SLU Spirit Splatter

I'm at college now! I can hardly believe it yet...maybe it'll sink in soon. Probably when I get my first homework assignment. Anyway, I wanted to show you all the manicure I did for the spirit competition we had at the soccer game Saturday night. It has, sadly, chipped by now (college life is so far bad for my polish's staying power), but I enjoyed the design so much I wanted to share it anyway. Since SLU's colors are blue and white, I decided to do a splatter manicure with Revlon Royal (best blue ever, by the way) and Wet 'n' Wild White Creme.

sunlight

I only have one picture because I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get good lighting - the desk lamp I'm using isn't the best for nail pictures, though it works fine for normal uses, so I took this picture out the window. Maybe once I feel more at home, I won't feel like a loony if I wander around outside taking pictures of my hand. ;)

If you don't know how to do the splatter technique or have simply never tried it, I encourage you to find a tutorial. I find it quite easy compared to water marbling, so it's a good place to start, especially as all you'll need besides nail polish are a few household objects. Especially for a college student like myself, it's nice when you don't have to buy anything extra to do some cool nail art. 

I had better post this and log off now, as I have Arabic at 1:10, and I don't want to be late on the first day! Hopefully I'll have time to post again soon.

Icing Irish Gold

I picked up Irish Gold when I was on a college shopping trip with my besties about a week ago - I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself because I only got two polishes. :) Irish Gold is a fantastic green glitter with medium green, light grass green, and gold glitter. I'm very impressed with the opacity of this one. It's better in that regard than several of the OPI glitters I own, and dries to a fairly smooth finish, though you'll still want top coat to make it really shine. The picture to the left is a bottle shot, and though it's rather blurry, I still wanted to include it because it shows the colors of the glitter better than the pictures I took of my nails.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

These pictures look super awkward because they're of my right hand, which means I had to take them with my left hand. This is because I made the mistake of waiting until after my first day of intensive pre-college cleaning (and this was the fourth day I wore Irish Gold) to take pictures. Not such a great idea, as the polish on my left index finger had peeled halfway off by the time I took the pictures.

The only other green glitter in a clear base that I own is OPI Glow Up Already, and I think I prefer this. For one thing, I like the combination of green and gold much better than green and silver, especially when it comes to medium or light greens. I also really like that Irish Gold has different shades of green glitter, giving it a sort of textured look.

I felt like I should post this before I move tomorrow, but I really should keep packing. Bye!

P.S. I've only been wearing base coat since I took Irish Gold off last Thursday...eep! I just haven't had time to paint my nails, but hopefully this will change after my first few chaotic days at college. I did finally pack the polishes I'm going to take with me, and I came up with a total of 95. A nice round number, don't you think? ;)

OPI & The Muppets - Press Release

This collection will be released in November. I don't know about you, but I can't wait - just look at those glitters!


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This holiday season, OPI pays homage to America’s favorite Muppet friends as they hit the big screen in Disney’s The Muppets.  With an all-star cast including Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Kermit, Miss Piggy and the entire Muppet crew, the family comedy opens in theaters nationwide on November 23, 2011. 

Inspired by the film’s namesake lively and colorful characters, OPI launches twelve limited-edition Nail Lacquers for Holiday 2011. “OPI is so excited to work with Disney to celebrate this long-awaited movie release,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director.  “Not only do The Muppets characters inspire fun, bright and joyful colors, the fashionable Miss Piggy lends her name to three high-shine pink-based hues, ranging from bold red flecked with silver to a multi-dimensional strawberry shade.”

This line features six shimmery reds and neutrals, as well as six glitter-packed shades, including:

Animal-istic
This wild bright red cannot be tamed!

Meep-Meep-Meep
Missing out on this fuchsia would make you weep, weep, weep!

Wocka Wocka!
The popular deep berry makes everything fun and merry!

Pepe’s Purple Passion
This deep, decadent shade is the best purple ever, okay!

Designer, de Better!
And this light metallic bronze is ready for the runway.

Warm & Fozzie
A feel-good shade of metallic copper.

Rainbow Connection
The rainbow glitter of your dreams.

