Twinsie Tuesday: Chanel Peridot

I'm alive!! Sorry I was gone for a few days. I've had a lot on my plate lately, so I haven't had as much time and energy for blogging as I would like. But I'm back in time for this week's Twinsie Tuesday, where we're showing the true depths of our polish addictions by sharing our biggest splurge. Mine was pretty easy to remember: Chanel Peridot!

I bought this beauty back in college, when I worked at Neiman Marcus, so I was able to use my employee discount to knock a few bucks off, but it's still the priciest polish in my stash. It also happens to be my favorite polish ever, so it was totally worth it! There are multiple dupes of Peridot now but when it first came out, its pairing of rich gold with a green and teal duochrome was very unique. Even though it's since been duplicated by other brands, Peridot is still a total stunner!

Peridot applies just as wonderfully as she looks. You do have to be a little careful with brushstrokes, but there's nothing out of the norm for a metallic polish. I used three coats here.

This is a polish that will always hold a very special place in my heart. It's a drop-dead gorgeous shade and the only Chanel polish in my collection. I hope you enjoy looking at Peridot as much as I do! :)

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Dermelect Heirloom

Let's talk jewel tones for a bit, shall we? I've got an amazing one from Dermelect to show you today called Heirloom! Heirloom is a rich, deep sapphire blue--verging on navy, really--with a fine mist of red micoshimmer. You lose a lot of the shimmer in the dry down, which is a shame because it's so stinkin' gorgeous, but the base color here is no slouch either!

The formula is fabulous and didn't give me any trouble at all. I used three coats here.

You can purchase Dermelect from their website.

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

China Glaze Life Preserver

Now that the fall season is officially upon us and pumpkin-themed everything is EVERYWHERE (not that I'm complaining--I love me a good pumpkin latte or pumpkin-scented candle), it's time to shift from the bright and bouncy citrus orange shades of summer to the terracota-toned oranges of fall. China Glaze Life Preserver is a perfect example. Plus this color has a throwback, 70s kind of vibe to it that I really like!

The formula here was okay, but not spectacular. I found it to be too thin and runny for my tastes. Still, I managed to get good coverage after three coats; you just have to be careful or else you'll wind up with some messy pooling around the cuticles.

Formula gripes aside, Life Preserver is still worth checking out. It's a departure from your typical orange and I like how unique it is! It came out as part of the Anchors Away Collection back in 2011, but I believe it's still a part of CG's core offerings, so it shouldn't be too tough to hunt down!

Zoya Rue

We're busting out some neutral nails for this week's Twinsie Tuesday! I decided to delve into my untrieds for my pick: Zoya Rue, a pink-toned nude. (Zoya calls this color "boudoir blush," which I think is a really cute description.)  Rue first came onto my radar because of the name. As a Hunger Games fan, I wanted it! Ultimately, I was lucky enough to receive this polish from Amanda, so a big thanks goes to her for hooking me up with this pretty nude!

The formula on Rue is awesome. It's got a near-perfect consistency to it that provides full coverage in two coats.

I was kinda worried the pink undertone on this one would clash with my skin, but I actually like how Rue looks on me! One of the things I appreciated about Zoya's Naturel collections is that they showcased a wide variety of "nudes" that will work on lots of skintones. Plus, even if the shade you pick isn't a mannequin hands match, it's still bound to be a clean, versatile palette cleanser. Win-win!

Thanks for checking in with me today and I hope you'll give a look-see to what my Twinsies did for their neutral manis too! :)

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Butter London Tart With A Heart

Butter London Tart With A Heart is a charming iridescent glitter topper that I've featured on here before. After seeing it peeling out at me from my nail polish rack day after day, I started to get the itch to wear it again. So I popped it over OPI You're So Vain-illa and I gotta say, I forgot just how pretty this one is!

Tart With A Heart spreads very evenly and easily across the nail, delivering plenty of glittery goodness in just one coat.With one coat, removal was surprisingly easy too. I suppose you could build this up to wear alone but I think it truly comes to life with a base underneath. A neutral really lets you see all the different colors of glitter that are in this polish!

I've really been rekindling my love affair with BL lately. I used to buy Butter constantly but then I kinda fell off the wagon for a while. What brand have you recently fallen back in love with?

Review: Lush Veganese Conditioner

I have had a really hard time finding a conditioner that my hair likes. Even ones that claim to be "lightweight" always wound up making my hair look greasy and feel oily. So for the longest time, I just gave up altogether on using one, because I was tired of wasting my money. But since I color-treat my hair, I had to admit that even my naturally oily hair needed a conditioner.

So I decided to give it one last go by ordering Lush's Veganese. Based on past experience with conditioners in general, my expectations for Veganese were pretty low. So I was shocked when I fell in love with it!

Unlike most conditioners, Veganese is formulated without lanolin, which is what makes it vegan, since lanolin comes from sheep. But it also makes Veganese very lightweight. In place of lanolin, Veganese uses agar gel (which comes from seaweed) to soften and condition the hair. Lush formulated it not only for their vegan customers, but also for their Japanese stores, where their customers were telling them they wanted a light conditioner for naturally straight and oily hair.

