China Glaze The Ten Man, Konad Plate M79

In theory, I like this polish. It's Wizard of Oz themed. That's pretty much an "in" in my book. It's silver with silver glitter. But that silver is just a tad too sheer and a tad too frosty for this to work for me. It also dried a little weird on me, took forever. Occasionally, China Glazes are like that for me--a bit hit/miss with the drying. Nevertheless, I enjoyed wearing this, especially with the Konad, which was from one of those brand-spakin' new plates, M79. Sometimes I look at Konad plates and wonder what they're thinking over there--some of the designs are just... not my style... or weird. But this polka dot thing is genius. I have a few dotting tools, but I dunno.... something about the uniformity of these dots. It just looks great. Neat. Cute but classy. Something.

This is 3 coats of The Ten Man, and Konad Black Special Polish for the stamp:

My ring finger nail looks oddly uneven here! Weird. Though I haven't swatched them in the blog, my lovely fiance gave me quite the Wizard of Oz themed Christmas gift, which included the entire set of these polishes, which I guess are a re-release from a number of years ago. Ruby Pumps is a gorgeous staple that I already owned, and I adored C-C-Courage and Dorothy Who? when I wore them. I haven't attempted Good Witch? or Cowardly Lyin', yet, but we'll see. They're both in the same vein as this polish (a pink and gold version of the frosty sheer base with glitter), so we'll see them when the mood strikes me.

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze Flyin' High

Ah, the polish that will just not photograph. Another offering from the Up & Away collection that was lovely--easy to apply, opaque in 2 coats, and I got a number of compliments on it. It was fun to wear. These photos.... it's almost like they're not even of the same polish. I mean... it's just so much more green in real life and so much less bright turquoise... this literally looks like it could just be China Glaze Shower Together or Aqua Baby... but no. It's Flyin' High. I swear. These are so inaccurate that I even included the last one, which isn't a good photo, to attempt to try to depict the color. I fail. But it's a great polish, wonderful. You'll love it. It just doesn't really look like what's picture below.

Sorry these are so weird and kinda disappointing!

On another note.....

Some recent drugstore finds! You'll see Stellare Notte & Blackmail in there, as well as Borghese Almondine (what a bizarre/cool polish--an oddly speckled beige with a pink flash) Wet 'N Wild's Disturbia, Night Prowl, and that wacky orange creme, Sunny Side up. On the far end is Sinful Colors Mint Apple. I may have to hit up a few drugstores, but I guess I've gotten pretty lucky with finding things. I also got a few of the new Milani polishes (not pictured), the green & purple holos, but the rest looked so identical to a couple of China Glaze Kaleidoscope color that I already had that I passed on them. Plus, they appear to be part of the permanent display so I'll hold off. There is a great CVS in my town that always has the new collections. Anyway, just a preview of things you'll probably be seeing on my nails in the near future....

BB Couture For Nails Kelly's Green

These BB's are just awesome. This one is one of the most bizarre colors that I own. It pulls a bit lighter and more pastel in these photos than it does in real life, it's a slightly khaki/army green, but light (not kelly green, in my opinion) and it has a ton of subdued silver shimmer and black speckles. Bizarre! But cool. This is 2 coats, indoors, with flash, it's fairly true to life.

Look, you can see my pajamas! Hah.

This one shows the shimmer best, and you can also sorta see the speckles.

The formula on this polish was excellent, and it's the third BB Couture that I've tried. And it's safe to say that I'm falling in love with them... and I'll admit that I just got a slew more in the mail to try over the next few days... namely Dark Knight, Joker, Paradise, Dragon's Breath and Sea of Cortez. I also have Napa Valley Red and Mendocino Midnight swatches to come eventually as well.

