OPI Parlez-vous OPI + Wet & Wild Hannah Pinktana

A nearby beauty supply store (independent) is apparently closing its location and is running ridiculously reduced prices, particularly on OPI.  I dug through multiple baskets/crates to see if anything tempted me, and I scored a few good finds....but today's post is about a polish that's apparently hard-to-find (HTF), and I didn't even know it when I bought it.  :)

I have a weakness for dusty colors, so it was a no-brainer that I would grab this lovely purple-ish mauve-y neutral bottle out of the bottom of a basket.  Once home I did a little online research for swatches (my usual habit) and discovered that apparently this polish from OPI's Fall 2008 La Collection de France.  That collection also has OPI's You Don't Know Jacques, which is absolutely an iconic color for the company (a universally flattering color for everyone, regardless of skin tone or age or whatever).  Many of the colors from that collection are still easily obtained, but apparently this pretty dusty purple/violet was discontinued and can be pretty HTF/expensive so I was happy to have (accidentally) found it.

More after the jump:

Chick Nail Polish Honey Bunch + chevrons

Back in June I ordered my first set of indie polishes via Llarowe and couldn't be more pleased with each and every one I received.  Over time you'll see all of them, but today I'm starting with Chick Nail Polish "Honey Bunch", a super-pretty lavender with an easy formula:

 

Two coats over Essie Millionails base coat and topped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

I loved this color with my skin tone, and the polish applied smooth and easy.  The next day I wanted to jazz it up a little, so I got out some craft scissors and painters tape and went to town with two more colors, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Resurrection (blue) and OPI Louvre Me Louvre Me Not (purple), along with a coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy:

(please excuse the flubs on my index finger...

I'm a little clumsy in general, and especially when polishing!)

More pics after the jump....

Nabi Hologram - Ocean Blue

During a "shop my feelings" trip earlier this week (first week of kindergarten for my kiddo), I wandered into Walgreens.  I snagged a couple of Sinful Colors polishes, but discovered a rack of Nabi Hologram polishes that appeared to have just been put out.  I'd heard of Nabi (via blogs), but knew nothing about them so I did a little online research and then decided to pick a few up to try.  They were so new that they didn't even have price tags on them and the cashier had to ask her manager what to charge.  I believe that maybe the Mgr picked a random number off the top of his head, so I may have to go back in a few days to see if what I paid is, in fact, the correct price.  I'm usually not one to nickle-and-dime, but given the casual way they priced the polish, I want to make sure I paid a fair amount.

Anyway, here is the pretty Nabi Hologram in Ocean Blue:

Two coats over Essie Millionails base coat and no top coat.

Things I liked:

• Beautiful Caribbean ocean color, that sort of crazy vibrant green-blue that doesn't seem real when you see it in person.
• Super fast drying. I'm a compulsive fast dry top-coater but in this case, I didn't need it!
• Subtle holo effect, both linear and scattered.  I prefer the base color to stand out in my holos, rather than vice versa, so this polish's holo is just right for me.

Things I didn't like:

• The formula was a little bit of a pain...patchy and balding, I had to load up the brush and use a very light touch to do the 2nd coat.   A 3rd coat would probably fix any of these issues, but I'm kinda lazy and didn't feel like doing another one.  :)
• Personally, I think they should have named this "Ocean Green" because this definitely leans more green than blue.  But what do I know?  :)

 More pics and notes after the jump...

Favorite Brand - Zoya

I've been "collecting" nail polish for about a year now and am kinda scared to count the number of bottles I have now, because it seems like it will be an excessive amount considering it's only been a year.  My son, who's 5 yrs old, said just the other day to daddy, "Mommy wants to cover the whole world in nail polish, doesn't she?".  I think that's a sign I've gone a little off the deep end.....?

Well, no matter, because all those little bottles of pretty colors/finishes make me happy, and if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!!  :-)

The brand that makes me happiest is Zoya.  I think, though I can't say for 100% sure, that my first bottle of Zoya was Natty, a gorrrrrrgeous navy blue that's one of my go-to colors whenever I'm stumped on what to put on my nails.

(Clearly the above pic was taken before I discovered the concept of "clean up"...lol!)

This is Natty topped with Sinful Colors Frenzy, a really pretty topper in small powder blue and pinky purple glitters.

Since Natty was love at first application, I became a goner for any and all Zoyas.  I did a rough count the other day and I think I have about 50 of their colors now.  Yikes.  But they're soooo worth it.  Even the colors I didn't love on my skin tone (and have been put in the swap pile) have wonderful formulas and were a breeze to apply.  My only teeny tiny complaint is that they're not as easily available in the retail world, but Zoya.com (http://zoya.com/) runs so many awesome promotions throughout the year that it's pretty easy to purchase online.

