Red Obsession: Butter London Pillar Box Red (and Comparisons)

Finally.  FINALLY!  We've made it to the last of the "Red Obsession" reds!  If you've been sticking with me, we've been through Essie Limited Addiction, Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise, Butter London Come to Bed Red, and OPI Keys to My Karma.  I now present to you the final installment in the series - Butter London Pillar Box Red.

Can't describe this one too much better than what you see here in the photos.  It's a bright, fire engine (or for you British girls - Pillar Box!) red.  Similar to RBL Chinoise, but we'll get to that later.  It's got a great formula, and applies perfectly in two coats.  I wouldn't say it applies like as much of a dream as its sister Come to Bed Red, but it's pretty darn close.

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A lovely red.  It looks almost identical to RBL Chinoise in the bottle (and suuuuuper close on the nail), but I promise you it really is a smidge cooler-toned than Chinoise.  For that reason, most folks may find it to be a bit easier to wear.  My skin tone (as wacky as it is) seems to lean a bit warm, so I actually prefer Chinoise, which I fell IN LOVE with.  Pillar Box Red falls a little flat for me.

Now, time for comparisons!  I apologize for two things here:

1) I had to use a "claw" pose.  It's just the only way I could get all five colors in one photo.

2) It's really MUCH easier to tell these colors apart in real life.  I just could NOT get the camera to differentiate any better.  Huge sad.

Thumb to Pinky:  Essie Limited Addiction, BL Come to Bed Red, OPI Keys to My Karma, BL Pillar Box Red, RBL Chinoise

 And, up close of the four closest alike (I swear, there IS a difference between Pillar Box Red and Chinoise!):

(L) to (R):  BL Come to Bed Red, OPI Keys to My Karma, BL Pillar Box Red, RBL Chinoise

So, now that I've hit you with all five at once, here are my overall thoughts:

• Limited Addiction:  Great deep "va-va-voom" red.  A little on the streaky side, but a MUST have in my book.
• Come to Bed Red:  In one word:  AMAZING.  The formula on this one straight up knocked my socks off.  I think it's the best formula polish I've ever used.  Seriously.  Totally worth the $14.  You need this one.
• Keys to My Karma:  I love red jellies, but this one almost leans a little too pink for me.  You can also tell by my cuticles that it doesn't clean up super nicely.  If you're a red jelly hoor (like me), snag it, but otherwise I think you can pass.
• Pillar Box Red:  I think I'm gonna have to say pass on this one.  It's lovely, but for just the color, I prefer Chinoise (even at the higher price tag), and for Butter London, I'd suggest Come to Bed Red over this one any day.
• Chinoise:  If you haven't guessed by now, I LOVE this one.  Great formula, super pigmented.  Totally worth it for me.  I'd buy this one 100 times over.

Well, there ya have it, folks!  Red Obsessions comes to a close, just in time for the imminent release of Spring collections (OMG.OPI.HOLLAND.I.DIE!).  So what do you guys think?  Do you own any of these reds?  What are your favorites?  I'd love to hear your opinions on these!

Out with the Old and in with the New!

Happy New Year!!  I hope you all had an awesome weekend full of fun and festivities.  Or a quiet night at home with an early bedtime, if that's more of your thing.  The hubby almost always has to work on New Year's Day, so just about every year we opt for the latter of the two options, but since the New Year decided to fall on a weekend that we were both actually OFF work, we had a few friends over for drinks and silly games.  We actually almost missed midnight, but I happened to look up at the TV from the gaming activity in time to see "4!  3!  2!  1!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"  It was close, but we made it!  :-D

Nothing says New Year's Eve like glitter, so I picked out the craziest, glitteriest glitter I could find - Tony Moly Jupiter.  This polish has SO much glitter packed into a deep purple base, it's ridonculous.  It's got small purple hexagonal glitter, and larger blue-ish/holographic-ish glitter, and from what I can tell from the photos, maybe even some smaller reddish glitter?  I don't even know.  It's crazy and awesome.  Crazy-awesome.  It's SO dense that this is only two coats I'm showing you here, and I didn't even remotely feel like I needed a third.  Application was actually pretty great for a glitter.  Definitely some of the easiest glitter I've ever worked with.  The downside?  This polish STINKS.  HOLY HELL DOES IT STINK.  It smells like a mixture of liquid whiteout and jet fuel.  Yeah, it's that bad.  I'm pretty sure I lost at least a few hundred brain cells applying this stuff.  But click to enlarge these photos and see how worth it it was!

