Neon Leopard

I'm super annoyed with myself. I had a whole post written and set up about Essie Absolutely Shore, and my photos have disappeared. They're not on my camera, hard drive or Photobucket. *seethes* Anyway, I'll share another manicure that I wore this weekend for general partying, swimming and lazing at Grand Beach north of Winnipeg.

I take no credit for this one, but people on the MakeupAlley nail board have been trying it (I apologize, but I'm not sure who it originated with, but to you--kudos! Good idea!), so I decided to give it a whirl. It reminds me of something from my punk rock teenager-dom mixed with the Lisa Frank-dom of my elementary school years. All of this is kinda awesome.

Here's my rendition:

This is after 3 days of wear, so excuse the growth and lack of shine. I lacked a clean, crisp white, but I used American Apparel Cotton instead. The image plate is the ever-ubiquitous m57 (the first plate I ever bought), with Konad black Special Polish. The spots are all Color Club neons: 220 Volts (blue), Yell-Oh! (yellow), Pucci-licious (purple), Screamin' Fuchsia (pink), Limelight (green) and You got Soul-ar (orange--this has glitter, I couldn't find my basic neon orange, I must've left it in NY). I put those on with an ancient L'Oreal dotting tool I had lying around. Despite Seche Vite sorta smudging the black (and macro being unforgiving--it makes my clean up job look super shitty), this was definitely fun to wear, and my mother-in-law was pretty much freaking out about it, which was cute.

Hope your weekend went well! Anyone out there have any other great Konad ideas? I have like 90-something image plates (uhhm, yes, I have a problem), so hit me up with ideas. It's a creative wasteland over here.

It's been a long, long time!

I didn't want to abandon my little blog here, but life has just been crazy for the last six months. I moved at the beginning of May to Canada (my hubby's homeland), after finally celebrating our marriage (9 months after the fact). Moving was nuts. So much paperwork and physical work and waiting, oh, and driving 1700 miles. My nails got trashed, and I kept them short. Also, my lack of work has curbed the polish acquiring (a bit!!). I also, unfortunately, ended up leaving about half my stash (over a Helmer's worth) at home in NY. I went through and just weeded out everything that I didn't feel I *had* to bring, boxed it up and stored it in my closet there. It was a lot of drugstore/dollar store impulse purchases and vintage stuff I'm keeping out of sentimentality. but I also left all my backups. I plan to go through it at a later date. So far I haven't found myself missing too much of anything.

Living in Canada is strange for me. It's so like home and yet so... not! Though my lack of a job has curbed my polish buying, another thing has helped: lack of CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens! Oh my drugstores, how I miss thee! Drugstore stuff here is just hella expensive and hard to find exclusives (here's hoping Milani knocks off their awesome collections for a while). Anyway, it helps not being tempted. That said, I have an American Apparel a block away (uh oh, amazing polish), and OPI's are not exorbitant (~$8.95-9.95, though lots of places are 2 for $16). I made the mistake of buying one at a random beauty supply without asking, and it was $12.99 (Spark D'Triomphe backup), and uh no, never again. My husband, Chris and I are going to North Dakota this weekend and I CANNOT WAIT to go to CVS! Haha.

Enough rambling, here are a very few select NOTDs from the past few months:

China Glaze Crushed Candy over American Apparel Manila. Loved this combo.

Essie Mochachino. Didn't love the way this taupe looked on my skintone, but it was so pretty.

These are both OPI I Lily Love You over China Glaze Ahoy. I'm unfortunately not able to take outdoor pictures, and my lighting situation isn't ideal. So the first one is no flash, and you can sort of make out the detail. The second one is more color accurate, but the flash washes out the flakes and glitter. Not sure I love this one. It's pretty but...

These Sally Hansen nail strips are basically amazing. So pretty and fun. The only set I had any trouble with was the Frock Star glitter ones. They were a bitch to put on and stayed "tacky" and didn't seem to set. Oh well.

Orly Here Comes Trouble. I couldn't find Bubbly Bombshell, but this one is awesome. Love the different shapes of glitter and the color! Perfect spring green.

Love & Beauty. Stupidly labeled as "Blue." This polish is ridiculously amazing. It's probably got an LA Girls equivalent but I'm lazy and don't feel like looking it up. But seriously. Beautiful. Shimmer. Perfect application.

Super crappy iPhone4 pic! OPI Your Royal Shine-ness. Gorgeous, underrated. A warm, almost pewter silver foil. Seriously blingy. Love love.

