Wish List

I am pretty proud of myself.  Since last week, I had gone on a no-buy and have been faithfully sticking to it.  So far.

But that does not stop me from wishing and wanting these polishes:
1.  China Glaze Fortune Teller - perfect for Halloween
2.  China Glaze OMG Collection - these are (I believe) very hard to find (VHTF) polishes, so these will be expensive on eBay.  Boo.
3.  Milani One Coat Glitter Polishes
4.  Milani Jewel FX Polishes
5.  Milani 3D Holographic
6.  China Glaze Crackle Metals Collection
7.  China Glaze Crackle Glaze
8.  China Glaze Calypso Blue
9.  China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway

I can hear my wallet crying at the thought of buying these polishes.  Oooh, I can't wait to get my hands on them.  Not all at once, of course, but perhaps, a few at a time?  I'll most likely save the OMG Collection for last.

Oh, give me strength to resist!

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

My First Nail Stamp

I have owned a few nail plates for a while, and have played with them a little bit, but I haven't really taken photos to share. Until now. :)

I managed to grab OPI's Last Friday Night (from the Katy Perry Collection) about a month ago. It has fine blue and silver holographic glitter in a light blue jelly base.

OPI's Last Friday Night

(taken in my new light box)

I applied Seche Clear base coat, 3 coats of Last Friday Night, and then Seche Vite top coat. I then stamped over it with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night Flight using Bundle Monster plate BM 224 (the swirly pattern on the plate).

I loved how these turned out. Not too shabby for my first official attempt to stamp, right?

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

It's Heeere!!!

Yup, my new light box arrived.

It actually arrived more than 3 weeks ago, but I didn't have much time then to tinker with it too much.  Boo.

 Here's the box it came in.  Please excuse the open flap, in my excitement, I had forgotten to take photos before I opened the box. :p

Here it is, out of the box.

It came with the light box that folds into a storage bag, 4 background cloths, a mini tripd, and 2 lamps for lighting.

Here is the whole set-up.

I can't wait to start using this!

Thanks for reading and harve a great day!

Light Box

Now I've really done it.
After several weeks of debating whether I should get a light box or not, I have finally decided to go ahead and get one.  I figured there was no point in writing about nail polish if I can't occasionally show photos of them on my nails.  And I bought it just in time, too.  August 31 is the last day of Sears' One Day Coupon Event, where you can get 5 to 15 percent off the selling price.

I got mine for around $28, excluding tax + shipping.  This is what I got, in case you're wondering.  I'll take a photo of the actual set up once it arrives.

So, hopefully, I can start showing swatches of polishes, nail stamping, etc. with my new light box.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 2011 Fall Colors

Here are a few of the colors from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear collection for fall 2011.

(L to R) Deep Blue Sea, Midnight Sky, Time to Shine, Very Cherry

(Without flash, hopefully the colors show better)

These shimmery polishes have little flecks of very fine glitter which blend smoothly with the metallic cobalt blue, dark gray-black, bronze, and bright pink-red polish base.  I love the fact that I could wear these and have the effect of glitters, without the pain of removing the them later on.  I think I will be wearing these plain (no layers), although I think they will look amazing with a dark base, too.  I'm not sure how opaque they are (as always, I haven't swatched these yet), but I can't wait to find out. :) 

(L to R) Set the Stage, Twinkle, Twinkle, Pumpkin Spice, Teal-y Cool

(Without flash, hopefully the colors show better)

I'm not sure if Set the Stage and Twinkle, Twinkle are really part of the Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear's fall release, but they were on display with the rest of the collection.  In any case, these two were beautiful glitters.  Set the Stage is a blend of fine gold and silver glitters and larger hexagonal gold glitters in a clear base.  I wore this as a manicure for work, and I got a lot of compliments on my nails.

Twinkle, Twinkle is a similar blend of fine silver and purple holographic glitter with larger flecks of hexagonal silver holographic glitter suspended in a clear purple base.  I wanted to wear this as a mani,but I'm not sure how work appropriate this is.  Otherwise, I would definitely wear this this weekend.  Can you imagine it by itself, or layered over a nice cream color?  Love, love, love.

