Essie In The Lobby

September! Pre-Halloween month! I was at CVS the other day and they already had out decorations and candy and lots of Fall nail polish collections. I got really excited, so even though I'm nursing a really bad head cold, I couldn't resist using one of the new Fall Essies. 

In The Lobby is not a unique color by any means, but it's just what I need after a summer of friggin' color. Inside it is your garden variety vamp. It could be red, or purple, or even brown...but you'll never know until you get into better light. Sunlight and bright artificial light reveal it to be a deep purple wine. Again, nothing ground breaking, but really refreshing.

This was two coats, another would have just been gilding the lily. It definitely applies darker than it is in the bottle, but c'mon. Vamps. Are. The. Best. 

Now I'm off to nurse this stupid cold and prepare for all the Fall things. 

Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore

Two RBL's in a row!? Now that I've cracked open my Rescue Beauty Lounge drawer, I thought I'd wear the more "summery" ones now while I've got the chance...that being said, this reminds me more of Christmas than summer.

Locavore is a full-coverage glitter mix of chartreuse, bright aqua, and fuchsia. From what I read on the website way back when, it represents the different kinds of local veggies you'd find at a farmer's market. For whatever reason though, it reminds me of a decorated Christmas tree. This polish will definitely be making an appearance in December sometime.

I also realized I haven't worn a full-coverage glitter on all my nails in a really long time. It sort of makes me feel self-conscious, especially since my middle finger is sporting an outstanding breakage (I had a minor break in my boyfriend's pool a couple weeks ago and his nail scissors mangled my poor nail. Lucky bastard has nails stronger than horse hooves). It also makes me feel like I'm in middle school again with giant red sausage fingers.

I'm not feeling myself lately, I guess.

This was 3 thin coats, plus top coat. Be sure to wait between coats, I cannot stress this enough. Otherwise`you're going to have glitter goop on your hands. And probably your clothes, if you're as clumsy as me. But the upside is this is NOT a thirsty glitter! I did one coat of top coat and it has stayed smooth and glassy. This was day 3 of wear.

It's not on the website, so I'm not sure if it will be back, but I do know that O.P.I. Glow Up Already is a pretty close dupe, and is very plentiful on eBay!

If I can do one more post this month, I'll be so proud of myself.

Essie Play Date

Sorry for the awful pictures and the chip on my index finger. I'm not super into quality control right now.

Summer is here which means my mood is pretty low and not even nail polish can really do anything for me. Which is a shame, because I have some really pretty ones.

Play Date was a polish I wanted very badly when I first got into nail polish, somewhere around 2009-10, but didn't end up purchasing it until early this year. It's a sugary sweet medium purple that photographs a little cooler than it really is. It's distinctly red-toned on my skin and while I love the way it looks in these pictures, I'm not sure I'm in love with it on me in real life.

This was 3 perfect coats, and after about 4 days of wear. Not bad for someone for whom manicures used to last a day, tops.

Zoya Sansa

Well I'm almost a month into 2015 and haven't managed to get pictures of what I'm wearing until today.Up until last night I've been wearing the same Nails Inc. manicure...there wasn't much left of it, but it was sooooo pretty, and I was also sooooo lazy. I'll probably have it up here next month. 

Sansa is all kinds of gorgeous, but unfortunately the weather was a little spotty, so I can't show it to you in all its glimmery glory. You get the idea though. It's a rich purple base, slightly red-based, and is full to bursting with different colored rough shimmer. I hesitate to say glass fleck, so I'm saying rough shimmer, because the pieces are large and you can sort of see where they begin and end. The most prominent is the gold-lemon shimmer, but I also see pink, purple, green, and coppery-orange. 

I did two coats (probably should have done three, I see a bit of balding in the pictures, but in real life two is more than enough) and topped it with the O.P.I. top coat. It's an okay top coat, I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't have a coupon, but my CVS Extrabucks were stacking up and I thought why not? I'll probably use it when I do my toes. 

Essie Recessionista & Rock at the Top

'Tis the season for all the silver and gold and red I can stand! I have been sitting on so many pretty holiday polishes and I wish I had 7 more hands so I could wear them all. 

Sorry for the tip wear on this one, I've had it on for a few days and only just found the time (and sunshine) to photograph them. 

Recessionista is a pretty berry color that can transform into a very red-based purple in sunlight. Not a groundbreaking shade, but I love it. I found Rock at the Top all by its lonely self in an Essie display, but I'd never heard of it before so I'm assuming they've put out more Luxeffects. It sounds basic on paper-neutral gold hexes with smaller and then tinier glitters peppered throughout, but the effect is gorgeous. Over a dark color like Recessionista it really pops and looks like nail art. I did one coat, and I tried not to pay too much attention to the glitter placement-I'm usually hyper-focused on making sure each nail has the same amount of glitter, and that it's spaced out nicely. Not this time; some nails have more, some have less, and I love it. 

Both were delights to work with. Recessionista went on like butter, and Rock at the Top's base was the perfect consistency; not too viscous, not too runny. It'll be hard to take this one off. 

