Lynnderella Lucky Numbers

It's been a while since I've experienced the dreaded "reverse buyer's remorse" (a silly term I coined to mean the feeling of regret experienced after not buying something - symptoms usually occur at least one month, but sometimes sooner, than the incident of non-purchase).  A few months ago when Lynnderella opened shop with her incredible Early Halloween collection, I wanted pretty much every polish.  Unfortunately I missed the first sale (D'oh!) and then my sound reasoning got the better of me and I decided that there was no way I could afford the five polish minimum, so I missed out on the second sale as well (D'OH!!).  Thankfully the amazing Jessie came to the rescue and agreed to add a second bottle of Connect the Dots to her order so that I could at least get ONE of my heart's desires!  I was content with just the one polish...until about three weeks ago.  Maybe it's been the recent photos popping up on blogs and the MUA Nail Board, but all of a sudden I wanted NEEDED more Lynnderellas!

Fast forward a few months later and whisperings of a second collection, Funny Money began to spread.  By some miracle I just happened to catch a posting on MUA that the shop had reopened.  I cranked out an email order so fast it made my head spin.  I mostly wanted to catch up on the Early Halloween polishes that I missed out on the first time, but I couldn't help but also throw in one of the new guys - Lucky Numbers (Merry Early Christmas to me!!).  As soon as they came in, I couldn't wait to try Lucky Numbers first, so that's what I have for you today!

Lynnderella's description of Lucky Numbers is "a clear base with red and black glitter squares and hexagons as well as red and white shimmer."  It's also got red and black bar glitter, which usually isn't my thing, but I love when it's mixed in with other shaped glitter like Lynnderella does so well.  It's definitely buildable to near opacity in three coats, but I just love the look of these polishes when layered.  I'm showing you one coat over OPI Your Royal Shine-ness, a warm-toned silver foil.

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DUDE.  How amazing is this?!  It's got the same kind of feel as Connect the Dots (which I'll show you guys at a later time), but it's more like Connect the Dots had a baby with a pack of playing cards!  Lynn herself told me she had "cards and blackjack" in mind when creating Lucky Numbers, and I can totally see it.  I feel like I need to go to a casino wearing this polish.  Or go buy a lottery ticket.  Or BOTH!  This is just one AWESOME polish!

Also, in case you guys were curious, here's Your Royal Shine-ness on its own.  This was two coats, and it applied super easily.  It's not your standard silver foil, and I liked the warmness of it against my skin tone.  It's also super shiny!

If you were lucky (hehe) enough to get an order through for Lucky Numbers, I hope you love it as much as I do!  If not, Lynnderella will be opening her blog shop again this weekend!  Otherwise, keep your eyes peeled to llarowe starting in December.  Lynnderella polishes will be available there with no minimum purchase AND international shipping!  As I mentioned in my previous post, you can also find A-England, Ozotic, Glitter Gal, and more!

In addition to Lucky Numbers, I also got All Hallow's Eve, She Lived in a Swamp, Bibbity Bobbity Boo Blue, Love Potion No. 99, and Very Pretty Vampire (in addition Connect the Dots from the last order).  I'm SOOOO excited to show you all of them!  :-D

A-England Lady of the Lake

I think I've told you guys probably at least three thousand times how I'm like, a huge Anglophile.  It's an addiction, and one day I'll get help for it.  Maybe.  Anyway, when I heard there was a nail polish line with a KING ARTHUR themed collection AND it included two holos, I was all:

Oh yeahhhhh!  You know I love it when I get to use my James Van Der Memes!  But seriously, I NEEDED those holos!  One is Tristam (which I'm still hunting down) and the other is Lady of the Lake.  I was fortunate enough to snag the latter in a swap, and I just needed a couple of nice, sunny days to show her off!

Lady of the Lake is a deep violet purple jam packed with scattered holographic shimmer.  Of course the holo effect shows up better in sunlight, but there's SO much shimmer in this baby that it gives it this amazingly plush, almost velvety look in the shade.  The application is just as awesome.  It applied so smoothly and stayed right where I put it.  I was able to use super thin coats, but still only needed two coats for full opacity.  I know it won't surprise you at all when I say that these photos lean a little too strongly on the blue side (Bob DARNIT, purples!).  Check out the sunlight photos for better color accuracy.

