Orly Hope & Freedom Fest Preview

Entitled "Hope & Freedom Fest," Orly's upcoming spring collection features six shades inspired by social change and festival style. I think this is one of the more interesting releases we've seen from Orly in a while!

I'm digging Peaceful Opposition and Coachella Dweller the most. I haven't bought any new Orly in a while, but these might get me back on the bandwagon. I couldn't find an official release date for the collection, but I'd imagine it won't be too long before we start seeing these on shelves!

OPI Casino Royale

OPI Casino Royale is a red-based berry creme. I am generally not all that into berry polishes, but I decided to try something different, plus Casino Royale is possibly my all-time favorite Bond movie, so I had to have this. :) There's something very winter-y and cozy about berry shades during the wintertime to me. Now that we've finally gotten our first snowfall of the year where I live, the time seemed right to bust this baby out.

Casino Royale has a great formula that delivers opacity in two coats. I can see this color being very popular even after the Skyfall Collection has come and gone from shelves. This and Skyfall are the two colors from the collection that scream "classic OPI" to me. Beautifully deep berry polishes like this one always seem to be in demand as the weather gets colder.

What are your favorite polish colors to wear in wintertime? I like jewel tones and anything sparkly! I'll slip in a pastel here and there though when I'm longing for spring.

Orly Cotton Candy

Orly Cotton Candy is a peach-leaning pastel pink. I got this polish as part of my Secret Santa gift from one of my lovely Twinsies, Ash, (Thank you!!) and I first fell in love with after seeing it on my friend Elizabeth's blog. It's a lovely color--very fresh and clean-looking. I have a special fondness for soft pinks like this one.

Cotton Candy reaches opacity in three coats and the formula is surprisingly non-streaky. I adore this color. It's classically lady-like but still fun. Plus one of the few shades out there that makes me look tan! Arguably it's more of a spring color, but after seeing all of the previews for the pastel-heavy spring collections coming our way, I am in the mood for some pastels right now!

Butter London Sweetie Shop Preview

Butter London has just unveiled their Spring 2013 collection! Entitled Sweetie Shop, it features six pastel lacquers in candy-colored hues. These were just made available on bL's website yesterday!

Fruit Machine

Kerfuffle

Molly Coddled

Jasper

Cuppa

Fiver

 

 

I know I probably have dupes for these and yet I still want them all! I really can't resist a good pastel.

 

However, it's interesting to note that bL has these polishes retailing for $15, while all of their other polishes are still at the usual $14 pricepoint. I'm not sure what's going on there, but I sure hope the line isn't planning a permanent price hike anytime soon!

Essie Madison Ave-Hue Preview

Essie will be releasing six new colors this spring for their Madison Ave-Hue Collection. They look to be all cremes, but maybe there will be some shimmers (hopefully not any of Essie's infamous vanishing variety) in the mix too. Check it out!

Looks like a cute collection--not super unique, but there's still a fun variety of colors. I don't like it  as much as last year's spring collection but I'll still probably pick up several of these. I've skipped out on Essie's last two collections and I think I am in withdrawal!

See anything you'll be getting? Did Santa bring you any polish for Christmas yesterday?

Twinsie Tuesday: Two Birds Comet Plus Cupid Equals Love

Merry Christmas! If you celebrate, then I hope you are having a great time relaxing and exchanging gifts with your loved ones today! As you read this, I am most likely sandwiched between Corgis while the family and I unwrap presents. Not a bad way to spend the day! And yes, the Corgis get presents too. <3

Before I get to swatching, I'd also like to extend an extra special welcome to our newest Twinsie: Jamie of Polish, Please! So good to have you with us, Jamie and I hope you'll enjoy being a part of our little polish family!

So as you may have guessed, this week's TT theme is a Christmas inspired mani. Now, I knew the second I got Two Birds Comet + Cupid = <3 that it was going to be my Christmas mani, so I decided to showcase it for this week's TT post too! This polish is from my fellow Twinsie Sarah's polish line, Two Birds. It's a hot pink jelly base with pink microglitter, pink and white matte squares, black shredded pieces and red and black hearts. Basically it's a fabulous explosion of all things girly!

