OPI: Your Web Or Mine

OPI :Your Web Or Mine

Quick Nail Of The Day. Today I'm wearing OPI Your Web or Mine from the Spiderman Collection. I just felt like today was a good day for a frosty pink. I usually don't care much for anything remotely frosty.

OPI Your Web Or Mine

Here it is in the bottle. For some reason my pictures are making this lean much more warm toned pink than it is. I thought it might be similar to Orly Sterling Silver Rose, but it's more salmon-y than that. 

OPI Your Web Or Mine (ring finger  - NOPI Step To The Beat of My Heart)

And on the nails. It's a pretty color but not very unique. Somehow I felt as if I allowed my entire manicure to be this color it would be too boring so I painted my ring finger blackened glitter with Orly After Party and then put NOPI Step 2 The Beat of My Heart over that. Yes, A Justin Bieber themed polish...I know don't tell my adult friends. I had to pick and place the hearts but they were still fun. Smoothed everything out with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry top coat and this was the final result. So shiny I can practically see my reflection! I wore this mani for 2 days with no tip wear but alas I'm a fickle chick so tomorrow the frosty pink has to go. It may or may not be clashing with my new highlights which are bright red/magenta...story for another day.

Sinful Colors Winter Shimmer Collection 2012

Hey all. I'm certainly not the first to post about these but I noticed that there weren't many swatches available of the new Sinful Colors Holiday Shimmers Collection. This collection is being released in drugstores right now for the Holiday 2012 season. Above is a picture of the display. I spotted these at my local Rite-Aid when I was wandering cosmetic "browsing" (shopping) between Open Skate and a late night movie. It was funny because when I got to the register to pay for them there was no cashier. There was a bell, but it was broken and it took me and another customer several minutes to find anyone to ring up our purchases. I was diligent though in the name of polish!

L-R: Superstar, Winter Wonder, Nova, Faceted

There are eight polishes in the collection but I only got four. I ended up picking out Superstar (1138), Winter Wonder (1142), Nova (1137) and Faceted (1139). There were one or two dupes in the collection, Queen of Beauty and one other that I can't remember the name of but is duped all over the place. 

L-R: China Glaze Smoke & Ashes, Sinful Colors Nova

When I first picked up Nova I thought it might be a dupe for China Glaze Smoke and Ashes from the Hunger Games collection. I bought it anyways because I love S&A and it was on sale (sucker, I know). 

L-R: China Glaze Smoke&Ashes (2 coats), Nova (2 coats), Nova (1 coat)

When I got home and swatched them however it was apparent that Nova is a dark blue jelly base whereas Smoke and Ashes is a black base. After two coats the difference is negligible but at one coat it is very obvious. With a good hand it would be possible to wear Nova at one coat, but I was hastily swatching for the sake of swatching. Two coats makes a beautiful night sky dark blue with glittery "stars" if you will. The glitter flashes green and gold. It's a very pretty polish and my favorite of the bunch maybe. Slightly more glittery than S&A in my opinion.

L-R: Faceted over Orly Liquid Vinyl, Faceted over Snow White, Faceted over Mesmerize

Above we have Faceted. I'm not usually a big fan of bar glitter but for some reason this one seemed really pretty in the bottle. Tiny blue hex glitter with duochrome gold and green bar glitter in a clear base. First I swatched it over a basic black, then a plain white. Over the white polish the bar glitter seems to disappear. Last I swatched this over Sinful Colors Mesmerize (1128) which I think is from the "Enchanted" collection. This was my favorite combination out of all of them and probably my next mani! The light blue glitter over the  dark eggplant polish is really pretty. It's a slightly softer look than layering over black. 