Under my Ott-Lite:

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Sunlight (This was the next day, so not quite as shiny.  Sowwy!):

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Can you tell I'm smitten?  It's not a super strong holo effect, but it's still just beautiful.  If you're a fan of King Arthur, purple polishes, or holos, you need this!

The only catch here is that on this side of the pond, A-Englands may be a little tricky to get ahold of.  You can order them from A-England's website, but they'll cost about $15 a pop, not including international shipping on top of that.  Your best bet will probably be through llarowe, a pretty awesome website that makes it easy to get some international brands at a decent price.  A-England is $12, and while you're there you can check out other cool brands like Glitter Gal, Ozotic, and LYNNDERELLA (coming in December *dies*)!

Speaking of Lynnderella, I JUST got in my order of six polishes from her, and I'm literally squealing with excitement to try them out!  Stay tuned for utterly fantabulous glittery goodness!!  :-D

The REAL and very AWESOME adventures of a Shellac Manicure

As some of you that have been following us for a while may know, when I moved I got a Shellac manicure and promised to document the results.  In reality it was a gigantic failure and you can read about it here.  However I've gotten Shellac before and had much success, so when my new live-in boyfriend (Chris) and I were leaving for our trip to Germany, Austria, and Italy, I got another one.

This time around I went back to the only woman I let do my nails and PAY for it - Suzy at the LifeSpa in Columbia, MD.  If you ever are in the area I highly recommend her.  She is meticulous and everything about her manicures are perfect!  So 2 days before we left I got my manicure, and chose Shellac Purple Purple.  I'm totally smitten with this color.  It's a beautiful royal purple with a teal flash.  Shellac lasts for 14 days guarenteed and this manicure sure did hold up.  So take a look below and my manicures adventures through Europe - including a very special announcement...

So here we are on Day 2, Chris and I are waiting for the plane to take us over to Germany.  We are going for his cousin Christine's wedding, but doing some traveling while we are there.  Shellac on day 2 is looking perfect, like I just got it done.  It's shiny and beautiful.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 2

Now it's Day 3, we had an overnight flight to Munich and we've got a rental care and we are headed to Italy (although we did make a few stop in Germany and Austria first).  The sun is not out yet, but my mani is happy to be in Germany.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 2

Our first stop is Oberammergau, where the family of the bride lives.  We stopped by to drop off our large suitcases and wedding attire so we didn't have to schlep them all over Italy.  As I wait by our little Peugeot, I  do another mani picture.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 2

My failed attempt at getting a picture in the sun, but at least you get to see a cute Oberammergau street.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 2

Still on Day 3, but now we have crossed into Austria, which we are pretty much just driving through.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 3

Still Day 3, but we've made it to Italy!

Shellac Purple Purple Day 3

Day 4! We spent the night in Verona and at this point we are back in the car and headed to Maranello, Italy to go to the Ferrari Museum and Factory.  We had some great sun.  The manicure still looks perfect, no chips, scratches or dullness.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 4

Shellac Purple Purple Day 4 - See that teal sparkle!

This is a little later I believe, but still Day 4, here we are on our way to Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre, Italy.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 4

Shellac Purple Purple Day 4

So after some much needed pizza, wine, and rest, we make it to Day 5 of the Shellac mani.  It's still looking perfect, because low and behold, while Chris and I are hiking in Cinque Terre he's got a pretty amazing surprise for me....

Shellac Purple Purple Day 5 + My engagement ring!

A proposal!  Right there, between Manarola and Corniglia, in the middle of a vineyard on the Italian coast, the love of my life got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  He even threw in this awesome ring as part of the deal :).  Needless to say I said yes!  After the initial excitement and celebration and a few "Oh my god!"s occurred, Chris then said "NOW you can take a swatch picture;" so I did (see above).

Here is Chris and I right after we got engaged, this is literally the spot he asked me.  I'm beyond happy and my manicure looks freaking sweet!

