Catrice Walk in the Woods

I picked up this cute little bottle of fall from a blog sale a couple years ago. To be honest, I got it more for the pretty bottle and name, than the color itself. That being said, I quite like it, although I'm not sure if it's the color working its magic on me or the bottle/name combination making the shade more attractive. 

I'm actually not sure how many other browns/camels I own. I'm bananas for it when it comes to handbags or shoes, but not so much on my nails. I tend to reach for nude or beige when I want something neutral on my hands. 

But, like I said, I ended up really liking the color. It's a very soft camel creme/jelly, easy to work with and covers nicely in two coats. No VNL, but still squishy. It actually puts me in the mood for  a mustard polish, which hardly ever happens. Like lighter greens, it likes to clash with my skin tone. The only one to not do it (very much) is butter LONDON Bumster, but I do own Sally Hansen's Forsythia, which I haven't showed here yet. Might be time. 

I'd like to get my hands on more Catrice polishes, if this is what they are like. I painted my nails around 2:30 am, while watching Torchwood, in dim lighting, and there was little to no clean up. Some would say it's the mark of a good painter, but I know better. 

Sinful Colors Glass Pink

How about another shimmery pink? It's not the most exciting polish choice, but I like the way it makes my nails look. 

I've had Glass Pink for a few years but I've never had the urge to wear it until a couple days ago. It's gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but  just one of those colors that you have to really be in the mood to wear. 

I layered one coat of Glass Pink over 3 coats of Essie Tying the Knotie, which was from the 2015 bridal collection. I'm not sure if I've shown in on here before but I really should. It's a gorgeous, creamy neutral pink and set off the golden shimmer in Glass Pink perfectly. 

I ended up not wearing anything for Galentine's Day/Valentine's Day-bf and I just weren't feeling it this year. We don't usually make a big deal about it, but I spent the better part of the 14th in the emergency room so by the time I got home all I had energy for was a pizza and a couple episodes of Naked and Afraid with him. When we are feeling particularly silly we just watch and laugh at the butt shots, and at the contestants in general. 

I feel like my pink craving is running its course, so we'll see what I come up with next.

O.P.I. Act Your Beige! & Petal Soft

MOAR FLOWERS!

I make the mistake of letting the Soft Shades go by me every year, then around six months later regretting it and scrabbling around trying to get my mitts on them. Not so this year...I bought them ALL. Even the frosty silvery gold that everyone is complaining about (spoiler: I LOVE it). One I even bought a back up of. 

Here's Act Your Beige! and Petal Soft. I've noticed flower glitter is becoming more and more popular, and for good reason. It's freaking adorable. I did one coat, and the flower glitters came out in a huge glob. On my honor. I've been reading reviews about how people have had to fish them out and anyone who says it's easy to get them out is a liar...I can only assume that I've had dumb luck a couple times. I wore it about a week ago over one of my favorite O.P.I.'s ever and got lucky then too, as you can see on my Instagram...3 flowers just came out in one huge glob. I'm curious whether I will get lucky a third time...I'm going to try layering it over Care To Danse? later this month. 

Act Your Beige! isn't a unique color, but gorgeous nonetheless. It looks like a white/beige in the bottle, but seems to read more pinky-white on me, though perhaps it's the pink glitters in Petal Soft bringing the pink tones out. Either way, lovely combo. And I could wax idiotic about the brush. It's the same size all the O.P.I. brushes are, but somehow softer and more pliable, which you need with sheers and jellies to avoid streaks. 

I did four coats of Act Your Beige! and one coat of Petal Soft, which has soft, slightly satiny hex glitters in pink and white, in addition to the cute white flowers. Probably my favorite Soft Shades glitter since Pirouette My Whistle. Nothing could ever top PMW for me, but Petal Soft is giving it a run for its money. 

China Glaze Pinking Out the Window

Suddenly I want to flower all the things. 

I've been wearing a lot of pink and coral lately, and this one is fast becoming a favorite of mine; it's been on my nails most of May. 

Pinking Out the Window is a bright, cheerful carnation pink with just a drop of coral. It can look more pink or more coral depending on the lighting, and is not photographing as bright as it is in person. For whatever reason, it wants to photograph like a neon. 

