My Superbowl-Themed Nails

I don't like the Giants and I don't like the Patriots. But both teams have the same colours - red, blue and white - so I couldn't miss either way :). I don't even really like football, tbh - I like it more than baseball, which isn't saying much - but the game turned out to be way more exciting than I anticipated. I actually watched it. Now that's saying something :p

Sorry I haven't posted in forever. I'm aware of how lame this is. My computer still is having problems though and, well, YOU try blogging from your phone. It doesn't work very well. I'm using the Blogger app right now, because the BlogPress app - that I paid for :( - isn't letting me publish anything. It says "it seems like your network is not ready for posting.". Wtf. Why the hell not?

I hate this Blogger app. It sucks. I can't even post a picture in the middle of my post - it appears at the end. How shite is that?!? Truthfully I don't even know if this will publish. But you c here for nails, not bitching and moaning, so here it is.

The red nail is Zoya Sooki topped with OPI Crown Me Already. The blue is Essie Mesmerize topped with the same OPI, and the white nails are Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White topped with LA Girls Glitter Addict Animate and Jostle.

Hope you had a happy Superbowl weekend!

Some More Recent Wearings (Wearings?)

Okay, worst title ever, but I have to fire this off pretty quick...

I've been away lately because I've been super-busy, not because I've been sick this time.  Yay!  So that's good, right? 

Okay, yeah, quickly.  Quickly.  I can do things quick.  I think.

Oh yeah, warning in advance: THIS POST CONTAINS FEET!!!!  Just don't bother reading this if a picture of toes is going to make you toss yer cookies or something.  You've been warned.

I'll start off with a mani I can't believe I didn't include before.... my First Snow Of the Year mani:

This is an attempted glitter gradient using Revlon Powder Puff topped with Icing Glamorous, which is a medium-sized holo glitter.  I wanted to do something wintery-looking, because my yard at the time looked like this:

Yes.  Oh yes.  It sucked.  I hate freaking snow.  But I loved the mani :)

Next is a fail:

I don't even know why I'm including this, since it's a horrible picture, but it was a horrible mani, so... This is LA Girls Rock Star Crowd Surfing.  Crowd Surfing is pretty, a light green with gold  and orange flakies, but it's super, super sheer, and I have no idea why I thought it'd be a good idea to try it over white...  Try this over a darker colour, if you have it.  Which you probably already know, if you have it.  I have no business giving people advice with this once, because, as you see, I thought THIS ^^ was a good idea.  Um, yeah, no!

Next, I was gettin experimental:

Do you like this polish?  Do you honestly?

It kind of ate topcoat.... I put on two coats, I swear.  It's like, where did they go...?

The colour is most true-to-life here.  This is actually a nail art pen that I dumped into a regular polish bottle!  It's Jordana Artsy Purple.  It is very pretty, a purple with strong red shimmer, but I have no idea how it manages to make two thick coats of Seche Vite completely disappear.... hmmph....

Next, a crowd favorite:

OPI The Show Must Go On.  This was the last of the Burlesques I acquired.  I freehanded two tips with  OPI Man Of La Mancha on the ring and middle finger, just to see what it looked like - ignore them please :)  This has been shown a million times, so I'm just going to shut up and show the pretty:

In case you didn't know (but you probably do), TSMGO is a really pretty reddish-pink-gold duochrome.  It's similar to MAC Bad Fairy, but a touch lighter pink. 

Okay, foot warning.  FOOT WARNING!!  Didn't you hear me??!?  FOOT WARNINGGGGG!!!!

I hate posting pictures of my feet, and I really, REALLY hate to say this, but you should probably click on the picture to blow it up so you can see the AWESOMENESS that is Inglot 207!!  Seriously.  Just ignore my toes. This is a medium-sized gold holo glitter, and I have two coats of it on here over Orly Luxe.  It.  Is.  Gorgeous!!!  I wore this for days, around lots of people, and I got tons of compliments :)

 

Next, this is an unnamed Love & Beauty polish from Forever 21.  It's a medium forest green shimmer with fine gold foil-y glitter.  It's pretty.  Application was kind of annoying, though. Very thick.