I am home for the holidays and accidentally left the polish bottle at my apartment, so please excuse my holding a bottle of DL cuticle oil (which is AMAZING, btw). Anyways, isn't this just the cutest?! I like that it's a bit of a different take on Christmas polish in terms of color and theme. But hey, part of the Christmas spirit is about spreading the love, right? :) I think it would make an adorable Valentine's mani too though--or heck, for any day, really!

What you see here is two coats. I didn't have to fish at all for the hearts either. Every one of my fingers had at least one heart on it just from normal application. Score!

That about does it from me today! Be sure to check out the other TT ladies' Christmas manis below and have an amazing holiday! :)


Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jamie at Polish, Please!
Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Katherine at Haul of Fame
Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

Two Birds Red Noser

Long time, no talk! I'm in the midst of all the craziness of the holiday season, so between work and the ten million things on my to-do list, I've fallen off my usual blogging schedule. But let me try to make it up to you with a beautiful holiday polish from my friend Sarah's polish line, Two Birds!

Inspired by the most famous reindeer of all, Red Noser is a red jelly base filled a bevvy of red glitter--bars, small and large squares, hexes and round--plus some small black squares to give the polish some added depth and variety. I've worn this polish twice since I got it and it seems to attract a lot of compliments. Everyone loves a fun, glittery red!

The glitter in Red Noser spreads evenly and despite having a jelly base, this polish is still opaque in just two easy coats. Even though this is a Christmas polish, I'd say you can wear it year-round. Reds are always in season, plus the black squares against a red base remind me a bit of strawberries--very summery!

You can purchase Two Birds at the brand's Etsy shop. I picked up one more Two Birds holiday polish, but I'm saving it for my Christmas mani! :)

OPI Oz The Great And Powerful Soft Shades Preview

OPI is mixing up their annual Soft Shades Collection this year with a set of polishes inspired by Disney's upcoming movie, "Oz The Great And Powerful." The polishes range from the usual Soft Shades sheers, glitters and another of the liquid sand polishes first seen in the soon-to-be-released Mariah Carey Collection. The collection will be released in March. Take a look at what's in store--and don't forget to click to enlarge!

Photo Source

I'm glad OPI is doing something a little different with their Soft Shades this year. Soft Shades is normally not a collection I get excited for, but I could see myself digging the glitters for sure. I am still undecided on the whole liquid sand finish though.

Are you excited to see OPI shaking things up with the Soft Shades or do you miss the classic sheers? Which polishes will you be picking up from this collection?

Zoya Lovely Spring 2013 Preview

Zoya has unveiled their offerings for Spring 2013: a six-piece, pastel-hued collection called Lovely. It features three metallics and three cremes. Take a look!

I'll have to wait for swatches to see how I feel about the metallics, but those pastel cremes look...well, lovely!

See anything you'll be picking up? Did your name get chosen this time around?

Twinsie Tuesday: Butter London Jack The Lad

It's Tuesday, so you know what that means: another Twinsie Tuesday theme! I really like this week's: a manicure inspired by your birthstone. My birthday is June 5 (the same day as my lovely Twinsie Nory). June is an interesting month, because there are several official June birthstones: pearl, alexandrite and moonstone. Heck, there are probably more for all I know!

I decided to go with alexandrite for my mani's inspiration, because I think it's an absolutely gorgeous stone. A single gem can appear anywhere from a deep green to an iridescent red depending on what lighting you view it in.

Photo Credit

 

 

Now you know I love me some deep green polish, so I was excited to try and recreate the deep green aspect of alexandrite's color shift. I went with one of Butter London's holiday polishes, Jack The Lad. Jack The Lad is a dark green shimmer with gold, turquoise and green microglitter. It's an appropriately multifaceted polish for a gem-inspired manicure!

I love how all the microglitter gives this polish an almost foil-like shine. The formula applies smoothly and covers in three coats. If not for China Glaze Winter Holly, Jack The Lad would be my favorite green from this year's holiday collections. I'm not sure it would up nailing the alexandrite green I was going for, but it's gorgeous just the same!

Be sure to check out my fellow Twinsies' birthstone manis below!



Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Katherine at Haul of Fame
Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

Butter London Fishwife

Can you believe this is my 500th post?! I'm a bit shocked--and also grateful to all of you out there for reading about my silly little adventures in polish land. <3

To mark the occasion, allow me to introduce you to one of my new favorite Butter London polishes: Fishwife! Fishwife is a pale blue linear holo and it's absolutely gorgeous! As far as I know, this polish is currently exclusive to Butter's website and is a US-only polish.

Isn't it beautiful? *sigh* I really cannot stress how much I adore Fishwife! I wore it without topcoat (wouldn't want to diminish that lovely linear holo at all) and was pleasantly surprised how well it held up. I wore Fishwife for four days and only had two small chips and a bit of tipwear by the time I took it off.

Fishwife is definitely worth tracking down online. I think it's easily one of the most beautiful polishes Butter has ever done!

China Glaze Tranzitions Preview

China Glaze is releasing a new collection of color-changing polishes this January called Tranzitions. The collection features six shades, but since each shifts to a different color when you add topcoat, it's like you're getting 12 colors in all. Take a look!

Top row, L to R: Split Perso-NAIL-ity (dusty pink shifts to fuchsia), Duplicityy (mint green to teal), Modify Me (periwinkle to indigo)

Bottom row, L to R: Altered Reality (teal to turquoise), Metallic Metamorphisis (silvery grey to blue-based charcoal grey), Shape Shifter (smokey violet to dark purple)

 

I could see these being cool for nail art, but seeing as I'm terrible at nail art and generally don't like gimmick-y polish, they're just not for me personally. (I'm also not a fan of unnecessary Z's in attempts at "edgy" spelling, but that's another story.)

 

Will you be indulging at all? What are your thoughts on gimmicky polishes: fun novelty or tacky?

Essie Mezmerised

When Essie moved into drugstores, they changed some of their "racier" polish names like Velvet Voyeur, Demure Vixen and...Mesmerize? Yes, for some reason, the powers that be decided the general public was apparently just not ready for Mesmerize and hence, it became Mezmerised. Keep in mind, this is the same company that once released a polish called Meet Balls.

While they may have changed the name on the bottle for whatever reason, thankfully Essie didn't mess with the beautiful cobalt blue inside!

I received Mezmerised as a birthday gift from my friend Amanda of Amandalandish. So thanks Amanda! :)

The formula is excellent; almost a one-coater. I had to use two to cover up a patch here and there though. Do I have a dupe or near-dupe of this color? Probably. Do I care? Nope, not one bit! It's such a beautiful blue that I don't mind at all.

I wish Essie made more blues! In addition to Mezmerised, they've done some really beautiful ones in the past: Sweet Talker, Bikini So Teeny, Borrowed and Blue, Who Is The Boss... I could go on. Then again, I'm pretty much always an advocate for brands making more blues and greens, since those are my two favorite polish colors. ;)

Hare Rad Cloud

Meet Hare Rad Cloud. We are in love. <3

Rad Cloud is a pink base with green and purple square glitter; orange, magenta and purple hex glitter; and small round pink glitter. But that description really doesn't do justice to how lovely this polish truly is. It's a very fresh and feminine-looking polish. The color scheme makes me think of spring flowers and candy--both good things! :)

I absolutely adore this polish! I wore it for three days and was actually sad to take it off, rather than itching to change things up like I usually am by that point. I took these pictures on day three and as you can see (unintentional rhyming aside), it held up really well. I didn't have a single chip and there was virtually no tipwear either. The formula is excellent and opaque in two coats. I was a bit afraid that since the base color is so light, I'd have to layer it, but you can definitely wear Rad Cloud alone with no VNL!

This is one of my favorite indies in recent memory! What are some of yours?

Twinsie Tuesday: Chanukah Inspired Manicure

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is a Chanukah inspired mani! So first off, I want to wish a Happy Chanukah to those of you who celebrate!

As much as I abhor nail art, I wanted to attempt something at least slightly artsy for this theme and I had a particular idea in mind for my inspiration. While she was not Jewish herself, my Aunt Ruth Ann had a strong interest in and admiration for Jewish traditions and customs. She's no longer with us, but I have fond memories of playing dreidel with her when I was little. I wanted to incorporate something involving dreidel into my Chanukah inspired mani that I could (hopefully) pull off with my limited art skills.

