Giveaway @ Gilded Nails

For those of you looking to rock the vampy green look, Gilded Nails is giving away one bottle of the coveted Nars Zulu in honor of the new year.  Click here to check it out. Make sure you get your name in by January 20 to enter.  This is one polish I've definitely been longing to try!  Hunter Green Jelly? Yes please.

L'oreal B. Outrageous

Isn't this a pretty yellow?  B. Outrageous is from the L'oreal Gems collection.  The bottle describes it as "precious effect nail color," but I call it "a study in lobster claws."  Unfortunately it's wrong for my skin tone, but it is a very pretty polish, though I can't think of what gemstone has this color.

It comes in a .2fl oz. bottle, which is tiny!  I don't remember what I paid for it.  The brush is longer than usual and wide.  I found it floppy but workable.  The polish was thin.  This is three coats and I can still see a visible nail line.  Were I to wear this polish, I would layer it over an opaque white.

L'oreal Gems B. Outrageous, three coats, direct sunlight

L'oreal Gems B. Outrageous, three coats, direct sunlight

Here is a yellow sapphire I thought had a similar color:

Yellow Sapphire, image courtesy of astrologicalgem.com

Sinful Colors San Fransisco

I remember buying this polish back in high school when I was looking for something hunter green.  (If only I had known about Nars Zulu!)  I probably wore it once and then it got shoved back in the box of nail polish under my bed, dormant for years.  Recently I learned about the hard-to-find OPI Rainforest and how this is a close substitute.  Obviously I was excited to pull it back out!  Let's have a look.

Sinful Colors San Fransisco is a shimmery emerald green.  This is three coats, as it wasn't very well pigmented.

Sinful Colors San Fransisco, three coats, with flash

For $2 at Walgreens I'd say its a good buy, especially if you're looking for a nice Christmas green.  Now if only they could make it scented like evergreen.  OMG...genius idea coming on...a Christmas collection scented like evergreen and candy canes and sugar plums...oh my.

China Glaze Party Hearty

You'd have to be a Grinch not to like this.  This is the Christmas polish to end all Christmas polishes.  Party Hearty, from the China Glaze Naughty and Nice collection, has red hexagonal glitter, smaller regular green glitter and specks of silver and gold glitter.  I used one coat on my pinky, two on my ring finger, three on middle, and four on index so you can see how it builds.

China Glaze Party Hearty, one, two, three and four coats

As you can see, four coats gives you almost complete coverage while one coat gives you a nice smattering of Christmas confetti.  This one is also great layered over other polishes.  I wore two coats over Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad as a complete manicure.

China Glaze Party Hearty, two coats over Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad

China Glaze Party Hearty, two coats over Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad

I show you I'm With Brad a lot but never on it's own.  I guess I like it for layering etc. because it's black with a sultry red shimmer.  I'll review it soon.  Back to Christmas-in-a-bottle, I love party hearty.  Oddly though I haven't worn it as much as you might think.  I've kinda been saving it for Christmas Day when I slap four coats of it on each nail and say to hell with removal!  The bling factor will be worth it.

What's your favorite glitter?  Do you like them alone or do you layer?

China Glaze Tronica Promo

Things I love:

• China Glaze
• Holographs
• A new china glaze holographic collection!

That's right, China Glaze announced today on their blog that they will be releasing a collection of 12 limited edition holographic shades.  Have a first look at the Tronica collection:

• Techno Teal – Turquoise Holographic
• Virtual Violet – Violet Holographic
• Electra Magnenta – Magenta Holographic
• Gamer Glam – Purple Holographic
• High Def -  Blue Holographic
• Hologram -  Silver Holographic
• Hyper Haute – Rasberry Holographic
• 3D Fantasy – Peachy Pink Holographic
• Digital Dawn – Dusty Rose Holographic
• Cyberspace – Taupe Holographic
• Mega Bite – Gold Holographic
• Laser Lime – Lime Green Holographic

The ones that jump out most at me are Digital Dawn (Dusty Rose), Hologram (Silver) and Laser Lime (Lime Green).  With my recent adoration of 2NITE from the OMG holographic collection, I absolutely cannot wait for these polishes.  They'll be available starting Jan/Feb 2011 at BSG and March/April 2011 at Sally Beauty Supply.

Here's another look at how amazing 2NITE is:

What do you think? Will you be sporting these for summer?

China Glaze 2NITE

I LOVE THIS POLISH!  Ok I apologize for the perhaps jarring enthusiasm, but seriously a periwinkle holograph is something to shout about.  (Especially when you bought it for $1!)  China Glaze 2NITE is from the OMG collection, a special collection inspired by the lingo and flashy fingers of texting.