And last, the first in a series of Christmas manis!!!  Yaaaaaaaaaeeeeeey! (Oh come on, they're fun!)

You like?  Ees preety?  I think so :)

This is another Love & Beauty polish, a dark jelly green, topped with Wet N Wild Prancer.  I kinda stole this idea off a Nail Boarder named beclee :)  Prancer is a clear with small and larger hexagonal red glitter.  It's awesome for layering to create a Christmas mani :)  I wish it came in every colour!  As far as the Love & Beauty polish goes, it's application was a lot better than the other one - I had no real problems, aside from a lot of buildup (like, a lot more than the usual amount) on the lip of the bottle from me wiping the excess off the brush.

Okay, that's all. Expect a lot more Christmas manis coming up soon.  Plus I got a bunch of new RBLs, some Inglots (inlcuding the above 207) and Illamasqua Jo'mina, and a huge Cherryculture order that I haven't even dug into yet!  So many untrieds!  Talk to you all later :)

Five Billion Swatches of What I've Been Wearing All Month

Hello all! Wow, I haven't posted in a month! I'm so so sorry... this obviously has been a really busy and hectic month. I know no one wants to hear my lame excuses or stories about what's actually happening in my real life. We just come here because of our mutual love/admiration/constant cravings for the polish, amirite? :D And for some reason, you look at my writing on my silly little blog here, and maybe identify with me? Or just feel superior. Either way, I hope you want to see five billion swatches of what I've worn this whole month - cuz that's what I'm putting up :p  Or most of it anyway.  There were a couple of days I didn't take NOTD pics.

Also, really quickly - I've gotten two requests to see some stash/collection pics, because y'all are thinking "my stash must be huge" and you "wanna see it!" I've taken a couple of photos, which I'll put up later, but here's what I'm thinking... yes.  You're right.  I have a giant np collection. Like, ridiculously huge. I usually stay away from those "How many are you at??" poll posts on MUA, because I see the numbers people post and I'm like, "wow.... maybe times that by five" :s and I don't want to seem like I'm some spoiled brat/hoarder.  Or rich.  I've been collecting NP since I was in 7th grade, but over the past two years my obsession really came about full-circle.  And I have... quite a lot now :p That's why I haven't posted collection or stash or storage pics before. But if I'm getting requests to do so, I was thinking.... would you watch a video of my stash and storage? It would be so much easier to follow. And I'll stay out of sight - you'll be forced to listen to my stupid voice, but that's all! Whaddya think?

I'll still post the collection pics I already took later.... wait, I already said that, didn't I...
 
Okay, enough talk.  Here we go - NOTDs from August:
 

This is Sally Hansen Spectrum, overtop of China Glaze Grape Juice. GJ was untried and Spectrum was new at the time, so I thought them a natural combination. I wish I'd tried GJ by itself, though, and I wish those SH's were opaque enough on their own.
 

Icing Chartreusely Yours.  This is the only true chartreuse I own, I think! :)  It's a bright yellow-green creme.  I fauxnaded overtop.  You probably saw that for yourself :p
 

Zoya Gwin....

OKay, blogger just decided to prematurely publish my post before I was done, so I lost all the pics I uploaded! I'm having to upload them all over again :(((( I seriously feel like throwing my laptop at the wall. Does Blogger ever do this to anyone else?? Lose their photos, randomly flip them weird ways, screw up your alignment...? It does this to me almost every time I post! Is it IE? It makes me not even want to bother writing >:(

Anyway... I think I can move on...  

This is Zoya Gwin after I coated it with OPI Significant Other Color.

The subtle gold/green flash in Gwin just wasn't doing it for me - I needed moar!

SIC is really one of my favorite layering polishes... it gives such a strong green/gold flash.  I was tempted to try Sonic Bloom over it as well, but I thought the blue tint would make it too murky.

This is Sephora By OPI Midnight Mambo. This was an online exclusive - not sold in stores. Which I think is stupid, because what if you don't have a credit card? This is such a gorgeous polish, everyone should have access to it!  I got this and 212 at the same time, and while I haven't tried 212 yet, I'm pretty sure that MM is my new all-time fave $OPI polish!  So pretty... a bright jelly blue base with very dense mulitsize and hex holo glitter.  What could be more perfect?  Well, one thing, but I'll show you that in a sec....

