China Glaze Zombie Zest, Part Deux

BOO!!

Happy Halloween, friends!!!  I'm still recovering from this weekend's freak October snow (our HEATER broke - now that's scary!), but I wanted to show you guys my Halloween manicure!  Nothing too fancy or impressive, but I did promise you guys another way to wear Zombie Zest.  We'll make this quick, so you can get to all your Halloween festivities!  :-)  Here's one layer of Zombie Zest over one coat of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme:

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Love!  These photos don't even do it justice!  It's sooo sparkly in real life, and the duochrome is much more apparent when layered over black. It's definitely a much more wearable look, if you're not into the whole "sparkly snot" look.  It's dark and mysterious and perfect for Halloween!

I hope you all have a super fun and safe Halloween!  I leave you with my favorite scene from my favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus!

Bye byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye BYE BYE (*dun dun dun dun*)!

Breaking into linear holos with Nfu-Oh 61 and 65

So I was pretty nervous about ordering another new brand, plus a linear holo.  I got a notice on my google reader that Nfu-Oh 61 was available again.  I had been wanting to try the Nfu-Oh flakies for quite a while now, and the announcement that 61 was back was enough to send me to the Fabuloustreet website for some serious hauling.  I've had a few scattered holos and loved them, but I just didn't get why everyone goes crazy over the linear ones.   

So I took the plunge and got 61 and 65, as well as the aqua base.  While I was waiting for them to arrive, I got pretty nervous, because the ladies over on the MUA nail board were complainging that it was a dud.  As in it wasn't holographic.  So once it finally arrived I ripped open the box.  Here is the thing, it's not holographic in the bottle, as all, in the slightest.  But the polish sure it.  I think maybe it's not as holo as previous incarnations, but since this was my first, the bar was pretty low.

61 is a silver foil (I guess?) that becomes a rainbow explosion in the sun.  I had a really hard time photographing these.  They are way more holographic in real life.  If you've got any tips for me on how to photograph holos, leave it in the comments below.  I took these in outdoor light.  This is one coat over aqua base (which felt like it wasn't ever going to dry...)

Nfu-Oh 61

Nfu-Oh 61

So this is why I don't think I'm a linear holo girl.  Because when you are not in the sun, you get this.  And this is not cute.  Especially when the polish is lumpy and your nails are full of imperfections!

Nfu-Oh 61 in the shade - BORING

So 65 is even better.  It was more rainbow-y for me and the blue color was great.  I still had formula and aqua base formula issues.

Nfu-Oh 65

Nfu-Oh 65

Nfu-Oh 65 in the shade is a little less boring.  I think if aqua base would have totally dried first, it would have looked a lot better. The color in the shade isn't bad, but still I'm not impressed.

Nfu-Oh 65 in the shade

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with my first linear holos.  I got to admit, when I first stepped into the sun and saw my nails come alive in the sun, I was impressed.  But the amazingness of the full sun isn't enough to get me past the crappy formula and boring base color.  Not sure if I'm going to hold onto these...

Nfu-Oh can be purchased on the Fabuloustreet website for $12.50 each.  What do you think of your Nfu-Oh holos?  Got any other easy to find linear holos you think I should give a shot.

China Glaze Zombie Zest

As promised, here is the (sort of) final installment of my olive polish obsession.  I've actually had this one for several months, but as it was one of the stranger polishes I've ever brought home, in addition to the name, I thought it'd be best to save for Halloween time.  It's about time to get this one outta my untrieds! :-)

First of all, I'm PRETTY sure by "Zest,"  China Glaze meant "liveliness" or "flair."  But my offbeat sense of humor makes me think of this:

Yeah.  Like "Eye of newt, toe of frog, wool of bat...with a dash of zombie zest for garnish."  I know.  LOL

Zombie Zest (the polish, not the garnish) is an odd bird.  It's this murky, swampy greenish brown jelly with a gold-green duochrome-y glass-flecked finish.  The duochrome isn't super strong, but it's definitely there - flecks gently changing from gold to more of a true green.  The formula is a little on the thin side, so I needed three coats.  My Ott-Lite is x-ray vision-ing this polish - I promise it's not quite that sheer in real life (It's more like the pointer finger).  The application, however, was ah-maze-ing!  It practically applied itself and was super easy to clean up.  Definitely click to enlarge these photos so you can see all of what's going on in this strange polish!