With Veganese, I only apply it on the ends of my hair; from the ears down is my general rule of thumb. As soon as I rinse it, my hair feels softer and smoother almost instantly. Veganese also contains lemon oil to add some nice shine, not to mention a light, citrus-y scent that I could catch whiffs of throughout the day.

I recently had to say goodbye to my beloved Veganese, since I needed something a bit heavier now that I've gone bleach blonde and my hair can handle extra moisture. I've bumped things up to another Lush conditioner, American Cream, which is lovely too. But I figured I would share my thoughts on Veganese if you too are looking for a good conditioner for oily hair. Even if your hair feels greasy, it still needs moisture and protection to keep it healthy! So if you feel like you've tried everything, try Veganese! It's a fantastic product and one that I would recommend in a heartbeat!

OPI You're So Vain-illa

I am not a big nude polish wearer, but I will make an exception for a good taupe or eggshell-type shade. So OPI You're So Vain-illa from the Coca-Cola Collection, a vanilla creme (how appropriate), sounded like it was right up my alley.

The formula is great, covering in three coats. At first I had wondered if this would be too close to OPI My Vampire Is Buff (which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, since that's one of my all-time favorite OPI's) but I can say now that they aren't dupes. They play in the same sandbox, for sure, but Vain-illa has more of a putty undertone to it. It's kinda like if My Vampire Is Buff and Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh? from the Holland Collection had a lovechild. Either way you slice it, this is a fabulous neutral!  

What are some of your favorite neutral polishes?

Born Pretty Strawberry Water Decals: Review & Swatches

I've got some super cute strawberry-themed water decals from Born Pretty Store to show you today! It's no secret that these decals are some of my very favorite nail art products. I love how quick, easy and adorable they are!

All you have to do is cut out the decals, dunk them in water for a bit, peel off the backing, then apply them to your base polish (Deborah Lippmann Marnie, in my case). Seal them with some topcoat and you're ready to show off your brand new nail art!

The only thing you have to be careful of with these decals is if you run your top coat brush over the same area too many times, the bristles can pull the decals apart a little bit. (You can see this happened on my index finger.) However, this is a minor issue and I only had that one tiny hiccup with it. Overall, these decals were very nice quality and a breeze to apply! Plus I love how happy and bright the design is. I couldn't help smiling whenever I'd look at my nails. :)

If you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

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

Twinsie Tuesday: Accent Nail

This week we're busting out an old favorite for Twinsie Tuesday: the accent nail! One of the many cool things about accent nails is you can go as simple as popping a contrasting color on or as intricate as doing a crazy pattern. If you know me and nail art, then you know which route I took. ;)

So for my accent mani, I paired two Butter London polishes: All Hail The Queen, a scattered nude holo, as my main polish and Lady Muck, an icy blue with silver shimmer, for my accent nail. This is a combo I've had in the back of my mind for a while now, so I jumped on the chance to finally give it a go for this theme.

I love the idea of pairing a neutral with a little pop of color. I think these two shades compliment each other beautifully. Lady Muck livens things up a bit, but it's still elegant and understated in its own right, so it doesn't overshadow All Hail The Queen (which is one of my all-time favorite neutrals, by the way).

I hope you liked my accent nail mani. :) I can't wait to see what my Twinsies came up with this week!

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Deborah Lippmann Marnie

Deborah Lippmann Marnie is a pretty shade of ballerina pink. This polish originally came as part of DL's set for the HBO show Girls, which I really only bought because I had to have Hannah, but thankfully the other shades from the set are all lovely as well!

The formula on Marnie is pretty sheer, but it has a nice, workable consistency to it. So aside from having to use more coats than usual--I needed four in all--application didn't cause any headaches.

Marnie is a fantastic palette cleanser shade and a great, ladylike pink for any time of year. This was the shade I was looking forward to trying the least from the Girls set, so I was surprised how much I took a liking to it.

Azature Coral Diamond

Azature Coral Diamond is a vibrant coral creme. Like all Azature polishes, Coral Diamond is made with a real black diamond, so the creme finish has a beautiful shine to it. I photographed it here without topcoat (since it was the base to my sideways French mani I did a few Twinsie Tuesday's ago) and you can really see how much it shines all on its own! It's also crazy bright, so much so that it completely freaked my camera out. I tried my best to get some good snaps of it, but my camera really did not want to cooperate with this one.

The formula was very nice, covering in three easy coats. I have yet to use an Azature polish that has a less-than stellar formula and this is no exception. 

You can purchase Azature from their website.


Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure.

Deborah Lippmann Fantastical Holiday 2014 Preview

Deborah Lippmann's psychedelic Fantastical is not what you might expect from a holiday collection. With tie-dye hues and trippy glitters, this could be the most unique holiday collection we've seen in a while!

