Urban Outfitters Sea Dust

I was digging through my "To Be Blogged" folder and saw that I still hadn't posted this mani from over the summer! My co-worker and keeper-of-my-8-5-sanity went to a conference in Las Vegas this summer and spent a lot of time shopping. You know, to avoid the heat. Anyway, I wanted to check out Urban Outfitter's polish selection, and was glad to find this Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream dupe on sale!

I don't have a comparison because I've never been compelled enough by her polishes to drop that much money on a bottle. If you search the interwebs, you'll find comparison shots a plenty! 

Sea Dust has a great formula, and I really love the bottles and brushes of Urban Outfitters polish. They're squat and square and feel substantial. The brush was nice and full. This mani was just two coats, and I remember that this polish wore for days without a chip. Definitely a winner!

butter LONDON Sunbaker and Champers

Today I have for you two polishes from butter LONDON's Summer collection. Both are bright, shiny foil finishes that caught my eye right away. 

Sunbaker (index through ring fingers) is a metallic tangerine color that applied like a dream. I love that the inspiration behind the color is those people who spend too much time in the sun (usually fake baking) and turn orange!

Champers (pinky accent nail) is a fantastic rose gold color that takes its name from the British slang for champagne. I'm now realizing that this photo doesn't show the rose vey well. I'll have to reswatch and get a better shot. Two coats to opacity with this one as well.

Love these colors! I think they're the perfect tribute to summertime. Did you grab any from this collection?

LOFT Methyl Blue and Fuchsia

Happy Sunday! Today I have two of the five polishes my Secret Santa from work gave me. I lucked out. She picked really well! I had no idea LOFT sold polishes. They're not branded at all, so I don't know if they are made another brand and bottled for them. 

Both applied like butter, had excellent wear time (4+ days!), and were super pretty and vibrant. 

Methyl Blue is a perfect cobalt blue foil/metallic shade. The brush on this one was really nice and I only had minimal clean up.

Fuchsia is the, well... fuchsia sister of Methyl Blue. Bright, pink, foil-y goodness. I put this on quickly before heading to the office one morning (hence unevenness near the cuticle) and it wore beautifully. I believe this photo was taken on day three. Fuchsia got a lot of attention from my female patients. Definitely a winner!

I have three others to show you - Teal, Eggplant, and Nightwatch.

My picks from the OPI James Bond collection - Live and Let Die and GoldenEye

OPI's Holiday collection this year is in celebration of fifty years of Bond... James Bond. (Sorry! I couldn't help myself!) It was full of great colors, but my Helmer is getting full, so I tried to show restraint. I grabbed GoldenEye because I have nothing like it in my stash, and after seeing swatch photos pop up on the internet, I knew Live and Let Die had to be mine.

Application with both was just lovely. I love OPI's brush and the formula wasn't to runny or too thick. Neither of these swatches involved any clean up.

Live and Let Die is a dark, muted green with prominent green and gold flecks. We have had very little sun here, so I wasn't able to get an outdoor shot to show off that shimmer. I may have to add one later. The above photo is two coats, no top coat. Beautiful.

This is three coats of GoldenEye, a warm-toned gold foil. So stunning! I think this would be great for a holiday party. I do believe I read that this polish is featured in the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, which is in theaters now. I don't know if I can tear my eyes away from Daniel Craig long enough to notice. :)

On a non-polish note, I hope all of you people who Black Friday-ed it up made it out with what you wanted and were unscathed. I went out for the past two years, and I just didn't have it in me to do it again. I also hope that your Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) was full of family, good food, and enjoyment.

Cloud Mani with China Glaze I'm Not Lion

I started this week with a China Glaze I'm Not Lion manicure. I spent Monday's lunch break helping DH change the completely flat tire I found on my CRV and chipped the polish on 3 or 4 nails. Amazingly, I didn't want to redo them and saw that Let Them Have Polish! posted a cloud mani. The light bulb went off and I went to dig through my Helmer to find some colors.