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Now, I'm not gonna lie.  Zombie Zest is NOT going to be everyone's cup of tea.  My hubby loved it (especially for the name), but my coworker literally said, "Ew!  That's disgusting!" when she saw it.  A few months ago, I probably would've hated this polish, but given my new-found love of ugly-pretty polishes, and kind of "building up" to it with my previous olive polishes, I love it!  It's so weird and ugly and AWESOME all at the same time!  Plus, it can be worn two ways!  I'll show you Zombie Zest layered over black next time.  :-)

Just for funsies, I'll put the comparison I did with Zombie Zest and Butter London Wallis here as well:

(L) Butter London Wallis, (R) China Glaze Zombie Zest

Having worn both of these polishes now, I can say with 100% certainty that they are NOT dupes.  Not even close!  In addition to the other reasons I listed before, I found Zombie Zest to be much more brownish in its base color.  Like, way murkier.  Also, it's way sparklier - my camera didn't really like photographing this one.  Plus, it's a jelly!  Woo-hoo!  It's definitely the "uglier" (but in no means less awesome) of the two.  I do prefer Wallis more, as it's a bit more wearable and more universally flattering, but if you're into ugly-pretty or these strange golden-olive colors, I definitely suggest giving Zombie Zest a try!  Zombies are all the rage right now, after all!  ;-)

Rescue Beauty Lounge Firebird Collection

I'm so happy to finally posting my Rescue Beauty Lounge (RBL) Firebirds!  The L'Oiseau de Feu" Pre-Fall 2011 Collection (now nicknames the Firebirds) brought us 4 new shades.  I picked 3 of them up in the pre-sale a long time ago and finally got around to wearing all three: Pizzicato, Poco a Poco, and Piu Mosso.  I didn't get Fortissimo because I didn't think I would ever wear it and cause it's a green/brown creme for $18!    Anyway, the whole collection was based off of Stravinsky's L'Oiseau de Feu and Hurricane Earl, hence the musical themed names. Each polish is a different stage of the storm.  You can read more about the inspiration for each polish here.

First up is Pizzicato, which is actually the last one I tried.  This is a soft pink on me, but it does lean purple.  RBL describes it as a misty white with a hint of lavender, but this is pink for me.  Its packed full of small silver flakes.  At first I didn't like this one, I thought it was too pale, but after a day of wearing it I was smitten.  This was two coats, and I needed it.  It was a bit streaky on the first coat.  It's also a bit thicker than I'm used to with RBL.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Pizzicato

Rescue Beauty Lounge Pizzicato

Rescue Beauty Lounge Pizzicato

Next up is Poco a Poco, a standard muted pink polish jazzed up with pink shimmer which flashes this warm sunset color for me.  It's not quite gold or red, but it's not straight up pink either.  This is a beautiful polish.  I could see me wearing this to important meetings or interviews.  Might be not neutral enough for some of you, but I think it's just right!

Again 2 coats, and I needed it.  This isn't as thick as Pizzicato, but still not the perfect consistency I expect from RBL.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Poco a Poco

Rescue Beauty Lounge Poco a Poco

Rescue Beauty Lounge Poco a Poco

Finally we have Piu Mosso, which is the one I was most excited about.  An inky dark blue creme base with this AMAZING gold shimmer in it.  But it's also secret shimmer.  And while I am usually a fan of the secret shimmer, unless you are in the right light, this polish just falls flat for me.  I wish I had taken a picture of this in the bad light for you.  What's interesting is I noticed that as soon as you start to take this off, the shimmer is like HELLO!!!!!  I think the shimmer just sinks in the polish.  Well a few of the girls on MUA use a bit of acetone after their mani, brought the shimmer out and THEN used top coat and was able to get their desired effect.  Too much work for an $18 bottle of polish - probably.  Am I still glad I have this one? Yes!

Two coats here, I could have done one thick one though.  Consistency on this one is perfect.  It went on like BUTTAH - as Courtney would say :).

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

Rescue Beauty Lounge Pio Mosso

Rescue Beauty Lounge Pio Mosso

So overall, this isn't my favorite RBL collection, but I wont' be swapping any of these away.  If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably only have gotten Poco a Pococ and Pio Mosso.  I think you just have to decide which ones are for you AND which ones will you wear.  These 3, plus Fortissimo are still available for purchase, but don't wait long.  Like most RBL polishes, once they are gone they are gone... that is until they hold a "Bring It Back" vote.  You can get the Firebirds only from RBL, directly through their website for $18 a bottle.

China Glaze It's Alive!

Halloween is just around the corner!  I can't believe how fast this year's gone by, but Halloween is by far one of the best holidays, so I'm super excited!  I'm even MORE excited, because I finally get to bust out my Halloween-themed olive green polishes!  Woooo!!  I'm kicking off the last few days until Halloween with China Glaze It's Alive!