Excuse Moi! 
Ahem! This pink glitter has something to say!

Gone Gonzo!
The aqua-blue glitter is taking over the world!

Fresh Frog of Bel Air
A glitter that prefers the greener things in life.

Divine Swine
The finest, most fabulous magenta glitter ever.

Gettin’ Miss Piggy With It!
Red glittery fun for everyone!

Lacquer packed with micas and sparkle gives a 3-dimensional textured look that makes nails look like jewelry. With shades ranging from textured glitters in rainbow, red, green and blue to softer shimmers in copper and bronze metallic hues, these twelve colors provide the perfect accessory for the holiday season.

As with all OPI nail lacquers, these shades inspired by Disney’s The Muppets contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide^™ Brush for the ultimate in application.

This limited edition promotion will be available beginning November 2011 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for  $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.

For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

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ABOUT OPI

As the world leader in the professional nail care industry, OPI is committed to providing high-quality products and services to both salons and their customers, along with a focus on industry safety and innovation. Known for its exceptional formula, fashionable colors and iconic names, OPI’s heavily-pigmented lacquers are super rich, long-lasting and chip-resistant – offering an affordable luxury to consumers. OPI nail lacquer is available in over 200 shades and contains no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde. Each lacquer features OPI’s exclusive ProWide^™ Brush for the ultimate in application. Currently, OPI is available in over 100 countries and retails a full line of professional items, including nail treatments, finishing products, lotions, manicure/pedicure products, files, tools, gels and acrylics.

ABOUT THE MOVIE

On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, and his friends Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams) from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets' former stomping grounds. To stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate. With secret, signature, celebrity cameos, Disney’s “The Muppets” hits the big screen Nov. 23, 2011. 

Giveaway Winner!

I just realized I'd never posted the winner of my Zoya giveaway for the world to see. So, congratulations to Nicole of Nightly Nails! I hope you enjoy your prize. :)

Inspired Nails Coupon!

I completely and entirely forgot to include my coupon code in my review of the cherry decals, so I figured I'd post it now so you'll have the most time possible to use it. The code is NEVERUNPOLISHED15, and it's good for 15% off your entire purchase, excluding shipping. Enjoy!

P.S. I've just been wearing base coat because I'm still cleaning my room, but my next manicure is 99% sure to be the Van Gogh decals, so look forward to that! Have a great day!

China Glaze Cracked Medallion

Hello there! I don't have a Pink Wednesday polish for you today - instead, I'd like to show you what I added to GT No. 9, China Glaze Cracked Medallion. When I first saw the press release for China Glaze Crackle Metals, Cracked Medallion was the one that I knew I had to have. While I ended up deciding that I wanted Tarnished Gold as well (and fortunately I got that one to review), I searched high and low for Cracked Medallion until I snatched it up at a Sally Beauty Supply. One of the reasons I was so excited about it was that it's bronze, and as a Ravenclaw, I need a bronze crackle to make a Ravenclaw crackle mani. Yeah, I'm a geek. However, I also just think it's a gorgeous, and would complement most, if not all of my favorite colors. This is one coat over the green plus one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

Lovely, no? I really love jewel tones, and I think that pretty much any jewel-toned or richly colored polish would go well with Cracked Medallion. Once again...I think I'm gonna have to take this one to college. Speaking of which, I should probably wash my sheets. Bye!

Sweet as Cherry Pie

EDIT: I have a coupon code for Inspired Nails that I completely forgot to post here the first time around. It's NEVERUNPOLISHED15, and it's good for 15% your entire order, excluding shipping. I'd definitely encourage you to take advantage! The code expires October 31, 2011.

