Orly Rock Solid

Gah, Orly. I love you. Seriously. Your collections are often smaller, and fewer, than other (bigger?) brands like OPI, Essie or China Glaze, but y'all do what you do so well. It's refreshing. Like last year's amazing Cosmic FX, this year we have the Mineral FX collection. They're pricier (I paid $8.99 with card in Canada), but crap. I might buy them all. And one of them is a definite dupe of the whole Zoya Faye/OPI Rally Pretty Pink/ OPI It's My Year color & finish, but I still want it. It's a freakin' sickness. They're a wicked kind of gorgeous and vary a little more in finish than last year's Cosmic polishes. Rock Solid, which is featured here, is a charcoal foil shimmer with holographic glitter thrown in. No photo I've seen of it, including mine, really captures it. It's kind of an odd polish, but it's so fun. Others I got: Stone Cold (super huge glass fleck glitter/shimmer, and blue, so I couldn't deny it), Rock-It (this deep, shimmery, jewel-toned magenta I picked up and put down and actually went back to Sally's for because it haunted me), and Emberstone (see my description of Rock-It except this is a super shimmery red-orange with multi colored flecks). There are two others: Rococo-A-Go-Go (shimmery and complex deep purple) and Rock the World (the aforementioned dupe)... well, crap. I'll go back for them, I just know I will.

So, Rock Solid. You are a strange little bird. Here you are with two coats. You eat topcoat a bit, and I spent yesterday at the beach, so you're not as shiny as you ought to be.

Blurry glitter shot!

So Mineral FX.... how are we feeling about these? Redundant? Amazing? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Chanel Graphite

When I saw this polish in promo pictures, I died a little inside. I had to have it. That grey-gold-pewter shimmer.... it looks exactly like pencil lead (its namesake). I needed it in a sick sort of way. I also decided to grab Peridot after seeing a slew of photographs, too, and that whole hype sorta brainwashed me into thinking that I might like Graphite less. In the end, my gut won out. This is a super gorgeous polish, amazing and faceted and shiny and deep. Again, I'm late to the game here, but you'll have to deal with it, because I am just in love.

Again, I apologize, as this kind of shimmer makes my camera flip out. With or without flash, it just blurs like crazy! But look at the the depth of the color. 

So many flecks of color: silver, pewter, platinum, gold, green, and black...

Without flash, ambient light:

Mmmm. I just love it. Again, I had a bit of trouble with bubbles. Not sure what's up with that, it's not a problem I usually have, but it appeared with both Graphite and Peridot. So the jury's out on whether or not Chanel and I agree with each other overall, but I'm glad I shelled out for them in the end. 

Chanel Peridot

Sorry for the short break, I got caught up last week with a couple of pretty important job interviews (**crossing fingers**), so I neglected to line anything up to be posted until today, which is Labour Day here, and Labor Day at home ;-) 

This isn't anything you haven't seen but here is one of two polishes that finally made me splurge on Chanel. Nothing, including Jade--which I was around for, and could've purchased--has prompted me to splurge until now, and I bought both Peridot and Graphite. So Peridot: I shouldn't like it in theory. I hate golds on me, except for very light, bright, white golds (this applies to yellow, too). Greeny-golds are hit or miss. This color is... green, gold, sorta blue, and all kinds of duochromey goodness.

While pretty, I have to complain: the formula sorta sucked. I mean this polish had a ton of hype, but a lot of people fail to mention its main flaw (in my opinion): it's frickin' frosty. Seriously. As in I had to apply it twice to get it right, because I kept trying to get the brushstrokes right and this caused bubbling. And, I got shrinking at the cuticle, which I never seem to have a problem with. So, formula-wise, Peridot is kind of a nay from me. However, it is beautiful.

I ended up using three coats. Here are my attempts to capture the color:

With flash:

Without flash:

I kinda love it, even though it's a fickle little thing. Glad to have it as a part of my collection, though. Definitely unique, and thus worth the money for me.

Happy Labour/Labor Day! Enjoy :)

OPI Miss Universe Swimsuit... Nailed It!

I was originally going to post my swatch of this with the other two Miss Universe polishes that I bought (Crown Me Already & It's My Year), but after swatching all those sparkly purpley pinks, I decided that this one deserved a post of its own. Swimsuit... Nailed It! is seriously and most probably my favorite blue polish of all time (most certainly of this past year). It is the most perfect shade of vibrant, shimmery, true blue foil. I love it, and even though I love Crown Me Already!, I must brainwash you into agreeing with me in that this is the gem of the collection.

Two coats, flawless application, long wear, ohmygod beautiful.... and as the polish and Andy Bernard like to proclaim, OPI seriously nailed it here. (I'm just, as I type this, getting the double entendre of "nailed it." Nail polish. Doh.)

The best and worst thing about these photographs is that they're a bit washed out (not to mention that my camera hates this type of foily shimmer). So in real life, this is even more deep and vibrant and amazing. Buy it. Buy it now! (This was in no way endorsed by OPI, I swear!). So that's my love letter to Swimsuit... Nailed It! Was there any polish you loved this much this year? Do tell.