If you're never played dreidel, you spin the dreidel and each side it can land on has a different letter--shin, gimel, nun and hay--that determines what you do on your turn. There's a prize pot (usually chocolate coins) and you either take from or pay into it based on your spin. If you spin the dreidel and it lands on gimel, then you win the entire pot.

Photo Credit

Gimel=mad cash (most likely chocolate) money

 

I decided to paint gimel on my ring finger as an accent nail, then cover the rest of my nails with sparklies. Chanukah is the festival of lights, after all! ;)

 

 

My base color was Essie Mesmerized (a birthday gift from my fabulous Twinsie Amanda), which I topped off with OPI Spark de Triomphe. I painted gimel with Sally Hansen White On. My gimel turned out a little wonky, but I was still very pleased with this mani, since it's associated with some happy memories. :)

 

Check out my fellow Twinsies' Chanukah inspired manis below!

 

Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Katherine at Haul of Fame
Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

Essie Mod Squad

A little over a week ago, I showed you my very first Essie: French Affair. Another of my very early Essies was Mod Squad. I honestly have zero memory of buying this polish, but I know it's one of the older ones in my stash. For some reason, I bought a lot of pinks when I was first getting really into polish. I haven't worn this one in ages!

The formula is great--somewhat surprising for an older Essie. I had no issues with application and this polish is opaque in two coats. Mod Squad is pretty close to OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips or NOPI All Kendall-ed Up. Mod Squad is maybe a touch lighter and not as vibrant as either of those polishes, but they are similar enough that you probably don't need both, unless you're really into pinks.

How have your polish tastes changed over time? I definitely buy more glitter than I once did (before I didn't know tricks for removing it) and more greens!

Review: Born Pretty 3D Fimo Nail Decorations

It's no secret that I suck at nail art. But lucky for me, Born Pretty Store came to the rescue by letting me play around with a super cute fimo kit to create adorable instant nail art! They have all kinds of nail art goodies and nail polishes at Born Pretty but ultimately I decided to give this kit a go because I've been wanting to try fimo for a while now.

The fimo set I used, which you can check out at Born Pretty by clicking HERE, comes with 12 different 3D shapes and they are all sooo cute! You get a nice variety: butterflies, lady bugs, wreaths, cake, bells and turtles. They come in a small plastic case with a clear top attached for easy storage.

 

The pieces are really easy to work with: just plop 'em onto some wet topcoat and go! I had a lot of fun playing around with these.

With China Glaze Winter Holly:

 

With Santee Vikini Green:

 

With Kleancolor Chunky Holo Teal:

 

 

The Winter Holly mani was my absolute favorite. How adorable is that little wreath?! That was my Thanksgiving mani and I'm sure I was driving everyone nuts by showing it off. I couldn't help myself though!

Admittedly these aren't the most practical decorations. I wore the Winter Holly mani as a regular mani for a few hours until a bell came off while I was digging in between the couch cushions for something. I only used topcoat as my adhesive though, so you might have better luck if you're willing to try some type of glue. The decorations themselves are quite sturdy and I never felt like they were going to break or chip.

At about five bucks, the set is super affordable. It'd make a great starter kit for anyone looking to get into fimo, because you get a lot of shapes and ideas to play around with for a good price. I highly recommend it!

The folks at Born Pretty have also been kind enough to provide my readers with a 10% off code, plus you get free shipping! My package was very securely wrapped and took just two weeks to get here all the way from Hong Kong--impressive!

Disclosure: This kit was provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

OPI The Spy Who Loved Me

I must be ill. Some of my favorite OPI Skyfall polishes so far have been...*gasp* reds! I like the color red, but I think most red polishes don't have anything special about them. Not so for the OPI Skyfall reds though! I've loved every one I've tried so far and The Spy Who Loved Me is no exception! It's has the most beautiful gold glassfleck. I kept staring at this polish all day--and I hardly ever say that about a red.

Look at all that glorious glassfleck...

The formula is fabulous and covers in two coats. I really don't have a bad word to say about The Spy Who Loved Me! It reminds me of another one of my favorite OPI reds: Love Is A Racket. They aren't dupes, just two gorgeous red glassflecks. :)

What are some of your favorite reds? Are you loving the OPI Skyfall reds as much as I am?