For those of you who haven't heard of them, Inspired Nails is a fairly new company that sells full-nail water decals. They have a lot of interesting designs, so when they contacted me to see if I'd be interested in doing a review, I was thrilled. I was asked to choose two designs that I wanted to try, and I picked Mini Cherries on White and Van Gogh Starry Night. I figured it would be a good idea to pick one "unusual" design (Van Gogh) and one more normal one (cherries), though one that wouldn't be easy to recreate - I don't know about you, but I don't think I'd have an easy time making cherries that were that small without making it look like my nails have chicken pox. I decided to use the cherry ones first, because I knew that if I made any mistakes, the cherries would be a more forgiving design to make mistakes . . . also, I would be less mad at myself if I screwed one up, because there is absolutely no way I can paint Starry Night on my nails. So, here they are:

 outdoors, cloudy

outdoors, cloudy

I'm sorry for my messy hands...I've been a bit afraid of moisturizing my cuticles when I'm working at my new computer because I don't want to get it all greasy, but unfortunately that means that my hands look a bit gross. Soon I'll have everything set up and I'll be able to moisturize safely, I promise! ;) I wore the decals yesterday and the day before, and this is what they looked like mid-afternoon yesterday. As you can see, there's some tipwear on two of my fingers, and later that day the index nail chipped even more, so I sadly had to take them off. However, I honestly think that might partly be due to my base coat - I decided to give Nailtek Intensive Therapy II another try after it made my polish peel off a few months ago, so I'm suspicious that that might have been the problem. I'll be trying the Van Gogh decals over my normal base coat to be sure.

Aren't they cute, though? And to me, they're easier to apply than strips made of actual polish, because you can move them around before applying top coat, which makes them stick for good. I followed the instructions that came with the decals, and I had no problems. Unfortunately, my trusty Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - which has never bubbled on me before, even when I used thick coats - chose this manicure to bubble over. :/ I'm not sure, but I suppose it might be because I'm getting toward the end of the bottle and I've had to thin it several times. Or maybe I just slapped it on a little too thickly. 

Overall, I really enjoyed having these on, and I would've been happy to wear them longer. Also, I can't wait to try my Starry Night decals, and I think I might have to buy some for myself . . . except, I have no money. Boo. I suppose I can plan for the future - Burberry plaid? Peacock feathers? Alice in Wonderland? American Gothic? Blue lava? Blue stained glass? Okay, I'll stop - but seriously, there are so many great designs to pick from, so go check them out!

GT No. 9

Guess what? I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro! I've had a PC laptop forever, so it's really nice to be able to go Mac. I'm loving it so far, though there are a few things to get used to. I'm taking advantage of a 30-day free trial of Aperture at the moment (next I'm trying Photoshop), and it's much quicker and has more features than PicasaWeb, which is what I was using. I haven't decided if it's worth the money, though - although since I got a free $100 Mac App Store gift card with my laptop since I bought it for college, I wouldn't really be paying for it. ;) Today I'd like to show you one of the nail polishes I got in Greece, GT Nail Lacquer No. 9. Although I wish it had a proper name instead of a number, I somehow feel like "No. 9" (which is what it says on the bottle) is a bit classier than just "9." Anyway, here it is with four coats. Sorry for the bits of glitter on my ring finger...I promise I could not see those until I'd changed my polish and uploaded the photos. :/

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

GT No. 9 is quite the finicky color. Not only is it a diva like most purples and refuses to photograph completely accurately, it likes to change color. No, it's not a mood polish...it just looks completely different in different lights. In some lights, it looks like the perfect bright kelly green. In some lights, it looks like a medium neon green. In some lights, it looks like a dupe (or at least a close cousin) to OPI Jade is the New Black. In all lights, however, it looks fantastic, and I wish I could've captured that better with my camera. Also, it's an opaque (well, only my camera sees the VNL, anyway) jelly, which pretty much means I'm guaranteed to fall head over heels for it. 

However, I do have one small complaint. No. 9, why must you bubble? I love you. You are gorgeous. You are one of my new favorite greens. Why?! I solved the bumpiness problem by buffing the bubbles out before I applied the final coat and top coat, but since it's a jelly, you can still see the bubbles if you look closely enough. Sad, I know. Also, my index finger got sheet marks even though I waited for each coat to dry completely and entirely before adding the next (what can I say - I had a lot of time on my hands). Also sad. But, despite the formula problems, this is still an awesome opaque green jelly from Greece, and I love it pretty much unconditionally. It's not often that I completely overlook such problems, so if you're ever in Greece...this one's worth it.