This is Toma Island Girl.  I got this in a swap, and it's an iridescent pearl colour with very strong blue and green flashes. 

Inside, it just looks like this most of the time:

But at certain angles, and in the sun, it's very opalescent and pretty. 

I couldn't really get all the colours to show up on camera :( of course, but I could see blue, green, purple, pink.... this is very very pretty.  It did take four or five coats to be opaque, though.  This would be nice on tanned toes, with a white underneath to help the sheerness.  Hmm... maybe I should try....

This is OPI Color So Hot It Berns, from fall's Swiss collection.  Sorry 'bout the chips.  I thought this would be a hot red, so I grabbed it at the last second when I first found the collection.  It's okay, a standard cherry-red creme.  I'm so bad at telling if a red is right for my skintone or not though.  I think they all kinda look the same  *hides*

This is Color Club Puccilicious.  Ignore the yellowness in this pic - the polish colour is the closest to real life in this pic.  This is a very blue-based purple.  It's not a blurple, it's definitely still purple, but with a very, very blueish tone.  Which = impossible to photograph.  Here were my attempts:

See?  Here in the sun, it appears very very blue.

As well as here, in the shade.  Oh well.  It looks IRL most like the first pic, and it's a gorgeous creme.  If you like purples, I'd highly, highly reccommend this one.  This is one of my very fave purple cremes.  I even like it better than China Glaze Grape Pop/OPI Funky Dunkey/RBL Mismas!  I just love the blue tone.

Okay, remember how I just said it doesn't get any better for me than $OPI Midnight Mambo?  Ahem.  BEHOLD!!!!

Yeah, I know everyone's seen it by now, but I can't help it.  I.  ABSOLUTELY.  LOVE!!!!!!!!!!

It was like Deborah made this polish just for me.  Blue.  Glitter.  Green tinges.  Gaaaahhhhhhh......  Yes, the hex glitter (or "sequins", as DL calls them) are big and chunky like in Ruby Red Slippers, but this combined with the jellyness of the dark blue and the glitter give it a gorgeous depth that really does make me think of space and night skies.  Awesome.  Automatically in my top 20 of all time.  Probably even top ten.  Oh yes, in case you don't recognize this, this is Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe.  Came in a set with Bad Romance, which I haven't tried yet.  I also got the All That Jazz trio with Lady Sings The Blues, Razzle Dazzle and Some Enchanted Evening.  I might post all that later as well, along with my stash pics.  Anyway, this was sold exclusively at Nordstrom's stores, I think... or so I was informed.  Now, we don't have Nordie's in Canada of course, so I believe you could also order them online through the store's site, but if you want this polish, I suggest you hurry up and pony up the twenty-something bucks (yes, I know) and grab it, because I'm not sure how long these will last...  I'm loving these high-end glitters, though.  So fun!  Owning them, that is.  Not the paying for them part :(

Sorry for my dry cuticles here.  This is a polish from Ardene's, called Royal Blue. I topped it with Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure here. It's basically a dupe for SH Pacific Blue... which is, for some reason, kind of htf where I live. I did have it already when I bought this... but I wanted it for comp purposes. Besides, they often have 10 for $10 cosmetics sales at Ardene's. So Canadian gals, if you can stomach the obnoxious 12-yr-olds the store is usually filled with, it might be worth ducking into Ardene's to check out their polish, especially if you can't find SH PB. Other than this and a bright orange, though, a lot of their colours looked like dupes.

