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...

Rescue Beauty Lounge Square Pants - Part 2

Since Courtney shared her amazing RBL Square Pants swatches with you, I thought I share this picture of me picking up our polishes at the one and only (and soon to be closed forever) Rescue Beauty Lounge in New York City. My friend Megan and I had amazing pedicures (RBL Catherine...where have you been all my life? :) swatches coming soon). After our pedicure I made her take this super cheesy pick of me with my bag of pretties.

So I apologize for the quality of these pictures, but I thought it would be nice to post it anyway. My skin tone is a bit different than Courtney so it gives you a different perspective on the color. This is also in the regular lighting of my house, which makes the yellow look much softer. It really is a fantastic yellow for yellow wimps. It's super easy to apply considering it's a sheer. And most of all, the wear!!!! This was after 5 days. I do not have a dishwasher, so I do all dishes by hand (and I don't wear gloves).

So before I took it off I thought I'd try some layering. I wasn't really happy with any of these. From index to pinky - Butter London No More Waity, Katie, OPI Sparkle-icious (I think) , China Glaze Dorothy Who, and Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air. Out of the four, Glitter in the Air is the only one I'd consider doing again.

Close up of Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air over Rescue Beauty Lounge Square Pants. Kind of reminds me of baby clowns...

Hope you enjoyed this alternate look at RBL Square Pants!!

OPI Movin' Out

Wow... first off I'd like to thank Courtney for graciously letting me do some blogging for her. She is completely amazing and I am so happy we met and are friends. However the blogging request turned out to be both a blessing and a (tiny) curse. As soon as I agreed and we went out and bought me an Ott-Lite, things took a turn for the worse.

First, I actually wasn't in the mood to paint my nails. I've been painting my nails about once every 2-3 days for about a year now, so not wanting to paint my nails for a week or so was strange. Then 2 huge shelves fall off my wall crushing my Wet-n-Wild Black Creme with it (crucial to this blog post). Finally I attend a crab feast and completely murdered my nails. So I decided to suck it up, file them down, stop by CVS for a new WnW Black Creme and force myself to sit down for my mani. I was so nervous painting my nails that I got black nail polish all over my hands, clean-up was horrible. Then the dreaded picture taking. My first pictures looked nothing like Courtney's amazing pictures. So after taking about 40 in different lights and backgrounds over the last 24 hours, I finally got a set of pictures I was happy with.

So you see, this first post was a serious labor of love. So it can only get better from here! I am so excited to finally be posting, to be sharing my love of nail polish with the blog world, and doing it with my dear friend Courtney.

I first became aware of OPI's Movin' Out when reading this post on Fashion Polish. I've been dying to get Clarins 230, a nail polish with amazing color changing pigment, but it goes for about $60 on Ebay. I love nail polish, but not that much! So when I saw this post and Sam's amazing pictures and video, I instantly got onto Ebay and secured one for $10. Now my pictures don't do this nearly as much justice as the ones on Fashion Polish, so I urge you to check those out as well. Enough blabbing! Onto the polish!

To achieve this look, you need layer one or two thin coats of Movin' Out over any black creme polish. This multichrome polish flashes purple, magenta, amber, and green. It also has beautiful shimmer to it, which I believe is what actually gives it the amazing color changing abilities that I tried desperately to capture. I didn't do it justice (couldn't manage to capture the amber at all). Movin' Out is from the 2003 Holiday on Broadway collection which means it is Hard-to-Find. However you can still grab it on Ebay for under $15. It's also still available on Aveyou.com. Since it's from 2003, that means its the old, chemical filled formula and no Pro-Wide brush. Pick this up, you won't regret it!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Square Pants

It's always fun when you love a polish that you knew you were going to love.  It's even more fun when you love a polish you thought you'd probably hate!  :-)

A few months ago - after reeeeally getting into my nail polish hobby - I discovered that Rescue Beauty Lounge released a Spongebob themed collection back in Spring 2008.  The three polishes released with the collection were Bikini Bottom (a pale blue), Square Pants (a pale yellow), and Starfish-Patrick (a pale coral).  1)  I LOVE that creator Ji Baek can find inspiration in the most unlikely places!  2)  A SPONGEBOB collection?!  Count me IN!!  I knew I had to have Bikini Bottom, but I just wasn't sold on a yellow or coral polish.  The completionist (and Spongebob fan) in me couldn't bare to leave the other two behind, so I had my friend Jessie pick up Square Pants and Starfish-Patrick for me when she visited the RBL salon in New York City. 

