Orly Sugar High Preview

Periodically, I go hunting on the web to try and find news on the latest collections to share with you guys. We've got a pretty good idea already of what most of the major brands have on the horizon, but I had to really dig to find anything on Orly's spring polishes. Honestly I feel like they've fallen off the map in the last year or two. I see less and less PR and buzz for their collections and maybe it's just where I live, but their newest polishes seem to be a bit harder to find in stores nowadays. Have you noticed this at all?

Anyways, the point is, I managed to find some info on their Spring 2015 collection, Sugar High. It launches in February. Let's take a look!

Cake Pop

 

Candy Shop

 

Frosting

 

Key Lime Twist

 

Plum Sugar

 

Sweet Dreams

Source

The colors are nice enough, but I don't see anything here that gets me super excited. Sorry, Orly. :(

How do you like the looks of the Sugar High Collection? See anything you'll be picking up?

Twinsie Tuesday: Fandom Nails

We are creating fandom nails for this week's Twinsie Tuesday! If you're unfamiliar, "fandom" refers to a group of people who are passionate about a particular movie, TV show, book, etc. The first thing that came to mind for me was to do something comic book-related. I love reading comics and follow a ton of different series and characters. I'm generally more of a Marvel gal (X-Men was one of my gateway drugs into comicdom) but I also read quite a bit of DC.

One of my favorite recent series was Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's run on Wonder Woman. I was a huge Greek mythology nerd as a kid, so I liked that they put the Greek pantheon front and center in this version of Wonder Woman's world. But what I really loved is their multi-faceted take on Wonder Woman as a character. She's first and foremost a badass--as Wonder Woman should be--but aside from her physical strength and battle prowess she's also smart, witty, courageous and kind. Azzarello manages to contemporize her while still staying true to the core values and traits she's embodied since all the way back in 1941, when psychologist William Moulton Marston invented her as, in his words, "psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world." You don't need to be super familiar with Wonder Woman's history to read this series. All you need is a love of epic adventure and sistas doin' it for themselves.


Picking a polish to represent this fandom was easy: CrowsToes Wonder Woman! This glitterbomb features all of Wonder Woman's signature colors: gold, blue and red.

I originally wanted to wear Wonder Woman alone, but the individual shapes and colors got lost in the jumble, so I decided to layer it instead. I used Essie Good As Gold as my base here.

Hope you enjoyed my fandom nails! Be sure to show my Twinsies some love today too!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Deborah Lippmann Whisper Collection Preview

I was a huge fan of Deborah Lippmann's spring collection last year--I bought 2/3 of it--so I was really looking forward to seeing what Miss Deborah has in store for us this year. While last year's collection focused on garden pastels, this spring's set takes an even softer approach with four neutral sheers.

Chantilly Lace

 

Like Dreamers Do

A Fine Romance

 

Misty Morning

I can't lie: an all-neutral, all-sheer collection isn't really something that gets me reaching for my wallet. That's probably a good thing in my case, since I already know I'm gonna drop some serious cash on a lot of the other spring collections--Essie and OPI in particular.

The Whisper Collection is already up on DL's website. This one is gonna be a pass for me, but will YOU be picking anything up?

Deborah Lippmann Cosmic Love

Deborah Lippmann Cosmic Love is just about the glitteriest glitter that ever glittered. This sparklefest has a lightly tinted pink base filled to the brim with purple, gold and magenta holo glitter. Cosmic Love was originally part of a holiday minis set (which is how I picked it up) but DL knows what's up and eventually released Cosmic Love for a limited time as a full-sized, standalone shade. From what I can gather, its release as a single polish was a Nordstrom exclusive, but now the only place it seems to be available is through sites like Ebay.

I was expecting this polish to be super thick, especially since I have a mini bottle, but it was surprisingly nice! With glitters like this one, I find the dabbling method of application works best. Using that technique, I was able to get it to complete opacity in three coats. I followed up with Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food (full review coming soon) to get everything nice and smooth, before finishing up with DL's Gel Lab Top Coat.

I absolutely adore this polish! The holo makes it even more eye-catching and even in low light, it glimmers and sparkles like crazy. I found myself stopping to stare at it quite a bit!  It's been a while since we've been treated to another batch of Lippmann glitters, which sucks because they're always so stunning and DL has made some truly unique glitters over the years. But I have my fingers crossed we'll get more polishes like Cosmic Love sometime soon!

Essie Resort 2015 Preview

This is always such a fantastic time of year to be a nail addict. So many collections are coming out and we have a ton of fun new pretties to look forward to! Here's another set to add to your wishlist: Essie's Resort 2015 Collection!

Suite Retreat

 

Cocoa Karma

Time For Me Time

 

Stones 'n' Roses

Source 

 There are some pretty shades here, albeit nothing super unique. I'm not sure on a release date for the collection (the beauty site I found these pictures on is in Greek) but past Essie resort collections have hit stores in February, so I'm betting we can expect the same this time aound.

Will you be getting anything from this collection? I might pick up Stones 'n' Roses, depending on how the swatches look, but otherwise this one looks like a pass for me.

Twinsie Tuesday: Inspired By Your Shoes

I have something of an obsession with shoes. I swear at least half of my paycheck from my time working at Neiman Marcus went straight back into the shoe department. So I had a lot to pick from for this week's Twinsie Tuesday, where we were asked to do a manicure inspired by our shoes.

Since it's winter, I thought I'd go with my favorite pair of boots...although I wouldn't recommend wearing these in snow and ice, haha. These are my Patricia Field motorcycle booties:

I've got a bum left ankle, so I can't wear heels for a super long time, but these are surprisingly comfortable! They make me feel like such a badass.

I took a queue from one of my favorite fashionable ladies, Gwen Stefani, and used some of her OPI products--4 In The Morning and the nail art studs from the Over And Over A-Gwen set--and came up with this mani to represent my boots:

I think the satin finish of 4 In The Morning perfectly mimics the look of black leather. It's one of my favorite black polishes and a great go-to shade. My inner goth loves black polish, what can I say. :)

Be sure to show my Twinsies some love and see what they did this week! I can't wait to get a peak into everyone else's shoe closets!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Alaina at The Little Canvas

a-england Dancing With Nureyev

 a-england makes some of the best holos in the game, period. If you've never tried any of their polishes, you owe it to yourself to experience them. Can you tell I'm maybe a little bit of a fangirl here? 

If you need some further convincing, allow me to introduce Dancing With Nureyev as Exhibit A. The base color is a gorgeous steely blue with a hint of purple creeping in, beautifully topped off by a scattered holo effect. The tinge of purple is subtle but it peeks out at certain angles, almost like a duochrome. Coupled with the holo, it makes for a stunning effect, similar to what we've seen before from a-england with polishes like Princess Tears.

The formula on Dancing With Nureyev is absolutely perfect. It's super creamy and smooth, with no streaking or dragging whatsoever. I used two coats here and then skipped the top coat to keep the holo looking nice and shiny. I've already worn this polish once before and it gets fairly respectable wear time sans topcoat. If I remember right, I didn't have any chips 'til day three!

Dancing With Nureyev is a polish so magical that it could only come from a-england. I hope you love it as much as I do! :)