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.)