Viva Polish!

OWWWP - OPI A Sparkle Yule Love

2012-02-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it's February already? I'm in the mood for lots of pinks and reds, so let's get started with a pink. This is A Sparkle Yule Love from the OPI Ulta Exclusive Holiday 2011 Deck Your Nails mini-collection. I don't have Excuse Moi from the Muppets collection, but this may be a dupe of that shade.

A Sparkle Yule Love is a pink jelly with tons of glitter - silver and pink microglitter and larger multicolor glitter in tons of colors like blue, yellow, and green. Here it is with two coats and two layers of top coat. It's not a gritty glitter, but it does need a little bit of extra smoothing.

I think I like this shade so much because it's like a remix of China Glaze Carnival Lights, one of my favorite glitters from their Specialty collection. It's the same kind of idea - colors, multicolor glitter, jelly base - but with a few tweaks to make it feel updated.

This is a very sparkly polish, so be sure to wear it when you need something extra twinkly on your nails.

Wet N Wild Ice Baby Collection

2011-11-07T13:20:00.000-05:00

I have a fabulous friend who gifted me with the entire wet n wild coloricon Holiday Glitter 2011 Ice Baby Collection. The entire set!!

Let's get started with a look at these cute little bottles...

Rockin' Rubies - Believe Me, It's Real - 24 Carats - Give Me A Price Quote

It's All In The Cut - Back Alley Deals - Cost Is No Issue - Diamond In The Rough

Here's one coat of these glitters over one coat of black creme polish. All of these polishes are clear-based and their opacity varies, but I wouldn't describe any of them as sheer. They are gritty, top coat-sucking glitters so I think layering makes wear and removal easier. If you want to wear them solo, you'll only need two or three coats to get full coverage.

Rockin' Rubies - red microglitter with pink hex holo glitter
Believe Me, It's Real - blue microglitter with purple hex glitter
24 Carats - yellow-gold microglitter and bar glitter
Give Me A Price Quote - warm gold microglitter with gold and orange bar glitter with pink flash. I can't tell where that pink is coming from, but it's there.

It's All In The Cut - lavender microglitter with pink hex glitter

Back Alley Deals - purple microglitter with red hex glitter

Cost Is No Issue - light greenish blue microglitter with blue hex glitter

Diamond In The Rough - charcoal microglitter with silver holo hex glitter

As a glitter fan, I love every single one of these polishes. The colors are bright, the color and texture combinations are creative, and the overall feel is so playful. They cover the nail easily, dry quickly, and wear for days without chipping.

If I had to pick my Top 3 Favorites from the Ice Baby collection, I'd go with...

Back Alley Deals - It's like an awesome glitter version of China Glaze Flying Dragon.

Believe Me, It's Real - Blue and purple and it's all glitter? oh yeah!

It's All In The Cut - It's so girly and Lisa Frank-like.

I'm wearing these all as NOTDs, so I'll have future posts showing them off on their own. If you live by a Walgreens and find this collection, buy these polishes! Pick up your favorite colors and I'm positive you'll be wearing them non-stop through the winter/holiday season.

Sally Hansen Ghoulie Girl

2011-10-31T14:24:00.004-04:00

By a friend's request, here's a quick look at my Halloween nails.

My mom treated me to the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips in Ghoulie Girl. This pattern has rows of alternating orange and white ghosts on a black background. The little ghosts look like the guys from Pacman, which was my absolute favorite Atari game when I was a kid.

Last time I wore these strips, I had much better wear using a separate top coat. Since the patterns look a little matte after they're applied, the top coat also adds much appreciated shine.

Unfortunately, I wore a separate base coat this time, too. Can you see the chip on the tip of my index finger? That happened within the hour of putting these on. I don't have peeling or splitting or anything else going on with that nail to explain immediate chipping, so I think the addition of the base coat affected the strips' wear.

The Lesson Learned - Sally Hansen polish strips work well with top coat, not base coat!

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

MAC Dirty Martini + Comparison

2011-10-25T20:29:00.008-04:00

It's almost Halloween and it's time for a murky, swampy olive color!

I used to think light blue polishes were too crazy for me to wear - so stark, so bright, so blue! I even gave my bottle of Barielle Swizzle Stix away because I just wasn't ready for it in 2009. I also wasn't ready for the ugly-pretty camouflage colors that were starting to show up. For its name alone, I bought Dry Martini from the MAC Fall 2009 by Jin Soon collection. After two years of taupe, mushroom, and greige, I've slowly grown to enjoy these types of shades and I'm finally ready to love this polish!

Dry Martini is a dark, brown-leaning olive green creme. On me, this polish looks green indoors and brown outdoors. My bottle had been untouched for so long that it needed some really good mixing. I don't think I mixed it enough, so it took me three coats to get this polish on opaque and even.

I was so happy with the look of Dirty Martini that I tried to put on an ombre mani with some of my other drab green cremes (I know the OPI has a faint shimmer, but it's only visible 2% of the time so it barely counts as shimmer!).

Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War (index), Zoya Shawn (middle),
Dry Martini (ring), and OPI Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow (pinkie)

Shawn is a bit dingy looking in the bottle, but it looks so vibrant when it's in the middle of all these brown-tinged greens. I don't have Zoya Dree (still on a low-buy), but I think that green would've fit in much better with the other olive shades. I used two coats on No More War and Shawn and three coats on Dry Martini and Here Today Aragon Tomorrow.

Since the greens looked so different on the hand than they did in their bottles, this mani turned out just to be a comparison swatch. It's still a useful look at these popular polishes, even if it isn't a real ombre mani!

OWWWP - Ulta Grin & Berry It featuring WnW Correction Tape

2011-10-19T16:40:00.002-04:00

Even though our days are still warm (we're talking highs in the 90s), it's October so I'm wearing some fall shades. I think berry is a great shade of pink for fall. It may be on the conservative side, but it's a little darker and richer as it moves us closer to the deep jewel tones of winter.

I'm wearing Grin & Berry It from the Ulta Salon Formula line. I picked it up because it was on clearance (they were changing from the rectangle bottles/black caps to the new round bottles/silver caps) and I thought I saw an orange-gold flash. That flash of color isn't really visible on the nail except slight hints of it in low lighting.

It's a berry shimmer that definitely looks best with three coats. The brush and the formula made the application really easy. I wore this for a few days this week and I had really bad tip wear, but no chipping. The shimmer and the color of Grin & Berry It is so rich that it kept playing with my camera so I could only get a decent shot of it in indirect light.

This berry shade made me think of one of the glitters in the new Wet n Wild Fast Dry polishes I just found. Yep, I was lucky enough to find a full display of On the Prowl, their limited edition Halloween 2011 collection. Here's Grin & Berry It with one coat of Correction Tape layered over it. There was slight bubbling on one nail, but nothing at all like the Party of Five Glitters bubble-fest.

I was on the fence with buying Correction Tape because of the awful time I had with Party of Five Glitters but look! There's more glitter coverage with one coat. It has hex and square glitter pieces. I even like the color combination of Correction Tape more - check out that black glitter!!

I did want more glitter on the nail, but I didn't go any farther because I already had three coats of Grin & Bear It on. Next time, I think I'll use multiple coats of Correction Tape on an accent nail or over a base color that needs less coats for full opacity.

Get It On & Wicked Fast - Part Two (Sale Info!!)

2011-09-22T19:24:00.010-04:00

Quick follow up on the Cult Nails Get It On Perfecting Base Coat and Wicked Fast! Quick Dry Top Coat...

They are available for purchase now and on sale through this Sunday!

For the official release, Maria explained
the creative process behind her treatments.

And it turns out that I wasn't going crazy about how magically nourishing the Get It On base coat felt on my nails - it was specially formulated for weak and splitting nails! I'll get an occasional rip when I'm rough on my nails but I don't think of them as generally weak and splitting.

Without being told the specific details behind the Get It On formula, I still saw an effect and thought it definitely left my nails in better condition after wearing. My nails feel moisturized (no more random dry patches), stronger, and growing faster than ever. As always, formulas work differently on different people but I still wanted to share my personal experience with these treatments.

I recommend checking out her article to learn more about the development of Wicked Fast, the pricing for both these treatments, and the release of the brand new eggplant purple polish Vicious.

You can buy Get It On, Wicked Fast and a Cult Nails Lacquer for just $20! Put the Get It On/Wicked Fast combo (retail $15) and any polish (retail $10) in your cart and use the code TREATS when you check out to get this special bundle sale price. This is a great deal but it'll only be around for a few more days so act fast!

OWWWP - wet n wild How I Met Your Magenta

2011-09-21T17:01:00.013-04:00

This polish has been shown off since it was released earlier this year, especially for Pink Wednesdays, but I just recently picked it up during the month-long Walgreens sale on all their $1.99 items. I was reluctant to try more Fast Dry Color polishes after the bubble fest from Party of Five Glitters, but why not give the line a second chance for $.99 a bottle?

Wet n Wild How I Met Your Magenta is a warm bubble gum pink with fine gold shimmer. This polish dries to a semi-matte finish. I prefer to wear this shade with a shiny top coat because it makes brush strokes, which are visible in its semi-matte finish, disappear. My index finger doesn't have any top coat so you can the difference between its matte vs. glossy.

The brush is full and straight so it was easy to work with but definitely had to be manipulated and worked around where the nail bed has curves, like the cuticle edge. The brush did make getting a medium-thick coat of polish on the nail in only a few strokes easy.

Unlike Party of Five Glitters, How I Met Your Magenta really did dry at lightning fast speed. Maybe because this polish is kind of a matte? hmm....

Unfortunately, I don’t think this polish has the opacity to ever fully cover the nail line. The VNL isn’t that visible in pictures or some lighting, but it’s there about 90% of the time staring at you from under the bright pink. However, the quick dry time makes it easy to put on three coats of color and head out the door in 15 minutes with a fully set mani.

The VNL is almost a deal breaker for me, but this is a very pretty color that’s fast and easy to use. I think I’m going to keep How I Met Your Magenta around for one day manicures when I need something quick and peppy but will come off before that VNL bugs me.

Cult Nails Get It On & Wicked Fast!

2011-09-10T14:18:00.006-04:00

I was lucky enough to be one of the few people chosen to test drive the new base and top coat from Cult Nails! Are you ready to see what Maria's come up with this time?

I've never done this before, but... here are my bare nails (eep)!!

I had some funky staining awhile back so I lightly buffed my nails. As you can see, there's now a clear line straight through the middle between buffed and unbuffed nail. I've been using a ridgefiller base coat while the buffed part grows out to make the surface even again.

Here are my nails with one coat of Cult Nails Get It On Perfecting Base Coat.

Where's the uneven line between buffed/unbuffed? Where are my minimal ridges? Perfected! One coat and everything was smoothed over.

Get Even has a shiny finish, but not in a slick way. The dried texture is slightly rubbery so it's ready to grab on to the polish. It also dries quickly - I can't stand base coats that take forever to set. Get Even is one of those base coats where Finger 1 is dry by the time you're done putting it on Finger 10.

It was Friday, so I was ready for fun weekend nails. I decided to try out Get Even and Wicked Fast with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away. This shade was released in Spring/Summer 2009, but I didn't buy it until it recently made it back on to drugstore displays as a featured shade of the season. It's very pigmented, so some people can get away with just one coat.

I wore it here with two coats and one coat of Wicked Fast.

Here are my tips with Blue Me Away after four full days of wear.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of wrapping the tip of the fingernail with polish and top coat to my friends who want to make their manicures last longer. It really works! Don't leave the edge of the nail bare - seal that color on!

Normally, tip wear is minimized but the combo of Get Even and Wicked Fast cemented Blue Me Away on. Even after days of cleaning, typing, dish washing without gloves, there's still polish on the nail edge.

Here are my bare nails right after I took Blue Me Away off.

Four days of wearing a bright blue shade over only one coat of base coat and there was no significant staining on my nails themselves. I even got crazy smurf fingers when I was taking Blue Me Away off - there's still a touch of blue staining on the right side of my cuticles visible - but my nails were fine!

I think one of the best tests of base/top coats is how they act with cremes because it's a very unforgiving finish. Jellies would have to be the next hardest finish because of its tendency to bubble and pull away from the tips. Next up was my manicure to celebrate "the end of summer" over the long Labor Day weekend.

Here are my nails with two coats of New York Summer Hot Orange, one coat of Cult Nails Captivated, and one coat of Get Even and Wicked Fast each.

Here are my nails after five full days of wear.

My nails grew out but the polish didn't go anywhere! I wore Get Even and Wicked Fast for a day or two with other polish brands and finishes. The results were consistently the same - once the polish dried, it stayed put nice, shiny and smooth.

I loved Get Even Perfecting Base Coat from the second it dried on my first nail. I had to get to know the Wicked Fast! Quick Drying Top Coat before I grew to love it. Why? Because it's not a thick quick drying top coat, so it shouldn't be treated like one! That seems like a logical no-brainer, but I've been using thick top coats like Seche Vite and Poshe for a few years and old habits die hard.

Wicked Fast is a thin top coat. You don't need a large bead to be slathered and oozed on the nail for it to work. The more you put on, the slower it'll dry and the more likely it'll bubble. You don't need a thick layer or multiple coats of Wicked Fast. One thin coat. That's it. Really. That's all you'll need to make this work! Put it on thinly and it'll dry quickly to a hard glass-like finish.

After trying Get Even and Wicked Fast for the last few weeks, I know that I'm in love. So far, they get along with all of my polishes, they make them last forever, and they're so easy to work with. I love the Cult Nails bottle and brush and I love their formulas. Once again, Maria has blown my mind with her creations.

Get Even and Wicked Fast are expected to go on sale at the end of the month, so keep your eye on the Cult Nails shop and definitely plan on getting your own!

Catching Up - My Birthday!

2011-08-11T20:23:00.001-04:00

I celebrated my birthday in July and my friend made me one of the coolest birthday cakes ever - it was a nail polish bottle!!

She took all of my favorite flavors and colors and integrated them into this cake. The cap is chocolate, the bottle is funfetti and strawberry layers, and it's all topped in a layer of fondant.

The design was modeled after an OPI bottle, down to
the dots between the "HPI" (happy!) and the cute label name on the bottom.

It's a shout out to our poodle - that's how we spell our lil Suzie's name

To show the size perspective, here I am with my birthday cake.

Even with half of the cake served, it's still ginormous!!

Since I had a home-based birthday celebration (movies, pizza, hanging out with amigos), I spent most of the morning straightening up our place. When I was done, I needed a really quick mani change - perfect time to use a matte.

I went with Harlow from the Zoya Matte Velvet Winter 2009 collection. It's a red-based purple matte shimmer. I was good to go in two coats and a few minutes. The Zoya brush, as always, means there was no extra clean up needed.

Matte shimmers are one of my favorite finishes, especially Zoya's. A matte finish is cool on its own, but the shimmer adds an extra pop of interesting complexity. Harlow goes to show that a shade can still be special, even if it was a last minute mani choice.

Catching Up - Blog Awards!

2011-08-09T14:29:00.000-04:00

Part Two - You Like Me! and I Like You!!

Some of you lovely ladies have been kind of enough to tag me with blog awards. I appreciate being picked so I better get going on showing these off!

~ The Top Ten Award ~

from Kris at My Lucid Bubble

RULES

1. Thank the person who tagged you and link to their blog.
2. Put the Top 10 Award logo on your blog.
3. List your top 10 cosmetics.
4. Choose 10 bloggers to tag, link to their blogs, and let them know.

My Top 10 Cosmetics would be...

1. Concealer!!

My undereye circles are so dark regardless of sleep, diet, cucumber slices, etc. I'm still in search of the perfect one that is creamy, long lasting, and just the right shade.

2. Moisturizer

By day, it normally has tint and/or sunscreen. By night, it's light enough to moisturize without creating morning greasiness.

3. Blush

I love blush. Love it! I can't even begin to pick a favorite.

4. Translucent Correcting Powder

For a matte finish, I go with ELF. For glowing, I go with Physician's Formula.