I also love that their polishes are 5-free and that it's a Cleveland-based company.  I got married in Cleveland and my dad and stepmom lived there for a long time, so I have a soft spot for any and all Cleveland things.  CLEVELAND ROCKS, yo!  ;-)

So here are some random Zoya spam photos for ya, check 'em out after the jump:

China Glaze Strap On Your Moonboots

My all-time favorite color is blue. I'm definitely in a purple phase lately, but blue is always going to catch my eye.  Which means that I'm looooving this beautiful navy blue holo from China Glaze, Strap On Your Moonboots.  It was the other polish I scored at a serious discount in a shopping splurge at Sally's (see other color in this post http://embeenails.blogspot.com/2013/08/polish-spam-random-fun.html).

Pretty pretty, right?  I love dark colors for my nails, so this one will be going straight onto my favorites list, despite the fact that it chipped in two places less than 24 hrs later.  But to be fair, I'm super tough on my nails and the two chipped areas are in weak spots (what is UP with all the peeling lately???).  So I just covered the chips with dots, which I'll show you some other time.

More pics after the jump if you're interested!

Zoya Back To School BOGO Time!

Oh man, my bank account is NOT going to be happy!!  Zoya just announced this sale:

Back To School BOGO Time!

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks

Oooooooo, shiny, pretty, textured, lovely, gorgeous purple-y blue OPI Alcatraz...Rocks.  And rocks it does:

  

This polish from OPI's San Francisco collection (out now) is just incredible.  If you love purple or blue or just a plain old STUNNING polish, you must buy this.  'Nuff said.

More pics after the jump....

Uh-oh...

...during a quick run to a nearby independently owned beauty supply store (to see if they had the newest PixieDust collection from Zoya), I discovered that they're closing that location and everything is 30% reduced.  AND their OPIs were reduced to $3.50 each.  Cue mad grabby hands on my part!  I didn't have much time because the husband and kiddo were waiting in the car, which is probably good since I could have easily purchased 2-3 times more than I did.  Bad Jen....lol!

Friday Fun (teal)

After being away from home for about 6 weeks visiting family up north, I finally had an evening where I could just play around with some polishes a bit.  I was feeling the teal vibe while choosing colors, and wanted to try out the Orly "Sparkling Garbage" I recently scored on sale at Sally's, so here is the end result:

The above pic was taken in direct sunlight.

The polishes I used (base coat of Essie Millionails and top coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri was used on all fingers):

Thumb --  2 coats of Contrary Polish Aruba and 1 coat of Orly Sparkling Garbage
Index -- 2 coats of SinfulShine Rendezvous and 1 coat of Orly Sparkling Garbage
Middle -- 2 coats of  Aruba with accent painted in OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, SinfulShine Rendezvous and touch of Sparkling Garbage
Ring -- 4 coats of Sparkling Garbage
Pinky -- 2 coats of Rendezvous with accent painted in Aruba, My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a smidge of Sparkling Garbage.

More pics after the jump!

Butter London All Hail The Queen

Okay, so I figure I'd better intersperse posts where I definitely know the polish I used with the (admittedly too) many posts where I say "ummmm, sorry, can't remember what I used".  :-)

Today's photo is all about my newest favorite neutral, Butter London's "All Hail The Queen".  Generally I'm more of a frugal polish hoarder shopper and prefer to keep my purchases at $10 or under.  But I had a little extra cash around my birthday in June and decided to splurge on a Butter London purchase that looked intriguing (this is my second BL purchase, I'll tell you about the first one some other time).  Ohhhhhh myyyyyy, such a beauty once it was on my nails!

I used two coats here, over my usual one coat of Essie Millionails (base coat) and then topped with one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.  AHTQ is a gorgeous sand color with a subtle scattered holo and is worth every single penny I spent.  I think it was $15 for the bottle?  Maybe $14, I can't quite remember, but either way, you can't go wrong with this lovely polish.

I love it so much I think I've worn it 4-5 times already since June.  :-)  It's the one I reach for whenever I need a "palate cleanser" from colorful polish. 

Blue & Silver French with Essie!

Woohoooo, two posts in one day....I have a LOT of photos to post.  However, I must admit that I can't remember exactly what polishes I used for many of the older pics.  Oh well, I'll still post 'em since I'm considering this blog a "nail polish photo diary" of sorts. 

One reason I wanted to start this blog is that I appreciate all of the other nail polish bloggers who post about their experiences, whether it's from swatching or nail-of-the-day or collections reviews, etc.  I am especially grateful for anyone who posts/posted about random polishes that have nothing to do with collections or trends or reviews because since I'm new to this obsession, I'm building my collection based on what I like in any/all random stores and many of these polishes just don't seem to have been blogged about.  So one goal I have for this tiny little space on the interwebs is to help out anyone who's standing in the store with their smartphone, wondering if they should get that polish and turning to Google to help them make the decision.  Cuz guess what?  I've done that myself, a lot!