I used two coats of the super sparkly, opaque, cool-toned CH I'm Not Lion from the Out on Safari collection as a base. The lower cloud is one coat of Hot Topic Black, and the gold is from Black Poppy. The gold was a little too sheer for one coat over black, but I did well with two careful coats.

I'm pretty happy with the results, and if you want to re-create it, see the original tutorial here on Nailside's blog.

Zoya Fall 2012 Diva Collection - Swatches and Review

Zoya has a pretty decent fall release this year with 15 new polishes in the Diva, Designer, and Gloss Collections. When I saw swatches of the metallic Diva collection, I knew I had to have them. I wasn't crazy about one of them, but I figured if I were going to buy 5, I may as well get all 6. 

2 coats, no top coat

Zoya Elisa is a polish that I would've gotten even if it weren't the perfect pearly, cherry red. I took 5 years of Spanish middle and high school, and we had to pick Spanish names. There was another Pam in my class who was before me alphabetically, and she picked Pamela. I wanted something different, so I picked Elisa.  The formula on this polish was great, as is usually the case with Zoya.

2 coats, no top coat

Ray is the one Diva polish I wasn't thrilled about. It's a pretty, frosty evergreen color, but I think it's pretty similar to butter LONDON's British Racing Green, which I own. Not a dupe, but close enough that were it not for my need for the complete set, I wouldn't have gotten it. Definitely worth getting if you don't have a deep green in your collection.

4 coats, no topcoat

 Zoya Daul, how impressed I was by this one in other blog posts, but it just didn't wow me in real life. Zoya's website describes Daul as such, "A medium red-toned purple base with heavy purple and gold iridescent metallic sparkle." It's also listed as a 5, which is the highest intensity level. I agree with the description, but definitely not the 5. I still had obvious nail line at 4 coats, and I waited for the prior coat to dry before adding another.

Highlighting Daul's glitter

 Daul is a very pretty color when the sun glints off of it. Maybe I'll try it over Suri.

3 coats, no top coat

FeiFei is a steel-blue base that is packed with blue, gold, and pink (!!) sparkles to lend a foil finish. While sheerer than the non-glitter polishes, I got great coverage with 3 thin coats. I think the pink sparkles in this one lends a very unique look to it. 

2 coats, no topcoat

Suri is a bold, blue-leaning royal purple metallic polish with very fine blue and red micro glitter. I wish that glitter translated on the nail a little better, but Suri is still a fabulous polish. It is a little warmer in real life, but my camera really freaks out with bright purples.

2 coats, no top coat

And finally, Zoya Song. Song! Wow. Pictures do not do this polish justice. Neither do the words bold, bright, or vibrant. The base is a true royal blue, and it is absolutely packed with tiny, irregular blue and silver glitter. It is totally opaque in 1 coat, but add a second because it adds great depth and really highlights the shimmer. This polish is hands-down my favorite of the set.

A completely gratuitous shot of Song

SpaRitual Sun Salutation

We stopped by Sephora during our trip to Orlando, and I decided that I wanted to get a polish from a brand I haven't tried before. This color caught my eye, and I chose it in part because it was only $10 and I had already went a little crazy with polish buying via the internet during my conference.

I am interrupting quickly to say that I really, really, really don't like the nail bar at Sephora. It's a little dark in the store anyway, and the bright lights under the polish itself makes it very difficult to see what you're getting. I didn't think to get a picture of it, but there are pics floating around the internet. Cool aesthetic, but not very practical. 

Below are three very thin coats of SpaRitual Sun Salutation over American Classics Bridge the Gap Ridge Filling Base Coat. The rose-gold foil color caught my eye, and the name sealed the deal for me. Sun Salutation is one of my favorite yoga poses. (See an example here) It's actually a series of moves that stretches your back and feels really wonderful. 

Because the foil finish will highlight any imperfections on the nail, a ridge filling base coat is key. Unless you have perfect nail beds. :) The formula was thin and really, really nice. SpaRitual's brush is rather short, but wide and very flexible. The cap is rubber coated and substantial. Between the cap and the brush, I feel you have very good control with application of this polish.

All in all, I'm very happy with this one, and plan to pick up more SpaRitual polishes in the future.