P.S. I haven't tallied up the giveaway entries yet because I've been college shopping and drooling over my Mac (and recreating all my iTunes playlists, which will take a while), but hopefully I'll get them done this weekend.

Do You Have Facebook?

If so, get on over to the Facebook page for Cult Nails and like it! 20 minutes ago, Maria posted this on the page's wall:

"‎1,211 followers - Just 3,789 to go and we put our polishes on sale for $5 for 1 day! Wahoo!"

Do you want Cult Nails for $5? I know I do - so what are you still doing here? Go!

Grandstand Finale!

For some reason, I couldn't for the life of me get the first picture to align to the center. Sorry!

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OPI Launches Sizzling Shades with Serena Williams’ Glam Slam! Series in Anticipation of Upcoming New York Tournament

Love is a Racket

Pros & Bronze

OPI and tennis superstar Serena Williams announce the two final lacquers in the 2011 Glam Slam! promotion, timed in conjunction with the upcoming New York tournament.  Glam Slam! U.S. features a duo-pack with two high-shine shades: shimmering red, Love is a Racket, and glittering bronze, Pros & Bronze.

“OPI and Serena return to our home country for the final launch with two bright, feminine lacquers,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “Packed with red and gold micas for intense luster, the Glam Slam! series finishes with two classic, glamorous colors.”

“Whether worn alone or with Pros & Bronze layered over Love is a Racket for a golden glow, these two shades have rich hues that are perfect for transitioning from summer to fall,” adds Williams.

Serena Williams has received the World Number One in singles ranking by the Women’s Tennis Association on five separate occasions, along with being listed as sixth on the all-time greatest champions list.  Additionally, she has won two Olympic gold medals in women’s doubles and has earned 27 Grand Slam titles to date. Serena is the most recent player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so.

2-2-2-2 OPI/Glam Slam! U.S.

New shades in the Glam Slam! promotion are introduced to coincide with each of the four major tournaments, including the upcoming New York tournament in August 2011. As with all OPI Nail Lacquers, Glam Slam! shades contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and each includes OPI’s exclusive ProWide^™ Brush for the ultimate in application.

Glam Slam! U.S. will be available beginning August 2011 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $14.95 ($20.95 CAN) suggested retail for each duo-pack. 

For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

Pink Wednesday: Revlon Dawn

Hello there! Revlon Dawn is the second polish I tried out of the Just Tinted collection from earlier this year. All three of the polishes are very sheer pink jellies that dry semi-matte. Dawn is the most differently colored of the three, with warm peachy tones that almost make it a coral. I used three coats with one coat of top coat here.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

I really like the color of this one, and I think it suits my skin tone rather nicely. With the addition of top coat, Dawn has that wonderfully squishy look we've come to expect from any jelly worth its salt (or since it's a jelly, maybe I should say "worth its sugar?"). However, one thing I can't get past is that the warmer tones in Dawn makes my yellow nail tips look even yellower than they actually are, which, um . . . ick. As much as it pains me, I've put Dawn on my MUA swap list for that reason. As much as I love the color and squishiness, I know I won't wear a polish that brings out the yellow in my nails. Though they have improved since I've started using Develop 10 Whitening Scrub, I can't imagine that there will be a time when my nails are perfectly unblemished. However, I'm thinking about taking it back off my swap list - I just don't know. What do you think - should I keep Dawn, or pass it on?

Franken: Firework

This is one polish that I've meant to use for a long time, and haven't . . . and now that I have, I don't think I did a very good job capturing it on camera. :/ I made Firework (which I did not name after the Katy Perry song, just to be clear) out of Zoya Roxy, Sally Hansen Rockstar Pink, OPI Sparkle-icious, OPI Absolutely Alice, Finger Paints Holly Good Time, and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. I used two coats, and left it there partly because it was all but opaque in my eyes (though not that camera's, as you'll see), and partly because I honestly did not feel like taking three coats of glitter off. The picture to the left is a bottle shot taken outside in cloudy light.

