Orly Stone Cold

I can barely contain myself from buying blue polish, so this was obviously no exception. It's got the same fantastic shade of blue as OPI's Swimsuit... Nailed It! but with the super duper large glass fleck glitter that reminds me of OPI Love is a Racket. Except the shimmer doesn't sink in the base as much, make it uber blingy and with tons of depth. I love it. This was 2 coats, and because of the size of the shimmer particles, it can be a bit tricky to apply.

Anyway, I'm in love. So in love, in fact, that I've got nothing more to say on the issue. This one is a must-have people, especially if you love blue polish.

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.

Nina Ultra Pro Glamrock

I recently encountered this lovely little beast at Sally Beauty Supply. There seemed to be a bunch of new Nina polishes there, I'll have to give them further inspection when I go back. These are almost twice as much here as they are at home in the States, which is kinda silly. Glamrock is a jelly-black with tons of super shiny silver glitter, which overall gives it a pewter effect. In the bottle it looks more black based, but on the nail it pulls pretty grey. But I like it a lot, lots of glitter, lots of sizes and super shiny, as I mentioned. It reminds of Borghese Nero Magico (excuse that crap swatch), a seriously great polish, but with a less opaque base and more glitter. I actually like the more vampy Nero Magico slightly better, but you really can't compare them in the end, as they're pretty different.

I'm going to a concert tonight, so this felt like a fitting manicure. Who am I going to see? Don't laugh, but Rancid and Against Me! Yes, I'm 25 (14?). In all seriousness, I'm going to see Rancid mostly, as they were my gateway drug into punk rock (along with the Clash) when I was 14. I've seen them twice before but not in a very, very long time. Plus there was a Groupon for it, and I have nothing better to do tonight.

Anyhow. Glamrock.

Sorry my camera can't handle the glitter! Another nice polish from Nina. The formula was pretty chunky though... but there is a shit-ton of glitter in this thing, so that's probably why. Only two coats for this coverage. I used Gelous under Seche Vite to smooth it out, because it definitely was gonna be a bumpy ride otherwise. If you see this, grab it! It's very pretty and definitely a welcome addition to my already over-sized collection (hoard). Nina polishes are a Sally's house brand but kinda underrated I think. Purple-Xing is a favorite, I know, I also have Emerald City, In A Tiff and Sailor... plus a few others somewhere from that metallic Velvet collection that came out a couple Christmases ago. I always wanted Salsa but never found it. What's your favorite Nina Ultra Pro polish?

The OPI Serena Williams Grand Slam Duos: A Retrospective

Starting early this year, OPI teamed up with Serena Williams to release sets of polishes called Grand Slam! duos to be released in conjunction with the major tennis matches this year. As you probably know, Serena is also a nail tech/polish enthusiast, so this is a pretty cool idea in theory. This month, the final duo of this series was released. I got most of these duos during my blogging hiatus, so I decided to finally swatch them all for this retrospective post. Swatches of all of them in one place! I loved this series. It was obviously a smart collaboration with someone who loves polish. It was a little heavy on the Shatter polishes, but with the exception of one set, I liked the pairings. Here we go!

First, around March and to coincide with the Australian Open, came the first set: Simply Smash-ing! and Black Shatter.

Simply Smashing, 3 coats. A pretty tennis-ball yellow-green. I like it much more on the nail than in the bottle.

Excuse my application of Black Shatter here, the pinky went well, but the other 4 fingers did weird things. I had just thinned it, so maybe that's why. No top coat here.

Then, later this spring, came the France duos for the French Open, which consisted of 2 different sets: Rally Pretty Pink with Red Shatter and Spark de Triomphe with White Shatter.

Rally Pretty Pink, 3 coats. 

RPP with Red Shatter on top. The shatter look strange because there's no top coat. I apologize. This is the one pairing that I'm not crazy about.

Spark de Triompe, 3 coats. Silver and gold glitter. I love this and I bought a backup.

SdT with White Shatter on top. This one does not crack a lot, but it looks pretty neat with the gorgeous glittery veins peeking through. Again, no topcoat so ignore the texture.

Next, we have the England sets, which were released at the beginning of the summer to coincide with Wimbledon. There were also two sets in this release: Grape...Set...Match! with Servin' Up Sparkle and Your Royal Shine-ness with Servin' Up Sparkle.