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AMAZING.  LOVE.  You need it!  Tony Moly is a Korean brand, so while you won't find this in any retail stores around here, it's pretty easy to get from eBay.  You can buy the whole Galaxy Collection for about $10 each and free shipping.  I piggybacked on Jessie's order to get this one, and they all arrived shockingly fast for coming overseas.  I'd highly recommend getting at least one of the collection - if you can handle the smell!  LOL

You guys get a two-for-one in this post!  I felt like I needed to change into something symbolic for New Year's Day.  A new year is a clean slate and a chance to kick my butt into gear and make things even better this year!  I thought a good nude would be appropriate, so I tried out Essie Brooch the Subject - a warm-toned opaque nude creme.  It applied super easily and super opaque in two coats.  Just what I wanted on my "recovery day," lol.  Readers that have been around for a while know that I've had a less-than-successful quest of finding my perfect nude creme.  It's so epic it gets capitalization - "Perfect Nude."  So is Brooch the Subject my Perfect Nude?

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Not quite, but I think we're getting DANGEROUSLY close.  I can't quite put my finger on what the problem with this one is, but it's just a little off.  Like maybe a smidge too dark?  Too...brown?  I don't know.  I actually don't hate this.  In some lights I even like it.  Usually the nudes I've tried go immediately into my "Get-this-disgusting-thing-out-of-my-sight" pile, but I think I'm gonna hang onto this one for a bit.  I've got a few other nudes up my sleeve to try out, but this one will certainly do for now.

You may (or may not) be wondering what my New Year's Resolution is.  I actually hate resolutions and typically don't do them, 'cause I think they're stupid, but for some reason I felt the need to make a few this year.  Weird.  So anyway, without further ado...

1)  Stop dressing like a lazy slob.  I WILL find my sense of fashion this year.  DAMNIT.

2)  Stop BEING a lazy slob.  I look mostly in shape, but I actually couldn't run from my couch to my front door without being out of breath.  I hate working out and anything involved in fitness.  Enough of that.  The hubby got me a sweet pair of running shoes for Christmas, and I got some good pants that I can even run in while it's cold.  I just want to feel healthier.

3)  (Nail polish/blog-related)  No more hanging onto awesome polishes without trying them for months/years at a time.  Seriously, I've had GOSH Holographic since last February and STILL haven't tried it.  Unacceptable.  Must stop.  I think I've been doing pretty good cranking out some of my Lynnderellas and other cool polishes lately, so I just need to keep that rolling into the new year.

So, now I gotta ask - what polish(es) did you wear for the New Year holiday?  What are YOUR New Year's Resolutions?  Let's hear 'em!  :-D

The Things I Do For Love...(And a Reswatch of an Old Favorite)

I'm not much of a college football fan.  I went to a college that didn't have a football team (What up, George Mason?!), and I liked it that way.  It's not that I don't like football, but I'm just more of an NFL kinda girl.  Let's go SAINTS!  WHO DAT?!  :-)  My hubby, on the other hand, LOVES college football and is a HUGE Alabama fan.  Last year for the Alabama/Penn State game, I did a nifty manicure to support his love of the Tide.  The two teams played again this past Saturday, and since his boys won the last matchup (thanks to my manicure, of course!), he asked me to recreate the look for this year's game.  Yes, sir!

I started with my most favorite red, Essie Limited Addiction.  I love this red so much!  I was super excited to wear it again.  (You can see my previous photos and review here.)  I used two kind of thin coats, but I realized as soon as I went to take these photos that I should've done a third.  D'oh!  It's still just a beautiful red.

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I wore this by itself to work on Friday, and then spiced things up when I got home.  I removed the polish from my ring fingers, and threw on one coat of Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.  I stamped the houndstooth pattern from Konad plate m63 on top using Konad's Special Polish in white.  (I'm the worst EVER at Konading, so instead of watching me fumble through how to do it, I'll direct you to a fantastic tutorial here from Lacquerized.)  Aaaand ta-da!  Bear Bryant-worthy nails!

