R.I.P

A somewhat oldie, but a goodie and perfect for October!

Today I have Orly R.I.P., a black jelly base with shiny orange copper mini and hex glitter. It has a wonderful formula and applies like butter! The glitter is easy to distribute, but keep in mind that I did have the bottle stored upside-down so the glitter was held at the top of the bottle.

I only needed two coats for full opacity. I applied a coat of Seche Vite over top and it added a nice glossy finish without being sucked up by the glitter. All in all a perfect kick of to the Halloween season!

So Hot You'll Melt Your Popsicle

Neons, neons, everywhere! I have been rocking neon shades on my nails almost exclusively this summer. One I had been lemming for a while was Orly, Melt Your Popsicle.

Melt Your Popsicle is a bright traffic cone neon orange polish. I had heard it was an amazing neon and I had to try it out. Although it is a great neon orange, it really isn't anything new or special. I feel like every brand of polish has their own version. Unfortunately it pull more red in these photos, but I assure you it is the perfect orange neon.

 

I applied three coats for full opacity. The formula was thin, but buildable and easy to work with.

My Own Personal Mirrorball!

I can't believe it's already November, fall has just flown by! Switching things up a bit, I decided to finally wear Orly Mirrorball, a super-lemming of mine last winter. I can't even remember where I found it now. Maybe at Ulta in the States? Anyways, it is gorgeous and I pulled it out for a very special occasion. I won't say what specifically, but I think you'll be able to guess by the end of the post...

Mirrorball is a silver holo with small to medium shaped hex holo glitter scattered throughout. It is sooooo pretty. I used my Nfu-Oh Aqua base and didn't have any issues with application. I love that a little bit of the Aqua base goes a long way too. I believe I applied between 2-3 coats of Mirrorball, however, the polish was perfectly opaque at two coats.

Normally I don't topcoat holos, but I wanted to make sure the polish dried quickly so I added a layer of Seche Vite. It added a gorgeous gloss and I don't think it interrupted the strength of the holo. This is so pretty in the sunlight or in the shade. It may be because it was apart of Orly's 2015 holiday collection, but it reminds me of snow... Which should NOT be happening anytime soon! I may bring it out closer to the holidays again.

Another "mirror-ball" that is sooooo pretty ^_^

Clown Vomit

I made a quick decision for a polish change the other night. I wanted a bright shade that still said summer, but I think I am ready to start phasing out the neons.

China Glaze UV Meant To Be is a bright yet dusty medium blue. It is a little bit hard to describe so I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of this on it's own... I have been a busy beaver lately...

Good news is I layered a brand, spanking new glitter from Orly over top, Turn It Up.

The formula on UV Meant To Be was okay, not too think, not too thin. Two coats offer full coverage, I like how the formula was more of a creme than a neon. I do with there were such thing as a blue neon though, I think this is the closest I have ever owned.

It looks super cool under black light, unfortunately it does not photograph as glowy as it actually is. It is also unassuming. I find indoors and normal light settings it looks like a medium blue. But in natural sunlight it  really glows! Especially when overcast!

I was hoping that Turn It Up would be a decent coverage glitter gauging from how it looked in the bottle. Honestly, this is super saturated, way more glitter than I would have thought! What you see on my nails it only 1 coat (and blobbing). Crazy amounts of glitter in this polish and I love that they are bright, vibrant and matte. I am glad that I layered this glitter over UV Meant To Be, it blends with the glitters well. To be honest is started out as an accent nail thing, but quickly turned in to mani refresh.

I have been a sucker for interesting glitters lately, but almost left this one behind, I'm so glad I didn't!

Birthday Polish Purchase!

I headed to Sally's super late this month to take advantage of my birthday coupon and picked up some bright shades of polish!

First up are Orly Thrill Seeker and China Glaze Pool Party.

Thrill Seeker is a bright lemon lime green creme that boarders being a neon, but lacks the highlighter pigment. Two coats are shown in the swatches below.

