Sick.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I’m not feeling well.

Look what came in the mail today!!!

Eeeeeee!!!!!

Barielle Fifth Avenue Boutique

My gold wire ring finally bit the dust a couple weeks ago and its replacement just arrived! I wanted to go with something slightly different, and I couldn’t resist the blue bead. So to compliment it, here’s Barielle’s Fifth Avenue Boutique. I actually bought this on accident with my last Trans Design order, but it was definitely a happy one since I never turn down a coral.

Fifth Avenue Boutique is a really fierce, almost neon coral. It’s hard to tell what way it leans, because sometimes it’s almost red-coral, and other times more orange-coral. I guess it really depends on the lighting. Either way, it’s incredibly bright and summery.

This was three-ish coats, with Grand Central Station. Dry time was good and the formula wasn’t streaky.

It’s been a pretty rough week so far. Too tired to really talk about it; hopefully I’ll feel better though.

Essie In the Cab-ana

Not a long post, since I have a lot of homework to do before class today. In the Cab-ana (why are Essie names so annoying lately?) is a really nice, bright blue, that intensifies in the sun. Really no need to elaborate more.

Formula was really, really pigmented, this was only two coats (also excuse the monster bubble on my middle finger-I didn’t even notice it until I was top coating).

While I’m loving some of the colors Essie is churning out lately, the names make my skin crawl. I couldn’t even tell you exactly why I dislike them, but ugh.

Sally Hansen Solid Love

So here come a series of really bright manicures. I’ve been craving color quite badly since my palate cleanser, but it’s been too hot to polish-every time I try to sit down and do a manicure, it immediately bubbles up and looks disgusting. I probably should just start wearing glitters and get some texture polishes for the rest of the summer because I really don’t see how I’ll be able to keep a manicure smooth through August and September.

The pictures of Solid Love do it no justice. The brightness really freaked my camera out. It’s is a very bright, hot, berry pink. I’m not sure that’s the best way to describe it. I don’t wear pinks like this very often so I’m not entirely sure how to explain them. It’s blue-toned and very cool-my camera is showing Solid Love much warmer than it really is.

It surprises me how much I really like this. Screw that, I love this. Usually I only see this color with heinous electric blue shimmer thrown in, and that combination just makes my skin crawl. But as a creme, it’s downright fierce. It’s going on my toes tonight!

So…I made a really rash decision yesterday. Remember my rant on how much I dislike most indie polishes and the fact that you can’t get your hands on them ever? Well I saw a chance to own the entire Last Queen of France collection from Hare Polish. I took it. Every polish in that collection is genius. Rococo Grandeur especially made me lose my shit.

It really, really hurt my wallet, but I consider it my graduation present to myself.

Confetti Pink Paradise

Not the most interesting of colors, but I really needed a palate cleanser. I’ve got a bunch of bright manicures coming up though, so never fear.

These little drugstore polishes are actually pretty great. And for 99 cents? Noiiiice.

Pink Paradise is a pinky-beige jelly, a bit streaky on the first coat. This was three, and it leveled out really well. Itty bitty bit of bubbling, but I have a feeling it was due to the hot weather rather than the formula.

And I’ve gotta say, I am loving the NYC top coat. It’s so shiny and smooth!

Not much else to say about today-I start my summer school class and am actually looking forward to it. The teacher has a pair of pale blue suede shoes. I’m going to ask him if they come in women’s sizes.

Sally Hansen I Lilac You & Sally Hansen Hi Ho Silver

I’ve really grown to love the CSM line. The colors are a good blend of staple and unique, and the excellent formula balances out their awful paddle brushes. I decided to retry a lavender polish and while this one did want to bubble, it was minimal, and ended up looking absolutely lovely.

I Lilac You is a gorgeous blue/grey-based lavender polish with a nice, even, thin formula. Despite the brush, it went pretty much where I put it and self-leveled beautifully.

Hi Ho Silver is your standard silver shimmer. The formula was the same-thin, smooth, and quick to dry. It was surprising that I didn’t have silver in my collection-this one seemed as good as any.

I just wish they’d do something about the brush. Maybe not even the brush itself, but the stem? I don’t know. My nails are not small-not large either, but with those huge, wide brushes I was able to cover practically the entire nail-I like to do the 3-stroke method, which is hard when the brush is so wide.

Enough nitpicking though. I added the silver polka dots with a bobby pin-I’m too cheap at this point to buy a dotting tool-and I think they came out really well. I’m useless when it comes to nail art, but I think I can do a pretty good polka dot. Might even buy some striping tape one of these days…

I spent today at my boyfriend’s work, getting acquainted with some of the most adorable dogs on the face of the planet. He works at a really nice boarding and doggy daycare center and basically gets paid to play with dogs. There’s one-no joke-that is all of a pound and a half. He’s TINY. I guess he’s a Yorkie/Pomeranian mix and all he wanted to do was snuggle in my arms. It literally broke my heart to leave him-it was all I could to to not drop him in my purse and run. Kidding. Maybe.