China Glaze For Audrey and Black Poppy Gold Foil

I had seen swatches of For Audrey popping up all over Instagram and realized I had this beautiful polish and hadn’t used it in over a year. I had my Black Poppy mani on, so I decided to do a gold accent nail. I love the look of this mani! But…

Man, on man is application a nightmare!! I was hoping I just had an off bottle and not every For Audrey was thick but runny and very streaky. Sadly, it doesn’t seem the case based on Instagram comments and the blogosphere.

Like I said, great results, but you’ve gotta work for them!

Black Poppy Gold Foil Polish

This lovely polish is one I picked up at Pac Sun during an "Everything must go because we're closing!" sale for $1. I had originally intended to use it for frankens to sell at my Etsy store, but I've since decided to mix my own polishes from scratch. So, I decided to swatch it and throw it into my regular rotation!

Above is 2 coats of the nameless Black Poppy gold foil polish under a coat of Seche Vite. The formula is great, going on thin, smooth, and opaque in 2 coats. Not brush stroke-y at all. Wear time wasn't all that great, but even at full price, it's $3 a bottle. Not too shabby.

OPI The Amazing Spider-Man Collection: Number One Nemesis Swatches

Number One Nemesis is the last of the Spider-Man polishes I picked up. It caught my eye and I snatched it right up, then when I got home, I wondered... Is this a dupe of Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous? In short, no it isn't. Lucerne-tainly is a similar color and finish, but it has a much cooler tone to it. Nemesis has a warmth to the base that makes it different and very nice.

3 coats with top coat and flash

I would advise thin coats and waiting a couple of minutes between. I think I could have gotten away with two coats, but I got inpatient and ended up with patchy areas. Next time I use this one, I think I'll try to use a matte top coat and see how it comes out.

OPI The Amazing Spider-Man Collection: Just Spotted the Lizard Swatches

This polish was the first in the collection to catch my eye when I first spotted the swatches over at Scrangie's blog. It was rumored to be a dupe for Chanel Peridot, and I believe it's been proven to be the case many times over. Application was a little tricky in that I had to be more careful than usual to avoid brush stroke marks. It wasn't as bad as I expected.

The photo below isn't that great is bad, but it does a decent job at showing the duochrome (multichrome?) effect. Gold is the dominant color that shifts to green and blue at the edges of the nail.

The photo below shows how this color shines in the light. It's really stunning and the photo does it no justice. One word of warning with this polish though... It has a foil finish that will show every flaw. I used a ridge-filling base coat and still missed a little bump on my ring finger. 

nails inc. The Boltons

This polish is one I got at Sephora during my trip to Chicago. I was eyeballing butter LONDON Knees Up at Ulta, but didn't get it. We went to Sephora and were checking out the Nail Bar and this shiny one caught my eye. It is the same deep red with a fine foil finish as Knees Up. I don't think they are dupes, but they are very close. And they nails inc. price of $9.50 is more appealing to the wallet than the $14.00 of bL.

2 coats of The Boltons in artifical light, no flash

The Boltons with flash

These photos are two coats with no top coat.

Autism Awareness Day - Zoya Charla

I admittedly did not have this planned, but today is Autism Awareness Day, and I was wearing blue polish. I have some sweet, sweet patients (and their families) who live with this everyday, and it is a difficult condition to live with.

So, here is 2 coats of Zoya Charla, though I definitely should've used 3, VNL or not. This pic does not due this shade justice. It is incredibly sparkly, glittery, intense, and attention grabbing. One of those polishes that had toddlers petting my nails while I listened to their hearts. :)

Greens - $OPI Gleek Out

This weekend's ridiculously beautiful spring weather had me reaching for a springy, sparkly green when I'd finished with butter LONDON's British Racing Green. 

Gleek Out with indirect natural lighting.

Gleek Out is from the Sephora by OPI (or $OPI) Glee Collection (Spring 2011). It is a beautiful spring green foil. It is rather sheer, taking 3 thick-ish coats for opaque-ish finish. I'm not a fan of VNL, but the shininess detracts from the VNL.