As much as I've been dying to try out Bikini Bottom, I NEVER wear yellow nail polish, and I kind of had the hankering to wear something unusual for the weekend.  Square Pants it was!  It's not your typical obnoxious yellow.  Instead, it's a soft,  buttery sunshine yellow.  However, it's not the color, but the consistency that makes this stand out for me.  What you see below is four coats, but you can see how sheer it is, as I still have pretty noticeable VNL (visible nail line).  It has a milkiness to it that gives it kind of a squishy appearance.  I've heard horror stories of how awful some yellow polishes can be to work with (I'm looking at you, Chanel Mimosa!), but this formula was a dream to work with - hardly any streaks and it actually dried quicker than I expected!

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I looooooooooooove this!  Adore it!  Typically sheer polishes (and yellow polishes for that matter) aren't my cup of tea, but there's something about the sheerness of this one that makes me love it more.  Everything about Square Pants is unique - from its color to its texture.  Even at its $18 price tag, this a MUST-HAVE polish in my book!

I know what you're thinking, because I thought it too.  But you CAN wear yellow nail polish!  I promise!  Yellow is super hot this summer in nail polish trends, so they're popping up everywhere.  Save your money on Chanel Mimosa and try Square Pants instead.  RBL polishes are worth every penny, and you never know when they might be sold out for good (aside from the occasional Bring It Back vote - which is how I landed Bikini Bottom in the first place).  Currently Bikini Bottom and Square Pants are both in stock, so RUN to www.rescuebeauty.com and pick them up while you still can!

I'll *definitely* be showing you guys Bikini Bottom and Starfish-Patrick later on, and I'm super excited for them after my love affair with Square Pants!  Woo-hoo!  :-)

OPI Affair in Times Square

Cue Rebecca Black - IT'S FRIDAY!!  And boy, I sure am looking forward to the weekend - it's been one hell of a four-day week at work!  On to the good stuff!  :-)

My friend (and soon to be guest blogger) Jessie and I met up on Sunday for some shopping and of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to do some dusty hunting while we were at it.  She took me to a place where she previously found two (TWO!!!) La Bohemes.  No sight of a third, but they did have some great old black-labels.  I was lucky enough to find a lemming of mine - Affair in Times Square.  Woo-hoo!

Affair in Times Square is a taupe-y mushroom creme.  In some lights it's more brown and in some lights it's more grey.  Totally an edgy-neutral, so you know I was all over this one.  It's a black label, so it's got the skinny brush, which is so strange to use once you've been accustomed to those darn pro-wides.  It was super easy to apply, and I only used two coats, but I probably should've added a third.  Oh well, I think it turned out just fine.  :-)

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See the color difference in all three pictures?  A morphing polish, this one is!  It was released back in Fall of 2000 with the New York City Collection, which I believe makes this the oldest polish I own!  I think it's funny that these colors are so popular right now, but OPI was ahead of the curve on it - and then discontinued it.  Silly OPI.

But I have a confession to make...and you guys are gonna think I've lost my mind....I think I'm edgy-neutral-ed out.  Affair in Times Square is pretty, but nothing special.  My huge binge on edgy neutrals means I've got like five other colors that are similar enough to this for me to be slightly disappointed.

For a comparison, I pulled out Milani Teddy Bare (dupe of Chanel Particulere) and Sephora by OPI Metro Chic.  I REALLY wanted to compare this to Essie Mink Muffs, but I had literally just packaged it up for a swap before I did my manicure.

(L) to (R) Milani Teddy Bare, OPI Affair in Times Square, Sephora by OPI Metro Chic

Clearly not a total dupe of these, but it is pretty similar to Metro Chic - just a bit warmer and less purple.  You definitely don't need both, although Affair in Times Square is nice to have if you're more of a collector.  I'm still glad to have found it, but I'm sad it wasn't a bit more unique for my collection.  Still, it was a great dusty find, especially considering it's going for around $17 on eBay right now.  Score!!  :-)

And of course, the cherry on top is....It's Fridayyyyyy, Fridayyyyyyyyy!!  