Application isn't amazing, but it's not horrible. The first two coats are somewhat streaky, but a third seems to even everything out fairly well. 

I added some flower decals I bought at Daiso Japan. They're not the best quality, but they're so darn cute I just couldn't resist them. They came on a sheet with these cute little orange starfish that I'll try once I am in a blue mood.

The next manicure I show will be flowery as well. Bring them on!!!!

Zoya Portia

Not a particularly exciting shade, but like I've said before, it suits me just fine. 

Portia is a cool-leaning, soft, creamy pink. Like most light pinks, it can look different in different lights, and runs the gamut from sweet and pale to classic pink and polished. I know I'm not describing it well, but rest assured this shade will look good on every skin tone. It's so flattering. And the fact that it's not white-based makes me so happy. 

Application was a breeze too. If you're light-handed and you like your pinks a little sheer, two thin coats will get you what you want, but I wanted a more opaque look, so I did three. I didn't have a problem with streaks because of the creme-jelly formula. 

China Glaze Intelligence, Integrity & Courage

I really wish I'd been able to get more than three posts up this month, but it's been a busy one for me. My sister leaves tomorrow for Seattle, and apart from wrestling with my mixed emotions of envy and sadness, I've been culling a lot of polishes I don't wear for her to take up with her, as well as some of my less-used makeup. She's used to raiding my various beauty stashes and I want her to have what she uses most. I know at some point I'll be making my way up there, but until that day comes, I'll just have to ease my way along here as best I can alone. 

In addition to that, I'm moving bedrooms. I'll be taking her old room which in addition to having a very large built-in closet, is almost twice the size as the room I'm in now. I'm in desperate need of the extra space, especially since I'll be taking care of her dog until she and her boyfriend can find an apartment. 

Anyway, this polish sparked a lively debate in my house because no one could agree on what color it was. Some said grey, some said blue. I see more blue than grey, sister sees in more grey than blue. It's obviously both, but since it's my blog I'm going to say it's a soft silvery blue with heavy yellow-based grey undertones. I love these types of colors. It's soft, but interesting, and looks different in every light. 

This was three buttery coats. I love the consistency of China Glaze cremes, even if the brush isn't my favorite. It's long, skinny, a little floppy, and doesn't spread over the nail the way I'd like, but the excellent formula sort of meets the brush halfway and doesn't make painting the nightmare it could be. 

See you in February!

China Glaze Pine-ing for Glitter

Finally some time to take some proper photographs! I've sort of forgotten how, but I did my best. Also, I apologize for my dry cuticles...my Zoya remover is running low so I've just been using straight acetone. Probably a bad idea in winter. 

I love this manicure so much, it reminds me of sparkly-frosted sugar cookies. Pine-ing for Glitter is different sizes of pine-green glitter in a clear base. It is also the most easily-spread glitter topper I've encountered. I did one coat over a Wet n Wild white creme and one coat of O.P.I. Funny Bunny (the Wet n Wild looked way too stark). 

Insta-Manis

The weather has been sketchy (which I looooove), but it's not really conducive as far as making color-accurate pictures. So here's what I've been wearing, Insta-style:

O.P.I. Baby Please Come Home. I feel confident saying that this Liquid Sand is, hands down, my favorite texture polish. The silvery-lavender color, the way the glitters catch the light...IT.IS.PERF.

Essie Tuck It In My Tux & Essie Rock at the Top. As far as I'm concerned, Rock at the Top can do no wrong. It is such a versatile glitter. Slap it over anything, and presto! Holiday manicure. Tuck It In My Tux is an off-white creme-jelly. Took me four coats before I was happy. Cute, but I'm sure there are better versions of this out there.

O.P.I. All I Want for Christmas (is O.P.I.). Yer darn tootin'. Gimme all the O.P.I.'s. I was hoping this would be my holy grail red. I'm looking for something that is bright, but deep. Like a maraschino cherry, but a shade or two darker. This wasn't quite it, but it's a very pretty red, and no one can do a red like O.P.I. 