Ohmygod. This is Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal over American Apparel Hassid. So, you'll all want to punch me after I tell you this, but I've had Turquoise Opal for years. I bought it and tons of other Prisms in 2 packs at Dollar Tree probably 3 years ago. Maybe longer. And I've never worn a single. one. WTF was I thinking?? Anyway. I got so many compliments on this. A sweet lady at the dollar store actually grabbed my hand. It wasn't creepy... yeah maybe a little. But seriously, I don't blame her.

And finally, a few crapalicious pics of today's nails... (I've seriously gotta figure out a new lighting situation. Basement apartment=not good.)

Kleancolor Holo Chrome with Chunky Holo Bluebelle on top. I'm also holding Bluebelle. Um, yay Kleancolor for amazing polishes. I don't hate the smell. It smells like chemical awesome. And Beautyjoint.com ships to Canada super reasonably. I'm gonna order more. Anyway, Holo Chrome had kind of a bitchy thick formula. Three coats. I shoulda thinned it. It's so beautiful. What you see above is mostly Holo Chrome. The Bluebelle you can't see in my lighting but in certain lights you can also see the effect in the bottle on my nails. The base color also sorta matches Holo Chrome.

More true to color.

Sparkle!

In the last few months, I have also grabbed the Serena Wimbeldon & French duos, hauled KleanColor's like crazy mad, got 2 Dare2Wear collections, all the OPI shatters, a couple Nice Stems, and got 3/4 of the Miss Universe collection. Also some Essies. My only leftover lemmings (until Christmas, fall isn't really doing it for me... maybe a couple China Glazes) are Chanel Graphite and Peridot, but I doubt my budget will be accommodating, at least to both. Maybe though :-)

What have you all been hauling/loving/doing lately? How's summer?

Also!! If any of you are on Pinterest, follow me! I post NOTD's and other things too.

http://pinterest.com/sarahrobo/ I'd love to follow you back :-)

American Apparel Berry

Another old NOTD today, playing catch up all week here! I've seen some people write that the name of this polish is "Berries" (I've also seen it written that way on the AA website), but mine says "Berry" on the bottom, so Berry it shall be called. Another stellar color from the original release, opaque in 2 coats, near perfect formula. Vampy yet understated.

I don't have much else to say, about this. You'll have to excuse the state of my nails: things have been insane in my life right now, very dramatic. I had some really tough decisions to make, and I gnawed a bit at my nails. So I chopped 'em down a smidge (I didn't really do any damage but nonetheless). This was pre-major-choppage though. Sigh.

Please excuse the tip-wear and general scuffiness of this manicure, I'd worn it for a day already when I took this photo (unusual for me). Another great one from the American Apparel line! As skeevy as they are over there, they have some great polish.

Thanks for reading :D

American Apparel Butter

Butter. What a name. What a... condiment? Spread? Though butter is not good for me, I do love it so. I could live on bread (fantastic bread!) and butter and just die happy. But since I would like to live a long time and would like to continue to fit into my jeans, I enjoy it sparingly. Luckily this new polish from American Apparel is kind to both my hips and arteries in any amount. It's a perfect soft yellow, like a stick of butter. It is lovely. It might, dare I say it, be my favorite pastel yellow yet (...though China Glaze Lemon Fizz rocks and Maybelline Banana Puddin' is fantastic too...).

The formula isn't really for the faint of heart, however. A two-coater but a problem child nonetheless, being a bit on the thick side. I'll have to thin it next time. I also got a few bubbles, which is unusual, but nothing too bad. It all evened out in two coats and dried well with my trusty Seche Vite.

See for yourself (Yes, pastel yellow makes my hands look red! Nope, don't care!):

I'm craving buttery, salty popcorn right now. Are we sick of American Apparel yet? Too bad, I still have seven left to try, but we'll give it a rest for a bit now. I still have so many untrieds. I shudder to think.

Thanks for reading :-)

American Apparel L'Esprit

Here's one of the new ones! L'Esprit is a pastel blue? Purple? Periwinkle? I can't decide. I want to say blue, I really do. There's something in me that doesn't want this to be purple but I guess it slightly is. Pastel cornflower? Perhaps. Not quite though. Whatever, it rocks. 2 flawless coats, super opaque, AMERICAN APPAREL: you guys are full of win! Unique cremes, I could just die happy.

So, now I'll bitch for a moment: I sucked at this manicure. I dinged it, tried to fix it, it got too thick over an Orly Nail Rescue(d) nail, and yeah. So whatever I ended up taking a picture of looks a little lackluster. This color just make me happy though.