Pumpkin Spice is fine orange glitter in a clear black base.  I picked it up and pretended it was China Glaze's Fortune Teller, which was released several years ago for Halloween and is one of the hard to find polishes (in my opinion).  If you own Fortune Teller, you can see that Pumpkin Spice is nowhere close to it (I can tell that much from the beautiful swatches of Fortune Teller online), but until China Glaze brings it back (please, please, please), I will have to content myself with this.  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with Pumpkin Spice and I will be wearing this in the weekends close to Halloween, but unfortunately, it does not stop me from drooling over Fortune Teller.

Last is the teal-aqua glitter polish, Teal-y Cool.  It consists of fine gold and aqua glitter and larger blue and green glitter in an aqua base.  At first glance, it looks more like a summer color, but I can see layering this over a black polish and wearing it over the holidays. 

 P. S.  I did not haul all of these in one go, they were purchased a few at a time over several weeks. :p

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!



Similar Shades?

As soon as I got home, I compared these polishes side-by-side because as much as I love nail polishes, I don't want to have different brands of the same color.

First up, the shimmery gray-blacks.

(L to R) OPI Lucerne-tainly Marvelous and China Glaze Jitterbug

Both have flecks of fine silver glitter.  On the nail, Lucerne-tainly Marvelous looks like a deeper shade of gray, with a hint of some olive green (?) undertone.

Then we have the espressos.

(L to R) OPI Get in the Expresso Lane, Zoya Codie

They look more similar without the flash.

In real life, Zoya Codie is a darker espresso, while OPI Get in the Espresso Lane is a lighter, taupe-y brown.

Thanks for looking and have a great day! 

Pick Me Up!!!

I had a rough day at work today, so I swung by my local Ulta to "browse."

The problem with "browsing" is that eventually, I do end up buying something.  In the event of a particularly rough day, sometimes, a few somethings here and there.  Of course, I justify the purchase by the fact that I needed a pick-me-up.  Yes, some people drink coffee; I buy nail polish.  Shame, shame.

I bought several OPI polishes (among others).  The guilt of buying does not eclipse the joy of knowing that these polishes are now all mine, though. :p  I had a few OPI's, because they were a bit hard to find in my area.  Ulta is the only place I know that sells them, but I know there's a Trade Secret store at the mall that may sell them, too.  My goal this weekend is to check out the local Trade Secret to see what they have.  Yep, this time, it will be to really just see, since I've maxed out my limit for nail polish this month.

Anyway, on to the polishes.

(L to R) Uh-oh Roll Down the Window, Get in the Expresso Lane, A-taupe the Space Needle

These are from the Touring America collection.  These (and Roadhouse Blues, which I bought previously and did not take a photo of, sorry) were the only polishes in the collection that appealed to me.

(L to R) Opi Ink, Brisbane Bronze, Glitzerland, Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous 

I picked these polishes because I love the shimmer of these metallics.  I was drawn to Glitzerland first, because I saw a shimmery gold polish on a lady I met yesterday, and it looked amazing on her.  I thought gold would look dated, but I guess I was wrong.  Of course, the glimmer of the other polishes drew me in, too.

(L to R) Gargantuan Green Grape, Do You Lilac It?, Hawaiian Orchid, Ski Teal We Drop

I fell in love with the light apple green cream of Gargantuan Green Grape.  In the store, it looked like it might be a great last few days of summer pedicure.  When I got home and wore it, it looked more light neon green to me, but maybe it's my skin tone and my lighting?  I will swatch this (and the others in this post) as soon as I get myself a light box.  The others were just because I love pinks, blues, and purples, and even if I do have several polishes of these colors, I just couldn't resist.



 (With flash)

(Without flash)

(L to R) Tickle My France-y, Barefoot in Barcelona, You Don't Know Jacques!

And last, but not the least, my neutrals.  I bought these because I heard about them so much from the nail polish community.  I think they will be excellent work-appropriate polishes to wear on my nails. :)

Thanks to an Ulta coupon, I got 20% off my total purchase.

Thanks for looking, have a great day!