O.P.I. Red Red Rhine & Maybelline Color Show Precious Pearl. Probably the most Christmassy one I've done so far. I've got 10 to 15 bottles of holiday polish on my bedside table and I have so much trouble picking out the next manicure that I get overwhelmed, and not do a manicure at all. However, it was obvious these two belonged together. Red Red Rhine is maybe a touch brighter that All I Want For Christmas, but really, you can't distinguish between the two in the bottle. I probably couldn't tell them apart side by side. But I actually like it more than All I want for Christmas because black label O.P.I.'s wear like iron on me. I'm going on day two of this manicure and no chips (day two is when chips happen for me; it's like a domino effect...one nail chips, and all the others follow suit). 

I would say I hope the weather clears up and I can get some sunshine to show off what's on my nails properly...but I'd be lying. I hope it stays cold and overcast and rainy forever. 

Hare Polish Let Them Eat...What?

I'm slowly working my way through the rest of my Hare polishes. I've had this one on for three days, hence the bit of tip wear. This is a first for me; I've never had a polish last this long on me and still be in such good condition.  

As always, the description of Let Them Eat...What? is taken from the Hare Polish website:

"Let them Eat...What? is a soft white jelly with a blend of various shapes/sizes of hot orange, baby pink, white & gold glitter. This shade is highlighted by a delicate silver shimmer."

I would have liked to layer it over a white jelly but I don't have one yet. I might actually get one today, if I have time. In the meantime, I layered it over Essie Blanc. It's a pretty, cheerful polish with the right amount of glittery goodness. Formula was great, nice and thin. I did have to 'place' some of the glitters, but that is to be expected with these kinds of polishes. Dry time was wonderful.

Ignore the bits of green on the skin around my cuticles. Taking off my previous manicure was a nightmare. While the polish doesn't stain your nails (which is awesome), it does like to stick to skin. It's such a beautiful color though, so it's hard for me to fault it. I documented my struggle on Instagram...riveting, I know. This is what my life is like now. 

Pretty low today. However, tomorrow's nails will be amazing (and they may possibly make you puke from sweetness overload), so that's something to look forward to. 

Sephora by O.P.I. Havana Dreams & Flurry Up!

Came down with a bit of a cold today, so this'll be short and sweet.

Nana's birthday was a great success, despite the hiccup we had when ordering lunch. It's a long story and I'm too fuzzy-headed to explain. But rest assured, we have a lot of free pizzas coming our way.

I was pretty sad when Sephora announced they were discontinuing their line with O.P.I. Every S.O.P.I. I own I love (except maybe IM Beauty, but that's a color issue). I'm especially smitten with the collaboration they did with Betsey Johnson and one of my polish undertakings is to own all of them.

Even though the S.O.P.I. line is discontinued, they're still pretty easy to find. I ordered Havana Dreams when I found out the line was dissolving for $4.50 on the Sephora website-I'm unsure whether or not they're still available  there, but I'm sure eBay has a lot of them. Flurry Up! I found at Big Lots. I paid all of $1.80 for it, along with the Sparktacular! Top Coat, a red glitter that I can't remember the name of, and I Found a Pot of Gold!

I looooooove Big Lots.

When I set the two next to each other, I knew they had to be worn as a duo. At first I attempted to do a glitter gradient, but the base in Flurry Up! is really viscous and it would have ended up a huge mess. So I just applied two coats. The glitters are a tad difficult to manipulate, but honestly it's just glitter. It's meant to be messy.

Havana Dreams is a pale, white-based blue creme-jelly, perfect in 3 coats. Flurry Up! is just a standard silver glitter in a clear base. Both are pretty straight-forward colors, but look so lovely together.

Time for some hot tea, honey, and lemon for my throat, and curling up in bed for a nap. Till next time!

Orly Cheeky

Say hello to a naughty polish that has the cheek (hurr) to not photograph properly.

I spied this beauty on the nails of one of my favorite bloggers (please go by her swatches, they are MUCH more color accurate than mine), and seeing as it's a coral, well...I had to buy it. 

