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?

A quick update...

Hi guys! I apologize for being MIA so suddenly but in less than a week, my husband and I found and leased a new apartment, moved, AND I started my new job. Things have just been crazy, but I definitely haven't abandoned this little blog. I just won't have Internet at home until October 6th, and posting from my iPhone is a huge pain so it'll have to wait.

My nails, between anxious picking and moving breaks, are trashed. So a little TLC and we'll be back and ready to go in no time!

Best to you all, you guys are the best :) :)

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Purple Diamond

Dollar Tree can be simultaneously amazing and an asshole. While I've found things there occasionally (and often way behind the times), the hunt is kinda fun. Plus: $1, occasionally less if in two-packs. These Dollar Trees I formerly hauled at were in Upstate New York, and yes, it was not unheard of for me to hit quite a few on a given day. Now in Canada, we have Dollarama, which is kinda awesome for other stuff but a veritable polish wasteland. Any-who. My NY Dollar Trees got Nail Prisms but never any of the holographic ones, so I ended up ordering this and Golden Tourmaline on eBay for a price that was about on par with what it originally retailed for (fine with me).

This polish is the ridiculous kind of holo that makes me smile. Light purple, with holo that seems to be not only scattered but also linear, and super bright and sparkly. It actually shines so well indoor under lamplight (this was compared to the premature fall drear that overhung Winnipeg today).

This is 3 coats (old polish can get kinda watery), and Seche Vite didn't appear to dull the goodness:

Ummm awesome! I'm looking forward to tracking down more of these! I remember them being in stores, but I was a poor middle and high schooler, and while I loved polish, Sally Hansen was not on my radar at the time. I had a few Wet 'N Wilds (glitter!), some Janes, and a whole bunch of those Townley Cosmetics polishes they sold at places like Claire's and Fashion Bug back in the mid-90's. Then again, I also had about 20 bottles of that black L'Oreal Jet Set, from when I was a fledgeling punk rocker in the late 90's. I wish I hadn't thrown all that good stuff out!

OPI Gold Shatter

I was pretty excited to stumble upon this, since I thought it was supposed to come out with the Muppets holiday release. I refrained from buying any of the gold China Glaze metallic crackles because I wanted this one. And it's a great gold. Not too pale, not too yellow. Shiny and bright. And I was super-duper excited to try it over my Orly Stone Cold manicure from the previous day.

But then this happened:

Again, I apologize for the way my camera goes haywire with shimmer. If I am soon employed, a new camera is surely on my list of things to get.

The first nail shattered nicely, the next one less so, the next one even less so... and so on, basically ending up in a major fail. As you can see, my index finger, while blurry, barely shattered at all. My right hand is just awful. And I only did thick enough coats to ensure the gold was opaque, but nothing crazy. Damn you, Gold Shatter,  I want to love you so!! You are super blingy and gorgeous but you don't shatter all the way! It didn't appear to need to be thinned (but I may try this), but I guess my next go will have to be trying it over wet-ish polish rather than dry, as I know some mentioned having more success with certain OPI Shatters this way. But for now, the jury's out on this one.

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.

Essie Playa del Platinum

Sorry if things are boring around here lately, folks, but I have been busy-busy and job interviewing, so nudes it is! Today, I have for you yet another: Essie Playa del Platinum. It was a recent acquisition, and I'm glad I rounded out last year's resort collection. This is a strange and amazing color. It's very nude, but also kinda putty like. It's got a definite green and/or yellow-ness to it, especially in the bottle. Oh the nail though, it transforms into a lovely neutral shade, that is simultaneously flattering, office-appropriate, and due to it's drab nature, kinda subversive.

I think this is two coats, and it was lovely enough that I wore it for a few days, even after my interview:

And in this job climate, I actually did something bonkers: I turned down a job recently. Ugh. It was something I thought I wanted, but the starting pay was too low (we're talking $10 here, and I've got a MA), the commute was 40 minutes (which for 10 bucks is insane), and they wanted me to say belittling things to their customers who missed appointments on the phone. This was reception in a chiropractic office, by the way. It's about half of what I'd like to make and that I think I'm worth, so I turned it down. I'd rather wait tables in our neighborhood (and would probably make more money doing so.... I like restaurant work, and did it for 8 years on and off during high school, college and grad school) than put myself in the position of something I'd hate. On the bright side: I'm waiting to hear back from the job I would *love,* and since both interviews went well, I'm hopeful. They said this week, either way, they would let me know. I love companies who let you know either way, because there is nothing more degrading than just being brushed off and ignored.

Digression! So Playa del Platinum. I really want this job, so let's hope it brought me a little luck :)