Before I continue, it must be said that the China Glazes I purchased are not the same as the originals (original release). I was hoping this was just a Sally's thing, but unfortunately I have gone to at least three beauty supply stores selling the same (newer) versions. I personally prefer the new Pool Party, it's a more coral based pink. If I recall correctly the original was more of a deeper pink/magenta shade.

Next up are China Glaze Celtic Sun and Purple Panic.

Celtic Sun is the classic yellow neon. For some reason I don't own one, now I do!

I'm not even sure what Purple Panic is supposed to look like, but I don't like it. I was hoping for a magenta based pink neon (similar to what you see swatched on the far right, which is not Purple Panic, more on that in another post), what I got was a muddy purple... Not impressed. It looks way better above in the photos than it does in real life. I think the original had a blue flash of shimmer, which this does not. If you can't tell already, this will be going back... (and I did not include a swatch of it).

Swatches left to right are Orly Thrill Seeker, China Glaze Pool Party and Celtic Sun. In person Thrill Seeker is more green.

I was really feeling neons in July, another bright haul to come shortly!

Limey!

I have been all about neons this month, I just cannot get enough of them! Orly's Thrill Seeker is no exception. At fist I was skeptical about picking it up, since side by side it looked similar to China Glaze Celtic Sun, which I also picked up in this trip to Sally's. Thrill Seeker looked slightly green, but it is more apparent in the nail.

I would describe it as a lemon lime green creme that is just below neon. It dries to a matte/satin finish like a neon but it lacks that eye searing pigment. In the sunlight it is awesome!

I could have gotten away with two easy coats but decided to add one last thin coat to even everything out. After applying the first coat I noticed some bubbles starting to form, but after that layer there was none to be seen. It may have been because I had my fan on? I heard that can happen sometimes. I turned it off after the first coat and the rest turned out great.

I don't think I have anything close to this in my collection which I am happy about. I'm hoping that since it is not a true neon that it will wear well, fingers crossed!

Misted Glitter

Today I have a mani refresh with the last OPI polish I shared, Did Your Ear About Van Gogh? I decided to layer a glitter polish over top to see how well it blended the shade with my skintone. The gold glitter is Orly Lavish Bash.

I have been craving some soft nude polishes with glitter, but due to ongoing breaks in my middle finger nails (both right and left hands) I needed a nude polish with full coverage to hide the false nails I have been wearing over top the broken ones. Did Your Ear about Van Gogh? did the trick for now and Lavish Bash was a great sparkly topper. I applied one coat of the glitter over the base polish.

 

It is not as apparent in the photos, however, the glitter did help to distract from the mismatched tone of the base from my natural skintone. What do you think? Do you have ant suggestions for some good opaque nudes I can try out while I wait for my nails to grow in?

December Polish Haul + High End Polish for under $7!

I may have gone crossborder shopping right before the holidays and found some awesome polish... It wasn't just a polish trip, I swear! They usually aren't anyways, but I did score some great polish for some great deals!

I'll start off with the holiday collections, first up OPI 'a latest Gwen Stefani colab. From left to right, First Class Desires and Christmas Gone Plaid.

First Class Desires is a deep plum creme with golden shimmer running throughout. Two coats are shown in my swatches below.

Christmas Gone Plaid is a deep forest creme that stops right on the boarder before black, I love it! Two coats are shown in the swatches below.

I scored both of these polishes for $2.75 each at Cosmoprof along with two bottles of Nail Tek Foundation II (my favourite ridge filling base coat, not shown) for $3.75! Sweet deal! I would have picked up more of the Nail Tek's, but that was all they had left.

Moving on now to some polishes I was hunting down! I just HAD to own Mirrorball! Below left to right I have Orly Mirrorball, Bling and Halo.

Mirrorball is a silver holographic polish made up of fine glitter and speckled with some hex glitter as well. Two coats are shown in the swatches below.

Bling is similar to Mirrorball, only it's a yellow toned gold with larger pieces of glitter and it does not produce a linear holo effect. Two coats are shown in my swatches below, however three are required for full coverage.

