffed with Orly's price-raising shenanigans. I went with the gorgeous green jelly.

Quirius Deep Denim

2010-11-24T07:53:00.001-10:00

I was supposed to get this post up yesterday but ended up stuck downtown with a flat tire. Talk about ruining your day! I did get some pretty glitter polishes from Hot Topic out of the whole ordeal though. Anyhow! On to the polish!

Quirius Deep Denim, morning sun

I love the richness of this color.

Only two coats. Two ridiculously easy coats. If I'd been more careful, I wonder if I could have gotten away with one.

I used my usual base/top coat combo of Nailtek/Poshe. Application was dreamy. These are the kinds of polish that make me want to order more from a company. (I still want to put in another Quirius order but got derailed by China Glaze's holiday collection!)

Introducing Art Club GLAM

2010-11-21T20:09:00.005-10:00

Wow, I've been crazy busy the last few days! Shopping for Thanksgiving (I'm in charge of pies, lol), getting crafty, cleaning house...the list is endless. I've had the same polish on for four days now and haven't even thought about changing it! When I finally got to checking my email and saw this press release from Color Club I thought I could really use some now...

Introducing Art Club GLAM

Fashion-forward nail designs are a cinch with GLAM. The high-quality, amazingly self-stickable decals lay right over nail, and a layer of top coat seals the deal.
Mix and match patterns, use on natural nails or embed them in gel, or over polish – it’s all up to you!

We seem to be seeing more of this type of full nail sticker coming from different companies. I think its a good thing, giving us plenty of options on design and availability. I for one am definitely interested in trying these. I'd like to see how well they fit on my nail. I've never tried false nails before because they are generally too short to cover my natural nails without cutting my nails almost to the quick. (Painful!) These appear to have a nice range of sizes to play with. =)

Golden Rose Multi Dimensions #10 (layered)

2010-11-17T10:22:00.000-10:00

I was loving the bright and cheery orange, but had a strong urge for some shimmer and I remembered this little polish I had ordered from Golden Rose. Alone it's pretty sheer but I thought it might look good layered...

Golden Rose Multi Dimensions #10, morning sun (layered over Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up)

In the shade

Awesome. Layered over a bright yellow-orange it looks almost like the bottle color. More substantial. I love the subtle purple duochrome in the shimmer. I used one good coat of the Golden Rose and topped it off with Poshe top coat. (Eek, I totally missed polish on the cleanup...)

Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up

2010-11-14T12:48:00.000-10:00

It's raining again. I think I'm going to have to pull out my lamp if I want to get any decent swatch pictures. All this rain is making me feel dull and dreary. Even the prospect of Nars Zulu (at the post office!!!) isn't enough to keep me excited for very long. My soul is dragging its feet. So, from the other day, Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up (I do like that name...)

Let's see...no base or top coat. Taken in the morning before the clouds rolled in, this was three coats. Sunny Side Up is a nice color but didn't want to play nice. Actually I think the brush was too stiff and caused the streaking that lead to the third coat. Wet n Wild brushes can be like that but for 99 cents I'm not going to complain. They make one of the best one coat black cremes out there. I'll love them forever for that. (Can you tell I'm sparkling today? *sigh*) I only wish a had better access to the brand. Until next time...*waves*

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm

2010-11-10T21:55:00.000-10:00

I had meant to get this posted on Monday night after work, but ended up feeling feverish and leaving work early. I didn't expect to spend the next few days in bed! Now I'm feeling much better and have some catching up to do. =)

Though a bit delayed, here is Chainmail Charm from Diamond Cosmetics. Of course the day I put it on the sky poured rain all day. I ended up resorting to standing with my fingers directly beneath a light bulb to get a decent picture.

From another angle. Two coats (plus base and top coat).

Application was good, smooth and with a thin consistency. If you wanted to stretch your bottle you could layer one coat over a gray or black. Overall, more than worth the $2.25 it cost me. You can purchase Diamond Cosmetics directly from their website here.

*I was just double-checking the link to Diamond Cosmetics website and realized that they have a notice in the nail polish section about Chainmail Charm. Apparently there is a production problem and so the color is currently unavailable. Hopefully it will be corrected soon.

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

2010-11-06T06:43:00.003-10:00

I bought OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous because it looked so pretty in the bottle.

And in the sun it does sparkle. Very sheer though, this is three coats and you can see through it under strong light. I'm not loving it on me.

In the shade I loved it even less. The sparkle dimmed to a muted shine and under the fluorescent lights at work it looked downright dull. Bah. Hmm, my nails are approaching "talon".

So I chopped them off! Surprisingly, this made me like Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous more. But not enough to say I love it. Dry time and application were fine, I'm just not feeling it. Maybe its too similar to something I already have...anyhow, I felt a need to layer...

...and ended up with this! (Which I promptly smudged.) That's one patchy coat of Claire's Fresh Water (another extremely sheer polish). Fresh Water is very glowy, but the camera wouldn't capture that. The picture shows patchiness yet in real life its not so noticeable. Sort of vibrantly distressed and foil-ish. It lasted all of a day before I felt the need to change it. Which you'll see next time!

OPI Flit A Bit for Halloween

2010-10-30T16:34:00.001-10:00

I just wanted to show you something I did for Halloween!

OPI Flit A Bit, overcast

I love how even though its a grey-grey day, Flit a Bit still shows up a rich orange!Flit a Bit is from OPI's 2010 Summer Flutter collection. Three coats plus Poshe and the nail art was done with Konad special polish in black and white using the Bundle Monster plates (BM13, to be exact). See you all next time!

Water Marbling - Attempt #2

2010-10-30T07:21:00.005-10:00

I don't know if any of you recall my first attempt, but it was *meh*. I think I did a bit better this time.

Next time I'll work on consistency of design. This time I was just trying to not make a mess!

My base color was the Claire's Mood Polish Peaceful/Confident. I wanted to keep it simple so I only used two colors for the marble part, OPI Ski Teal We Drop and Wet n Wild Black Creme.

Overall, water marbling is pretty fun! The main thing is to make sure you're prepared before you start. Don't have your fingers in the water and realize you don't have something to swirl the extra polish away at hand! If you want to learn how to water marble, My Simple Little Pleasures is a great blog to study. Colette creates fabulous designs and posts great video tutorials on how to do them yourself. Check it out!

OPI Show It and Glow It!

2010-10-28T07:47:00.003-10:00

A quickie post before I'm off to work! My dear, darling brother assisted me in getting an order from Transdesign without it costing me ridiculous amounts of money. *love him to bits*

OPI Show It and Glow It!, morning sun

This was actually from last week, I just haven't had time to edit pictures. Two coats of Show It and Glow It! over OPI Red My Fortune Cookie (I couldn't be bothered to take it off in my excitement to try out the new glitter baby, lol). Application was decent (hey, it's a glitter) giving sufficient coverage in two coats. If I didn't have a base color underneath, I think I would have used three coats.

How did I like it? Outdoors Show It and Glow It! is wonderfully sparkly. Indoors, I wasn't as pleased. The different colors of glitter didn't seem to work as well together and the sparkle was much diminished. However I have to add I'm basing this on where I spent most of my time while I was wearing Show It and Glow It!, which was at work under blah-blah fluorescent lights. Indoors at home had a nice subtle shimmer. So your mileage may vary. I also think a different base color (or none) will affect the overall result. The red creme probably wasn't providing the proper contrast. I will definitely be giving Show It and Glow It! another try. (After I try my other new polishes, of course!)

Next time: water marbling, yay!

Revlon Glitter Winner!

2010-10-27T12:45:00.001-10:00

The entries were written out (I don't know what possessed me to do it by hand!) and placed in a box. *No nail polishes were harmed during this procedure...just evicted for a little while.

I mixed them all up...(eek! hairy arm alert!)

...reached in while 5 pairs of kitty eyes watched intently...

..and drew out a name!

Congratulations to Chaosbutterfly (aka Chi-Chi of The Phalanges Files)! I've sent you an email, so check your inbox!

A big thank you to all of you who entered! This was such fun I already have an idea for another giveaway simmering. Next time: glittery goodness...

Contest Winner to Be Announced Soon

2010-10-26T07:11:00.005-10:00

Well the entries are all in and I'm prepping them all up to have a winner drawn! Hopefully sometime today, but definitely tomorrow if the work schedule gets rough. (Gah, I'm sooo excited! Isn't that silly?)

