Shellac french mani - Day 8

This is 8 days of wear for my Shellac french manicure. Still utterly perfect. I can't bear to take them off when they still look so good! Super shiny, no tip wear, a tiny bit of growth at the nail line, but you can hardly see it. It's great because my nails are getting a chance to grow worry-free and without the wear and tear of swatching and multiple manicures a week. Could these last another week?? We'll see!

Another Rite Aid haul

This one wasn't too bad though, just two polishes.

It seems I can't resist the Brucci polishes. They have some great colors and a really great price: only $2.79 each. I have a couple different taupe-y shades, but no plain old flat greys, so I grabbed Alexandra's "Hot" Gray. And when I saw the shimmery green/burgundy goodness of Black Emerald, I couldn't resist.

As you can see, my Shellac is still going strong at 6 days of wear. I'll post another picture of them in a few days time. I love how gorgeous and low maintenance they are, but I'm also eager to get some bright colors on my nails. We'll see how long they last!

I know I made promises...

I know I promised a Marble Monday, but look everyone!!! I've been Shellac'd!!



Isn't it just gorgeous! I went to the nail salon on Saturday to get a mani/pedi for my cousin's wedding the next day. I had heard of Shellac before, but I was concerned that, like regular gels or acrylics, there would be a lot of nail damage because of filing and buffing of the top of the nail. My nails are fragile as it is, and the last thing I wanted to do was weaken them anymore. The nail tech assured me that with Shellac, there is no filing or buffing of the top of the nail, you just have the regular filing of a manicure.

If you've never heard of Shellac, here's the description from CND's site:

"Say Hello to the future! Shellac is the breakthrough, patent-pending UV3 technology that combines the ease of polish with the permanence of gels. A true innovation in chip-free, extended-wear color.

Shellac applies like polish—no pots—just a bottle and brush. And removal is just 10 minutes! No filing. No drills.

The results? 14-day, glorious, high-gloss shine that’s truly addictive!"

They're not kidding guys. No drilling, no filing. Shellac is a normal manicure, with the exception of the fact that you're puttting your hand under a UV lamp after each coat. And the shine to these babies is truly high gloss! It would be hard to get nails this shiny even with multiple coats of Seche Vite. Best part about it? After I took my hands out of the last round of UV light, I went digging through my purse for my wallet and keys with no worries! I really love the base coat for this french as well, it's really natural looking, with the most subtle blue and pink shimmer if you look really really close.



This is after two days of wear. No scratches, no tip wear, still super, super shiny. Regular french manicures ALWAYS chip for me after just a day or two. The normal french on my toes is not in nearly as good shape!
The Shellac manicure is supposed to last at least a week and a half, so I'll be updating with pics every few days.

Has anyone else had Shellac done? What color did you choose? Did it live up to your expectations?

Thanks for reading!

The Icing purchases

These are two polishes I snagged at the "The Icing" over at the Garden State Plaza. Apparently, The Icing is the "big girl" version of Claire's, which caters to younger girls. I was informed of this differential by the teenaged cashier, who seemed quite offended when I held up a bedazzled flask, laughing, and joked that it was kind of inappropriate for a young girls store...chill out chica!

Anyway. On the right we have a matte top coat! At first I really wasn't feeling the matte trend. The neons I have, like Essie Bermuda Shorts, dry matte and I hated the way they look. But as I've seen other bloggers use matte top coat over different polishes, especially sparkles and shimmers, it's kinda grown on me. I love the idea of the top coat rather than a matte polish itself, as you can make any color you want matte! I'll have to try it out soon!

On the left is a pretty light green shimmer that flashes pink and purple, called Peacock. It looks pretty sheer so we'll have to see how it looks on the nail.

I don't own any China Glaze's yet, but isn't this bottle shape similar? I thought the racks of polish I saw from outside were China Glaze, which is why I went running in! Good thing I still found these two that peaked my interest :)

On an unrelated note...I need to feel the love guys! If you're reading this, consider giving me a follow! I've just my one follower and I'm not feeling the love :( Let me know if you're out there! Thanks for reading :)

Just checking in...

No reviews today, but just popping in for a quick update! I've got some good stuff coming up including a pretty new polish called Peacock (sounds promising), a matte top coat, and a yet-to-be-determined demure mani for my cousin's wedding this Sunday. I'll be passing on Vamper Sunday this week because of the wedding, but I'll definitely be doing a Marble Monday, though it will most likely be posted Monday night. Stay tuned!