Top: Winter Wonder, Bottom: Super Star

Last we have Winter Wonder and Super Star. Winter wonder is a gorgeous dark silvery shimmer with tiny flecks of gold and blue. This polish had an excellent formula and two coats was enough.Super Star is blue and purple hex glitter with tiny irregularly shaped blue flakies in a blue jelly base (mouthful right?). There's another polish in this collection that looks similar but with pink glitter, but it's been part of the standard display for some time so many of you will already have that one. Super Star builds up to full opacity with 3 coats and dries relatively rough but that problem could be solved with Gelous or another thick top coat. I like to use Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat over glitters like these. I left the swatches free of top coat however. 

So that's it. I heard Sinful Colors was shutting down their factory and laying off their workers so you never know this collection might be their last. As far as quality goes I have to say I would miss them if they were gone though especially at the price!

China Glaze: Adventure Red-y

China Glaze: Adventure Red-y

     Well, let's start off with the name. When I first saw this polish on the promotional I was like "no, for real china glaze?" That name is super lame. And when the polish was launched this fall as part of the Fall 2012 I completely overlooked it as "been-done" and selected instead three other polishes. I got Elephant Walk, Exotic Encounters and Jungle Queen. The first two I will swatch for you later, but the last Jungle Queen turned out to be a complete bust in my opinion. I just hated it on my fingers and couldn't wait to take it off. I'll probably never wear it again. But enough about that...Adventure Red-y. I was actually thinking about this polish in hindsight wishing I had a nice creme red and wishing I'd have picked this one up as part of the Fall collection but now that it's Halloween I knew it would be nearly impossible to find without going online. Lucky me I just happened to see it on clearance in Sally's when I was getting something else. Score!

CG: Adventure Red-y outdoors in full sun

Here it is on my nails. This two coats with one coat of Borghese Presto top coat. Formula was super smooth and could've almost been a one coater but I'm picky about bald spots. As it turns out I was glad I picked this up, it might be my new favorite red!

Same as above

I give this polish an : A
I would give it an A+ but I haven't tried to remove it yet and it looks like it might be a real stainer....

Orly: Preamp

Orly: Preamp

 

A Review of Preamp from Orly's Fall 2012 collection

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish: Flash Black

Layla: Flash Black

As you may have heard your local Ulta has been stocking a pretty awesome little gem called Layla Hologram Effect nail polish. I originally noticed these online just in time to find a nearly full display at the Ulta nearest me. Ringing up at $15.50 a pop these beauties were a bit pricey so I snagged two (Ultraviolet and Ocean Rush) and used my coupon for $3.50 off $10 so the price wasn't too bad...

When I got home and swatched these I was sooooo happy. Strong linear holo with an almost static-like effect. How friggin cool!? I was so impressed by the hologram effect on these I started googling comparisons and found many connoiseurs comparing them to the Gosh line of holographics. Well, unfortunately I wasn't "in" to polish when Gosh put out those infamous silver linear holos. I'm also not crazy enough to pay an arm and a leg on eBay so upon hearing that I decided meh...I need the silver and black holo as well. Anyways, enough of hearing about my inability to not spend money....the shiny stuff! Here it is:

I ordered my bottle of Flash Black from Zappos since the shipping was free and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to find the colors I wanted unmolested on the Ulta display a week later. I got my packages two days later true to Zappos shipping. I have two teensy complaints and this experience but I blame Zappos not Layla. When they arrived each tiny 10 mL bottle came in an individual standard shoe sized box. I practically laughed out loud. I know they ship mostly shoes but considering how extensive their cosmetic and accessories collections are you would think they would have more accommodating (read: smaller more environmentally friendly) packaging options. Also each polish was covered top to bottom with a huge bar-code sticker that I had to remove in order to open the bottle. This would be no big deal if the sticker wasn't made of chewed gum or some ridiculous adhesive that left a nasty residue on both bottles. Call me a perfectionist but the last thing I want is glue all over my polish I just paid 15 bucks for...just sayin'.On to the pictures:

 

And here is a blurry shot so you can see the full hologram effect. It's beautiful! Like having nails on fire. Super distracting too so don't use this and try to do any serious jobs in the sun, like say supervising several small children at the beach. Things could get tricky.