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

The shaded photo shows the opacity much more accurately than the one taken in sunlight; however, neither of the pictures show how spectacular Firework is in real life. I'll definitely have to re-do this one, perhaps when I eventually wear it for a full manicure . . . which, if I have any sense at all, will be soon! I may also add some more flakies to this one, though I'm reluctant to use up any of my small supply. Perhaps I'll add some OPI I Lily Love You . . . ? Anyway, while I'd happily do some tweaking, I'm also happy with Firework as it is.

Sinful Colors This Is It

I can't remember how I got Sinful Colors This Is It...it was an extra in a swap, or a giveaway, or something...honestly, I have no clue. It's sat in my untried box for quite a long time because I just didn't like it much in the bottle, but I was having one of those swatch-whatever-you-pull-out-without-looking sessions this past Saturday, and one of the colors I pulled out was This Is It. It's sort of a warm yellow-gold, which I think I would like a lot more if it were a creme or glass-flecked finish instead of a shimmer. This was three coats, and as you can see, it's still semi-sheer.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Looking back at the pictures, it's not so much that I don't like the color as that I don't like it on me. It does have little bits of purple, blue, and green microglitter, but they're only noticeable in real life if you're reeeeeally looking, and I don't think you can see them at all in the pictures. Not my cup of tea, so I'm putting it up for swap on MUA - if you're interested, my username is neverunpolished. What do you think - is this it for you? (Yeah, yeah . . . I go for the puns whenever I can.)

Summer Layering

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Adamo 117 is one of the awesome polishes I got in Greece. Whoops!

For today's mani, I really wanted to use Adamo 117, a orange jelly packed with glass flecks that flash orange and gold. I plan on trying it on its own at some point, but I wanted to go to bed before midnight last night, so layering was necessary. I slapped on OPI A Good Man-darin is Hard to Find, which is my favorite orange creme, then added one coat of Adamo 117, one coat of Nubar 2010, one coat of 117, two more of 2010, and one final coat of 117. The results? HOT.

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

outdoors, shade

As I told my mom, this mani accurately reflects August weather here in Missouri, but I much prefer this gorgeous layering to the heat and humidity. Even as I'm typing this post, I keep stopping to stare at my nails. Pitiful, I know - but they're so pretty! I bet something similar would look great with pink, as well . . . I may have to try that, too. In the meantime, I'll just admire the juicy deliciousness I have on at the moment.

Don't forget to enter my Zoya Smoke & Mirrors giveaway - it ends Thursday!

Zoya Smoke & Mirrors Giveaway - CLOSED

Giveaway tiiiime! If you're wondering why I hadn't mentioned that I was planning on doing a giveaway, it's because I wasn't. When I got home from Greece, there was a FedEx package from Zoya waiting for me - I immediately wondered what it was, because I'd already reviewed Smoke & Mirrors and Touch, the most recent Zoya collections. But when I opened the box, I found, much to my surprise, another full set of Smoke & Mirrors. I didn't know what I should do with them, so I emailed Zoya's PR to let them know about the mistake, and they generously told me to share them! So, consider yourselves lucky...without this bit of luck, I wouldn't have had the money to host a giveaway for quite a while. You can see pictures of the polishes above in the collage I made of my pictures, and the color drops are cropped from the image in Zoya's press release. To see more, bigger pictures and my review of the polishes, check out the Smoke post here and the Mirrors post here.

Now, on to the rules of the giveaway. Since Zoya provided the product, I'd like to help them out a little, so there will be a few additional options. The giveaway will end Thursday, August 11 - I'm sorry to make it so short, but I'd really like to have it all wrapped up and still have a full week to get ready before I move into college the week of the 21st. So, here's how it's going to work:

+2 for following Never Unpolished via GFC

+1 for tweeting about the giveaway

+1 for following me on Twitter

+1 for putting the giveaway somewhere on your blog

+1 for following Zoya on Twitter

+1 for telling me what your favorite Zoya polish is

Also, the giveaway will be USA-only, because I am scared to death of shipping fines. Sorry!

Aaaaand, there you are! Don't forget, you only have until next Thursday to enter, so get cracking! :)

My First Nfu-Oh

This was scheduled to post on July 31, but for some reason it didn't, so here it is now!