Grape... Set... Match! 2 coats. This polish is much, much prettier in person. So shimmery, with lots of red and blue flecks happening. 

GSM with Servin' Up Sparkle on top. Very pretty, though the large hex glitter is pretty sparse. Sorry, my camera is a glitter-phobe lately.

Your Royal Shine-ness, 2 coats. I feel like this one is totally underrated. I totally completely disagree with anyone that says this is just a silver foil. It reminds me of pencil lead (but with much finer shimmer than Chanel Graphite). It's silver but got some brown/gold/pewter tones. Very, very pretty.

YRS with Servin' Up Sparkle. It was kind of a dumb idea on OPI's part to release two duos for the England sets with the same layering polish. I think most people bought one or the other, but not both. This could have easily been paired with Navy Shatter (looks gorgeous) or another darker glitter. SUS looks really cool on top, don't get me wrong, I just don't think it was great marketing.

And finally, in August, the US Open duo: Love is a Racket and Pros & Bronze. I know y'all saw these recently, but deal with it! Here they are again. 

Love is a Racket, 3 coats.

Pros & Bronze, 3 coats.

I don't feel like it's been mentioned much, but on the back of this set, OPI recommends layering these two polishes. Since that was the purpose of all the other duos, I guess it makes sense, but Pros & Bronze doesn't much strike me as a layering polish. It goes a bit haywire over Love is a Racket, but they definitely go together and create quite a blingy look (the kind my camera hates). If you want more in depth reviews of these colors you can check here and here.

So, let's break it down. You can create a lot of looks with these polishes. On the whole, they're unique and gorgeous, there's a variety of finishes, and pretty much something for everyone. Like I said before, clearly imagined up with someone who enjoys polish. However: most of the shimmer are very similar to that Orly Cosmic FX-Zoya Sparkle finish we've been seeing a lot of, and there's a lot of Shatters going on, which the market is also over-saturated with. And, as I mentioned, there are two duos with the same layering polish, which is pretty lame. A smarter idea would have been to create a trio for the England set, with both polishes and the glitter.

My favorite polishes in the sets: Spark de Triomphe, Simply Smash-ing, Your Royal Shine-ness and Grape Set Match. My favorite overall set is the Spark de Triomphe/White Shatter duo, and my least favorite is the Rally Pretty Pink/Red Shatter duo. In all honesty, a lot of these polishes are available individually on eBay, so it may be your best bet to pick and choose what you love and just grab those (I did this with Simply Smash-ing because I already had Black Shatter from the Katy Perry release, and I should have done it with Your Royal Shine-ness so I didn't end up with two Servin' Up Sparkles). 

All in all: this was a great job, I thought. What did you think? Did you grab any and/or all of these? 

OPI Get in the Expresso Lane with Dare To Wear Strobe Lights

This manicure was actually kind of ugly in the end, but I wore it for two days (laziness). After the glitterbomb that was Date To Wear Social Butterfly, I went in a totally different direction with Get in the Expresso Lane from OPI's Touring America collection. I've found that this collection isn't getting a lot of love, but my love of OPI creme polishes and drab colors made me lust for a couple of them. I'm waiting on Roadhouse Blues, I Eat Maine-ly Lobster, and Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window (which makes me giggle), which are en route from the States (Aveyou shipping to Canada is too expensive so I send them to my Momma!). Anyway, I don't know much brown polish. I'm not even sure I own another brown that couldn't also be considered taupe. What I like about this color is that it's not a straight up choco-poop brown, it's very grey-ed. I think it if was warmer and more yellow-toned, it would be a no-go both for my sensibilities and skin tone. This, however, works. It had a great formula, and two coats was perfect glossy coverage.

Now, I didn't get a picture of Get in the Expresso Lane on its own, which is a shame. Because the devil in me needed glitter. So I put Dare To Wear's Strobe Lights on top... a super shiny holographic gold glitter with large & small hex and bar glitter. It's crazy nutso, except the base is also slightly gold-ish. Which yellow-ed up my brown polish, rendering it semi-choco-poop-like. And... I dunno. This is just one instance (and I don't often say this) where I feel like glitter just didn't work. Should've left it alone.