In other news, I just read that Ange of Scandalously Polished found a dupe for MAC's Bad Fairy. You can read about it here. I am completely thrilled! Now I have a second option to hunt down. I've been wanting Bad Fairy, but was irritated by my local Macy's MAC counter. Story time (you can skip, its not really relevant):

So being so busy at work I almost missed the release date. I wasn't expecting to miraculously find Bad Fairy, but the day before release I had a few minutes on my lunch break and so I stopped at Macy's to see if they had come in yet since sometimes we get things very late. The guy who was working the counter told me that they had got them in but they wouldn't be selling them until the next day. (I know that, that's not what I had asked.) Then he informed me that they were told no presales. (Insert faint glimmer of hope here.) So I asked him if there was any way something could be held until my lunch break the next day since I only wanted one bottle of nail polish. He replied "Oh no, the nail polishes are all sold already. Nail polish always sells out fast." Wait, what? Didn't he just tell me they weren't doing presales? *sigh* I just thanked him and left. Did I completely miss something? (Probably yes, lol) The whole encounter frustrated me for days. To know there's a dupe out there makes it better.

Anyhow, keep watching! A winner to announce and at least two more polishes have been photographed and sit on the editing table as I type!

OPI Red My Fortune Cookie

2010-10-24T14:30:00.000-10:00

Today is the last day to enter the Revlon Glitter giveaway! I can hardly wait to pull a name. Until then, nail of the day time! From the Hong Kong Collection, OPI Red My Fortune Cookie...

Bright morning sun

From another angle

The color is richer than the picture shows. I think the sky was reflecting off my topcoat too much and caused the color to appear washed out. Red My Fortune Cookie is a beautiful red creme, but hardly unique. Still, if you're looking for a good red, this one applied well and required only two coats.

Pure Ice Purple Reign

2010-10-19T20:59:00.003-10:00

First things first, let's go straight to the picture.

Pure Ice Purple Reign, crack-of-dawn sun

I was freezing my tushie off when I took this picture. It's a whole different kind of awesome being up that early and having Popsicle toes. I can't swear by color accuracy in this photo because I'm working on someone else's computer, but I believe it's pretty close, maybe a shade darker due to the early morning light.

Oh you want the technical details! Let's see, for the base I used Nail Tek Foundation II, then two coats of Purple Reign (Yes, that is one coat on my pinky. No, I don't know where my brain was.) and topped it all off with a nice coat of Poshe. Application was fairly easy, uneven on the first coat but filling in nicely on the second coat. Who am I kidding, I'd love this even if it was a pain to apply. I adore that coppery shimmer. Go buy it. You know you want to.

Okay, now I want to apologize for abruptly going missing. (And while I have a contest going, sheesh!) A lot of things happened at once with work and cars and hubby and I watching two different houses for friends on vacation (at one point simultaneously) as well as trying to keep our own house and critters cared for, among other things. I sort of shut down inside in self-defense and let go completely of all things Internet-related. (Boy oh boy, did I miss reading up on my favorite blogs. I have a lot of catching up to do). Things are turning around though and even the supposedly "temporary" work situation may be resolved soon. So, watch for my next post and don't forget to enter the Revlon Glitter giveaway if you haven't already!

Icing Purple-A-Licious

2010-10-13T06:25:00.000-10:00

Some days I hate work. And generally I love my job. I get to play with books all day. But it's only Wednesday morning and all I can think about is how long Friday is taking to get here. The supposedly temporary (since March) job assignment is stretching on with no end in sight. Luckily I have a hobby to distract me! (lol)

Icing Purple-A-Licious, overcast

Mmmm, don't you love purple? Purple-A-Licious was opaque in two coats. This swatch was done with no base or top coat and it dried in thirty minutes. I ended up adding a top coat and wearing it for several days before I had any tipwear.

Icing Purple-A-Licious, overcast

I do love Icing nail polishes. So rarely has one disappointed me. At first I thought this was going to be a purple creme, but was pleasantly surprised by the subtle shimmer. The clock is telling me I need to get dressed for work. Bah. I do have one bright spot to look forward to! My brother has mailed me a box of lovelies to play with. They should be arriving any day now! Oh, and don't forget you can enter my giveaway here! Last day to enter is October 24, 2010.

Revlon Glitter Giveaway

2010-10-04T06:35:00.002-10:00

I promised a giveaway last month and finally it's here! Now this is just a little giveaway but the opportunity presented itself to pick up the the recently released limited edition Revlon glitter top coats and I thought I'd share them with one of you!

Well, its not the most color-accurate picture in the world (the sun was just coming up) but you get the idea, hehe. =) Okay, rules...hmm. Yes, this is open internationally. *prays this won't break my wallet, lol* Giveaway ends midnight HST October 24, 2010.

To enter fill out the form below with the following information:

.....Your name and email address (1 entry)

You can earn bonus entries by entering in the correct spaces:

.....If you follow with Google Friend Connect, you GFC name. (1 bonus entry)

.....The name of your favorite polish of all time (because I'm curious). (1 bonus entry)

So that's it! Good luck!
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Edit: I didn't realize until after I posted that the form would be so large. Sorry! I don't know how to fix that. If you can't get the form to work properly, you can leave your answers in a comment on this post.

NYX Girls Woman

2010-09-30T07:17:00.000-10:00

Today is a red day, so I want to show you another of the NYX Girls polishes I picked up recently.

NYX Girls Woman, bottle pic under "daylight lamp"

This swatch is 2 coats with no base or top coat. If you click to enlarge the picture you can see the different colored glitter are suspended in a reddish jelly base.

Application was great, very smooth and rich feeling. It's really gorgeous in sunlight, but I had no sun that day. *sad*

Okay, it's time to be off to work. Next post: giveaway time!

NYX Girls Chocolate Taupe

2010-09-26T08:12:00.000-10:00

Last month I showed you a taupe polish called The Taupe from NYX. Today I have another taupe polish from NYX called Chocolate Taupe.

NYX Girls Chocolate Taupe (left), The Taupe (right)

NYX Girls Chocolate Taupe, "daylight" lamp

This swatch is with no base or top coat. I used two coats of polish. Polish consistency was great. Application was easy with the polish doing this funky self-leveling thing even though at first it looked like it was going to be streaky. And look how shiny it is without top coat!

NYX Girls Chocolate Taupe (index & middle), The Taupe (ring & pinky)

I've heard that Chocolate Taupe is very similar to OPI You Don't Know Jacques, but sadly I missed the boat on that one. I don't have any other taupes in my collection (or do I?...hmm) to compare to but these two were well worth the money.

OPI DS Fantasy

2010-09-19T10:23:00.005-10:00

Once in a while I curse myself for missed opportunities and have to resort to eBay. I've been putting if off, but I finally caved and bought OPI DS Fantasy a few weeks ago and I'm glad I did. I have some other manis from the past couple weeks, but I really wanted to show you this one today.

OPI DS Fantasy, morning sun

Two scrumptiously easy coats over Nailtek II Foundation and topped with Poshe. I could have done with only one coat of color but did two out of habit. I actually did this at night and waited to take pictures until morning. I don't know what I did in my sleep to cause that teensy chip on my middle finger. *iz puzzled*

I saved this to wear today because I wanted something special for my wedding anniversary. And blue is my favorite for nails! Did you know today is also Talk Like A Pirate Day? I was tickled when I learned I was getting married on Talk Like A Pirate Day. =)

Ah, I cannot get enough of this polish. The way it is ever so faintly holographic. The richness of the blue. Pictures are nothing compared to the real thing in sunlight. DS Fantasy is gorgeous even in the shade.

OPI DS Fantasy, shade

Positively heavenly. Anyhow, that's it for today! Coming soon, a contest, those skipped manicures I mentioned above & a few other surprises.

Golden Rose Paris 85 & 88, Care + Strong 169

2010-09-13T08:51:00.004-10:00

Good morning ladies! (And perhaps gentlemen?? Wouldn't that be nice?) As some of you suggested on my last post, those extra polish bottles are for a giveaway. I was lucky enough to happen on a full display and thought I would share with you! I haven't decided the details yet though, so keep watching! Today I want to show you what I was wearing when I wrote that post:

Golden Rose Paris #85 with Golden Rose Care+Strong #169

Golden Rose Paris #85 is a bright yellow creme. I was expecting it to be difficult to apply, but surprisingly this is only 3 coats. I had more difficulty with the brush (which is rather short) than I did with the polish! I topped it with one generous coat of Golden Rose #169 from the Care+Strong line.