Zoya "French Twist" Manicure with Caitlin and Dove

I'm not huge into nail art, but I do love to save my "fun" manicures for the weekends.  Unfortunately my complete lack of creativity typically means my "fun" manicures are just my "not-quite-work-appropriate" colors like brights and glitters.  Thankfully my dearly beloved polish brand Zoya gave us this little piece of genius last weekend:

You can find much more information about the story behind this style here at All Lacquered Up, but basically this was a look created by Zoya for Fashion Week.  Zoya did a quickie promo for a free bottle of each polish, Caitlin and Dove (and I'm a terrible blogger for not letting you guys know about it while it was still relavent - forgive me!!), and since I already had both, the French Twist was a done deal for me.

For this look, the base color is Zoya Caitlin - a medium dusty periwinkle purpley-blue creme.  This color is right up my alley.  It's gorgeous and applies beautifully in two coats.  

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Swoon.  I love these colors.  If I had to identify my weakness in terms of polishes, dusty blues would be it.  I wore Caitlin as a full manicure for a day, just to admire beauty all by itself (it also helps once you get to the next step).  :-)  

The next day, I added the tips.  I used Scotch tape to block off everything but the tips (You can find a tutorial from here from Erika at Chloe's Nails - she's a pro at the Scotch tape thing!), and then did one layer of Dove across the tips.  Scotch tape is a little difficult for me to use, because my nails are so curvy that it doesn't really lay completely flat, but my cleanup brush and a little non-acetone remover fixed any wiggly lines.  I added one coat of Barielle Manicure Extender top coat to finish it all up!

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Ok, so not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty well!  I love how these two colors look together.  They make for a kind of subtle "funky french."  Unexpected and lovely!  I got several compliments on this manicure!  :-)

These two colors are total winners for me.  I already raved about Caitlin, but even Dove gets a thumbs-up from me.  It's a standard dove grey, but it seems to flatter most skin tones, and it applies just as nicely as Caitlin.  The two colors compliment each other well, but are both nice enough for a stand-alone manicure.  Well done, Zoya!

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On a completely different note, I finally convinced my swapper-turned-real-life-friend-and-dusty-hunting-partner-in-crime Jessie to do some guest posts for my blog!  I'm so excited to see what she has in store!  Give her a warm welcome for her first post, which should arrive soon!  I know you'll all love her! :-)

Courtney

Zoya Gemma

Work has been a total beast for me this week.  Ya know when you just have one of those days where nothing goes right and you can't get anything done?  Yeah, I had three of those in a row this week.  Not cool, life!  Not cool...

So, being late to the party as usual, finally got around to trying out Zoya Gemma.  It was released with the Intimate collection in January of this year, but I waffled on getting it for about three months after that.  I really need to stop doing that.  It's how I end up with the dreaded reverse buyer's remorse.  But anywho, I finally brought home Gemma in a swap, and here she is!

Gemma is a medium-toned, almost army green polish with subtle blue and pink shimmer.  I'm SO glad I was able to capture the shimmer for you in my photos!  It's not a super noticeable shimmer, but it's not one of those "secret shimmers" like Essie Sew Psyched where the pretty shimmer in the bottle disappears on the nail.  Most of the time it looks like a creme, but when the light hits it, you can see this pretty blue flash (unfortunately the pink shimmer just goes MIA on the nail).  Application was pretty smooth - no real complaints.  I used two medium coats, but I probably could've used a third, as I had a few patches I noticed after I finished.  Click to enlarge these photos to get a better look at the shimmer!

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That blue flash is so pretty!  It certainly sets it apart from other muted greens.  I've got nothing like it in my collection.  Hubby liked this one, and I did too, but I wasn't really wowed by it.  I'm gonna blame it on my really crappy work week, because it looks killer in these photos (if I do say so myself)!  :-P

I LOVE that with Zoya you don't have to worry about if a polish is limited edition.  Every polish collection becomes part of Zoya's huge core collection, so Gemma and her friends Caitlin, Dove, Marley, Jules, and Dannii aren't going anywhere anytime soon.  As always, you can buy Zoya polishes at www.zoya.com.

Are you guys as ready for the weekend as I am?!  I think I'm gonna have one (or two or three...) stiff drinks with my name on it after this week!  :-)