Sally Hansen Oxide and Green Tea (Tracy Reece, Fall 2011)

I'm warming up to the Sally Hansen Complete line. I find that I really like the ones that I like (and I just don't buy the rest). I'm getting used to the ginormous brush and I've learned to save up my CVS ExtraCare coupons for the price.

Sally Hansen Green Tea

Some things don't change. Like my love of minty greens. I have a thousand of them but I'm still buyin'. Three coats. Wish it was glossier but it applies fine. :) 

Sally Hansen Oxide

This one blew my mind. This is one freakishly shimmering gunmetal. So, so good. Also three coats, a bit thinner than I thought it would be but turned out very, very nice. The shimmer is slightly iridescent so it does mostly look like silver but it glistens a bit purple and a bit blue as well. 

Closeup of Oxide

I'm back! China Glaze stellar

So, I took a bit of an unintended hiatus. Please forgive me! For the last couple of weeks of the semester, and  I was just up to my eyeballs in stuff. It seemed like it would never end. Students needing help with their assignments, supervision work, marking, travelling, covering two sick colleagues' teaching, conference prep, having to buy all my Christmas gifts in the space of 24 hours (thank you, University finance, for paying me on December 22nd), my grandfather going into hospital for heart surgery, travelling down to my parents' house, travelling back, returning home to find the radiator had burst, having the radiator replaced on boxing day, more marking...

The upshot was that I have been sporting some seriously knackered manicures for the last few weeks. I had Butter London West End Wonderland on for the final week of the semester, but I was constantly on trains and not returning home until 8pm, so all I had to show for it was a couple of rather sorry iphone pictures. This on the other hand was my Christmas day mani - I found it squirrelled away in a forgotten stash at my parents' house, and it seemed appropriately festive, so I slapped it on with no base or top coat. It worked a treat. Three coats and it's still slightly sheer, but I quite like that effect. I do wish it had more obvious champagne glitter as well as silver, that would be super.

 I lost the bottle. Have a picture of my new watch instead. 

PS - the other news I've been digesting is that I got through to the final interview for a year's fellowship at one of the Ivies. I was so completely gung-ho about it until I actually got through to the last stage, and now the dominant sensation is terror at the thought of potentially uprooting across the pond for a year, and working around my parter, mortgage, pets, etc...but it is very flattering to get this far out of 250 applicants so I am not complaining! Still, scary, eh? I've already bought my interview suit and interview polish to match (Essie Not Just a Pretty Face, bien sur).

PPS - I won nfu.oh UK's advent calendar give away for Christmas day! So look for that polish soon, now that I have time to apply it again.

PPS - I've changed my hair colour again and now I'm having to work out what goes with copper.

A respite from glitter - Essie Allure

A little something to cleanse the system from all of the glitter and dark polishes I've been sporting. Essie's Allure is a simple classic - so lovely that Kate Middleton chose it for her wedding day.

Hope you all had a lovely holiday! I'm still planning my New Year's outfit and mani - what are you planning on doing to ring in the new year?

kittytokaren

Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like (and with Claire's Mystical)

Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like

Loved this blurple (more blue than purple, though) creme. Though it looks like it has gold shimmer in the photo... but then, wouldn't this be a great color with gold shimmer? Three coats, applied beautifully. Lippmann cremes have usually been somewhat hit or miss for me -- I usually prefer to buy her glitters -- but this one went on well.

Claire's Mystical over Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like

It's such a pity that this blue/purple glitter mixture from Claire's gets nowhere near opaque. So I slapped it on top of I Know What Boys Like a few days later. Eh. I liked it plain better... and it's a strange day when I prefer a non-glittery mani to a glitter mani. 

A bit of a holiday tradition...with extra gold!

For the past three years, I have worn OPI Smitten with Mittens for Christmas (see my holiday mani last year here). This year, I'm continuing the tradition, but adding a little twist - gold glitter! Piff would be proud! It's restrained, finely milled, Essie gold glitter, but still.

Excuse the close-up...my fingers are really gross and dry, it being winter and all. But the polish is gorgeous!

On the nail, Smitten with Mittens looks like red glitter in a deep red jelly polish. If you've seen the bottle, you know that the glitter in SwM is actually gold - it's simply hidden by red jelly! I thought the red/gold combo was gorgeous and I wanted to bring it out a little more. I know other ladies have accomplished this by swiping their polish with acetone after it's dry so the top jelly layer is stripped off and you see the colour of the glitter. It works, but I've never liked this method. So instead I added a layer of Essie Golden Nuggets! (The black label one. The newer blue label version has chunkier glitter.) The effect is supremely Christmas-y!

