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!



The Rest of the Haul

Here's the rest of the polishes that I've purchased these past weeks:

(L to R) China Glaze's V and Bahamian Escape

I've wanted V and Bahamian Escape for three years and have been on my "To Buy" list since then, but I resisted the urge until now.  See, occasionally, I can exercise restraint.

I got interested in matte polishes because of Erika of Chloe's Nails.  She has awesome manicures using OPI's Linkin Park After Dark Matte.  Since I was having a hard time finding that polish, I decided to invest in a matte top coat instead, with the idea of turning my nail polishes into matte polishes.

I also got this from 88beauty.

  China Glaze Matte Magic

With the full-sized China Glaze bottle for size comparison.

These cuties, I got from Ulta.

  (Lto R) Orly's Lollipop, Je t'aime, Wandering Vine, Blackout

Here they are again without the flash, since the flash reflected off Lollipop.

I've enclosed a full-sized China Glaze bottle for size comparison.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day! 



Dupes?

Could it be?  Could these two be dupes of each other???

See what I mean?  From the bottle, they look almost identical.

(L to R) Adore, Metallic Muse

China Glaze's Adore and Metallic Muse are both metallic green shades.  Adore is from Romantique collection, and Metallic is from Khrome collection.  Both were released in 2009.

Here they are on my fingers:

(From pinky to pointer) Adore, Metallic Muse, Adore, Metallic Muse

Adore is a dark green-blue metallic shade.  One coat on the pinky, two coats on the middle finger.

Metallic Muse is a silver, blue green shade.  One coat on the ring finger, two coats on the pointer.

The verdict?  They are similar, but they are not identical.  I took these indoors, under artificial light.  I think the differences between the two will be more stark in natural light.

I love these greens/blue greens, I love how well they apply on my nail (please excuse the smudge on my cuticles on the photos.  I really did not notice them until after I took the photos).

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Excited for Halloween

I was browsing the 88beauty site prior to ordering a couple of polishes several weeks ago, and I saw these on the home page.

(L to R)  It's Alive, Ghoulish Glow, Black Mesh (crackle) and Fast Forward (top coat)

I'm sorry I did not take a photo with the packaging, I was too excited when they arrived and I just popped them out of the box.  I got these for the Goulish Glow polish, which is a glow-in-the-dark top coat.  Unfortunately, the site was not selling Goulish Glow individually, so I was "forced" to buy the set.  Yup, twist my arm. :p

It was actually a great deal.  I got a free top coat (China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat) with the purchase of the three polishes, all for $9.48 plus shipping and handling.

I already have the OPI Shatter in Black, and I like it okay, but I could not resist this deal.  Besides, when I searched online, some sites were selling the Ghoulish Glow for around $9.00.  Boo. :(

I'm already planning my Halloween manicure!!!

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Did I Get Similar Shades?

This is what happens when you let the "C" word rope you in -- you let the impulse of wanting to buy the rest of the collection override the possibility that you may end up with nail polishes of similar shades,

From the color in the bottle, China Glazes's Delight, Magical, Poetic, and Robotika are all similar shades.  The first three are part of the Romantique collection, Robotika is part of the Khrome collection.

(L to R) Robotika, Delight, Magical, Poetic

See what I mean?

After swatching them, I'm happy to say that I was actually wrong.  Yes, I am taking the plunge and showing you my short nails. :p  When looking at the photos, please keep in mind that I am a newbie to the world of nail photography, and my nails are not pros at posing for photos (yet).  Sorry.  I hope I will get better with practice.

I have no daylight left, I took these photos indoors with artificial light.  Sorry.  Someday, I would like to have a lightbox to photograph my nails better.

    (From pinky to pointer finger) Robotika, Poetic, Magical, and Delight

 Here they are without the flash.

Robotika is a darker, metallic espresso-brown.  Poetic is a metallic rusty shade.  Magical is similar t poetic with a silver sheen.  Delight is a darker, shimmery rust/brick color.