I really wasn't joking about being horrible at stamping.  I switched hands on you for this photo, because this one turned out a bit better than the other hand.   Konading isn't terribly difficult, but it's harder for me, because my nails are so curvy that I have a hard time getting even pressure over the entire nail, so I end up with bald patches like the one at the top of my nail.  I think girls with flatter nails will have an easier time, and of course, practice makes perfect.  :-)

But, never fear!  If you don't own any Konad supplies, or it's a little too intimidating, Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips has a black and white houndstooth pattern!  I think next year I'll give these a try instead.

This must be my lucky manicure, because Alabama pulled out a 27-11 win over Penn State on Saturday!  For my amazing hubby (and any other Bama fans out there)...

ROLL TIDE!!

Essie Shelter Island

Hello my friends!  I'm back to show you what I promised, Essie Shelter Island all on its own!  I was surprised how much I loved this.  It doesn't seem all that exciting, but it's got an almost jelly texture (almost), which made me smitten over this bright blue.  In the bottle I thought it looked an awful lot like China Glaze Bahamian Escape, and a little like Barry M Bright Blue.  Boy was I wrong.  So at the end of this post you'll see a few comparison pics.

Essie Shelter Island is a beautiful bright sky blue.  It's so wonderfully happy and goes great with my skin tone (in my humble opinion).  I really do love blues and this one made me happy.  Like I mentioned before, I had to do 2 thick coats of this puppy to get an even consistency.  I think if I wore this again, I'd do three thin coats instead.  Either way, you end up with an almost jelly, shiny finish.  So lovely!

Now here is the funny part.  In the bottle, I thought Shelter Island looked a lot like Bahamian Escape. Bright Blue was close, but definitely not a dupe.  Good thing I slapped these one to compare.  Shelter Island is DEFINATELY unique in my collection.  It looks so bright and happy on it's own, but it's a lot darker when next to both Bahamian Escape and Bright Blue.  I actually was pleasantly surprised by Bahamian Escape, very light and one beautiful coat.  You can see it below on the left.  On the right side you will find Bright Blue, which wasn't as light as Bahamian Escape and definitely more neon, although it is absolutely not a neon polish. This was my first time with a Barry M polish, and while it's definitely good for the price point, I think I may swap this one away.  It needed 2 coats, and out of the 3 of these below, I like it the least.  And seriously, how many variations on sky blue do I need.

(Left to Right) China Glaze Bahamian Escape, Essie Shelter Island, Barry M Bright Blue
Outside in direct sunlight

Inside, you can really see how dark Shelter Island is compared to the others.  You can also see how Bright Blue is a smidge darker than Bahamian Escape.

(Left to Right) China Glaze Bahamian Escape, Essie Shelter Island, Barry M Bright Blue
Inside

Bad news is Shelter Island is limited edition and long gone as it came out with North Fork Collection in Spring of 2009!!!  I bought mine on a blog sale, but I did find one trusty e-tailer that had it.  Aveyou.com!  I'm pretty sure I'm pimped them before.  While you may not get a discount on the polish price, they often do have coupons and free shipping.  And you can reliably get this beauty (for $8) before it's gone forever.  Bahamian Escape on the other is pretty easy to find and several online retailers have it for $4 or less.  Barry M is a British brand not sold in the states, but you can order off their website, BarryM.com for about $5 bucks.

I definitely highly recommend Shelter Island if you can stand the coats, the texture of this one plus the color makes it a winner for me.  If you are looking for a one coat bright light sky blue, then also pick up Bahamian Escape.  I'd pass on Barry M Bright Blue.

Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday over Essie Shelter Island

I have a tiny confession to make, this mani is a little old.  I was saving it, so I wouldn't mess up our 100 post plans :).  So bear with me as you and I catch up on some past manis! 

So at this point, life it finally starting to calm down for me a bit, which is a great thing, cause at the time I did this mani, it was SUNNY!  And it was time for my now 8 year old nephew's birthday party.  I have never worn Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday before (I got it in a nail polish swap).  I figured it's one of those polishes I'll wear like once a year, if that, but still one I have to have.  I figured if I was ever going to wear it this year, it was going to be for my nephew's birthday party!  I picked out a nice blue (Essie Shelter Island) as a base for Happy Birthday.  Given the constant state of my peelies, my naked nails are not cute.  So a base is a must for me.  Essie Shelter Island is pretty awesome on it's own, I'll have a separate post on that next.

