Category: Swatches

Essie Bridal Collection For 2013

self purchased

 

 

Wedding? Barf. I’ve got to admit that I am a sort of wedding hater. I mean, if a friend or loved one is getting married, of course I’m happy for them and I will happily go to their wedding celebration, but personally, I just think they are a big waste of time and money. Now, don’t get your bridal panties in a bunch if you disagree with me; this is just my personal opinion and I am not telling you that YOUR wedding is a waste of time/money. Just wanted to clear that up. If it were me, I would rather go on a crazy and amazing vacation or put that money towards buying a home or something more practical, but that’s just the part of me that hates planning parties and such. Anyway, this past weekend I went to a wedding and the bride looked gorgeous and I’m sure it was worth all the stress and money that they spent to get that day to be as perfect as possible. Since I was thinking about weddings, I decided to pick up the new Essie Bridal Collection for 2013 even though the colors aren’t exactly the kind that make my heart skip a beat. Before I show you some swatches, I couldn’t get this song out of my head while I swatched them:

 

I don’t know about you, but I think Muriel’s Wedding is one of the funniest and saddest movies I’ve ever seen. I’ve been a Toni Colette fan ever since this movie came out. I also couldn’t believe that Rachel Griffiths played Rhonda in this movie! Not only is the acting superb, but the ABBA music is killer. Yes, I am an ABBA-maniac.

 

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No Baggage Please is the color that screams “bridal” to me the most. It’s such a light and delicate color with a beautiful faint shimmer that unfortunately was captured in my pictures. Being that it is such a light color, I did have to apply 4 coats for full coverage so be forewarned. The formula is definitely a little streaky, but it does build up nicely. I do like delicate colors such as this, but they definitely have a time and a place. This is not a color that I would ever swoon.

 

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Next up is Meet Me At The Altar which is No Baggage Please’s flirtier cousin. This polish also has a faint shimmer that isn’t showing up in my pictures. The formula was also a bit streaky, but I got away with 3 coats on this one. For lilac lovers, I think this is a very conservative choice.

 

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My Better Half screams bridesmaid to me. I’ve been seeing so many of these bright pink polishes lately, but I don’t really get tired of them. It has a glowing quality to it, and I’m glad to report that the formula as nice and pigmented so I only needed two coats.

 

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Last but not least, here is Using My Maiden Name. I think that this one is my favorite of the bunch and not just because I am a purple fanatic. I just love the beautiful shimmer in this polish and the formula was really great.

What do you think about the Essie Bridal Collection For 2013? I like these colors and they certainly are wedding appropriate, but they aren’t all colors that I would say I’m excited about. Since I’m not anticipating getting much use out of these colors, I will be putting them up in my blog sale so check that out if you’re interested. Do you have a favorite from this collection? Thanks so much for visiting today and catching up with me. Talk to you soon!

 

OCC Chlorophyll

Tuesday, yeah! That means that I don’t have to go to work tomorrow so it’s my second favorite day of the week. I’ve been watching Hemlock Grove all afternoon, and I’m seriously hooked. First the hit it out of the park with House Of Cards (I love Kevin Spacey!!!!) and now this show is crazy good. I can’t stop watching it and I love that they have all the episodes up already so I can watch at my leisure. They only thing that sucks is that it’s only 13 episodes…and I’m still dying to see more of House Of Cards. Hurry up, Netflix! In polish news, I decided to try out my new bottle of OCC Chlorophyll that I purchased during my last Sephora shopping extravaganza. Since they were having that 15% off sale, of course I indulged. Before I show the swatches, I just had to share this:

Chlorophyll, more like borophyll!

Billy Madison is seriously one of my favorite movies ever. I go around quoting it all the time and most of the time, people have no idea what I’m talking about and I just look like a big old freak. Oh, well…their loss!

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This is my first experience with OCC nail polishes, and I am pleasantly surprised. I found the formula extremely easy to apply and control which is always important because I have a tendency to flood my cuticles if I’m not super careful. OCC Chlorophyll conjured up a brighter green in my head before I purchased it so I was a little disappointed in that respect, but it’s still a gorgeous color. I applied 3 thin coats to achieve full opacity even though the formula was a little on the thin side.

 

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I then reached for my Wet N Wild Diamond In The Rough from the 2011 Ice Baby Collection. If you blinked, you probably missed this collection since it was crazy hard to find and was only available at Walgreens. Don’t you hate that but secretly love the thrill of the hunt? Anyway, I love these glitters no matter what a pain in the ass they are to remove. I tried to lightly sponge it at the base of my nails but that turned into a clean up mess…oh well, I still liked it.

