Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Oh man!  So those of you either really into nail polish or just getting into it have probably heard of Clarins 230.  It's a nail polish so rare, it's been dubbed Unicorn Pee.  It has this amazing color shifting pigment suspended in a purple jelly base.  You can buy it for a ridiculous amount of money on Ebay.  Now I've been know to spend stupid amounts of money on throw pillows (ask Missy), but $60+ on a bottle of nail polish.  No way.

Enter Max Factor.  I read online that they released a very close dupe for Clarins 230.  It came in mini bottles, and was only available in England, and only $6 a bottle.  So next step was how do I get this!!!!!!!!!! Well through some lovely ladies named Jenny and Jill, I was able to get this amazing polish.  I did some quick research and to figure out the perfect undies for it.  Color changing pigments look fabulous over dark colors and I knew I wanted something other than black.  I decided on OPI's Sapphire in the Snow.  

I didn't even get one nail painted before I almost fainted from the amazingness that this polish is.  So amazing I would now actually consider paying $40 for Clarins 230. :)  At least I haven't lost all my sanity right?  Check it out and you'll see what I mean.  There's red, gold, green and teal.  SWOON!

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Max Factor Fantasy Fire over OPI Sapphire in the Snow

And just to capture the full effect, here is a very shaky video.  Sorry :) I couldn't resist!!!

Unfortunately this polish isn't available online for international shipping, so to get it you'll need a friend in the UK.  It's so worth trying to get though.  Buzz is that this polish may be part of their permanent collection, so you may have some time to acquire it!!!  

OPI Super Bass Shatter

Dude - I read SUCH good reviews of OPI's Super Bass, their newest shatter that's a gorgeous purple jelly with shimmer in it.  It's a pretty pinkish purple though, leaning on fuchsia.  Anyway, seeing everyone's pictures, it cracked really really well.  Mine didn't!  I'm not willing to give up on it yet.  I'm thinking that either the thickness of my coat is off or maybe because by base (OPI's Metallic 4 Life) wasn't flat and smooth.  The color and the shimmer is just awesome though, I really love this shatter.  Reminds me a lot of the Turquoise Shatter I loved so much.  I also LOVE that it is a jelly.  Especially over Metallic 4 Life, you cant still see the glitter underneath and makes for a really interesting texture rich manicure.  One thing to note is that Super Bass dries VERY matte and kind of white-ish (at least over my current mani).  Once you put on top coat it goes back to shiny goodness.

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Metallic 4 Life

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Metallic 4 Life

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Metallic 4 Life

OPI Super Bass Shatter over Metallic 4 Life

In my opinion, Super Bass is a must have, even if you are over the whole Shatter movement :).  You can get it at Ulta or online e-tailers for $8.50.

OPI Metallic 4 Life

So the last time I was at my salon the had the Nicki Minaj OPI collection polishes.  I new I wanted the two glitters and the shatter, but I was pretty undecided about the cremes.  I had Fly in my hands and kept putting it back, picking it up, putting it back.  I'm glad I passed now that I have Slapper.  

For my first polish from the ones I picked, I decided on Metallic 4 Life.  This reminds me a lot of Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance, except with silver glitter instead of fuchsia.  Metallic 4 Life is a black jelly base with lots of silver glitter, in a variety of shapes and sizes.  It is mostly small glitter, but there are some larger hexagons in there.  This went on pretty easy for a jelly glitter, but I did need 3 coats.  And I still have bald spots!  I didn't care because I plan to top this with the Super Bass Shatter tomorrow.  I think this one just needs undies!

OPI Metallic 4 Life

OPI Metallic 4 Life

OPI Metallic 4 Life

OPI Metallic 4 Life

OPI Metallic 4 Life

This would be a fantastic polish for a night out!  It just screams martinis and dancing to me.  These pictures again, aren't great.   I think I'm going to give up on the SLR for glitters!  OPI's Metallic 4 Life can be bought at Ulta or online for $8.50.  Do you have to have this one? No, but I like it anyhow.  I'd say pick it up if you don't have anything like it.

