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.

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

Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

Let's (finally) finish up with all my Christmas manicures, shall we?  Well, technically I still have one more, but it's not actually a Christmas polish, it's just a polish I happened to wear before Christmas, so it's fair game for after the Holidays.  ;-)  I would've shown this to you in order, but I got so excited I just HAD to show you Smitten with Mittens and Party Hearty first.  You forgive me, right?  Excellent.

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is a deep blue-leaning pine green with a finish that falls somewhere between a glass-fleck and a foil.  I'm gonna say it's more of a glass-fleck.  Anywho, application was great on this one, although it did take a good three coats for opacity.  If you're a thinner coat kinda person you may need four.  I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, since Rach from stuff i (s)watched  loved it, but Piff from Polish or Perish hated it.  So, how did I feel about this one?...

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Meh.  Just completely meh.  Right in the middle.  I don't hate it.  I don't love it.  I like it okay, but not really that much.  It was nice and pretty and got a couple of compliments, but it just didn't wow me.  I think it may actually have been just a smidge too blue-toned for me.  From what I can tell, China Glaze Glittering Garland seems to be a warmer and more vibrant version of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, so I may need to try that one out.  You can see photos and comparisons of the two here from Cilucia.

I swapped for my bottle, but if you're interested in Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, there's great news!  As of a couple of months(ish) ago, it's part of the core collection at Sally's, so you can easily get your hands on this one.  I can't put my whole heart into recommending this one, but I know a ton of people are really fond of it.  Different strokes for different folks, right?  :-)

Well, in case I don't make it back here before the end of the week, I hope you all have a fun and safe and happy New Year!  :-D

Christmas Mani 1: China Glaze Party Hearty over butter LONDON British Racing Green

It's been 23 days since I posted :(.  Epic Fail.

They say the guide to successful change is to set a goal and then go public.  So I'm setting a goal today, and I'm going public so ya'll can hold me accountable.  I will post every day in January.  I have so many untrieds no, changing my mani everyday will be necessary just to get caught up.  Plus I really need to start making an effort to take better care of my nails and cuticles; I've really fallen off the band wagon!

So what better way to usher out 2011 by sharing with you my 1st Christmas mani, which I wore a few weeks ago in NYC for SantaCon.  For those of you that don't know what SantaCon in, thousands (I think) of people dress up as Santa and parade around NYC to different meeting points.  I decided this year to go as a Christmas Tree, complete with lights.  The costume was particularly a big hit once it got darker out and lots of children said "She looks like a Christmas Tree!", which led us to promptly give out my candy cane decorations.  We had a ball, and my manicure was just the icing on the cake.

Blending in with the kin!

I'm a Christmas Tree at SantaCon!

For this manicure, I started off with butter LONDON's British Racing Green, which Courtney reviewed here.  I'd have to say, Courtney did a great job showcasing this polish.  Its a beautiful forest green with shimmer.  I was really really happy with this polish, especially since it's been sitting in my untrieds since St. Patrick's Day!  I also thought it made a really stellar backdrop for China Glaze's Party Hearty, which Courtney just wore as well.  And while you may feel the need to skip on a $14 bottle of green polish when there are so many others out there, skipping out on Party Hearty would be very sad indeed!  Like Courtney mentioned, while it is discontinued, you can still find it.  And I urge you to look :)!

China Glaze Party Hearty over butter LONDON British Racing Green

China Glaze Party Hearty over butter LONDON British Racing Green

I'm a big fan of this.  I think British Racing Green is just the right shade for this combo.  I do like it better than Courtney's swatch of it over China Glaze's Jolly Holly.  British Racing Green can be bought at Ulta or off the butter LONDON website.  Party Hearty will take more work - heed Courtney's advice and snag this one off of Ebay!

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!!!!! :)

A-England Tristam

Here is another polish from 2011, that made it's way into my life through the generosity and amazingness of my blogging buddy Courtney.  She, out of nowhere, sent me A-England's Tristam and Lady of the Lake!!!!!!!!! Seriously????? Words can not express how beautiful this polish is, and how thankful I am to Courtney for sending me this HUGE gift in the middle of my crazy, hectic, stressful month.  She is an amazing friend and person.

Tristam is my first A-England ever.  I've read plenty of blog posts about it and people just can't get enough of the formula and colors.  Now I know why.  Lets start with the formula.  Super smooth, flows like butter, self levels and cleans up easy.  A-England just might be my new favorite formula.  And then, there is the color.  Descriptions I read call it a sapphire blue, but I don't know, I totally see a dark purple-y blue when I look at this.  Don't get me wrong, I'm obsessed with the color.  I just see purple.  Weird...

Any way this "blue" is PACKED with holographic shimmer creating this great holographic effect.  I could see it in almost every light.  Unfortunately the camera wouldn't capture the beauty I saw under the Ott-Lite.  And I wore this when it was cloudy and generally cruddy outside, so no sunlight pictures here.  If you go back here at Courtney's post of Lady of the Lake, and take a look at the sunlight picture, that's what you get with Tristam.

A-England Tristam

A-England Tristam

A-England Tristam

Close up of A-England Tristam

Really?!?!?!  How can you not love this?  How can I not love Courtney?!?!  I mean I did before, but now she's got a new title of the Queen of Awesome-Sauce.  Did I mention that Courtney?  Queen of Awesome-Sauce! :)

Tristam is part of A-england's Mythicals collection.  You can pick this up from A-England's website or at Llarowe's.  Either way the polish will run you around $15 with shipping.  I suggest if you are into scattered holos, blues or purples, you RUN to buy this and Lady of the Lake.  You won't regret it :).

Until tomorrow!!! (Man this post has me pumped - Bonus points to whoever tells me how many exclamation points I used in this post - haha)

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?  :-)

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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!