Chris and I, about 10 minutes after we got engaged!

A little later in the hike the sun come out so I snapped some pictures of Purple Purple with my ring and Corniglia in the background.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 5

And just because I want to show off the awesome taste my fiance has, there is the one and only close up shot you'll get of the ring.

My engagement ring

The rest of the day was sunny sunny sunny, so I couldn't help but get more pictures with the gorgeous backdrop.

Shellac Purple Purple - Day 5

And here we are later that night, with some celebratory Grappa!  After 6 hours of hiking my manicure still looks perfect.  Not a scratch or dent or chip to be seen.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 5

Day 6 is finally here and we have to leave Italy to head back to Germany (through Austria again).  This picture isn't clear, but it shows the teal flash so well.  The one right after shows the true purple color.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 6 - blurry picture to show teal flash

Shellac Purple Purple Day 6

Day 7 and we are at the wedding in Oberammergau (actually the wedding was in Ettal next door) which was at this amazing church - Ettal Abbey.  I'm pretty sure all the German wedding guests thought I was a crazy American.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 7

Shellac Purple Purple Day 7

Day 8 and it's time to celebrate at THE Munich Oktoberfest!  This was SO much fun and hopefully one day we can go again.  I even got to wear a drindl (traditional Bavarian dress) that Chris's Aunt loaned me.  SO much fun!!!  Mani still looks great too.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 8

Day 9 and we have to go home soon, so on our last day in Germany, Chris, his mom and I hike to the top of the Koffel over Oberammergau.  Hard work but the view was worth it.  Again, mani still looks perfect!  The growth is starting to get pretty noticeable.  You can see that in the second picture below.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 9

Shellac Purple Purple Day 9 - check out that growth!

Shellac Purple Purple Day 9 over Oberammergau

So now we are back home in the USA and I didn't do a very good job keeping track of the rest of my Shellac mani.  This is Day 11 and the last day I took pictures.  I think the excitement of being home and celebrating the engagement, not to mention catching up on work and trying to start to find a venue really got in the way.  Fortunately Day 11 is pretty representative of Day 14, when I took of the polish.  As you can see the polish is still very very very shiny.  I have the slightest of tip wear.  Normally tip wear is horrible for me, so that is pretty amazing.  And my growth is INSANE.  I had no idea my nails grow so fast.  You'll see below the only issue I had was with my thumbs.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 11

Shellac Purple Purple Day 11

Shellac Purple Purple Day 11

So here is a representation of my thumbs.  Both of them looked like this.  Chips in the corners which led to the Shellac starting to lift.  I ended up throwing some Gelous over it until Day 14 to make sure what was left didn't damage my nail.

Shellac Purple Purple Day 11 - Thumb damage

Overall I am very pleased (once again) with Shellac for my vacations.  As long as you have a good nail tech who know how to apply the product correctly, you will get fantastic results.  I am actually really excited to see OPI's version of Shellac called OPI GelColor, whenever that hits salons, but for the time being I'll stick with Shellac.  Shellac usually runs about $20-30 more than your average manicure.  I think this one cost me $48 and it was worth every penny!  Have you ever gotten "Shellac"ed?  Any questions I can answer?

Another Look: butter LONDON Wallis

So after Courtney totally flipped over butter LONDON's Wallis, I grabbed this with a Zappos.com gift card  I earned with my credit card points.  I wasn't so sure about this when I ordered it, but I figured since I had nothing like it, why not try it!  In general I have really loved all my butter LONDON polishes, and while the formula was great for me on Wallis, the color was so NOT me at all!

Wallis is a tarnished green/gold color, and like Courtney said in her review, goes on like a foil.  I particularly partial to foils.  I just really can't get past how gold this looks on me.  The green is there, but barely.  Even in the shade (pictures below), it's still so gold.  What's interesting is looking at these pictures, I don't hate it on my skin tone, but it's just not me and I know I would never wear it.  So unfortunately this one is going in the blog sale pile for me.

butter LONDON Wallis

butter LONDON Wallis

butter LONDON Wallis

butter LONDON Wallis in the shade

Wallis is part of the Fall 2011 collection.  You can still get it at Ulta or at butter LONDON's website for $14.  What do you think about these weird green/golds? Are you a fan like Courtney or a hater like me?