Golden Rose Paris #88 with Golden Rose Care+Strong #169

I think Paris #88 has stolen my heart. I don't know what it is about it. It has VNL. But #88 is a milky translucent blue that reminds me of old glass. Does anyone remember that? It may have been called milk glass, I'm not sure. Anyhow, this is two coats, again topped with a generous coat of Care+Strong #169.

I wore these both simultaneously, one on my left hand and the other on my right. I actually do this quite often. Some quirk in me feels more settled when my nails aren't all the same color. And I don't know what it was, but I had more men than ever tell me they liked my nails while I wore this! Maybe its the yellow?

Have a good week everyone!

Revlon Ruby + Slipper

2010-09-09T22:06:00.004-10:00

Wow, this week is just flying by. And not in a good way. So far I've had two sleepless nights, the ol' carpal tunnel acting up, a nail in my car tire (that couldn't be patched), I forgot to do my Japanese class homework and managed to burn my stomach with a hot pot yesterday. The blister is about 3 inches long and crescent shaped. Woohoo for interesting scars! But through it all, my nails were lovely =D

Revlon Ruby + Slipper, daylight lamp

Revlon released these limited edition pairs that you can wear together for a cutesy name or mix and match if you like.

(Not my best bottle pics, but you get the idea)

I didn't really need another red polish, but I was drawn to the whole idea of a "set" (I'm such a sucker). I'm glad I did buy Ruby though. It is one the yummiest, squishiest red jellies I own. And application was dreamy in two coats. Add one coat of Slipper for some red and silver bling, a lil' bit of topcoat and I had loveliness that kept me happy last week with only minimal tipwear. (Aha, did you think I wore it this week? So sorry to mislead. This week's loveliness will be up as soon as I can find my camera cable.) Here, look at another picture of Ruby + Slipper:

And what's this? Some friends?

But wait a minute...I'm pretty sure those aren't my bottles of polish. I wonder who they could belong to? *dun dun dun*

Color Club Twiggy vs. Quirius Erin Island

2010-09-06T16:30:00.002-10:00

Freshie over at Polish Freshie asked me how Color Club Twiggy compared to Quirius Erin Island. This is three coats of each (plus topcoat, I couldn't bear the matte-ish-ness) with Twiggy on the left. I don't know if it makes a difference, but my Twiggy is from one of the sets you can sometimes find at Ross'.

Dodging raindrops, Twiggy vs Erin Island

If you do look at the enlarged picture, please ignore the red bits I missed. *sweatdrops* You'll see what caused that next time!

Quirius Erin Island

2010-08-31T21:21:00.000-10:00

I'm squeezing this post into the last few hours of the last day of August, desperately trying to ignore how hot & humid it is right now. I don't know where my head is, but I managed to forget to write in my polish notebook what base & top coat combo I used. Somebody take away my polish fiend badge.

Quirius Erin Island, morning sun

Three coats to even out the color. While not completely unworkable, the consistency of this polish is a bit chalky and streaky. But I'm completely gaga over the color. Neon pastel green = Kitty Love. I wish had captured the neon better.

Quirius Erin Island, shade

Note the teensy chips on my middle and ring finger. I have no idea how that happened in less than 12 hours. Obviously this one isn't going to have long staying power on me. Still, gorgeous.

Quirius Erin Island, noon sun with water decal

And finally, I had to add a water decal. Water decals are so much easier for me than nail stickers. This particular design is from the blogger sample pack I got from Viva La Nails last month. If you've never used water decals before, there's a nice video tutorial on their website.

Zoya Zara

2010-08-26T06:52:00.007-10:00

Good morning! (or afternoon or evening....) Today I have for you another Zoya from the polish exchange, the delightful Zara!

Zoya Zara, morning sun

Two perfect coats over a base coat of CND Ridge Out and covered with Poshe fast-drying top coat. Polish consistency was thin and smooth with good coverage. Another winner from Zoya!

Zoya Zara, morning sun

I love this delicate lavender with a touch of pink and the golden shimmer gives it just the right amount of Pow! look at me! It's beautiful. And looking at it reminds me of something...ah, you're going to laugh at me. It reminds me of a My Little Pony doll I had when I was a little girl. I don't remember her name, but she was lavender and had these transparent wings that snapped to her back and a pinkish mane...I haven't thought of My Little Ponies in years. It's funny what triggers memories, isn't it?

I'd just like to take a moment to let you know I really do appreciate all your comments. I've been bad about responding to them lately but I do read all of them and I'm working on catching up. Coming up, a few more NYX swatches and another Quirius. You all have a great day!

Quirius Love in Hawaii

2010-08-20T06:47:00.002-10:00

I believe I've mentioned before that I like to collect polishes with names that refer to Hawaii, regardless of whether I like the color. Quirius Love in Hawaii has the bonus of being a gorgeous mildly-neon pink creme.

Quirius Love in Hawaii, morning sun

Quirius Love in Hawaii, morning sun

Quirius Love in Hawaii, morning sun

I chose to use 3 coats (had minor OCD moment) but it is pigmented enough to use two. Love in Hawaii dried with a matte-ish finish as neons do and had a tendency to streak if I brushed over the same spot too often. Easily fixed with careful application or a third coat.

Now I don't normally comment on wear because I usually change my polish too often to make any real judgement. And personal body chemistry seems to affect how different brands wear on different people, so who am I to say what might work for you? But I gotta say, I wore the heck out of this one. I haven't had the time lately to change polish as often as I get the urge, but if my nails are chippy I will make the time, even if only to go naked. Quirius Love in Hawaii wore so well on me I didn't even realize how long I had been wearing it.

Quirius Love in Hawaii, shade, Day 5

The chip on my index finger is what finally urged me to change my polish. When I went back to my polish notebook I realized I had been wearing Love in Hawaii for five days. Was it the base/top coat combo? Possibly. I used CND Ridge Out for the base and Poshe Fast Drying top coat. Whatever it was, I'm glad it worked!

NYX Girls Swatches II

2010-08-18T19:29:00.004-10:00

First of all, I apologize that these are not the best pictures. It was late afternoon and clouds rolled in while I was swatching and the sun decided to start playing peek-a-boo. Anyhow, here's Part II of my pick-me-up grocery store haul. These swatches are without base/top coat. As always, click for bigger pics.

NYX Girls Deep Space

Three thin coats for full coverage. Sadly the glitter is not as visible on the nail as it is in the bottle, especially indoors. Otherwise, application was good.

NYX Girls Robotic

Again three thin coats for full coverage. The turquoise glitter in this one is more visible than Deep Space was. Smooth application.

NYX Girls Royal Purple

Three thin coats. The base polish is more purplish than the other two. Royal Purple dried rather flat (matte?) whereas Deep Space and Robotic were fairly glossy without top coat. I added top coat to my ring and pinky finger so you could see how a shiny top coat enhanced the glitter, but yeah, my pictures suck. *sigh* I added a second pic to try (and fail) to make up for it.

Overall, I'm still pleased even though my glitter expectations were higher. Subtle can be good too, right?

I haven't been without polish even though I haven't been able to post these last two weeks. There are several manicure pictures awaiting editing, so look forward to some Quirius and another Zoya coming soon! And there's still Part III of the NYX haul to be swatched!

NYX Girls Swatches I

2010-08-11T21:21:00.003-10:00

I've been feeling a little down this month, but nothing a little retail therapy can't help. =D Over the weekend, I discovered one of the local grocery stores is stocking NYX Girls in the pharmacy section. At 1.59 each, I couldn't resist buying a few (or eight!). I thought I'd show you a few swatches today. Being swatches, these have no base or top coat.

NYX Girls Luscious Green, 2 coats, morning sun

NYX Girls The Taupe, 2 coats, morning sun

NYX Girls Chick Lit, 2 coats, morning sun

Anneliese, sneaking out the window!

I was surprised at how well these applied. Luscious Green seemed thin on the first coat, but the second coat was so smooth and easy. There is a bit of a bald patch on my pinky, but that's because I goofed getting my camera out. I thought I fixed it up alright, but cameras don't lie, lol.

