Orly Goth

Well hello! Just a quick post today, I wanted to share a polish I swatched a while ago but never got around to posting. It's Orly Goth!

I like this polish because it'd different than your normal glittery black creme. I wouldn't even call it glitter, I'd say this is more like large silver glass flecks.

See what I mean? They're on the larger side and scattered throughout the polish. They look like stars scattered in the sky!

Galaxy Girl

This is a polish I had a huuuuge lemming for for agess. You can imagine how happy I was when I finally saw it at my local Ulta after it was out of stock for weeks. I actually went there planning to pick up some new China Glazes, but ended up leaving with three new Orly's to add to my collection; two of which were Cosmic FX's :) Here she is:

Oh Galaxy Girl, you are everything I've dreamed of and more. Your vampy plum base, your eyecatching blue/pink duochrome...you set my heart aflutter when I look down at my fingertips! This first photo is inside under artificial light, and see how gorgeous you are!

And just as beautiful in the dim morning light of my office parking lot!

But really, Orly did a beautiful job with Galaxy Girl, as well as all the polishes in the Cosmic FX collection in my opinion. This, like it's siblings, applies smoothly and easily and wears like freakin' iron. No joke, I'm on day four right now with a tiny bit of tipwear. Love!

ASOS Curve giveaway!

Click here to enter a chance to win my ASOS Curve giveaway on my style blog, Fatale Fashion! Hurry, it ends 11:59pm on Tuesday, Nov 30th!

I'm back!

Hey guys! I've been neglecting the blog I know, but I'm back with a polish from one of the most talked about collections this year.

This is Orly Out of This World from the Cosmic FX collection.

The weather's been pretty drab here in Jersey - I wish I had full sunlight for this photo because this doesnt do it justice. OOTW is gorgeous; you can't really see the beautiful fuchsia glass-flecks that run through this polish in this pic, but trust me, it's a stunner in real life.

Again, the picture does it no justice, and please excuse the ouchie on my ring fingre. Grr, that's one of the reasons I havent posted, this cold weather makes my hands a mess! 

Application is great on this polish - 2 easy coats for full opacity. I love that this polish is not one of those almost-blacks, you can still it in its purple and pink flash glory indoors in artificial light. Day two brings some minor tip wear, but nothing worse than any other normal polish.

Pretty :) What's your favorite Cosmic FX? I'm still lemming for Galaxy Girl, Space Cadet, and Lunar Eclipse.

Andi of Viva Polish, Ina of Hysteria of Decay, Daniela Alston, and Gabi of Hungry for Fashion, thanks for joining us <3

Limited Addiction

I used to rarely wear red polish. Like, next to never. I don't know what is going on with me lately, but I do know that, when faced with Essie's Fall 2010 collection in Face Values last night, I picked Limited Addiction over all the other colors. I'm a red convert, so shoot me!!

This is the kind of gorgeously classic color that almost makes me want to forsake all my other nail polishes and make red nails my signature. Almost.

 

Can you blame me though? Limited Addiction is one of those jelly-cremes, which means that application was flawless and clean up a breeze, especially for a red. You could definitely get away with two coats but I went with three just to make sure they looked perfect. I love this type of blue-based red, it suits my skin tone and doesn't make me want to scream (like Nars Dovima does).

The above two shots are in natural light, and Limited Addiction, like a lot of reds, looks much brighter there than it does under artificial light.

Still love it to bits though!! Absolutely gorgeous. I'm so glad I picked this up rather than going for one of the trendier shades. I'll be wearing this for years and years to come. For me, this is a backup bottle kinda color.

Is there a color that you always gravitate towards? 

Welcome to Cindy of Nail'd & Polish'd!

This is what happens...

This is what happens when I'm bored on a long car ride...

It's like my own version of Minx! I even did nail art with the zig zig edge! And yes, that is a gum wrapper. Fabulous color, isn't it? Lol!

Celestiale Silver

This is a pretty polish called Celestiale Silver that I picked up back in my college days, before I became the giant polish fanatic I am now. It's funny that some of my favorite and hard-to-find polishes, like OPI My Private Jet and Loyalty Island Lilac were picked up when I was oblivious to their rarity. But, I digress. Back to Borghese...