4. Lipgloss - all kinds, preferably ones that smell & taste like cupcakes.
5. Bronzer

Benefit Hoola in the winter, Korres Monoi Bronzing Powder in the spring and fall, ELF Contour duo in the summer.

6. Clay Face Mask

It transforms my look so it counts as a cosmetic. Current favorite is Freeman Avocado & Oatmeal. It's radiance + oil-be-gone in one large inexpensive tube.

7. Vanilla Chap Sticks

Bath & Body, Avon, whatever makes me think cupcakes!

8. Benefit Pocket Pal with Benetint and gloss

9. Blotting Sheets

These also count because they suck away oil slicks and help keep the real makeup on the face.

10. Mascara

I like the way I look with it on but don't wear it very regularly. One day, I'll find the perfect dark, lush, clump-free, smudge-free, flake-free, contact friendly formula and wear it every day!

~ The Butterfly Award ~

from Lesley at painting with polish

RULES

1. Link back to the person who awarded this award to you.
2. Answer the following questions.
3. Award to other blogs and let them know.

The Questions...

1. What's your favorite color?
I don't think I have a favorite color, but my friends disagree. They say it's pink. Ok, that probably is my favorite color!

2. What's your favorite song?
My favorite song rotates - I've been doing a lot of driving, so I'm in a sing-along Broadway mood... I know it's kind of random but Blackout from In The Heights. It's like the next generation version of Christmas Bells from Rent.

3. What's your favorite dessert?
Cupcakes

4. What is pissing you off?
My hair - it's too hot to wear down, it's too long but I'm not ready to cut it off yet, it's too humid so it's frizzing. Why can't it just behave and be really really ridiculously good looking?

5. When you’re upset, what do you do?
Alternating rounds of silence and soliloquies

6. Who's your favorite pet?
Suzette - our first family dog. Here's a more recent picture of her hanging in the shade by the pool. In a summer cut, of course!

7. Black or white?

White. The thought of black in this triple digit weather is frightening.

8. What's your biggest fear?
Not living life to its fullest.

9. What's your best feature?
In this weather, my eyes. In nicer weather, it might be a tie with my hair.

10. What's your everyday attitude?

Try your best. Give it your all. Optimism!

11. What is perfection?
That first cup of coffee in the morning.

12. What's your guilty pleasure?
A warm chocolate chip cookie.

~ The Kreativ Award ~

from Princess Poly and LadyLuck

RULES

1. Write 10 facts about yourself.

2. Pass the award to 10 bloggers and tell them about the award.

Ten Facts About Me...

1. I'm a Ninja Turtle - I LOVE pizza. I could eat it at every meal and never get tired of it, which I actually tried the summer before my high school senior year at business camp.
2. I love cookies, cupcakes, and pies. Love eating them, baking them, receiving them as gifts from friends.

3. Going to the Westminster Dog Show was one of the best days of my life. I want to spend more time with dogs - especially when it comes to fighting against animal cruelty.

4. I've loved Broadway musicals since I was a kid - way before I understood where Broadway even was. Thanks PBS - couldn't have done it without you!

5. I lived in Guadalajara, Mexico for six months - it was a study abroad semester that I used to finish up my Latin American Studies minor.

6. My biggest travel wish is to get to Europe one day.

7. I like highway driving - throw on some tunes and just go!

8. One of my favorite shows is Parks & Recreation. I would love love love to work in a local government office like that.

9. I wanted to be 5'5", but I stalled at 5'3-1/2". Even with all my milk, Flintstones, stretching, I couldn't make it. So close, so far!

10. I'm currently addicted to Tiny Tower. Completely. Totally. Go Bitizens!

Now to pass along these awards to the next 10 bloggers. Since the polish blogosphere works quickly and we're all wonderfully different, I'd like the 10 people I tag to choose the award out of these three that they feel fits them the best.

The Next Round of Special Bloggers...

1. Ali's Nail News

2. Nikki's Nail Files

3. Lindsay at Yacking about Lacquer

4. OliviaNobody at Olivia's Nails

5. Jenny at Polishology

6. Kris from Let Them Have Polish!

7. Cheryl from Legally Polished

8. The VEROblog

9. WillaDodge from Willa's Shiny Tips

10. GingerKittyD from GingerKittyDesigns

Catching Up - China Glaze Classic Camel

2011-08-08T17:44:00.004-04:00

Part One - Starting a New Job...

After being unemployed for way too long, I'm finally going back to work! In Arizona. In August. None of my New York work clothes felt light or bright enough to wear. When I first started working in NYC, I tried to wear my AZ khakis to work. They were quickly replaced with darker trousers that could hide the random subway schmutz. Now that I'm back, so are my khakis!

I also had to pick out my first day at work polish. It had to be something work appropriate but special. Riding the khakis high I was on, I went with related shade for my mani - China Glaze Classic Camel from the Fall 2010 Vintage Vixen collection.

Like its name suggests, this is a light camel shade. It's a yellow-based beige filled with gold fleck shimmer. My bottle was separating a bit and I didn't roll it as much as I should have to get it back to smooth consistency, so I had to put on three coats for full, even coverage.

I know this collection was supposed to be 40s themed, but this polish looks like the 70s on me and I love it! The gold shimmer is subtle indoors and the polish takes on more of a beige look. With full sunlight hitting that shimmer and my undertones, Classic Camel becomes more yellow/golden.

When I have to do work appropriate, this is how I like to do it. This shade looks like a nude on me at first glance, but the gold shimmer and slightly quirky base color still keep it interesting for me. I'm still rocking full glitter on the weekends, though!

Catching Up - Intro

2011-08-03T13:23:00.009-04:00

How is everyone? What polish are you wearing??

I really focused my job hunting efforts in July. Since my education, actual work experience, and overall career goals don't perfectly line up right now, I had to spend a lot of time personalizing and tweaking my resume and cover letter before each submission because I was applying for a wide range of different positions. When I was done applying for the day, I didn't want to type another word in front of my computer.

My hard work has paid off and I start a new job on Monday!! The position feels like it'll be a perfect fit - I get to use my administrative background while developing my professional public sector career skills. I'm really looking forward to working with these people and now I can go back to fun-writing about polish!

To celebrate, I'm doing a week of special catching up posts. This is stuff I didn't get a chance to share while I was job hunting - blog award, giveaway gifts, comparisons, new NOTDs... so Be Ready and Viva Polish!

Zoya Paz

2011-07-14T15:05:00.005-04:00

I had my nails done at a salon for my friend's wedding this past weekend. It was a Girls Day Out and I wanted to join in the fun even if that meant giving my nails to someone else to polish... well, I loved the awesome cuticle pushing but I'm still in the process of reshaping my nails back to a more matching length and shape. What's up with salons filing my nails diagonally? This is the third time this has happened to me - are my finger tips crooked or something??

After a few days of wearing a sheer shade for the wedding, I couldn't wait to wear one of my favorite neons. Zoya Paz is from the Summer 2009 La-Di-Da collection - this was the bright cremes counterpart to the Ooh-La-La metallics. La-Di-Da has been spotted at Ulta recently, so keep an eye out for it if you want the polish but don't want to pay the online S&H.

Paz is an ultra bright fluorescent safety neon orange - aka new traffic cone bright! I used three coats of Paz because the formula felt thin for a creme, but that thinness helped make application completely foolproof. No chance of dragging, uneven patches, or pooling with this polish.

Paz dries quickly to a semi-matte finish, which reminded me of a glowing ember. I prefer Paz with a shiny top coat because it really amps up the shade to full traffic cone brightness. Of course, the neon intensity is hard to capture in a picture - I think the bottle in the bottom pic would be closest to color accurate if the orange was just a bit brighter.

This polish glows in all lighting - it is truly intense and not for the timid polish wearer. Paz is one polish that definitely makes me happy - its brightness, unique color, super easy application, even its name! I wholeheartedly recommend it for a daring pedicure if the glowing highlighter brightness is too much for your hands.

OWWWP - BB Couture Hermosa Surfer Girl

2011-07-13T11:14:00.008-04:00

I finally have one of those comparisons I mentioned before!

Hermosa Surfer Girl is from the BB Couture California Beaches collection. This reddish pink jelly is packed with multicolored glitter and happens to be BB Couture creator Cindy Scott's favorite shade.

I don't think I could achieve full opacity with this jelly because it is on the sheerer side. From swatches online, I've noticed that people will use four coats to achieve a darker raspberry shade with Hermosa Surfer Girl. I used three coats because I think the pink looks brighter and more summery.

The absolute best thing about this polish is the incredible glitter. This shade is packed with tiny silver microglitter and slightly larger multicolored glitter. You can see gold and green and red and orange - like an explosion of pixy stix sugar!

Zoya Lindsay is a pretty pink jelly with a lovely silver-lavender shimmer running through it, but I think Hermosa Surfer Girl spoiled me. Shimmer is nice, but I love that multicolored glitter... shall we compare on the hand?

Lindsay, HSG, Lindsay, HSG

These two polishes are definitely similar with minor differences - Lindsay needs that fourth coat (either full or touch up) because it's that sheer, Lindsay dries faster and smoother, Hermosa Surfer Girl has a slightly redder base and it needs a top coat to smooth the fine grit finish that it dries to on its own. I like them both on their own, but side by side, I prefer Hermosa Surfer Girl.

I'm in a Project Runway mood (counting down the days to the new season premiere) so to paraphrase Michael Kors - it's like someone took the volume dial on Lindsay and *zhoosh* cranked it up to get Hermosa Surfer Girl. Maybe I could layer or add something to Lindsay for a *zhoosh* boost?

OWWWP - Color Club Raspberry Rush

2011-06-29T16:08:00.004-04:00

I have put the comparisons aside for another week so I can show off my latest find. After months of stalking Ross, I have finally found Wicked Sweet!!!

Wicked Sweet is one of the two Color Club Summer 2011 collections - this is the candy scented one! I found this set looking nice and shiny (which is surprising given how polish sets normally look in my local Ross) and put on Raspberry Rush as soon as I got home.

Raspberry Rush is a vibrant raspberry creme - a cool leaning hot fuchsia that is so bright that it must be part neon. I say "part" because the first coat dries matte, but the second and third coats dry shiny so this polish can't be entirely neon.

I think these pictures begin to convey the juicy raspberry vibrancy of this polish, but neons throw the camera off. Imagine the polish a brighter, cooler shade with a bit more purple that makes my hands look more tan.

And the scent - it is fruity candy to the extreme! I thought the scented Revlon shades were decent because they kept their scent for a few days. This polish put that scent strength to shame! Usually, I have to bring my hands past my face to catch a whiff of the scent. After Raspberry Rush dried, I could smell the candy scent even when my hands were far away, like in my lap. The scent is pleasant, but it is strong - you have been warned :)

I can't wait to try all the other Wicked Sweet shades. I'm so happy I finally found this set - eeeee!!

OPI Stranger Tides

2011-06-27T14:38:00.013-04:00

We were out shopping with friends in Tucson when I spotted a nail supply place named "Andy's." That's kinda my name and it's a nail supply place, so I dragged my friends. What did I find? Affordable OPI!! I recently sold some polish in my blog sale, so I took my new funds and picked up some new shades.

They had all the shades from the OPI Pirates of the Carribean On Stranger Tides Spring 2011 collection. Since I'm on a limited polish budget and could only get one bottle from that collection, I went with the shade that would be the most unique in my beloved set of OPI polishes.

Stranger Tides is a light green creme with touches of gray to give it a murky feeling. I felt the formula was a bit watery so this is three thin coats to get full opacity. It set quickly, dried shiny, and wore like iron, so it was well worth all three coats.

On my hand, this green definitely leans yellow - most likely due to my olive skin tone. I like the quiet oddness of this shade, but the heat has hit AZ hard in the last week. This pastel shade doesn't fit my "summer's here" mood so I'll be putting this away while we're in our triple digit days.

OWWWP - Zoya Lindsay

2011-06-15T14:26:00.002-04:00

I prefer Zoya's shimmers and glitters. Something about the pieces and particles they use make these finishes look extra unique. Most of their shimmers glide on relatively easy and opaque in two coats. That has not always been the case, though.

In the summer of 2006, they released their Glitterati collection - 6 shades that were translucent and packed with shimmer. Most of the Glitterati colors were pink and today's Wednesday, so I'm wearing one of those pink shades today.

Zoya describes Lindsay as a "translucent medium pink with sparkling silvery shimmer." On some people, this medium pink is bright enough to be a hot pink. Since I have some summer color and this is a cool pink, Lindsay looks more like a vibrant fuchsia on me. The Glitteratis are on the sheer side, so it took three full coats and some spot touch-ups to get Lindsay close to opaque.

Zoya and Seche Vite don't always get along, but I decided to use SV anyway to get all these coats of polish to dry. Lindsay was still dentable almost an hour later and I dinged my index finger. I slapped on a second coat of SV and it seemed to harden it up really quickly, so maybe I should've put two coats of topcoat on in the first place. Although Lindsay was dentable for awhile, once this polish actually dried, it wore like iron for days - we're talking no tipwear.

I like the brightness and femininity of Lindsay, but I'm not sure how I feel about it in comparison to some of my other sheer, shimmer-packed pinks - like BB Couture's Hermosa Surfer Girl. I think next Wednesday will be a comparison week to show Devious Nature and Hermosa Surfer Girl against these other OWWWP shades.

Zoya Ivanka & Charla

2011-06-14T13:13:00.009-04:00

If you haven't heard, Zoya is offering a free bottle of Ivanka AND Charla with any online purchase (US Only) while supplies last or until Thursday, June 16 at 11:59 EST.

Both of these polishes are from the Zoya Summer 2010 Sparkle collection. I've worn both these colors so far this summer because the warm weather has put me in the mood for bright shades. I want sparkle and iridescence until the hotter triple digit days of July when it looks like everything is radiating heatwaves - that's when I'll wear my neons. These polishes are definitely bright and sparkly!

According to Zoya, Ivanka is a "mermaid green sparkling metallic." The gold-with-hints-of-blue duochrome are very visible in the bottle. On the nail, this translates to a green that is bright and cool with tons of gold shimmer.

Charla is a "tropical blue sparkling metallic." I love turquoise polishes and this is one of my favorites. It's not a neon but it's still so bright and sparkly that my camera thought it was radioactive in the sunlight. Charla is packed with gold and green glitter that doesn't disappoint in any lighting.

Both of these polishes ran on the sheer side, probably due to the thin formula that lets the glitter swim through and set at different levels in the base. With three coats, you get sparkly depth and almost-full opacity. Zoya is not known for being a fast drying polish, but these polishes dry extremely quickly - even with three coats. They also dry smooth and grit-free.

If you don't have these two polishes or any of Charla's known dupes, don't wait to take advantage of Zoya's deal. They almost sold out today, but kept the deal going because their VP had them fill more bottles. Rush, rush, rush and go get some awesome free polishes!

OWWWP - OPI I'm Indi-a Mood For Love

2011-06-01T16:38:00.004-04:00

Happy June to all!! I just ordered Devious Nature from Cult Nails during their fantastic Memorial Day sale. While I wait for my perfect hot-pink-with-a-touch-of-berry polish to arrive, I decided to wear another bright, cool leaning pink - I'm Indi-a Mood for Love from the OPI Spring 2008 India collection.

One of my favorite pinks of all time is OPI Strawberry Margarita from their Spring 2006 Mexico collection. It's a great bright warm pink, so I didn't pay attention to any of the cool pinks in the later spring/summer collections. Warm pinks made me feel tan and summery golden - until I moved to New York and looked for a cooler color that seemed more appropriate for their milder seasons.

I'm Indi-a Mood for Love is a bright, cool pink creme that goes on smoothly and dries shiny. I prefer three thin coats for full opacity. This polish is opaque enough to be worn with only two, but that does leave some nail line visible in brighter lighting.

There's enough blue in I'm Indi-a Mood for Love for this shade to look more purple-magenta on me. That tames this bright pink down enough to make it sophisticated enough to be work appropriate for me in the summer months.

