Orly Emberstone

Sorry for my hiatus, but here's a post (finally!).

Let's call this the "I GOT THE JOB!!" mani, because well, I was wearing it when I got the call. It's an Administrative Assistant position with a non-profit that I have been *dying* to work for, and it's my first "real" job, seeing as I've been in college or grad school and working part-time (for various other non-profits and a restaurant) for the eight and a half years. And then I moved, so I've been unemployed since late April, and it is hard to find a job right now out there. The HR girl at the company told me she received over 400 applications for certain postings, which is nuts! Also, I took a gamble and turned down another (awful) job with the vague hope that I'd get this one... and I did. I started almost two weeks ago, and it's been stressful so far, but hopefully things will even out :)

OK so--Emberstone! Pretty, it makes me think of dying embers in a fire. It's a red-orange or really, an orange-red. It's an awesome glass fleck shimmer, and I think it looks even better on the nail than it does in the bottle. It's so eye-catching and pretty. Orly, you're knocking my socks off with these Mineral FX polishes. Reminds me of molten lava or something.

It was a tad sheer, so this is 3 coats:

It's got some wicked cool blue/purple shimmer going on in there. So super lovely, and definitely a bright happy color for an awesome day! Maybe this will be a good luck color for me from now on. What's your good luck color?

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.

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 :-)

The return & 16 manicures!

Hello readers, if there are any of you still out there!

I disappeared for a few months here, and with good reason: I was writing my Master's thesis. I thought I might be able to keep up with my blogging, but with two jobs and various life-craziness-health-related things going on, it just wasn't possible. But: on Friday, I turned in my thesis, and now I'm trying to remember how to resume a normal life! I just turned 25 in October, and finishing my Master's degree is a big deal for me. I finished my Bachelor's in 3 years (I was already a year ahead in high school, too), and after that I sort of lost my way. I turned down a full scholarship to do grad work at Emory University (after driving all the way down there with my stuff, no less). I took some time off and went back to the University where I got my Bachelor's. I did 3 semesters of grad coursework and then... never wrote my thesis. The university gave me a lot of trouble, they kept "forgetting" to notify me about course sign up and advisement.... and I inadvertently took a (calender) year off. This made it harder to get the project going, as to do your thesis it's good to have a current relationship with a professor, so they can serve as your advisor. I seriously considered abandoning my grad work. I was 23, burnt out on school, and feeling drunk on freedom. But... in the end, I opted to go back and finish, and I'm so glad that I did. It was a huge accomplishment, and I graduate on December 5th (finally!). I've considered going back to do Ph.d work, but that will be for another time in my life, I think. My Master's is in English, my focus being American literature, specifically Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Over the months, I did manage to take a few pictures... My nails have been of varying length over this time, tending towards the nubbin side of things... they're still kind of finicky. I hauled a lot too: Burlesque, NARS vintage, RBL sale, ChG holiday, and lots of Old OPI's that I've been acquiring... But anyway... what I have to show you isn't representative of everything, to say the least, but it's something.

Random spam for the last few months:

OPI Wing It!

Barielle June Bug (wore this for 4th of July... that's how old this is!!)

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

Sephora OPI Midnight Mambo

China Glaze Foxy

OPI Diva of Geneva

China Glaze Midnight Mission

China Glaze GR8

Streetwear FX Flash (green) (awful pic, sorry... hard to capture)

Borghese Nero Magico (seriously gorgeous... underrated)

MAC Bad Fairy

OPI Show Bring on the Bling

NARS Midnight Express (I think this was day 2 or 3, looking a bit worn)

Color Club Pucci-licious

Orly Galaxy Girl

My Current Nails: China Glaze Zombie Zest (a bit late, I missed Halloween!)

The varying lengths are kind of amusing. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things here! Not sure I'm up to posting every day or anything, but I'd like to keep it up :-)

Thanks for looking!!