After that we had some truly amazing burgers, and swam for a bit in his pool (!), and ended the day with a Richard Dawkins documentary that I fell asleep to (not because it was boring-I was just uber sleepy). Tomorrow will be similar. Then I start a quick 3 week summer school class which should prove interesting.

Time for Cheerios and falling into bed!

Chanel Miami Peach

Hooray for sloppy graduation nails! I did these late at night; I was stressed, tired, and irritated, and obviously they look awful. But I got a ton of compliments on the color over the course of the day, and one person even asked me if they were gel. So I guess they just look worse in the pictures than in real life.

This is the only Chanel I will ever care to own. I don’t find many of their colors terribly unique, the price tag is frankly outrageous, and eventually the most popular colors get duped, so I can find them at a much cheaper price.

This one is a little different though. It’s a Japan exclusive, and I’m not going to admit to anyone what I paid for it. Ever. But it’s a coral. A jelly coral. It’s the color of mermaid lips, as my sister said when she saw it.

What makes it cooler than any other coral I’ve seen is not only the soft, peachy undertone, but the dynamite gold shimmer in it. It’s just so whimsical and fun.

However, the formula leaves much to be desired. Since it’s supposed to be sheer, I won’t complain about the five coats it took to get this opaque (the pulling at the tips is because of this-really obvious in the pictures, but not so much in real life), but I will complain about the staying power. This chips. Fast. If I’m paying *mumble* for a nail polish, I want it to wear like iron. I have the same problem with Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes, but I refuse to pay more than $8 for a base or top coat; I want to be able to use what I already have.

Regardless, the color is to die for, and it brought my outfit together really well.

Yay for graduating college!

O.P.I. Sparrow Me the Drama

I haven’t been polishing my nails much, what with finals and a crappy top coat, but to celebrate my last final and the fact that I FINALLY found Grand Central Station, here’s a manicure. Not a very good one, but one nonetheless.

I was of two minds when picking this polish out-I wanted something bright and obnoxious, but at the same time, I wanted to wear a sheer jelly because I finally got around to buffing the ridges and stains out of my nails and really wanted to show that off.

This was the compromise.

It’s one of those ‘is it pink? is it purple?’ shades that I was really into a couple years ago. I’ve cooled on them somewhat, but I still like this. It sort of a rosy lilac or a pinked-out lavender. I’m not really sure. But it’s very girly, very soft, but at the same time colorful and bright.

This was the standard 3 coats with Grand Central Station (which is great, by the way). It doesn’t dry as fast as the fast-dry top coats I’m used to (hence the ding on my pinky), but it’s thin, smooth, shiny, and NO BUBBLES!

I’m still having trouble with a color for my graduation (which is this Saturday). My dress is black, with a cognac-colored belt and shoes. This means (in my head anyway) that there are only 3 colors that would look acceptable: coral, grey-green, or really light, watery blue. I’m leaning towards the blue, but I do have Maximillian Strasse Her and a dynamite Chanel coral that I’ve yet to show on this blog.

Help.

Nicole by O.P.I. Selena

I went to the drugstore yesterday to pick up that Grand Central Station top coat, but they were out, so I picked out a couple of polishes instead; this one and Essie In the Cab-ana.

I know nothing about Selena Gomez, nor do I care to (pop culture curmudgeon here), but this color is great. It’s something that would have been out of my comfort zone a couple years ago, but I’m really starting to fall in love with now.

I can’t really put my finger on exactly what shade this is: it’s definitely pink, but there’s peach in there as well, which is probably why I like it so much-it’s pink, but with coral-ish qualities. The pictures have washed it out a bit-it’s a little brighter that shown, and there are some multi-colored, near-invisible sparkles lurking in there as well. Based on swatches I’ve seen, it looks reminiscent of butter London’s Trout Pout.

I don’t know if it was my ridges or the polish, but this was streaky. What you’re looking at is 4 1/2 to 5 coats of polish. And you really can tell if you look down by my cuticles-it looks thick and uneven (also the fault of my wretched old top coat). I may have to break out my ridge-filling base coat next time I wear Selena, which I hate to use because my polish chips so much faster when I use it.

Despite the formula, I love this polish so much. The color will be great for spring and summer, and I’m strongly considering wearing it to my graduation ceremony (which is a week from today! Eek!).

Wait…I lied. I do know something about Selena Gomez. She’s in Spring Breakers, which is directed by the same guy who did Trash Humpers.

Huh.

O.P.I. Eurso Euro

First off: TARDIS BLUE, ANYONE!? I about had a heart attack when I saw this color in the spring collection.

Second: My topcoat is officially done. It’s bubble central on my nails. Time for a new one.

Eurso Euro is a deep, inky indigo that is so shiny and glossy I just can’t get over it. My camera freaked out at the color, it’s much deeper and richer than it appears.

This was…hold your breath…ONE coat. One. Granted, it was a thick coat, but WOW.

So: a coat of Eurso Euro and a coat of very thick, bubbly OtD. Which I hate for ruining what could have been a great manicure.

I will never get enough of this indigo. I will be wearing it ALL THE TIME.