I'm not sure how well the photos do the polishes justice, but application was a dream.  Opaque, smooth in one coat, better finish in 2.  I used Seche Vite top coat.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Two from China Glaze's Khrome Collection

I'm proud of the fact that I own only two of the polishes that are part of China Glaze's Khrome collection.  It was not for lack of desire to own the other four colors, it was because I knew I missed my chance to buy them by a couple of years  The Khrome collection came out in 2009 as part of the fall/winter release.

I managed to snag these two from 88beauty.

(L to R) Metallic Muse, Robotika

Metallic Muse is a metallic, rich green shade, and Robotika is a nice dark metallic brown. 

The other polishes in the collection are Millenium, Sci-fi, 2030, and Hi-Tek.  I doubt if any of their owners out there will be willing to trade them for something.  If I were them, I will not trade them either!  Of course, I am very tempted to check eBay to see if there are sellers who are selling these guys, but I really don't want to pay an exorbitant price for them, no matter how beautiful they look. :(  So, I decided to content myself with just these two from Khrome.  That justified my purchase of the whole Romantique collection, by the way.

Again, I became intested in them because of the reputation these polishes earned when used in nail stamping.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day! 

New to Me China Glaze Romantique Collection

I like to think of myself as a late-bloomer, rather than late. :p

For example, I just acquired the China Glaze Romantique Collection, which was part of China Glaze's Spring 2009 releases.  I made my first order from 88Beauty Supplies, a wholesale beauty store based in New York, and they had the whole collection still available.

II was a bit worried, since they do not have a shipping calculator in their website.  I had to wait for an invoice to be e-mailed to me (although the website said I could call to find out the shipping costs prior to ordering), and I did not really mind that since we were soo busy at work that I did not have time on my hands to watch my order.  I'm happy to say that I was impressed with my first transaction with 88Beauty Supplies.  They processed my order and shipped it promptly.  They packed the polishes well, and I got them all with no breakage.  Yay!

Anyway, again, these are for Konad-ing and Fauxnad-ing, since I read somewhere that the China Glaze chrome polishes (Khrome and Romantique Collections) stamp excellently.

As they say, better late than never. :D

The China Glaze Romantique Collection

(They have a soft metallic, chrome-y sheen in the bottle.)

 

(L to R) Awaken, Devotion, Passion

(L to R) Delight, Magical, Poetic

(Yes, the bottle shades do look similar in real life, although I'm hoping that they will be more distinct when I swatch them...otherwise, boo for picking out similar colors!)

(L to R) Cherish, Adore

(L to R) Admire, Harmony, Joy Emotion

I can't wait to stamp with these babies!

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Nail Polish Storage

Before I embarked on adding to my nail polish collection, I Googled how other polish-aholics stored their polishes.

Some used nail polish racks, which hang on walls.  I do not have a lot of room in our apartment, so wall racks are unfortunately out of the question.  Other girls used nail polish display stands, which rest on their desks/make up vanity, but because of the same lack of space reason, I did not get these stands.

The other more popular storage method is the Ikea Helmer, which consists of six drawers on casters.  The Helmer is available at Ikea for $49.99 and it comes in 3 colors:  white, black, and red.  When I went to Ikea last weekend, they did not have the black available, but they had it in silver.

Of course, like all things that I do in my life, I got the Helmer in the nick of time -- five minutes before closing time.  Hubby and I dashed to Ikea, looked up the location of the white Helmer, paid, and lugged the box out of the store (it was heavy).

Assembly took me around 45 minutes (if I let hubby help me, I would have been done much sooner, but I wanted to do it myself).  I struggled with the metal tabs and the screws (which do not fit cleanly into the pre-drilled holes) but I was pretty proud of my work.

The only drawback (in my opinion) is the fact that the drawers have no stoppers, so it looks like this when I pull it out more than halfway:

Of course, when I put the nail polishes in the drawer, the drawer hangs down.

I'm still 50-50 on the fact that it was made of metal -- I thought from the photos on the Internet that it was wood/board/laminate, which might be sturdier (since the polishes could get heavy).  As I said, I was rushing to buy it so I did not really take the time to read the tag, or to check the showroom floor for a sample. 