It's bright, punchy and leans slightly more orange than pink, which I normally don't like, but I'm willing to overlook it because of the shimmer. Oh ye gods, THE SHIMMER. It is predominantly gold, but you get flashes of yellowish-green. It's not shy; it's delicious, in-your-face SHIMMAH. 

Formula was where it got tricky. The consistency was smooth and even, but it did streak a bit. I got dragging on a couple of nails, and it took 3 1/2 coats to get it to behave. But I.Do.Not.Care. It's gorgeous, springy, juicy, and delightful. Upside was that dry time was excellent. 

If you like coral, get your butt to Sally's and buy this.

Off to get the house ready for tomorrow. It's Nana's 88th birthday, and we're having a big celebration for it. It hasn't been a banner year so far, but we're fighting as hard as we can. And we're gonna win. 

Nicole by O.P.I. Sweet Daisy

Spring means a few things to me: cutting my curly hair short, jean jackets, white sundresses, and coral nails. Also Lolita Lempicka. Say hello to the first coral of the season. 

Sweet Daisy, while beautiful, does not cooperate in natural sunlight. You're looking at a very washed out version of it. In reality, it is a nice bright pinky peach. Literally a perfect coral. I tend to go for the more subtle, soft jelly corals (forever looking for a Maybelline Firefly dupe) and this one is just that. It can look completely peach in certain lights, but mostly it's just cute and coral.

I spent weeks picking it up and considering it whenever I was in the drugstore, thinking, naaaah it leans too brown, it'd look horrible on me. I bought it a couple days ago (out of frustration really-I was sick of meandering over to the N.O.P.I. rack and looking at it) and I.AM.SO.GLAD.I.DID. I have a LOT of coral nail polish, more than any other color in my collection, and it's one of my favorite colors to wear on my nails. I can buy them and buy them, and no two I own are exactly alike. 

Basically, I love coral. 

This was three thin, creamy coats over my Essie ridge-filling base coat (oh the pastels I'll be wearing this spring, mwahahaha) and NYC Grand Central Station on top. I was dog tired last night so I fell asleep before it was 100% dry and got a few sheet marks, but they're not too noticeable. Normally something like that would irritate the hell out of me, but I either don't care anymore or just am too tired to care. 

Getting my hair cut later today. Let's all pray I don't go for the Ginnifer Goodwin. Looks dynamite on her, I'd look awful with it. I'm watching too much Once Upon a Time. 

Also it's my grandfather's 92nd birthday today. So there will be cake later. 

Here's to hoping spring goes okay.

Revlon Parfumerie China Flower

Who's up for a neon red? I sure as hell am, and surprisingly, so is my grandmother! 

She lets me paint her nails with Deborah Lippmann Diamonds and Pearls because she doesn't like color on her nails, but enjoys the shimmer. But she LOVES red nail polish. I've been sitting on China Flower since January and when I asked her if she'd like me to paint her nails with it she said yes:

She can't stop looking at her hand, guys. It's adorable. I wish I'd been able to do a better job on her manicure, but it's SO HARD to paint other people's nails. The girls at physical therapy are going to be so excited to see her nails. 

China Flower is a neon red. That's the best I can do explaining the color, and my camera freaked out at the brightness. It's about a bazillion times more saturated in real life. I'm not a fan of neons at all, but red is a bit of an exception, since it's amazing in every way. It's bright, punchy, in-your-face, and very summery. I told my sister (who has really lovely olive skin) that she HAS to wear this as a pedicure, it'd look dynamite on her. It's so bright that any skin tone can pull it off, even me. 

The gimmick with these Parfumerie polishes is they have a scent. I don't know what china flower is supposed to smell like, but I doubt it's what's in the bottle. It smells very musky and woody, not unpleasant, but nothing like a flower. The smell is super mild, not overpowering at all. I have to be careful though, I keep bringing my fingers up to my nose to sniff them...don't want to do that in public. 

So yes, a nice punchy color to usher in spring. I used three coats on myself, and two on my grandmother. I've got quite a bit more visible nail line than she does, and while it doesn't bother me to have it, I wanted to soften it a bit. Plus, you know, three coats is the magic number.