Weird Science

 

Marrakesh Express

Magic Carpet Ride

 

Dream Weaver

Dear Mr. Fantasy

 

Xanadu

Sign me up for Xanadu and Magic Carpet Ride! As I mentioned above, this collection may be kind of outside the norm for a holiday set, but I like that about it. It's nice to see a break from the typical slue of holiday reds.

Fantastical is already available for purchase on DL's website. Will you be picking anything up?

OPI How Great Is Your Dane?

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a fan of brown polish. But for whatever reason, I can't resist a good taupe, even one that's almost brown, like OPI How Great Is Your Dane?. This rich, chocolate-y taupe won me over! I think the key is the slightly cool undertone that keeps this color from veering too far off into brown territory.

Even with my mini bottle, the formula here was excellent--very smooth and creamy. It covered nicely in two coats. I never thought I'd say it, but the OPI minis might actually be winning me over! I've had a good experience with my Nordic Collection set.

As for How Great Is Your Dane?, I think this color is worth a look even if you typically shun browns like me. It reminds me a bit of one of OPI's all-time classics, You Don't Know Jacques. How Great Is Your Dane? is the perfect mix of classic and unexpected.

Twinsie Tuesday: Zoya Zuza

This week we're doing teal nails, in recognition of September being ovarian cancer awareness month. There's currently no simple screening test for ovarian cancer, so early detection and diagnosis are key. Next time you're at the doctor, take a few minutes to ask them about early signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer. Hopefully it is information you and your loved ones will never need to actually use, but it's important to be informed and aware.

Okay, so that's my little speech. Let's look at some nails, yeah? :) For my teal mani, I opted for Zoya Zuza, a bright, summer-y teal with silver shimmer. It kinda reminds me of a more saturated Butter London Victoriana, an old favorite of mine.

I reeeaaaalllyyy hope this doesn't stain. I've always had bad luck with Zoya teals.  One thing I do know already though is that Zuza's actual formula is pretty "meh." There's a lotta drag to it and it can get lumpy at spots if you're not careful. I needed three coats in total.

The color itself is lovely though! The shimmer is beautifully intense and a prime example of why Zoya shimmers are such a reliable favorite in the polish world.

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

China Glaze Apocalypse Halloween 2014 Preview

China Glaze is famous for their Halloween collections and they're back at it again this year with Apocalypse, a new five-color collection. I'm not quite sure of the release date for these babies, but typically we see Halloween stuff starting to pop up around mid-September, so I imagine it won't be too long until these show up in stores. Until then, let's take a sneak peek!

 

But Of Corpse

Don't Let The Dead Bite

 

Getting To Gnaw You

I Love Your Guts

 

Rest In Pieces

Re-promotes of White On White, Orange Knockout and Liquid Leather

 

12-piece display, which includes a re-promote of CG's glow-in-the-dark topcoat, Ghoulish Glow

Source

I found last year's collection a little disappointing, but it looks like this could be one of CG's strongest Halloween collections in recent memory! I'm looking forward to Rest In Pieces and Don't Let The Dead Bite, myself. What about you?

Essie Vices Versa

Essie Vices Versa is a neon lime green creme. Summer is almost over, but I figure there's still a little time to squeeze a few more bright shades in! To really make the most of this gorgeous green, I wore it over OPI Put A Coat On!, a white base coat that's the perfect partner for any neon.

I do think Vices Versa really needs the white base to amp it up to a true neon. On its own, it's not nearly as vibrant and doesn't have that neon pop to it. The formula was pretty streaky, so the white also helps to even that out. I used three coats here.

I've read a lot of complaints about the formulas in the Too Taboo Collection and while this one wasn't stellar, I didn't think it was that bad either. Plus I'll forgive a whole lotta sins for an awesome green! ;) The color is definitely a winner and a great shade to finish off the summer with!

Jamberry Giveaway Winner

Jamberry consultant Amanda was kind enough to host a giveaway on my blog for a Jamberry Glitter Top Coat and today I'm very excited to announce the winner! The winner is...

Ashley S!

Congratulations, Ashley! Please check your e-mail, as I've already sent you a message about how to officially claim your prize.

And last but not least, thank you to everyone who entered! :)

UPDATE: I have heard back from Ashley, so the giveaway is now officially closed!

Twinsie Tuesday: Dermelect Lustrous

Sorry for the late post today! Let's get right to it, shall we? Today's TT theme has us showcasing a summer-to-fall transitional polish. To me, red is a color that works all year long and is the perfect bridge between seasons. But the particular red I chose, Dermelect Lustrous, is a garnet shimmer with a brown lean to it and I think that brown undertone makes Lustrous an especially apt choice for fall.

The formula is fantastic, covering in three easy coats. Jewel tones are my favorite shades to wear for fall and this one is pretty much perfect. The color makes me think of cranberries, pumpkins, leaves changing...everything fall-centric, really. :)

So that's my transitional mani for ya! Fall used to be my least favorite season but I've really taken a liking to it in the past few years. What about you: ready for fall? And be sure to see what my Twinsies did for their fall transitional manis today too!

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

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