  

In all, I really, really enjoy this polish. It chips a bit more easily than my "ordinary" polishes which is why I generally reserve these for special occasions but come to think of it I might use it tomorrow, why not! Two coats should do it. I don't use a special base coat but I wear artificial nails which are obviously nonporous thus eliminating the need for aqua base. I also did not use a top coat for these pictures, or at all in general when I wear holographic polishes as the top coat seems to diminish the effect. One thing to note when storing these bottles the paint on the silver caps chips easily so if you were to allow them to roll around in say a tupperware container with other polishes you would eventually (quickly) have scuffed up looking bottles. So yeah, gentle with the caps no teeth!

OPI: No Room For The Blues

 OPI: No Room For The Blues

This is going to be a quick post. Todays manicure is OPI No Room For the Blues from their brights collection. It's a beautiful bright blue creme that is unlike anything else I have in my collection (and I love blue polish). Formula is standard for OPI; not too thin, not too thick a perfect two coater. Not much else to say here, they're known for their quality and this color is no exception.

OPI No Room For The Blues

Batch Shot

OPI No Room For The Blues + CG For Audrey + Microglitter = Fabulously Nautical

On my ring finger I did an accent nail using China Glaze For Audrey and some craft glitter. I happened to have some leftover microglitter from a project I did re-epoxying my roller derby helmet and I realized it looked exactly like the microglitter they sell at Sally's Beauty Supply. I got mine at Michaels, like a huge 6 pack of vibrant colors for 6 dollars using my 40% off coupon...it works great! I used two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry topcoat to make everything smooth afterwards. It's not my favorite top coat but it is good for smoothing rough surfaces due to its gel-like consistency. 

 

So yeah, I got lots of compliments on this color from guys, it was funny! I feel like men notice bold blue and green colors more and women notice (or point out) the more feminine colors I wear. One guy even remarked that he was going to run out and buy a shirt in this color. No scientific research for this conclusion, just based on my observations at work (I'm currently waitressing so people see my hands very frequently). 

Love this color and will most definitely be reaching for it again! (As soon as I finish up my huge box of untrieds LOL)

Jade Holographics: Sedução Rosa

Jade: Sedução Rosa

So...if you hadn't heard, I like nail polish. But in particular my latest fiending has been for holographic polishes. As a latecomer to the polish party I missed out on the infamous China Glaze OMG collection and had to resort to stalking e(vil)Bay in order to attain a bottle from that collection. Well after spending hours poring over the internet attempting to find amazing linear holographics from collections past it occured to me that somewhere...somehow....someone might be currently producing holographic polishes that I could simply buy without them being "VHTF". Duh! Why didn't I think of that earlier...

My searches led me to Llarowe where I found gems from Glitter Gal, Ludurana, Jade and more. Also if you're looking for currently in production holo's Layla has a line out that's pretty bad-ass that you can get at Ulta or Zappos, but I digress. This post is about Jade. Every review I came across seemed to be translated from portuguese but that's because these polishes are from Brazil. The first time I wore this I was so pumped to be able to tell people that it was from Brazil and they'd have to order it online (hehe not sure why that made me feel so special but it did). You will feel special too, watch!

 Sedução Rosa

My first impressions were that it was a small bottle. 8mls so it's a bit smaller than the 15 ml OPI or China Glaze bottle I'm used to wielding. It also has a slim handle which you might find more or less convenient. For me, less...but only because the handle is tapered and I felt it a little awkward. The brush itself is relatively standard. Not soft or stiff...or particularly wide or narrow. Ordinary brush. 

On to the good stuff. The holo rainbows on this polish are just gorgeous. Right from the first coat I was getting excited but two coats seemed to be enough for full opacity. The holographic effect can be seen in low lighting but is particularly intense outside in the sun. These pictures don't do the holo effect justice, which is my fault because I was so stoked to swatch this one I couldn't wait for sun (it rained for 4 days straight maybe) and I took these pictures indoors with flash.