A while back, I won a giveaway from Jessica v. Polish, and included as an extra was Nfu-Oh 55 (an extra, can you believe it?!), a polish with a clear base containing green shimmer and green/orange flakies à la Nubar 2010 or Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. It's absolutely gorgeous, and I haven't used it much only because I'm afraid I'll use it up! I'm wearing it here over a franken I made, Comet, but I definitely want to try it over other colors.

 indoors, artificial light

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

These pictures really don't capture how gorgeous Nfu-Oh 55 is . . . I'm tempted to blow my checking account on more Nfu-Oh flakies, but I've restrained myself so far. We'll see how long that lasts. :)

China Glaze Oxidized Aqua

Hello there! I meant to get this posted yesterday, but I spent all afternoon uploading my pictures from Greece to Picasa Web Albums and didn't end up having the time. Oxidized Aqua is the other metallic crackle I received to review from China Glaze, and to be honest, I didn't plan on buying this one. I've never been a huge fan of "colored" metallic nail polishes - those that aren't gold, silver, or copper. In fact, I think I only own one, Orly Rage. So what do I think of Oxidized Aqua?

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

I like it! Though not as much as Tarnished Gold, I do like Oxidized Aqua, and I'll definitely be keeping it. I used it over Wet 'n' Wild White Creme to make sure the blue came out and that it didn't just look like a vaguely bluish silver, but I'm anxious to try it over darker colors to see how it turns out. I had a few moments where I was a bit iffy about Oxidized Aqua, but on the whole I'm glad I have it - and if you do like colored metallics, definitely try this!

It's All Greek to Me

I got back to the States from Greece Saturday, and arrived home on Sunday. Can I go back now? ;) From what I saw, Greece is a stunning country, though I have to say that modern Athens, where we stayed, is not that great. There are so many things I'd like to share with you, but with 394 photos, I thought I should pare it down a bit. I think Blogger might explode if I tried to put that many pictures in one post, especially as they're all fairly large - not to mention that you might all fall asleep. However, if you do want to see all the pictures, the album can be found here on Picasa Web Albums.

Can I go back now? ;) Before I forget, thank you so much to Make-A-Wish for making my trip possible - I never could've done it without them! But I know what you're all probably wondering, and yes, of course I got some Greek nail polish while I was there - how could I not? I do think I showed remarkable restraint, though that was probably in part because I only had so much money and I wanted to get some other things as well... Anyway, here's my Greek haul:

Sorry for my undignified background...my desk is really cluttered right now, and I thought notebook paper would be better than my computer keyboard. :) I've already tried the blue crackle, and it is fabulous! By the way, in the picture, the green non-crackle polish looks like a dupe of Jade is the New Black, but it's actually a lovely bright kelly green like nothing else I had in my collection. I can't wait to try it and all the others.

China Glaze Tarnished Gold

Hello there! When I got home from Greece Sunday, I had the pleasant surprise of finding a package from China Glaze containing Oxidized Aqua and Tarnished Gold, two of their metallic crackles. The funny bit about this is that I had actually stopped at a Sally Beauty Supply store on the way home from the airport hoping to find Tarnished Gold, but they were sold out - which was a good thing, as it turns out! I decided to combine today's Pink Wednesday with my review of Tarnished Gold, so I used it over two coats of Essie Exotic Liras.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

I never wear Exotic Liras much on its own, but I think it looks great with Tarnished Gold, don't you? I prefer this color of gold to that of the Sally Hansen gold crackle, as this one's a bit darker, warmer, and richer. Application was a breeze and it cracked quite nicely, as you can see. I'll definitely be using this a ton in the future, and, yep - it's going to college with me. There was a bit of wear because I didn't add top coat, but the bits that wore off were actually Exotic Liras and not Tarnished Gold. If you don't have this one and you're not sick of crackle yet (I know some are), I'd definitely recommend getting your hands on this one.

Tarnished Gold was provided to me for review by the company's PR, but this did not affect my review. For more information, see my disclosure policy.