This is LA Girls Disco Brites Hustle.  Sorry for the crappy pic, but it was the only pic I could get the colour to show up purple, not blue!  This is another blue-based purple, but this one's a jelly.  So pretty.  Competing with Dance Studio to be my favorite from the Disco Brites line :)

See how outside here it looks way more blue?  It's not this blue.  It's a dark purple jelly.  Yeah, that was not very helpful, was it  :p

Here's one of my FAIL-of-the-days!  ChG Blue Fox topped with Revlon Galaxy. I should have put Galaxy over something else - I thought this just kinda looked like dirt on my nails. Blue Fox was brushstroke-y as fack, too :/  It's a very old, non-B3F polish though - the writing's all rubbed off the bottle completely - so I'll forgive it.  It's like seeing your Grandma with her lipstick applied outside her lip lines, or something.  You love her, and her little faux pas somehow make her more endearing :)  I'll give Blue Fox another chance, and try Galaxy over something else - something darker.

This is a Jolly Ranchers polish, from a set I got a Claire's.  This is the Watermelon one.  Ugh - my cuticles are really really bad here. Sorry. I had to wash my car and dog, and although I used Cuticle Eraser and Lemony Flutter, they're back to looking like this within a few hours. Bah.

Yay!  It woudn't be Blogger without a flipped photo!  (goddamned son of a... #$%^&!)  Anyway, this is a warm pinkish-red with very fine pink shimmer. Is it unique? No. Does it smell? Not really... it kinda does at first, but it doesn't really smell like Watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Which sucks, cuz that's one of my favorite scents in the whole world, and basically why I bought the set. Maybe the Blueberry or Sour Apple polishes will be better?

So since it didn't smell, I decided to layer over it!

I layered it with HT, which looked ok and I should have left it, but then, since we all know I never know when to stop, I decided to put a coat of Sinful Green Ocean (because I've wanted it forever and recently RIS as an extra from an awesome, awesome lady) overtop... which did not look ok. The polish looked orange after I topped it with HT, and green and orange? Ew. It looks better in this pic than it does on my nails.... but now it's 10000 layers thick and it's gonna take me forever to remove it :p I have a day off today - maybe I'll just not leave my house instead :p

So that's it for right now.... back later with a small haul post, and later than that with some collection pics!  And let me know what you think of me making a stash/collection video!

Sid and his thumbs bid you adieu.

Massive Haul Post, part three - The Final Chapter (for a week or so)

The fact that I had to split this up into three parts is sad and somewhat frightening  :p  I went buckwild this one week.  This is the result.

Alright, here we go.  First of all, I have all the stuff I got at the beauty supply store.

Starting off, I picked up the CND "The Look" set.  I think I got a pretty good deal, too, since I've seen this sold online for $18.  I tried to get a pic of the Vivienne Westwood-designed box - it's so cute and really does make me think of candy.  It came with a little booklet with pics of CND polishes in action on the spring runways.  You've probably already seen the polishes by now - Sweet and Sugar Sparkle.  Sweet is an opaque, warm-toned pink that to me looks very similar to OPI Elephantastic Pink, and Sugar Sparkle is white, irreguar shaped flake glitter in a pearly base - it almost looks like a white flakie polish.  I can't wait to try these.

Next is something that I have no idea why I bought.  CND's new Shellac polish in Tutti Fruitti.  The SA talked me into buying it, and I was so excited, only to get home and realize that - duh - I don't own the UV light that is an integral part of the polish application.  Brilliant, Lex.  So I have no idea what I'm going to do with this.  Bringing it to a salon with me so they can put it on seems like such a waste of money, and going in and asking to use their UV lamp would make me feel like an idiot.  Honestly, I don't really know why they sold it to me.  Maybe they assume I own a salon cuz I buy so much polish  XD  Also, now that I look at the brochure and see all the shades again, I wish I'd gotten Fedora instead.  D'oh.

Some boring essentials - a fresh bottle of SV and more CND Ridge Out.  Until I can get Barielle Hydrating Ridge Filler, this will do - it's works and it's so much easier for me to get.  And six bucks ain't a bad price.  I'm halfway through my first bottle.  Even though I don't have ridges, sometimes the surface of my nails gets scratched and peels, and this provides a nice, even, milky white base - especially handy for pastel cremes.

Some OPIs - Got The Blues For Red, Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ, and La Paz-itively Hot - Matte.  All NB recommendations  :)

Color Club Volt Of Light, Tangerine Scream, and What A Shock!  This completes my Electro Candy collection, except for the purple one. 