Last, but not least, I have a polish from last years collection, Halo. This glitter is made up of various sized silver and light gold glitter. Two coats are shown below. 

I purchased all three at Ulta to take advantage of their buy two get one free promotion. I also used my 20% off coupon, I only shop at Ulta when there is at least one coupon or promotion going on!

Next I hit up Big Lots hoping to score some Sephora by OPI and Sephora X shades. Unfortunately nothing really caught my eye untill I saw a huge Sinful Colors display. I picked up a new to me shade and a long time lemming, from left to right Mint Tropics and Mint Apple.

Although these may look very similar in the photo, they are actually quite different. Mint Tropics is a bright, soft creme. It's a beautiful spearmint shade, you can see more of it in this post. Two coats are shown in the swatch below

Mint Apple has been one of those polishes I have picked up and put back down multiple times. Why exactly, I'm not too sure, but I finally decided it was time to try it out. Its a blue toned green with silver shimmer throughout. In the bottle the shimmer looks silver but in my swatch of two coats below it looks more golden.

Next up, some randoms. Orly, Smoked Out, OPI, Where's My Blanket??? and OPI, There's a Frog in My Throat.

Orly Smoked Out was an impulse sale purchase at Sally's, in hindsight the "sale" price wasn't really a sale lol. It is made up of an inky blue base with blue and green glitter which appears to be jelly in application but dries to a weird matte-ish finish. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Two coats are shown in the swatch below.

Where's My Blanket??? it apart of OPI's 2014 Halloween offering. I was glad to see an full sized halloween collection from them this year, however this is the only polish that captured my interest. It is a matte black based glitter with pastel yellow, orange and white matte glitter in a clear base. Very candy corn!

Frog in My Throat is very familiar. I picked up both these OPI's from Marshalls, and I am 99% confident this is a rebottling of Sephora by OPI 212 which was a hard to find polish that was brought back in to stores which now again is discontinued and probably harder to find again. I own it, but I had to be sure! I may consider selling it or soemthing, no need for two in my stash. for more information on this polish check out my post on 212 here. Check out those long ass square nails!

I totally Saved the best plus a random for last.... check out Deborah Lippmann Lets go Crazy! 

...oh yeah, and Essie Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low.

So, Lets Go Crazy is the star of this haul because I found it accidentally at Marshalls and because it was $6.99.... SIX NINETY-NINE! That is bananas! I originally grabbed 4 or five different ones before calming down and narrowing it down to the one I really wanted. Lets Go Crazy is a deep plum jelly packed with multiple shades of giller in various sizes. Two coats are shown in the swatch below.

Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low is a silver based foil with flakes of gold sprinkled in there. Very pretty and shiny! Two coats are shown in my swatch below.

I finally go through this post, it was a long one! If you are still with me I appreciate it :)

Did you find any gems in your shopping before the holidays? Any other awesome Deborah Lippmann sightings at Marshalls?

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

I am feeling my green polishes lately! Glitters and greens! Today I have a holiday polish from a few years back, Orly, Meet Me Under The Mistletoe. This Gorgeous shimmer has been featured on my blog before, so I will keep this post short. It is a deep evergreen shade with duochromatic shimmer flakes. So great or the holidays!

lamp light

I only needed two coats for opacity, the first coat was thin, but the second evened everything out. Such a beautiful shade on it's own, but I have bigger plans for this as a base...

camera flash

natural light

More to follow soon on a mani refresh!

Fall Haulin'

I haven't done too much hauling during the last few months, however I do have a few polishes I picked up more recently that are definitely with mentioning. First I'll start off with a random in the collection, Revlon, I'm Electro - Spiderman collection.

I'm Electro is a teal leaning blue with a medium duochrome effect. The duochrome effect is likely to be stronger when this polish is layered over a darker base. Two coats are shown in the swatch below, however, on the nail this would probably need three coats to reach full opacity.