First of all, as is only appropriate...

Or, even BETTER:

I love Gene Wilder.  Anywho...on to the polish!  It's Alive (I'm going to drop the ending exclamation point now) is a mixture of large hexagonal and small round olive greenish gold glitter in a murky blue-green base.  I'm not gonna lie - the application wasn't so great with this one.  This stuff is THICK.  I'm showing you a mere two coats here, and it's ridiculously opaque.  They're certainly not skimping in the coverage department, but I think China Glaze could've thinned out the formula a bit and still gotten just as good opacity.  It's also a bit of a thirsty glitter, so expect to use at least two thick coats of top coat.  Formula issues aside, LOOK AT EET!

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HOLY GUACAMOLE!  It's not often I'll put up with craptastic application, but It's Alive is worth every painful, gloopy coat!  It's like Swamp Thing fell into a vat of glitter, and it's BEAUTIFUL.  I LOVE it!  Hubby told me (and I quote), "Ooh, I like that one.  I REALLY like that one!  That actually might be one of my favorites."  He's got good taste, what can I say?  ;-)

It's Alive was released with this year's China Glaze Halloween collection, so if you want it, now's the time to get it!  Though if you're patient enough to wait until after Halloween, you can probably find it at heavily discounted prices.  This is easily a Top 20 polish for me, and I'm metaphorically standing on top of a mountain screaming, "YOU NEED THIS!"  Go.  Run.  Now!

I've still got one more olive green (and also Halloween!) polish left, which I'll show you two different ways, so stay tuned!

OPI Glitzerland

I'm back!  Yay!!  I scheduled my posts about a week in advance, so you guys hardly even knew I was gone, but  the hubby and I took a five-day trip back to the homeland of the Mississippi Gulf Coast for his best friend's wedding.  It's always nice to take a vacation, but getting back into the swing of things afterward is difficult.  Blogging is no different.  We got back super late Monday night, but between complete exhaustion, unpacking, laundry, and work, I'm just now getting the chance to show you guys what I wore for my trip.  I wanted something lighter in color so the inevitable chipping wouldn't show up as well.  Light certainly doesn't have to mean boring, so I went with OPI Glitzerland.

Glitzerland is a pale gold foil.  It's kind of a "blonde" gold, so it's very neutral in tone, which means it's more universally flattering than most golds that lean more yellow.  For being a foil, I didn't find it to be very sparkly, which kind of surprised me, but it does give a nice shimmer.  The formula was great, but the pigmentation is a little on the thin side, so it took me three coats to reach full opacity, but the application was perfection.

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Nice, right?  Nothing too fancy, and I'm definitely not over-the-moon about it, but it's pretty and it got the job done.  It held up well to the constant battering it got on the trip, and what few chips I got concealed pretty well.  I think it's a good staple polish, and I'm planning on using it as my base color underneath OPI Spark de Triomphe.  Must conserve the pretties!!  Not sure if Glitzerland made the core collection cut, but it was released with last fall's Swiss collection, and should be pretty easy to find still.  Yay!

Now, just because I love you guys, I'm sharing with you a funny photo that we took in my hometown of Long Beach, Mississippi:

Only in the South do you get the American flag flying over Mississippi's controversial state flag, flying over the Waffle House sign (those restaurants are EVERYWHERE down there), flying over some big old confederate guns.  I promise we don't run around barefoot and eat raccoons.  Squirrels taste better.  Haha!  JUST KIDDING!  :-P  Here's a better photo for you guys:

The view just blocks from where I lived.  Ahhhh...

Hope you guys are having a great week!!  :-)

butter LONDON Blagger

Who came up with the expression "Got the blues"?  Meaning you are sad or depressed?  Cause I tell you one thing, blue makes me happy!  Especially cobalt blue nail polish like Butter London's Blagger!!!!  Sure, this is just a plain old creme, but the shade is just perfect.  It's rich and bright.  It's also a 1 coater :).  You can tell from the pictures that I need a ridge filling basecoat if I'm only doing one coat, but those of you with healthy nails will do just fine.  I've been slowly purging my stash, ans swatched this with some of my other blues, and this one just really blew all the others out of the water.  Unfortunately in my comparison picture I took for you guys, I didn't make a note of which ones I compared, plus it turned out really color inaccurate.  It's way more vibrant and lush than any of my other blues that's for sure.  Oh, and this was also without a top coat.  SUPER SHINY!!!!!