I wonder how Devious Nature will measure up against this shade? Given the extremely fast shipping from Cult Nails, I'll probably have it my hands in time to share for next week's On Wednesdays We Wear Pink post.

OPI San Tan-tonio

2011-05-17T20:32:00.007-04:00

As I mentioned last month, I haven't been able to get any of the OPI Spring 2011 Texas polishes because OPI isn't in the "unemployed" budget. However, I now have three shades from the collection due to the generosity and awesomeness of my wonderful friends. Surprisingly, the first one I tried wasn't a "sorbet."

According to OPI, San Tan-tonio is "a “honey” of a ten-gallon tan!" This is definitely a light tan creme, but the exact shade will vary depending on your skin tone. This shade looks like a grayed-out caramel on me. The first coat showed a rosy brown base that continued to deepen in color with each subsequent coat. Here it is at three coats - very shiny and level before I even got the top coat on.

Everyone's monitor shows colors differently, but I had to show a more accurate shot of the bottle itself. For some reason, it kept coming out really light in all the color accurate nail shots. It's not the color of coffee with too much cream - it's more tan than that.

The shade looks different once it's on the hand, but here's how San Tan-Tonio actually looks by itself in the bottle.

I really liked San Tan-tonio - something about the shade made me think of the 70s. If I did "How I Wore It" posts like Varnish Vixen, I'd wear this color with a flowy peasant blouse and flares outfit.

Feelings...

2011-05-16T16:16:00.060-04:00

My Current Range of Feelings:
~Angry~
BAD Blogger! BAD! It's bad enough the PlayStation Network has been down forever and has been screwing with my ability to stream Netflix on our PS3 (I need my random old TV shows fix). As soon as the PSN comes back, Blogger has to go down? "Page Not Found. Error. Blogger Not Found." Networks need to stop breaking!

~Frustrated~
Where did my posts go, Blogger? Everything looked fine and then suddenly they were gone?! I found two of them hiding on random days and times but I'm still missing one. Does "Save" mean nothing? Does "Save" really mean "Lost forever in the internet ether"?

~Sad~
Where did some of the comments go? Why did you take them away, Blogger? I liked those comments.

I'm not going to linger on the negative - I'm going to push forward and focus on the positive! I also feel very...

~Happy, Grateful, Lucky to Know Some Awesome People!!~
Polish presents have been coming in like crazy. With this kind of generosity, I'm going to be able to get through this no-to-low buy period easily until I'm employed again.

My mom is keeping me stocked with new Revlons. Her most recent gifts - Not So Blueberry and Black Lingerie. My friends and family have been layering fiends since I've been back!

My husband is an excellent Easter basket maker - the best jelly beans, bunny peeps, and polish. This year, he treated me to some OPI.

Cuckoo For This Color, Houston, We Have A Purple, Meet Me On The Star Ferry

AND I just got an early birthday present from Katticus (she's a friend and a follower) this weekend. She worked some sales magic like crazy at her Ulta and sent me a ridiculous amount of polish from my Lemming List!

Lighthouse, Below Deck, Marley, Dannii, San Tan-Tonio, Too Hot Pink To Hold Em

I have to take it easy on my right hand due to a finger irritation/issue (meaning no daily polish changes), so I'll be playing with these for awhile. Everything is all soooo pretty!

I'll be making her some really nifty, crafty gift to send to Kat. I've been brainstorming and each idea gets more wild and creative, so who knows what will end up on her doorstep - be ready, Kat!

OWWWP - Zoya Lo

2011-05-11T10:07:00.001-04:00

I love the elongated and feminine shape of tapered oval nails, but my nails felt so delicate and breakable. And I was scared to put in my contacts. My nails grow fast and I put my dailies in before coffee - I was freaked out about the possibility of scratching a cornea!! I've gone back to a shorter squoval and my eyes feel safe again.

On to Pink Wednesdays! Lo is from the Zoya Summer 2008 Gossip collection - the creme companion to the metallic shimmer Chit Chat collection. This polish looks a little bit lighter in the bottle. Even the bottle shot on the Zoya website makes it looks like a gentler pink, but trust the swatch shots you find online or order a spoon to get a more realistic idea of what this shade looks like on the hand.

Looks kinda neon, but absolutely isn't! Dries very bright & shiny

Shade

Lo flows on so easily - Zoya's creme formula has never let me down. The shade is fully opaque in two coats, but I get the best wear from Lo with three. Like most Zoya polishes, this shade fights with my quick-dry top coats. To avoid shrinkage, denting and scratches, it's important to seal the tips and give Lo just a few extra minutes to set.

This pink looks a lot like the warm bright medium pink creme shade that OPI tends to release with their summer collections. OPI Strawberry Margarita happens to be very near and dear to my heart, but my black label bottle has gotten older, emptier, and more sheer (is that possible??) so I'm happy to have Lo on hand as a close substitute.

StreetWear Angelic

2011-05-08T13:54:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the awesome moms out there!

Today we're going to visit one of my grandmothers who always notices what polish I'm wearing. It all started with a teal shimmer mani I decided to wear on a summer vacation trip to Orlando. Since visits were far and few between when we lived on the East Coast, I made an extra effort to wear shades that are extremely pretty but still unique when we went to see her.

I picked the very girly, spring-y, fairy princess polish that is Revlon StreetWear Angelic. This is a frosty light pink filled with silver microglitter. It's sheer and needs three coats for decent opacity. It went on with relatively thin coats, but this polish still took awhile to really set even with Seche Vite.

This polish didn't wow her from a distance like some other blingtastic shades I've worn before, but up close, she really enjoyed the delicate glitter. I achieved the subtle surprise effect I was going for - yay!!

Then my family went a step further and completely surprised me when they asked what I thought about putting a crackle over it. I can't believe I didn't think of that first - wouldn't it look a bit like the new OPI Glam Slam! duos?

OWWWP - OPI I Pink I Love You

2011-05-04T19:01:00.091-04:00

This is my Interview Edition of Pink Wednesdays - because I had my first interview in Arizona today!

The universe works in mysterious ways. I've been applying for jobs that I felt lukewarm about, but I knew they weren't *the job* I wanted. I had my mind set on a certain place in a certain city for a certain county - and they were the ones who called me up for this interview!

This called for my most professional-while-still-being-quite-interesting pink sheer in my collection - OPI I Pink I Love You. This is a soft light pink with a hidden blue shimmer from the Soft Shades 2009 Fairytale Bride collection.

Early Sun - such a gentle light :)

The blue flash may be a bit hard to see, but click through and you should be able to see the shimmer more when the pictures are larger.

This is only two coats because I wanted to maintain the delicacy of this sheer. Adding a third coat makes this polish more opaque and pink. It also adds on to the slightly long drying time, so I recommend enjoy this streak-free sheer in the more translucent, two coat state.

LA Colors Shock

2011-05-01T15:16:00.006-04:00

Happy May Day! I love spring and I'm trying to enjoy it to its fullest. Summer is my favorite season but it lasts a long time here in Arizona. Since summer will be here from June to September, I'm making a concentrated effort to wear my spring polishes until we're hitting triple digits consistently (hey, but it's a dry heat!).

In my search for colors that are light and happy without being the brighter saturated shades of summer, I tried out a polish my husband picked out for me at Dollar Tree. Shock is a bright, yet light, orange from the LA Colors Color Craze line. I thought it looked like Sunny Delight in the bottle.

This polish looked fine at two coats, but I added a third coat for extra depth in the color. Then I got in a fight with our dryer door and slightly dinged my ring finger, but that wasn't the polish's fault. It was drying quickly, but it had no chance against a large appliance door.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Shock dried with a squishy, jelly-like finish.

Shade - Squishy!!

Unfortunately, I was unpleasantly surprised to discover that Shock took on a bit too much of a yellow-orange hue when it dried on my nails. Why couldn't it have stayed more orange-y? It's not a bad shade. Really! But I can never wear this polish again. Ever!!

Why?... Shock, when dry, is almost a dead ringer for ASU Sun Devil Gold. I'm a proud Wildcat and I just can't wear my rival school's color!!! My sister will be graduating this month with her undergrad degree from ASU, so I will be gladly and happily gifting this polish to her for a graduation pedicure. Early Congrats to Mi Hermana!

OWWWP - Color Club Space Case

2011-04-27T13:08:00.002-04:00

Time for my first Pink Wednesdays Pink!! If you haven't heard of Pink Wednesdays yet, check out the On Wednesdays We Wear Pink site for all the details on this latest polish community movement.

Now that I'm surrounded by Ross stores, my friends are getting used to the "let me run in real quick" request whenever we pass one. I've been finding great stuff for my hair, but no polish luck. Persistence paid off and I finally found two Color Club sets that I really wanted - Catwalk Queen and Starry Temptress!

Space Case is a neon pink glitter from the Color Club Summer 2011 Starry Temptress collection. The base is a medium pink with a silvery green shimmer. This polish is filled with small silver holographic glitter.

The base is heavy and covers most of the holographic sparkle, but the glitter that reaches the topmost layer does show some of its rainbow in the sunlight. The layers of glitter throughout the pink shimmer help give the polish a starry sky-like effect. It dries matte, so it needs top coat for a shiny finish.

The bright colors of the Starry Temptress collection are reminiscent of the neon shimmers in the Color Club Summer 2009 Electro Candy collection. Starry Temptress has glitter, but are the base color dupes? Nope!

Here are bottle comparisons of the two pinks from Starry Temptress

with the pink from Electro Candy:

Space Case, Electro Candy, Ultra-Astral

Space Case is definitely lighter and cooler than Electro Candy. Ulta-Astral is a much darker fuchsia-like pink. Whew! It's always good when new polishes don't look like our old polishes ;D

More Revlon Top Speeds

2011-04-21T21:52:00.001-04:00

I definitely judge a shade of polish based on what I see in the bottle. This is not a good strategy because there are so many ways for a polish to surprise you once it's actually on that nail. Look - it's a darker shade, there's a hidden shimmer, the incredible opacity gives this so much depth, happy wows like that. Of course, a polish could also end up being a sheer, watery, streaky mess that won't dry but let's be optimistic!

Here are some of the Revlon Top Speeds that I was just gifted - and each one of them was a very pleasant surprise for me. After my binge on spring pastels, I had to wear a shade that was edgier and earthier. Time for taupe!!

Stormy is a taupe creme that looks kinda drab in the bottle, but loves to change colors on the hand. This shade leans gray, brown, or purple depending on lighting and skin tone. Based on other reviews, it seems like Stormy has a hit or miss formula. It's streaky, thin and hard to work with for some people. I was lucky and my bottle had an excellent formula - smooth and creamy in two easy coats.

Stormy Can Lean Brown

Stormy Can Also Lean Gray

I couldn't stay away from spring pastels for too long and I tried Jaded next. In the store, I thought this was the Top Speed dupe for their non-Top Speed shade Minted, but I was wrong. Jaded is a little bit lighter, a little bit more yellow, and it has a subtle silver shimmer! This wasn't as easy to apply as Stormy, but I still only needed two coats for a sufficiently smooth finish.

And the biggest, trippiest surprise of all was Cloud. I've seen swatches of Cloud and sometimes it looks a bit blue or a bit gray or a bit dusty, but it pretty much always looks light purple. Not On Me!!! Cloud looks periwinkle! In real life, in every lighting, in every picture - it looks like a light blue that leans purple.

Shade - Looking Soft and Bit More Lavender

Sunlight - Looking Stark & Blue
which is how it looks on me about 95% of the time

I actually Cloud a lot more like this because it's completely unique in my collection. The ease of application was right in the middle of Stormy and Jaded and I still only used two coats. I got the most compliments on this shade and I kept asking what shade they thought this polish was - no one said light purple. It was pastel blue or periwinkle or light robin's egg, so it's confirmed that I wasn't seeing things. Crazy colors!

Revlon Copper Penny

2011-04-14T22:34:00.006-04:00

It's not Mother's Day yet, but if my mom can't wait to give me my Easter polishes, I'm not waiting until May to declare how cool she is.

I was a drugstore polish girl until college and Revlon was my favorite with their limited edition collections and easy-to-use brushes (yeah, I'm looking at you, Maybelline - fix your brushes!!). I've always been more of a saver than a spender, though, so I wouldn't buy them for myself unless there was a sale or a coupon because $4 a bottle was a lot back then. Mom to the rescue! For years, she's been slipping those Revlons in my Easter basket and Christmas stocking.

Old habits die hard and my mom has hit up the Revlon racks for me again to get me some of their newer shades. Since I'm still loving all the sunshine (I never hate sunshine but I don't like it as much when it's over 110 in the summer - but hey, it's a dry heat... till monsoon...), and sparkly polishes look fabulous in the sunshine, I wore one of our mutual favorites first - Copper Penny!

Revlon Copper Penny is from the Heavenly Metal collection. It's a "New Shade," but I don't think it's Limited Edition. Copper Penny is a copper foil with a deep copper metallic base lightened and brightened with lots of fine silver and light gold sparkles. I know it says "Metallic" on the bottle, but I think a true metallic polish has a smoother, reflective, more metal-like finish (i.e. the China Glaze Chromes). Copper Penny has that sparkly, glittery-yet-smooth finish of a foil.

Sunlight - Smooth & Sparkly

Shade - The Silver Glitter is More Visible

If you look at the copper down the middle of the nail,
it matches almost perfectly to the shade of a new penny.

Copper Penny went on almost completely opaque in one coat, but two coats were needed for a smooth finish. Metallic colors love to hug every ridge on the nail in the first coat.

The closest color I have to this polish is OPI Legs Celebrate, but Copper Penny is lighter and doesn't have as much orange. This polish looks understated indoors because it's a bit similar to my skin tone and then it's "Wham! Sparkly!!" as soon the sunlight hits it.

Thanks for the awesome polish, Mom!!

New York Summer Hot Magenta

2011-04-07T14:56:00.002-04:00

I want the sorbets from the OPI Spring/Summer 2011 Texas collection, but I'm on a no to low-buy until I find a job in AZ. I'm trying to hold out for a good career job this time, so for now, no sorbets for me.

That doesn't mean I can't have fun wearing a juicy, fruity, fun jelly, though! I shopped my stash and I got out one of the Hot colors from New York Summer.

Quick Back Story on this Brand: New York Summer polishes are under $2. Does this low price mean low quality? Their glitters are so sheer that they can only be used for top coat or franken mixing. Their shimmers can be frosty and boring. Their Hot shades are different - they tend to be easy-to-apply neon jellies in a wide range of colors.

Hot Magenta went on in three, quick drying coats. I didn't have any cuticle drag, so I could've gotten away with two coats, but I find I have significantly better wear with three coats of this polish. The look is still squishy but VNL is all gone with the third coat.

Direct Sun

Indirect Sun

This is one yummy pink - it's like wearing fruit punch on the nails. This might not be an OPI sorbet, but this is still a fantastic jelly!

Show It & Glow It + A Winner!!!

2011-04-01T13:16:00.011-04:00

This is going to be a busy weekend - friends from grad school are getting married and the festivities start tonight. I wanted something festive and sparkly while still keeping it light and spring-y.

I decided to layer one coat of OPI Show It and Glow It from the 2010 Holiday Burlesque collection over two coats of OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender from the 2010 Spring Hong Kong collection. Of course, I topped it off with a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite for the ultimate smooth and shiny finish.

And now I'm ready to be a guest at a spring wedding!!

Thanks a bunch to everyone who entered my Fun Friday Giveaway :) I received three times more entries in this giveaway than I did for 50 followers - whoa!!

The official winner of the Fun Friday 100 Follower Giveaway is...

*drum roll*

...checking the spreadsheet...

...Livi from Olivia's Nails!!

She's been blogging since August 2010, so head on over to her blog and see what she's been showing off. I never would've thought to layer Revlon's Star over a dusty purple, but she did. This is totally my next layering mani. Go check it out!

Have a great weekend and try not to play too many tricks on this April Fool's Day - Happy Friday!!!

