Haul 01-18-10

Try to get all this in on one post...

So at my grocery store of all places (PriceSmart, fyi) I saw, for the first time in years, a display of NYX makeup! I seriously haven't seen this brand sold anywhere around here for years. So I immediately decided to scoop up a couple polishes, since I was by myself and would have infinitely annoyed my boyfriend if I tried to shop for nail polish the next time we were grocery shopping or something...

Here's what I came home with. Left to right, NYX in Dancing Queen, Annie, Mango Cafe and Las Vegas. Ooooh, sparkly forest green... a poor man's Emerald Sparkle?

I also found a couple possiblities for my mannequin hands shade - I know, I said I didn't like it, but I might just find the occasion for it. Left to right, L'Oreal Sand Castle (I remember someone using this shade for mannequin hands on Alllaqueredup.com), Sally Hansen 10 Day No-Chip in Still Standing, and NYX Karnak.

Also, I know I said (somewhere) that drugstore brands are ususally too crappy for me, but I spotted this and just had to have it:Yep. Revlon (gasp!) nail enamel in Midnight Affair. I don't have a colour like this, and needed one. I need all the dark colours.

Actually I saw a really great article the other day when I was surfing one of my favorite sites, popsugar.com: http://www.refinery29.com/trend_spotting/2010_nail_color_trends.php. (sorry, I don't remember how to post hyperlinks, I haven't used html in years and I'm too lazy to go look it up). Yes, the top ten runway-inspired nail polish shades for 2010. If you refer to my last article (ahem), it seems I was bang-on about a couple of the trends. Periwinkle, metallic forest green (yay!), peach (ditto! they even show the Chanel shade I want! Along with Particuliere - yes, I changed my mind about that one too. Me wants...), and "uniform" blue (huh? again? will my Essie Mesmerize from last year work?) chunky gold glitter (yaaay! I love glitter! And how BADLY do I want that RBL Look Rich Be Cheap, but its almost as much as a Chanel polish.. Be Cheap my ass...) (Are all RBL Polishes that expen$ive? I may have to search for dupes...), nude polish (duh - got that covered) persimmon (?) (I may sound extremely obtuse here but how does this differ from coral?) (the example they list is OPI Hot N' Spicy, which I just may check out, but would my new NYX polish in Mango Cafe qualify as "persimmon"?), lavender (of course. I need to find one with no shimmer), mint green (still huge) and what they called "Black and Blue". Yeah. Sometimes I know my wallet wishes I didn't read articles like this.

Nail Polish Trends

Okay, so I've been spending a lot of time surfing the various nail blogs, looking at all the new spring collections the various polish companies have put out, and checking out the polish trends at runway shows. These are a few trends I've noticed for fall:

Mannequin hands: This trend was all over the runways, and a few websites have had lots of articles dedicated to it. This is where you find that perfect "nude" shade of polish that matches your skin tone, and gives you that look like mannequins' nails have - a flesh toned polish that looks elegant and lengthens your hand and fingers. I think its boring. Yeah, it could look okay in professional environments, or among the high-fashion set... but I like colour. At least even a little bit of colour. Besides, why would you want your hands to look like a plastic mannequins'? Some girls even take it to the next level of authenticity and add a matte-ifying top coat overtop, which really gives you that plastic doll hands look. Um, creepy?

Still, will I try it? Probably, yes. I was almost tempted to buy CND's Putty the other day, cuz I thought it looked like a pretty good match. I'll probably pick up a nude polish sometime before spring, just to have it in case I want to follow the trend one day, but I'll keep my top coat shiny. Which brings me to the next trend:

Matte polish - I know this was more last fall, but I'm still seeing it here and there. Matte needs to go. Now. I don't really like anything about this trend. Matte black and dark polishes look like you've coloured your nails with a felt pen. It looks weird, and kind of ghetto. I like my nails to be shiny if I have polish on them. Ugh. It was an interesting concept, but I don't think I'll be purchasing any OPI Suedes or any of that crap anytime soon. Hopefully we won't see anymore for spring...

Fake nails - I dunno if this is so much a trend as a personal preference, but do people really wear press-on nails?

I can't think of anything more tacky and annoying. Don't you ever use your hands to like, I dunno, pick up objects? Not to mention they look horrible. If you really want Evil Tacky Lady nails, grow them out! Or realize that they make you look like a witch and stick with a more natural look.

Mint Green polishes - Essie's Mint Candy Apple, the notorious Chanel Jade, and the like. I luuuuurve. I haven't gotten my hands on one yet. I know, this trend is so last winter as well :p I want any of them. I've passed on buying OPI's Gargantuan Green, or something like that, because I thought it looked more lime and not like a true mint, but am I wrong? Also, I'm lemming for the Refresh-Mint shade from the new China Glaze spring Up & Away collection like NObody's business.... Make that the whole collection.

True Peach - Maybe this isn't a trend, but I'm searching for a true peach shade for spring as well. Having a hard time physically locating one. Will probably end up ordering one. I'm thinking the peach shade from the new Barielle Wildflower collection, Blossom, might be perfect: Or Peachy Keen from the aforementioned China Glaze Up & Away collection. (Or hell, just gimme every shade from both collections :p) Even the nude shade from the new Chanel spring 2010 Les Impressions de Chanel collection (I think its called Inattendu?) could maybe be peach on my nail... but the odds of me spending almost 30 bucks Canadian to find out are slim to none...

Grey/Taupe polishes - Not a huge fan of this trend either. I do own China Glaze's Recycle, which is about as grey as you can get, and I do plan on buying Metro Chic by OPI by Sephora, just because I've planned on getting it since last fall and its a unique, almost landmark shade, but that's it. Seriously. I don't want murky, depressing polish that reminds me of what the sky looks like during this time of year at 3 pm. I wear enough taupes and greys in my wardrobe - if my polish matched, I'd be just a blob of grey blah. Its not pretty. I like polish that's pretty. Or funky. Or something. For example, the new Chanel Particulière polish that everyone's freaking out over, or the OPI You Don't Know Jacques that was so popular last winter. Yeah, you can have them. Give me creamy Easter-egg coloured pastels, or vibrant neons or dark shiny vampish jewel tones, or even beautiful-but-takes-an-hour-to-remove glitters ANY day.

Dark forest green polish - Once again, I don't know if this is on trend exactly, but all the bloggers have been lobbying for more of these and I couldn't agree more. I'm searching for the perfect dark forest green shade. I don't own a single dark green. I have neon green and lime green and that's it. I've been lemming for Emerald Sparkle for awhile now, but aside from that, I want a cream dark, dark green, and a frost. Badly.

Anyone know of any other Spring 2010 nail trends they've noticed?