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.

Zoya Neeka

Exactly one month ago today (AND on our blog's 100th post!) I showed you Zoya Yara that I picked up during Zoya's last big promotion.  They were giving away two free polishes with a purchase, and lucky me - I needed a new bottle of Remove +!  My second free polish that I chose was the ever-so-popular, Neeka.

Neeka is a smokey, eggplant purple with large, irregular gold shimmer, and super fine pink shimmer.  The finish is similar to Yara, but the gold flecks aren't quite as pronounced.  It dries a good shade or two darker than the bottle color, but I was totally fine with that.  The finished product is beautiful, but I'd say these photos show it a little bluer than it is (Suprise, surprise, right?).  The formula was perfect - definitely the best Zoya I've ever worked with.  It's super pigmented, but still easy to clean up.  I'm showing you two coats below.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Neeka is probably hands-down the fan favorite from the Smoke and Mirrors collection.  While it's really beautiful, I just really wasn't wowed by it.  I don't know if I just can't get over my supreme love of Yara, or if it just reminded me too much of RBL Catherine.  Speaking of Catherine, here's a quick comparison of the two:

(L) Zoya Neeka, (R) RBL Catherine

Certainly not dupes, but maybe...kissing cousins?  Neeka is lighter in color and the gold shimmer particles are much larger.  Strangely enough, now that I've worn both I can say that somehow the smaller shimmer in Catherine shows up better on the nail.  I think Neeka's smokey base is the culprit.  They're different enough to own both, but you may be able to satisfy any lingering Catherine lemmings with Neeka, for less than half the price.

Bottom line?  I love Neeka, but I'm not in love.  Yara is the star of the show for me from that collection, and she already stole my heart.  I still more than recommend Neeka, especially if you don't already own RBL Catherine.  Zoya really knows how to put together a great collection, and they did it again this fall. :-)

Butter London Snog

I apologize in advance if it feels like I have been or will be overloading you on Butter London polishes.  After the Nordstrom Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale, the Ulta Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale (I'm choosing to ignore the current Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale, 'cause DANG, my wallet hurts!), and a few successful swaps, I've got a TON of these suckers to get through.  I'm super excited about it though, because I think I've decided that Butter London might just be my favorite brand of nail polish.  *gasp*  I know!  :-)

For the weekend, I decided to take Snog for a spin.  You guys are probably familiar with the term "snog" from various movies set in England, but just in case, it means "to kiss passionately" or, more commonly, "to make out."  LOL

Make-out-session-in-a-bottle turns out to be a saturated bright pink creme.  SO saturated, that Blogger freaked out when I tried to load the photos, and turned it this weird coral color.  Thankfully I didn't get the same issue when linking from Photobucket.  *phew!*  What you see in these photos is pretty color-accurate (for once).  The formula was top-notch and applied perfectly in two coats.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

You guys know I'm not super into pink polishes, but I ADORE Snog!  I want to snog Snog!  (Not really, I just thought it'd be a funny joke.  Ok, it was bad.  I know.)  It's not overly girly, and the color is just to die for!  The only thing I can't figure out is why they went with black type on the label.  They only use black for their lighter colors, since obviously white wouldn't show up very well, but there's nothing pale about this polish!  *shrug*  I guess I'm just weird...LOL

Anywho, Snog may have just worked its way into my Top 5 Butter London polishes, and probably my Top 20 polishes in general.  I love it THAT much!  I'd heartily recommend it, especially if you're looking for another polish to add in for the Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale at Ulta.  It definitely gets the thumbs up from me!  :-)

China Glaze Westside Warrior

A few posts ago I mentioned my new obsession love of weird olive greeny-goldy polishes.  I've shown you two out of five of the polishes I mentioned there, so I'm keeping the party going with number three - China Glaze Westside Warrior.

First of all, is it just me, or has it been FOREVER since I showed you guys a China Glaze polish??  I think it's been like, six months?!  Holy cow!  We're long overdue, but never fear.  The last two of The Five are China Glaze as well!  :-)  

Westside Warrior is your textbook olive green creme.  It leans on the yellow side, kind of "olive drab," so it plays nicely with my skin tone.  It's giving me slight lobster hands in these photos, but I promise you it wasn't apparent in real life.  It's super pigmented, and applied like a DREAM in two coats!

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

YES YES YES and YES.  Perfection in a bottle!  After the epic fail that was Illamasqua Phallic, Westside Warrior was just what I needed.  I thought I'd love this one, and I was 100% right!  Olive green dream.  :-)

Just for funsies I did a quick comparison of Westside Warrior with Rescue Beauty Lounge Orbis Non Sufficit:

(L) China Glaze Westside Warrior, (R) RBL Orbis Non Sufficit

It's funny, because these are two polishes that I would describe in one word as "olive," but they're on two opposite ends of the spectrum.  Westside Warrior is very yellow (It almost looks like pea soup here!), while Orbis leans strongly blue.  You know what that means?  There's definitely room for both in my stash!  :-D

If you love these weird olive colors as much as I do, I highly recommend picking up Westside Warrior.  It's part of China Glaze's Metro Collection that's currently in stores, so you'll be able to find it pretty easily at your local Ulta or for even cheaper at www.nailsupplies.us.  I think it's perfect for fall!

And the Winner Is...

Kelly!!!

Congrats, Kelly!!  Illamasqua Raindrops and Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air will be on their way to you soon!  We hope you love them!!

Thank you to everyone who entered our giveaway!  We're so happy to have your love and support!  You guys rock!!  Stay tuned for more fun!  :-)

Love,

Courtney & Jessie

Illamasqua Phallic

After I showed you a polish named after an "infertile man", I thought it was finally the right time to show you a polish named after the male crotchal region.  Yeah, Illamasqua went there.  I put off trying this one far too long....here's Phallic!

It's not exactly what I would've picked when choosing colors to represent male genitalia, but Illamasqua went with a deep midnight blue with blue shimmer.  It's kind of that glass-fleck style shimmer, but it's super subtle.  Much more than these photos would suggest.  What surprised me most, though, was the formula.  Illamasqua is known for unbelievably smooth formulas and great wear, but this one was thick and globby and hard to apply.  I ended up using two blobby coats, and I had major chips within two days.  Not a good way to start off.

 (click to enlarge)

 (click to enlarge)

These photos are too flattering of this polish.  I wish it looked like this all the time.  The shimmer is to DIE for - like little blue stars in the night sky - but it only comes out to play in direct lighting (i.e. sunlight or when you stick your hand under a lamp, lol).  Most of the time you're looking at a deep blue creme with, like, three shimmers.  I suppose if you love deep blues or vampy colors, you may be able to overlook the lack of shimmer, but for $14 a bottle, I WANT SHIMMER, DAMNIT!

I guess that's what I get for buying a polish named after a penis.

(Compliments of www.jamesvandermemes.com)