Gleek Out in direct light

China Glaze The Hunger Games Collection - Capitol Colours Swatches

!!!! I cannot adequately explain how excited I am to have these polishes! And the movie! March 23rd really needs to get here. My younger brother readily admits that he had not read a book in at least 15 years, and devoured all three in less than a week. He got the complete set for me for Christmas. I proceeded to tear through them in less than one week as well. Luckily, I've got a friend who is a bigger fan than I am and has the ability to hold back a set of the polishes for me and let me get them before they are to be released. :)

I passed on Electrify, Hook and Line, and Luxe and Lush, but looking back, I figured I might as well get the whole set since I was buying 9 bottles without thinking. So, previously mentioned friend is setting those back for me, and I will add them to this post. ETA: It's 9:01 pm on 2/28 and I got them all. As soon as I'm sick of Stone Cold, I'll swatch and add them to this post.

The original press release for Capitol Colors named each polish and what they were inspired by. There was a lot of legal hullabaloo shortly thereafter, then we learned that the polishes would have different names. The new names are supposed to be inspired by one of the twelve districts. I like the original names better, but will take them any way I can. I'll list the original name in parenthesis.

Fast Track (Catnip) is named after District 6, Transportation. It is a nude with golden glass fleck-y shimmer. The formula was really nice, completely opaque in 2 coats. The above pic is with a flash to highlight the shimmer.

Dress Me Up (Primrose) is named for District 8 - Textiles, and is a taupe-y pink neutral creme polish. It leans much more pink IRL, but my camera just didn't capture it. I think it looks rather grandmotherly in the bottle, but there is enough dustyness to it on the nail that it doesn't seem outdated at all. The formulas of the cremes were watery and weird. Still opaque in two coats, and minimal clean up was needed.

Foie Gras (Rebel), named for District 10 - Livestock, is a dark brown/taupe with a hint of purple. Because of my skin tone, the purple shows much more prominently.

Riveting (Fire in Flight) is named for District 3, which specializes in technology, is a very bright tangerine orange with a glass fleck/foil finish. It is a little more sheer and was the only polish in this set that needed three coats. I'm not usually a huge fan of oranges, but I really love this one.

Mahogany Magic (Baker's Son) is named for District 10 - Lumber. It is straight up brown creme. There is a bit of green there that keeps it from being one of those "Oh look! I got melted Hershey bar all over my nails!" colors.

Harvest Moon (Cinna-man) is named after District 9 - Grain, and is a copper version of Riveting. Beautiful copper foil. Just like Cinna's eyeliner. :)

Agro (We Could Run Away) named after District 11 (agriculture) has a pearly finish. I want to call it a frosty finish, but that word creates such a bad reaction in my brain. It is a lovely shade of green. Similar to Peace on Earth for China Glaze's holiday 2010 collection, but much less yellow.

Stone Cold (Joined at the Seam) is named after District 2 and their masonry, It is a matte graphite grey that was fully opaque in one coat. As with most mattes it has very quick dry time. Its also generally recommended that you avoid base coats and top coats with matte finishes. I didn't notice any staining, but didn't have this on very long at all.

Stone Cold + topcoat is a great look as well. I love that you can wear it both ways. I think that's why mattes with shimmer finishes are my favorite. They are interesting matte and glossy.

Smoke and Ashes (Fight to the Finish) is named for Katniss, Peeta, and Gale's home of District 12, which is known for Mining. This polish has a very blackened blue base with tiny round blue and green glitter. This color is so, so pretty but so hard to photograph! It has so much depth, and is rather hard to appreciate except in real life on the nail.

Hook and Line is named for District 4 - Fishing. I absolutely adore the color and it hurts me deep down inside that it is so damn brush stroke-y. Hopefully I can look past it. We'll see.

This is Luxe and Lush after District 1 - luxury items. It's a flakie polish in the way the glitter reflects different colors - mostly yellow, red, and orange when over Riveting (Hello, Girl on Fire mani!). The glitter particles are larger than common flakies and are very pointed like shattered glass.