So, I hope you’re having a nice Tuesday–I can’t wait to get to sleep in tomorrow although I’m going to try to hit the gym tomorrow. I’ve been so miserable lately feeling so gross and fat that I can’t stand it anymore!!! We’ll see how my resolve crumbles…haha! I have so much faith in myself, don’t I? Anyhow, let me know what you think of OCC Chlorophyll. Have you tried any other OCC polishes? What about their cult favorite lip tars? I actually bough one lip tar but didn’t really like it. It was my fault for getting a color that just wouldn’t look good on me, but maybe I’ll give them another try. Thanks so much for stopping by, and I will talk to you soon!

Bettina Nail Enamel: Orange, Green and Sunrise

 

The other day Daniel, whom some of you may know already if you join in on the twitter craziness that sometimes seems to happen, asked me why I hadn’t posted yet about the lovely Bettina polishes that he so graciously got me during his trip to Puerto Rico. (Well, I have to admit that I badgered him about bringing me back some Bettina polishes before he left but that’s beside the point.) Whaaaat? Does that mean that he actually reads my blog? I guess he does even though nail polish is not anything that he really cares about but that’s what you do for friends, right? I mean, you support their hobbies and obsessions no matter how inane you may think they are. Now that’s friendship! So today I am sharing the three lovely Bettina Nail Enamel colors that he brought back for me: Orange, Green and Sunrise.

 

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For those of you who don’t know, Bettina is a brand that is really hard to get a hold of unless you live in Southern Florida which is why I hadn’t been able to get any despite drooling over the colors on other blogs. Well, here I am with my first three Bettinas and let me tell you that I am in love…

 

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This is a dream polish for any orange lover out there. In case you don’t remember, orange polish was super hot last year since Tangerine Tango was the Pantone Color Of The Year. Well, I am still in love with orange polish so I was psyched that Daniel got this one for me. Orange was nearly a one-coater but I had to apply a second coat just to get full even color–and out of habit! You want to know the best part? It doesn’t stain one bit!

 

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seeing tons of interesting green polishes come out recently, and I seriously want them all. Green makes me think of freshly cut grass. It took me back to when I was a kid and I would lay in the grass, gaze up at the sky and try to make out shapes in the clouds. Forget about the hours of itchy torture afterwards since grass always made me feel all gross. Green was not as opaque as Orange, but I still only needed two coats for full coverage. I wasn’t expecting any staining issues, and I’m glad to report that there were one.

 

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I am always on the search for the mythical perfect yellow nail polish: a creamy one-coater. Alas, this is not it but it rather pretty. Sunrise is more of an orange leaning yellow that made me think of a more yellow China Glaze Sun Worshiper. I did have to apply three coats of this color which is fairly normal when you’re dealing with yellow polishes.

So, what’s the verdict after my first Bettina experience? I think this may be love–even if it’s going to be a long distance relationship. The formula on all three polishes was really great: it was the perfect consistency which made the polish super easy to control. I liked the brush as well which is always a huge plus for me. Another nail fanatic actually passed along the name of a sales rep from whom I can order Bettina lovelies to my heart’s content. Once I place an order, I’ll let you all know how it works out…and I’m definitely going to be jumping on that polish train like yesterday. Thank you so much to my #1 travel buddy who has been a great friend for the last 16 years–you are only feeding the addiction, my friend.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope that you have a great Monday. I’ll talk to you soon!

 

P.S. This is the last week to enter my latest giveaway for a set of OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Minis so don’t miss out. Go enter here.

 

Ninja Polish Divinity & Some Stamping

All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Since it’s hotter than Satan’s crotch lately, I’ve kind of been in a shitty mood. In case you don’t know this about me, I hate the summer. Pretty strange considering I was born and raised in Southern California, right? Well, I was watching the news and it’s supposed to be in the 90’s on Saturday. I am so NOT looking forward to that. I’m going to turn into a raging lunatic trying to stay cool and this is only the beginning. Now we just have to wait for all the lovely wildfires we get each Summer. Anyway, I should stop being such a Summer-hater and just focus on all the pretty nail polish colors that come out during the hot season–yay! Speaking of pretty polish, today I’m showing you a stamped mani that I did with Ninja Polish Divinity as my base.

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I’ve previously shown you Ninja Polish Divinity so I’m not going to go on and on about it. It’s glowy. It’s hot. It’s gorgeous. You get it.