2NITE has a great application, as long as you remember: Don't use a base coat.  Holographs apply much better without them.  You also don't need a top coat, it minimizes the holographic effect.  But it's ok, because holographs dry really fast, making this a perfect in-a-rush manicure.  Literally 5 minutes and you're done.  (Insert that's-what-she-said joke here.)

I took lots of pictures to show you the many facets of 2NITE.  Enjoy!

China Glaze 2NITE, two coats, direct sunlight 

China Glaze 2Nite, two coats, direct sunlight

 Heres what the color looks like with no holograph:

China Glaze 2NITE, two coats, shade

 And now back to the holograph because it's so pretty:

China Glaze 2NITE, two coats, flash

China Glaze 2Nite, two coats, direct sunlight

China Glaze 2NITE, two coats, direct sunlight

Isn't it amazing?  What I'm really pleased about is that the holographic effect is very pronounced.  Sometimes with polishes they leave me wanting more, like OPI DS Extravagance and China Glaze Sugar Plums.  My hand is always searching for the perfect lighting to show a huge holographic effect, but inevitably its always on the subtle side.  But not this polish!  I can't wait til summer to wear it...um...probably every day.

If anyone has any lemmings from this collection let me know!  I'll check the beauty store where I picked this one up and see if the rest are on clearance too.  Seriously, one dollar!

OPI Texas Collection

Here's a heads up about OPI's forthcoming Spring/Summer 2011 collection, dedicated to none other than the great state of Texas.  It consists of 12 polishes from every shade of the spectrum, and while some look like we've seen them before, I'll be interested to see if can OPI make them unique.

• Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em- A red-hot pink-red that deals a winning hand.
• Do You Think I'm Tex-y- A “berry” sexy bloom of Dallas dahlia.
• Houston We Have A Purple- A galactic red-violet that’s ready to “rocket roll”!
• Suzi Loves Cowboys- But she loves this campfire chocolate shade s’more!
• I Vant To Be A-Lone Star- You won’t want to share this starry Texas-sky blue.
• It's Totally Fort Worth It-A shimmery lavender grey that’s so worthy of you.
• Austin-tatious Turquoise- Cowgirls love this bodacious blue-green.
• Don't Mess With OPI- A lean, mean, kick-grass forest green.
• Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?- This Texas tangerine will be waitin’ for ya!
• Guy Meets Galveston- An “engaging” coastal coral.
• Big Hair...Big Nails-A rosy pageant peach.
• San Tan-Tonio-A “honey” of a ten-gallon tan!

Obviously the clever names and descriptions are enough to hook me on the whole collection, but here are the colors that look the most trend-setting to me:

• It's Totally Fort Worth It: We've seen grey coming into vogue this past season, especially in combination with other colors.  (think Deborah Lippmann Waking Up In Vegas, the "greige" worn by Lady GaGa on the cover of Vanity Fair.)
• San Tan-Tonio: There's always a search for the perfect nudetral. (Get it, nude+neutral?)

While I'm inclined to like Houston We Have A Purple, I think that's just for the name.  It looks like a pretty shade, but not terribly unique, especially from OPI.  Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?  Is the shade thats closest to the ubiquitous UT orange, and I don't see how you could have a Texas collection without that!  Don't Mess WIth OPI Also looks fun, but come on OPI, we've seen the matching Green/Blue pairing in two of your most recent collections-  From Hong Kong: Jade is the New Black and Suzi Says Feng Shui; From Swiss:Cuckoo For This Color and Yodel Me On My Cell.  As for the rest of the collection, it seems like your normal varying shades of Pink.  Depending on what you're looking for, one of these could be perfect for you.  And maybe it's time to get back to some more "traditional" colors after the onslaught of unique shades and glitters the nail polish industry has been overloaded with lately.

All in all, I think the best aspect of this collection is the polish names.  Now I turn it over to y'all:  What do you think?  Anything grab ya?  Would you buy polish based solely on a witty name?

Zoya Free Spoon Friday erm, Saturday

Greetings from Richmond!  Zoya is a brand I haven't tried yet but have heard only good things about.  They're Big 3 Free and have hundreds of gorgeous colors, making it really difficult to decide which one(s) to buy.

Well, they've made things easier on that end.  Zoya recently started selling spoons, or little plastic lacquer swatches you can place over your nail to see what a color will look like against your skin tone.  Ordinarily the spoons are $0.50 each and you get a matching credit towards your next Zoya purchase.  Today however Zoya has extended their Free Spoon Friday, offering 6 spoons of your choice, free, and with a $3.00 Zoya credit.  Oh and if that isn't enough, the spoons ship for free as well!  Just enter in the code SP6 at checkout.