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.

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

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!

OPI Designer... De Better

So when OPI announced they were doing a Muppets collection for Holiday 2011, I kind of freaked out.  I love the Muppets and immediately knew I wanted the whole collection.  Even when the (disappointing to some nail polish enthusiasts) promo pictures came out, I still wanted them.  It wasn't until the real nail polish swatches came out from the blogging community that I realized I did not need to spend $100 on an entire collection that I had finally decided I wasn't that crazy about.

So I settled on a select few I had to have and here is one of them.  Designer...De Better.  I actually don't get how this name references Muppets, and my internet searching failed me.  So if you know please leave me a comment below cause it's driving me crazy!  This foil is definitely special.  It's a champagne toned silver with orange flecks.  I could have honestly done one coat but something about it made me wonder if more coats would affect the color (similar to OPI It's My Year from the Miss Universe Collection).  I did 3 thin coats here and it looked the same each time.  I wasn't actually sure I liked it, but it grew on me fast and I got a lot of compliments on this one.

I tried really hard to capture the unique finish of this polish, but I'm still having problems working the SLR.  I think I'm just going to go back to the good old point and shoot.  It seems pretty ridiculous, but right now it just takes better pictures.  With the SLR the lighting and focus always seems to be off even though I'm using an automatic mode.  It's just not showing the polishes in the right light.  If anyone has any tips there, that would be great too!

OPI Designer...De Better

OPI Designer...De Better

OPI Designer...De Better

OPI Designer...De Better

OPI Designer...De Better

Pretty cool huh?  You can still find this polish in most stores like Ulta and online for $8.50 a piece.  I've been pretty impressed with OPI's recently non-traditional polishes.  This and Warm and Fozzie are big wins in my book!

Another Look: OPI Merry Midnight

So last week I was surfing nail polish forums and found someone had posted pictures of my long lost love, OPI's Merry Midnight.  This was the first polish I ever sought out after seeing swatches online.  It was released for the 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection and is now discontinued, so if you want it, you have to go dustying for it.  This is where you go to nail salons that sell polish and look for old polishes, covered in dust.  That's where you find the gold, and where Courtney and I both found Merry Midnight.  Courtney and I pretty much thought the same thing here.  THIS IS AWESOME.  I hadn't worn Merry Midnight in almost a year, and it had been almost that long since Courtney has (if you click on her name above that's the active link you'll see her swatches).

Merry Midnight is a deep berry/plum jelly base with flakies and glitter and shimmer (oh my!).  There is gold and blue and red.  Pretty sure there are opalescent color changing flakes.  It's mesmerizing.  I really need to wear this one more often.  I just wish the pictures did this polish justice.

OPI Merry Midnight

OPI Merry Midnight

Close up of Merry Midnight

If you like jellies, flakies, purple, or unique polishes - you need this.  And while Merry Midnight may be hard to find, Orly just released Fowl Play recently and is a pretty good dupe.  You can find it at many a beauty supply and online retailers like Soap.com for $7.50.

Very Late Halloween Mani: OPI Zom-body to Love with Black Shatter

Almost to the end of my backlog of 2011 manis.  This one is from Halloween.  No joke!  I never posted it because I ended up using 2 different cameras to get the pictures and never downloaded the second set.  My point and shoots are very different and the one I typically use for swatch pictures WOULD NOT take a glow in the dark picture to save my life. 

Anyway, I finally got them downloaded and posted so I could tell you about OPI's Zom-body to Love and Black Shatter combo.  I bought this well before Halloween from Aveyou.com, one of my favorite online beauty retailers.  What's funny is I really just wanted Zom-body to love.  However, on it's own, it was $15, or I could get the combo back for $15....  Of course I will take 2 polishes instead of one!  Especially because who pays $15 retail for a bottle of OPI, come on now!