American Apparel Berry

I forgot that when you wear dark colors, any little smudge will show up. Boo.

I was in the mood for something dark and moody to go with my nubs, but I didn't want anything overtly Halloween yet. Enter Berry.

American Apparel Berry is a purply, berry-red color. It's nice and rich, and really comes to life in sunlight. Inside it comes dangerously close to becoming a garden-variety dark red, but there's enough purple in it to keep it from being boring. All I needed was two coats.

They must have improved on the brush because it wasn't nearly so floppy and long as the other American Apparels I own. I had great control, and needed barely any clean up.

Various Polish Hauls of 2014 (Update: Flakie Goodness at the end!)

I really need to keep better track of my hauling. These are only the ones I've remembered to take pictures of:

left to right: China Glaze Sand Dolla Make You Holla, Tail Me Something, Teal the Tide Turns, & Wish on a Starfish.

left to right: Maybelline Coral Heat (Bleached Neons) & An Old Flame (incidentally, am wearing Teal the Tide Turns in photo)

Zoya Earth Day Haul: Stevie, Zara, Maya, Elodie, Rekha, Caitlin, Sooki, Bevin, & London.

Uninvited from the MAC Maleficent Collection (good lord, I wanted it ALL...am debating on whether or not to go back for the beauty powder)

left to right: O.P.I. Chillin' Like a Villain & Don't Touch My Tutu!

left to right: O.P.I. Hey Baby, I Sing in Color, & Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

left to right: A Study in Polish I Do Post-Mortems, L'Oreal In With the Nude, Red-y to Shine?, Essie Blanc (Chinchilly is next to it, and not included are Go Ginza and A Cut Above)

With everything happening in my life right now, these little polish hauls are one of the few things that remind me of that little thing called happy. Not the best way to deal with things, but I'm working with what I have. 

Also I have some super-pretty nails to share later. Or tomorrow. Depends on when it's not overcast anymore. Mind you, not complaining in the slightest; I'd rather have it be overcast and chilly than be dry-roasted alive in my own house.

EDIT: Well my nails were chip city today, so here's a photo I snapped of them last night:

You're looking at 1 coat of O.P.I...Eurso Euro and 1 generous coat of Color Club The Uptown. I had planned on wearing The Uptown over something a little lighter (You're Such a Budapest, for example), but I wasn't quite over wearing something dark on my nails. I'll definitely be sporting that manicure on here in the next couple days though. I don't wear flakies much, and oftentimes I find myself wrinkling my nose at them. But every so often the flakie mood will take me, and my eyes will end up glued to my nails for a few days. 

L'Oreal Too Dimensional?

Sorry for the mini-hiatus, I've had low morale/a color hangover for most of the week. And various nail breaks. And PMS.

Allow me to introduce you to the prettiest of the L'Oreal Gold Dusts. Period. No contest. I don't even know what to do with myself, guys. It's a sparkle-splosion of glittery magic. I want to dive headfirst into it and emerge covered in glittery goo and shoot up into the night sky and spray it everywhere like Smaug. 

Also the name is silly. 

I'm sad it didn't photograph properly, but this was as good as I could get it. Too Dimensional? has a deep, inky blue/purple base and is full of the most intense goldy-lemon shimmer, as well as more sparse green and orange shimmer. To top it off, there are lavender/silver hex glitters peppered throughout. This was the only textured polish I've considered top coating; with all the shimmer and glitter, the base gets a bit lost. But it's gorgeous both wet and dry. Much like a good burrito. 

This was two perfect coats, no clean up. L'Oreal, if you are reading this, MAKE MORE GOLD DUSTS. IN ALL THE COLORS. 

Looking forward tonight. I helped my bff get an awesome job, so she's taking me out to dinner at Maggiano's. I don't frequent Los Angeles much, but when I do, Maggiano's is usually involved. Or Canter's. Or Grand Lux Cafe (amazing beignets).

Basically I'll go there for food. 

Essie No More Film & Deborah Lippmann Diamonds and Pearls

As hard as it was to get rid of my sex nails, this little Essie was begging to be used. I was at Target with my best friend Christmas before last and put No More Film (I'm never sure whether to capitalize Essie and her polish names; I know they're all lowercase on the bottles, but the English student in me won't let me type them like that) in my cart-I couldn't say no to something that dark and pretty. When I got home she wasn't in my bag or on the receipt, so I can only assume the bottle fell in transit to the cashier. But my bizarre brain registered it as "Oooooh, pretty! Oh wait, I have that don't I?" every time I saw it at CVS or Rite Aid or Bed Bath and Beyond. I'd go home, search fruitlessly and then remember I hadn't actually bought it. 

I was replaying this scene for the nth time at CVS waiting for some prescriptions, and just bought it, figuring I could return it. Yay for finally getting my mitts on it!

No More Film is either a blue-based purple or a purple-based blue. One or the other. Or both. We know I'm not good with purples. Whatever it is, it's deep and inky rich, and definitely a one-coater if you're slow and careful. I was neither of those things last night so you're looking at two coats. I usually do three, but I felt it would just be gilding the lily with this one. 

