OPI, Holiday Glow

Please click on that one to see the full extent of Holiday Glow Awesomeness. Thank you. :)

Oh, and this is indoors.
Outdoors, shade.
Outdoors, sunlight.

Um, wow.

I spent the past twenty minutes or so sitting outside, trying to capture the depth and dazzle of this polish, but it just comes out looking like just another shimmery brown. It isn't. It's the awesome. It's also very elegant and very chic. I love this so much; I wish I had it during Thanksgiving. It reminds me of brownies. I want brownies.

Anyway.

Holiday Glow is a polish from the OPI Holiday Collection this year, and is a dark brown with plum and gold glitter. At least, I think the reddishness of it is a glitter. Maybe a microglitter? It's there. It's not particularly sparkly, as you can tell, the way glitters generally are, but the dots break up the color and add interest, I think. When I first put it on I figured it'd make a very nice night sky polish had the base been blue, but as it is, it's just gorgeous. This was three coats, and yes, you do need three. I think the base is sheer to let the glitter shine through the layers a bit. No worries, though; this polish is a joy to put on. :)

NOTD: Let It Snow

WARNING: Stains Ahead! Do not look if you are of delicate constitution--may cause nausea, headaches, and frustration!





These are all indoors.

Now that the quarter is over and that I'm home for the holidays, my friends and I decided to head for the mountains for four or so days, which I will be doing in about, oh, fifteen minutes?

Yeah. Since I was sure that most people would be complaining (loudly) about my changing polish in a tiny little cramped cabin, I painted my nails with dodoclub, which was sparkly enough to catch my interest but sheer enough so that I wouldn't notice the chips too much during those four days.

(to be honest, I've worn this for about twelve hours now and already I have mad tipwear. Boo.)

And then I rub-onned the hell out of it, with snowflakes. (Do I clearly need Konad in my life? Yes. Will I wait until the wanting drives me insane? Yes.)

I know my nails are stained ridiculously, and that I probably shouldn't go out in public with such badly stained nails, but more often than not this polish is so obnoxiously sparkly that nobody'd notice, anyway. And then if they look closer--snowflakes! Silver snowflakes!

I like to think it's distracting enough; don't tell me the truth, 'kay?

This was four coats of Dodoclub, and two coats of topcoat for the rub-on. See you all Friday!

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 11 December 2009


This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog does not accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, we will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.


To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

----
I felt like I had to do this. I am in no way important enough to be receiving any free product for the Lemming Monster, but you know how things are. :)

Another Giveaway!

Painted Lady Fingers is having a giveaway to celebrate her 300 followers! The contest winner will receive

• the entire Diamond Cosmetics holiday collection
• the Diamond Cosmetics matte topcoat (new)
• eight polishes from DC's core line of the winner's choice
• a nail file
• and a cosmetics bag!

Go check it out at her site!

NOTD: Frost

No, not that kind of frost.

Any of you read Polish Hoarder Disorder? I saw this mani of hers at her blog and thought, 'Hmm'. Then I thought that it seemed easy enough to do, since most of this manicure's beauty lay in its simplicity.

So I tried it. :) This is five (AGH) coats of RBL Bikini Bottom, and one very very thin coat of Color Club Sex symbol.


tDo you see the evidence of tipwear at the bottom of the mani? Sorry, guys, it's cause it's day three.

it's finals. I'm sorry. <<.

In fact, this is one of the things I love most about bikini bottom. It bubbles like whoa (it didn't this week, oddly enough), it takes a million coats to get opaque, but look at it! It's a wonderful, muted, squishy blue and it wears for ages. No chips. The slight discoloration that will eventually lead to tipwear is there, at the edges of my fingers, yeah, but nothing too serious just yet.

And it's so purty. I really like this concept: I wonder how it'd look with MCA, too, and with a myriad of other colors I own. I think I will, in fact, be repeating this manicure soon for when I go on a ski trip. :o

Okay, it's probably time for me to go back to my studies, but here's your nail candy for now!

Franken, Bibbity Bobbity Blue Part II! (That rhymes.)