Night Life

So my marble attempt last night was once again a bust. But I won't give up! I'm going to try again when I get home tonight, and hopefully I'll finally get up a marble for this week, even if it is 3 days late. 

Anyway, today's polish is part of my Harmon's haul from last week. This is Rimmel Night Life.

I don't own Chanel Paradoxal, but is it just me or is this in the same dusty purple/taupe/shimmer family? Paradoxal seems to have more blue and less gold to it though. I feel like I could definitely franken a Paradoxal dupe with this as a base! Hmm...

I really like this color. It's a chameleon - sometimes it's more on the brown side, especially in the fluorescent lighting of my office, but out in the sun the purple shines through. You can see the pretty gold shimmer in every light and it's just gorgeous. This is three coats, but I think that mayyy have been one too many. The first coat I thought felt pretty thin but it seem to thicken up as I went along. Next time I'll either wait longer between coats or only use two because this was a little gummy and took a while to dry, even with Seche Vite. Hmm, I'm thinking I need to invest in some polish thinner...

Office

It's been a few days! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend full of fun in the sun, but hopefully you didn't get as sunburned as I did. I'm a little crispy!

I did this manicure Sunday night, so unfortunately I had to snap a few pictures inside and they didn't come out too great. But until I get a chance to redo this, here is American Apparel Office.

Office is a pretty pastel minty green creme. I had some trouble with application; the formula is a little runny and had some cuticle drag and bald spots. This is two coats with Seche top and base, but I definitely should have gone for 3 coats as looking down at my hands now, it's a bit streaky. Otherwise, the color is beatiful, and at $5, an inexpensive alternative for Chanel's Jade.

Didn't get a chance to do a Marble Monday this weekend :( I'll try my hardest to take some time tonight to do one and make it a Marble Wednesday!

Thanks for reading!

Warhol

Don't let the bright-but-nothing-special-ness of this photo fool you. This was the closest that any camera I own, whether it be blackberry or digital, could get to capturing the out of control, retina-searing neon that Color Club Warhol is. It is complete, even, smooth, opaque neon awesomeness.

This is three thin, beautiful coats of Warhol with Seche base and top coat. I am really loving Color Club, they have a great formula and beautiful colors. If you're looking for a WHAM, BAM, LOOK-AT-ME-WOW-THAT'S-REALLY-PINK color like I was, this is it, people.

Harmon's haul

Guys, it's a sickness. Seriously.

Left to right: Color Club Wild and Willing, Rimmel Night Life, Color Club Electronica, Rimmel Scene Stealer, Color Club Warhol.

Happy Birthday!

Happy one-year anniversary to the ladies over at Polish or Perish! Check them out here for some great swatches and a chance to win an awesome 30+ piece haul!

Essie Morticia's Nails

Two of my favorite things team up! Nail polish and Broadway! Tony award winner and star of Broadway's The Addam's Family, Bebe Neuwirth, has collaborated with Essie to create a three-piece collection inspirited by her character Morticia. Midnight Tango, Bone Chilling White and Blood Curdling Red, will be available as a limited edition set with only 5,000 sets made, and will retail at $30. All proceeds from Morticia's Nails will benefit The Actors Fund. The collection will launch on July 15th, so don't miss it! 

UPDATE - The article I found said July 15th, but it looks like you can buy them online here.

Special Delivery!

My order from Fabulousstreet.com arrived, after only four days!

Here's my goodies: Nfu-Oh 52, which is green/blue iridescent flaky in a light purple jelly base, and Nfu-Oh Cuticle Remover.

The cuticle remover is what I was most excited about, as mine get really dry and usually look even worse when I try trimming or simply pushing them back.

 

Like I said, you can see above that the cuticles are really dry, stuck to the nail, and you can see spots on my pointer and pinky where picking at them as has cause little cuts and irritation.

I followed the instructions of some fellow bloggers and got to work with the Nfu-oh. I pushed back my cuticles a metal pusher I have (really not the best tool, but I was too impatient to go out and get an orange stick or wooden cuticle pusher) then applied two liberal coats of the remover. I did both hands at the same time but I think the next time I do this I will work on one at a time, so the remover doesn't dry by the time I get to the second hand. I then used the cuticle pusher and rubbed it over the cuticles and on the surface of my nails where I noticed my cuticles were sticking.