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze Lemon Fizz

More of China Glaze's Up & Away collection! Because yes, I recently bought most of it. I'm really pleased with Lemon Fizz for a few reasons. I'm not much into yellow but I'm really drawn to this pastel version. I have a few variations on this shade range, OPI's Banana Bandana springs to mind first, but the formula on most of these yellows... well, it blows. Lemon Fizz's was quite grand--not perfect, but just shy, which isn't bad at all. 2 coats was the perfect opacity and it dried well. I sometimes have a drying issue with China Glaze polishes, specifically their cremes and neons, but patience is key.

Below are swatches in a few different types of light, with and without flash. I'm looking a bit greasy in these pictures, excuse the cuticle oil :-)

This color might sorta give me lobster hands. I haven't quite decided. They look a bit red in some of the pictures. But I do love this yellow. I also like that it has the word "fizz" as part of the name. Good word.

Thanks for looking!

BB Couture For Nails Vampy Varnish

Finally! A post in which I feel like I successfully captured a polish, and holy crap, do I love this one. A while back, when the Vampy Varnish collection was released, I ordered my first BB Couture polishes. I'd always sort of glanced at this brand from afar, impressed by their daring, complex, interesting colors, but nothing pushed me to order. This collection did. They are. AMAZING. By far my favorite formula, and they wear like iron! I love a brand that takes risks and makes interesting polish. I bought this polish, Mendocino Midnight, Kelly's Green and Napa Valley Red. I actually have Kelly's Green on my nails for the first time right now. At any rate, I chose this one as my first to try. It's a deep, dark complex forest green jelly base with TWINKLING glitter. I've just never seen a glitter that....twinkles...like this one does. It's the only word I can use to describe.

I never wanted to take this off. Not ever. I can't wait to wear it again, I'm already planning when in my head. 2 coats was perfect, it dried to a super high shine (even shinier than usual with Seche Vite), and gosh, I think for once, the pictures will speak for themselves.

No flash, indoor light.

Blurred to show shimmer.

I don't have anything witty to say, I just love this polish so much. The green and gold glitter... the forest green base...the twinkling! I love it. Amazing.

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze Sugar High

I'm not sure why I bought a few of the polishes in the Up & Away collection. I don't do pink... I've said this before, but I feel like my own blog is misrepresenting me. Haha. As you've already seen China Glaze Heli-Yum, I also bought Sugar High and High Hopes from this collection. Sometimes, out of irony, I suppose, a bright or sparkly pink just calls to me. It's like rebelling against... myself. I don't know. At any rate, for some odd reason, this was the second polish I wore when I got these polishes. The name of this polish makes me think of the end of Empire Records where Renee Zellweger and Coyote Shivers sing that song "Sugar High." I remember this mostly because Renee Zellweger has a mildly obnoxious singing voice... and also because Coyote Shivers was hot. And wore these really tight black jeans.... I was into it. I might still be into it.

Moving on, 2 coats was enough with this one as well, and it was quite lovely. There was something about this polish that I couldn't put my finger on. Despite its brightness, it's got a muted quality to it that I can't explain. Like pink plastic.... like Barbie's convertible. Something.

Sorry for the weird glare in the last two, like I mentioned, I'm still working out a few kinks with the flash and close-ups. Excellent formula on this one, too. All in all, another good addition to my meager collection of pink nail polish (and pink things in general.) Let's hear it for irony!

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze Peachy Keen

A couple weeks ago, I broke down and ordered most of the China Glaze Up & Away collection. I don't have a lot of pastel cremes, and from preliminary swatches, these looked divine. I got all except the bright yellow (Happy Go Lucky, I think) because it didn't appeal to me, and the light pink (Something Sweet?) because I already own OPI Mod About You. When the box arrived, I wasn't sure what to wear, but Peachy Keen jumped out at me unexpectedly.

A perfectly peach creme, that leans a bit (a tiny, tiny bit) more orange than pink, looks classy but is still stark enough to be interesting. It felt very springy, and lifted my bogged-down-Upstate-NY-winter-blahs.