What mani are you rocking for the holidays?

kittytokaren

Illamasqua Load

Illamasqua Load

This was a disappointment. First of all, it's more yellow than I thought it would be (though it isn't as yellow as this photo is). Second, it needs four layers to totally even out, which is really unusual in my experience with Illamasqua. (Not at all atypical of pastels though.) When I showed my SO the polish (and its name), he asked me what possessed the company to want to make a nail polish that color. I didn't know the answer to that.

In the meanwhile, I gouged a frakkin' big chunk of skin on my left index finger while sewing something for my new nephew. (Well, technically, I'm not married to my SO, so his nephew isn't really my nephew... but he kind of is: my SO and I operate as a permanent couple. We just don't care about making it a legal or religious thing.) No NOTDs for me for awhile because the crater in my finger is totally painful and not at all pretty. Luckily, I have a backlog of NOTD photos to post. :)

Swatchsicles of my whole collection *PIC HEAVY*

I am a sucker for organization. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside like a cup of hot spiked cider! My actual polish collection is stashed neatly in plastic boxes (in brand and colour order, bien sur), but I really *love* having a swatched version of all my polishes - it makes picking out a colour to wear easy and fun, without having to drag out my boxes. I've wanted to share this with you all for a while now, and today is the day!

What I have them swatched on is something like a plastic popsicle stick with a plastic nail on the end (hence, 'swatchsicles'). Each of them has a hole in the end, and I clip them all together using a binder ring. Here are all my pretties together....



And here is what one individual swatchsicle looks like - I write the brand and name of the polish on the plastic with sharpie pen.



Probably my fav set to look at - the metallics/glitters...



Sheer pinks/whites...(LOL they all look the same in this pic...I *swear* they are different...)



Reds, hot pinks...



Taupes!!



Blues and greens...



Plums and purples...



And all my bundles laid out...



I really think this is a lovely system and I know several other ladies who use the same thing for their personal collections. There is a caveat though...the swatchsicle sticks are available on eBay, but getting good ones is sometimes dependent on the luck of the draw. I've ordered several sets that when polish is painted on them, they wrinkle up and look horrible - the polish can never look smooth on the plastic nail, and it is just a waste. If any of you are looking to try this system out, the seller I most recently ordered wrinkle-free swatchsicle sticks from is lilyyangstore.

How do you organize your collection? I'd love to hear!

kittytokaren

Wet n Wild Believe Me It's Real (Ice Baby) over Orly Stone Cold (Holiday 2011)

Wet n Wild Believe Me It's Real over Orly Stone Cold

I've seen photos of this Wet n Wild and it looks like that it does get opaque but I got really bored of my Stone Cold mani and didn't feel like taking it off. Lots of lazy layering. It made my nails seem HUGE though: between the basecoat, two coats of Stone Cold, one layer of topcoat, three layers of Believe Me It's Real, plus two more layers of topcoat... pretty thick by the end of this process. Extremely sparkly blue glitter with some purple hex glitter mixed in. 

I found most of the Ice Baby nail polishes at my local Walgreens... but not all of them (and that makes me sad because I really wanted Diamond in the Rough). And there MUST MUST MUST be some nail polish blog (or NB) enthusiasts in my neighborhood because the cashier at Walgreens told me that people were in asking for these polishes before they were released (and pretty much snapped up most of the display immediately). I wish I had some nail polish friends locally so I could go a-huntin' and a-paintin' with 'em. 

Orly Stone Cold (Mineral FX, Holiday 2011)

Orly Stone Cold

Blue metallic that's shot through with... micro-flakies, for lack of a better term? Bright, eye-catching. Would make an awesome summer pedi color, imo. Two coats and took a strangely long time to dry (at least one of those nails had been painted more than once because they dried slower than usual with my typical bc/tc combo).