Red Obsession: Butter London Come to Bed Red

Remember a while back when I was so disappointed that I already owned a dupe for Butter London Bluey that I decided to re-home it?  Well, my partner-in-crime Jessie made me an offer I couldn't refuse.  I sent Bluey her way, and she bought me a brand new Butter London of my choice.  Of course this was during the time of my massive red creme haul, so I decided on MUA fan favorite Come to Bed Red.

What a name, huh?!  For once, I don't think I need to give any kind of definition or interpretation for the name.  Come to Bed Red is a get-his-attention, va-va-voom red, so use your imagination!  ;-)  You may be thinking this looks awfully close to RBL Chinoise that I showed you a few weeks ago, but I promise you that's just due to my lighting conditions and poor photo editing.  While Chinoise is a warm, almost orange-leaning red, Come to Bed Red is more of a neutral, true red.  Like, Crayola "Red" crayon red.  As if the color wasn't gorgeous enough, the formula and application on this one was AH-MAZE-ING.  UNBELIEVABLE.  It was super pigmented (almost a one-coater!), but it flowed so smoothly I almost fell off the couch.  I find most Butter London formulas to be smooth and easy to apply, but this was the cream of the crop.  Total perfection!  This is two coats I'm showing you here.

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It's just lovely!  Incredible formula aside, I think I prefer the warmness of Chinoise on my skin tone a little more, but I love this one so much, I just don't know for sure.  I guess it would come down to the day's mood for which one I'd grab first.  I've got two more reds to go through before I really decide to rank them, and I'll definitely be showing all of them on one hand for you guys, so you can really see how they compare to each other.

I'd highly recommend Come to Bed Red, if you're still looking for your "Holy Grail" red.  It's nice and neutral, so I think it would flatter most skin tones, and the formula makes this one worth every penny of its $14 price tag.  Plus, who could go wrong with a name like "Come to Bed Red"?!  :-D

Zoya Cheryl

Holy cow, you guys!  Halloween was Monday, and I woke up the next day and realized that Christmas was just around the corner!  Christmas is the source of a lot of stress for me every year, mostly because I never have enough money to buy everyone the things I want to buy them, so I end up settling for something stupid and then getting frustrated about it.  Repeat ad nauseum until all friends and family's gifts are purchased.  See what I mean?  Long story short, I'm trying to hang on to every last bit of fall that I can, so I kicked off November with one of the most "fall" polishes I own - Zoya Cheryl.

Cheryl is a deep brown with reddish, rusty, coppery shimmer.  It's kind of a mix between a shimmer and a foil, but I'd say it lands more on the side of shimmer.  It's blackened on the edges and has that glowy, "lit-from-within" look.  My application on this one was almost downright terrible.  I apologize if it looks kind of chunky in these photos.  I can't blame the formula too much, because I've worn this several times, so it may just be that natural evaporation effect going on.  Either way, I had to add a few drops of thinner to get a second coat on without too much of a headache.  It's nicely pigmented, and this is only two coats shown below.

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This polish just screams "fall!"  It's warm and cozy and makes me want to snuggle by a fire with a cup of hot chocolate.  Cheryl was released with last fall's Wicked collection (the same one with Edyta), and I think it's one of the most underrated polishes of the collection.  I think it gets the "brown polish" reputation, but it's so much more beautiful than that.  Though, I suppose I'm biased, 'cause I love a good brown polish.

I'd highly recommend Cheryl, if you don't already own this one.  Now's the perfect time, with Thanksgiving just a few weeks away AND with a Zoya Buy Two, Get Two Free promotion through this Saturday! (OMG I just actually told you guys about a CURRENT promotion!  I'm improving!  Yay!)

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  I'll be supporting the hubby's favorite college football team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, for the big game against LSU on Saturday.  I'm such a good wife!  LOL Roll Tide!  :-P

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*)!