The Taupe (haha, I love that name for some bizarre reason) had an unusual consistency. Not bad, just...different. I don't quite know how to explain it. At first I thought it was going to be horribly streaky, but I just let it be and each coat self-leveled. I think if I had tried to fix it I would have created problems. Left alone, it took care of itself. And so shiny!

Chick Lit was like Luscious Green. A nice smooth application, a bit thin on the first coat, but with a nice color payoff on the second. I'm in serious like with that one. Overall, I think these are great for the price. They certainly cheered up my day!

A Layering Experiment (Warning! Pic heavy!)

2010-08-06T10:16:00.001-10:00

Last week I wore Zoya Yasmeen and Zoya Tallulah, both lovely polishes, but the sun refused to come out long enough for me to take decent pictures. Rather, the sun came out while I was at work & I'm not brave enough to take pictures of my nails at work, lol. I can only imagine the questions I'd get.

Anyway, I gave up on waiting for the sun and moved on to a new manicure, a layering experiment that's been simmering in my head for a few weeks. I probably took too many pictures. Rather than go on and on about it, I'll just let you see for yourself. XD

I'm in love. I didn't want to take it off. Eventually I had to, the tip wear was pretty bad. Oh wait, you want to know what its made of? Here ya go (in the order of layering):

Hot Topic Iridescent Blue was the first layer. A Perfect "10" The One was next (this is very similar to Pure Ice Oh Baby). Third layer was BT Snow Angel, a polish brand I've only seen in this one clothing store in the mall. There are other polishes out there with that golden-green glitter, I'm sure. And finally Nfu-Oh 52, gorgeous thing that she is.

So what do you think? Did I do good? I've got another idea simmering that involves reds...

Zoya Delilah, Mimi & Mieko

2010-07-28T20:14:00.000-10:00

I need to get my butt downstairs quick if I want there to be any hot water left for my shower, so let's do this lickity-split-quick! All three polishes were lovely application-wise. No dragging, all smooth-flowing yumminess. Base coat was Nail Tek II Foundation, top coat was Poshe Fast Drying.

Zoya Delilah, 2 coats, sun

Red jelly with red glitter. Made me crave a jelly donut. You know the ones with powdered sugar on top? Seriously, I have junk food on the brain. See the visible nail line? That's the jelly talking to you. I don't mind it at all, not this time.

Zoya Mimi, 3 coats, sun

Two coats would have been fine for this one, but I dinged my pinky fingernail and needed to fix it. Then I couldn't have 3 coats on only one finger...although I can see now where I bumped the free edge of my middle finger...*sigh*

Zoya Mieko, 2 coats, sun-ish

Gorgeous golden shimmer. Reminds me of China Glaze Strawberry Fields, but darker. Must be appreciated in person.

If all Zoyas apply and wear like these, I'll be spending more dollars at Zoya! I didn't give Mieko a true wear test (less than 24 hours) but Delilah and Mimi are going on their second day now with no tip wear (they're on my left and right hands, respectively, lol) and. I suspect they have much more staying power in them. =)

Bottle Preview!

2010-07-25T16:02:00.005-10:00

I had a mani done, but I ruined it cutting down a stubborn guava bush (tree?) and silly me, I forgot to take a picture before the yard work. Anyhow, I love posing and taking pictures of the new pretty ladies so today you get a quick preview of my Zoyas all standing at attention. (I really want a proper light box, not the DIY bit of nonsense I constructed. If Nihrida's is named "Crappy" mine is Crappy's ugly sister Floozy. She's cheap, easy & tipsy, but she gets the job done.)

First the new haul from the Zoya Polish Exchange:

Then the older Zoya ladies were getting jealous of all the attention the newbies were getting and demanded their own photo shoot.

So, where do I start?! Any requests?

China Glaze Octa Gone Wild

2010-07-23T18:07:00.000-10:00

About mid-week I seriously needed a pick-me-up. The humidity, the heat, gaaaah! I'm glad the building I work in is air conditioned, but somehow that just makes it worse when we have to leave and the evening temperatures are worse than the day was. But I'm getting off-topic...

I was craving purple something bad, but I've worn two purple cremes recently (Misa Sorry Just Can't Help It, China Glaze Grape Pop) and I just wasn't feeling like a dark vampy shimmer. I couldn't make up my mind, discarding one possibility after the other. Then I had a light bulb moment: it's sunny! (I swear my job is turning my brain to mush, lol.) Mmmmm, holo-y goodness.

China Glaze Octa Gone Wild, sun

Can you believe this has been sitting in my untrieds since last summer? Something is seriously wrong with me...

(Okay, I have to stop now to tell a story. It isn't relevant to the post, except in a roundabout way, so you can skip it if you want to.)

It's Friday night, I'm burned out, so I stopped at the deli on the way home from work and picked up some fried chicken and potato salad for dinner. Bad for your health, but ooooh so tasty. It's Friday, I need this. Anyway, I'm sitting here at the computer eating dinner and working on this post (because its too freaking hot to eat in the kitchen, hubby agrees & is here next to me at his computer) and its nice and quiet. I'm thinking about getting another piece of chicken, which I left on the counter in the paper bag it came in from the deli, when I realize its Too Quiet. You know how when small children get into something they're not supposed to and they get real quiet and suppress their little giggles? Yeah, like that. Only I don't have children. So hubby and I go to the kitchen to check it out. And there is the culprit, the oldest of our cats, sitting happy as you can be on the counter, munching on my chicken. MY chicken. Not only that, he didn't even bother to open the paper bag (too noisy) he ate right through it. I don't have the heart to scold him, he looks so content. I did take the chicken away though.

Okay, end of story. I just felt a sudden urge to share. Here, look at another picture of Octa Gone Wild to get your mind back on topic.

Application of holographic nail polish can be tricky. You don't think you have any bald spots but then the sun hits it just right and suddenly there it is. I used three coats of Octa Gone Wild just to feel safe. I know some people don't use a base or top coat with holographics, but I feel naked without them. So this mani has CND Ridge Out for a base and Poshe Fast Drying topcoat. Topcoats seem to dull the holo at first, but once they dry all the sparkling goodness comes right back. Octa Gone Wild is from the now discontinued China Glaze Kaleidoscope collection.

Another noteworthy event, my Zoya Polish Exchange order arrived! I hope to have pictrues up soon. =)

China Glaze Dorothy Who?

2010-07-19T22:20:00.001-10:00

Gah, I'm a bad blogger. I haven't been keeping up and now I just hit enter after typing the title and posted an empty post. *insert head meeting desk here* So it's late, I'm pretty much gone to la-la land and I just realized I didn't take any notes on the polish I'm going to show you. *sweatdrops* Let's just start with a picture and wing it from there!

China Glaze Dorothy Who?, overcast

From the re-released Wizard of Ooh Ahz this past holiday season, Dorothy Who is a charming blue jelly packed with silver glitter.

same polish, shade

IF I'm remembering correctly (and that's debatable tonight, lol) this is 2 smooooooth coats (smooth like jelly! not jam...jelly!). Base coat was Nail Tek Foundation II ('cause I can't find my OPI ridge filler) and topcoat is Poshe fast-drying. (Seche Vite and I have a love-hate relationship...we're currently in a Hate phase)

Dorothy Who? oh hai, Mr. sun...

Oh wait, you wanted to see more sparkle?

Does this satisfy my lemming for the original release of Dorothy Who? Hmmm...nope, can't say it does. But then, I can be like that. In my head this is Dorothy Who, Part Deux? I love it, I wore it for days (no chips until Day 3!) but I still want the original. Now, I need a bed. And I wish I hadn't stopped at McDonald's for that caramel frappe thingy on the way home from work...

Quirius Caribbean Turquoise & China Glaze Grape Pop + Hidden Treasure

2010-07-14T07:53:00.001-10:00

Depending on the lighting, Quirius Caribbean Turquoise can lean a bit more towards green or blue. I did the best I could to take pictures of the awesome. Really, I think its my new favorite turquoise! I feel a bit guilty, I've had this first pic uploaded and waiting for almost a week. BUT, I also wore this color for 5 days! So I took a picture of that too so you can see how well it wore.

Quirius Caribbean Turquoise, overcast sun

This was three coats of polish over Nailtek II Foundation and topped with Poshe Fast Drying topcoat. Two coats of polish would have been fine, but I was watching House while doing my nails and accidentally put a third coat on my pinky...I got a little obsessive and *had* to make sure they all had the same amount of layers. *blushes*

The polish consistency was a little thick. Not chalky, but it did have some cuticle drag if you went over the same spot twice too quickly. Easily remedied by just letting each layer dry a bit. It does dry semi-matte so you'll have to add topcoat for shine (if you want that, of course!). Otherwise, pigmentation is very good. Caribbean Turquoise pops quite nicely without the white layer some neons require underneath to really show off their potential.