Zom-body to Love is a glow in the dark polish, something I have never owned or tried before.  This particular polish is a sheer that almost reminds me of OPI's Damone Roberts 1968.  Its definitively not a color dupe by any means, but the shade is in the same family. Less grey, more milky.  It also have this really really interesting texture to it.  I guess that's from all the little phosphorescent particles in it.  I ended up using 4 coats to get a mostly opaque effect.  Opaque enough for Black Shatter on top.  If I ever wear this again on it's own, I would definitely wear something underneath it.  Maybe a white creme or OPI Hey! Get in Lime! 

So the next step was to put on Black Shatter.  This was my first creme shatter and while I liked it for this Halloween mani, I'm not crazy about the Black Shatter.  I think I may have to part with this one in the near future as it will just never get worn.  It shatters really really well though.  A lot better than the other shatter polish I have tried.  Just take a look.

OPI Zom-body to Love/Black Shatter combo over the Halloween candy!

OPI Zom-body to Love/Black Shatter combo

OPI Zom-body to Love/Black Shatter combo

Close up of  OPI Zom-body to Love/Black Shatter combo
You can see the particles I was talking about here!

So now its time for the glow in the dark.  First thing you have to do is expose the polish to light to charge up the particles and get them ready to glow.  Trying to capture this picture was SO hard :), this was the best one I got.  I was surprised with how long it glowed for.  It did dim quickly, but I felt like I could see it for a while.  I pretty much spent that night staring at my nails while trying to fall asleep.

GLOW IN THE DARK :)

You can still get Zom-body to Love online, but you'd be hard pressed to find it in the store right now.  Aveyou.com still has it (for their strange and ridiculous pricing).  They also have the combo, which you could potentially find discounted at your local beauty supply store.  You should still be able to find Black Shatter at Ulta and other beauty supply stores.  These OPI's should cost about $8.50 each, or around $15 in the combo pack.

Christmas Mani 2: OPI Silver Shatter over RBL Recycle

Happy 2012 guys!  While I should be kicking off the new year with my NYE mani, I'm a bit behind on posting from my 3 week hiatus, so I'm going to get caught up on those manicures first.

My 2nd Christmas themed manicure was the one I actually worse for Christmas Eve/Day.  In an effort to get through some more untrieds, I picked Rescue Beauty Lounge's Recycle and OPI Silver Shatter.  (I have Recycle thanks to the lovely Pam of Polish Police - Thanks Pam!) I think it turned out pretty good.  Recycle is a deep forest green creme, although I do feel like it's a little squishy.  Like a jelly/creme hybrid - barely.  This puppy went on nice and smooth and needed 2 coats.  Since I was topping it with Silver Shatter, I could have probably left it at one.  There is no sparkle or nothing to Recycle. Just straight up green.  I actually had been toying with the idea of adding Recycle to the blog sale, but decided against it.  I own about 6 green cremes that all seem to look the same, and Recycle is one of the darker ones.  Maybe sometime in January I'll show you it all by itself with some comparison swathes.  One thing to note about the pictures below, Recycle does not look black at all in real life.  It is VERY dark green, but it's obviously green.  I had a hard time getting the light to pick it up through the shatter.  It is darker than the bottle shot below though.

Silver Shatter on the other hand is AWESOME. :)  I really love these metallic shatters.  So much better than the other ones.  Silver Shatter went on super easy and shattered great.  You've got both hands in this picture below.  And be warned, I did tell you earlier my cuticles are a mess, so I photoshopped these so you guys didn't have to see the sad.

OPI Silver Shatter over RBL Recycle

OPI Silver Shatter over RBL Recycle

Close up of OPI Silver Shatter over RBL Recycle

I liked this combo a lot.  Recycle still isn't my favorite of the RBLs, but Silver Shatter is definitely a new love.  Recycle is discontinued, but there are plenty of other good green cremes out there.  I wouldn't bother tracking this one down unless you are a hard core RBL collector.  Silver Shatter is still very readily available online and in salons.  RBLs retail for $18 a bottle and OPI's will set you back $8.50.