So according to the butter LONDON dictionary, Blagger means a charlatan!  What a fun name for this polish.  Whoever gets to name polishes at butter LONDON has the best job ever.  Seriously.  Maybe I just found my dream job!

butter LONDON Blagger

butter LONDON Blagger

Blagger came out in the spring of 2011 collection.  You can still get it at Ulta or at butter LONDON's website for $14.

Can't Win 'Em All: Butter London Yummy Mummy

Finding the perfect nude polish has been an epic battle.  It seems like no matter what I do, they just don't work for me.  I blame it on my wonky skin tone.  It has strong yellow undertones, so anything too cool-toned fails, but then nudes that are too yellow don't work either.  I don't get it.  I ADORED Butter London All Hail the Queen, but I'm still on the hunt for something a little closer to my skin tone.  You guys know I love me some Butter London, and the brand themselves say Yummy Mummy is "simply stunning on EVERY skin colour."  Who am I to argue with CAPITALIZATION?  I threw in Yummy Mummy with my Ulta Buy 1 Get 1 purchase.

Yummy Mummy is a "medium beige" nude with subtle silver shimmer.  Almost a secret shimmer.  The color is almost a taupe, and I think it leans a little on the cool side (but I'm horrible with the warm/cool thing).  The application was a little subpar for Butter London, but after two coats everything evened out and opaque.  So, is Yummy Mummy my Perfect Nude??

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Not even close.  I want to love this, but it just looks weird on me.  Even my hubby told me "it doesn't go with your skin or something."  So right, dear.  I fear Yummy Mummy is just too cool-toned for me.  Sigh.  Wonky skin tone wins again.  Perfect Nude - I WILL find you!

So Yummy Mummy didn't work so well for me, but it is one of their best-selling colors, so if you're on a quest for your Perfect Nude, it's worth giving it a shot.  Hopefully it'll be just what you're looking for!  :-)

SpaRitual Shooting Star

So here is the other half of my SpaRitual haul (told you it was small).  I loved Sacred Ground, but I'm obsessed with Shooting Star.  It's a beautiful and shiny magenta color with pink micro-glitter and gold shimmer in it.  The pink micro-glitter is very pronounced, but the gold shimmer is more subtle.  I didn't actually even realize it was there until I removed it and it was pretty obvious on the cotton ball.  This is one of those glow from within polishes.  And just like Sacred Ground, Shooting Star is very unique, unlike anything else I have.  Again, the formula is awesome.  These pictures are without top coat.  Is is so shiny and smooth.  And sparkly.  The polish is beautiful indoors, but outside it just sparkles.  This is two coats.  

SpaRitual Shooting Star

SpaRitual Shooting Star

SpaRitual Shooting Star

Shooting Star is part of the 2011 Holiday collection called Twinkle.  It's brand new so should be easy to pick up.  Like I said yesterday, I haven't even seen SpaRitual in a store, but they are easy to find online at stores like Aveyou.com and Beauty.com for $10 a bottle.

SpaRitual Sacred Ground

When SpaRitual first appeared on the nail polish blogger scene, I didn't have a real desire to try it.  People raved about the formula, but my rapidly expanding collection didn't need any other new brands to obsess over.  That is until they released Sacred Ground as part of the Fall 2011 Wilde collection.  I started seeing people post swatches of this baby and I couldn't help myself.  I just had to have it.  It was unique and beautiful, so I told myself I could do it and did a mini SpaRitual haul.

Sacred Ground really is beautiful.  It sophisticated and edgy, while still being shimmery and glittery. I've worn this a few time since this initial swatch, as both a mani and pedi.  The polish itself goes on great, this was two coats.  It's a grey polish packed with silver, gold, and lavender micro-glitter.  Maybe even a little blue.  The gold really just gives the polish this beautiful earthy vibe, bringing out some brown in the polish.  Unlike some of my other recent nail polish dislikes, I love the gold in this.  Also the silver simmer has a bit of an iridescent quality to it.  In the sunlight it sparkles a rainbow of colors.  My only small complaint about SpaRitual is the bottles.  They are super cute to look at but to hold them for a swatch picture is almost impossible for me.  I almost dropped the bottle twice trying to get my fingers lined up. Oh well. :)

SpaRitual Sacred Ground

SpaRitual Sacred Ground

Ughhh! So pretty I can't stand it.  I'm so happy I picked this up (and the other SpaRitual I will be showing you next).  Between the outstanding formula and color, I'm sold on this brand and will be trying more in the future.  I haven't even seen SpaRitual in a store, at least not around me, but they are easy to find online at stores like Aveyou.com and Beauty.com for $10 a bottle.