As I said earlier, I wore this for five days with minimal tipwear and no chips!

Quirius Caribbean Turquoise, Day Five

And, because it was holding up so well, I decided to pull out some the the nail art supplies I was sent by Viva La Nails and attempt some nail art. I'm thinking I'm not nearly as talented in this area as other bloggers, lol.

What the heck, if you've kept reading this long, here's a picture of China Glaze Grape Pop topped with a layer of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. Sadly, Grape Pop didn't fare as well, this tipwear is after only one day of wear. Same number of coats, same base & topcoat combo as the Caribbean Turquoise. Still pretty though! (Ouch, my poor dry and abused cuticles!)

China Glaze Grape Pop + Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

And now, I'm going to be late for work so you all have a beautiful day!

Viva La Nails Nail Art

2010-07-09T07:12:00.000-10:00

Viva La Nails is an online store that carries a nice selection of various nail art and nail care supplies. They offer a free sample pack to bloggers and youtube artists (you can read more about that here) which I ordered, being curious about it myself.

While I waited for my sample pack to arrive I browsed their website. Prices seem reasonable and they ship internationally to a number of companies (you can see the list here). What I liked best however, is that many of the nail art supplies had a short video in the description explaining their use. For nail art newbies like me that's very helpful! Anyhow, my sample pack arrived a few days ago and though I didn't have time to really dig in, I wanted to embellish my current manicure so I chose to add some nail stickers.

China Glaze Heli-Yum with Nail Stickers NSC05

Application was pretty easy, just peel and stick. I used tweezers to remove the stickers from the sheet, it makes placement much easier. Added a clear coat and I was ready to go! These do create a bump on your nail surface so I don't think they'll last long at work if you have a job that involves scraping your nails around. I think the water decals will be much thinner and smoother. Check out what else came in my sample pack (click for a bigger image):

I'm not sure how to use the crushed shells or those tiny beads, but I really want to try out the little fabric flowers. They just look too darn cute!

The nail art products in this post were provided by the company for review.

Quirius Sunshine Energy

2010-07-03T10:13:00.000-10:00

Woweee! Quirius Sunshine Energy is aptly named! Haha, the bottle pics I took before don't even begin to show how neon this is. (Yes, I'm digging in to my Quirius haul without finishing the other haul. Absolutely shameless, I am.) So, these pictures. Skin tone is not accurate, but I sacrificed that in an attempt to show you a little bit of how bright this is. Annnnnnd...nail length was sacrificed in the name of a busy weekend of hardcore gaming. Heh.

Quirius Sunshine Energy, sun

Quirius Sunshine Energy, shade

Now isn't that awesome? Just imagine it brighter. More neon. Hmmm, details...three coats plus base (Nailtek) and topcoat (Poshe). Very very pigmented. Consistency was a bit thick, which caused it to streak just a little if you went over the same spot twice. Easily remedied by letting it dry a smidgen between coats. Rather like many neons out there. If anything, I love Sunshine Energy more than many others because it doesn't need white under it to really make it pop!

Orly Snowcone

2010-07-01T08:52:00.000-10:00

Short and sweet today! From Orly's Sweet Color Collection, Snowcone looks a bit dusty in the bottle but actually is a bright cornflower blue! Beautiful.

Orly Snowcone, sun

Orly Snowcone, shade

This was a true swatch, meaning I didn't use a base or top coat. I am in love with this polish. Not only the color, but the application. No challenge at all. (That's good! lol) I used two coats but Snowcone is so richly pigmented it was almost opaque in one coat. And see how glossy it is? Yum!

China Glaze Medallion

2010-06-30T08:21:00.002-10:00

Okay, I admit it, I have another Quirius polish on right now (Sunshine Energy!) but you'll have to wait for it. I'm feeling obsessive right now which means I need to post what I wore before it.

China Glaze Medallion, weak morning sun

From China Glaze's Specialties collection, this is three coats of glitter (with OPI RidgeFiller and 2 coats of Poshe topcoat for the bumpiness). In the picture, you can see tiny bits of bare nail here and there, but honestly? In real life this is so shiny bling that no one notices. I didn't even notice until I uploaded the pic. But if it bothers you, its easy enough to do a coat of gold polish first. Actually, I think next time I'll try black underneath.

Misa Sorry Just Can't Help It

2010-06-28T09:04:00.003-10:00

I was feeling a bit down so I decided to change my mani! Who doesn't get a bit perked up at the thought of a fresh manicure?

Misa Sorry Just Can't Help It, sun

Two coats of Misa over OPI Ridgefiller and topped with Poshe Fast Drying topcoat. Sorry, Just Can't Help It is a wonderfully pigmented creamy purple. A little bit of drag on the first coat, but the second coat evened things out nicely.

Quirius Black Coal

2010-06-26T15:25:00.000-10:00

I have no willpower. I really really do intend to finish trying out all the polishes from my Head2Toe haul, but seeing all those Quirius bottles lined up and waiting...waiting to fulfill their purpose in life...I cracked. XD

I'll get back to the other haul tomorrow, but for today let's look at...

Quirius Black Coal, shade

Okay, I should have chosen to start with a more summery color, but last night the moon was almost full and the lunar-kittehs are running wild and they're saying "Give us moar!" Who am I to ignore my kittehs?

Quirius Black Coal, sun

Seriously though, this was two perfect coats, no cleanup required. Polish went on, polish stayed where I put it, smooth like buttah as they say. I did use a basecoat (Nail Tel Foundation II) and topcoat (Poshe) for these pictures. I fully intend to wear this all day. Click the second picture to see the hint of sparkle better. Is anyone else thinking of shiny gun barrels right now? Just me? Must be the moon. ;p

Quirius Nail Lacquer can be bought online at QRS Beauty Shop. Quirius is pronounced just like "curious" (the obsessive part of me just had to ask customer service). And I'm told a surprise gift is sent with each order. I won't tell you what mine was so as not to ruin the surprise if you order! I checked out the shipping section and it looks like they ship international as well. So what do you think? Are you curious about Quirius? (Okay, that was lame...I'll stop now XD)

What came in the mail...

2010-06-26T09:18:00.003-10:00

Not too long ago I said I would try to get through my last haul before starting in on the new haul (something about having more untrieds than tried...what was I thinking?!) but I can't contain myself so you get some bottle pics as a preview.

Quirius Deep Denim; Lavendar Bouquet

Quirius Cresskill Eve; Black Coal

Quirius Love in Hawaii; Sunshine Energy

Quirius Erin Island; Ruby Pumps; Caribbean Turquoise

Sooooo...I guess I better get swatching the rest of my Head2Toe order so I can get started polishing with my new ladies!

Maybelline Red to Gold

2010-06-21T07:36:00.000-10:00

My sister recently had to deal with hard drive failure and that prompted me to go through my files and make double sure I've been keeping up with backing up my own files. (I had, yay!) While doing so, I found some pictures I think were originally meant to be posted on MUA, but instead were sitting forgotten in a folder. It's a gorgeous polish, it deserves to be seen.

Maybelline Red to Gold, daylight lamp

Can you see the usage line in the bottle? I used to wear this A LOT.

Okay, this is and old polish. I probably bought it around 8 or 9 years ago. But I've read that people find old drugstore polishes in Dollar Tree stores. Maybe some of these are still out there. (Sadly, there are no such stores where I live. Woe is me.)

This is almost certainly three coats. Polish consistency is thin. Oh hai, long nails!

I apologize for stray polish bits on my cuticles. I wasn't so concerned about cleanup in those days. (Present me wants to reach into the pictures with acetone.)

Have you had enough? Just one more, I promise.

Next time: I got something new in the mail!

Misa Cherry Topping

2010-06-15T07:35:00.002-10:00

Eep! I'm getting backed up. By necessity, I'll keep this short and sweet. Misa Cherry Topping is a squishy syrupy jelly red. Two coats and I was done, done, done.