I still like my Helmer, and I will be using it to store my polishes.  I hope I won't fill the drawers up for a long, long time (read:  I am going on a no-buy for now).

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Preeesenting...Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's

(Warning:  This is a picture-heavy post.)

Yes.  Once again, I've fallen prey to the that "C" word -- collection, and I kept buying and buying until I completed the available Sally Hansen Instra-Dri collection.  Ulta has a "Buy one, get one 50% off" promotion, which broke my resolve.  I'm sooo weak, I'm sorry. :\

To give myself credit, it took me several months to get the existing/available Insta-Dri's.  I think there are other discontinued colors that may be available in eBay or Amazon, but I'm pretty happy with these, so I'm almost positive I won't be chasing after them.

As you can see, I've sorted them by color.

The Silver/White

(L to R) Silver Sweep, Whirlwind White

Here they are without the flash (my flash made the Silver Sweep almost blinding, I think).

The Reds/Pinks

I broke them up into smaller groups so you can see the colors better.

(L to R) Rapid Red, Magenta Motion, Sonic Bloom, Racey Rouge, Speedy Sunburst

(L to R) Flashy Fuschia, Rose Run, Rose-a-go-go (my first Insta-Dri ever), Presto Pink

(L to R) Fuschia Flare, Peachy Breeze, Pink Blink, Petal Pusher

Here they are again without the flash, since the flash made Pink Blink look almost white.

This is Wined Up,  I can't believe I almost forgot about this baby.

The Browns

(L to R) Cinna-snap, Expresso, Slick Slate, Quick Sand, Beige Blast

The Yellow/Orange

(L to R) Snappy Sorbet, Lightening

The Greens

(L to R) Mint Sprint, Jade Jump, Lickety-split Lime, Chartreuse Chase

The Blues

(L to R) Blue Streak, Brisk Blue, Blue-Away, Night Flight, Blazing Blue, Co-Bolt Blue

The Purples

(L to R) Lively Lilac, Raspberry Race, Instant Iris, Uptempo Plum, Pronto Purple, Grape Going

When I first tried the Insta-Dri's (Rose-a-go-go), as much as I loved the color, I did not like the application.  It did dry fast (great when I'm in a rush) but I thought it was too goopy.  But then, that was several months ago, and the formula seems to have improved since then,since the other polishes apply so much better (in my opinion).  In any case, I bought these for one reason -- to use with Konads (and Fauxnads), so all other pros of these polishes are a bonus! :D   

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Sally Hansen Discovery

I stopped by Walgreen's last Friday, as planned, and I did get a few Sinful Colors nail polishes.  At $0.99 each, they were such a great deal!!!

While I was there I saw their display for the new Sally Hansen Insta-Dri limited edition nail polishes for this fall.  There were eight colors in this collection: 

From left to right:  Presto Pewter, Emerald Express, Teal-y Fast, Bronze Ablaze, Coco-a-go-go, Grape Escape,  Quick Brick, and Ruby Rush.  They are dark, metallic colors (the colors remind me of the shiny metallic tinsel that have on our tree every Christmas).

More photos (hopefully you can see the colors better):

I haven't swatched them yet, but I from the bottle, I think my favorite colors from this collection are Emerald Express (metallic rich green) and Bronze Ablaze (rich metallic bronze with greenish-red undertones).  I think they were the more popular colors because I actually had to go to another store for them.  They were not available at the first Walgreen's where I went. :p

I actually wanted Emerald Express and Bronze Ablaze for stamping purposes.  I've read that Sally Hansen Insta-Dri's are great alternatives to Konad's special polishes, so I didn't mind the extra trip to another store.

I can't wait to swatch and stamp these polishes! :D

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Problem Nails

Yes...even if they are short, my nails are a problem.  Until recently, I have not really paid attention to my nails, or cared about them, aside from the occasional trimming the tips and pushing my cuticles.  However, with this new nail polish kick, I have been forced to pamper my fingers, since they will be the canvass that I will put my nail polish on.