Happy Birthday seems to have a few incarnations, and I've got the 2nd generation.  The first generation has small square glitter, and large hexagonal glitter.  There is no square glitter in my polish, only hexagonal.  In both generations, the glitter is an array of colors all suspended in a clear base.  Apparently the Get The Party Started Set is a bit different, which has yet another generation of Happy Birthday.  Scrangie sums is up here, showing us that the new Happy Birthday looks less like clown/circus and more like rainbow sprinkles :).  I thought it was pretty funny Scrangie said that. because I remember thinking while I was taking these pictures, how much Happy Birthday looks like a clown barfed on my nails.  I think layering it over blue, brought out the yellow and orange glitter, which I wasn't crazy about.  If I wore this again, I'd try it over another color.  

Now onto the pictures.  This is two coats of Essie Shelter Island (thick coats), topped with 1 coat of Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday.  I think next time I may try wiping the brush a bit more  before applying to get a more sparse glitter effect.  Overall this was a great fun mani for a kid's birthday party.

Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday over Essie Shelter Island

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Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday over Essie Shelter Island

Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday retails for a whooping $18 bucks at Nordstrom, Deborah Lippmann's site, or other online retailers like BeautyBar.com and Zappos.com.  Unless you are obsessed with multi-color glitter and Deborah Lippmann, this one will probably be a pass for most of you.  There are multiple good knock-offs of this at a very fair price.

Also, Courtney's 2nd post ever :) was Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday gradient over OPI Mad as a Hatter and Color Club What a Drag!  Check that out here!

Another Look: Essie Smooth Sailing

A few months ago Jessie showed you guys Essie Smooth Sailing, and her glowing review had me drooling over it, but for some reason I just hadn't pulled the trigger on buying it.  An amazingly generous girl on MUA was nice enough to throw it in as an extra in a swap, so I was dying to try it out!  Jessie and I decided to introduce the "Another Look" posts to give each other the chance to review polishes that the other had already posted, while giving you guys another perspective - and of course, more pictures!  Win for everybody!  :-)

Without further ado...here's my take on Smooth Sailing!

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Smooth Sailing is really a gorgeous polish.  It's brightish, but still somehow muted, which I really like.  The shimmer shows up well, especially in the sun, though unfortunately the silver shimmer tends to drown out the pink and blue.  Application was a bit of a problem for me.  The first coat went on kind of gloopy, but also patchy at the same time.  Kind of like a holo, maybe?  I don't know, but it was strange.  Thankfully, all patchiness was smoothed over by the second coat, and all was well.  :-)

Remember a while back when I said Smooth Sailing might be a good substitute for RBL Catherine H?  Now that I finally had both, I decided to do a comparison to see just how close they were.  GUYS - I finally did an on-the-nail comparison!  LoL I really want to do more of them, it's just that it's so much quicker to do them on the nail wheel.  I promise I'll try to do more on-the-nail for you.  Anywho, check it out:

 Index and Ring:  Essie Smooth Sailing, Middle and Pinky:  RBL Catherine H

Erm...well...looks like I was a bit off.  A lot off.  They're in the same vein, but quite different.  Smooth Sailing is much lighter and brighter than Catherine H, while Catherine H shows off that pink and blue shimmer much better.  In all honesty, even though I was disappointed in that strange cloudiness of Catherine H, I prefer it to Smooth Sailing.  Thankfully all the Queens are coming back, so you'll have a chance to pick that one up in just a few months!

As for Smooth Sailing, it's nice, and I like it, but I really don't love it.  I wanted to love it.  I wanted it to fill that strange void that Catherine H had left, but it fell a bit short.  I can't really explain why (D'oh!), especially since it really is a beautiful polish.  It's certainly worth getting if you don't already own it, but I just can't whole-heartedly get behind it.  It makes me haz a sad.  Now I need some chocolate and glass of wine...

;-)

Essie St. Barth's Blue

Well, folks, it's a hat trick for Essie this week!  After Sexy Divide (a vampy) and Vermillionaire (a summery bright), I went in one last direction and grabbed something a little more light and airy - St. Barth's Blue.