Revlon Black with Envy - Last Day to Enter!

2011-03-31T15:35:00.007-04:00

Guess what my Ulta just got in? A full Revlon Backstage Revealed - Runway 2011 display... which means that I was able to get my hands on the limited edition Black with Envy!

For anyone who can't find Wet N Wild Morbid from their Craze line, Black with Envy is also supposed to be another close cousin (aka probable dupe) to Chanel's Black Pearl. This small display is only supposed to be up from March through the end of May, so you'll have to look quickly to find this shade.

Is it worth the search? It was for me because I wanted a polish like Black Pearl without having to pay $25 for it. Black with Envy went on in two coats - it has the graphite base with blue-green shimmer - it's worn nicely with only minor tipwear after housework and dish washing.

Sun - Graphite with Green Shimmer

Shade - Green Shimmer gives a pearl-like finish

But if you don't feel like dealing with the frustration of a potentially fruitless polish hunt, just enter my giveaway because Black with Envy is the tenth polish I'll be giving away! I'll also be giving away the new addition to the Lippmann Happy Birthday dupe family - Ulta Piñata-Yada-Yada!

Black with Envy, Piñata-Yada-Yada

You have until midnight PST tonight to enter. Don't miss out on your chance to get all of 10 of these fantastic polishes! The winner will be announced tomorrow afternoon so hasta mañana!

LA Splash Pink Dream

2011-03-30T14:38:00.002-04:00

This is the perfect princess polish for spring! LA Splash Pink Dream is a light pink filled with pink and silver microglitter. It's delicate, it's glittery, it makes me think of cookies and sprinkles!

Sun - Pink!...

Shade - ...and Glittery!

I had doubts about its opacity since it's a light pink glitter. How often is anything light pink opaque? Pink Dream is a bit sheer, but covers most VNL in two coats with a third coat for touch ups - like the nail tip where polishes always get a bit thin for me. This isn't a gritty glitter so one coat of topcoat makes it smooth and shiny. Since Pink Dream goes on in thin coats, removal was pretty easy.

This was my first LA Splash polish and I wasn't sure what to expect brush-wise from this thin and rectangular bottle. If you haven't seen the LA Splash brush either, don't worry like I did - it's a normal brush, medium size, nice and flexible. Also, this brand appears to be made Big 3 Free and without camphor - they include a tiny print ingredient list printed directly on the back of the bottle for easy checking.

Now on to the next round of polishes that will be included in the Fun Friday 100 Follower Giveaway...

Mystic Lilac (Fall 2010), Hang Loose (Summer 2010), Jade (Summer 2010), Flat Iron Green

Have you wanted a polish from the LE Surfer Babe collection? Or the Avon shade that's one of the closest cousins to the infamous and very long gone OPI Damone Roberts 1968? And yes, that is a bottle of Mystic Lilac. Those tricky-to-find, seasonal Xtreme Wears! Fill out the form, enter the giveaway, and these polishes could be yours!!

China Glaze High Hopes

2011-03-28T22:28:00.007-04:00

I was on a blue-gray kick last week, so I had to kick it up a fun color notch for hanging out with a cool cousin-friend before she flew back to the chilly northern Midwest.

High Hopes is a bright pink-coral (a degree brighter and it could be a neon honeysuckle) creme from the China Glaze Up & Away Spring 2010 collection. I've had excellent application from every polish I picked up from that collection. High Hopes flows on smoothly in two coats and dries to a high shine (maybe I could call it patent honeysuckle?).

Sun - Looks more pink

Shade - Looks more coral

Here's a fun shot with cousin-friend's camera after dinner.

Look how orange High Hopes can look in dim lighting! And it's so shiny!!

In some lighting, High Hopes even took on a more muted red look, but the color was too intense for my poor camera to focus on properly. Maybe one day soon *cough, July birthday, cough* I'll have a new camera that can show off all the colors that polishes are capable of achieving.

All my fun with dinner, movies, and hanging out didn't distract me from the 100 Follower Giveaway! I have two more polishes to show that you could win...

Pure Ice Busted and Dreamy

Look at that iridescence on the left. Is that a jelly multicolor glitter on the right? These polishes look even cooler in person!

If you want them, fill out the Giveaway form before Thursday night. 6 more giveaway polishes will be getting unveiled before then - come back to check them out :)

Polish Unpacked & Another Fun Friday Giveaway!

2011-03-25T15:13:00.005-04:00

The good thing about unpacking is you get a clean slate for organizing your stuff. You don't have to pull everything out and move stuff around - you just have to put it away in the empty new place. What was my favorite thing to unpack? My polish collection, of course!!

All of my polishes made it across the country in one piece. There was some leaking on a few bottles, but nothing severely damaged. Now they've all be unpacked, unwrapped, sorted, and placed in my Helmer in a way that's part alphabetical by brand, part alphabetical by location where they were purchased, part by the number of polishes from a certain brand.

Viva Polish! reached over 100 followers this week! I can't think of a better way to share about myself with all of you than letting you have a look into my polish stash. And what better time to show it off than right after it's been freshly organized?

DRAWER 1 - OPI & Higher End Brands

OPI, Essie, RBL, butterLONDON, MAC, Lippmann, Nfu Oh, Chanel

DRAWER 2 - Brands that I tend to buy online or in specialty
(i.e. beauty supply) stores

BB Couture, Barielle, Claire's, Cult, Diamond, Funky Fingers, Misa, Nubar, Orly

DRAWER 3

China Glaze & Color Club

DRAWER 4 - Drugstore

Cover Girl, Jesse's Girl, L'Oreal, Oke Doke, Maybelline, Milani, Revlon

DRAWER 5 - More Drugstore Brands

Sinful, Sally Hansen, Ulta, Wet n Wild

DRAWER 6

Zoya & Revlon Street Wear

Truthfully, I need a second Helmer for my mini bottles, random bottles from brands I only have one or two polishes from, nail treatments, and other supplies like files, cotton, etc. I'm reluctant to buy one because I know that I'll be tempted to fill it up! I'm satisfied with just having one Helmer for now because 97% of my collection fits in it and I know where every polish is - ahhhh! Organized!!

Now how about 100 followers? You guys are great and deserve another giveaway! Right now, I have two brand new OPI polishes for you to win!

Breathe Life (Spring 2009) and Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees (Fall 2009)

I'll be adding more polishes for the rest of the week up to the awesome grand total of 10, so keep checking back to see what you might win!

To enter this giveaway, please fill out the form below. You don't need to be a follower to enter, but I'd definitely appreciate your follow. You can also earn extra entries if you tweet or blog about this giveaway or like Viva Polish! on Facebook. This giveaway is open to everyone - US and International. It starts now, ends next Thursday, and the winner will be announced on Friday, 4/1 - no April Fooling!

<p>Loading...</p>

Spring 2011 Trends - Family & Friends Edition

2011-03-20T10:34:00.154-04:00

Happy Spring! It's here at last!! By request, I'd like to share my opinion on polish trends for Spring 2011. I haven't been 100% satisfied with the shades picked out in the few magazines that have managed to find their way to my new address.

There's the higher end, conservative interpretation...

Vogue Spring 2011 Beauty Guide

Whether they match the clothes, or provide an artful contrast, nails are now as much a part of a finished look as lipstick, eye shadow—or the right handbag. Spring runways witnessed the gray trend go deeper, more metallic. Silver made an ethereal appearance, and red staged a notable comeback, often in playful, not-so-serious shades of bright tomato and cherry.

Vogue's Picks: Dark Metallic Gray, Glittery Silver, Light Silver Pearl, Tomato and Cherry Red

The "so trendy that we've skipped right past spring and jumped right back into fall"...

Allure's Top Shades For Spring 2011 *from March 2011 issue

There's safety in neutrals. But as this season's freshest nail colors show, safety's overrated. These are the shades you'll want to get your hands on now.

Allure's Picks: Green, Creamy Peach, Orange-Red, Pearly White, Mulberry

And the "sweet enough to acknowledge spring... but still trendy enough to jump right into summer!!"

InStyle Spring Beauty 2011

How to Wear Spring's Rainbow Nail Colors - Thanks to a few key tips from Ji Baek, the owner of Rescue Beauty Lounge in N.Y.C., even the most shocking enamels can become wearable everyday accents. "Think of nail polish as an accessory, like a chunky necklace or a gorgeous handbag," Baek says. "You can make a statement without being flashy." So step away from the sheer pink and embrace the color storm, one shade at a time.

InStyle's Picks: Yellow, Lilac, Hot Pink, Pearl, Orange, Mint Green, Bright Blue

I know polishanistas don't chose their nail shades based on trend or season, but by mood and whimsy, so I'm dedicating this post to my family and friends. This is for moms, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, girlfriends, all my special people who are interested in good-looking nails that are current without looking crazy.

Spring is a real season and I'm going to acknowledge it as one! So I shopped my stash and here is what I think is on trend for Spring 2011... After the moody dark colors from this cold winter, it's time for lighter shades that are soft yet saturated - nothing stark or overly bright yet because that's what you wear at the pool and beach when we're in the full swing of sweltering summer days.

First, our classic colors - red and pink. If these are your colors of choice, then the runways and Pantone have declared Tomato/Orange-Red and Honeysuckle to be The Red and The Pink you should be wearing for Spring 2011.

I don't have that many orange-reds but here are some ideas of the warm, yet soft, reds that would look nice this spring. I included OPI Big Apple Red on the left and Zoya Paz on the right as color references to these colors compared to a true red and orange.

Reds - Zoya America, OPI Don't Socra-tease Me, BB Couture Sex on the Beach

I also don't have that many honeysuckles but I've been on the lookout for them this year. Nubar Honeysuckle and CND Smoochie are also supposed to be excellent choices for the honeysuckle nail. I included OPI Strawberry Margarita on the left and OPI I'm Indi-a Mood For Love on the right as color references to show how warm, but still pink these shades are compared to a warm and cool pink.

Honeysuckle - China Glaze High Hopes, OPI My Chihuahua Bites!

Now for let's take the trendy shades and make them work-appropriate...
If you loved gray last year, you're going to love all the options you have this year! Take the grays from last year and soften them for spring with some shimmer. Pearl and metallic finishes are in so the shimmer can be as subtle or as out-there as you want to wear it.

Shimmer Grays - Sation Gray Opal, Zoya Laney, Zoya Harley

Blue polish is still very in this year, but not necessarily the most work- appropriate. Try a gray that leans blue instead - it's more mature than sky blue while still keeping some of that blue edge. It might even be a gateway shade to a periwinkle pedi in the near future ;) As an availability FYI, if you like the light gray shimmer Sag Harbor, L'Oreal High Tide and China Glaze Sea Spray are reasonable dupes.

Bluish Grays - Essie Sag Harbor, Sally Hansen Gray by Gray, Misa Office Polish-tics

Spring is the time for pastels, but my mom cringed when I said "pastel polish," so it might not be for everyone. Instead of melon or yellow, how about we ease into it with lighter, softer shades of more conventional colors? Specifically, I mean light pink - but make it opaque! And try pink with a touch of purple if lavender and lilac are too child-like for your tastes.

Light Pinks - China Glaze Encouragement, China Glaze Something Sweet, OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender

How about the "pastel" version of an office-appropriate taupe? Take You Don't Know Jacques (on the left for reference) and lighten it up and add some pink or gray to make it more spring-like or current.

Light Taupes - OPI Over the Taupe, OPI Tickle My France-y, Orly Country Club Khaki

If a lighter taupe is too nude, try a taupe touched with purple. Or go with my favorite new color of this season - gravender. (Yep, that gray is everywhere this year!)

Touched with Purple - Barielle Putt-e On Me, Revlon Perplex, Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid

I think green is easier to pull off in the winter months when it can be dark and rich, but this is NOT the time of the year to be wearing dark green. Mint green is still in this spring but if you're on the fence about wearing pastels and you're unsure about wearing green, why would you wear a pastel green??

Even without wearing a green, I think there are so many options out there for my working friends and family to suit every color taste and preference this spring. Take the polish shades you like, give the color a 2011 spin, and go show off those lovely hands! It's Spring!!!

Butter London No More Waity, Katie

2011-03-10T16:17:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that I'm fascinated by Prince William & Kate Middleton's upcoming wedding. I'm already in a wedding frame of mind for 2011 because all of my friends' upcoming nuptials and I think Kate is so stylish - not that I would wear all of those tiny hat things, but they look cute on her!

As soon as Nonie Creme, Butter London's Creative Director, started making the fashion press rounds talking about this new limited edition shade, I knew I would have to have No More Waity, Katie. I didn't do the pre-order but I did buy it from B-Glowing immediately after I saw a tweet that No More Waity had already sold out on Butter London's website. I think it's back in stock and available at both online stores right now.

The official description of this color is a "soft, elegant greige shade with a splash of lilac glitter." Isn't "greige" the combination of gray and beige? I'm seeing lilac glitter, I'm seeing gray, but I'm not seeing the beige. If anything, I'd describe this shade as "gravender" because this gray definitely leans purple.

This wasn't the easiest polish to apply. The base is sheer, but the formula is a bit thick and gloopy, so it took three coats plus touch up to be opaque and it still looks like there's visible cuticle drag and too much polish bunched up at the tip. It doesn't look too bad in these pictures, but I think a good layer of top coat helped smooth it out to lay more evenly on the nail.

I think I'll add a few drops of thinner next time I wear No More Waity, Katie. That should help the polish apply more smoothly *fingers crossed*.

This might be a polish that's riding the wave of collectible memorabilia being pushed on to the market to cash in on the royal wedding, but it really is a well thought out shade. All of its elements are feminine, edgy, and unique from the lilac glitter to the purplish gray base (that I'm calling the It Color of Spring 2011 - it's certainly my favorite new shade of the moment). Even the opacity of the polish makes sense - the base had to be thin enough to suspend the glitter at different levels for a multicolored layer effect. It's all lilac glitter but it looks brighter purple the closer it gets to the surface.

I think this shade is brilliant!!

Sally Hansen Purple Gala

2011-03-08T16:24:00.024-05:00

What to wear for Mardi Gras? Something purple, something gold, something festive & sparkly... time for Purple Gala!!

This is a limited edition polish from the Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear line. The display didn't specify a season and it started popping up in July and August, so I'll say it's from their Fall 2010 collection.

Purple Gala is a sparkly foil with purple, silver, and gold glitter in a smoky purple base overlaid with lots of larger gold glitter pieces. You'll see more purple versus more gold depending on the lighting. This polish was opaque in 2 coats, but I put on a third coat for a little more depth.

This was a challenging polish to find even after it was recently released. Since that was almost a year ago and this is a limited edition shade, it might be near impossible to get Purple Gala now. But never fear! If you like the look of Purple Gala, I recommend picking up Hard Candy's Mr. Wrong, which is close enough in color and finish to be a dupe to the casual observer.

Essie Wedding 2010 Collection

2011-03-05T10:49:00.004-05:00

While exploring our new city, I stopped by the Ulta and found some Essie Mini 4 Packs on clearance for $5. I'm off to a bridal shower this afternoon so here are the shades from the Essie Wedding 2010 Mini Collection. All of these swatches are shown with 3 thin coats over a pink-tinted ridge filler base coat and Redi Quick Dry top coat.

Walk Down The Aisle - a soft, creamy white. This was my least favorite of the set because it was so streaky!! This shade was probably about 90% even after 3 coats and a leveling top coat. I think it looks wonderfully elegant in the shade and less direct lighting, but OPI Funny Bunny will still be my go-to sheer white because its formula is easier to work with.

Petal Pink - a sheer light pink. This shade wasn't streaky at all. Why wasn't Walk Down The Aisle this easy to apply? Petal Pink looks like a very light white-pink in direct light with a more pronounced pink tint in the shade. I'm not sure this will replace China Glaze Innocence as my go-to sheer pink, but this was a good polish for this mini collection.

Show Me The Ring - a white shimmer with a gold flash. This was the most opaque polish in the set. I couldn't capture it in these pictures, but there's a beautiful multicolor microshimmer that sparkles in the sun. The lower the lighting gets, the golder this polish looks.