Here is 2 coats, indoors:

Excuse the glare in a few of the shots, I'm still working on using the flash in a way that doesn't obliterate the color. Wow--this was only a few short weeks ago and I'm impressed with my nail's progress! I've found the application on these to be pretty good. A few of them were perfect, and a few of them required a bit more finesse. This one, in particular, was somewhere in the middle, but I didn't have hardly any issues with it. I'll definitely be breaking this one out when spring finally... springs.

Thanks for looking!

Borghese Stellare Notte

Warning: this pictures suck because there is no way I could pick up the awesomeness that is this weird little polish. There are also way too many of them. So I listened to the buzz in the blogging world about this little Borghese collection called Fashionista, that had a couple of crazy cool, unique polishes in it. The buzz centered largely, on Stellare Notte, though I heard some inklings of a shade called Almondine as well. Rite Aid isn't in my usual circuit around town, but there is an excellently good one that I sometimes frequent looking for the current cheap thrills. It never disappoints. I'd gone there previously looking for the Borghese holiday sets (apparently Stellare Notte was part of one of these, in unnamed, mini form) and I passed. Not sure why. Saw 'em and shrugged. So, my interest piqued when I walked into Rite Aid a couple weeks ago and saw the display. It was full. I picked up Stellare Notte and stared at it: icy navy with a vaguely oil-spill-ish look to it, it was truly unique. But it was $8 (!!!! at the drugstore! what?!). But it was unique. But it was $8. And on and on this went in my head, until I realized that now that I'd touched it with my hands, I wasn't gonna get over it if I just left it. So home with me it came. Two weeks later, I went back and bought Almondine, too. (That one is forthcoming).

Unfortunately, my camera isn't good with the details that make this polish so spectacular. All you'll see below is an icy, navy shimmer. What you're missing is the ultra-cool ultra-subtle rainbow effect this baby has. God bless the subtleties of the human eye.

Below are various shots of this polish, 2 coats, in all sorts of light: flash, indoor, window, etc. Nothing gets it.

Anyway, I hope those of you looking for this awesome, albeit overpriced, little polish, I wish you all luck in finding it. It's truly a gem.

Thanks for looking!

Zoya Nova & new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear swatch

So, I'm back again with my last crappy oldie, this one Zoya Nova. It's one of Zoya's Ultra Glitters, a jelly magenta jam-packed with glitter. Gorgeous. I tried this when I got it months ago and I wasn't too keen. This was its second shot to win my love, and it really, really did. It was also a bitch to photograph, but I did my best with my limited skills. Shown below is probably 2 coats, but it might be 3... my memory is failing me at the moment.

This is with flash, indoors, excuse the glare.

No flash, halogen light.

No flash, ambient light to show the sparkle.

Low-light to show the sparkle again.

This baby wore like iron, and it was awesome. I didn't want to take it off. I haven't felt compelled to order from Zoya in while (I managed, via their Polish Exchange last year to accumulate dozens of them) because I haven't tried so many of them. Zoya gets a bit of hate some places, but I haven't met one I haven't loved, and if I did (Pippa, I'm lookin' at ya), a few drops of thinner fixed it, no problem.

Just to throw something else at ya, I found this picture I took of a few swatches of the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears.

L to R: Wet Cement, Purple Pizzazz, Going Green (and on the end there is the odd man out, the beautiful China Glaze Watermelon Rind.)

Aw, my nails were quite short in this shot! It really wasn't that long ago, which makes me kinda proud. Anyway, I wore all 4 of these polishes as manicures, but let's talk about those Sally Hansens. They were all FABULOUS. Wet Cement is pretty unique grey, exactly in the shade of its namesake. Purple Pizzazz is just fabulous, beautiful goodness. Jelly purple, glitter, a bit of a duochrome shimmer... yeah. Going Green, though it doesn't seem to get much love, was my favorite: a perfect grass green with a bit of shimmer. 2 coats, wore amazing, I never wanted to take it off. Awesome.

Anyway, that's the last of my old stuff, and I'm glad. Moving on to current goodness (and better photos, I think) in posts to come... thanks for looking!