Misa Cherry Topping, midday sun

Misa Cherry Topping, midday sun

Love, love, love. Red is probably my favorite color to wear. As clothes. Look in my closet, its almost half-filled with red. Somehow I'm particular about red on my nails. It has to be perfect. Which means I don't have many red polishes I love. Not nearly as many as blue polishes! But this one, this one is Love.

Orly Pixy Stix

2010-06-09T07:11:00.000-10:00

A confession: I think I have more untrieds than trieds in my nail polish stash. Does that make me feel guilty? *ponders* Not really! I am unrepentant. XD I will however, attempt to wear every single polish from my last haul before I start in on the new hauls that are in transit (Quirius, yay!) or in the works (guess who just found out Zoya is including Hawaii in this year's polish exchange?).

Anyhow, that's not what you're here for! From this year's Sweet Spring collection:

Orly Pixy Stix, morning sun

Sometimes in my fascination with blues, greens and purples I don't give the whole pink/coral/red end of the spectrum enough love. And love it I do! Especially red, but we'll talk about that later. This is two coats of Pixy Stix and it was easy-peasy to apply. (No clean-up required! I know I'm getting better at application, but troublesome polishes still give me difficulty keeping clean!) I had good coverage in two coats and at first I thought it was going to be too thick, but the second coat settled very nicely and evenly. Pixy Stix is the perfect name for this polish. All day long I thought about candy and I took a certain delight is telling people who asked that I had Pixy Stix on my nails! =D

Sinful Colors Euro Trash

2010-06-08T21:38:00.002-10:00

I'm tearing my hair out, not having time to change my polish as often as I would like. Dreadful, isn't it? =)

Had to do another low-key mani for work, but I was feeling the need for some sparkle so I pulled out an untried, Sinful Colors Euro Trash (which I don't care for the name of).

Sinful Colors Euro Trash, sun

I completely forgot to do a shade pic. Sorry about that...*feels guilty*...its quite pretty in the shade, reminds me of sparkly champagne. This is three coats, so if you don't like sheer, its probably not for you. But its so pretty....you know you want it...ah, I need more sleep. Don't listen to me!

Next time: Orly Pixy Stix (I hope!)

A Franken!

2010-06-06T16:37:00.005-10:00

I promised you a franken last time! Now, I'm not good at coming up with clever names so I pretty much just put together the names of the materials I used to make this polish. Sooooo...here you go!

Power Up My Submarine!

The components! (L to R: NYC Clear, Perfect 10 "Power Up", Splash Eye Sparkle "Submarine")

To be more specific: about 1/4 bottle of Power Up, 1 1/2 teaspoon of Submarine and 1/2 a bottle of clear nail polish.

The Result!

Sadly, the purple sparkles don't show up as well in the photo as they do in real life. But what do you think? Is it a keeper?

China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

2010-05-31T14:04:00.003-10:00

The weather this weekend was perfect. Blue skies, puffy white clouds, a gentle breeze...I should have went to the beach! (Doh!) Even though we spent the weekend running errands and doing household chores, at least the weather was nice while we were doing it. I did manage to perk up my nails for the weekend. From the new China Glaze Poolside collection:

China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, indirect sun

A nice cheery yellow, it does still have a pitfall common to yellow nail polish: streaking. I had to use four coats to even out the color. One thing that helped was to let the polish dry a bit between coats. It did dry matte as neon polish does, so a nice shiny topcoat is in order (unless you want the matte look).

That was Saturday's look. On Sunday morning I decided something was missing (and I noticed some bubbling I wanted to cover up). Someone had encouraged me to order the Bundle Monster image plates from Amazon last Monday which arrived very quickly. I had to test them out didn't I? I mean, how could I not?

With China Glaze Heli-Yum nail stamp (Bundle Monster plate 12), direct sun

Dear husband and I had dinner with my mom last night and she called them "kitchen nails". The color and design remind her of these plastic containers she used to see for storing sugar, flour, etc. back in the early '80s. I kind of remember green bins with similar white flowers myself...I feel retro. XD

Next time: a franken!

OPI Don't Melbourne the Toast

2010-05-29T13:58:00.004-10:00

Yesterday at work we held interviews for a new student helper. I was a good girl and removed my darling teal creme for a more work appropriate color. I'm the temporary (2 months and counting *grr*) manager so I must set a good example for impressionable young minds...*sigh*

I have a surprising number of "work safe" colors and unsurprisingly, they're almost all untried, lol. Most of them are OPI's that I bought on clearance (usually 75% off) at Trade Secret. I really need to stop doing that. Especially with sheers! I don't usually wear them. I have Stained Nails. Defiantly so. Lol.

Anyway, I pulled out OPI Don't Melbourne the Toast from the Australia collection released in 2007. It was overcast and rainy on Friday (first picture) and beautifully sunny this morning (second picture).

OPI Don't Melbourne the Toast, overcast/shade

OPI Don't Melbourne the Toast, sun

I can't say this is one of my favorite colors because I really do prefer something bright and/or bold on my nails. But it does have a nice subtle pink and golden shimmer (you can click to enlarge the pictures). This was two thin coats. There is some visible nail line in the pictures that isn't as noticeable in real life. If you really wanted to be sure, a third coat would easily take care of that. I could see myself using this again if the need arose. I think right now I'm so worn out and anxious at my job that bright flashy colors are my quiet rebellion. I expect you'll be seeing more of them from me soon. =)

Color Club Gossip Column

2010-05-28T06:38:00.004-10:00

Have I ever mentioned that I love me a good teal creme? Color Club Gossip Column is a gorgeous one. It comes from the Rebel Debutante collection but was not in the 7-piece box set; you had to buy it separately. That did irk me a little since I found the box set at Ross but had to wait until I could put together an e-tailer order to get Gossip Column. Of course, it was a good way to rationalize placing an e-tailer order. *whistles innocently*

Color Club Gossip Column, sun

Color Club Gossip Column, shade

I used two coats of Gossip Column as well as base & top coat. Application was very smooth, this was almost opaque in just one coat. If I had known ahead and been a little more careful with my brushstrokes I could have managed full coverage with one coat easily. But I'd probably do two anyway, I'm funny like that. I was so in love with this gorgeous polish I wore it for four days (and had only slight tip wear). If you love teal creme, go buy this!

China Glaze Electic Lilac

2010-05-24T10:11:00.000-10:00

Last time I showed you the haul I got in the mail. It was tough to pick which one to try first but since its sunny and I haven't worn a glitter lately, I present China Glaze Electric Lilac!

China Glaze Electric Lilac, sun

China Glaze Electric Lilac, shade

This polish is gorgeous iridescent multi glitter in a sheer lavender base, so I used 3 coats. The glitter is so densely packed in the bottle, working with it can be a little tricky. This is bumpy on the nail! I used a coat of Poshe fast-dry topcoat first, but I didn't like the slight texture. So I swiped a coat of some random clear polish and then topped it with a good coat of Seche Vite. That made it nice and smooth. Next time I'll just use the Seche to begin with. Another thought I had was that this would be great for layering. I think Orly Snowcone would look great under Electric Lilac. What do you think?

Water Marbling - Attempt #1 (and a package!)

2010-05-19T14:49:00.007-10:00

So, I've been fighting it off for a couple of weeks, but I've finally succumbed to a nasty cold. Yuck. I'd tell you all about it, but dear husband reminded me that just because I'm feeling lousy and want to b**** about it, you probably don't want to know. So I'm fighting the TMI impulse.

I was too lazy/tired/confused to find polish remover and felt but I really really wanted to change my mani (NYC Plaza Plumberry - a deep vampy plum creme I didn't photograph). So, I decided to cover it up with water marbling. (I never said I was rational when I'm sick...halfway through the process I realized I still needed felt and polish remover. *facepalm*) NYC Plaza Plumberry remained my base and I used Essie Van D'go and Revlon Gum Drop for the marbling.

My fingers are reddish because the sun is just coming up. Morning light is good for photographs, but maybe not quite that early. Not bad for a first attempt, but do you see the bubbles? They're not in the topcoat; they came up in the marbled polish. Did I dip my finger too fast? I'll have to research a bit. Oh and my index finger? Yeah, I put topcoat on before all the water had dried off. Not so good of an idea. I'm going to blame it on being sick (uh huh, riiiiight dear husband just told me).

Anyway, something good came out of this day...I got my Head2Toe order in the mail!

Oh, you want to know what's in the box? Lovely ladies of course!

Their names, you ask? Let me introduce you!