As a comparison I own OPI DS Signature, and China Glaze BFF which are also pink holos (gotta stop buying those).  Without swatching them I can say CG BFF is more salmon colored than Jade Seducao Rosa and doesn't show up as strongly in low light. DS Signature is more plum by comparison and not as linear in it's hologram effect but still very strong. Swatches to come!

L-R China Glaze BFF, OPI DS Signature, Jade Sedução Rosa
(On nails CG Ride the Waves, of course the sun comes out when you take your holo polish OFF)

I didn't have a problem with patchiness or balding as some people complain of with holographic polishes however I wear acrylics so my nails are not as porous. Natural nails might need an aqua base of some sort..not sure. My manicure started to chip after 3 days but not badly or in huge chips, just tip wear had gotten troublesome at this point. I did not use a top coat because the one I tried (Sally Hansen Insta Dry) dulled the holo effect to the point that I took off that polish and repainted that nail.

So yeah, good experience with Llarowe and will definitely be purchasing with them again. Also I was happy with my Jade polish and will be trying not to use up the whole bottle before the summer is over. I love pink, and I love holos so naturally this was a match made in heaven (or Brazil)!

The Essie "Clambake" Mystery

The Essie "Clambake" Mystery

Today I have for you an unusual post. Polishes I have yet to even swatch. I came across these polishes at Job Lot and immediately noticed the trademark Essie bottles amongst the other polishes in the discount bin. Two dollar Essie? I sure will! It wasn't until I started looking at the colors at the bottom that I realized many of them were labeled the same. "Clambake". Well obviously someone F-d up. I pulled out my phone and googled what Clambake was supposed to look like and still I'm not sure any of these are Clambake.

(L-R) Clambake, Clambake, Clambake, Clambake and Clambake....just kidding

Pretty, if not Perfect

 Every single one of these is labeled the same Clambake #476. Each one has a white Essie cap with an E and no label. Except the furthest one to the right which is labeled on the top "Damsel in a Dress". This seems to be the accurate color labeling. None of these bottles have the clear/white Essie label on the side of the bottle leading me to believe they are all slip-ups that were never fully rendered. It appears though that the only problem was that they had Clambake printed on the bottom. If Damsel is one of the slipups however, I'm not sure what the others are because they don't match up with any of the other Winter 2008 Collection.

(L-R) Aruba Blue, Downtown Brown, Bordeaux

Here we have a few more that I found in the discount bin. Aruba Blue which is missing its clear/white side stickers but seems to be color-accurate. Downtown Brown, and Bordeaux which are similar but definitely not the same. I also found Angora Cardi but I already had that one at home (damn, kicking myself for paying full price). 

Anyways, it was very curious but I'm glad someones screw up led to more polish landing cheaply in my collection. For this my badly-labeling-factory-worker-friend you WIN!

So any guess on what these mystery colors really are? I saw a bottle of Geranium correctly labeled in the bin right next to the reddest of the "Clambake" colors and it seemed in bottle to be a perfect dupe....

L'Oreal Amazon's Flare

 L'Oreal Amazon's Flare feat Essie A Cut Above

 

Today's nail of the day is L'Oreal Amazon's Flare in a jelly "sammich" with Essie A Cut above. I used 1 coat of Amazon's Flare followed by one coat of A Cut Above followed by an additional coat of AF, all topped with Borghese Presto Top Coat for shine. 

L'Oreal Amazon Flare

I picked up Amazon's Flare in the discount bin at Ocean State Job Lot (which is for those of you who don't know a discount store in New England that carries lots of random stuff that changes on a weekly basis). Only 2 dollars, so I didn't feel bad adding to my ever growing collection of polish and it was such a pretty pink how could I resist?

L-R: L'Oreal Amazon's Flare, Essie A Cut Above, Borghese Presto

 The formula was fine for a jelly. I knew what I was getting myself into. Very buildable coverage that makes me want to use this polish again for a "syrup nails" type manicure. This was my first jelly sandwich mani but it came out so cute I want to try it again with different colors. Because I used pink glitter and a pink jelly polish it is kind of reminiscent of a flaky top coat manicure but with only pink tones. Really pretty, like a pink Koi fish or something.