Here's after. I think most noticeable thing in my case is that my cuticles look much neater and moisturized, but most off all, there is no more cuticle stuck on the surface of my nail. I think this is a product that will be more and more effective as you use it with your regular manicure routine. I certainly plan to use it on a regular basis to keep my cuticles in check rather than wait til they're out of control. I'm also going to get the proper tools, because I feel an orange stick would be more effective and much more gentle than the metal pusher I was using. Also, I sort of wish it came with instructions.

Now, anyone know of a product the help with the horrendous nail peeling I have going on??

Stay tuned for swatches of Nfu-Oh 52!

Marble Monday!

Happy Monday everyone! Ohh, the start of another joyous workweek -- yuck! At least I've got this pretty little treat on my nails to gaze at all day. Marbles are so fun! 

Apparently I am really feeling the blues lately because that is all I seem to be putting on my nails. I've never worn blue polish before the last month or two and now I'm in love! And how could you NOT be in love with that absolutely gorgeous cornflower blue creme I'm rocking?? That's Hally hansen Hard as Nails X-Treme Wear in Pacific Blue, marbled with American Apparel's L'Espirit on my ring finger. Above is indirect sunlight.

And this is inside with flash. I'm in love with this color. It's so bright and cheerful and unbelievably glossy and shiny. It's so cute with AA's light lavender/periwinkle creme. Sally Hansen may be a drugstore brand, but this formula was just perfection. It was pretty opaque with one coat, but I always go with at least two just to get that perfectly smooth finish. It went on really nice, just thick enough and the brush gave really nice control. This polish gets an A++++++ in my book!  It's a must have for anyone with a hard-on for blue polish.

I got my marbling groove back! I was having some issues for a while, not really sure why. Perhaps you can have marbling block just like writer's block. I'm really loving the results of this one, I love the colors together, the two cremes are in such nice contrast with each other. I usually like to have some shimmer in my marbles but I like this one just the way it is. I was entirely too lazy to do my whole mani marbled, I've just got the one nail out of all ten, but I think just one is such a cute accent. I promise I will be posting a how-to soon, I just need to find the time to do it!

Nail Addicts Anonymous giveaway!

Nail Addicts Anonymous is giving away $60 gift certificate from CSN stores to spend on any of their multiple web stores! Sound good? Click the link to visit their blog and enter to win! Thanks Lissi!

Blood-sucking Sunday

In honor of one of my favorite shows, TrueBlood, I've decided to start Blood-sucking Sundays. Every week I'll show you some dark, vampiric, blood-sucking themed polishes! For the record, I am not a vampire-obsessed, twilight-humping weirdo. TrueBlood is my only vamper love, because Alexander Skarsgaard and all the other men on it are disgustingly, droolingly, mindblowingly hot, and there's lots of dirty sex scenes ;)

This week I thought I'd do a comparison of three colors in my collection that look like perfect dupes.

From left to right: Brucci Black Cherry, Nicole by OPI Deeply in Love, Essie Swing Velvet. In the bottle they look very, very similar; only Essie stands out with what looks like a bit more gold shimmer than the other two.

                               

Same order from pointer to ring. It looks to me like Black Cherry and Deeply in Love are almost exact dupes color wise. They're the same shade of dark burgundy with a hint of magenta shimmer. Application, on the other hand, was completely different. I had a lot of trouble with the Brucci polish - it was thin and had tons of cuticle drag. Worse of all, it was a complete bitch to get off. It stained my fingers pink and wouldn't come off for anything! I was really surprised because the formula of Gianna's "Rockin" Blue, the Brucci I wore all last week, applied really well, I had no problems at all. The Nicole shade was the opposite, but I can't totally blame the formula as the bottle is three-quarters of the way empty and has thickened up a bit.  

Swing Velvet is an old favorite from back when I used to have acrylic nails as a teen. I'm wondering if I got this bottle from a salon, and thats why there's no Essie stamp on it? Seems odd. Anyway, SV is a little richer in color and definitely has lots more gold shimmer. I like this more than BC and DiL, I think the gold gives it a more sophisticated feel. No surprise, the formula is much better too. It went on nice and smooth and was very easy to control. It also looks more blood-like than the others. Care for a taste, Eric Northman?

Stop by tomorrow for a new Marble Monday!

LOLhan!

Everyone's seen this, but I find it hilarious!

If you can't see it, it's Lindsay telling the judge at her court date on Tuesday how she really felt via secret nail message..."F*ck U!" What a trainwreck!

Happy Thursday!

Hey all! Happy Thursday! 