More discontinued China Glazes! :)  L-R: Orchid Shadow (dusty lilac with gold shimmer), Rapture (hot fuschia pink with holo glitter), China Rain (peachy pink with gold shimmer and glitter) and Go Crazy Red (awesome shimmery red with a gold flash).  These are so pretty.  I wonder why some of these randomly have the silver caps like the OMGs....

More Dare 2 Wears :)  Love these.  L-R: Mint 2 Blue Opal, Tropical Kiwi 2 Metallic Green, another Green 2 Gold Opal (I already have one of these so this'll go as a swap extra), Ashy Gold 2 24K Gold, and one that has no label on the bottom (grrr!) but is a inky blackened greyish green with dark blue and aqua glitter.  It looks so unique.  It might be completely fugly.  I have no idea.  I don't have anymore nail wheels for swatching  :(  Must get more.

Last from the beauty supply place, I got some Princessas for a MUA member who wanted me to CP her some.  Most of these are very shiny, colour saturated, sparkly foils.

Sour Apple, Everglade Sparkle and Champagne Dust.  SA is a glittery sheer with pink duochrome, and the other two have the sparkly foil finish.  CD looks, to me, an awful lot like China Glaze Swing Baby from the upcoming fall 2010 Vintage Vixen collection (which I cannot wait for, btw - yes, I am aware I just got Poolside, lol).

Tan Gerine (huh? it's blue, you weirdos), Tahitian Afternoon and California Sunshine.  TG is a frosty baby blue with pink, blue, green and purple microglitter and purple-pink shimmer, and the other two are foils.

Colorodo Rapid, Silver Hurricane and New Eve At Vegas (again, huh?).  NEAV is a black jelly with irregular silver and holo glitter - so pretty!  Once again, the other two are foils.  Princessa's got some hilarious names - first Stary Stary Night (seriously!) and now these two.  *snort.  These will be going to a lovely MUAer is return for SH HT (yeah, I know, I know, shut up) and hopefully an Illamasqua! :)

Next is stuff from my mall haul:

These are more smelly Revlons: Grape Ice, Bubblegum, Cotton Candy and Orange Pop.  I have them all now except for Peach Smoothie, which I saw on lextard's blog and could tell immediately it would look hideous on me.  I may end up getting it anyway, but hopefully I'll be able to stop myself  :p  I can't wait to try these, though - I really like the idea of nail polish that actually smells half decent :)

Sephora by OPI It's Bouquet With Me.  Wanted this ever since it first came out, passed on it once, and it was sold out ever since.  Until last week  :)  I'm such a sucker for glitter, and I love $OPI's other glitters, so this was a no-brainer.  These polishes are just so hideously expensive though, for what they are.

More Icing polishes.  I think this set is older - it may have been a spring one.  These are all pastel cremes, with no visible shimmer to them.  These sets are really such an awesome deal - you get five good shades for a really low price, and the wear for the money is exceptionally good.  I love Icing's polishes  :)

These are new, I think.  This is True Blue, Casino Green and Sunset.  They're cremes.  This pic is not really capturing the colour - only True Blue is true to life.  TB looks similar to CC Take Me To Your Chateau, except a bit more muted and greyed-out.  Casino Green is much brighter than in this pic, more like muted CC Rebel Debutante, and Sunset is much brighter and closer to a muted OPI Hot & Spicy.  Icing has a bunch of "dupe" sets out right now - they have an OPI Alice In Wonderland dupe set (just like Finger Paints) with an AA and MAaH wannabe glitter and a couple reds.  It looked interesting, and I may pick it up next time just so I can review it :)

Hey!  Look what London Drugs sells now!  (for the ripoff price of six bucks, boooo!)  Still, I'm friggin ecstatic to see Sinfuls in Canada, finally!  now if they would just get a better selection  :p  I will be checking every London Drugs I'm remotely near from now on though to check their selection of Sinfuls  :)  This is Pinky Glitter and Cloud 9 - pink glitter and tangerine with gold shimmer.