Red Obsession: Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise

Weird olive greeny-goldy colors aren't my only obsession this fall.  For some reason I'm on a red kick all of a sudden.  There's just something so classic glam about a fierce red nail.  I recently showed you guys another look at my "Holy Grail" red, Essie Limited Addiction, but to be honest, it's really the only red creme I have.  I just loved it so much, I never felt the need to add anymore.  Somehow, that's changed, because I've brought home four different reds over the past month in an effort to spice up my red wardrobe.  First up - Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise.

Chinoise (French for "Chinese"; Pronounced "sheen-wah" or "sheen-wahz") is a bright red creme that leans on the orange side.  Warm-toned girls, this is your red!  I've steered clear of warm-toned reds for some reason, but I have no idea why.  I think it works with my skin tone pretty well!  I've heard tales of Chinoise being a super duper pigmented "one-coater" red polish, but I didn't find that to be true for me.  I did get my bottle in a swap, so there's no telling if it was thinned at all, but I found it to be a bit on the thin side.  I'm showing two coats below, but you can definitely still see some VNL.  I think three coats would've taken care of that, but VNL doesn't bother me, so I just left it at two.  Application was a dream, and thankfully I didn't have any trouble with bleeding or staining while cleaning up.  Win!

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Me likey!!  So glad I tried this one out!  Totally the opposite of my cool-toned Limited Addiction.  The hubby also loved it, but he's a guy and guys love red, so that's not surprising, right?  LOL

Ji dedicated Chinoise to the late Diana Vreeland, a famous fashion editor, but if you read her blog and/or her Facebook posts, you'll notice she often refers to her husband as "Mr. Chinoise," which I think is really cute.  :-)

I hope I did her proud, because Chinoise definitely gets the thumbs up from me!  There are probably cheaper alternatives (one of which I'll show you later), but I can definitely say that I wouldn't feel bad about spending the $18 on this one.  The formula was standard RBL perfection, and the color is beautiful.  Chinoise is one of the five core RBL colors, but it does go out of stock from time to time.  Luckily, it just restocked at the beginning of the summer, so I think there should be plenty to go around for now.  Perfect timing for the Bring It Back pre-order this Friday!  *\o/*

How to ruin a manicure with Turquoise Shatter

Remember last time i used OPI's Turquoise Shatter, and how much I loved it?  Turquoise Shatter came out as part of the summer shatter collection for 2011.  It doesn't shatter as well as some of the other polishes, but at least for my last mani, it was awesome.  I wore it over Essie Super Bossa Nova and the color comb with just the hint of pink was rocking.  So when I decided I wanted to spice up my Orly Royal Navy manicure, I threw some Turquoise Shatter on it.  Big mistake.  I'm not sure what I did, but this time it barely shattered.  Whether the shatter needs to be thinned, or I put on too thick of coats, but it covered up my beauty Royal Navy and just resulted in an overall FAIL!

OPI Turquoise Shatter over Orly Royal Navy

OPI Turquoise Shatter over Orly Royal Navy

Close up of OPI Turquoise Shatter over Orly Royal Navy

Oh well, we can't win them all can we?  Turquoise Shatter is still available at stores like Ulta or online at my favorite (non-affiliated) nail polish e-tailer Aveyou.com.  It retails for $8.50 a bottle.

Another Look: Orly Royal Navy

I have been away too long!  Sorry for the long break in posting again folks.  I've had way too much going on in my life, some good, some not so good.  But things are getting back to normal, and I'm about 10 manis deep on posts.  The first up is Orly Royal Navy, which I acquired a while ago but never put it on.  Then when Courtney wore it to my house for fourth of July, I new it needed to be move up on the priority  list.  It's SO beautiful.  This is also my first Orly polish in a LONG time (like since college), so it was fun to "try" a new brand again.

Royal Navy is a bright fun royal blue jelly packed full of teal shimmer.  Courtney and other bloggers have had issues with the shimmer settling in the bottle, so I made sure to really mix it up before applying.  It went on super smooth.  I love when polishes are easy to apply!  I did notice that trying to clean up the polish was tough if I had gotten it on my skin.  It does stain a little, so make sure you use a basecoat and be careful with your application.  I've got some pretty good pics below, and a close up that really shows off the shimmer. I think the best thing about this polish, is you ALWAYS see the shimmer, not just in the sun (I'm looking at you, my beloved RBL!).

Orly Royal Navy

Orly Royal Navy

Orly Royal Navy

Close up of shimmer in Orly Royal Navy

I'm totally smitten with this one!  Royal Navy was part of the In the Navy Collection Orly put out for summer of 2010.  You can still find it in stores, and Sallybeauty.com has is for $5.99.  Not bad!  If you love blue, I suggest picking this one up.