Ulta Cyber Monday Haul

Hello all! Just thought I'd do a quick little post today to show you what I got on Ulta's website on Cyber Monday, since it arrived in the mail today. They didn't have a ton of nail polish deals, but they did have Butter London polishes going for 2 for $18, and seeing as that's almost half what they normally cost...let's just say my Butter London collection is now significantly larger.

Yes, I do have alligator and elephant (and giraffe and zebra and rhino) kids' decals on the wall behind my desk...they're fantastic. 

Pretty! I can't wait to try out these new beauties - in fact, I'm doing my next manicure with one of them now...and its name might start with a K. ;) Which one do you think I should try next?

Mint & Pink Accent Mani

Hello! I'm posting this as a short break from taking history notes, because I've been taking notes for about an hour and a half now and figured it was time for a break. Last night I did my nails, and I almost immediately knew exactly what I wanted to do: an accent nail manicure with Essie Mint Candy Apple and Exotic Liras. I really think these two colors complement each other well, and I used three coats of each with Cult Nails Get It On and Wicked Fast. The picture's of lesser quality than usual because I took it on my phone, but I know I wouldn't be able to take proper pictures until tomorrow, and I just didn't want to wait. Anyway, I hope you're all doing well, and that it's a bit cooler and wetter where you are than it is here!

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.

Matte Top Coat Comparison

After looking for the Hard Candy matte top coat since last fall, I finally found it at my local Walmart. I love Essie Matte to Go, but as the Hard Candy top coat was $4 rather than $10, I was eager to try it out. I bought both bottles they had (hey, both of them together were still less than one bottle of the Essie!) and hurried home to test it out. I wanted to compare the top coats over both a matte polish and a shimmer polish, so I used NYX Silver Plum, which I was already wearing, and Orly Enchanted Forest.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Can you guess which is which? Left to right, I used Essie, Hard Candy, Essie, Hard Candy. As you can tell, especially in the first picture, Essie makes both polishes a bit more matte than the Hard Candy. In real life, though, the difference was negligible. I couldn't even tell which was more matte with my hand at arm's length from my face, and once you put on lotion a couple times, there probably wouldn't be any difference at all. And for less than half the price of Essie Matte About You? I'll go with the Hard Candy from now on if I can find it. Two bottles ought to last me a while. :)

Mint Candy Lightning

This is a manicure I did quite a while back, so I don't have a whole lot to say about it. I wanted to try a crackle combination that was softer than some others I've tried, so I used a coat of China Glaze Lightning Bolt over two coats of Essie Mint Candy Apple. It's a little more contrasting in real life, though still subtle. In the second picture, I've added Essie Matte About You.

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

I really like this combination, and I'll have to try some more in the future...What do you think? Do you like it, is it too subtle, or are you over crackles altogether? I know I'm not! :)

Birthday Cement

An estimated 64,530 new cases of primary brain tumors are expected to be diagnosed in 2011. - American Brain Tumor Association 

Yeah, I come up with the most clever titles... *rolls eyes* Sorry, I just couldn't think of anything else to call this post. Anyway, this is going to be a short one, because it's almost tomorrow and I need to paint my nails so I can go to bed (really, I just need to go to bed, but I'm not going with naked nails!). This is the mani I wore yesterday and today, and which prompted my nephrologist (I had an appointment yesterday) to say, "I like your nails. They're shiny." :D I love my doctors. Anyway, here it is:

indoors, artificial light

Like it? I did a glitter gradient with Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday over a base of Sally Hansen Wet Cement, then added a coat of Essie Matte About You. That's all for today...I said it was going to be short! I'

Don't forget, you have 50 minutes left to enter my giveaway! (And I have 50 minutes left of being 17! Woohoo!)

Mint Candy Leopard

I put Essie Mint Candy Apple on Wednesday, and then I saw the leopard print tutorial by Nail Polish Art Addiction on Cult Nails...and I had to try it. Instead of doing leopard tips and one leopard accent nail, I just went full-on spotty. I used Essie Lilacism and Essie Lapis of Luxury for the spots, and Sally Hansen Diamonds for the sparkly accents.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I was very pleasantly surprised with how this turned out! I have a feeling that every color I wear for a little while is going to turn into the base for a leopard manicure. Oh, the possibilities... That's all for today - I still haven't heard about the scholarship, but I'm hoping I'll get a call this evening. Cross your fingers for me!