L to R: Misa Cherry Topping; Sorry Just Can't Help It; Color Club Gossip Column

L to R: China Glaze Heli-Yum; Grape Pop; Peachy Keen; Happy Go Lucky; Four Leaf Clover

L to R: China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy; Towel Boy Toy; Yellow Polka Dot Bikini; Kiwi Cool-ada

L to R: China Glaze Atlantis; Electric Lilac; Medallion; Dorothy Who?; Thunderbird

L to R: Orly Pixy Stix; Wild Wisteria; Snowcone

Now the only pressing question is: What do I use first? But that will have to wait for another day. All this picture-taking (front yard in my pajamas, lol), editing and typing have wiped me out. I'm going to lie down and fondle my pretties. *^_^*

Finger Paints Red Marzipan & Sally Hansen

2010-05-16T10:22:00.000-10:00

For this manicure I decided to pull out another untried I've had sitting around. I was hoping the sun would come out and show how sparkly this really is, but sadly he kept hiding behind a cloud. This is two coats of Finger Paints Red Marzipan.

I actually did this shortly before I went to bed the night before I took pictures and everything was fine. When I woke up I had a bubble on my middle finger, bleh. I'm blaming the Poshe topcoat I used. It probably needs thinning. Anyhow, Red Marzipan was a dream to apply. It's not a one coater, but the second coat evened it out quite nicely. Consistency was great, polish went exactly where I wanted it to go, no cleanup required.

I wore Red marzipan alone for couple of days before the Konad bug got me and I used one of the french tip designs on Konad plate m56. Completely forgot to take pictures of it before the next thing happened. I was in Walmart (work-related, ha) and took a quick swing through cosmetics and found a treasure. Literally.

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

Of course I bought it. We don't see flakies much in person around here. It's almost a nail polish desert. Naturally I swatched it right over my existing manicure...

Finger Paints Red Marzipan + Konad m56 + Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

...and proceeded to take many, many pictures.

So many colors. Pictures don't do it justice. But you can click to see bigger pictures.

It was a good day.

Nfu Oh 51 layered + Konad

2010-05-11T18:05:00.000-10:00

So, I won't tell you about how gorgeous Nfu Oh flakies are, because you probably already know. But I do want to show you my Nail of the Week (yikes, that's rare for me...a whole week!) because I pulled out the Konad again. This time I tried a full nail stamp. I need more practice!

This was one coat of Wet n Wild Black Creme (gotta love cheap one-coaters!) and two coats of Nfu Oh 51. Poshe quick-dry to make it nice and hard and then out came the Konad! I used plate m73 and Color Club Worth the Risque for the stamp.

Nfu oh 51 + Black Creme + Color Club Worth the Risque konad, sun

Do you like my japanese bellflower? My first bellflower of the season. I had to take a picture with it because I thought I had killed it. All the leaves and stems dried up and fell off and I was so sad...turns out it was just hibernating. So few plants do that in this climate, I didn't think to check. Silly me. =)

China Glaze I Wanna Lei Ya

2010-05-07T07:05:00.002-10:00

I had this color in my untrieds for, oh, about a year. I mostly bought it because of the name; I live in Hawaii and so I like to buy polishes with names related to Hawaii. I own a bunch of sheer Sinfuls for this very reason ^_^;

China Glaze I Wanna Lei Ya, shade

China Glaze I Wanna Lei Ya, sun

For this manicure, I used 3 coats plus base & quick-dry top coat. Application was decent, nothing spectacular, but not horrible either. Just what I normally expect from a polish. I didn't expect to like the color as much as I do! I think its cute and it has a bit of silvery shimmer in it that I didn't notice in the bottle. A happy ending for something I bought based on only a name. =)

Golden Rose No. 113

2010-05-05T08:28:00.001-10:00

Yummy holo redness. What more can I say?

Golden Rose 113, morning sun

No base coat, no top coat, only 2 coats of smooth holograpic polish. No bald spots! No cleanup either. I was a little concerned about the shape of that brush handle but it was all smooth sailing.

Golden Rose 113, morning sun

What do you think? Does this satisfy your urge for a red holographic polish? I want to say it does, but I'd be lying. I don't think I'll ever be satisfied. It sure comes close though! *is contemplating ordering a backup*

Revlon Grape Icy

2010-05-01T15:02:00.004-10:00

The new position I'm temporarily filling in for at work is wearing me out. Luckily I found something in the drugstore that helped perk me up! Today's mani is one of the new scented Revlons, Grape Icy. You may also notice that I chopped my nails down a bit; short nails are easier for me to maintain at the moment.

As many of you already know, digital cameras often don't capture purples accurately. This polish was no different. For my sun and shade pictures, I've included both the original photo and one that I "doctored" to a more accurate portrayal of the color.

Revlon Grape Icy, sun (unaltered)

Revlon Grape Icy, sun (edited for color accuracy)

Grape Icy is a bit on the sheer side; this was 4 thin coats. Surprisingly, it was very easy to apply evenly, just required building layers for opacity. The scent is light and sweet, rather like grape-flavoured candy and lasted for several days, even with topcoat. Wait until your topcoat is dry before you try smelling it though (unlike me, lol).

The shade (or indoor) picture is closer to the correct color, but even that wasn't quite red enough and so I had to "doctor" that one as well. I apologize for the blurriness; my camera wouldn't focus properly without a flash and the flash would wash out the color. Of these four pictures, the last one is the most color accurate.

Revlon Grape Icy, indoors (unaltered)

Revlon Grape Icy, indoors (edited for color accuracy)

Overall, this is a nice color that is very vibrant in real life, but I don't think I would buy it just for the color. The real draw here is the idea of having a scented nail polish. =)

NYC Empire State Blue

2010-04-24T14:49:00.004-10:00

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

2010-04-21T07:50:00.005-10:00

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

2010-04-16T07:22:00.001-10:00

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

2010-04-14T07:16:00.001-10:00

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

2010-04-12T08:22:00.006-10:00

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

2010-04-09T07:39:00.001-10:00

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

2010-04-08T20:06:00.001-10:00

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

2010-04-07T08:16:00.004-10:00

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

2010-04-05T07:12:00.004-10:00

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

2010-04-03T08:16:00.001-10:00

*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 =(

An oldie and a tiny break...

2010-03-31T21:03:00.000-10:00

...but not a broken nail! (*knocks on wood* I'm growing my nails out again hopeful that Claire's will get those fabulous mood polishes in soon.) No, I'm talking about a teeny tiny blog break. Some things have come up at work and I suddenly find myself with the dubious honor of being In Charge for a couple of weeks. Combined with the yucky weather I haven't had time to do any proper manicures or picture-taking. Or to respond properly to comments and leave comments, I'm really sorry about that. =(

There is the weekend coming up, so I hope to swatch something new I picked up as well as some untrieds that have been sitting around waiting patiently. I can't bring myself to not post a single picture so I dug around a little and found an old photo of one of my favorite polishes, OPI My Private Jet.

This was one coat of My Private Jet layered over Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme. I was having a quirky day so I painted a hot pink from Hot Topic on the undersides of my nails (and boy was that hard to get off). My Private Jet has evolved through several versions over time so if you spot it in a dusty somewhere remember to take a good look at it to make sure its the version you want.

And because I haven't done one yet, I'm going to squeeze a kitty picture in:

Peekaboo says hello and thank you for visiting!

Milani Cyberspace & Milani 3-D

2010-03-29T07:32:00.000-10:00

I woke up this morning to a beautiful cloudless sky. Perfect for trying out my new Milani 3Ds! As much as I wanted to buy them all, I controlled my impulses and restricted myself to two, the blue and the gold. (I'm so proud of myself. Lol.)

This Spring Milani released a collection of neons and holographics that I've heard are to be part of the core line. I don't know if that's true or not but I hope so! These would be a great permanent addition to their collection of colors. While I love seasonal collections, it can be frustrating to hunt them down. Where I live, sometimes we don't see a spring collection until fall! Maybe they get lost at sea, heh. But on to the pictures!

Milani Cyberspace

This was three thin coats and if you stare at it you can sort of see visible nail line. I'm thinking this would be great layered over one of the new neons.

Milani 3-D

Again, three thin coats but 3-D is more opaque than Cyberspace. Both polishes had excellent application. It was easy to apply thin coats, great coverage and a smooth finish. Both of these were done without basecoat. I don't buff my nails so I usually use a ridge-filling basecoat, but these didn't show my ridges at all.