Here it is:

Yuck, right? Sorta fun but... yuck.

Dare To Wear Social Butterfly

Dare To Wear is not a brand I'm very familiar with but I've always coveted their polish. Recently, I took a chance and ordered 2 sets of theirs: Disco Tech and Dollhouse... glitterbombs, both of 'em. The Disco Tech glitters are blingier and more for layering, while the Dollhouse glitters tend to be more opaque and can be so in three coats. This is the first one I've worn from the Dollhouse set.

So I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I'm not a fan of pink. Occasionally a very deep, jewel-toned magenta or fuchsia... but generally no. Maybe once in a while, ironically. I wear a lot of black, I'm tattooed, I love rock'n'roll (especially 70's punk), I live in boots and an army jacket. My nail polish (and former makeup obsession) is pretty much the girliest thing about me (and I do embrace it), BUT pink is just stretching it a bit too far for me. Anyway. For some sick reason, Social Butterfly called to me today. And I answered.

These types of glitters: chock full of all shapes of hex & round & bar glitters, generally apply like oatmeal. The first two coats went OK, but the third was a bit of a chore. I'd definitely recommend keeping thinner on hand. Some of the glitter is holo and some is opalescent, but the pink base has a blue flash to it, and it gives the whole thing a pretty cool effect.

It's pulling a bit warm in these pics, and as usual, the glitter makes my camera go haywire. It reminds me of OPI Teenage Dream but more Barbie pink, and obviously with bar glitter. I kinda love it! It's totally against type, but maybe I need that every once in a while :)

---------------

On a totally unrelated note, I just got the most hilarious phone call from the Bay, where I had called to inquire about the status of the fall Chanel polishes. I recently decided that I needed Peridot and Graphite. Never bought a Chanel before. I got put on a list to be notified, but my experience with these "lists" that stores create is that you've got about a 50-50 shot of them actually calling you. And for an LE item that may sell out, this fact is unsettling, so I did some other research. In the interim, I decided to buy the polishes from the States and have them shipped to my mom's (and saved myself $20), but I have to wait a little longer for them. Since I hate shelling out the $$ to begin with, I decided I could wait. But today the Bay called! But seriously, this woman... where the heck did they find her?? She had *the most ridiculous* and possibly (most likely) fake French accent! I just about died. She raved, "Sar-huh!" (that's how she pronounced my name)  "Zee collec-shun is ahh-mahh-zeeeng!!" I almost laughed at her. Oh, Canada. 

Sephora by OPI If You've Got it, Haunt It

This is an oldie but a goodie, and also a color I'm not sure got much press around the time of its release. This is from last year's Sephora by OPI Halloween collection, and I saw it online maybe once or twice and wanted it really bad. I ended up finding it months later at my hometown Sephora in NY, in the clearance bin, no less. In retrospect, I don't even think it ended up ringing up on clearance, but I wanted it bad enough that I didn't argue or really care.

This polish is kinda like Nicole Pitch Black Glimmer, but better. If You've Got it, Haunt It is flat black glitter, superfine silver glitter mixed with blue opalescent glitter, all in a smoky very-jelly gray base. It's almost opaque in 2 coats but I did three. It can get thick, so probably a good pointer to keep thinner on hand while applying.

In the second picture you can really see the individual types of glitter. This polish makes me wicked happy, and it's probably in my top 20 of all time. Nicole Pitch Black Glimmer is good, but I doubt you could ever achieve opacity. This does it, and it does it well. It's smoky and complex, and not bumpy at all, even with just one coat of Seche Vite. So, if you can find it anywhere, or have it hiding in your stash, I highly recommend you bringing it out. I wore it before, but my nails were much shorter, so I thought this deserved a second wind. Definitely a favorite!

Kleancolor Chunky Holo Black

Just popping in quick to share my update to Essie Smokin' Hot. I added 2 coats of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Black on top, and the effect was pretty awesome. These pictures do something weird. The flash turns it much more purple; in real life, you can't see the base color of Smokin' Hot, it just turned that murky brown-black that is Chunky Holo Black. Also, the duochrome on this glitter is a complete rainbow. It's amazing and gorgeous. None of this, unfortunately, seemed to pick up in my photos.

Here's a couple of crappy pictures. I may try this again over black to capture it better:

It has a lot of depth and is actually very fall-like in tone. So pretty.

