Mermaid's Birthday nails! Island Girl Red Sun is a party in a bottle

Island Girl Red Sun over OPI Ink, natural light

Here's a look I sported on my nails recently. The layered dots on the accent finger really remind me of a mermaid's tail and the glitter makes me think of birthday confetti, so I called the look "Mermaid's Birthday."

 Red Sun is an awesome glitter polish from Island Girl brand. Island Girl is a polish brand that is found only in certain locations. As far as I know, Island Girl is only available in Hawaii and and Las Vegas.  I'm lucky that Esmeralda Pearlfinish's travels have taken her to both places. It's only because of Esme that I own any Island Girl polishes at all. Check out more pictures of this unique polish after the jump!

Sinful Colors Almost Famous/Paparazzi glitter polishes

Sinful Colors Almost Famous display

Sinful Colors has released a couple of collections for the spring. The one that got my attention is called the "Almost Famous" collection at Walgreens. I was surprised when I ran into a display with the same exact colors in a display called "Paparazzi" at Rite Aid.

Sinful Colors Paparazzi display

I've already swatched one of the colors, Super Star, in my prior post. Join me after the jump for bottle shots of the other colors in the collection!

Sinful Colors Star Dust-purple+fuschia=awesome!!!

Sinful Colors Star Dust, natural light

Sinful Colors Star Dust is a new polish from the Sinful Colors glitter collection.  It is a clear base with mostly purple and some magenta glitters.  I don't have it on hand to do a comparison, but this color seems really close to the limited edition Wet n Wild color called Back Alley Deals. The big difference I know offhand is that Back Alley Deals dried to a semi-matte finish, while Star Dust is fairly shiny when it dries. Also, it took 3 coats to achieve opacity with Star Dust, while I think the Wet n Wild glitters were opaque in 2.  Despite the differences, I'm glad that Sinful Colors released this polish so more people can have a chance to pick up this gorgeous combination of glitters! If you're lucky enough to find it this week like I did, you can pick it up for 99 cents with a Walgreens coupon. :)

Sinful Colors Star Dust

It's Baaaaack!- Sinful Colors Green Ocean has already been sighted!

This year's St. Patrick's display, featuring Green Ocean in the middle

I've heard reports on various websites that some Walgreens have already started putting out the St. Patrick's Day displays that feature Sinful Colors Green Ocean. The green tinted polish is a favorite among us nail lovers because it's a flakie polish at a very affordable price!

The green hued flakie is only available annually in St. Patrick's Day displays.  Like all Sinful Colors polishes, its retail price is only $1.99. In the past, Walgreens is the only drugstore where I've found the St. Patrick's Day displays with this polish but I also wasn't much of a Rite Aid shopper before this year. I imagine that other stores that carry Sinful Displays might also be putting the St. Patrick's polishes out soon.

There are plenty of nice swatches of Green Ocean out there. Personally, I've layered it over violet and blue.  My swatch below has it over Orly Royal Navy.  Hopefully I'll come up with some other good layering combos and post them soon. In the meantime, just wanted to alert everyone to start looking, since this polish is highly coveted and only available around this time of year. After St. Patrick's Day, it'll disappear faster than a fleeing leprechaun!

Sinful Colors Green Ocean layered over Orly Royal Navy, natural light

Edited to add: check out my recent swatches of Green Ocean over a pastel purple and dark green!

Chic in 18k gold-Commander in Chic with Sephora by OPI gold topcoat

Sally Hansen Commander in Chic with Sephora by OPI It's Real 18k gold top coat, sun

Whenever I go to my friend Esmeralda Pearlfinish's house, I take advantage of the opportunity to raid her stash. This manicure features two of Esme's polishes. I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Commander in Chic.  Commander in Chic is one of Sally Hansen's classic colors. It's a neutral polish that's the perfect combination of brown, grey and purple. Now that I've worn it, I total understand why it's a favorite!  Once Commander in Chic was dry, I added 1 coat of Sephora by OPI It's Real 18k gold top coat. It's a combination that was a bit unexpected, but it looked really nice. I enjoyed the manicure a lot!

Sally Hansen Commander in Chic with Sephora by OPI It's Real 18k gold top coat, shade

Sephora by OPI It's Real 18k gold top coat was one of the first of the "real gold" topcoats to show up this year.  Esmeralda Pearlfinish bought it as soon as she spotted it at Sephora, and she now kind of regrets it. She says she prefers the larger flakes of all the other gold topcoats that came out later. If you look at this comparison over at the Luxe Beauty Forever blog , you can see that the Sephora gold topcoat definitely has the smallest flakes of the 3 polishes. In The Polishaholic's gold leaf topcoat comparison, you can see the size of the flakes in the other gold leaf topcoats out there.  Personally, I think it's just a question of taste, and that some people may prefer the smaller flakes in the Sephora by OPI It's Real 18k gold top coat.

Running in Circles in metallics

China Glaze Running in Circles with gold and silver polish splattered on, sunlight

 When I happened to put my bottle of China Glaze Running in Circles next to my bottle of  Orly Dazzle, I knew immediately that those 2 colors would really compliment each other. Running in Circles is the awesome bright green foil from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection. I decided to do a manicure using Running in Circles as a base and then splatter it with gold and silver.  I used Orly Dazzle as the silver and Kleancolor Metallic Yellow as the gold.  I think the resulting manicure is really a breathtaking one.  I stopped and admired my nails every time the sun caught it the right way.  What do you think of it?

Running in Circles splatter manicure with Kleancolor Metallic Yellow and Orly Dazzle, natural light lamp