St. Barth's is super pale, slightly greyed, pastel blue with fine silvery white shimmer.  It's totally a "secret shimmer," as it's much more apparent in the bottle than on the nail.  Essie sure has a thing for these secret shimmers, but I'm not complaining!  :-)  It gives it soft, delicate look.  This is one of those old black label Essies, so it's jam-packed with chemically goodness.  Chemicals + pastel + Essie = 4 coats and a less than admirable application.  It's a bit streaky and doesn't self-level, even with a thick coat of Seche Vite on top.  That being said, with a little bit of work, I think the end result is stunning.

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Another win!  I love this!  Soft, summery, and doesn't even remotely give me lobster hands (That's saying a lot for a pale blue!).  As soon as I saw the early promos for Chanel Riva, I was dying to have it, but the steep price and application horror stories kept me at bay.  I tried to find a suitable dupe in $OPI Havana Dreams.  The application on that one was a complete nightmare and almost brought me to tears. On top of that it was just a bit too vibrant for me.  St. Barth's Blue fills all the gaps for me.  True, it doesn't have stellar application either, but it's workable, and the color is exactly what I wanted.  Take THAT, Riva!  ;-)

A "pale greyed blue with subtle shimmer" may have you thinking of China Glaze Sea Spray.  I did too, so I did a quick comparison of the two:

(L) Essie St. Barth's Blue, (R) China Glaze Sea Spray

Sea Spray is much more saturated, and St. Barth's Blue almost looks white when compared to it.  They're definitely different enough to own both, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do.  :-)

Unfortunately St. Barth's Blue is long gone (HUGE sad!  I'd buy a backup of this!), but you can still find some up for swaps on MUA and probably the occasional eBay listing.  Despite the formula and application problems, I still give it my seal of approval just for being the most completely perfect pastel blue.  ♥ ♥ ♥

Can you tell I'm smitten??  :-D

Essie Vermillionaire

If there's a color I've neglected even worse than pink, it's ORANGE.  I don't know why, but for some reason I've just always passed over orange polishes as "something I wouldn't wear" or something that's "not my style."  Famous last words, right?  ;-)

I was done for as soon as I saw Piff's swatch of Deborah Lippmann Lara's Theme on Polish or Perish.  I don't think any polish could look bad on her!  The lemming monster got me, and I was just about to shell out the $16 for it, when she posted a follow-up post identifying Essie Vermillionaire as a pretty darn close dupe.  Close enough!  I ran to my local beauty supply store and brought it home.

Vermillionaire is bright orange creme.  It's not a neon, so don't worry about it being too obnoxious.  It dries a smidge darker than the bottle color, and leans to the red side of orange (Just for funsies:  Vermilion is a red-orange pigment, hence the goofy name).  I'd say the last photo is the most color-accurate.  Application was perfect in two coats, and as expected from Essie, it's got that kind of squishy look to it.  After the fiasco that was Essie Sexy Divide, I was a little worried about the wear on this one.  No worries - I wore this for five days and had only minimal tip wear.  Woo-hoo!

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I'm not usually an orange fan, but holy cow - I LOVE this!  Love love love love LOVE!  It's a perfect summery orange.  Makes me wanna go eat a tangerine or something.  Bright enough for a good pedi (which is how I wore this the first time and was sad to take it off), but muted enough for me to wear it to work and not feel weird.  I wore it over the weekend when the hubby and I went to go see a play this weekend with my parents.  I paired it with this dress, and it was a match made in heaven!

Vermillionaire was released with Essie's Summer 2010 collection, but I'm pretty sure it's made its way to the core lineup.  I highly recommend it (especially if you're even remotely interested in Lara's Theme), even if you're not typically into orange.  I think this one may sway you!  It sure stole my heart!  :-)

Essie Sexy Divide

Don't tell Illamasqua Baptiste (my one true love), but I decided to try out a new shimmery purple.  Essie Sexy Divide had been on my wish list for quite some time, so when I finally brought it home in a swap, I was itching to try it!  Plus, let's be honest - I really like the name.