I'm re-posting and re-wearing this franken of mine because I recall that someone asked me if it was a dupe of Dorothy Who?. I don't actually know for certain, since I've not bought the Wizard of Ooh Aahz collection, nor have I seen the polish in the nearby stores that sell np, but judging from all the swatches I see it's really, really, really close.

One of the main differences that I can tell you right off the bat is that it seems as though DW? needs three coats to be fully opaque; BBB needs two. I think that DW may be a shade or so lighter than my franken; if I had to judge I'd say that the older formula for DW may be closer--it seemed to be a stronger blue.

I decanted and gave half the bottle to my roommate after some kind of nail polish order mishap, along with my second franken, Spring Break in Malibu (I'll steal it at some point to show you all). But I don't think I'll be buying DW, anyway--this polish killed the lemming.

Formula for Bibbity Bobbity Blue:
-2/5 Nfu-Oh 119 (sacrelige, I know)
-2/5 Color Club Sexagon
-1/5 clear

My polish bottle didn't have ballz when I first mixed this, so it may not be necessary... but it has ballz now. :) Also also, keep your Seche bottles. The brushes are really amazing, I think.

Essie, Ballet Slippers

It must be an Essie week.

I just received two polishes and four minis in a swap with niclyf from MUA Nail Board, and this was one of the minis that I'd received. I'm in the middle of studying for finals and creating my final projects and turning them in plus extra work hours since I'm a night barista and people are still frantically studying in libraries late at night and will need caffeine--trust me, this gets somewhere--so I decided to put on a polish that would be low-maintenance. And nothing is more low-maintenance than a business appropriate color.

Right?

Okay. Ballet Slippers is Essie's award-winning classic pink or summat, and it really is pretty: I actually thought it was a very soft and squishy off-white when I first saw it, although now that I look at it it's definitely a pale pink. I like it a lot, although the first two coats apply really streaky--you need the third to even it out, and then it takes a ridiculously long time to dry. Nevertheless it wears and applies a lot like my RBL Bikini Bottom: long-wearing, long-drying, a bit of a layering bish, but then wears like iron.

The picture up there is after a day and a half; I kept it on for four days when I started to get tipwear. (Essentially, I got bored.) I also put rhinestones on it--it was kind of messy, but a little bit like throwing a sequinned jacket over a really pretty and romantic pink dress. Cool stuff. I don't have a picture of it, however. Sorry, guys. :<

Oh! And it applied really, really ridiculously well. Great control--just streaky. :)

Essie, Jelly Apple

So, um, remember when I said I like Essie? This is, primarily, why: it's not Lucia Lilac, and it's not even MCA. It's Jelly Apple--a pretty jelly true red with an application that's on par with the RBLs that I own: the gold-standard of application.

Don't believe me? Take a look below. Note: I did not do ANY CLEANUP.

I'm a pretty good nail polish applier, but I'm not that good. Jelly Apple makes me that good. This is indoors, direct sunlight and an unaltered photo. It's a tad more true red than the tomato red that the photo suggests--I'm not that warm-toned, either.

It's a pretty, classy, true red jelly that makes me feel classy, sassy, and just a little mischievous. It's a great color, and a great pedi color also. I seem to pick this one out every time I decide to see my parents, but they love the color and it seems to make them happy. :) Definitely a holiday polish to consider--I like to think I'm ushering in the christmas season with red, red, red!

(I have two reds. D:)

NOTD: Thanksgiving

My camera died this Thanksgiving holiday, so I'm afraid I could only give you quick and derty swatches of my thanksgiving mani:


It's a moon mani with one coat of Missha BR102 and two coats of OPI We'll Always Have Paris, and then dotted with a needle. :D (I noticed that WAHP looks brown against the bronze.) I know I'm a little late to the uptake, and the mani itself is two days old in that pic, but I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

NOTD: Gran's Vintage Wallpaper

Two coats of Butter London's Billy No Mates, and a gold lace That's It? Rub-on from EZ Nails.

I'd been experimenting with the rub-on when it failed (twice) and I was too lazy to try again. I just rubbed on the rest of it haphazardly to the rest of my nails, but I rather like the effect. Like aged wallpaper, hence the name: a whole lot of the design has been scratched or just aged away, leaving only the base color. It reminds me also of upholstery.