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And here I decided to use a design from Winstonia Store plate W112 along with the fantabulous Silver Mercedes from Pure Ice. I’m sure people are tired me of saying this, but if you love to stamp, you have to get this polish–it’s stamping perfection for only $2.00. I am very happy with how this mani turned out. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting to like the Winstonia Store plates as much as I do so I’m pleasantly surprised.

The weekend is almost here–so what big plans do you have? On Saturday I’m going to one of my best friends sister’s wedding. It should be fun but now I have to figure out what to wear and what to do with my nails–decisions, decisions!!! Well, I hope you’re having a nice day and hope your Friday isn’t too crazy although I’m anticipating a shit storm at work tomorrow. Such is life! Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Sation Board Girl Blue

Sation Board Girl Blue was a press sample. All other products were purchased by me.

 

Wednesdays are fun for me because I don’t have to go to work, but at the same time I feel like I don’t truly enjoy my day since I’m just dreading that I have to go back to work on Thursday. Oh well, nothing can be perfect, right? Today is such a weird weather day since it was really hot the last few days and today is overcast and it has been sprinkling all day. Damn you, crazy California weather! This is the kind of weather that ends up making me get sick so I’m trying to just relax and not get too worried about it. I’ve actually been doing some cleaning all day so at least that has been relaxing. Since the weather was so summer-like in the last few weeks, I decided to look through my summer colors from last year and I stumbled upon Sation Board Girl Blue. I previously reviewed this polish last summer, and I kind of cringe at the quality of my pictures. I hope that I have learned a little about how to improve my pictures since then! I still love this color so much, and I can’t stop thinking about one of my favorite silly movies: Blue Crush. Yes, I know…it’s dumb, but it’s soooooo entertaining. hahaha Anyway, let me show you some swatches of Sation Board Girl Blue.

 

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I’m going gaga about how beautiful and vibrant this color is. The formula remains the same: smooth, highly pigmented and glossy. If you’re not too familiar with the Sation polish line, you are definitely missing out. In fact, for those of you who are subscribed to Ipsy, a Sation nail polish was included in the last bag. How cool! I love that more people are getting the opportunity to try Miss Professional Nail–especially if it’s hard to find their polishes where you live.

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I had mentioned earlier that I was reminded of Blue Crush (which is a surfer girl movie) when I wore this polish so I decided to stamp over it. This funky circle pattern from Winstonia Plate W112 ended up reminding me of bubbles in a way! How appropriate.  Let me know what you think about this color and how it looks with this stamping design. Thank so much for stopping by to catch up with me today–have a great day, and I will talk to you soon!

 

 

Sation Board Girl Blue was a press sample. All other products were purchased by me.

Color Club Halo Hues Collection 2013 Part 2

 The products featured in this post were purchased by me.

 

Hola my peeps. I was looking through all my backlogged manis and I asked myself: why haven’t you posted these Halo Hues???? Well, I don’t really have an answer except that I’ve been preoccupied with other stuff, and I kind of forgot about them. Blasphemy, right? These are just so incredibly gorgeous that I don’t even have the words to describe them properly. As with all my previous Color Club Halo Hues experience, the formula on these is top notch. They are smooth and apply like a dream even without a base coat. They dry quickly and have a crazy holo effect. What’s not to love?

 

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Eternal Beauty…what a fitting name. As if I didn’t love purple enough, Color Club had to put out this gorgeous purple holo. All I have to say is that if you love purple, get this. If you love holos. Get this. If you don’t get it, then you’re probably nuts anyway so don’t worry about it.

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And not to be outdone, here is Over The Moon. Seriously. Yes, you need this one too.

So, you can already tell that I love the Color Club Halo Hues, right? I mean, the wear on these is fantastic, the formula applies smoothly and evenly and the colors are gorgeous. I’m not trying to sell you on these–I think the pictures speak for themselves. What do you think about holo polishes? Are you tired of seeing them? Do you want more? What are some of your favorite holos? Please share!

Thanks so much for visiting today, and I will talk to you soon!

 

The products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Julep Abbie

The Product featured in this post was purchased by me.

 

Well, here I am ready to show you another yellow polish. I figured that the start of the work week deserved a little brightness–even if it just on my nails.  I am sure that I’ve mentioned the fact that I am super obsessed with yellow nail polish lately so I was super excited to see Julep Abbie when I was perusing their site. I have this love/hate relationship with yellow nail polish because I adore how it looks on my dark skin, but I also dread the application issues. It is very rare to find a yellow polish that doesn’t go on streaky so if you do find one, hold on to it…cherish it and build it its own shrine. Let’s get down to it: Did Julep Abbie break my yellow-loving heart? Look at the swatches before reading about my thoughts.