L'Esprit. Pronounced Lespree? Sorta? Maybe? I took Spanish in school. In sixth grade, I made the informed decision to take Spanish because it's supposed to be a very good skill to have in the US. For my life, it has deemed irrelevant. I'm marrying a Canadian and will possibly soon live in Canada (probably not in a French-speaking part, but the influence is undeniable and everywhere). I've extensively studied film and literature, in which there are lots of French theorists who have lots of fun things (bullshit) to say (occasionally in French, and I have zero pronunciation skills with this language to my embarrassment). While I enjoy Pedro Almodovar and Pablo Neruda, you gotta admit I chose the wrong language to study at the tender age of eleven. What am I even talking about here?? Anyway, L'Esprit. 2 thumbs up.

Thanks for reading :-)

American Apparel Passport Blue

Ready for a steady stream of American Apparel polishes? Well, deal with it :-P So Chris, my fiance, AKA my AA polish smuggler, arrived in town last week with six more. Six, you ask? Well, when I was there in March I went hog wild and bought almost all the current polishes they had. But Passport Blue, how it nagged me. I didn't get it because I felt it was too dark. But it bugged me. So he grabbed me that and the five new colors :D Yup, I am a lucky girl.

But, for suspense's sake, here's Passport Blue. It's wicked gorgeous! I was concerned it was going to look black but it sure doesn't. It occurs to me now that I probably should've gotten all artsy with these photographs and clutched my passport while taking them.... hindsight's 20/20, I guess. The formula was fantastic, two coats to opacity and I have no complaints. It also gets extra awesome points for drying SUPER DUPER shiny. While Seche Vite usually dried everything to a nice sheen, Passport Blue has been endowed with some magical innate shine. It's awesome.

Here are my photos (Full disclosure: I forgot to take pictures of the actual manicure I did with this, so this is a swatch from earlier today! Two coats, no topcoat, excuse the bald patches on the ring & pinky fingers, that was my eyesight's fault not Passport Blue's).

Let me stress that this polish is not, in any way, teal. It might appear so from these photos, depending on your monitor. Anyway. New things tomorrow! I also just bought a boatload of OPIs (coupons from a local beauty supply that make them about as cheap as etailers and NO SHIPPING!) so that's forthcoming as well.

Thanks for reading!

American Apparel Factory Grey & BM05 with China Glaze Awaken

I just want to say that after having tried many of the American Apparel polishes, and owning almost all of them (except 3: Rose Bowl, Coney Island, Palm Springs), they are absolutely fantastic. The quality and wear is superb. I love that there is a collection of amazing creme colors, because I feel that, for some reason, creme polish is always chic. No matter the color. Worn right, it's just it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of shimmer, glitter and holo, but a good creme can be fun, loud, classic, edgy, anything.

You may have heard that American Apparel is coming out with 5 new polishes and a topcoat. This is the promo image:

L to R: Topcoat, Malibu Green, L'Esprit, Summer Peach, California Trooper, Butter.

I rarely say this but with the exception of the pink, I know that I need these. Hell, throw the pink in there, I don't care. I already have my fiance on the lookout for these. Despite the fact that I'm from NY, where there are a bajillion AA stores, there is not a-one anywhere near Albany yet, so I have my fiance who currently lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (my little home away from home) literally a block and a half from an AA store pick them up for me. He's visiting on the 23rd, so I hope to have them soon! And possibly some of those Joe nail polishes.

Gosh, do I ever shut up? OK, here's the fabulous Factory Grey:

Uber love. A blue leaning grey, more along the lines of say, China Glaze Recycle or MAC On The Prowl. I own lots of greys... so gorgeous. Chic. Must be my word of the day.

The next morning, I added the star stamp from Bundle Monster plate BM05, I used China Glaze Awaken from the Romantique collection for the stamp and it came out super shiny! I'm really liking stamping with a similar-hued chromatic polish. I like the effect.

And that's all! Hope you guys are all having excellent days out there, wherever you are! Thanks for reading :-)

American Apparel Hassid & Nfu-Oh 49

The pictures and execution of this manicure are pretty subpar, but I just wanted to share something today.

I got a few Nfu-Ohs from fabuloustreet.com in the mail yesterday, 49 & 52, which joined 51 & 60, which already live at my house. I was itching itching itching to try 49 over black, because I'd seen pictures of it and it was AWESOME. Plus, I'd never tried the clear-ish based flakies, as opposed to 51 & 60 which have opaquer bases and shimmer and duochrome. 49 is one of these, orange iridescent flakies in a weird, sorta reddish/pinkish, but nearly clear, base. These are more your straight-up flakies. And, as it happened, since I wanted to try 49 over black so badly, it worked out well that I had American Apparel's Hassid in line waiting to be tried.

