Blue "French" mani: featuring China Glaze Dorothy Who?

"French" manicure using Dorothy Who? and LA Colors Sky Blue, sunlight

Sorry  for not posting much this week. I'm sure you all realize, life can sometimes get in the way of blogging. Anyways, wanted to get back in the swing of things by doing a quick post of a mani I did last week. I wasn't ready to take off Orly Stone Cold, so I added 1 coat of China Glaze Dorothy Who? on top. Then, I went to a store that had a full display of LA Colors polishes, and bought their nail art pen in Sky Blue.  I decided to try the new techniques I had learned for doing French manicures on my existing manicure, so this is what I came up with.

"French" manicure using Dorothy Who? and LA Colors Sky Blue, natural light

3/26/12 Weekly Blog Roundup-OPI does a Peridot dupe?

I'd heard rumors of OPI doing a dupe of Chanel's Peridot, but I had been unsuccessful in my search for swatches of it up until now. Now, Feline  at Alizarine Claws did a post with pictures of some of the Spiderman collection on a nail wheel.  It certainly looks like OPI Just Spotted the Lizard is a Peridot dupe.

Most of us have seen the press releases for the Zoya Beach & Surf collection, but a lucky few have already swatched these babies. One of them is a fellow Northern California blogger-Kelly over at Vampy Varnish. Check out her post with swatches of Beach & Surf here.

Finally, I'm quite surprised that we can already preview the Spring 2012 Bridal Collection from Essie. I just saw something about it yesterday, but Chelsea over at Nailed has had a preview post up since February. Nailed also has posts previewing the Orly Dark Shadows collection and OPI Minnie Mouse collection on its front page, and other previews thoughout the blog, so be sure to check it out!

OPI Iberian Bisque- sheer beauty?

OPI Iberian Bisque, sunlight

The few times I've worn a sheer shade since beginning my polish obsession, I've ended up admiring and staring at my nails just as much as when I wear the flashiest colors. While I reached for OPI Iberian Bisque, I was looking to cleanse my palette with a nude after sporting a lot of bright shades. The long discontinued polish turned out to be much more sheer than I expected, but it was still a color I enjoyed wearing.  Is it just the big 3 fumes getting to me, or is Iberian Bisque a sheer delight? Judge for yourself after the jump!

Orly Stone Cold-Ooohh, sparkly!

Orly Stone Cold, sunlight

My absolute favorite color in the world is turquoise. Since turquoise can be rather loud in clothing, I have a ton of turquoise accessories and polishes. Orly Stone Cold is such a beautiful shade of shimmery turquoise, I can't help loving it. I actually have a near dupe of it, but it doesn't have nearly as much sparkle, so I kept both of them. Find out what the other polish is, and see more pictures, after the jump.

Salon Express stamping sets for $7!

Salon Express Nail Art Stamping Kit at Ross

Today I went and ran some errands and happened to go into quite a few discount stores. I was really surprised when I ran into the Salon Express stamping kit for the first time at TJ Maxx. I was less surprised when I ran into plentiful supplies of the kit in a couple of other places. The other two stores were Ross and DD's Discounts. In all the stores, the polishes were priced at $6.99. Keep reading to see the pictures and for links to a few reviews of the product!

3/18/12 Weekly Blog Roundup:-Unicorn Puke gets a little sister!

Or a close cousin? When I heard about Cult Nails releasing a new collection, Divas and Drama, I was only mildly curious. However, when I spotted a flakie in the mix, my attention was piqued. The new color, Seduction, is apparently a lot like Unicorn Puke, except without some of the green flakes.  The entire collection is swatched at this post.  The polishes are supposed to be available for pre-sale soon, but as of tonight the official Cult Nails website does not have them listed. In further Cult Nails news, the polish Captivated is back and is available right now on the official Cult Nails website. 

In case you haven't had your fill of St. Patrick's Day manicures, you can catch more of them at this post from Nouveau Cheap. People responded to G’s request for St. Patrick’s Day nail art in droves. Besides the amazing creativity in nail art and polish combinations, one of the things that struck me about the post was just how different the China Glaze polish Four Leaf Clover looks depending on the lighting!

You've probably seen pictures of the polishes in China Glaze's Prismatic collection by now. If you want to see the swatches, you're in luck. Both Scrangie and Kayla Shevonne have done posts about the collection. They both seem to really like it, so check out their posts at their blogs: Scrangie and Nails by Kayla Shevonne. Scrangie also has swatches up of the Wet n Wild Coloricon Be Jeweled collection, which seems to be similar, if not complete dupes of, the China Glaze Prismatic collection. Check out her post about it here.

If you're like me, you've wondered just how close a dupe Claire's Candy Shoppe is to the original Deborah Lippmann version. Now you can see a comparison between the two at the Colour is Magic blog. Here's a link to her post where she does a thorough comparison.

A few bloggers have been able to preview the OPI New York City Ballet collection. One of them is Carla at Deuce Beauties, who did a complete review in this post. She's a blogger I just discovered recently, and I'm amazed by the quantity of complete collections she swatches and variety of brands she covers.  