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I love the finished look of Abbie. I did not, however, love the application process. After I applied the first coat, I knew that I was in for some work because it was streak-a-rrific. I then decided that my best plan of attack would be to apply super thin coats which is how I ended up with 4 thin coats for the swatches above. I know “nobody got time fo’ dat” but sometimes you really have to work with a polish color that you love. And now here comes the bad news: this polish stains horribly. I mean, like your nails look diseased bad. My nails were super yellow when I removed this polish which was a total bummer. I used pure acetone for removal and the staining did not go away until I lightly buffed my nails. The next time I wear this polish, I’m going to have to double up on my base coat. I wish I didn’t love this yellow so much because the application was kind of problematic!!

This polish is part of Julep’s April Brights Collection and came in the April It Girl Box. Have you checked out Julep yet? I personally love their boxes and I also want to share that my friend, Sarah, just won those mythical $500 Visa Cards in her mystery box. Congrats, Sarah!!!! If you’re interested in becoming a Julep Maven for just a penny, don’t forget to use my referral link here and enter the code JULEPVIP. You really can’t beat this offer–nail polish for one cent? Yes, please!

And now for some awesome news: I just got the news that I won a set of the Zoya Summer PixieDust polishes from a giveaway over at All Lacquered Up. I am so excited!!! Can’t wait to get them. This actually made me feel better after a completely miserable day at work. I actually woke up with a headache this morning and I still have it now despite taking a crapton of Advil. I think that I need to go to bed extra early tonight and just hope that I feel better tomorrow. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

 

 

 

The Product featured in this post was purchased by me.

 

OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection Swatches & Giveaway

Disclosure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

 

Well hello there, my fellow polish fiends! Yes, I do have something fun for you today because I have swatched the OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection, AND I also have a set of minis for one lucky reader. Isn’t that just punch you in the gut fantastic? Fortunately, I am in a very good mood today so I was able to get these swatches done after work which is huge since all I want to do after work is die. Kidding. Sort of. Anyway, I have to admit that I am a textured polish fan, but I much prefer the sparkly kind and not the popcorn ceiling kind. Let me get to the point of this post because I’m feeling very talky tonight and I may never get to the swatches if I don’t cut myself off right now…

 

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Aren’t the pretty all together? Let me talk about the formula here since I don’t want to repeat myself over and over again: the formula is great. They are all very easy to apply and dry really quickly. The only thing you really have to keep in mind is that it is important to let each coat dry before you apply a second coat or else you will get some dragging–what a drag. All of my swatches have two coats of polish–no base coat and no top coat. I was messing with the size of my pictures since I can’t seem to find a happy medium. I’m sorry if you find my brown nubs too huge on your screen–just look at the pretty polish, ok? On to the lovelies!

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When I first saw the shades, Solitaire was the one I was least excited about. Now that I have tried it out, I really do like it because I’ve been finding white polish very fun lately. Maybe I’ve been watching too many CutePolish videos on youtube: Apply 2 coats of white polish…and lastly add a fast drying topcoat to protect your design and add a beautiful shine.” Ok, I digress. Maybe I like this one so much because it’s such a stark contrast with my dark skin?

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Will I ever NOT like a blue polish? Not likely. Tiffany Case is my second favorite color in this collection because it’s so vibrant and bright. Someone had mentioned that this was a stainer, but I actually did not get any staining but I only swatched it. You will normally get staining even if you wear the polish for only a short amount of time so this was not a stainer for me at all–thank God!

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Pussy Galore–Uhm, yeah…ok…it had to be pink, right? This one is a little too light pink for me to really be excited about. I like pink, but I’m more of a hot pink type of girl.

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And here is the belle of the ball, my precious Jinx. I always have a soft spot for vibrant orange polishes so this one does not disappoint–it actually looks like it’s on fire. It’s a beautiful combination of orange-gold-coral. I just can’t get enough of it. If there is one color that I would call essential from this collection, it would be Jinx.

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Honey Ryder is just gold. Textured gold. Am I the only one who is thinking of Goldmember right now?

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And lastly, here we have Vesper. Vesper had a lot of promise when I first saw it, but I think that the color really just covers up everything that makes this polish interesting. It’s way too dark…it looks like lumpy grape jam. This one is my least favorite of the collection. Sorry Eva Green, OPI did you wrong!