Next are my picks from China Glaze's Apocalypse 2014 Halloween collection. Usually I wait until after Halloween to purchase these, but this year they seemed to be disappearing fast! I picked up these pretties the last week of October, Rest In Pieces, But of Corpse and Don't Let the Dead Bite. Love these names by the way!

Rest in Pieces is a multi-glitter topper. It it made up of various sized and shaped holo copper glitter and matte black hex glitter in a clear base. The formula is awesome, similar to the last few China Glaze glitters I have worn recently. Another blogger ( I can't recall who) reffered to this polish as "glittery hay", and I have to agree! Two coats are shown in my swatches below.

But of Corpse is such a unique polish, it's a yellow based green with tiny black matter glitter pieces that give the final look a textured polish. When dry, this has a satin/matte finish. This one reminds me of zombie flesh. Two coats are shown in the swatch bellow.

Don't Let the Dead Bite is another unique polish. It is a sheer nude crelly (creme based jelly) with muti-sized and shaped red glitter. This is super awesome, it looks as though vampires have literally bitten you to death! Two coats are shown in the swatches below.

So enough of Halloween already, right!? As you can see during my photoshoot we got our first real snow in Toronto! The first few snows are always nice in November and December. It's in January to March where I am sooooo over it! That being said, I'll move on to my holiday picks for 2014. 

Next I have some holiday China Glaze polishes from the new Twinkle collection. Left to right, December to Remember and De-Light.

December to Remember is an interesting shade of blue. It's a beautiful shade on it's own, however the duochrome shift is was makes it special. Two coats are shown in the swatches below.

De-light is a gold glitter topper made up of various sized gold and holo glitter. Two coats are shown in my swatch below.

Orly surprised me this year with their winter Sparkle collection. I was only able to pick up one during my last trip to Sally's, however, I have hoping to pick up at least one more (Mirrorball... Droool) 

Below I have Tinsel, plus a travel size Orly remover which is free with any Orly purchase during the month of November.

Tinsel is made up of long thin green holo bar glitters and red hex and micro glitter. This is a Christmas tree in a bottle! Two coats are shown in my swatch below. Not sure if you'd be able to get this opaque on it's own, but it is an awesome topper.

That is all for now! I have my eye on a few of OPI's from their latest collaboration with Gwen Stefani that I may want to get soon, and of course, if I come across Orly, Mirorball it will be mine!

Fave Halloween Polishes 2014

Halloween is quickly approaching, I just can't wait for Friday! Today I  have a short list of my all time favorite Halloween themed polishes... this year anyways! Every October I go through my stash and go through all the Halloween shades I have. Here are some of the polishes I cannot get enough of in the month of October. For previous swatches of these polishes, click on the polish name in the title.

China Glaze Its Alive

A deep green jelly base saturated with bright lime green glitter in various sizes. The deeper base makes the glitter appear to be darker. Such a great shade, China Glaze has amazing green polishes for Halloween.

Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice

The perfect Halloween shade must include orange and black! Pumpkin spice is made up of a murky black jelly base and coper orange glitter. At first I didn't see the hype over this polish, but I was in love the first time I wore it. And yes, I have two bottles, it's that awesome! I needs about three thin coats for full opacity, but it is well worth it for the final outcome.

Orly, Monster Mash

A slimy green jelly base jam packed with green and holo glitter of various sizes. This polish is so awesome! My favorite of Orly's Halloween collection from 2012. I actually layered this over It's Alive for Halloween in 2012!

China Glaze Boo-gie Down
This is the newest favorite to my list, I purchase it last year at the end of the Halloween season.
I just recently wore this as an accent in a Halloween themed mani last week. There is a lot going on in the bottle, matte black (various sized hex and bar glitter) and white glitters with a sprinkling of gold and copper hex glitter. Such a great mix for Halloween. I love it over a sheer nude, super classy, and the formula is awesome! Super easy to apply with great coverage as a topper at one coat.

What are your favorite colours and polishes to wear during the month of October?