Sunlight - White Gold Shimmer

Shade - Light Gold Pearl

Main Squeeze - a light gray shimmer with a lilac flash. I could see a blue and pink hidden shimmer in the sunlight - I think that's what gives this shade such a strong flash that it almost looks like a gray-purple duochrome effect.

I thought this was a comprehensive mini bridal set - streak-free sheer pink, soft white, white-gold shimmer, gravender shimmer. It has a classic feel with a touch of new spring trendiness. The mini brushes are full and I didn't find one stray wonky bristle. I also love how cute the box is!

There are little squares of the colors inside all over the box. Each polish even fits in right by their corresponding shade square on the inside of the box. And even though they're minis, the polishes still have the "e" on their bottle top. I appreciate these little details :)

Now off to the first bridal shower of my wedding-packed year!!

Online At Last!

2011-03-02T19:30:00.002-05:00

I'm back!!!

After 3 1/2 loooong days of driving, we made it to our new place in sunny & warm Casa Grande, AZ. After 5 more even longer days, they turned on our internet & cable!!

It's going to take our moving company about 5-15 business days to get here. Isn't that time range a lovely estimated date of arrival? *grrr* Until then, I only have the polishes I could pack into one photo box. All the rest are coming across the country slowly with the movers.

It's not a ton of polishes but it's still enough to take some pics and do some posts, so look forward to that! New polish post coming up soon :)

We Have A Winner!

2011-02-18T15:36:00.002-05:00

Muchísimas Gracias to everyone who entered my Fun Friday Giveaway! I received so many responses and wonderful comments and I wish I could give polishes away to all of you :)

The official winner of the Fun Friday Giveaway is...

*drum roll*

...checking the spreadsheet...

...Jennifer J!!

No worries if you didn't win this giveaway now! I'm 11 followers away from having an even bigger giveaway with prizes for even more winners.

I hope everyone has a great weekend - I'll be busy packing and getting ready for the big cross-country drive. I might not post while we're on the road, but I'll definitely be back once we get settled in AZ. Happy Friday!!

Reds, Berries, & Glitter - Oh My! featuring Cult Nails Iconic

2011-02-16T22:35:00.005-05:00

I put off getting my Valentine's Day post ready over the weekend. I kept thinking "no problem - I'll just do one on Monday night." Really? What was I thinking?! Westminster Dog Show was going on Monday and Tuesday and I can't blog AND look carefully at all the breeds being shown at the same time :s

But that doesn't mean I don't have some Valentine Day-inspired colors to share with you!

First, a red creme -
OPI Color So Hot It Berns from the Fall 2010 Swiss Collection

This is a bold warm red that goes on smoothly on two coats. Looks opaque in most lighting, but a slight VNL is visible in bright light. I only have the mini bottle from the Irrre-Swiss-Ables Minis Collection, but I would like a big bottle because none of my reds are as bright as this one.

Now, a burgundy shimmer -
Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco from the Fall 2009 Collection

Darker on the nail than in the bottle, this blackened burgundy leaned brown on me. The rich shimmer really lights this shade up from the inside, so it never looks entirely black - there's always a flash of that luxurious shimmer that pops from every angle.

My first "vampy" love reinvented for 2011 -

the classic Revlon Vixen topped with the new top glitter top coat Revlon Slipper!

A deep brown-based dark red creme topped with small red and silver glitter and larger holo hex glitter.

aaaaaand the Pièce de résistance... the latest from Cult Nails.... Iconic!

This is two coats - with only one coat on the pinkie to show the base color and opacity of the shade.

Iconic is a berry creme with red flakes and gold shimmer. I don't have any top coat on in these pictures. Iconic goes on smoothly and has an incredibly high intensity shine when it dries! Look at that shade shot - this polish is really that shiny on its own!!

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day :) To all my friends back home - Happy 99th Birthday to AZ!

And a big congratulations to Hickory, the first Scottish Deerhound to ever win Best in Show at Westminster!! This is an impressive win for an old breed - a Scottish Deerhound was even shown in the first Westminster show in 1877. 135 years is a long time to go without a breed getting a Best in Show and Hickory finally won the big prize for all those Deerhounds. Ok, enough dog trivia for tonight!

I'll be closing the Fun Friday Giveaway on Thursday, 2/17 at 9 pm EST so I can do the drawing and announce the winner on Friday. Be sure to send those entry emails to vivapolish@gmail.com for your chance to win those polishes!

BIG News & Fun Friday Giveaway!

2011-02-11T11:55:00.001-05:00

What happened last week? What's going on? Well.... I moved to New York on February 25, 2008... and on February 25, 2011, we'll be moving back to Arizona!! How crazy is that?! Three years exactly?!

My husband got an excellent job offer and now we're rushing around trying to get ready for the big cross-country move - packing, finding a place, wrapping up things at our current jobs. Boy, packing wreaks havoc on nails with all of the tape and moving unwieldy boxes. Ugh!

That doesn't mean that I can't celebrate all of my fabulous followers, though - I have over 50 now! So now it's time to take a break from all the moving details and have some fun this Friday with a little giveaway :)

Winter blues are the worst, but blue polishes are a different story, so...

I'm giving away some of the loveliest blue polishes released this winter!

Revlon Top Speed Royal, Hard Candy Sky, Revlon Galaxy

and

Funky Fingers Blitzen, Revlon Street Wear Midnight

I know Blitzen is more of a green & StreetWears are discontinued, but green-ish teal is a close cousin to blue and I just found this StreetWear this winter, so they still fit in the "theme" ;)

To enter this giveaway, please send an email to vivapolish@gmail.com with Fun Friday Giveaway in the subject line. Include your name and the email address you'd like me to contact you at if you're the lucky winner.

You can earn an extra entry if you tweet about me or my giveaway (I'm Andi_Frise on Twitter). Just share the link with me in your email.

You don't have to be a follower to enter this giveaway, but, of course, I'd appreciate your follow. I'd also like a friendly comment on any of my blog entries because I want to know what you think, what you like, what you want more of from Viva Polish!

This giveaway is open to toda mi gente - US and Intenational! It starts now, ends next Thursday, and the winner will be announced on Friday, 2/18.

China Glaze Ahoy!

2011-02-03T21:23:00.006-05:00

I'm going to try and be really brief because I gotta get to the TV. Two of my favorite shows are on tonight - Community and Parks & Rec! It's the D&D episode on Community and would I really be a good MPA if I didn't LOVE Parks & Rec?

Know what else makes me smile like these funny shows? A really pretty polish! I heard an ice storm was going to hit the city this week and Ahoy! was bright enough to counter the freezing weather.

This pink is one of the big stars from the China Glaze Anchors Away Spring 2011 Collection. Even though it's from a spring collection, I think Ahoy! looks like the winter cousin to CG Strawberry Fields.

This is a bright magenta jelly infused with tons of orange-gold shimmer (see it towards the bottom of the bottle - that's what the shimmer looks like on the nail in daylight). The shimmer is almost always visible at every angle. Indoors - even in dim lighting - the shimmer keeps on sparkling but it looks more red-fuchsia.

Also, I believe that Ahoy! is related to OPI's Let Me Entertain You, but LMEY is a cooler shade that leans toward purple-fuschia with a more foil-like finish. Definitely not dupes, but I think they can be called 1st cousins.

Off for TV time! But I will be back tomorrow with something fun for all - be ready!! **EDIT: I'll be back NEXT Friday - I'll explain the delay then ;) **

Que Suerte! China Glaze Carnival Lights

2011-01-30T09:09:00.016-05:00

China Glaze Carnival Lights is one of my glitters from their Specialty Collection. I love wearing this polish - I've already gone through half my bottle! This is one of my favorite polishes and, as of this past Friday, it's my official Good Luck Polish!

Carnival Lights is a medium pink-magenta jelly base glitter filled with tiny square silver glitter and larger multicolor hex holo glitter. This glitter lays so smooth on the nail - no grit at all! The silver glitter is very prominent with indoor lighting, so it looks like sugar sprinkles on a pink cupcake. In brighter light, the holo glitter stands out even more and the base looks lighter.

I think this would make a pretty layering polish - I would try purple or blue first - but I haven't worn it layered yet because I love the look of jelly-base glitter too much. The pictures above are with 3 coats for full opacity with no VNL. I'd prefer the look of 2 coats, but it seems to wear longer with 3.

I wore this polish on Friday to keep my spirits high while we waited for a phone call and we ended up getting the news we've been waiting for - more details in a bit when everything's official and planned. Carnival Lights was the perfect polish for me to wear when I wanted to feel happy and bubbly inside and out. It's my luck polish!

Sally Hansen Laced Up

2011-01-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

I've been trying out the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips this week. I found my first display of these new strips in a CVS about two weeks ago. Then I found them in more CVS and Walgreens stores but I wasn't able to find Laced Up until I finally found a hidden display on the top shelf at a Rite Aid last Friday.

TA DA!!!

First, the packaging - the manicure comes in a tiny plastic box that lets you see the contents inside and the manicure pattern on the side trim. Ingredients and brief directions are on the outside for the shopper's convenience. These strips are Big 3 Free - no DPB, Toulene, or Formaldehyde. It also appears to be free of Formaldehyde Resin or Camphor.

~ THE BOX ~

Box Contents - Cuticle Stick, Mini File/"Buffer", and 16 Polish Stickers

~ THE STRIPS ~

The strips themselves come in two packets of eight different sizes. You peel off the clear top layer, take the bottom tab off, decide which side fits your cuticle shape the best, peel off the bottom layer, and stick it on your nail.

I've used Inoco strips for a few years and I've never had an application issue with them. These strips were just as easy to use and I was able to put my entire mani on in less than 20 minutes.

THE MANICURE!

Day 4

I love flowers, I love lace, and so I loved this design. I also realized after I put the strips on that the base color itself was very pretty. It's a light tan nude shade - think Orly Country Club Khaki with a touch more brown. The base shade with the design definitely evokes the feeling of a lace slip.

I definitely recommend using a separate top coat to seal these strips on. I didn't have a top coat with me when I applied my strips and I did get a bit of curling at the cuticles. Top coat also gave the strip a smooth glossiness that it didn't have on its own. Maybe it was the design, maybe it's their dry polish formula, but it definitely needed a shine booster. I got the top coat on as soon as I could get to one - it stopped the curling but couldn't reverse what had already been done. I was able to seal my nail tips and the nails that still had the remnant of the strip wrapped under when I put the top coat on are still sealed by the strip at the end of Day 4!

These strips are a little bit pricey at $10 a manicure, but completely worth it. I feel the drugstore availability, wide range of designs, long-lasting wear, and custom cuticle fit option make SH Salon Effects Polish Strips the new front-runner of the dry polish pack.

Party of Five Glitters vs. Gems

2011-01-18T21:57:00.005-05:00

The universe knows when you're happily wearing a new polish that you don't want to change. That's when you find the new displays of polishes that everyone has been talking about. And those displays are full. How does the universe know?!

While I skipped around Walgreens looking for some new conditioner wearing My Kind of Cool Aid, I found the new Wet N Wild Fast Dry polishes. I picked up a few, including Party of Five Glitters, which is another potential drugstore dupe for Lippmann Happy Birthday. I left MKoCA on a few more days and finally have some comparison shots of Party of Five to share.

Party of Five Glitters is a clear-based polish filled with large silver hex glitter, medium light blue and fuschia hex glitter, and smaller red, green, and gold hex glitter. Isn't that 6 glitters? Maybe the tiny gold glitter is really a reflective silver? Back to the real question - This $2 option is better for your wallet than a $16 polish, but is it worth the savings against the $5 Milani Gems? Comparison Time!

Party of Five looks significantly more pink than Gems

when the bottles are side by side.

I used one coat of Wet N Wild Black Creme as the base

to make the glitter nice and visible.

1 Coat, 2 Coats, 3 Coats, 1 Coat of Party of Five Glitters

Party of Five has a thick clear base and it makes getting the glitter on the nail challenging. I thought the first coat of this "fast dry" polish was sufficiently set so I put on a second and third coat to get more glitter on the nail. What happens when you pile coats of thick polish on top of wet polish? Bubbles. And I didn't get enough glitter on the nail to cover these major bubbles up.

2 Coats Gems, 2 Coats Party, 1 Coat Gems, 1 Coat Party

Gems has a slightly different color combination of large and small hex glitter - no fuchsia, more green - but the difference is definitely less visible on the nail than it was in the bottle. Gems has a thinner base and it feels like there's significantly more glitter landing on the nail in every brushstroke. It seems that Gems also dried faster, smoother, and shinier than Party of Five.

I think with a little thinner and some more drying time between coats, Party of Five Glitters could be a fun glitter polish to use again. If I wanted to save some money, I would buy Party of Five instead of Happy Birthday. If I could only walk out of a drugstore with one glitter polish, though, I'd definitely pick Gems over Party of Five. I don't need an odd fuchsia hex here and there as much as I need the sheer density of the glitter bomb fiesta that Gems provides in two coats. Pow!

Tagged With Blog Awards!

2011-01-17T21:12:00.044-05:00

I've been tagged!! I feel so lucky to be recognized by these awesome ladies - Tracey from GingerKittyDesigns, Miranda from Mirannie's Nails, and Cheryl from Legally Polished. Check out their blogs - Tracey has the coolest jewelry designs, Cheryl is so creative with layering and nail art (see the Sesame Street mani), and Miranda knows how to show off all the angles of those duochromes!

I didn't even know what a blog award or tag was back in April when I was tagged with the Sunshine Award from How Doth The Little Crocodile. I've learned a few things since then, so this time I'm ready to play!!

~ The Stylish Blogger Award from Tracey and Miranda ~

The Stylish Blogger Award Rules

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

~ The Sunshine Award from SeeingSunshine ~

The Sunshine Award Rules

1. Post the logo within your blog or post.

2. Pass the award on to several other bloggers.

3. Link the nominees in your post.

4. Let the nominees know they have receivd the award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to the person whom you have received this award from.

~ The Blog Award from Cheryl ~

The Blog Award Rules

1. Post about this award and copy the rules.

2. Link to the person that tagged you.

3. Choose 3-5 blogs you would like to tag and link to them, too.

3. Leave them a comment on their blog to notify them.

Important: This award is for unknown blogs, so don't tag a blog with 3000+ readers :)

Cheryl also added - I'm also going to change the rules a little, all bloggers that I tag must answer these 3 questions.

So here are the 7 things about myself, starting with her 3 questions:

1. When and how did you start your love for polish?

My favorite aunt used to give me manicures when I was little. After I played outside all day, I'd come inside and get to sit down with her. It was such a special ritual for me to have my nails cleaned and prettied up into "girl hands." I've loved polish since I could remember, but I really got back into it in high school. It's an escape I give myself to relax and get away from a hectic schedule.

2. If you could choose to do anything in the world, what would it be? (Eg. Ski in the Alps, fly in a fighter jet, create a unicorn, etc.)

Travel around the entire world. Pack a few bags, grab our passports and a camera, and take off for a year to see everything!

3. What's your favourite love story?

How Adam & I fell in love! We met on the 1st day of grad school and I could barely stand him - heck, he's from Jersey so I could barely understand him - the 1st year we knew each other. But we got to be better friends and, by our 2nd year of grad school, I realized I couldn't stand to go a day without him. I could go into more sentimental, mushy, schmaltzy details but you get the idea of how this is my favorite love story.

4. Adam & I adopted our 1st family dog from North Shore Animal League in September 2009. Suzette is a toy poodle they rescued from a puppy mill. She's about 6-8 years old now, only has 2 teeth left, and she's the absolute cutest thing ever. Ev-er!!

This is what she looked like after her 1st bath and 6 months later. Awww, Suzie!

5. I've been crocheting for over 20 years. My mom and her mom know how to crochet, so they taught me when I was in 2nd grade. I played with scraps of random yarn making coasters or something until I was comfortable enough to make my 1st blanket when I was in 4th grade.