It's a BS of a project, I know, but I really do like it! I promise to be a little more careful next time I try something like this; I swear it won't be this all the time. :) I do want full-on lacey nails at some point, y'know. Without mishaps.

(Also, I think this NOTD is making me like Billy No Mates. Uh oh.)

Giveaway!

Gildedangel's blog, Naive Nails, is having a giveaway for a bottle of Essie's new limited-edition MCA and two Mint/ Candy Apple hand lotion tubs! Check it out!

Sally Hansen, Opulent Cloud

So. My Opulent Cloud story:

I'd gotten wind of all the hype surrounding this really difficult-to-find polish. I saw the swatches. I thought 'meh'. It didn't seem to be one of those things that actually worked on me, so I forgot about it. By 'forgot about it' I mean 'stared at the swatches every time the name came up to see if it looked awesome'.

Anyway, about two weeks ago I was going through the local CVS when I found a full display of the limited HD series. And two Opulent Clouds. I picked one up. I nearly danced with joy. I took a walk around the entire store to calm myself, paid for it, and walked out.

I understand that this reaction is very extreme for a polish I didn't like. But when I studied it in the sun, I realized that it was absolutely lovely in the bottle. I could try it, once. If I didn't like it, I could always swap it to an unfortunate Opulent Cloud lover for something quite nice indeed. I took it home.

Then it sat on my bookshelf until... er, now, after I've tried it on for the first time.

Guys? This polish LOVES my skin.








As usual, the last, far-off pic describes my love affair with Opulent Cloud better than the close-ups could. Quite enamored of the angle pics, though.

This is two easy peasy coats. Applied like whoa (brush is funny-looking, but okay) and dried like whoa and looks like THAT. Shines a lot more subtly than the pictures would have you believe, and for sure it's a warm gold flash. On me, it looks gunmetally and nowhere near its grey-purple base. (IRL.) I look like scifi. I love it. It rather loves me, too.

Well, okay. I need to get to the post office and the supermarket before the sun sets completely, and before I decide to trek to the gym, and I kind of want to roll around with a mocha before hitting the treadmill.

Ah, Fridays. How I love thee.

(I kind of wish I picked up the other bottle instead of letting some other intrepid nail junkie take it. I'll be so sad when this is all gone.)

NOTD: Stars

My Wagon Trail has been holding up much better than I thought it would, and I'd received a package today that I'd ordered from EZ Nails. I ordered a tooon of rubons and a rhinestone carousel and such, and I'd like to squee and show you! Eventually.

Anyway I wanted to freshen it up a bit with a lil somethin' somethin, so I took the gold stars one and pressed it against my nail, add topcoat, and voila. Interesting ring fingers.

I love it. It looks like halloween, or classy and sparkly giftwrap for new year's. I can't wait to try this over a dark blue, or something. :D

All right. Thanks for visiting! It is now time for lunch. >]

China Glaze, Wagon Trail

Indoors.
Outdoors, shade.
Outdoors, sun.
Outdoors, sun.
Outdoors, sun.
Far Off.

So, Merry Midnight doesn't last on me: it chipped off my right index finger. I wonder if it's because I was wearing six coats of nail polish at the time, though, so don't take my word on how long-lasting it is just yet. Thick polishes come off faster. It was a relief, anyway; the coats were so heavy that my nails hurt as I removed the two. Gah. ):

I'd been dying to try Wagon Trail for a while now, so I did: it's lovely. I can't say it's my favorite polish, because it isn't--I don't think my skin tone is right for it. It makes me look sallow, as it brings out the yellow overtones on my skin. But god, it's incredible. Looks like black in low lighting---in fact, looking at it right now I could swear it's black, but it just lights up in the sun. I just love a polish with a couple secrets. (I can't say the same for almost-black cremes, though. Boo.) The effect is not unlike finding a treasure under the dirt, so to speak. It looks like a gold that's been so sullied it only brightens under strong light.