This is definitely a deal too good to pass up.  What spoons will you order?

One more thing on Zoya:  If they hit 20,000 likes on Facebook by January 3, everyone will get a code for 3 free bottles.  Way to go Zoya!  You may be my new favorite brand because yes, I can be bought by freebies.

Polished at the Jersey Shore

As my polish collection increased steadily, one question plagued me throughout the fall:

"What colors am I going to bring for my month-long Winter break in New Jersey?!"

I gave this serious consideration, especially since one of the last times I traveled I had a rather unfortunate lacquer incident.  Granted, it was my fault for putting my bag of polishes in the front compartment of my suitcase.  But my bottle of OPI Midnight Blue Glitter shattered, spilling its contents all over its companion bottles and ruining my makeup bag AND Seacret Nail Buffer.  Those things are great btw.  I got sucked into buying one at the Galleria but got some good use out of it before it's untimely demise.

Anyway, I no longer travel with polishes I'd be upset about losing.  So while I'd love to wear Paradoxal and Bad Romance 24/7 I left those behind in favor of mainly China Glaze, since I have about half of their Christmas collection and am running out of time for it to be seasonally appropriate.

From Left to Right:

• Orly Bonder
• Butter London Matte Finish Topcoat
• Seche Vite
• China Glaze Frosty
• China Glaze Swing Baby
• China Glaze Mrs. Claus
• China Glaze Sugar Plums
• China Glaze Mummy May I
• SEPHORA by OPI I'm With Brad
• China Glaze Naughty and Nice
•  Wet n Wild Morbid
• China Glaze Watermelon Rind
• L'oreal Waters Edge
• China Glaze Party Hearty

The Clears and Shears:

Orly Bonder, Butter London Matte Finish, Seche Vite, China Glaze Frosty, China Glaze Swing Baby

The Reds:

China Glaze Mrs. Claus, China Glaze Sugar Plums, China Glaze Mummy May I, SEPHORA by OPI I'm With Brad, China Glaze Naughty and Nice

 The [Mainly] Greens:

Wet n Wild Morbid, China Glaze Watermelon Rind, L'oreal Waters Edge, China Glaze Party Hearty

Mummy May I is my fill-in for Bad Romance, and I'm hoping to find Revlon Perplex at a drugstore to fill my Paradoxal void.

As an addendum, my dear friend who drove me to the airport gave me OPI Bring on the Bling as a gift, so that obviously came too.  Swatches to follow!

China Glaze Watermelon Rind

This polish holds a special place in my heart as one of the first bottles of China Glaze I ever bought.  I was looking for a sparkly teal and thought this would be just that.  While it wound up being more green than teal I still love it.  It goes on pretty thin so I needed three coats, and even then I could still see patchiness in direct sunlight.  I think if you used a thicker second coat it would fix that.

China Glaze Watermelon Rind, three coats, shade

China Glaze Watermelon Rind, three coats, direct sunlight
See the ugly thin patches on my middle finger? Grrr.

China Glaze Watermelon Rind, three coats, indirect sunlight

This one is absolutely spectacular in the sun!  I remember wearing it in late August and being mesmerized.  It's still nice for winter though and I feel like since it's sparkly green/teal, and Mrs. Claus is sparkly red/pink the two would go together nicely for a Christmas manicure.

Orly Space Cadet

Space Cadet is the only color from the ORLY FX collection that captured my attention, so when I finally saw it available in the display I had to snatch it up.  It's a purple/green/yellow triochrome (?) with an intense coppery glitter in the sunlight.  It looks very different depending on the lighting you're in, which is one of the really fun things about wearing it.  I tried to capture it's different personalities in the pictures below.

The polish applies well though it is a little transparent.  I needed three coats for full effect.  This first picture is with flash, it captures both the coppery glitter effect and the green duochrome.

Orly Space Cadet, two coats with flash 

This picture is in direct sunlight.  Here Space Cadet looks very purple with a copper flash and green undertone.

Orly Space Cadet, two coats, direct sunlight

Here I tried to capture the most of the duochrome effect that I could.  You can see the purple towards the tip, then the green in the middle and yellow towards the base.  Meanwhile, the bottle looks very purple.

Orly Space Cadet, two coats direct sunlight

Here's more of the duochrome effect in indirect sunlight.

Orly Space Cadet, two coats indirect sunlight

None of these pictures really capture how your nails look at any given moment while wearing this color, however they do demonstrate the many facets of this polish.  I think this would be a really fun summer pedicure.