Sexy Divide is a deep red-leaning purple with fine red and purple shimmer.  The red shimmer seems to be a smidge larger than the purple shimmer and stands out more in the sunlight.  The color is gorgeous, but the shimmer is almost a "secret shimmer," as it gets a little lost on the nail.  It shows up nicely here in the photos, but in most lighting it just looks like a creme.  No complaints on application - just two easy coats!  As with any purple, it was impossible to photograph, so I had to color correct these photos (Hence the orange skin.  Sorry guys, I promise one day I'll figure out how to take more color-accurate photos!!)  I think this is pretty close to actual color.  :-)

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And here it is compared to Baptiste herself (Swoon!).  You can see the difference here.  Sexy Divide's base is almost...cloudier?  Murkier?  Either way, I think it's the reason that gorgeous shimmer doesn't really show through.  Show her how it's done, Baptiste!

(L) Essie Sexy Divide, (R) Illamasqua Baptiste

Sexy Divide is a lovely polish, and even though it's a close cousin to Baptiste, the shimmer doesn't show quite as much, so I was ready to keep this one in my stash as my Perfect Deep Purple Creme...until I saw the wear.

I don't comment much on wear in my posts, because for the most part, I don't have huge issues with chipping from any polishes in particular.  Sure, there's always your standard tip wear, but usually if I get chips, it's because I did something stupid that caused the chip.  Sexy Divide on the other hand, was a complete nightmare in terms of wear.  I applied it Tuesday night.  By Wednesday morning I had some pretty significant tip wear.  I thought it was strange since all I had really been doing was sleeping, but I shrugged it off.  By early Thursday morning, I had four GIANT chips.  Really unusual for me.  I'm not quick to point fingers, but since I used the exact same base coat/top coat combo and wasn't doing anything stupid to cause chips, I gotta blame this one on Sexy Divide.  Sigh.  Baptiste, you really are my one true love!

If you want to give it a whirl, Sexy Divide is part of Essie's core collection, so you can find it at Ulta, Wal-mart, etc.  Due to my less than stellar experience, I can't whole-heartedly recommend it, but the color is nice.  :-)

What do you guys think?  If you've tried Sexy Divide, how was the wear?  Maybe I just got a dud?

Essie Super Bossa Nova

As promised, here is Essie Super Bossa Nova.  A beautiful pink packed full of pink and purple shimmer.  It went on easy in two coats, but it wasn't nearly shiny enough for me so I had to break out my Seche Vite to get that high gloss finish this pink craved.  I snapped these pics while at a car fest with my boyfriend Chris.  Pretty good use of time I think :)

Essie Super Bossa Nova
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So I really wanted to do a comparison of Super Bossa Nova against my other pinks.  OPI's Pompeii Purple and That's Berry Daring were the closest I had.  I've also seen requests for a comparison of Super Bossa Nova against China Glaze Ahoy!.  So here we go!

From Left to Right: China Glaze Ahoy!, Essie Super Bossa Nova, OPI Pompeii Purple, OPI That's Berry Daring
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Hopefully you can tell from the picture (I'm still working out how to take good pictures indoors), but China Glaze Ahoy! isn't anywhere close to Essie Super Bossa Nova.  Ahoy! is a raspberry jelly packed with gold shimmer.  The other three polishes are all definitely pink.  Pompeii purple has a blue flash, but the base close is very similar to Super Bossa Nova.  That's Berry Daring seems to have the same base, but looks like a straight up creme (despite the beautiful blue flash in my bottle). Honestly, even thought I love Super Bossa Nova, out of the 4 it's probably the one I'd be willing to part with.  I think it's due to the lack of a shiny finish.

Essie Super Bossa Nova is part of Essie's 2011 Summer Collection - Brazilliant.  It can be found at Ulta, Drugstores or online for $8.

OPI Turquoise Shatter

Shatter... oh how I tried to resist.  I made it through the China Glaze Crackles, OPI Black Shatter, OPI Silver Shatter without blinking an eye.  Then OPI made an announcement that they were releasing 3 "blue" shatters!!!! I instantly feel in love with Navy, Turquoise and Blue Shatter, but I still wasn't convinced the look of shattered nail polish was for me.  So I told myself I could get one to try, and if I liked it then I could get more.

I ordered it online because my local Ultas are constantly failing me.  I really think someone comes in to both my local Ultas the day everything is released and just buys up the store!  I found it online and ordered it immediately.  It came just in time for me to wear it with Essie Super Bossa Nova (which I'll highlight in my next post), the perfect combination for my 80's themed outfit to see The Legwarmers on Saturday night.  (The Legwarmers were AMAZING by the way and you should definitely go check them out if they ever visit a city near you).  I wasn't home much this weekend but thankfully it was super sunny and allowed me to take some great pictures of OPI Turquoise Shatter over Essie Super Bossa Nova.