Indoors with natural lighting

This was my first time using Essie A Cut Above. I feel that there is a liberal amount of glitter allowing you to only use one coat and still get glamorous coverage. In fact, I'll probably pick up Set In Stones (the silver equivalent) when I get a chance. I used Borghese Presto Top coat to help dry the layers faster and add some luster. This is my all time favorite top coat. No shrinkage, no bald spots just quick deep drying clear top coat. I also found this in the bin at Ocean State Job Lot. I heard Borghese is actually discontinued so I made sure to grab like 5 of those top coats (which actually come free with the purchase of a Borghese Rapido color)... don't wanna run out you know ;) 

Amazon's Flare was part of L'Oreals Fall 2011 collection that all seems to be named after birds. Of the collection I found Amazon's Flare and Cockatoo Mystery and was happy with just those two as the rest of the collection seemed to be mostly golds and reds which are not my favorite. Cockatoo's Mystery is a cool toned grey which in bottle appears to maybe be a dupe of Orly Faint of Heart, but we'll see when I get around to swatching it!

Happy Painting Friends :)

Essie: Cascade Cool

Essie Cascade Cool

Alright so first up from my collection of unposted manicures: (as I've decided I mostly like reviewing polish) Essie Cascade Cool.

Cascade Cool is a bright pale pink that leans blue. It is a cream from Essie's Summer 2012 Bikini So Teeny line. I know it was meant for summer but once all the hot summer neon colors came out these pretty cremes just seemed to fall by the wayside in my collection. I haven't even gotten around to wearing Bikini So Teeny and the summer is half over :gasp:

 

Formula was the usual for Essie. Visible nail line with two coats and slightly streaky which evens out by the third coat. I really enjoyed this color as I was finished but was skeptical during coat 1 & 2. By the third coat I was feeling the Barbie Pink and decided to throw on a few gemstones for good measure!

 

I will definitely reach for this color again. I am a fiend for a good pink (as you will soon find out) and this one is super cute and goes with my skin (cool undertones). 

What do you think?

Orly Flash Glam: Be Brave

Orly Flash Glam: Be Brave

On Wednesdays we wear pink. Pink holographic bar glitter that is....

So I managed to score a couple of sweet little gems a little early from Sally's Beauty. I noticed Orly's Flash Glam line first a couple weeks ago when I was in a store near my job. I hadn't heard anything about it yet but the gold bar glitter/chunky hex glitter mix in Sashay My Way caught my eye so I bought it. Orly often attaches swatches of their colors to their display (which is great because even if the bottle is missing you get to see the colors). Of the 6 or so available there were only a couple bottles left and of course Be Brave (the fuschia bar glitter) was gone. 

Well, when I got home I googled it only to find out that they weren't technically coming out until June 1st and that store must've just been an early release. Determined to find another one, I asked one of the storekeepers at the Sallys in my town and she hooked me up early! 

Be Brave, Sashay My Way

Eeeek! Glitter overload! I love all things shiny and especially holographic so I was even happier to find that the bar glitter in Be Brave is a beautiful multi-toned green/pink/purple/blue/red holo. The pics don't do it justice but every way you turn your hand the light hits the glitter and it's like a disco on your nails. Amazeballs. 