OPI Crown Me Already!

Blogger has improved so much since I regularly blogged last. It's awesome. So I tweaked the layout and took one of their backgrounds until I can find something new that I like. Yay! Also, I can make my pictures bigger... I had so many problems uploading images to Blogger before, and now I can just link them and the resizing is so much easier. 

So let's talk polish. OPI released a Miss Universe collection recently, and I hate myself for loving them. I got three of the four: Swimsuit... Nailed It, It's My Year and this one, Crown Me Already! 

It applied like uneven oatmeal but not in a bad way... if that makes sense. It was thick because it is so seriously loaded with glitter I'm not sure the polish can handle it. I especially love the uber large hexes going on here. Like platelets. It's really shiny, almost platinum, not as warm as it's pulling in my pictures.

That's three coats. You could probably layer it over a similar colored silver foil so you don't use so much polish. This polish is super sparkly and distracting, and I sort of love it (my camera, however, does not!). 

Did you grab any polishes from this collection? How about Swimsuit... Nailed It! ? That is some serious blue, it might be my favorite of all time. I didn't grab the berry colored shimmer that came with this collection... Miss Congeniality-something or other? Any opinions on it? 

Thanks for stopping by!

OPI Big Apple Red & Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet

I've been job hunting, which is, needless to say, a demoralizing process. My background is in writing, English, film, with a bit of arts education thrown in. I've worked with non-profit and for-profit theatres, music venues and arts education programs. And honestly, the semi-lame salary that often comes with being an arts person (whose value to society is not quantitative and therefore under-appreciated, in my opinion) is so worth it. My dad is an actor, so I grew up in a theatre (which was state funded until late last year, and was shut down by New York State because, again, the arts have no quantitative benefit to society... can you tell I'm bitter much??) But try finding a job. It's awful. It's starting to look more and more like I'm just going to be a cubicle rat, doing Administrative stuff for "the man." Shoot me. For crap pay (despite my Masters), at least let me do something rewarding, not staring at Excel sheets for 8 hours.

Anyway, anyway! I shouldn't let all this out here. It's supposed to be a happy place. Here's a recent NOTD: OPI Big Apple Red with Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlet on top. Pics are OK, but still not quite up to snuff...

Big Apple Red is pretty amazing. It's so vibrant, and my favorite tone of red. Slightly warm, I think. Scarlet compliments it well, and the warm red glitter, which is slightly duochromey, look so pretty on top. BAR had a great formula, but Scarlet was a bit weird. It was pretty thick, and took a bit to dry down... and smelled like chemical awesomeness, as Kleancolor has a reputation for.

These chunky holos are kind of awesome, and I'm not much of a layer-er when it comes to polish (though is pretty much my jam when it comes to fashion, kind of a bag lady chic thing I've got going on here). They're quite pretty, and I can't wait to try out Black! Gorgeous. But... not really black? I digress.

Hope you all are well and thanks for looking in! :0)

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 :-)

More Pic Spam from the last couple months!

I really have no excuse for being MIA this time, except that I think I sort of have the winter blues. I also think that, upon going through my stash and updating my spreadsheet, that I feel that I'm reaching my nail polish saturation point. Creeping closer to being in the 4-digits--scary!! But fun. I know it's a harmless hobby, but yeah. Somehow when I realized how much I had acquired made me a bit crazy!

Plus, I have to decide what I'm going to do about it. I'm moving to Winnipeg in May, around 1700 miles away. I'm having my stuff shipped in a pod, but there's *no way* I'm packing that many polishes, and I won't have room for my polish in my car. My solution, so far, has been to decide on a core number to bring with me, pack them securely in one of my Helmers, and ship that, and store the rest of my collection at my mom's house in NY. Our move to Winnipeg is supposed to be somewhat-temporary (a few years, until I'm a dual citizen), and then we intend to return to the States. What would you do? Could you live without part of your stash? I'm certain I could, plus I could always grab stuff when I visit home, or have my mom mail it. Any suggestions from you other nail mavens?