I just recently told a bunch of my college friends about this blog. I'm still being all covert about it with people I know professionally (i.e. all academics anywhere) but the more I thought about it, the stranger it felt to be quiet about Polish or Perish to my friends. Most of these are people I've known for going on ten years now. What was the worst that could've happened? They've known me for awhile, they know a ton about me, and I'm pretty sure I've done some (or many?) things that they haven't totally liked/enjoyed/respected... and yet they still like and respect me anyway. Why would this be any different? So a couple of days ago, I talked about it on my private blog that only longtime friends of mine have access to. And it turned out that while I was writing the post, the most awkward thing about telling people is that I spent years NOT telling people. The post was like, "Hi guys, I didn't tell you this... for a very long time... but I belong to a beauty blog... that is 2.5 years old... and has over 1,200 posts. And I own... many, many, many dollars worth of nail polish. And I kept it a secret from you all... so yeah. That's all. Nail blog."

And then twelve hours later, I realized I had accidentally disabled comments on the post, so it kind of looked like I was so anxious about telling people that I didn't want to hear from them! Which then just made me feel foolish for being so apprehensive about any of it, especially since the people who have commented all think it's pretty nifty that I do this. (It's possible the rest of them might think it's unspeakably flakey. Oh well.)

Happy OPI Ulta-exclusive Holidays! - OPI How's It Snowin?

Every year I look forward to OPI's Ulta-exlusive holiday colours. After all, it's the release that brought us Dazzled by Gold a few years back! This year OPI deviated from their traditional red/purple/gold scheme and offered us two reds and a silver. I did not pick up the reds - one is an exact dupe of Excuse Moi from the Muppets collection and the other looks identical to China Glaze Ruby Pumps. But, I did pick up the silver glitter!

As you know, I'm not really a glitter person, but I've been feeling festive. If I'm going to do glitter it's definitely going to be in a metallic shade!

This is OPI How's It Snowin?...

A wee bit closer up so you can see the different sizes of glitter in the polish...

And this night shot is closer to what it looks like in reality - a deep gunmetal colour...

The colour of this glitter makes it much more wearable to me! It's deep and smokey, and I love that. The glitter is also the same texture/shape/size/whathaveyou as one of my other favourite glitters - OPI Spark de Triomphe - it is simply different in colour.

All in all, this definitely put me in the holiday spirit!

Have you picked up any of the OPI Ulta holiday polishes this year?

kittytokaren

Color Club Artsy Crafty (Back to Boho, Fall 2011)

There's something really off about the name of this polish... like it should rhyme, but it really doesn't.

Color Club Artsy Crafty

One of the major hurdles I have to swatching again is that I have a huge backlog of nail polishes to go through (especially since some of them were sent by PR departments, such as this one). Sigh. But this was lovely: a wonderful dusty-ish teal creme. It was just a tad uneven with two coats so this is three. 

Speaking of being artsy crafty, I made boxers for my SO! :) There's a great story about how my SO underestimated his waist size (vanity sizing, not just for women!) but I don't know that he'd like me sharing his actual waist size here. 

Sephora by OPI Chic Prints in Lace

So not worth the money, time or trouble. 

Sephora by OPI Chic Prints in Lace

DIY Minx from Sephora (which Minx apparently helps design). These were awful. I love nail appliques and I loved getting Minx done but these were impossible. I had to cut each one down to size for my small nails but then cutting them down made them really hard to peel off. They apply fine (as long as you get it right on the first or second time) but the excess is hard to file off, leaving a jagged, messy edge. It took me about an hour to apply these (and it usually only takes me 30 minutes for other appliques). And they have NO lasting power whatsoever. The instructions say they're only meant to last one day but these didn't last 12 hours.

Closeup of Lace

Also, even though they're reflective like "real" Minx, their patterns are sort of lacking in... I don't know... appeal? Not a fan. 

So I've been playing around with Photoshop lately because I've been wanting to design some custom fabric on Spoonflower. I was thinking something with nail polish bottles (because I have a one-track mind) and started teaching myself about vector graphics. ...and I really, really, suck. Here is my maiden attempt at a simple graphic: 

I'm not going to say how long this really simple graphic took me. People who do this sort of thing professionally... you all have my serious respect. 

A little Essie Luxeffects...

I was pretty excited when I saw that Essie was releasing a line of special top coats - called Luxeffects (which I stupidly love). Since I am a gold fanatic I was obviously all over the gold - As Gold As It Gets. Here I put it over Power Clutch (sans glitter here), and I quite liked the effect! I think I'd like it even more over a dark purple or blue.

As Gold As It Gets isn't just a gold microglitter - far from it. It actually seems to be tiny flakes of gold suspended in a clear polish - fantastic! In addition, this was just one coat of the topcoat - they didn't skimp on the gold!

And close up...maybe you can see the mini flakes of gold?