See you all tomorrow!!!!! :)

BEST. CHRISTMAS. POLISH. EVER - China Glaze Party Hearty

ONE MORE DAY!  So exciting!! The hubby and I actually exchanged gifts this morning, since we'll be  with family tomorrow AND since I got him an iPhone (HUGE upgrade from our crappy Blackberries).  I wanted him to be able to get it activated and set up before the big Christmas rush on Monday.  It's been funny to watch him trying to figure out how to use it!  Hehe!  

Ever since it debuted last year, I fell head over heels for China Glaze Party Hearty.  It's basically Christmas in a bottle with large red hexagonal, medium green hexagonal, and super tiny gold and silver round glitter.  It's chunky enough to build up to opacity on its own with 3-4 coats, but I love it best layered.  Over just about anything.  But I'm showing it here as one thickish layer over OPI Alpine Snow.    I probably should've gone a little lighter-handed on the glitter, but hey, it's Christmas, right?  :-)

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

SO festive!  AH-MAZE-ING!  This look reminds me of those cookies you can buy in those huge containers at Christmas that are covered in white chocolate with red and green sprinkles on top.  I really don't think there's a polish out there that says "Christmas" better than this one!  It's amazing, and you NEED it!!  It looks great over just about anything, but here are two of my other favorite combinations:

Party Hearty over  (L) China Glaze Jolly Holly and (R) Color Club What a Drag!

Two totally different looks, but I love them both.  I was actually totally obsessed with wearing it over Jolly Holly last year.  I wore it like 3 times in one month.  It reminds me of red holly berries on a Christmas wreath!  Looks great over silver too - it'd be a great look for a holiday party!

Party Hearty was part of China Glaze's Holiday collection last year, so it's long discontinued, but it's still relatively available on eBay for around $10-$15.  A little steep for China Glaze, but I promise this one is worth it!  It's a Christmas staple for polish lovers!

Well, I've still got more Christmas-y polishes to show you, but I'll just have to catch up on that a little later.  I hope you all have a wonderful and happy holiday!  MUAH!

OPI Smitten with Mittens

Holy cow guys!  Sorry this took a million years to post!  Work's been super hectic as the year's winding down, and it's just really been kicking my butt.  I come home, eat dinner, mindlessly watch episodes of Star Trek:  The Next Generation with the hubby and get myself to bed.  I'm so just ready for this year to be over.  Bring it on, 2012!  Anyway, with Christmas literally just around the corner, I FINALLY had the opportunity to try out a super special polish that I've been hoarding for WAY too long (like, since last February...*facepalm*) - OPI Smitten with Mittens.  

It's a saturated jellyish red with flecks of gold microglitter.  It looks unbelievably amazing in the bottle, but unfortunately the gold just doesn't translate to the nail.  I guess the red jelly kind of blocks it out.  I know my photos are showing some gold flashes, but I promise you I haven't seen that for even one hot second in real life.  The application is perfect and flows as easily as I'd expect from a jelly.  The bad part is that it's super saturated, so the red can be a little hard to clean up.  I used two coats here.  Probably could've done a third for photos, but the patchiness didn't show up at all in real life.  

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

Super pretty!  Perfect sparkly Christmas red.  It's gorgeous, and I'm definitely glad I found this, but with it's SUPER hard-to-find-and-highly-saught-after status, let's talk about just how worth it I think it is (totally just my own opinion).

Dustying - If you can find this at a local hair/nail salon or beauty supply (or heck, some people are even finding them at CVS!) for a decent price, I'd say definitely nab this up.