I've been wearing this oldie but good from for about 6 days now, and with the exception on one nail (which has a tendany to peel), it's pretty much chipless! Man, this wears like iron! This silver went on relatively sheer, so this is 3 coats, but application with Borghese polishes are a breeze. They have a super wide brush, even wider than the OPI brush, which is perfect for me and my wider nail beds. I can do my pinkie in a single swipe! Some people who have narrower nails may have some problems with this brush though.

I can't bear to put another photo with the ouchie on my pointer :( That was a few days ago though so it's mostly healed up :) I'm ready for a new mani tonight, so stay tuned! Welcome to An from An's Life and An's Photo Shoots, and Sonidlo from Sonidlo's Nail Polishes!

Eggplant Frost

Well hello there! Sorry for being MIA, but I'm back with a gorgeous new color to make it up to you :)

 

Say hello to Wet 'n Wild Wild Shine in Eggplant Frost.

I am in freakin LURVE with this color. At first I was a little angry at it - You need to do relatively thick coats with this or it streaks and lumps in a major way. After making a mess of my thumb and redoing it, I got the hang of it and the rest of application was fine. I used three coats fir depth.

 

I was using and old bottle of nail polish remover for cleaning up, and couldn't for the LIFE of me understand why it was nearly impossible to  get the polish off my cuticles and edges. Had I inadvertently bought some sort of super polish that could only be removed with pure acid or something?? Then I realized that the remover I was using must be older than I thought and all the active ingredient must have evaporated. Sure enough, I got another bottle and all was well. Phew!

But besides that debacle, this polish is totally fine. I bough it because it looked cool, and it wasn't til I put it on that I realized just how ridiculously awesome and beautiful and SHINY it is! It's hard to describe the sort of electric glow it gets from having this aqua blue shimmer/metallic over the deep purple. It's reminiscent of Elf Royal Purple but about 10x the awesomeness.

 

Do you love?!

Welcome Lois S., Andrea Trenary, and to my biff Erin of Frame of Reference!

Love&Beauty

I realized that I've been doing lots of cremes/jelly's lately and have turned my back on shimmers and sparkles. To rectify that today, I chose another color I picked up during one of my forays into Forever21's Faith section. I don't have the bottle in front of me at the moment and can't remember the name, but I have a sneaking feeling that, like it's other polishes (see brown), it's simply Teal or some other generic name. Anywho, I've been slacking on posts so I wanted to get this up for you guys.

So here's what I'm tentatively calling Teal. It's a pretty jewel-toned blue shimmer, that looks metallic even though it really isn't. I didn't really care for it in the bottle, to be quite honest, and just did this mani because it's been sitting in my untrieds for a while. But I have to say, the longer I wore it, the more I warmed up to it. It's a chameleon polish that looks a bit different in every light. In the sun it's even got a bit of light blue/violet flash, but most of the time you get this pretty metallic peacock color that's slowly grown on me.

Application, like Brown, was really smooth and easy - I thought this would be super sheer, but it was acutally much more opaque than I thought. You could get away with two coats, but I went with three to really get that depth of color. Clean up was a breeze, and it's been wearing impressively well- I'm on day three at the moment with minimal tipwear.

What do you guys think of Forever21's Love&Beauty line?

Red Hot

"Reddd hot, our team is reddd hot, our team is r-e-d red h-o-t and once we're hot we can't be stopped red hot!"

Wow, when I looked at the label of the Brucci polish I was instantly thrown back to middle school, where I spent two fall season cheerleading "cause everyone else was doing it". That didn't last very long, but that chant sure did, because I'm reminded of it everytime I hear the words "red hot"

Funnily enough, this isn't really a color I'd categorize as red hot. More like, reddish-pinky hot. It is bright, that's for sure, but has a definite tinge of pink to it rather then a full on red.

See what I mean? Definitely a hint of fuscia.

I did quite like this. My Brucci polishes have yet to let me down. This was one of those jelly-cremes, so it required three coats for full opacity. Also, cleanup and removal were amazingly easy and mess free - win/win!

What do you guys think?

Hunter

Since acquiring the much sought after Nars Zulu, I've been on the hunt for another polish that would satisfy my green jelly craving. I love Zulu, but it borders so much on black that I wanted to find a jelly where the green is much more apparent.

This isn't a jelly, but the shade of green is divine. Hunter is the last American Apparel polish in my mini haul from a few weeks ago.

Just like it's fellows, the formula is a dream and beautifully opaque in 2 coats.

Is it possible to franken a jelly? Do you just add clear polish to a cream?? Has anyone done this??? I think I'm going to buy another Hunter and a cheap clear to try this out...