While these aren't quite the same as the China Glaze OMGs or Kaleidoscopes, (Hmm, I wonder if I can do a comparison? I'll have to check my stash...) they're still very nice holos for a reasonable price. Some drugstore polishes are getting rather pricey. (I'm looking at you Sally H.) Shoot, I'm happy to see holographic nail polish in a drugstore brand again!

Essie Van D'go & a little bit of sunshine!

2010-03-26T15:12:00.000-10:00

Last weekend I scheduled several posts for this week because I knew I would be very busy with little or no time to hop on the computer. I finally had a whole day off today so I logged in to catch up on my blog reading and post today's manicure. Wow! What happened while I was gone? Seemingly overnight I have lotsa followers =)

Happily mystified I started catching up on the blogs I follow and soon found the answer. The lovely lady Nihrida was so sweet and kind to point you in my direction! So I'm sending a big thank you out to her and to all of you who took the time to check my blog out! I feel all warm and fuzzy inside...what a great day off I'm having =D

Okay, okay, on to the pictures! Today I'm wearing Van D'go from The Art of Spring Collection 2010 by Essie.

Essie Van D'go, midday sun

Essie Van D'go, shade

I used three coats to get full coverage (my own fault, I was watching a movie at the same time) plus base & quick dry topcoat. It seemed a little thick, but didn't give me any real problems and dried within half an hour. A word of warning if you're thinking of picking this up: Van D'go dries darker than the pale pink-peach it looks in the bottle.

Maybelline & Hot Topic

2010-03-25T09:10:00.000-10:00

Finally, the last two bottles from my weekend haul! One is a drugstore brand and the other is from Hot Topic. To refresh: these are swatches only, so no base or top coat and pictures were taken under a lamp due to lack of sun.

Maybelline Exu-Blue-Rant - 2 coats

Exu-Blue-Rant is from Maybelline's Poptimistic collection. This is a highly pigmented polish which was almost a one-coater. If you apply your layers on the thicker side, you could probably do just one coat. I like this blue creme. I find it straightforward and refreshing. Its a great dark blue that looks blue, even indoors. No application issues.

Hot Topic Mint - 3 coats

There are so many things I want to say about this polish I don't know where to begin. First of all, this photo isn't color accurate. It should be less blue and more minty green. I tried everything I could think of until I just gave up because swatching this polish was just so frustrating.

The trouble started with the crap brush. I know it happens with Hot Topic polishes, but this was extra-crappy. Uneven bristles and falling apart. I had to trim them and even pulled some out just so I could swatch. Then the consistency seemed to be a bit thick and goopy. It may need to be thinned, or I was having trouble getting even layers because of that darn brush! At two coats, it was still streaky, then the third was lumpy. I stopped trying because I knew a fourth coat would just mean taking it all off and starting again. And then I forgot to take a bottle pic. *sigh* I do like the color though, which means I'll decant this into a better bottle and thin it and try again. One day.

Icing Part Two

2010-03-23T08:44:00.000-10:00

Here we have two more polishes from Icing by Claire's. These were in the clearance bin marked down to half price. As I said last time, these are just swatches with no base or top coat. The sun refused to come out and play, so pictures were taken under a lamp.

Icing Can't We Elope - 4 coats

First of all this is not quite color accurate. Can't We Elope is a neon which is tough to capture correctly on camera. In real life, this polish leans more yellow than this. Also, this definitely has Visible Nail Line (which is why I did 4 coats) so if you don't like VNL, you might want to skip this one or use an opaque white under it.

Icing He Loves Me - 3 coats

He Loves Me is pretty, but there are probably more than a few dupes out there. I don't have a lot of pinks though, so it will be a nice addition to my collection. This one also had VNL at three coats, but for some reason it didn't show up in the photo. But it was there.

Once again, Icing nail polish didn't disappoint. They applied smooth and even, albeit with visible nail line. The polish consistency is great, no need to thin nor any pooling at the cuticles. Overall, I think Icing polish is definitely equal to salon brands.

Icing Part One

2010-03-22T06:15:00.000-10:00

When dear husband and I went to the mall this weekend I visited Claire's to check if they got the new mood-changing polishes in (they didn't). Disappointed, I visited a few other stores and picked up a few new colors. Since I'm going to be very busy this week, I've spread this out over a few posts and scheduled them. I hope it works!

The first two polishes I'm going to show your are from Icing by Claire's. I don't recall seeing them in Icing before, but they were each the last bottle left. Unfortunately, the sun hasn't come out all weekend so all these pictures were taken under a lamp. Since these are swatches only, no base or top coat.

Icing Dark & Stormy - 2 coats

I think this is my favorite of them all. Of course its blue, lol. Reminds me of my favorite crayon when I was a kid, Midnight Blue. So gorgeous indoors, I can't wait until I can wear it on a sunny day.

Icing Heartless - 2 coats

This one was hard to capture on camera. The color is accurate, but I couldn't get the shimmer to photograph correctly. There is an almost hidden purple shimmer that glows at the right angles.

Both polishes applied easily. Streaking only very slightly on the first coat, everything smoothed out with the second. I have a tendency to do three coats, but with these I didn't feel the need to at all. *love*

Mmmm flakies

2010-03-20T08:33:00.000-10:00

An older picture for you today! Now, I love Nfu-Oh flakies but there was a time when I didn't have any. Then I saw an NYX polish called Blue Avenue that looked like it had flakes in it and it only cost $3.49! I bought it and tried it and...it SUCKED!

I won't even show you pictures of that. (Actually, I don't think I have any.) The flakes were huge glass-like slivers that were all sharp edges and impossible to work with. I was sad.

About a year later, this happened:

NYX Blue Avenue (l coat) layered over China Glaze Emerald Sparkle (2 coats? I can't remember)

What happened you ask? Sadly, the POS bottle of NYX did not miraculously transform. No, that *insert bad name of choice* is still sitting in a drawer somewhere. One day, I was in the drugstore looking at the NYX display when I noticed Blue Avenue looked different. Wondering if I was wasting my money, I bought another bottle, took it home and swatched it. And it was GOOD! NYX changed the type of flakies they use. So, if you need a cheap substitute until you can get the good stuff...

OPI Jade Is the New Black

2010-03-17T21:39:00.002-10:00

I did manage to get some sunlight pictures in today, yay! So even though St. Patrick's is over for most of the world, I'm going to squeeze this in during the last few hours here in Hawaii. This is the other polish the nice ladies at Trade Secret held for me from OPI's Hong Kong collection.

OPI Jade Is the New Black

I had no cleanup tools with me when I did this, so I apologize for any stray bits o' green. This is two not-too-thin and not-too-thick coats plus Poshe topcoat. Somehow I managed to forget to apply basecoat even though it was sitting right there by my hand. Silly me. Smooth application, no issues with pooling, cuticle drag or streaking.

When I first put Jade Is the New Black on, I wasn't sure I liked it. But now that I've worn it all day, I'm rather fond of it. This polish is a bright dusty green creme, if that makes sense. It's making me think of old money. Not fugly, wrinkled, dirty dollar bills, but CLEAN old money. Like the first dollar bill taped into my baby scrapbook. Somehow I don't think that's the image Suzi was going for, heh.

And I'm really sorry about my dry cuticles. I didn't notice them until after I uploaded the pics *whips out moisturizer*

OPI Meet Me On the Star Ferry

2010-03-17T08:20:00.004-10:00

I want to show you another lovelie from OPI's Hong Kong collection. (I am wearing green for St. Patty's, but I'm waiting for some decent sun to take a photo.) Anyhow, I almost missed getting this one, but the kind ladies at Trade Secret gave me a call when they got more of the Hong Kong collection in and put it on the side for me.

OPI Meet Me On the Star Ferry

I absolutely adore this polish.

I didn't want to take it off.

In the shade it was pretty, but when I went outside to take pictures BAM!...I was in love.

I would meet this polish on the Star Ferry any day. I don't even know what the Star Ferry is...but it sounds romantic. This makes me think of twilight and velvet chokers and Victorian dresses....erk, somebody stop me.

I had no trouble at all with application. This is three coats (because I'm overzealous) with base & topcoat. I don't know what else to say, I'm too dazzled just remembering the way it sparkled...I'm usually a blue/green/purple lover but I'm totally going to cheat on Absolutely Alice with this one.