Lastly, we have Electrify. How in the world did I pass on this polish? It is sooooo beautiful, and almost everyone I saw commented on how great it was. The above pic is 2 coats of Electrify under 1 coat of Seche Vite. The surface was a little bumpy, but not bad. I was feeling super stressed yesterday, so decided to do a quick polish job in the car. Had this one on in 10 minutes. Love, love, love!!

The creme finishes were opaque, but oddly watery. The others had a flawless formula. All of the above photos are with 2 coats of color with the exception of Riveting and Stone Cold and none have topcoat but for the second shot of Stone Cold.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I went back to blingy manicures again with HITS Atena. It is such a beautiful holo! One of the nail obsessed ladies I follow on Instagram did Nailside's cloud mani, and I decided to copy it. :)
I stuck with Atena as the base, then did a coat of Black Poppy Silver, and Nails Inc Charing Cross. I think my right hand looks better than my left (who'd have thought?), but my left has a nasty hangnail.
I think it turned out great! I hope you all have fabulous Valentine's Days and be sure to tell your loved ones how you feel every day, not just today.

OPI Muppets Collection Warm & Fozzie

I wanted this polish from the time I saw the first bottle shots. I don't have anything like it in my stash.

It has a sheer greenish-brown base, but is packed with tiny glitter particles. I see pale gold, dark gold, green, and red glitter. The first coat is rather sparse, but the second coat makes it pretty opaque. I really like glitters because they are pretty forgiving as far as coverage goes. The shininess detracts from any bald spots. I am very happy with this polish and am getting excellent wear with Zoya Anchor and Poshe topcoat. The finish is very smooth. I'm so glad I was able to get my paws on this one!

$OPI Glee collection - Gleek Out & Express Yourself to Yourself

Hello guys! I haven't disappeared, but have been blessed with excellent wearing polish and the restraint to avoid buying new polishes. Miss Bossy Pants wears like a champ, as does Gleek Out. 

Gleek Out is a light green and gold microglitter/foil polish. I wasn't able to capture it, but this looks like a cool tones gold at some angles. It dries quickly and is very smooth, but I still threw a coat of Poshe on, because that's how I roll. I used 3 coats, and while there is still quite a bit of VNL, the shininess detracts from it. Application was a challenge, but I think that's just because of the crappy brush that comes with the mini sets. 

 Please do not embiggen this pic. My cuticles are in horrid shape!

I have Express Yourself to Yourself (cue big eyeroll at the name) on my toes. I know some people (looking at you, bestie!) are really squicked out by toes, so I'll put in a jump. Click if you want to see it. :) This one was very hard to photograph. it's much, much brighter in real life. In my opinion, a true coral. Very bright and summery.

And, pics of my piggies after the jump!

Hard Candy Beetle

I can't adequately explain how much I love this color. I tumbled down the nail polish rabbit hole after Orly Space Cadet's release and right around the time the MAC Venomous Villains came out. I never considered getting Mean and Green due to the $13 price tag (I know!) though I drooled over it frequently. A few months later I saw extraH's post on Polish or Perish and I was done. This may be the first polish I searched stores for.

I tried to get a picture that showed all the colors at once. It's generally called a duochrome, but that doesn't do it justice. I'd call it a quadchrome. You see the green and gold on my index finger, and the pink/purple is shown on my middle finger. This polish is a gorgeous foil in a sheer teal-ish base.

Above is 2 coats, which looks a little bare near the corner tips of my nail, but that oil-slick look totally distracts you from a minor detail like that! extraH's pics are really good, so be sure to check them out as well. Certainly a winner, considering I got it on sale at Walmart for $4.

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

I love gunmetal grey glitters. Acutally, this is probably a foil. This came in a set of minis with Yodel Me On My Cell, Color So Hot It Berns, and an OPI Rapi-dry Topcoat. May have to buy a full sized bottle if I could find one. This is Orly Bonder, 2 thin coats of polish, and OPI topcoat. I'm not that impressed with the topcoat as it seems pretty thin. Wear seems decent. I got a chip the first night, but washed my hair about an hour after applying it. I'm curious to see what it does at work, since I wash my hands so much they see more water than Tammy Faye Baker's eyelashes.