6. I'm a registered member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe. One day, I'd like to be fully trilingual in English, Spanish, and Yoeme.

7. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with minors in Sociology and Latin American Studies. I have a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Local Government and Non-Profits. I swear I didn't get an education based on how many syllables could be squeezed in the title! For now, I work in Human Resources for the Department of Education, but I would love to have a career in court administration.

Now to share 7 tags because I just shared 7 things about myself - many of the blogs I follow were recently tagged, but I'm still listing them here so I want to share their links!
1. The VeroBlog
2. LadyLuck Beauty Blog
3. Dizzy Nails
4. Nailspotting
5. Silence is Loud
6. Va-Va-Varnish
7. Playing With Polish

To my stylish and sunny taggers - Muchísimas Gracias!!!

Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid

2011-01-16T13:26:00.000-05:00

The first polish by Cult Nails is here!! Maria from R3Daily has made her dream a reality and launched her very own polish line this year. Her spring collection kicks off with My Kind Of Cool Aid a "purple/gray creme polish with a delicate shimmer." I normally babble first, but I'm so excited with this polish that I have to rush right on to the pictures!

The Lovely Bottle - Isn't that some pretty font?

Sunlight - Looks Gray

Indirect Sunlight - Looks Gray with a Touch of Lavender

Lamp - Looks Grayish Lavender.
Under fluorescents, it looks even more completely purple.

The brush is long and flexible and the polish formula is just right, so My Kind of Cool Aid flowed on my nails without pooling or drag.

Now it's time for enthusiastic babbling... I didn't even need a top coat with My Kind of Cool Aid because it dried so fast and shiny. Really fast. After putting on other polishes that claim to be top speed, 50 seconds, quick dry, express finish, and all of that, this polish actually dried faster than all of them without even claiming it would. I wonder if that was planned or just a happy surprise resulting from an awesome formula. I eventually put a top coat on because I love this shade and I want my mani to survive weekend housecleaning.

My Kind of Cool Aid isn't a duochrome, but this purple/gray color - it's a chameleon! Depending on the lighting, it ranges from a light gray to an edgy gravender to a medium dusty lavender. I kept checking my nails all night to see what color it looked like and it was slightly different every time I looked. The delicate shimmer looks mostly silver except for direct sunlight where it looks multicolor. Even the shimmer changes color.

I can't think of one thing I don't like about this polish. I don't have another color that even comes close to resembling this shade, the formula is ridiculously easy to work with, it's B3 and Camphor Free, the bottle looks pretty, and it arrived quickly in recycled mail packaging. I think the cotton ball initiative is brilliant. Maria has great customer service, so don't let international borders stop you from thinking about ordering a bottle for yourself.

Living Water and Iconic, the other shades in the spring collection, look equally unique and awesome. I can't wait for more polishes from Cult Nails!!

My Arizona - Barielle Falling Star

2011-01-11T07:21:00.017-05:00

I was born and raised in Phoenix, and I lived over 6 years in Tucson while I went to school for my undergrad and grad degrees. Both sides of my family have lived in Arizona for the last century. AZ is never far from my mind, but I couldn't think of anything else this weekend since the tragic shooting in Tucson on Saturday morning.

After all the news coverage and phone calls with my Arizonans, I wanted to step away from the shock and sadness. This isn't a political blog, so this is a polish post dedicated to peace for my home state.

AZ FACTOIDS

Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912 (yep, Valentine's Day!).

In 100 years, the State population has grown from 200,000 people in 1910 to over 6 million in 2010.

The State Economy's growth and development is attributed to our 5 C's:

Cattle, Cotton, Citrus, Climate, & Copper

Phoenix is one of the sunniest cities with an annual average of 85% possible sunshine and 8 inches of rain.

Falling Star is from the Barielle Fall 2009 All Lacquered Up Collection. This shade is a medium blue creme base with small round copper glitter. In some indoor lighting, it takes on a darker dusty cornflower hue.

This polish is thick and runny so I had a learning curve trying to get it on nicely. Practice helps and, after a few manis of experience, I'm able to get it on smoothly and opaque in two thinnish coats.

I'm learning how to use my new Ott!

As soon as I saw the preview of this polish, I knew I had to have it. This is a pretty shade of blue and a unique glitter-base color combination. The formula might not apply like butter, but this is still one of my Top 10 Favorite Polishes from 2009.

I see copper - I think of the 5 C's. I see a deep medium blue - I think of the afternoon sky after a summer monsoon rain. I feel like I have a little piece of Arizona on my nails when I wear Falling Star, so I'm going to wear it a few more days as a personal visual reminder of hope for a future without violence.

Blue Mooooon

2011-01-08T11:10:00.070-05:00

This was a random draw from my Untried box this morning - Wet n Wild Blue Moon. It was one of the new Wild Shine shades released last year in their main collection.

My husband's been playing Fallout New Vegas recently. Blue Moon is one of the very few songs that plays on the game's "radio" and I had been planning on wearing this shade soon. I kept putting it off because I figured it was going to be a plain, maybe even a little boring, navy shimmer. I put two coats on... and when I look the moon had turned to gold... lol - ok, not really, but Blue Moon really is very pretty.

It gleams, it flashes and it doesn't look black in any light. I'm so glad it was sunny for a bit before the light snow we're supposed to get today so I could see all of this awesome blue and green shimmer.

Sunlight - The Gold Shimmer doesn't make it from the bottle to the nail
but the Teal/Green Flash does.

Shade

It's affordable, easy to find, and I personally haven't seen a navy shimmer this interesting to look at since OPI came out with Russian Navy (which this isn't a dupe of - RN is darker with a pink/purple shimmer). For a buck, everyone should have their own bottle of Blue Moon.

Milani Silver Dazzle

2011-01-06T21:55:00.000-05:00

After I found Gems, I took a better look at the other polishes in the Milani Rockstar Heavy Glitters collection. I love dark gray polishes. I've always liked the shade before, but lately I have to have a polish if it's charcoal, gunmetal, or steel, so I picked up Silver Dazzle.

Silver Dazzle is a charcoal gray glitter with silver and black microglitter throughout. It dries rough and dark like fresh asphalt, but it becomes a cool almost-blue shade with a shiny topcoat. In the sunlight, it looks like it has blue and green sparkles at times, but there isn't any blue glitter in this polish. It's all gray sparkly goodness!

Here it is with one full coat and one touch up coat of polish and Gelous + Poshe on top.

Indoor Lighting - No Flash - It leans so blue inside!

Sunlight - More obvious Charcoal Base with Blue/Green Sparkles
Blurred & Focused to show off the Sparkle

After seeing the fabulous-ity of Silver Dazzle, I really really want Purple Gleam, too. I'm so glad Milani is going to be making this collection part of their permanent line this year. Glitter for everyone!

My coworkers have renamed this polish, too - it's now Steel Magnolias (but I've really been calling it Be Steel My Heart in my head -shhhh....)

Snowed In! China Glaze Nova

2010-12-28T18:37:00.002-05:00

We made it back to the city hours before the blizzard hit on Sunday. Our borough had an unofficial snowfall of 23 inches - the snow was bad, the response to the storm was worse. We were lucky to have our power, cable and internet stay on the entire time, but not all of my friends were so fortunate. And they have little kids. So they watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua on DVD over and over and over... so I call this layering mani "Blizzard Blackout" and dedicate it to all the New Yorkers who were snowed in this week.

I used one coat of Jesse's Girl Blackout (a freebie I received at Nails Night Out) and two coats of China Glaze Nova. These shots were taken in indirect sunlight. I think the first picture shows more of the holo rainbow sparkles, but the second is the crisper glitter shot.

I really like the brush on Jesse's Girl polishes. I didn't have a cleanup brush (I dropped mine *in* the bottle of acetone) and I couldn't get out to get a new one, but it turns out I didn't even need one. I wish the cap wasn't so large and rectangular because it makes it unwieldy, but it's still a great brush.

Nova is a glitter from the China Glaze Specialty Collection. It's filled with small silver square glitter and larger holographic hex glitter in a clear base. This is definitely a sparkly eyecatcher! Next time, I'm going to try layering it over silver like Dori at Kiss My Acetone did earlier this month.

Related Side Story: I wore Nova to work and a coworker asked if I had snowflakes on my nails. The other ladies who were able to make it to the office quickly deduced that I had a "blizzard" mani on and renamed it "De-licorice-ous" to get our minds off the snow-filled streets. De-licorice-ous!!

Revlon Perplex - UWS Brunch Time

2010-12-19T21:33:00.022-05:00

I love Broadway musicals. When I was younger, living thousands of miles from the Great White Way, I'd make my siblings, cousins, friends, everyone watch PBS's Great Performances, the Tonys, and the odd random tour performance with me. Now that I live here, I like suprising friends with tickets to actual shows (thank you, TKTS!). This Sunday, we took our friends to see In The Heights and they took us to brunch on the Upper West Side.

If I was going to be dining on microdairy cheeses and gourmet sausages while sipping bellinis, I figured I should switch up my sparkly holiday polish for something chic... perfect time to try out Revlon Perplex!

This is a dark grayish taupe with a faint purple shimmer - much like its pricier alternative Paradoxal. Like other taupes, it can pull purple, gray, or a muddier brown, depending on skin tone. For $4-5, it's definitely worth trying this shade out if you can find a bottle.

Indirect Sunlight - Dark Gray with Purple Tones on me

Flash to see the Purple Shimmer on Nail & in Bottle

Perplex went on deep and glossy on me in two medium coats. It didn't agree with my Gelous-Seche Vite combo, though. That's not tip wear in the pictures. That's major shrinkage :( Even with wrapping, it just pulled away from the edges. Since I'm changing back to my holiday glitter bombs tomorrow, I'm not that upset, but next time I wear it, I'll try another top coat. This shade is awesome - I gotta make it work without shrinkage!

Color Club Magic Attraction

2010-12-13T22:36:00.024-05:00

More sparkly snow-inspired polish because we're supposed to get stuff that sticks to the ground tonight! I'm trying to also get myself mentally psyched up for tomorrow's expected high of 24 degrees. Heh... 24. That's about 55 degrees lower than the expected high in Phoenix... on to that sparkly polish!

Color Club Magic Attraction is from the Fall 2008 Glitter Vixen Collection - one day I will have the entire set! Magic Attraction does have a couple of relatives out there in the polish world. According to Scrangie, it's an available option for the hard-to-find OPI Paris Couture for Sure. It's also related to Hocus Pocus from this year's Color Club Halloween minis. If you're not a frequent glitter wearer and you'd prefer a smaller bottle, this would be a good time to look for that set on clearance.

The chunky holographic glitter throughout Magic Attraction makes this clear-base, silver glitter look sparkly and multicolored. This polish has dense glitter like the other Glitter Vixens so it covers the nail in one coat. With two coats, it gets as close to opaque as you can get with a clear base glitter. This isn't a fine-grit glitter so double up on the thick top coat.

Despite looking very silver in the bottle, I think this has a pinkish tint in some angles when I wear it.

Indirect Sunlight

Direct Sunlight - Different Angle
but look! I caught some of the rainbow holo sparkle effect in the photo!

Bundle up & stay warm! More glitter to get me through this winter to come *wink*

Zoya Luna

2010-12-07T20:36:00.013-05:00

What a Tough Tuesday! Really!!

It started in the morning and didn’t stop all day - snow flurries came down during the morning commute for the first time this winter, I get yelled at by a crazy lady when I’m trying to get my takeout, I finally catch a bus after work & get told the stop right by my house is being removed soon, our upstairs neighbors overrun their sink and flood our kitchen with disgusting yellow water, I spill my chili dinner on our living room carpet – BUT I changed my polish to something very happy successfully so the day ended on a very positive note.

This is Luna from the Zoya Winter 2009 UltraGlitter collection. I love Zoya's descriptions, so here's an excerpt - light, shimmering sheer silvery dove gray base loaded with silver glitter. Just a quick side note - one reviewer on Zoya's website commented they expected a clear base so they must have gotten a bad bottle. Maybe they should read the description before buying and definitely before posting a review? Sorry for the snark - I said I had a rough day!

Since the weather was bad, I have some indoor shots.

This Angle Captures the Glossy Finish Better

-Flash-

I put Luna on in two thick coats - if you use thin coats, you'll need 3 to get full coverage. This was the sparkly version of today's flurries - the little glitter is the falling snow flakes against the milky gray base that looks like that cloudy sky. This is a lot more sparkly and twinkly than the real stuff we had today, and it definitely brightened my day. Ultra Glitter!

Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings The Blues

2010-12-05T22:53:00.004-05:00

I picked up this polish in A Polish Problem's awesome blog sale. Megan has a great selection that she keeps updated, her prices are decent, and the polishes come very quickly bundled tightly in layers and layers of bubble wrap. Thank you, Megan!

This is my 2nd Lippmann polish - I'd love more, but even with sales, it's very hard to find these polishes under $14 each. You could buy a set and get the price closer to $12 or $13, but what happens if you don't like all of the included shades? I want way too many other polishes to let myself buy something that I feel halfhearted about and I do love my blue polishes so I was happy to pick this one up on its own.

Lady Sings The Blues is one of the three polishes from the Fall 2010 All That Jazz Trio. I wore this shade to celebrate Hanukkah with my husband's family this weekend. Doesn't it look like a party with the sequin glitter? This is large hex and tiny square silver glitter throughout a navy blue base. Some polish had leaked out in transport so I added clear polish to revive and thin it to a slightly more jelly consistency. I think it brought the glitter out a little bit more. Even with all this glitter and the dark base, the formula made it easy to do clean up and removal - no smurf fingers! really!!

Sun - The smaller glitter is more visible

Shade - That glossiness is from Scrangie's tip to use
Gelous + Seche over glitter polish

I like the effect of the glitter swimming through this polish because it gives the glitter a multicolored effect - some pieces look more blue and some look more silver as they lay in the polish at different levels. This polish was so pigmented that I only used one coat with minor touch ups. This polish also had great wear - with all of the holiday baking, cleaning, and running around, I only had minor tip wear after 4 days.

Holiday Season! - Milani Gems

2010-11-28T23:37:00.009-05:00

I know it's late and tomorrow's a Monday, but I had to fit in this post because... I loved our four day Thanksgiving weekend, I love the holiday season (counting down the days to Christmas in AZ), and I love my husband for going out of his way to find Milani Gems for me.

I've been looking for Gems - it's a Milani Jewel FX off their Rockstar Heavy Glitter display - and the one display that I've found had all of the other polishes and two empty spaces where Gems was supposed to go. So close, so far!! That was the only display I even found after looking in many other Duane Reades, CVS, and Rite Aides. It's becoming a pattern with drugstore collections that the polish gets found once I stop looking for it. And that happened again this time.

My husband goes out in the windy cold weather to get us some Dunkin Donuts breakfast - I'm addicted to their coffee - and comes back with the last bottle of Gems from the last CVS in Staten Island that I hadn't checked. He's too sweet... awww.... so I put Gems on as soon as I could to show my appreciation.

My goal is to wear festive holiday polish looks through New Year's and here's my first post-Thanksgiving Jolly manicure - Orly Enchanted Forest layered with Milani Gems.

The Bottle Buddies Pic - aww, they like each other!

1 coat of Milani Gems over 2 coats of Orly Enchanted Forest

I love this festive glitter! Gems is supposed to be the $5 sibling to a Lippmann Polish that's more than three times that price. It's true that when macro shots of the two polishes are compared there are slight differences. Gems has large and small hex glitter and the color combination is slightly different. Lippmann's Happy Birthday has large hex glitter and small *square* glitter with a little more pink in the mix. I think Gems is definitely a good dupe-ish substitute and I'm so happy to have it!!

Good luck to everyone else who may be on their own drugstore searches - you can find those polishes!