Swapping - Some people may be willing to swap this for easy-to-find stuff, but more often than not I think people want to swap hard-to-find for hard-to-find.  I definitely wouldn't swap your Essie Starry Starry Night or China Glaze OMG for this, but if you've got something of decent swap value that's just not getting the love it deserves, I'd say it may be worth exploring that option.

eBay - Prices for Smitten with Mittens right now on eBay are around $20-$25.  Sounds somewhat reasonable for a hard-to-find polish, but to be completely honest, I don't think it's worth that much.  It's beautiful and gets a ton of love from everyone (Muggles included), but for around the same price you can Merry Midnight from the same collection that I think IS worth $25, despite the fact that it has a close dupe.

So I'm a wee bit disappointed with this one, but even so, it's a very gorgeous polish.  I've gotten several compliments on it, and I'm glad I waited for the Holidays to break it out.  I can't wait for Christmas, and I've got my all-time favorite Christmas polish to show you guys next!!  :-D

Red Obsession: OPI Keys to My Karma

A few days into December I said to myself, "Self, it's just not Christmas without a good red."  So true, right?  Of course.  I had scheduled myself (Yes, I created a manicure schedule to make sure I cover all of my Christmas-y polishes and fun glitters for the month!  Nerd, I know.) to wear a sparkly green - and forgive me if you're a green fan - I just had to go with red!

The winner of the day is OPI Keys to My Karma, a squishy red jelly!  I know, right?!  OPI did a JELLY!  The color is slightly bluer than what's showing here.  Think a little less orange.  It's not super sheer like some jellies I've shown you, but it's definitely gonna show some VNL.  I used two coats, and the application was superb.  It cleaned up easily for a red, and it's supah shiny all on its own!

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

Red.  Jelly.  I DIE!  It's no secret around these parts that I love me some jellies, but it IS a surprise that I waited so long to finally bring this one home!  I seriously picked it up and put it down at least four times over the last year.  Finally I caught wind that it was being discontinued, so I finally caved before I REALLY regretted it.  I'm glad I did, 'cause it's super pretty!  Darn shame it's discontinued.

By this time you're probably starting to think all these red polishes I'm showing you are looking awfully alike.  They are, but I promise you they each have their own special differences.  I've got one more "Red Obsession" polish to show you (plus a shimmery red that I just had to include while it's Christmas time), and I'll be sure to show you all of them compared to each other in that post.  Just hold on to your hats!  :-D

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

I told you I was in a blue mood!!!!!!!!  Seriously I wasn't kidding.  And since I hadn't worn Lynderella's Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue yet, I knew it was next.  For this particular mani, I used OPI's Yoga-to Get This Blue as a base.  I didn't include it on it's own because I only did one coat of it.  It's not a 1-coater, but it's REALLY close.  Anyway, I thought it would be a good backdrop for my precious Lynderella.

OH MAN!  Was I right or what?  Can anyone say mermaid nails?  And these pictures don't even do it justice.  I mean - wow!  Wow!    I can't even put into words how beautiful this is.

So Yoga-to Get This Blue is pretty standard.  Most blue-lovers have it.  It's Navy with dark blue shimmer in it and it's pretty beautiful on it's own.  I'd say that I'd swatch it for you on it's own some time.  But let's be real here, after seeing this, it will ALWAYS be topped with Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue (BBBB).  BBBB on the other hand is a clear base PACKED full off blue, teal, and purple glitter.  I see small round blue. medium hexagon purple, larger teal and blue squares, and even bigger silver hexagon glitter.  You can tell I'm really obsessed with this due to all the caps.  Maybe I should use some bold too.  RUN to get this combo! :) hehe

And as I saw someone say the other day about a polish on MUA: Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue: A photo essay.

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Close up of Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Bottle Shot of Lynderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue

Lynderella polishes are only available from her website, but sometime this month Llarowe.com will start carrying them too.  They are $12 each, which is a total splurge. But you can usually layer them, so using 1 coat only makes them last longer.  They do need lots of thick top coat though to get them smooth.  Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue is part of the Early Halloween collection, and I have no idea how long it will be around.  This is a must have in your blue glitter collection, so if I were you, I would get it before it's too late!