Isn't it so nice to have something to look forward to at the end of a work day? Today I've got two things after work that give me the strength to make it to 5:00pm without throwing myself off the top of our 10 story building. First, a hair cut and color! Yay! I don't know about you guys, but getting my hair done makes me soo relaxed and happy (as long as they're not effing it up!!).

THEN, dear readers, is something that I've been looking forward too since the end of last year...duh duh duh...the new season of Big Brother!!! I freakin' love that show so much! The lies! The deceit! The scheming! What a great way to fill up 3 nights of normally boring summer TV.

Anyway, back to important stuff. I tried to shoot my step by step photo instructions for water-marbling last night but I was having big issues.We've been having a crazy heat wave here in Jersey the last few days (over 100 degrees!), so I'm blaming the AC we had going at full blast for my polishes drying so quickly on the water. After an hour of frustration I decided to call it a day and just soldier on with a normal mani of one of my yet-to-be-worn polishes.

This deliciousness is Color Club's High Society. I am absolutely in LOVE with the taupe/mushroom/neutral trend that 's going on right now. This is reminiscent of one of my favorite colors, OPI's You Don't Know Jacques, but much lighter and much more appropriate for summer (and for work, unlike my last few manis...voopsies?). Also, it's got sort of a purple undertone that I think makes it really unique. One of the marbles I attempted last night was actually those two together along with a browny-green shimmer (forget which I was using). I'm definitely going to have to give it another try.

Formula and brush on this was standard. It's a little sheer, not quite a creme - this is two coats over Seche base and it almost looks jelly, so I'd go for that third coat if you want it truly opaque. It's pretty shiny on it's own, but I always top with a coat of Seche Vite because I love the glass-like finish you get.This is my first Color Club polish and I quite like it, it's definitely a brand I'll be visiting again.

On a related note, I gave myself a treat yesterday and ordered Nfu Oh cuticle Remover and Nfu Oh 52 from Fabulousstreet.com! 

I'm especially excited for the cuticle remover. I've been trying reallyy really hard not to cut any cuticles as I've heard it's not good for your nails, and plus it never looks as good as when they do it in the salon. I've just been pushing them back but they still don't look great :( I'm hoping this will take away the need for any snippers! Also really looking forward to 52, a flaky that i've seen on a billion blogs and looks just GORGEOUS. Stay tuned for swatches of 52 over various colors, and a cuticle before and after.

Thanks for reading :)

Holiday weekend!

Hope everyone had a great fourth of July! Besides loving fire works, having a reason to party, and Monday off, the holiday is special to my family as it's my parents' wedding anniversary! They've been married 28 years and going strong. What an inspiration! 

To celebrate the happy day, I chose one of the polishes I got from my Rite Aid raid. Wet 'n Wild's Wet Shine polish in Night Prowl was perfect for the holiday.

Forget everything else for a second, can we start with how much I love the name of this polish? LOL! Night prowl, rawr! When I saw this on the rack, I knew I had to snatch it up. It reminded me of the New Deborah Lippmann shade, Bad Romance. This is what I thought Bad Romance looked like before I saw the swatch over at All Lacquered Up where you could see the hexagonal glitters.

In any case, I liked it! Not exactly a summer shade but I thought the bright glitter was perfect for Fourth of July. This is magenta glitter in a black jelly base. It went on easily enough not too thick or thin Three coats made it nice and opaque, but even with 2 coats of Seche Vite to get it smooth, it wasn't quite and I think it could have even used another coat. Also, I had some small chips on a few nails after a night of wearing it, so the next day was a new nail color. Taking it OFF was the worst part though, like most glitters it was a pain in the butt and resulted in me with ripped up strings of cotton attached to my fingertips. Le sigh. Still, worth the $1.99 that I paid for it.

This morning I was in the mood for something more fun and summery, so I chose another of my Rite Aid purchases. 

This is a Brucci nail polish, a brand I didn't even realize was still around! I remember this brand from wayyy back when, and I still have a few oldies but goodies in my collection.

Gianna's "Rockin" Blue is a supremely hard color to catch on camera, and it's not even my blackberry's fault this time. It's a bright turquoise-green creme that just pops. This is pretty close to the correct shade, but it's juuuust a hint more green in person. Formula was a dream - gorgeously opaque in two coats, and super duper shiny with a coat of Seche. I wore this in the pool for hours with no damage, so I'm pretty impressed. I love this shade so much it's on my fingers and toes at the moment. For the $2 and change I paid for this, I'd definitely recommend it to anyone. I have another new bottle of Brucci polish and a few old ones, so we'll have to see if they're all as good quality as GRB.