Anyway, enough babble and on to some NOTD's from December to present, in some sort of general chronological order, with running commentary, as usual:

Milani Purple Gleam. Umm stunner! So awesome it needed two pictures. I bought all of these new glitters the released. When I'm in Canada, I will seriously, seriously miss these LE Milanis (do ya'll get these? I feel like I read you don't). I bought all the colors and the Jewel FX's, even the Silver one that I ordered especially from Cherry Culture. I have glitter sickness!

OPI My Private Jet. I won't lie, I own two bottles of this beauty. I only break it out for special occasions. In this case, I wore it to my graduation for my Master's Degree.

China Glaze Peace on Earth. I like this polish a lot but it was a bit hard to control the brushstrokes, as you can see. It was pretty much a one-coater, though.

China Glaze Sexy in the City. Liked this one more in the bottle than in practice here. This is also a terrible shot of it. It's just not as blue as I wanted. In the bottle, it sort of reminds me of the Cerulean Crayola Crayon. In reality, not so much :-(

Milani Silver Dazzle. LOVE.

China Glaze Little Drummer Boy with China Glaze Fairy Dust on top, Konad Plate M59. Got a lot of compliments on this one, I wore it for a while.

China Glaze Frosty with China Glaze Party Hearty. Love both of these polishes. Frosty is like snow, so gorgeous.

OPI Teenage Dream. This is awesome. I bought all 4 Katy Perry polishes, even though I have zero opinion of her one way or the other (I'm a rock'n'roll kinda gal, I have zero knowledge of pop music), but this is a lot of fun, and very pretty.

This is a hot mess of a picture but here's OPI Black Shatter (no topcoat). Just playing around, and here my camera starts to do an annoying streaky glare thing that it will continue to do for a few more shots to come. Once I get my hands on the black China Glaze Crackle, I'd like to do a comparison, as I also have the Cover Girl and the Isa Dora black crackles.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Cut It Out. This was amazing. Any "wear" you see in this shot was actually user-error, I broke a few off wrong and had what looked like chips, but they weren't. Anyway, these wore crazy well for me, no tipwear, chipping, lifting, anything. I didn't want to take 'em off. I got a few more packs to try too, but I think I'm saving them for when I know I won't have much time to change my polish, as they're a bit pricey.

RBL Coral with OPI Dress to Empress on top. I felt like I needed RBL Coral in the last sale and I'm not sure why. It is pretty, but I don't really do coral. I got Dress to Empress at a salon on clearance, I hadn't heard of it before. It looked kinda sheer, so I layered it here. In real life, this sort of resembled OPI Wing It, and even though it was 2 coats of the RBL and two coats of the OPI, it was still kinda-not-totally-opaque. Lame!

Zoya Edyta. OK so sue me here. This picture sucks, and I have to say that I recognize and respect that this polish is gorgeous but I hated it on me? It was so boring and one dimensional on the nail. Yuck. Oh well... it wore great. I got this with my sale order, I also got Crystal (love), Cheryl (love), Valerie (untried), Tiffany (untried), and SARAH!! (my name!!!), which is serious, serious, serious love. It's wicked gorgeous, thank you Zoya! I didn't take pics though, sorry :-/

Essie Dive Bar with China Glaze Millenium & Konad M61. I'm trying to use my Konad more lately, it's kinda gone by the way-side. I'm bummed that the gorgeous purple duo in this polish doesn't show really on the nail except at some very random, incapturable moments. This is part of the new Essie retail line. Also grabbed Mochachino, and I reallllly want Coat Azure from the new spring line. *saves CVS coupons*

Milani HD. I can't tell you how many times I've passed this in the store. In CVS lighting, it looks dreary and un-holo. Actually, all the gorgeous Milani holos look dreadful in this light. I heard they're dc-ing these, so I wanted to grab the few I still didn't have. I still want the blue and pink ones. Anyway, this is WAY more holo than this picture shows, it's so pretty, I'm in love. This is tonight's manicure and it looks like it'll be my Valentine's Day one, too. Maybe I'll add a Konad heart, even though I don't celebrate (husband is far away, so boo).

I've gotta stop doing this in giant chunks and blog a little more regularly. I have fun ideas for posts, but then I get lazy! Ugh! Winter! All I do is read and work and try to stay warm and watch movies! I'm just itching for spring.

One last question to my lovely readers: Anything from China Glaze Anchor's Away that I need? I can't decide. Ugh. I've gotta go get a better look at 'em.