St. Patrick's Day nails

Just a quick post to share my look for St. Patrick's Day. For this manicure, I used:

China Glaze Kinetic Candy (sky)
China Glaze Holly Day (hat)
Sally Girl White (index)
Wet n Wild Black Creme (pot and hat band)
Kleancolor Shiny Summer Days (gold)
Sinful Canary Yellow (hat buckle)
acrylic paint for the rainbow

Gold sponging on China Glaze Riveting

Kleancolor Tiara Gold and Kleancolor Shiny Summer Days sponged over China Glaze Riveting, sunlight

When I saw swatches of the China Glaze Hunger Games/Capitol Colours collection, Riveting was the only color that really appealed to me. (I don't consider flakies a "color", per say, so Luxe and Lush doesn't count.)  It just seemed to be full of shimmery, glass-flecky goodness. The bright orange polish does not disappoint in person. The polish has a ton of golden shimmer flashing though it, so I immediately thought of combining it with gold. I sponged it with a couple of Kleancolors and am so happy with the results. See more pictures and of the Kleancolor polish bottles, after the jump.

Sinful Colors Green Ocean on deep purple= pure magic

Sinful Colors Green Ocean over Wet n Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer, sunlight

I am a huge fan of purple and of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so when I picked up Wet n Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer, I was predisposed to liking it. The awesome pictures of it on Scrangie's top 10 post didn't hurt, either. But the purple color really blew me away on the nail. The deep blue violet is such a saturated, beautiful jewel tone! The addition of Sinful Colors Green Ocean on top of the polish turned it into pure jaw-dropping gorgeousness.  Keep reading to see more pictures of this amazing combination!

Tips and tricks Tuesday-Dealing with a terrible brush

Bad brushes from OPI and Spoiled

One of the common complaints I've heard about the Spoiled nail polish line is that their brushes are terrible. My solution to this problem: use the brush from an empty bottle of a brand you do like. It's easy to clean these brushes by filling the bottle with pure acetone and submerging the brush. Keep reading to find out more details, plus learn some of the other reasons I think it's a great idea to keep you empty bottles.

Sinful Colors Green Ocean-Get it while you can!

Sinful Colors Green Ocean, a flakie that's only available for a limited time 

Just want to remind my fellow flakie lovers to go out and get your bottle of Sinful Colors Green Ocean ASAP. The green hued flakie has historically only been available in St. Patrick's Day displays, and like all Sinful Colors polishes, it's only $1.99.  Be sure to get it before Sunday the 18th, when they'll be sure to start taking down the St. Patrick's displays. Walgreens is the only drugstore where I found the St. Patrick's Day displays with this polish. I say, the sooner you start searching, the better, because I went to 2 Walgreens yesterday that didn't have it before I finally found it at a 3rd one.  The other option (besides waiting for next year), would be to purchase a bottle at the Cherry Culture website where they sell it year round, but you would also have to pay additional charges for shipping if you did.

*Edited to add: be sure to check out my recent posts featuring Green Ocean layered over violet and blue. Also, I added the link to Cherry Culture on 5/27/12. I had mistakenly remembered seeing Green Ocean for sale on the Sinful Colors website, but I'm fairly certain that the place where I saw it months ago was Cherry Culture.

China Glaze Luxe and Lush over Zoya Jem

China Glaze Luxe and Lush over Zoya Jem, shade

When I first put Zoya Jem on my fingers, I couldn't get over how gorgeous it was. It just shimmered beautifully in the sunlight, and I found it hard to stop admiring my fingers.   Then I added China Glaze Luxe and Lush.  It's hard to believe you can make such a great polish even better, but that's truly what happened when I added the shard-like flakie to the mix. Join me to learn how it compares to Essie Shine of the times and for a lot more pictures, after the jump.

Color Club does magnetic

Color Club magnetic polish colors

I really neglected my duties as a blogger today. I went polish shopping with a friend and was so busy having fun that I didn't remember this blog until the last minute. That's when it struck me that I should really take a picture of this new magnetic polish from Color Club. I had seen it, hadn't liked any of the colors and dismissed it early on in my time at the store. I really can't tell you much about them except that the picture above shows the different colors the polishes come in. Also, the magnet is built into the bottle top and it's a rounded bottle shape like the Nails, Inc. magnetic polishes. Sorry for being neglectful, but hope you find this news interesting anyway!

Sinful Colors Cinderella and Revlon Whimsical, matted- a great match!

Sinful Colors Cinderella with Revlon Whimsical and matte topcoat, natural light

Even though I have plenty of polishes I could try out after my trip to Mexico, something about Sinful Colors Cinderella just called to me and I knew I had to wear it. I ended up not only wearing it plain, but doing adding that special "neutral" glitter, Revlon Whimsical and a matte topcoat. Join me for more pictures after the jump!

Quick post-Jordana Magenta Magic over Wet n Wild On a Trip

Wet n Wild On a Trip with Jordana Magenta Magic glitter, natural light

So this is a quick post because I actually didn't like this combo too much and took it off after a few hours. Basically, I didn't think the purple and magenta colors contrasted very much and thought that it made for a look that wasn't all that interesting. However, since I did take a few pictures, it can't hurt anything to share.

Mexico haul- Back with lots of polish!

When I left for Mexico, I was sure I'd only be buying a few polishes and that my selection would be really limited.  I couldn't have been more wrong, because polish was all around me throughout my trip. Most of it was under $1.50, and all of it was stuff that I have never found here in the US. See more pictures and find out what the brands and colors look like in more pics, after the jump!

My Valentine´s Day mani (a couple of weeks late)

I was looking though the photos on my phone during the long plane ride home yesterday, and ran into these pics of Valentine's Day manicure. I wanted to post them before it hit St. Patrick's Day, LOL!  Learn more about the colors I used and more details after the jump.