I was fiddling with my old Canon which had what I thought was a broken screen, when suddenly it turned on! Just like that!! I tried it out to see if it would give me better results with the color than my Bberry did, but it no luck, so I stuck with the Bberry pics. 

On a side note, this reminds me of pics I've seen of China Glaze's For Audrey. I'll need to get my hands on a bottle soon and see if they're dupes...

...until next time :)

Inaugural Marble Monday!

Hey everyone! This is the my first official "Marble Monday" post. I first saw this technique on Sarah and Jason's blog CrystalPolish, and I've been obsessed ever since! 

This was my second ever attempt at a marble, using Essie Midnight Cami, a deep, deep shimmery blue (which, by the way, is perfection in a bottle - but that's for another day), and OPI Go on Green, a sheer, irridescent blue-green. MC is also on the rest of my nails in these photos. 

The next day I decided to take the plunge and do my whole mani marbled. It's surprisingly not as BAM, OUT THERE as I thought it would be, it's actually sort of subtle. I used the same colors, Midnight Cami and Go on Green, but oddly enough they came out a lot lighter than the first time. Not really sure why? The colors seems like they were spreading more in the water this time, but I couldn't give you a reason for that. I guess as I do these more and more I'll get the hang of the quirks. Both mani's have Seche base and top coat.

A lot of people have asked my how I did this, and I know it's hard to explain with just words. One of these Monday's I'll post picture step-by-step instructions, or maybe even a video! (eek!)

Until next time :)

Rite Aid=Heaven/Hell?

Why is it that when you go to a pharmacy to pick up a prescription that they have in-stock, you still need to wait 15-20 minutes (which really means at LEAST half an hour)?? Don't they know what's going to happen if I have 20 minutes to wander about the store?

That's what happens. I need to be put on a leash.

The Lone Holo

Ok polish fanatics, prepare yourselves for the statement I'm about to make. Ready?.....OPI's My Private Jet is the only holo I own. NOT ONLY THAT, this is the first time I ever used it. EEK!

For those of you that haven't left yet, Here's My Private Jet, a dark grey/black holo, no top coat. Wow, I can see why people love holos so much! Look at the sparkle on this bad boy!

Application was...long. This is four coats to get near bottle color. The first coat was so sheer it was almost hard to see - The good part is that the coats are so thin and dry so fast it's no issue to do four. This could be interesting to layer over another color, I'll need to try that in the future. I even liked how it looked with 2 coats...it was a softer shade, almost brown, which is nice if you're not looking to go too dark on your nails (it is summer after all). Besides the sheerness of it, the formula was good, and the wide OPI brush gave really nice control. I definitely see more holos in my future!

FYI, my cuticles look like that because this one was of the last polishes I swatched of five. Unfortunately none of the other photos are usable  because my blackberry's interpretation of them were not quiiiiite correct lol. I need a new camera and STAT!

To New Beginnings

Welcome fellow nail polish fiends! I decided to start this blog after coming across so many others run by women such as myself (and yourselves) who are obsessed with polish! After moving home from college and unpacking countless boxes, paired with a thorough dig through my room and a fight with the sister (don't ask how that resulted in me acquiring MORE polish, but it did), I realized that I have a freakish amout of nail polish! What better way to showcase them (and what better excuse to buy more?)! So let's get into it!

I know that looking down at my hands and seeing a pretty color makes me smile, so I'm going to start with an old hard-to-find favorite of mine.

This is OPI's Loyal Island Lilac. This polish is from the 1997 South Seas collection, and it's a gorgeous soft shimmer gray with teeny tiny silver sparklies and just a hint of lilac when the light hits it a certain way. My bottle is more than half empty so application was a little thick, but still good. This is two coats of a pretty sheer polish, so it's not totally opaque, but for a color like this that works for me. 

Funny enough, I had no idea JUST how hard to find this polish was til recently! To be totally honest, I don't even know where I got it. Did I buy it? Did I swipe it from my sister, mom, or a friend? Did I dream this polish into existence?? I've no clue, but I do know it's been a fave for years. I was doing some Googling recently in search of a new bottle, and imagine my complete anguish when I found out it was from 1997 and discontinued!! I'm going to have to stalk eBay and probably spend a pretty penny to get another one :(

Hopefully my pics will get better soon as I'm out a camera right now and working off Blackberry pictures. Bear with me! Thanks for reading :)