And to add a bit of sparkle, I layered one coat of Deborah Lippmann Diamonds and Pearls. Because I bought so many polishes from the Mariah Carey collex. back in December, my frequent buyer's card for the beauty supply I haunt got filled up fast, and I had ten bucks free to spend. And what a coincidence, Diamonds and Pearls was on sale for just that. So I threw it in. It's a gorgeous layering polish with gold, copper, green, and pink shimmer. I paint my grandmother's nails with it once a week and she loves it. If my nails weren't so stained, I'd probably wear it sans undies, it's that beautiful. 

When layered over No More Film, it reminds me a bit of a spring night sky-rich and velvety, with twinkling stars and fireflies everywhere. My photos wash the color out a bit, it's much richer and darker than it appears. 

Cirque Coronation

I'm normally not one to shell out tons of money for a single polish. I can justify it when I get ten or twelve from a beauty supply website, but the Coronation package (polish and ring) is undoubtedly the most I've ever spent for a nail polish. But you've got to spoil yourself every so often. I don't do it often, so I don't feel bad. 

Following in the footsteps of Clarins 230 and Max Factor Fantasy Fire, Coronation is a beautiful sheer blue-purple polish that flashes deep pink-ish red shimmer and at extreme angles, green and gold. It's fantastic magical splendor. In addition, there are small, prismatic glitters that twinkle every so often. It's like a unicorn and a fairy had gorgeous unicorn-fairy centaur babies. 

Because it is so sheer, I layered 2 coats of Coronation over one coat of O.P.I...Eurso Euro. It dries to a sort of rubbery finish which is definitely pretty, but I added Grand Central Station on top to bring out the shimmer. 

The rose-gold ring is definitely gorgeous, and even though you can now buy Coronation without the ring, I'm glad I shelled out the extra money for it. I love gold SO much, and it looks incredible on me if I do say so myself. Since my fingers are so plump it doesn't quite close all the way in the back, but honestly? Don't care. I can do so much with it. Wear it on my fingers, close it completely and wear it on a chain as a necklace...it's definitely a favorite in my jewelry box. 

In other news, I'm feeling TONS better, both physically and emotionally. We got a Hoyer lift for my grandmother, so we can get her in and out of bed quickly and with a lot less pain (both for her and the one helping her out of bed). She begins outpatient therapy next month and the strength in her left leg is returning rapidly. I can't describe the way my heart feels when I see her do her exercises more and more thoroughly each day and watching her strength come back. I want to laugh and cry with relief and I'm so thankful how well she's coming along. And that relief is helping me sleep more and more soundly each night and I wake up ready to get though the day, rather than wanting to just slip back into unconsciousness. 

Life is good right now.

O.P.I. I Sao Paulo Over There

Feeling super under the weather today, so this'll be nice and short. 

Most of the brights from the O.P.I. Spring collection really appealed to me, so naturally I walked away with ALL the nudes/taupes (and the dark green one, I really don't have enough green in my stash). I'm thinking of going back for the two corals, we'll see. 

I Sao Paulo Over There is a PERFECT example of colors that confuse me. It's clear there is both purple and brown in it, however, I interpret it as a very much purple-grey. It's sort of a bruised color, with maybe a hint of chocolate milk (or Dutch cocoa). Whatever it is, it's perfect, both in color and composition. The formula was obviously perfect (I can't think of another brand that applies as well for me, except maybe Ciate) and basically applied itself. Seriously, I'm not exercising poetic exaggeration when I say this. You're looking at a manicure done under the influence of both Advil P.M. and Nyquil (I was super achy and snuffly last night). Also no clean up. Yep. 

It's got a nice, squishy formula on the first coat, and a bit patchy, but of course leveled out perfectly in two. I did three because it is rare when I don't do three. 

Hope everyone's Thursday is going better than mine. I'll probably show another neutral from the Brazil collection within the next few days when I'm feeling better. Also I was nominated for the Liebster award, so I'm working on a nice post for that! 

Till next time!

L'Oreal The Reign of Studs

Something about February brings out the purple lover in me. And the red lover. And even the pink lover. Yes, it's because of Valentine's Day...I've been programmed.

So this purple. I'm kind of in love with it. I don't know why I passed it over the first (and second) time. But third time is the charm, as they say, and now it is mine. And I loooooove it. Love it, love it, love it. It's a delightful blue-based purple (because of my color blindness, I tend to see blue-based purples more accurately than red-based ones) with matching sequin glitters. While it is still drop-dead gorgeous in ANY light (and sparkly-never a dull moment with these Gold Dusts), when you get this baby into sunlight, WOAH. The purple glittery goodness just explodes. In every direction. 

I must once again state my delight with the Gold Dust collection. Every time I think I've got all the ones I want, I decide I need two or three more. The only ones that I consistently decide against are I Like It Chunky (I like my peanut butter in my mouth, not on my nails) and the black one, I can't remember the name at the moment. I don't seem to wear black much anymore. Anyway, this was two coats with no clean up (the brushes, guys. THE BRUSHES). 

Looking forward to a day of video games. Probably won't be able to concentrate much though, I'm staring too much at my nails.