Orly Royal Navy

Um, this polish is flipping gorgeous. I really have no words to describe the amazing vibrancy that is held within this bottle. This is yet another old NOTD. Royal Navy came out recently with a slew of other new and repromoted Orly polishes that recently became part of the permanent line. This is the perfect shade of blue--saturated, bright, deep. Gorgeous. It has blue microglitter that really reads as a shimmer. I didn't have any problems with the opacity of this polish, but some did. The base is kind of a jelly, but it's pretty opaque. Gah! It's so lovely. Another I seriously suggest getting your butt to Sally's to grab.

This is two coats, excellent formula and drying time, as I have come to expect from Orly. These pictures, unfortunately, fail to do this polish justice:

And that's all for today :-D Thanks for reading!

Orly Snowcone & Orly Cotton Candy

More from the lovely Orly Sweet Collection. You'll note that this post contains Cotton Candy, which was not featured in my original post of what I bought... oops! This one came home to me today when I went to Sally's to use up a coupon before it expired. I decided I really liked this pink, that leans a little peach (maybe a dupe for MAC Seasonal Peach? Shoot. I wish I knew where mine was to compare...), and decided to grab it. They still have a few Lemonades left, too, and maybe I'll have to go back and get it just so my set is complete... hmmm, perhaps. I'm addicted to pastels so badly it hurts. Look at Orly Snowcone! It's super gorgeous. A medium cornflower blue, not as bright as Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, and brighter (in my opinion) than Maybelline Pie In The Sky. So pretty. I wanted to wear both of these so bad and I couldn't decide so I did some "skittles" here and alternated. I really like pastel colors skittled. It's just so fresh. Except these two sort of look like a baby shower for fraternal (male-female) twins threw up on my nails... but that's how I roll.

The formula on these was good--thick and pigmented, especially Snowcone. This may be tricky to work with for some. Cotton Candy was thick but slightly less pigmented, it might have a touch of jelly quality to it, but only a touch, definitely not enough to classify it as such. 2 coats was good coverage for both (be careful with Cotton Candy, it might need three if you're not careful), and Snowcone was almost opaque in one. Lovely.

Behold:

Someone out there convince me I don't need Lemonade, OK? Tell me China Glaze's Lemon Fizz is enough. We'll see how long my will power holds out. I'm giving it 48 hours tops.

Anyway, hope spring has sprung wherever you're living. It's coming and going up in old New York, but it's sure getting there. Thanks for looking!

Orly Gumdrop

Hey, Orly Gumdrop. What's with you?? You pull so green in the bottle. I heard people buzzing that you were dupe-y to China Glaze's For Audrey. I said "Psssh. No way." Then I put you on my nails and you pulled blue! And then I saw the dupe-ish-ness. Sigh. I wish you just pulled a bit more green, like in the bottle. You look like a very blue based mint green (which I do NOT think For Audrey is, some do), kinda dusty and not chalky. This is why I chose you to try first. And you For Audrey'd a little too much on me. Boo. Pretty, just not what I expected.

Your formula was a bit clunky... thick, and you didn't self-even. I'm still talking to you, and it's kind of weird. I'll stop. The formula was thick and didn't self-even, and Seche Vite didn't really solve this problem. I think I might have been impatient with my application though, I was on my way to work. I also didn't use my normal Barielle basecoat, but their Hydrating Ridge Filler instead. I did this because my nails have been breaking a bit lately. Like chipping on top. Super-duper annoying. Anyway, this was a mistake because at work I had two more chips and my nails just keep getting shorter (as you will see in tomorrow's post).

But, onward I press. Here's Gumdrop:

Though this one was a bit tricky, it's not going to deter me from trying the rest of the Sweet collection that's awaiting my use.

Thanks for looking!

Orly Rage

Another offering from Orly's Foil FX collection. I love the name of this polish. Rage. Awesome. It's a rose gold, perhaps a muted cooper/bronze, if you will. The formula was excellent and required two coats for opacity. This is another keeper, I'm loving the super metallic finish of these. I think this would look a bit better and wash me out less if my nails were just a smidge longer. I can't wait for them to grow!

Anyway, here's a look. Mind the cleanup, with the metallics, it's kind of a bitch:

Lovely, no? I've got some Orly pastels up for you next... stay tuned.

Thanks for looking!