Be Brave over After Party

Orly Be Brave layered over After Party

Here I have Be Brave layered over two coats of Orly After Party which is a black with some pink and purple glimmer to it. Apparently Orly is releasing a black polish Liquid Vinyl to be used with these Flash Glam polishes as a base. I was interested but I didn't want her to have to take another trip to the back room and I wasn't exactly wanting to buy too many more black nail polishes this summer when I just got After Party a few weeks ago. I used two coats of Be Brave, and I did have to poke around a few of the glitters but not excessively. Two coats feels relatively smooth but I ended up applying top coat after I took these pics because I love that glassy shine and also wanted my mani to last until work on Friday. (If I don't get all ADD and switch it because I'm dying to try out these Ma.Nish.Ma matte neons..... I swear this isn't a nail blog. (or at least it wasn't meant to be...I love nail blogs) Anyways ;)

For your comparison:

, 

Here is a shot of Be Brave and Sashay My Way next to a Milani Jewel FX for a glitter size comparison. These are not fine glitters. These are chunky LOOK AT ME glitter! Sashay My Way I'm planning to put over a nice dark teal creme...or maybe eggplant. Big plans for this one, swatches to come!

Orly: Skinny Dip

Orly: Skinny Dip

This is the first Orly polish I've ever bought. I have one other but if I recall correctly I won it in a basket at a baby shower. Guess who's really good at guessing whats in the diaper? Me! Anyways, I was at Sally's perusing the new polish displays and noticed Orly's Feel The Vibe collection. I'm loving all the muted neons everyone is putting out this summer but of course the blue screamed out to me to purchase. And I did, of course being a sucker for blues and greens. 

The color doesn't remind me of skinny dipping per say... Not in any water I've had the privilege of skinny dipping in anyways. It's like a bright aquamarine, high-opacity blue with more than a hint of shimmer. The shimmer in bottle can definitely be seen on the nail. I enjoyed this color as is, but forgot to take a picture of it before I topped it with Essie Shine of the Times. Here's a pic: 

Formula: Great. It was opaque in two coats. If I could describe perfect nail polish consistency this would be it...Orly you have a fan! Since I bought this, I've picked up 4 more. P.S. ladies I think Sally's is doing spring cleaning or something because they have a ton of polish on "Reduced" inventory.

Color: One of my favorite blues. I love the gently shimmer on such a bold color. I got lots of compliments on this one at work, but as you can see I also added Shine of The Times.

Wear:  Some people have complained about chipping with this color. I didn't experience that but I used a top coat. Not a single chip for at least a week, in fact I was like waiting for it to chip so I could try out a new color and it didn't.

This was my favorite of the Feel The Vibe collection. If you're a big fan of blue polish you NEED this one in your stash!

Essie: Playdate

Essie: Playdate

So, I finally got my hands on this little gem. I had been going back and forth about getting this ever since I saw it in Walgreens a few weeks ago. I ended up purchasing something else but googled it later and after hearing rave reviews about the formula and rooting through my collection to see if I had a similar purple shade I decided I had to have it. Went back last week, damn if they weren't sold out. ::facepalm:: totally knew I shoulda bought it the other day. Anyhow, managed to find it at Walmart the other day tossed behind some other stuff. It's weird because Walmart doesn't seem to know which colors are "new". The other day I found a lone bottle of Go Overboard on clearance. Sure...if two months ago is outdated, I'll take a discount ;) Rambling...on to the review.


Formula: C
I don't know what everyone is talking about. Mine was goopy, probably correctable with thinner but I didn't try. Maybe its the humidity...In either case this was one of the most difficult to work with Essies I have. It was fairly self leveling so that helped but still didn't defeat the brush strokey-ness (word?)
Color: A
I must be on a purple kick, because I realized I bought some Revlon Liquid Lipstick in a similar shade...but this purple is fabulous. Reminds me of a muted, retro Fanta purple. Got several compliments on this at work today.
Chipping: A
No chipping so far, the pics are after two days of wear. I'm a working mom so I get my hands dirty...crap polish doesn't last a day. 

And yes I'm reading Hunger Games. Two coats here of Playdate on the pinky, middle, and index. Two coats of China Glaze Liquid Crystal on the ring as an accent.

I still recommend getting this. I think I might add a little thinner next time I use it, and maybe use three coats if it seems thin. The color payout is phenom, which keeps me coming back. The price ehhhh...you know, it's the colors with Essie. They'd better hope Sinful Colors doesn't start matching them in the pastels department because their price would really give Essie a run.