And now you can win your very own set of minis! As always, this is open internationally but please check the customs regulations of your country before entering.

bondgirls

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let me know what you think of this collection. What is your favorite color? Do you have a favorite Bond Girl? Who is your favorite Bond? Are my pictures just too huge? Do tell! Also, check out my blog sale because I put up 4 of these polishes. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

 

Disclosure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

 

 

Love Nail Lacquer Ticklish

Something just hit me: who are these people who appear on The People’s Court? I mean, most of them are so disastrously ghetto that I have a hard time looking at them. It’s like a trainwreck that you have a hard time looking away from no matter how gorry the scene may be. I don’t even know why I watch it except out of maybe some kind of morbid curiosity. Anyway, today has been pretty ho-hum. Work sucked as usual, but I have an interview on Thursday so maybe things will improve soon. Since I was so annoyed after work, I decided to go get a manicure. I always regret it because most places do such a horrid job and this was no exception. After I got home, I took off the polish and I’m probably going to paint them another color soon.  What a waste of $15!!!! The share I’m sharing with you today is one of those strange colors that I don’t know if I really like. Love Nail Lacquer is a strange brand that I have only seen in a few nail places–the kind that look like the land that time forgot. I tried looking the brand up online, but didn’t really find much information. Oh well! This strange orange-peachy polish is Love Nail Lacquer Ticklish.

Love Nail Lacquer Ticklish

Love Nail Lacquer Ticklish

Love Nail Lacquer Ticklish

Does this color make my skin look strange or is it just my monitor? The formula on this polish was pretty nice: it was smooth and pigmented. I can’t say that it’s a color that I’m super excited about, but it is rather unique to my stash so that’s a huge plus. I applied 2 coats for the swatches above along with a coat of my trusty Seche Vite. Have you run across this brand before?

Anyway, I hope you’re having a good week–can’t wait for hump day…especially since it’s my day off! Wooo hooo! Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Seche Snapdragon

The product featured in this post was purchased by me.

 

Are there colors that you feel you get a lot of compliments on when you wear them on your nails? Every single time I wear hot pink, I get tons of compliments whether it’s on my nails or on my lips. I have a definite obsession with hot pink lipsticks (I’ll be doing a review for Illamasqua Eurydice soon!) and nail polish so when I saw Seche Snapdragon, I was on it like white on rice. Let’s look at this new bottle of hot pink love. (Ok, does that sound kind of inappropriate or is it just me??)

Seche Snapdragon

Seche Snapdragon

Seche Snapdragon

Seche Snapdragon

Seche Snapdragon is a gorgeous bright pink creme polish that is a little Pepto-Bismol-y, but I think that it definitely pops against my skin tone. I wore this color for three days and everywhere I went, people complimented my nails–even men! I have mixed feelings about the Seche nail polish line, though. I am a hardcore fan of Seche Vite as you probably already know, but I just can’t get on the love boat when it comes to the nail polish line because I find the formula a little strange. I think the colors are great–saturated and vibrant–but the formula is just a little strange. I feel that they get gummy really quickly when you’re applying it so if you don’t work quickly enough, your nails can become a streaky mess.  Despite this, I will continue to purchase these polishes because I just can’t stop myself! Ha!

This weekend I stopped by a convenience store that was selling Pop Rocks candy/gum. Do you guys remember that? It’s a grainy, pebble-y candy that crackles and pops once it comes in contact with your saliva. Basically it’s just the carbon dioxide being released that makes that popping sound that makes you feel like something is exploding in your mouth. (Get your mind out of the gutter.) So anyway, the reason I am mentioning this is because I couldn’t stop laughing when I remembered a story about this candy: my youngest brother (whom some of you may know as “the mooch”) is 10 years younger than me so that is a prime torture age difference. One day I had some Pop Rocks and of course he wanted some. The evil in me decided to play a trick on him so I sweetly gave him my Pop Rocks. As soon as he put them in his mouth, he asked me why they were popping and I acted like I didn’t know what he was talking about. I then proceeded to tell him that the exploding Pop Rocks were going to travel to his brain and then make his brain explode. Of course he started bawling and then I started to feel bad about playing that joke on him. He is 23 years old now and he STILL remembers that day. Evil sister, much?

Anyway, I don’t have much of an update regarding all my issues and stuff. I’m just hanging in there and hoping that all my efforts will help me get to a better place in my life. I hope that you have all been doing well and thanks so much for stopping by today.

 

The product featured in this post was purchased by me.