Essie Lilacism

Essie Lilacism is one of the polishes I picked up at Walmart yesterday, and of course I had to try it out immediately. Lilacism is a pale creamy lilac from the Art of Spring 2010 collection, which also included Neo-Whimsical, Pop Art Pink, Red Nouveau, Tart Deco, and Van D'Go. While I love the color, which is opaque in three easy coats, I applied it late yesterday afternoon and already had one chip by lunchtime today, and two more by dinner! Ridiculous! Maybe I'll try it with a different top coat this time...I used Rush, and I've never used that with Essie before. I guess maybe they don't get along with each other, but it's still annoying. On a more positive note, these are the first nail pictures I've taken with my new camera!

Oh, and one more thing before we get to the pictures. I noticed that the Essie line at Walmart has slightly different bottles than the "regular" Essie bottles. In addition to the embossed "Essie" on the side of the bottle, it's printed on another side. Instead of the label being on the bottom, the bar code label is on the cap, and the name is on the lid. Weird, right? I included some bottle pics to show you.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

indoors, artificial light

I like this color a lot, and I wish it wore better on me. Maybe next time with a different top coat I'll have more success. Here's hoping!

Ooh, Goodies!

I was literally just about to post my NOTD when I heard a knock at the door. When I went and looked, I found a mysterious package...actually, it wasn't that mysterious - I knew my Reviva products from the Painted Lady Fingers giveaway had arrived! But first, nails. I added a matte top coat to yesterday's The Girl Who Played with Fire manicure, and while I don't think I like it quite as well as the glossy version, I do like it.

indoors, artificial light

And here's the package I got from Reviva Labs. It included Rosewater Facial Spray; Organic Cleansing Milk; Organic Skin Tonic; Sun Protective Moisturizer; Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C Ester, & DMAE Cream; a Vitamin E Stick; Firming Eye Serum; Hyaluronic Acid Serum; and DMAE Firming Fluid.

I can't wait to try all of these! Would you be interested in reviews of these products, or not?

Essie Exotic Liras

A woman's risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 20-30% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have a family history of breast cancer. (breastcancer.org)

One thing I really love about Exotic Liras is its complete lack of streakiness. If slight VNL doesn't bother you, one coat would be completely fine - here's a picture of what it looks like in one coat (without cleanup or cuticle cream, so sorry about that, but I was in a hurry):

indoors, artificial light

Look at that! Gorgeous in one coat! I did, however, go ahead and add two more coats.

indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

The last picture is definitely the most accurate - the others make Exotic Liras look a bit orangey, which it's not. It is, however, a great raspberry pink - this was my first Essie, and I think it was a great introduction to the brand. It's a great spring and summer color, of course, but I'd wear it during any time of the year. I've never been one to only wear seasonal colors.

Sorry for the short post today, but I have to go get a flu shot and do three weeks of homework before I (hopefully) go back to school Monday...this is not going to be fun weekend. I hope yours is much better!

Essie Archives

I decided to look at Essie's archives next to see how their website and brand has changed over the years. The first thing I noticed was that even in its very beginning, Essie's site was much more polished (excuse the pun) and pretty than OPI's. Here's the main page from 2002 (as always, click to enlarge):

Next, I took a look at Essie's "New Collections" page, which featured the "GoGo" collection::

As you can see, their colors were much more varied than OPI's collections of the time, including a neutral and a purple in one collection rather than being entirely made up of fairly generic pinks and reds - unfortunately, their variety means I'm now totally lemming Orient X-Presso, and I imagine it's really hard to find. *sigh* I guess that's what I get for doing good research. :) Unfortunately, I couldn't find pictures of their regular colors from the time, and the pictures didn't show up on later versions of the site. :( Anyway, I was very impressed, and from what I could see, Essie was ahead of the curve as far as website design at the time. And while I don't know if they're still ahead of the curve, they're definitely on the front end of the curve...or something. Anyway, here's a screenshot of their current site:

As with the OPI site...gorgeous!