RBL Plie

2010-11-18T21:32:00.001-05:00

This post is dedicated to my best friend who just ordered her wedding dress. Her wedding's next year and placing that order is one of the first big steps in making it all real. Maybe next up will be picking out the bridesmaid dresses *cough, cough, wink, cough*

I picked up Plie in the big, and most likely last, Rescue Beauty Lounge 50% Off VIP Sale at the beginning of November. Plie is a perfect polish to try out during the work week. I missed Opaque Nude last sale and Grunge was still out of stock for this sale, but I had to get a cool opaque nude from RBL this time so I picked Plie. This shade did not disappoint - it's a wonderful nude with a touch of pink. It really did remind me of ballet slippers.

After trying Dead Calm, Stormy, and No More War, I figured RBL's formula wouldn't let me down, but I had doubts because this was a light nude color. After all, I picked up Opaque Pink when Opaque Nude wasn't available and Opaque Pink was NOT opaque! I shouldn't have doubted the polish community because Plie is opaque in one coat, perfectly creamy in two.

Since it's after the DST flip and I'm at work during sunlight hours, I only have an indoor shot, but this accurate to the pink-nude color that Plie looks on me. As with all nudes, I think that skin tone really affects how orange or pink or gray-dead the shade can look on an individual's hand. The finish is much shinier in real life, but I couldn't get the camera to capture it. I also put the decal on my ring finger as an extra shout out to mi amiga's wedding dress order.

This shade is totally a shout out towards the color scheme my friend is contemplating. I can't divulge all her details, but she knows what I mean.

Congrats again, Ash! I can't wait for your big day!!

A GingerKittyDesign!

2010-11-14T17:39:00.000-05:00

I'm a sucker for a sale - I picked up some RBLs, some Zoyas, and I got my very first piece from GingerKittyDesigns. My bracelet just arrived yesterday and I've only taken it off while I slept and cleaned around the house. It's gorgeous and I love it that much!

GingerKitty sells her designs through Etsy and the big thing is she handcreates each piece using nail polish of your choice. She has a wide variety of beloved shades from OPI Absolutely Alice to Essie Starry Starry Night. I ordered one of her new bracelets in purple. She was beyond wonderful to work with - asking what colors I'd like, what kind of effect I'd prefer - I even got to pick my favorite out of multiple samples before she placed it in the setting. Of course, I recommend checking her site out for yourself.

It's like looking at a galaxy on my wrist. It's so sparkly, so delicate, it's so pretty!!! I'm not sure exactly polishes went into this final design, but GingerKitty did mention looking forward to trying Zoya Goldie when I asked for swirls of gold and silver through the purple.

In honor of my purple bracelet with a hint of Zoya, I'm wearing Valerie this weekend, which I, of course, picked up during their latest sale.

Valerie is from the Zoya Winter 2010 Flame collection. They describe this shade as a "royal purple with dark violet, red, deep pink and gold iridescence amplified by a glittering sparkle finish." It's like Yasmeen got a makeover from this summer's Sparkle collection. I think the shade shot really shows that glittery iridescence running through the bottle. It was opaque in one coat, perfect and deep in two. Yay for Zoya!

Nubar Knight's Armor

2010-10-26T12:40:00.001-04:00

I don’t dislike this polish, but I’m definitely confused by it.

This is Nubar Knight’s Armor from their Fortress Collection of grays. It’s a charcoal base packed with square silver glitter. The silver stands out, but I prefer more integration with my glitter polishes. I feel like I could have achieved the same effect layering a clear silver glitter over a dark gray.

Sunlight - no bottle because we're on vacation & I left it at the house

The base of Knight’s Armor looks like a jelly but it’s overwhelmed by the silver on top. I love jellies and glitters combined in one polish – like CG Atlantis – and I’ve never seen a charcoal jelly, so I really would’ve liked to see some more of that base. This was two coats and I was on the fence about a third. It would’ve helped a few of the barer spots, but it also would’ve meant more glitter and I already felt overwhelmed by what was already on the nail. I think I would’ve liked the overall look more if it had been two polishes layered. I would have had more control over the transparency and levelness of the jelly base without maxing out the silver glitter on top.

I still loved the Nubar brush and this polish’s wear, but I only *like* the actual shade. Even a few days of wearing it didn't change my opinion. I know a friend who would love this polish so I think I should gift it her way so she can give Knight’s Armor the full appreciation a Nubar deserves.

Nars Zulu

2010-10-17T16:41:00.002-04:00

My Zulu finally arrived on Tuesday evening! After all the hype, I was kinda nervous about my first face-to-face encounter with Zulu. When I finally got the nerve up to open the box and put it on, my fears were quickly assuaged. This dark green jelly flowed on to my nails like it wanted to be there. It was opaque, smooth, and very shiny in two coats.

I thought I loved Zulu because of what it symbolizes to the polish community - rare, coveted, completely beloved for its long awaited return. After it applied like a dream, I decided that Zulu had lived up to my expectations. Then I wore it to work this week and it completely blew me away!

My coworkers often check my polish to see the new shade I'm wearing. Normally, they come up to my desk and check my hand. Not with Zulu! They spotted it within minutes of saying hello from cubicles away. We'd be discussing something else and suddenly "What are you wearing? What's it called? Can you bring the bottle to work tomorrow?" They've asked the name of my polishes before, but never for a bottle loan. These ladies get their nails done, but they're not hardcore polish fans and Zulu still reached out and pulled them in.

What did Nars put in this polish? Zulu is bottled magnetism! (That's why I took my pictures with a magnet while my bottle was out on loan with a coworker.)

Sun - Visibly Green & Jelly - see those edges

Shade - Glossy & Dark

This is my first Nars polish and Zulu has incredible wear on my nails. When I took it off on Saturday evening - 4 full days of typing, baking, and even washing dishes without gloves - I still had polish on 4 of my 5 nail tips where I had wrapped the ends during the original mani! I rarely get chips, but I tend to get tipwear within hours even with wrapping.

I think I need a backup of this polish! I wonder if I can still find it anywhere...

LA Colors Color Craze!

2010-09-25T20:39:00.000-04:00

These are Dollar Tree finds and I need to pick up some more because these three are awesome! Just a note, their names are not printed on the bottles themselves - just the packaging. And these names are cute, but have nothing to do with the actual color.

My first was Static Electricity. I was not prepared for the opacity and vibrancy of this shade. I was hoping for a cheap dupe of Suzi Says Feng Shui, but there wasn't a bit of dustiness to Static Electricity on the nail. This is a bright sky blue - like the sky I would see in AZ on a clear day. Here's one coat with a few touch ups and that was all for such a pretty, smooth, and shiny shade!

Shade Shot - This shows how smooth this polish looks on the nail.
And I like how the sun still hit the bottle so you can see how intense the light blue base is. Ooooh...

Next up was Atomic, a teal-leaning green jelly-leaning creme.

This is two coats and the jellyish nature was more visible in person.

I love China Glaze and I wish I had the funds for the entire Up & Away Collection, but since I didn't, I'm very happy that I have some of their "cousins." Really - Atomic & Static Electricity have the pigmentation and ease of application to be close relations to Up & Away.

Last, but definitely not least, is Wired. This was my favorite and I'm wearing it as a full mani this week!! I wasn't at all ready for the intensity of this blue shade - it's electric! This color blew my poor lil camera away, too, so I had issues getting it to focus and take a nice accurate shot. This is two coats of a royal blue infused with blue and turquoise metallic shimmer.

Shade Shot - I think this is more accurate. I love the metallic intensity without the metallic brushstroke isses.
Check out the bottle - the turquoise shimmer in the middle is visible on the nail, but the purple or dark navy color at the top is nowhere to be seen.

All of these colors dried slightly lighter and a lot brighter than the bottle colors, so each one was a pleasant surprise as it was being applied. Also, this brush was much nicer than I expected - these swatches were all done without cleanup. I know the lack of cleanup is visible on my slightly blue-tinged cuticles, but really, there wasn't a stray hair on any of these brushes and they flared out so nicely.

I can't believe how many times I passed this brand over in the dollar store. My Lesson Learned: Don't judge a polish by its price tag!

Zoya Edyta

2010-08-21T18:47:00.001-04:00

There was a one day sale for Zoya Remove+ about a week ago. I picked up Edyta from the Fall 2010 Wicked Collection and I put it on as soon as I brought the box in from my doorstep.

In their promotional preview, Zoya described Edyta as a "fern green sparkling metallic." Since then, Zoya has expanded their description to "A complex mixture of gold, olive, blue-green and smoky grey with a sparkling metallic finish. A dark shade balanced with sparkle for a dramatic look."

I've tried out some shades hoping to find a nice dark olive-like green shimmer and they've never worked out because they look too black or too gold. Edyta isn't a true olive green polish, but it is the shade I've been looking for! This is one of the first polishes in awhile to make me just stop and say "....whoa..." It flowed on to my nails and I felt like they were... gilded. Gilded in green opulence... Andi Translation: This polish was like velvet on the nails - luxurious, textured, rich.

This is two coats, but it probably could have gotten away with just one with touchups because it's that nicely pigmented. These are both shots in direct sunlight, but with different angles that show off the color differently.

See the blue-based green base

and the sparkly charcoal & gold effect visible on top and throughout the shade.

There's so much shimmer and sparkle to this polish in the sunlight - green, gold, blue. I had the feeling of opulence when I wore Edyta and I'm looking forward to wearing this rich polish through the fall and winter.

China Glaze Medallion

2010-07-15T21:25:00.002-04:00

I really love the glitters from the China Glaze Specialty Collection. I saw them on Scrangie, got some to try for myself and I've really been hooked ever since. Honestly, NYC weather can make me feel pretty gloomy. I don't like gray clouds and drizzle for days and days. I like putting on glitter polishes when I'm feeling kind of down and China Glaze Medallion helped me make it through the dreary, cold winter.

Since it has been a pretty dry summer in the city, I haven't worn it in a few months, so I decided to wear it for a very happy weekend just to celebrate. What was I celebrating? A roadtrip to DC to see Idina Menzel and Marvin Hamlisch in concert for my birthday!!

This is a clear-base cool gold glitter. There is a ton of holographic and larger hexagonal glitter thrown in among smaller gold and silver glitter. It's a rainbow of glitter. Blue, pink, green - you see something different sparkle up at you every time the sun hits it.

This swatch is taken with two thick coats. That's it. And check out the coverage! China Glaze didn't promise full coverage in two coats and I definitely wasn't expecting it since this has a clear base, so I was surprised and very pleased when I put on the first coat, let it set for a minute, put on the second coat, and... hey, it's time for a thick top coat - already?! - incredible.

The first time I wore this, I kept looking at my nails and thinking BLING-TASTIC!!! That's why I wore it for New Year's, my birthday, and every other time I wanted to feel extra sparkly.

Orly Country Club Khaki

2010-06-07T20:52:00.003-04:00

Talk about Nail of the WEEK! Country Club Khaki is from the Spring 2009 Orly Prepster Collection, which was only one of three collections they released that season.

My husband has been encouraging me to invest in some more Orly polishes because of their wonderful rubberized top. He tends to be my polish opener because I can never get bottles, jars, anything open. Before Country Club Khaki, I had one Orly polish that my mom had bought me randomly because it was on clearance at Sally's.

This was such a nice polish to put on - easy to open, easy to apply, opaque and smooth in two coats, wonderful! My cuticles have been such a wreck from the new soap at work. I use lotion afterwards but nothing can defeat the dryness of that awful soap! This polish made my hands feel elegant but edgy. It's a light brownish taupe creme that worked on my skin tone like a Nude But Not shade.

I liked this shade so much I put it on in Tuesday and didn't take it off till Friday night. I wore this polish for almost an entire work week! Go Orly!!

Never Again!!

2010-05-16T14:26:00.047-04:00

I've used the Incoco Dry Nail Applique polish strips before and I really like them. I stock up when they're on sale at Walgreens because they're easy to use, last forever, have a nice finish, and they come with everything you need in the kit from a polish remover pad to a little orange stick. Only reason why I don't use them more is because I like to change my polish way too often.

Since I like the Incoco polish strips so much, I figured why not try out the Avon polish strips. They can't be that different, right? WRONG!

I got the Avon Instant Manicure Dry Nail Enamel Strips in a few colors when they were on clearance. Do you know why they were on clearance? Because they suck! I picked Bayberry because it looked like a light watermelon. Turns out it was a dull, matronly mauve mess on me - and when I say mess, I mean MESS!

The Horror!

I am pretty good at applying dry polish strips and these strips would not stay in place, they would not stop wrinkling, and look at that tip wear! This is what happened after wearing after wearing the strips a few hours. The tips lifted and tore right off like I was doing yardwork when all I was really doing was flipping through a magazine while we drove out to visit some relatives.

Awful color, awful application, awful wear - these Avon dry polish strips are hereby banned and will never be worn again.

Color Club Tru Passion

2010-05-09T16:42:00.000-04:00

I've been so under the weather lately that I've barely been able to sit upright, much less polish and post. We're supposed to be in the middle of the worst allergy season ever and, since I already have bad allergies, I've been knocked out. So I picked a polish that I would love to see on my nails for awhile - of course, I picked a glitter *tee hee*

This is Tru Passion from the Fall 2008 Color Club Glitter Vixen collection. Flinty from Polish or Perish noticed this polish resembles Nubar Hyacinth from their recent Sparkles collection.

I think of this polish as a lavender glitter. This glitter is a medium grit lighter purple, leaning more towards pink than blue, in a clear base. It's very sparkly, very opaque, very long lasting. I took this picture on Sunday and I've been wearing this mani since Wednesday. I only used two coats, but I think I should have used 3 on the fingers I used really thin coats, like my pinkie. To be honest, I was timid with application because I've read so many horror stories with this collection's removal. I put two coats of Redi Quick Dry topcoat on and I swear this polish got more shiny and sparkly as I wore it.

I love good glitters :)

Revlon Bubble Gum

2010-04-26T20:03:00.001-04:00

I finally found a display of the Summer 2010 Scents of Summer Collection! I did it! I did it!!

Drug stores are so small around here so I rarely find cool polish displays, even when I'm actively looking for them. I found this display at the same Rite Aid I found my Maybelline Pie in the Sky. Their cosmetic section tends to look like a tornado hit it, but under all the mess and understocked shelves, this store is now 2-for-2 in my search for seasonal drug store polishes.

After a few happy days of sunshine, the rain rolled in. To counter the drizzles and brighten my day, I decided to try out Bubble Gum.

I tried to capture a really quick picture of Bubble Gum in the sunlight when the clouds briefly parted. Definitely not the best picture, but I wanted to show how how hot pink this polish can look.

In the sunlight, it's definitely a bright girly fuschia.

Inside, it's a bit mellower, but still bright pink:

(ooh, look how the CND Solar Oil soothes the cuticles, aah)

Bubble Gum is a bright medium pink creme. A slightly standard color, but these shades look good with my skintone and the color itself makes me feel happy. The formula was easy to use - slightly on the thin side. There was slight VNL at two coats, so I used three coats for my mani. For scent purposes, I decided to skip a top coat. This polish dried so glossy!

You can smell the scent once the polish dries. This polish's bubble gum scent lasted about 2-1/2 days for me. I thought the scent was like Bazooka bubble gum. My husband thought it was like the bubble gum fluoride from his childhood dentist.

Since it's on my nails and not overwhelmingly strong, I'm really enjoying my scented nails. To be honest, I even tried talking with my hands more while I was wearing it to see how often I could smell the bubble gum. Ok, maybe I'm enjoying my scented nails a little too much!

China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea

2010-04-20T20:49:00.001-04:00

Some of my favorite blues are from the China Glaze Bahama Blues collection, so I decided to wear some of my others ones this week. Here is Blue Island Iced Tea!

I like this polish in the sunlight...

but it's pretty cool in the shade, too.

Is this a bluish silver or a silvery blue? Is this a metallic, a microglitter, a shimmer, or a foil?

Blue Island Iced Tea is hard to describe because it changes in almost every lighting. This is my interpretation of its description: a silver-based light blue foil. It's got the sparkle and bling of a glitter with the smooth finish of a fol. It's on the sheer, thin side, so it needs 3 coats.