First, I didn't take photos of Hassid on its own but it is FANTASTIC. I know Illamasqua's Boosh is raved about as a rad, amazing black, but Hassid is wonderful. ONE COAT. I did one coat. Not even a question about needing two. The formula was awesome. It also dried (prior to topcoat) kinda satiny. Neat.

Then, I topped it with one/twoish coats of 49. Now, my disclaimer: I did this manicure while at my dad's house, without proper light, sitting on my bed, balancing badly. So, excuse the crap cleanup job that I did. Despite my lack of skill here, I had to take a few pictures.

No flash, for detail.

If the sun had been out, I would've have quite a show for you all today, but it did not. These don't capture the vibrance of the flakies. Super awesome. I bet this will look good over other colors too, I'm thinking like China Glaze Grape Pop or Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal. Something along those lines.

That's all & thanks for looking!

P.S.- As you probably know, the Zoya Exchange has been resurrected! So, starting tomorrow, in honor of this, I'm gonna go crazy on my Zoya stash because it's been neglected!! I acquired 85% of it during last year's Zoya Exchange. I don't have any of the new Zoyas (all the reason to plot an exchange), but I do have quite a few aside from the latest release, so hit me with a request and if I can honor it, I will :-)

American Apparel Mouse & Konad M65

So, here's Mouse. As I look back on this, I really wish I left Mouse alone and wore it as you see it below: un-mattified and un-Konaded. But I didn't because I wanted to experiment with a technique I saw on Laquerized's blog.

So this is Mouse, my second favorite taupe color (first is Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge). It looked so divine and classy with shiny Seche Vite. Here's 2 coats (and no clean up, whoops):

Don't you love it? I happened to wear this polish on a day I saw my friend Amanda, and it made me think of her. Amanda and I very different and if you saw us together you might wonder why we're friends. I'm a tattooed, pierced, kinda "bad girl" looking chick (though I am not!), with a penchant for stuff that leans heavily on the rock'n'roll side of life. Amanda has this elegant, polished way about her I've never been able to pull off. She always looks classy in an understated sort of way, from her chic haircut to her elegantly understated wardrobe--we are as different as different could be. But we get along because we're both kinda bitchy! I think that is what attracted us to eachother (we used to work together), a mutual understanding. BUT, anyway, when I wore this color, I felt so... elegant... which, though I am many things, elegant is not one of them. I was totally pleased when I saw her the day I wore this, and the first thing she did was grab my hand and profess her admiration for my nails.

Digress much?? OK, back on topic. So, I mentioned above that I wanted to use a technique I saw on the Lacquerized blog that involved mattifying a color and then Konading a design over it in clear polish. Hers came out way better than mine, but I was pleased with the understated look that I achieved. This is from M65 and I used Barielle Manicure Extender for the clear.

It's kinda hard to do because even "slow dry" topcoats seem to dry wicked fast when they're scraped over a Konad plate. So give it a try but don't even bother attempting Seche Vite--that's a joke! (Trust me, I tried).

That's all for now :-)

American Apparel Poppy & Konad M72

This isn't my favorite manicure that I've ever done, but here it is nonetheless. I broke out of my holo streak for a day here and dipped back into the American Apparel polishes. I haven't seen too many swatches of this one, Poppy, floating around. It's a very bright orange-red, not really coral, not really orange and not really red. It's a little weird. Though the formula seems good and opaque, 2 coats really wasn't that opaque. I would've needed three if I hadn't Konaded over it. Reddish colors seem to be odd that way--opaque, but you can still see that nail line for some weird reason. This one had the good formula I've come to expect from these polishes.

Here's a couple photos of it pre-Konad. Excuse how messy they are--my desk lamp broke and I've been doing my nails in crappy light lately! Haha, I'm actually kind of embarrassed to show these. Hopefully I'll be getting a replacement soon.

It actually looks more coral in these photos than it does in real life. An interesting color.

I decided to use a full nail design from Konad M72, kind of a busy retro pattern. I thought it'd look neat over Poppy. Not sure how I feel about it in the end but here are my results:

As usual, I used Konad's Black Special Polish for the stamp. I like this stamp, even though it's pretty busy, but I'll have to try it again for something else. Don't know why I feel so lackluster about this! Haha. I think holos have spoiled me lately. Any-who, that's what I've got for today! Hopefully I'll return tomorrow with something a little more my speed :-)