I just finished painting my nails with Piggy Polish Just Before Dawn, but as it's 9:30 P.M., you won't be seeing pictures until tomorrow. I hope you're all having a great week...and if you're not, at least it's halfway over! :)

Essie Mint Candy Apple

TA DAAAAA!!!

So THIS is what Miss Bun sent me all the way from Hong Kong! I love it, I love it, I love it, thank you! I've wanted Mint Candy Apple for over a year, and I can't believe I finally got it for free just because someone was generous enough to offer to send it to me with nothing in return (though I offered to). Miss Bun, you are amazing! Unfortunately, I am not so amazing, and forgot to take a picture in artificial light...and now I'm in the middle of removing my fake nails. Eurgh.

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sun

I actually think these two pictures give a pretty good idea of what Mint Candy Apple looks like. In some lights, it looks more minty green, and in some lights, it looks more minty blue. However, it looks absolutely gorgeous ALL of the time, and I was not disappointed at all. Again, thank you Miss Bun!

Midnight Mission Matte

Very quick post today...I've got to get back to my precalculus homework. Math homework on the first day of school; this year is off to a great start! Or not. Really, though, my day was actually quite nice and went by very fast. I was in a hurry this morning, but wanted to change it up, so I added Essie Matte About You to China Glaze Midnight Mission. Sorry about the chips.

Oh, you want to know what that green furry thing is? Well, it's my new Hong Kong-ese keychain-slash-ball of cuteness, and it came to me with from someone special with something very very special...and you'll just have to wait and see what that something was! :)

Orly Luxe

Luxe is another polish from the Orly Foil FX 2010 collection consisting of Rage, Luxe, and Shine (I won't be showing Shine, because my local Sally Beauty Supply didn't have it for some reason). Luxe is an incredibly shiny, cool-toned gold with bits of silver shimmer running through it. While the silver isn't as evident as in Rage, it is still obviously there.

Instead of wearing Luxe on its own and then with a matte top coat, I did matte French tips using Essie Matte About You.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I love Luxe! It's glitzy and shiny and gorgeous, and while it doesn't complement my skin tone as well as most of my other golds, I still love wearing it, and I can't stop staring at my nails. My pictures are actually fairly color accurate for once, and the picture taken in sunlight is spot-on. The matte tips are slightly more evident in real life, but they are subtle.

The next couple weeks are going to be pretty exciting - I've got several nail polish and nail-related packages coming in the mail fairly soon, so be prepared! :)

Orly Rage

Sorry my post was so late today - while I had my camera, I was away from my computer all day. On to the polish!

Orly Rage is one of the three colors from Orly's Foil FX Spring 2010 collection (the other two are Shine and Luxe). The collection was pitched as giving nails a Minx-like finish without the high price, and in my opinion they certainly deliver! Rage was very, very, VERY shiny - I can't quite see myself in my nails, but it's definitely more reflective than most polishes. Rage is a rose gold with bits of silver in it, and while I absolutely love the color, I think it would look better on darker skin - darn pinky-pale skin tone! Here's Rage without top coat:

indoors, artificial light - way too gold; it's rosier in real life

 outdoors, sunlight - look at that shine!

 outside in half sun, half shade

 outside in shade

I took a ton of pictures, and in none of them did I manage to capture the beauty that is Rage (though I did capture my somewhat messy cleanup and horrible cuticles - sorry about that). Think indoor pic color, but rosy instead of straight gold. There are silver, rosy, and gold particles in the polish, so that may be what contributed to this polish being impossible (for me) to photograph properly. At any rate, Vampy Varnish has a way better, more-accurate photograph that you can check out if you like.

I loved Rage, but I wanted to try it with a matte top coat to see what would happen. I used Essie Matte About You, and here are the results:

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, sun

outdoors, shade

Beautiful! For some reason, I actually prefer Rage with a matte finish. I think taking away the shine makes the polish look less silvery (though it still does in my photos). The matte top coat also allows you to see the disparate rose, gold, and silver particles, which I love - it gives the polish a new depth. I wish I could stop it from looking either silver or gold in my photos, but alas...I suppose I'll just blame it on a combination of my dinosaur camera and bad lighting.

On a somewhat related note...who else can't wait for the Orly Foil FX Fall 2010 collection coming out in September? They are going to be actual color-colors (i.e. not just silver and gold), and at the moment it's looking like I'll be buying them all!