What I really like about this polish is that it's a great polish to wear all year. It feels icy when there's snow outside, it feels like sun off the waves in when it's summer time, it brightens up a cloudy day, it blings out on a sunny day. It looks different whenever you look at it. Is that a jelly base? Is that a hint of turquoise glitter? It just keeps on sparkling.

Zoya Gwin

2010-04-17T17:34:00.006-04:00

Gwin is from the Zoya Spring 2010 Reverie Collection. Zoya describes Gwin as a "sunny melon metallic." I describe Gwin as pink-toned orange with a strong gold shimmer.

This polish really has a lot of iridescent shimmer. There are flashes of gold, yellow, and even green shimmer running through it. This is a lot more apparent in sunlight. Here's a blurred picture to show off some of sheen. It's like you think you're looking at a bright juicy orange shade and... it's glowing! from inside!! the shimmer!!!

My husband bought me the Reverie set a few months ago and today he picked up Maybelline Sunset Prisms for me. Yay for bright colors with a shimmer flash! (By the way - Lacquer Laine has a full swatch of Maybelline Sunset Prisms and it looks like this is one of those polishes that has a different color batch out there. One is orange with a green flash. One is pink with a gold flash.)

Side by side in their bottles, I thought Sunset Prisms might be a possible dupe for Gwin. On the actual nail, Sunset Prisms is a lighter melon orange shade. It's the early spring cousin to Gwin.

Gwin's on my index and ring finger.
Sunset Prisms is on my middle and pinkie finger.

Gwin is a darker orange with a gold flash and pretty much opaque in two coats. Sunset Prisms took four coats to get opaque but the gold shimmer and green flash is more obvious in most lighting. They both had decent formulas. Even though, Sunset Prisms took twice as many coats to get rid of VNL, it actually dried faster than Gwin. Not bad! Sunset Prisms even had a good brush - and it's a Maybelline Express Finish!

Soooo... since both of these polishes were nice to work with and they are related but different colors, both are staying put in the stash. No dupes this time!

Zoya Indigo

2010-04-11T21:46:00.000-04:00

I was intrigued to see if my stash had a navy blue creme because I know that I have navy blues but they tend to have shimmer finishes. Zoya Indigo isn't supposed to be one of navy blue shimmers, but on the nail, it looks like it is!

Zoya describes Indigo as "navy blue with subtle multi-color micro glitter." In the bottle, I can totally see that. It's sparkly and full of rainbow glitter sparkles in a rich navy base. On the nail, it looks a navy blue shimmer. The glitter really gets swallowed up. Where does it go?! From some angles, a glitter piece will sparkle here and there, but in other lighting, they just look like bumps or bubbles.

Also, it looks almost black in some lighting. That gets under my skin so much because you shouldn't have to be in full sunlight to enjoy a polish. You might be able to appreciate it more in better lighting, but you should still be able to get the basic idea when you're inside or outside on a cloudy day.

So, instead of a navy blue with fantastic rainbow glitter, Indigo ends up looking like a standard almost-black navy shimmer that has odd bumps in it.

Good ponts - It is opaque in two coats. I didn't do any clean up above because I put it on, took the picture, and took it off, but you can still see that there's not any visible formula application issues. I'm putting it in the swap box and hoping that it gets to someone who'll love it more than I did.

China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway

2010-04-10T20:54:00.000-04:00

A tweet from Michèle from lacquerized. inspired me to wear this shade. She wanted to wear a navy blue creme but couldn't find one, so I got to thinking about whether or not I had one.

Bermuda Breakaway is from China Glaze's Winter 2008 Bahama Blues collection. They describe it as a "Deep Navy Purple Creme."

I don't really think of this creme as a true blurple, but this blue does have a touch of purple in it. I tried to adjust the picture so I could represent the shade as accurately as possible. That's actually why my hands look so dry and winterized in this picture.

I had been avoiding this polish because of the horror stories with the Bahama Blues formula when this collection came out. Maybe the formula's been tweaked a lot since then because this polish went on really easily! It was opaque in one coat, but I used two coats to even out and deepen the color.

Some might think that navy is a bit darker than this shade, but I don't care for almost-black shades at all, so I wouldn't want it to be any darker. I think that Bermuda Breakaway fits the bill nicely my stash's navy blue creme. It's clearly blue in all lights and it's a breeze to put on. To think I was going to let this sit untried in my drawer - Thanks for the idea, Michèle!

Maybelline Pie in the Sky

2010-04-03T13:15:00.030-04:00

I know the Maybelline Sweet Things collection has gotten a notorious reputation for its bad formula, bad brushes, etc, etc. Their Express polishes have found their way in and out of my collection because I can't make their formula work, but I'm in a blue polish mood right now and I *needed* Pie in the Sky.

After extensively searching all my local CVS, RiteAid, and Walgreens (checked the Duane Reades, too, just in case), I couldn't find any of the polishes from this collection except for the random pinks. BOO! Then I saw the Essie Resort comparisons from All Lacquered Up and happily decided I didn't *need* Pie in the Sky. I was going to get Lapis of Luxury and successfully have my cornflower blue polish. Take that, impossible-to-find drugstore polish!!

Then my husband randomly got sick to his stomach (he's never, ever, ever sick) and I had to rush to Rite Aid for meds. What did I find the same day I had declared to be done with my Pie in the Sky search? Frickin' Pie in the Sky. Last one of its shade on the display. With a coupon!

Now that Pie in the Sky's mine, I have to agree with the blogosphere. What's going on with this brush? Mine had stray hairs that did not want to get clipped in to shape. What's going on with this formula? Runny and chunks?!

After all of that, though, the polish did have some good qualities. It's opaque in two coats. This is probably because the first streaky coat self-leveled itself for me. Really. I think it did. The chunks and bubbles and streaks went on and a minute later it was dry, smoother, and decently shiny. After the second coat, there was still evidence of tiny bubbles or some kind of mess in the polish, but in very trace amounts. Overall, the color and end result made up for this polish's very funky first impression.

I've seen other pictures that show it as a bright sky blue like Zoya Yummy, OPI Just Groovy, or Misa Right Here Now, No More Later. It's not that kind of blue. This is a light cornflower or periwinkle blue shade - meaning light blue with purple undertones. Not even my picture really captures the purple-ness. Even though my index is a little bit out of focus, it's getting closer to being more color-accurate than the other fingers. Imagine a little more purple, a smidge more gray, a little darker, and that's what it looks like!

I thought it was an excellent color to wear right before Easter. I wanted to have a calm color that helped me feel quiet. I was so glad that's exactly what this one did and in only two coats!

Nubar Chocolate Caramel

2010-03-26T22:11:00.002-04:00

I went to Nails Night Out in NYC last October. It was at the Martini Bar by Union Square. It was a great time - great drinks, yummy munchies, tons of polish people, and my first polish goodie bag. One of my gifts was a base coat, top coat, and Tiara from Nubar. I LOVE Nubar's Foundation Base Coat. If I had to live with one base coat for the rest of my life, this would be my base coat.

Nubar had a St. Patrick's Day sale, so I decided to try out some of their colors and they arrived today! The first one I had to try was Chocolate Caramel from the Winter 2009 Chocolate Truffles Collection.

I love chocolate on Fridays - why not wear it on my nails? This polish is such a luscious brown-gold. All day I kept looking at this polish and wondering what tasty treat it really really reminded me of - chocolate, coffee, some kind of candy? I still don't know for sure, but I know whatever it is must be yummy. I'm definitely wearing this the next time I'm going through chocolate cravings. It's a visual appeasement.

Chocolate Caramel is a crazy sparkler with a warm medium brown base and golden shimmer. Many of the pictures I've seen of this polish have been in full sunlight to show off the shimmer. This makes the polish look so warm that it's practically a bright orange-ish or yellow-ish brown. It's definitely a shimmery polish, but those pictures didn't really show the green hints in the shimmer. I swear there's even flecks of pink in some light.

My NOTD mani was two coats of Chocolate Caramel over Nubar's Foundation Base Coat and topped with their Diamont Seal & Shine Top Coat (of course I was going to try out their polish with their treatments). The application was nice and their brush is so easy to use. I'm looking forward to trying out the rest of the Nubars I picked up!

Color Club Fashion Addict

2010-03-24T20:52:00.054-04:00

I'm in the mood for spring. Still. After two days of rain and slightly cooler temperatures, there wasn't supposed to be a drop of rain today (and there wasn't) and the high was in the low 60s. That's not the best, but it definitely beats a high in the 40s!

I love pastels, but I was in the mood for something a little different so I decided to go with a color from the Spring 2009 Catwalk Queen Collection.

Color Club does excellent holo polishes and this is definitely one of them. The holo finish of Fashion Addict isn't as linear and intense as the China Glaze OMG collection. I think it's closer to to the scattered-sparkly finish of CG Kaleidoscopes.

This opaque, sparkly, rainbow of a light purple holo is just two coats of Fashion Addict without a top coat. There was no application issues at all, especially if you let the first coat dry first to prevent any drag on the second coat. Holos dry so fast that waiting time isn't even an issue.

Depending on the light and angle, this polish's base color can look more pink or more silver than light purple. If you want a real silver holo, go with Worth the Risque from the Femme Fatale half of the Color Club Spring 2009 collection. If you love the pastel purples of this spring, but you need a getaway from creme finishes, go with Fashion Addict. It's such such a sparkly way to celebrate the return of sunshine after this crazy winter!

Barielle Beaches & Dreams

2010-03-20T16:15:00.001-04:00

It's Spring Time!!! Well, it feels like spring in the City so I'm celebrating this nice break in weather while it's here.

Beaches & Dreams is a light peach creme from the Spring 2009 Shades by Barielle Sun Goddess Collection. This was a very work appropriate collection and I think this was the "edgiest," most unique shade from this group. I like pastel cremes that have a starkness to them. I think it makes me look a little tanner while still feeling spring-like and feminine.

This polish is nice and opaque. It only needs 2 coats. Really. A third coat would make it look too thick and it's so pretty in two. I don't remember Beaches & Dreams being this easy to apply last year, but it was a breeze to put on this weekend. I know my clean up's a bit spotty, but that's on me for trying out a new brush - not the polish.

Ok, time to head back outside. Suzie has been stuck inside so much this winter because she's only a lil Toy Poodle and bad winter weather doesn't agree with her, so I've got playtime to make up! One more YAY for spring weather!

China Glaze Emerald Sparkle

2010-03-15T17:55:00.016-04:00

When someone from the polish community talks about “ES,” they say things like “Perfect,” “The Best Ever,” and other wonderful words of praise that never feel sufficient enough to describe the awesomeness of this green polish.

I wish my co-workers knew that! I wore this polish as one of my greens leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. Big mistake. “You look like you’ve been poisoned.” “It reminds me of Christmas wrapping paper.” Eesh!! Next time I wear Emerald Sparkle, I'll be sure that it's a weekend.

Let's get the positivity back in this post - here's Emerald Sparkle!

Surprisingly, given its celebrity in the polish community, Emerald Sparkle hasn’t been around for that long. It was the star in the Holiday 2008 China Glaze Sleigh Ride collection. It was also released again in the Holiday 2009 Love You Snow Much collection. This isn't a hard-to-find polish, but there was a “bad” version floating around in 2008. To make sure that you're getting the right one, check out Scrangie's article explaining the differences.

This polish made everyone stand up and take notice because it is bright green glitter in a dark green jelly base. It’s pigmented and perfect in two thin coats. With a shiny top coat, this is a smooth, grit-free glitter polish. This kind of polish wasn't around until that 2008 Holiday collection. The world had Ruby Pumps, but the polish community needed a special stunner like Emerald Sparkle and China Glaze came through for us.

This polish has depth, fire, and so much sparkle that it’s impossible to capture it photographically. If you love unique, beautiful polishes, you should see Emerald Sparkle in person. Just don’t try to come around my office wearing it unless it’s Christmas...

Zoya Yasmeen

2010-03-10T22:44:00.000-05:00

Zoya Yasmeen. Do you love purples? Do you have this polish? If you love purple, then you should have this polish.

I didn't think I *needed* this polish, but I read other people's stories about how it was one of their favorite purples. During one of the really nice Zoya sales, I decided I loved purple enough to give Yasmeen a try.

This is one of the prettiest purple shimmers ever. Ev-er.

There's some magenta-red shimmer, some gold shimmer (very visible in the bottle), and it all translates so nicely on the nail. I kind of expected Yasmeen to be warmer and darker than I wanted. Totally wrong! This shade didn't look too cool or too warm on me. It was just right! The purple is dark and deep, but it's far from black. It's clearly purple in all light settings.

The application is great. This is two coats with base and top. The brush and the formula were so nice that no clean up was needed - which is good because I slapped it on after some unpacking and right before calling it a night. I had to ease back in to wearing a more "New York" polish after the vacation. This polish was so smooth and shiny, it did the trick nicely.

Yasmeen lived up to and exceeded all of its hype for me. I kept pushing this polish aside because I thought it was just another purple-whatever. Now I wish I hadn't left it sitting in my drawer untried all winter!!! If you love purple shimmers and you don't have this polish, definitely bring it home the next time you're enjoying a Zoya sale.

China Glaze Atlantis

2010-03-09T19:29:00.000-05:00

Atlantis is a dark turquoise-teal jelly base glitter. This has smaller silver glitter and multicolor holographic glitter. I wore this polish as soon as I got back from Florida to keep the vacation going.

This polish is a glitter from China Glaze's Specialty Collection. These glitters are incredible! They raised the bar so high for all other glitters for me. Different size glitters, unique base colors, holo surprises - anything and everything you can imagine has been packed in to the Specialty Collection glitters.

This swatch was from the first time I wore Atlantis and I was playing around with the different looks from different coverage. My middle finger has three thin coats, my ring finger has a thick third coat, and my pinkie has two really thin coats. After I put on top coat on it for the first time, I had to tweet rambling thoughts along the lines of "I've never seen anything quite like you, Atlantis. Beautiful Carribean oceany jelly sparkle fest glitter of awesome."

I love the base color so much - we honeymooned in Aruba and this base IS Carribean Blue. I even appreciated the way-too-bright-before-coffee lights on the subway ride to work because it gave the rainbow holographic glitter a mesmerizing sparkle. On repeat wears, I've aimed for coverage somewhere between my pinkie and middle finger so I can clearly see the base and the holo glitter stands out the most.

China Glaze Lemon Fizz

2010-03-08T11:23:00.000-05:00

China Glaze Lemon Fizz is a light yellow creme from the Spring 2010 Up And Away Collection. I have a few polishes from this collection and they are a like a confectionary delight. They are beautiful pastels that make me think of cupcake sprinkles on a spring day. Really!

I wore this color to Florida to celebrate our wedding anniversary with my grandparent-in-laws. We got married a year ago on a beautiful spring day in Phoenix and this kind of yellow was our wedding's main color. Perfect color to wear for a spring vacation to Florida to celebrate our wedding, right?

This manicure was only 2 coats except for the middle finger which got a little bit of OPI Banana Bandana on it (I went polish shopping at the flea market). I put this on Wednesday night and took the picture on the Monday we came back. All of the polishes from this collection have had excellent wear.

I think this shade of yellow is green enough that it doesn't make you look red, but it's warm enough that it brightens the hand. This shade is very flattering without your hands looking like big yellow taxis. This is the kind of shade you should try first if you're interested in dipping your toe into the pool of yellow polishes. Or if you're a yellow lover and you don't have an easy-to-apply, long wearing pale yellow in your collection yet.

Starting Out...

2010-03-07T21:28:00.001-05:00

I might not be the best photographer or have the biggest stash, but I do have a passion for polish. And it's a contagious passion. I got caught up in home manicures when I was little and I started passing out little nail treats when I got older. Shaping and buffing for a friend here, some cuticle treatment for a buddy there, and polishes for amigas who are across the country from me now. It's time to take sharing to the next level with a blog.

Tomorrow I'll show you what I wore all weekend on my vacation to celebrate my wedding anniversary...

Viva Polish!