I had a down moment recently where I was feeling sorry for myself and I ended up picking up Shine of the Times (flake) and A Cut Above (pink hex glitter) as well...naughty kitty. So you will see those soon as well!

Have you tried any of the Luxeffects?

kittytokaren

GOSH black passion and a failed franken

I really like this as a 'neutral'. It's a black polish with a liberal sprinkling of silver shimmer/microglitter that lightens the overall shade to a very dark grey. Easy two coat application. I like it as a twist on black, a colour I'm not usually 100% comfortable wearing (teenage goth Vietnam flashbacks).

This was my attempt to franken something using MAC jewelmarine glitter, a blackened teal-green holo. I put loads of it in a clear basecoat I had, along with CG emerald sparkle and Illamasqua boosh to try and give a tint to the basecoat. There's also some CG atlantis and Models' Own emerald city in there, but frankly they didn't work that well, since they're bigger particles and they just sank to the bottom.

I liked the look of this, but whole nails started coming off within a few hours, hence why these pictures only have two fingers in them. That's what you get for using a crappy mixer polish. Any suggestions for GOOD clear polish I can use to franken with? I would love to give this combo another shot, but don't want to waste more glitter on a cheap clear base.

OPI A Color to Diner For & I Eat Mainely Lobster (Touring America, Fall 2011)

Two colors that I'm not really fond of wearing but I liked them well enough.

OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster

Bright coral with gold shimmer, with a nice glossy sheen. Three coats... and then there was some strangely unbalanced shrinkage. Chipped in a few days, alas.

 OPI A Color to Diner For

The far shot doesn't show off this slightly jelly cherry polish that has a very noticeable gold and purple shimmer. Two coats, a little dull. More shrinkage. 

Closeup of A Color to Diner For

Speaking of OPI, I heard a sorta cute story earlier in the quarter. After a lab meeting, I asked one of my RAs if her mani was Funky Dunkey (it wasn't but she chose it because it looked like Funky Dunkey). We started talking OPI and limited edition collections when another one of my RAs mentioned that he bought an entire OPI LE collection for his girlfriend a couple of months back. I figured it would be one of the recent collections and I asked which one. Alice in Wonderland! True, it's not super HTF but the AiW glitters are pretty HTF for a recent collex. He said it took him a LONG time to hunt down all the polishes down separately (since he couldn't find it being sold as a set anymore... not for retail anyway). I was impressed. That strikes me as very sweet, to go through that trouble for a gift. He was pretty evasive about where he finally found all of them, so my guess is that he eventually paid through the nose on eBay.

(No, he didn't come up with the idea himself. His girlfriend showed him photos of the polishes. Which makes me suspect that she is one of the people who snaps up all the good stuff at our local Walgreens before I can get there. $10 says she has at least a couple of the WnW Ice Baby glitters.)

It always makes me slightly worried when I post identifying information about myself on the blog. It's pretty incautious, I guess. If the girlfriend of my RA is reading this blog... well, hello! Your boyfriend is a great RA.

Neutral & Festive!

I was trying to get myself into the holiday spirit - but not in a red/green/bells/holly/snow kind of way just quite yet - when I came up with this manicure! Not totally my idea mind you...I have a sweater from Kohl's that looks like this! (See it here.)

The nude base is Essie Brooch the Subject (which I showed you before here), and the gold dots are OPI Glitzerland. (See my full Glitzerland mani here, on Piff here, and on flinty here! We all have different skin tones and I think it looks fab on each and every one of us!)

I thought the effect was really cute and I got lots of compliments on it! It kind of reminded me of Kate Spade, but I'm not honestly sure why. And it did give me the beginnings of holiday cheer...(without being OTT).

(Bonus: It lasted FOREVER. I still have it on and its been...5 days?)

Are your nails festive yet or are you waiting until the holidays are closer? Are you planning any special manicures? I'd love to hear!

kittytokaren

Barry M Cobalt

I love Bazza M. They're cheap and cheerful and have really good wear time for the price (about £3.50, which is more or less the cheapest I can get over this side of the pond). I actually saw this polish on a student of mine and asked where she got it. I had promised myself no polish until Christmas, but I was in a Boots...I needed change for the carpark...it was a day ending in 'y'...yeah, I have no good excuses. I just wanted it.

As usual, my camera has a heart attack over blue, so consider it slightly less neon than it appears here. It's a bright, deep blue - darker than nfu.oh 497 but with the same slightly green undertone. It's cool.