So next up is this cool little tape mani I did back in January...which explains why I can't quite say for sure what polishes I used (except the silver).  Ooops.  :-)

Here is Essie Smooth Sailing, a lovely light denimy blue with pretty silver shimmer, with tips done in Essie No Place Like Chrome (sorry for the blurry pic):

I used Washi tape for the french tips...love it for the low-tack and inexpensive option to using painters tape or striping tape.

Here is the same mani gussied up with dark purple dots the next day, please don't ask what it was because my brain has looooong since forgotten:

Smooth Sailing is one of my very favorite, go-to blues since it's flattering on my fair skin tone and it's just so goshdurn pretty!!!

Polish Spam - random fun

My first post...figured it was past time to start a blog in order to catalog the hundreds of photos stored on my computer.  I became re-interested in nail polish about a year ago when I picked up a bottle of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Black Platinum" and fell in love with the dark smoky gunmetal grey.  Then a friend and I got pedicures done and she chose OPI's "Grape...Set...Match" and I fell in love with THAT color as well.  Then I discovered fast-dry topcoats and then I was a true goner....you mean I can polish my nails and NOT have to sit around doing nothing for an hour???

I'm a 40-something mom to a 5 yr old boy (busy little guy) and a CinC House....that's a jokey "Commander in Chief - HOUSE" nickname for military spouses, which means I maintain most aspects of our family life and is just another goofy way to say I'm a homemaker.  I also make jewelry and try to keep the mid-life crisis at bay by drinking wine, Facebooking with far-away friends/family since we're military and usually don't live anywhere near our nearest and dearest, and painting my nails.

Anyway, that's my long-winded way of saying that I'm busy busy busy (what woman isn't?) and so the discovery of fast-drying topcoats was a BIG DEAL for my renewed interest in having pretty nails.  I also like to play around with colors via polish because my fashion style consists of jeans/capris, tees in boring colors and flip flops, and having fun colors on my toes and fingers is...well.....just FUN!

Okay, enough babbling.  Doubt anyone will read this anyway...  :-)

Here I am wearing China Glaze "Flying Dragon", and dammit, I can't remember what the blue is right now (my memory sucks, btw).  I found the CG at a Meijer in Ohio during our annual vacation road trip to/from Canada and didn't know a whole lot about it, but found that it's a fun color to wear.  My favorite colors are blue, purple and, occasionally, green, so this polish ticked off two of those three preferences and I enjoyed wearing it.  However, I will say that it chipped pretty quickly, probably due to its neon-ish, matte finish.  Those generally don't last too long, I guess?

Two coats of Flying Dragon with one base coat of Essie Millionails and a topcoat of  Sally Hansen Inst-Dry (red bottle).

Now, HERE is the polish that finally pushed me to start this blog.  While visiting my family in NJ, I crept away for a couple hours of solo shopping and stopped into a Sally's Beauty.....and found this beauty from China Glaze's most recent holographic collection marked down to $2.50 from the retail price of $14.  TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS!!!  Squeeeee!  Now, I know a lot of people in the polish world didn't love the polishes from that collection so I was a little skeptical when I bought it, but figured at that price, oh well, who cares if it sucks, right?

However, it was loooooooove at first wearing once I got it on my fingers!  I like holo polish, but I fall more on the "subtle" holo side of the fence...I like to see the base color more than the holo...so this polish is just perfect for me and my tastes.  This particular color is "When Stars Collide" and in the bottle looks like a beautiful maroon.  But on my fingers, in real life, it leans more purple, which makes me happppppy.  

So you see, I had to finally get a blog started so I can share the ridiculous joy I feel at having scored this little pretty at such a discounted price AND loving it with utter abandon.  Yes, I'm a goofball.

Two coats of When Stars Collide, along with my usual base coat of Essie Millionails and top coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry.  I took this on day two of wear, after much activity and time at the beach and chores, etc.  Most polish I wear doesn't make it past two days (I like to switch colors a lot), plus I'm hard on my hands in general, so I can't really comment on wear time for anything I put on.  Sorry 'bout that!

 

More to come as I get time.  I have to admit that my posts will probably be sporadic as I get my little guy ready to start kindergarten and re-focus on my jewelry business.  But this little blog will be my outlet just for meeeee and any friends I have the courage to share it with (damn, I hate ending with a preposition, but sometimes it's gotta be done).

Oh, and I apologize for dry fingers/cuticles and all the imperfections in the pics.  I'm a perfectionist and a teeny little OCD when it comes to every other aspect of my life, so when it comes to this blog and my nails and the pics to document it, I'm trying to let go of those particular tendencies (or at least relax them a bit).  Consider it my attempts to chill the eff out, because now that I'm "middle-aged", it's time to realize that perfectionism can be harmful, at least to me.  :-)