I'm afraid that my pictures do not do this polish justice at all: it's nowhere near that dark when the sun hits it. It attains a glowy, lit-from-within look when under direct sunlight, and glistens interestingly in shade and partial light. I'll try to take better pictures tomorrow, but the fall quarter is beginning to wrap up and I'm in the middle of tying together all of my final projects, which is stressful for me. (Not to mention that my roommates know about my polish obsession, but not how far it goes: you try taking sunlit pictures in secret and see if you could cover up the fact that you were taking a picture of your manicure.)

This is two coats, and absolutely perfect. It's my personal opinion that Wagon Trail is actually a black base with a ridiculous amount of olive green/gold glitter, but most people seem to think it's a dark olive base with gold glitter. I dunno.

On another note, I know that the far-off pictures changed! I can't take the photos under artificial light anymore: my lamp has finally run its course. The bulb is exclusive and I have to order it online (BOO, lack of instant lighting, BOO), so as you can imagine I've been unable to do much at my own desk after the sun sets... which is about four thirty nowadays. D: Hopefully, things will change after next week, when I get to visit the source and demand a replacement personally. I can hardly wait to get my lamp back.

OPI, Merry Midnight

Merry Midnight, indoors
Merry Midnight, shade.
Merry Midnight, direct sunlight.
Further off.

Holy smoke.

This is yet another polish that's astoundingly difficult to capture--not, necessarily, for what it physically looks like, but because its depth and its sparkle just doesn't translate well onto photo. It's lovely. It is the classy, colorful, clean sister of Hot-Mess 212: they're similar in that they both have the same sort of flakie and two kinds of glitter. But 212 drinks and parties all night and has no memory of the occasion and the worst hangover ever. Merry Midnight cracks open a bottle of champagne and flirts under the mistletoe during holiday parties, has fun, and never loses too much control.

I love both of them, in truth--they're so unique (except similar to each other)! They're so pretty! They have so much depth and sparkle! They wear like effing iron (I hope, at least, for MM's sake). What's not to love?

That's what I thought. I like MM's jelly consistency, the surprising blue sparkle, the flakies that give it an opalescent look (it only cemented (hah) my idea that 212 looked like asphalt, but it works in a totally opposite way with MM). I love how perfectly it put itself on. I just love it. That is all.

P.S. Did I mention the flakes are duochrome? They're duochrome. Oh, and this was three coats over Princesses Rule! The index finger is just MM, and it's still three coats--the polish applies sheer. A base is probably a good idea, but I imagine you'd probably want at least two coats of MM then, anyway, and so it really doesn't make much of a difference. :)

OPI, Princesses Rule!

Indoors
Outdoors, shade.
Outdoors, direct sunlight.

Outdoors, direct sunlight.

This is number two out of the Pink minis set I received from Judy. It's a sheer pink with silver glassfleck, and shiny as all getout. Particularly in shade or areas that aren't too bright--take a look at it. The silveriness of the polish comes out strongest in shade and indoors. This is three coats--I was trying to cover the VNL, but I don't think it's possible without sacrificing the pink of the base. I don't really mind it, as is: Princesses Rule! is so shiny that you can hardly tell there's VNL in life.

Haha, can you guys see the ugly stained yellow of my nails? Shame. Sigh. (Admittedly, going to work with naked nails ONCE would probably result in both ridiculously broken nails -and- white nails: bleach works every time) On another note, it reminds me of the Dodoclub that was the first NOTD on this blog--pinker, and far easier to apply than the old thing, too. That's comforting; if I really wanted a glassfleck I could just buy Princesses Rule instead of pining for the older, asian, discontinued bottle.

I like it a lot. I'm not entirely sure why: it's not exactly unique, or original. It's not flattering on my hands, either, not like Dodoclub (guess I have to look for something else, then): it's so pale and so shiny that I look ridiculously dark and dull-skinned. But I like it. I like staring at it, and it's simple and kind of entrancing. I imagine that this is also a great layering polish--can't wait to try it over black, and a couple of pastels just to see what happens. :)

I'm in the middle of considering something--well, not new, per se, but... different--from what I'm doing with Lemming Monster right now. It's a weird time to think of these things, so I'll let you know once... hmm, I finish trying eight polishes!