Peacock

Isn't that the name of a dirty new Katy Perry song? Anyway...

Here's another one of the American Apparel polishes I picked up last week. This is Peacock, a dark, dusty teal/blue creme.

Natural light.

Inside.

You can see it pulls a little darker inside under florescent lighting, and lighter and more teal under natural light. Either way, it's a pretty color, and application, like all my other AA polishes is a dream. Great quality polish for $5, I definitely recommend them :)

RIP

Cleo

1993-2010

Thank you for 17 years of joy. You were not only my pet,

you were my sister and best friend. I'll miss you.

Berry

Listen guys. I need to be locked up. I've been shopping NON STOP. Online shopping, in-store shopping, window shopping (the most harmless of the bunch); any kind of shopping that you want. Yesterday I went to Forever 21 ONLY TO EXCHANGE a dress...and I ended up taking home and additional dress and 2 pairs of jeans.

Sigh.

I popped into American Apparel on my way out to see if they had any new colors...they didn't, but that doesn't mean I could resist their 3-for-$15 deal on nail polishes. This is one of the babies I picked up, a smooth creamy berry color appropriately named - you guessed it - Berry.




American Apparel really does a great job with these cremes - they're so saturated with color and completely opaque with one coat. I do two out of habit but you could easily get away with one if you're careful.



No cons here at all. The polish was easy to apply and went on like a dream, and clean up wasn't bad at all for a red - they usually stain my cuticles like woah.



The color lightens up in the sun, as you can see in the first two shots, but inside or in the shade it'll look more like my Dunkin' Donuts coffee pic - darker but still beauteous :)

What's your favorite American Apparel shade? Berry is gorgeous for fall/winter, but for summer my very favorite is L'Espirit, a crisp lavender-periwinkle. Can't believe I haven't swatched it yet! It's on my list :)

Also, welcome xnosugaraddedx!

Giveaway at Nail Galore!

If you've been lemming the three polishes MAC released with their Maleficent collection like I have, then head over to Nail Galore, where Nisha is giving away all three to celebrate 100 followers! Congrats girl!

Could it be?

Is it...

 It is!

Say hello to the illustrious Nars Zulu!

Nars Zulu is a beautiful dark, dark green jelly that cause quite a frenzy when it first came out as a limited edition color a few years ago.  It was extremely hard to find until Nars re-released it this year as part of their Vintage Nail collection for Fall 2010.

I snapped pics in all different lights so you guys could see how it would look indoors and out. You can tell it most definitely tip toes that "almost black" line and does look mostly black, especially indoors. But you'll catch the green around the edges of your polish and it comes out much more in the sun. Jellies are my favorite so I love that, even though it's so dark, you get that delicious jelly squishiness.

Application was like most jellies - a little streaky/bald spotty on the first two coats, but smooth and perfect by the third. I found that using more polish on your brush rather than less reduces the streak factor - If you're SUPER careful you might get away with only two coats, which would give you much more green and less black...my hands aren't the steadiest so three it was, but I love the "almost black" effect. Drying time is really good on this, even with three thicker coats, and it's super shiny even on it's own - I have a coat of Seche as usual here. Wear was great for Nars Jungle Red so we'll see if Zulu can compete.

I was lucky and have a friend who works and Nars, and who was able to pick this up for me when it was released a few days ago (and on discount!). WARNING - If you have your heart set on Zulu, DON'T WAIT - these babies are flying off the shelves! Have any of you taken the plunge to snatch up Zulu? Do you think it's worth the higher price tag?

Black Emerald

You guys have already seen this so I won't go crazy...

It's just so gorgeous!

Welcome to some newcomers! Mína, Anna, Erika, NEM1976, Jamie K of (Squoval)icious, and I THINK the last one was Tessa, but if I missed you let me know!! I love you all!
 

Brown

It's been a week of crazy!! Sorry I've been MIA guys. Missed you all! 

Would you believe that my Nars Jungle Red manicure lasted a full five days with nary a chip? The pros to that polish just keep adding up - I'm definitely going to have to put out for the full size (pay for it, not put out - get your minds out of the gutter!)

Today I'm talking about a polish I bought over the weekend, one that I didn't have very high hopes for. It's from Love&Beauty, a cosmetics brand that you can find at your local Forever 21. I really like these taupey brown colors, but in the store it looked to have almost a greenish tinge and I thought on the nail it'd fall as flat as it's name: Brown.