OPI Turquoise Shatter
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OPI Turquoise Shatter
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Close up of OPI Turqoise Shatter over Essie Super Bossa Nova
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Hopefully you can tell why I love Turquoise Shatter so much.  It's beyond gorgeous and I can't wait to try it over other colors. Turquoise shatter is a beautiful summer turquoise that leans more green indoors and blue outside.  It's got a beautiful shimmer to it that can be seen both inside and out. For this look, I layered one coat of OPI Turquoise Shatter over two coats of Essie Super Bossa Nova.

OPI Turquoise Shatter was just released for the summer and can be found at Ulta for $8.50.  Since my Ulta is constantly out of everything, I got mine at Aveyou.com for the same price.  I'm planning on picking up Blue and Silver Shatter now that I've worn this and I can't wait until the new China Glaze Metallic Crackles come out!!!!!!!

Essie Smooth Sailing

Hello again! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. It's ridiculously hot in Maryland right now, so I thought I'd wear a polish to make me think cool thoughts. Enter Essie Smooth Sailing, from the 2011 Summer Collection Braziliant. This polish is a breeze to apply - an easy 2 coats. It's a beautiful periwinkle blue packed full of silver shimmer. I tried using the Ott-Lite again (to no avail!) but my mostly-sunny skies up on the deck turned out quite well. In the pictures the shimmer is more evident in the bottle than the nail, but in real life that's not the case. My nails are a shimmery blue lovers dream. Smooth Sailing look so beautiful in the sunlight - check it out!

Essie Smooth Sailing was just released, so it can be found at Ulta, Drugstores, or online for $8. I picked up one other polish from the collection, which I should be posting next week - Super Bossa Nova!

Good news is I'm really liking this nail polish blogging thing - I've already got my next 8 manicures planned!! Until next time...

Essie Sew Psyched (and China Glaze White Cap)

Happy Earth Day!!  Hope you're all doing your part to help the environment!  I...recycled my Coke can after lunch today!  And drank my Gatorade out of a reusable water bottle!  That's something, right?!  :-)

I couldn't turn down wearing green for Green Week, so I went with one of my favorites - Essie Sew Psyched from this past fall's collection (called Fall 2010 - very creative, Essie!).  It's a greyed green with suuuper subtle shimmer.  You can almost make it out in my photos, but unfortunately it's more evident in the bottle than on the nail.  For all intensive purposes, you can file this one as a creme.  For being so light colored, it's actually really pigmented.  I used two coats, but you might could get away with just one.  Application was easy and smooth! 

(click to enlarge)

Almost grey in these photos, no?  I promise you this is green!  It does tend to look grey in some lights, which is cool with me - I love grey!  Here's a photo in slightly more dim lighting.  You can see a bit more of the green tones here.

I just love this color!  It's smooth, rich, and totally work appropriate!  It's said to be a dupe of Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow, but I don't have that one to compare.  It's now part of the core line at Ulta and new retailers like Wal-mart, so at $8 or less and easier accesibility, it more than kills my lemming for Diddy Mow (blasphemy for RBL lovers, I know!).

Just for funsies, I did a comparison of Sew Psyched and China Glaze Recycle (an appropriately named green-leaning grey).  Sew Psyched will look grey in some lighting and Recycle will look green in some lighting, but you can see the difference here below.  Sew Psyched is definitely green.

(L) Essie Sew Psyched, (R) China Glaze Recycle

The next day, I decided to see how it would look with a layer of White Cap over it.  In my head I envisioned this subtle golden shimmer glistening over that gorgeous muted green base.  

So, this isn't exactly the delicate vision I had in mind, but I still really liked this look!  I'm just loving White Cap!  It's probably my new favorite "effect" polish.  It looks great over just about everything!  The milky base lightened the green of Sew Psyched just a hair, but the overall look was definitely still green. Here's a shot in dimmer light for a bit more color-accuracy.

Nice, right?  It doesn't wow me, but I did get a few compliments and "What color is that?"s  for this combination.  I think it's just the right amount of bling mixed with a muted green for a perfectly splendid Earth Day manicure.  :-)

Have a great weekend and a happy Easter!