Thanks to the Internet, I have found the following tips to try to care for my "tips:"

1.  Use a moisturizing lotion after I wash my hands.
2.  Massage cuticle oil on my cuticles (I bought Solar Oil CND Skin and Nail Conditioner at Ulta.com to try out).
3.  Gently push back my cuticles.  I'm used to trimming my cuticles (which is probably why they are a disaster), and I will probably continue trimming them (even if most people advise just gently pushing them).
4.  Use a base coat underneath nail polish (I've started using Seche Vite Crystal Clear Base Coat).
5.  Gently file the sides and edges of my nails after trimming them.

I hope these tips work (crosses fingers).

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Sinful Colors Sale!

A little while ago, while reading Chloe's Nails' blog, I started browsing Walgreen's website.  Erika of Chloe's Nails has several of Sinful Colors' nail polish and has amazing manis.  In fact, she is one of my inspirations to start a nail blog.  Yay, Erika!

I am pretty new to the nail polish brands (my previous polishes were limited to a few OPI's and China Glazes, not because I am a polish snob, but because I just wasn't that into nail polishes at the time), so Chloe's Nails was where I first read about Sinful Colors.  As I said, Erika has amazing manis with Sinful Colors, so I decided to check them out.

And, I found them at Walgreen's website on sale for $0.99 each (faints).  Oh, my goodness!!!  This is seriously going to put my resolve to hold off on purchasing new nail polishes to the test.

It was too late to rush to my nearest Walgreens (I seriously considered it, and but it was 15 minutes before closing time, and it was at least 15 minutes away), but I sort of calmed down and decided to wait until tomorrow morning.  Of course, I could always buy online, but I thought it will be more fun to check out those polishes at the store. :)

Walgreens, I will see you at 8:00am.

Thank you for reading, and have a great day! 

Glitters and a Great Deal

I was in Canada last weekend and I saw this store at a mall selling make-up and -- you guessed it -- nail polish.  I don't remember the name of the store (sorry), but they were selling OPI, China Glaze, Essie, Color Club, Funky Fingers, and KleanKolors, among others.  I have a few OPI and several China Glazes, but I don't have any of the others.  I decided to give the KleanKolors and Color Club polishes a try, especially since the store was having a sidewalk sale.  Aaaargghhh!

I picked up three KleanKolors glitter polishes that caught my eye.  They were selling for 3 for $10.00, with an additional 20% discount. :D  I had to resist the urge to buy every polish that I liked, since I do have a budget to stick to.

I also picked up a boxed set of Color Club's Glitter Vixen Collection, which was released by Color Club in Fall 2008.  Granted, it was several seasons old, but at $9.99 for a box of seven different glitter polishes, the price can't be beat!  I actually bought it for the holo glitter (Magic Attraction).  No more 20% off on this set, though.

As soon as I got home, I swatched the purple on my nail, and it was pure love.  The glitter was very dense, I loved how it covered my nail.  The sane part of my brain was telling me it will be a pain to remove later, but I figured, I would not be wearing it everyday, so...

So, a few hours later, my husband and I found ourselves back at the store (still does not remember the name), and I bought the two other boxed sets that they had available.  So much for sticking to my budget. :\  But so, so happy nonetheless, with the new polishes.  Twenty-four polishes for $40.00.  Comes to $1.66 plus tax per polish.  Yay!  No more new polishes for the next few weeks.

Swatches to follow.

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

Hello!

I have just re-discovered my love for nail polish, thanks to Konad and BundleMonster and to the nail blogs and nail tutorials in YouTube.  Unfortunately, I work in a place where long nails are not appropriate (since I wear gloves and work with my hands a lot) and bright nail polish might not be allowed.  While I can get away with wearing bright/bold colors on my nails on weekends (and on my toes everyday), I can't miraculously grow long nails for two days (except maybe fake nails?) and I don't really want to take photos of my toes (I can't imagine anyone being interested in looking at someone else's toes...lol).  So I guess for right now, I'll have to live with my short nails.

It will certainly be challenging to see if my nails can look half as good as the other nail bloggers, but I would love to try to see what I can come up with, and I hope you can join me in this journey.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day :)