They couldn't come up with anything better?? It's a shame because I actually really really like this. I have to apologize for my bad cuticles and scratched up polish - I did this mani yesterday but the weather was so bad I couldn't get a single good pic. My hands are disagreeing with this weather and just withering up - I need to moisturize every 5 seconds! Le sigh.

So you may be looking at this saying, "This is looks mighty close to a little polish by OPI called You Don't Know Jacques...". I agree! It does look very close. I did a quick swatch just on a piece of paper and they're looking almost identical. YDKJ might be just a tiny bit warmer while Brown leans more toward grey, but I won't know til I try it on the nail. What I did notice was that, surprisingly, Brown's applications was wayy way smoother and more streak-free than YDKJ. I'm wearing only two coats at the moment, while I distinctly remember having used three of YDKJ in the past.

Besides that, application was really easy, as was cleanup. Brown dries really shiny on it's own, and is gorgeously glassy with Seche Vite. My pics are color accurate but don't do the shine justice. If you see it, grab it!

What's your favorite taupey-brown? 

Welcome to my 24th and 25th followers, Jen of Jenilee's Beauty Blog, and Jessica Vaquiant! Honestly, I'm blow away that there's even 25 of you who have read let alone follow my blog. I appreciate every single one of you and love all your comments! Hopefully we keep growing - I want to have a big giveaway for 100!

<3

Exciting news!

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to announce the start of my new blog, Fatale Fashion!

It's a blog dedicated to plus size fashion, where I'll be sharing my outfits, where I shop, and my tips and tricks for looking good! Take a look if you're interested! I'd love to see you there :)

Jungle Red

Ok, I lied. I may have said that OPI Keys to my Karma was my favorite red. I take it back! I have a new favorite red!

This is my last Nars mini, Jungle Red.

Not surprisingly, it's another red jelly. I dunno what it is about the jellies! Jelly polishes have become my absolute favorite. Something about the squishiness, the clean lines, and the shiny goodness melts my heart.

As I'd expect from any Nars polish, application is a dream. This is 3 smooth and easy coats, and they dry to a super shiny finish. I always add Seche for it's superfast drying power, but if you had the patience to leave it on it's own, topcoat is really not necessary for shine factor.

Another thing I really love about this? It's a chameleon! The shot above was outside in semi-decent light (it's been raining all week, yuck), and the shot below is inside: 

So different, but still gorgeous!

For this, I'd shell out the $16 for the full bottle. And with this mini, having already been used for a mani AND pedi, I'm going to have to.

Welcome to the lovely gals of New York Lady! Check them out!

What's the one polish you plan to or already have shelled out big bucks for??

Marble Monday!

Finally, an on time Marble Monday! I've been slacking guys, I know. But here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Not my very best marbling work, but I do love the colors together! This is E.L.F. Royal Purple marbled with OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender over a coat of Royal Purple. The bast coat of RP is definitely necessary as it's relatively sheer with just one coat. The base coat plus the marble gave royal purple that depth of color.

 

I'm still using the vaseline method and I'm really quite please with how easy it makes clean up. I've started putting a little vaseline on the tips of my fingers during regular manicures as well so that any polish that gets on my skin when I wrap my tips will wipe right off. Works like a charm!

Weather's terrible today, so these are just a few quick shots I snapped at my desk. Hope you like :)

Welcome to some new followers! Christine of Randomness, a la Mode, Cydonian of Turtle Beauty, and Sissy of the hilarious My Kids Might Be Martians. Check them out!

Wicked

Today's manicure is one of my all time, go to, never fail colors: Essie Wicked.



Here's Wicked in natural light. I know many people aren't fans of the "almost black" look, which this deep, dark burgundy jellyish creme most definitely is. I don't care though, I love this shade. Even though it does look black, it has a depth to it, you see a little of the burgundy peep out around the edges, and in direct sunlight, it shows up a lot more.



In sunlight. Even so, I don't think that this is really a good representation of the color, because unless you're on the beach, you're going to get that black look. I love it, it's super classy and gorgeous.

The only bad thing about this polish is that cleanup is a complete bitch. If you happen to get it on your cuticles, they'll be pink no matter how much you try to clean those edges. I'm actually sort of dreading taking off the whole mani because I know my fingers will be pink and I'll probably need half a bag of cotton.



This girl definitely runs on Dunkin'.