The Case of the Sparkly Purpley Pinks: OPI It's My Year, OPI Rally Pretty Pink & Zoya Faye, A Comparitive Study

Last week, I posted about OPI Crown Me Already from their recent Miss Universe collection. That polish was amazing, I couldn't get over it. During my little blogging hiatus, I also wore the other two polishes that I picked up from this collection: It's My Year and Swimsuit... Nailed It! So I re-swatched them for you all (so no nice, cleaned up manicure shots, sorry guys!) and included a comparison swatch for It's My Year, as a few polishes looking quite like this one have appeared on the market recently. (We'll return to Swimsuit... Nailed It tomorrow, because it deserves a post of its own.)

We'll start with It's My Year. I apologize in advance for the way this type of shimmer makes my camera freak out. It's like it can't properly focus on it because it's so blindingly awesome! This swatch is 2 coats, which looked opaque until the flash. In practice, I recommend 3 coats for this color.

You may find yourself thinking that this looks a lot like another recently released OPI polish: Rally Pretty Pink, which came out in one of the Serena Williams sets with Red Shatter.

Here's Rally Pretty Pink (3 coats):

Are they dupes? Nope! In the bottle they look much closer than on the nail. RPP is much, much warmer, more of a mauve than a pink, and the gold shimmer is much, much more apparent. Much, much. Haha. So, at this point, you're probably asking yourself what they look like side by side. Here you go:

That's IMY, RPP, IMY, RPP, from left to right. See what I mean? And now, of course, you're thinking that both of these polishes look a lot like another little pretty (which actually came out first) called Zoya Faye. Which I also happen to have (I have a problem... as my husband would say, "It's some kind of itis.")

From left: Zoya Faye (3 coats), OPI RPP (3 coats), OPI IMY (2 coats).

Obviously, as you can see, Faye and RPP are the closest of the three polishes. They share a softer quality, and a rosier, mauve shade. Equally high on the gold shimmer quotient. IMY is more straight-up purple, though it's still red-leaning. Between Faye and RPP, I'd say there are subtle differences. Faye is...  slightly, ever so slightly, more subtle than RPP. I can't explain it, it's just softer. You most definitely don't need both.

Final summation: all three of these polishes are beautiful. You most definitely do not need all three. I prefer the OPI formula, so between Faye and RPP, it's RPP all the way for me. Faye is great though, so if you have it, rest easy. If I had to pick one of the three, however, the winner here is It's My Year. It captures the vibe of all three polishes, but I prefer the more vibrant purple base. If you're really into polish, you may be able to justify owning both IMY and RPP, but honestly, even that's overkill. It's My Year all the way!

Hope this helps someone out there! 

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 :-)

Zoya Swatches Part 2

OK, here's my second batch of Zoya swatches! I just want to profess my love for this brand. I love their freebies and have excellent luck with their customer service. I love their color and finish selection and the quality of their products. I love the bottle, brush, and generally the formula. I love that they're "green." Yay Zoya! Enough of my babbling, onto the swatches :-)

Here's a few links back to polishes I've already featured:

Zoya Verushcka

Zoya Nova

Zoya Rea

And the rest....

Dominique. One of my favorite reds, very opaque, very bright. More orange toned than blue, but not overly so. 2 coats.

Deidra. Kind of a toned down version of Zara, but more taupe. Very cool. I never wore it before this swatch and I underestimated it. 2 coats.

Meadow. 2 coats. Like Zara also, but pink. 2 coats. Not my speed but a pretty polish.

Avril. Very opaque pink based neutral. 2 coats.

Buffy. Bought this just for the name (Huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan). Frosty beige shimmer, not that flattering on me, but perhaps so on darker skintones. 2 coats.

Demi. 2 coats. Pinked mauve creme. Nice formula and opaque.

Trixie. Silver foil, photographed terribly. Very blingy and pretty. 2 coats.

Emme. Awful light pink frost. OK formula, just awful looking on me. 2 coats.

Juicy. A neon red purple jelly. 3 coats.

Dakota. One of my favorite pedicure reds. Didn't realize how sheer it was until I put it on my nails. I can't remember if this is 2 or 3 coats. Very pretty blue based red.

Pippa. Yellow creme (not neon). Tricky formula. 2 coats.

Paz. Neon orange creme. Very sheer. This is 3 coats. Definitely needs something under it. Very bright.

America. A muted coral-red, very pretty. 2 coats, great opaque formula.

Goldie. A super shimmery (frosty?) gold, hate this shade of gold on me, but nice polish.

Harlow. Matte velvet. Pink shimmer, a bit purple too. Love matte velvet formula. 2 coats.

Dovima. Shimmery matte velvet black. More matte than this, it wasn't totally dry. 2 coats.

Loredana. Ultra shimmery matte velvet grey. 2 coats. Love this one.

Posh. ONE coat. Gorgeous matte velvet red shimmer. One coat. LOVE.

Dita. Gorgeous saturated fuchsia creme. 3 coats.

Katy. Pretty medium bright pink shimmer. 2 coats.

Also, on another note, if you're experiencing any difficulties viewing anything, let me know! I recently moved this blog from my old gmail account to its own gmail account, but I think I've got everything working. I'm excited for sparkly paints. to have its own identity though!

Thanks for looking!