Sweet!  The Essie Resort collection I've been lemming so badly!  L-R: Lapis of Luxury, Turquoise & Caicos (which I showed you the other day), Playa Del Platinum and Splash Of Grenadine.  T&C is an instant favorite of mine, and I have a feeling I'll be wearing these this summer more than once.  I'm thinking of putting LOL on my toes, or even PDP - someone on the NB said they had this as their pedi and loved it.  I just love the Mediterranean feel of these colours  :)

And then of course I can't stay away from the Essie discount bin at Trade Secret  :)  This time, I found Decadent Diva and Cool-Lots.  I've had better finds.  What colour is DD exactly?  Is it a shimmery... brown?  Burgundy?  Plum?  I can't tell.  And Cool-Lots, what was I thinking?  It's SHEER!  Sure it has pretty gold shimmer, but it's so SHEER!  Maybe one day I'll find use for it, though, in case I ever actually have to look professional, god forbid  :p

Next, some boring, non-np related stuff.  Wet N Wild eyeshadow palette in Lust, and Maybelline Eyestudio palettes in Sapphire Siren and Irresistibly Ivy. I'm not going to go into detail, since this is a nail polish blog, but I've just recently started buying and wearing makeup again, particularly eyeshadow and lipgloss.  I know drugstore eyeshadows are usually a no-go, but I was sucked in by the pretty ad for these.  And the WnW palette got really good reviews on MUA, which I trust entirely too much these days  :p  I don't know - I still feel overdone and a little silly whenever I wear eyeshadow, though.

ANYWAY, back to the good stuff.

Wet N Wild Craze polishes in Morbid, Glitz, Rustic and Blackmail.  Morbid looks similar to Misa Toxic Seduction - black with teal green shimmer, and Blackmail looks like it was trying to copy ChG Fortune Teller, as it's a black with orange/copper glitter, but sadly it doesn't show up on the nail too well.

More drugstore finds: Wet N Wild Rain Check and Sparked, I finally caved and bought Rimmel Camouflage, and Cover Girl Ruby Twinkle.

And lastly, some random dollar store finds.

Two more Billies in Feeling Blue and Jovile.  Is that even a word?

Two more LA Girl Disco Brites - Phenomenon is a super-dark blackened purple jelly, and Freak is a blue-toned fushcia creme.

Some awesome awesomeness in a weird bottle with no identifiable brand or shade names.  A blue jelly with holo and hex glitter, a sparkly, glittery pink and a super shimmery orange-red with gold flash.  These smell more awful than anything you could ever imagine, as well.  They don't even smell like nail polish.  More like rotting corpse.  I don't even want to know what's in them.  Still, they are awesome, and I kind of like the ink well-style bottle.

And lastly, some more random awesomeness.  Aili Sha unnamed holo bar glitter (squee!), a pale lilac shimmer Paris Couture, some brand called Profound shimmery gold peach, and a silver with a kickass name.

Can you guess why I bought this polish?  :)

And check out the holo bar glitter!  Nice find!

So that wraps up my hauls, finally!  I haven't bought any nail polish (or anything else non-essential for that matter) since.  Okay fine, I did pick up NYX Graffiti when I was at the grocery store today, just cuz it's a long-time lemming, but other than that, I'm good for now!  I'm just going to sit here and patiently wait for my konad and BM plates to arrive, do my Zoya swap, swap the Princessas and try to wear all the polishes I've bought just recently!  I might break my no-buy for new collections if I see them, and I've already put aside $ for my Nouvelle Vague and Illusion D'Or, but other than that, I'm done! 

Oh, and I have to replace my Ruby Pumps - I gave it to my mom today for Mother's Day.  She loved her new purse full of NP that I gave her  :)  It included RP, OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue and Blue My Mind, and Orly Plum Noir.  When she was here she was admiring my OPI What's With The Cattitude, but only for the name and cuz it matches Sid's eyes :)  She said she'd probably never wear a light blue, but it was pretty anyway.  Which means if I just gave it to her she probably would.  My mom is much more adventurous now that she's retired  :)

So I hope you all had a good Mother's Day as well, and I will be back soon with some recent NOTD's and my latest polish cataloguing project (attempt).  Love, peace and chicken grease.