Kreativ Blogger Award

A big thank you to The Dragon Lady for giving me the Kreativ Blogger Award!

Award rules:
1. Link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Complete the form below.
3. Award 10 other blogs and let them know in a comment or email
4. Share 7 random things about yourself.


FORM:

1. Name your favorite song.
Ugh, this is so hard! I don't think I really have one definitive favorite song because I listen to a really random mix of genres. I can't pick only one song that I like best!

2. Name your favorite dessert.
Ahh, much easier! I mentioned in this post that I have an undying love for French silk pie!

3. What ticks me off:
Arrogance, condescension, people who walk really slowly and people who are rude to waiters/servers/cashiers. I think everyone should be required to work a customer service or food service job at least once in their lives because it teaches you so much about the value of patience, understanding and most of all, manners! You can easily tell the difference between customers who have had a service job before and those who have not.

4. When I'm upset, I...
Usually seethe inwardly until I either have the opportunity to vent about it later or eventually calm down. I'm not good with confrontation I guess.

5. What's your favorite pet?
My two Corgis, Taxi and Natalie!

 Taxi as a puppy

Natalie

6. Black or white?
Black.

7. Biggest fear?
If we're talking in a non-abstract sense, then needles or Great White sharks. *shudder* A lot of my nightmares are about sharks. I don't live anywhere near an ocean so I'm not sure why I'm so scared of them haha. I also used to have a big problem with plane rides, but I got much better about them after I took like, five plane rides during my study abroad in Russia two years ago.

8. Every day attitude.
Hmm... I guess naturally I'm a kind of cynical/sarcastic person but I tend to find humor in pretty much any situation--the weirder, the better.

9. What is perfection?
Enjoying some time with the people closest to you.

10. Guilty pleasure?
I think this whole blog is basically a shrine to my guilty pleasure haha. Although I've become increasingly less guilty about my obsession with nail polish--I'm not sure if that's a bad or good thing! My other big guilty pleasure is the TV show "Hoarders." My friend and I watch it together every week. It's gross but in the best possible way.


7 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME:

1. I really hate when you're taking clean dishes out of the dishwasher and the old water from inside a cup or on a plate gets on you. I dunno, it just completely skeeves me out for some reason.

2. I'm a bigtime procrastinator. I totally work best under pressure or against a deadline, which I guess is a good thing since I'm going into journalism.

3. My favorite Beatle is George.

4. English/Literature is my favorite school subject and my least favorite is math.

5. I'm currently obsessed with George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, as well as the television adaptation of it, Game of Thrones. They are both soooo amazing!

6. I'm an only child. However, my best guy friend and I call each other "spiritual siblings," because we have too much totally random crap in common to not have been separated at birth.

7. The only professional sport I truly keep up with is hockey. Go Wings! If Detroit is knocked out of the playoffs then I tend to root for the Washington Capitals and/or the Philadelphia Flyers. I'm actually wearing a Flyers shirt right now!

10 BLOGS I PASS THIS AWARD ON TO:
1. Pixie Polish
2. My Polish Stash
3. AllYouDesire
4. Nightly Nails
5. Body and Soul
6. Polish Chest
7. ChitChat Nails
8.Imperfectly Painted
9.Lacquered Lover
10. The Polished Perfectionist

Revlon Whimsical

I essentially had an aneurism when I found out this polish existed. I have been waiting for a more affordable brand to dupe Deborah Lippmann Glitter In The Air so when I heard about Whimsical I was just over the moon. Finding this polish took a decent amount of hunting but I finally discovered it at Ulta and snatched up the last one! (Okay, the display only had two to begin with, but still-it was the last one!)

Whimsical has a milky, sheer base with pastel blue and pink hex glitter and some smaller silver hex glitter and round iridiscent glitter floating in it. Like I said, it's a dupe for Glitter In The Air, so if you're familiar with that polish, you know what you're getting with Whimsical. Since the base is so sheer and would likely require many coats to acheive full coverage, I chose to layer Whimsical over another Revlon polish, Blue Lagoon. Blue Lagoon is a beautiful baby blue shimmer and I thought it looked cohesive with the base color of Whimsical. This is two coats of each polish.

I love how ethereal and airy this polish looks. It's just so beautiful and I couldn't be happier with it! Revlon did a great job matching Whimsical to the Deborah Lippmann original. I'd been wanting Glitter In The Air forever but as lovely as it is, I could never bring myself to pay $20 for it. I'm much more comfortable for the $4-ish I paid for Whimsical.

Getting Whimsical will probably require some looking but it's totally worth it! I mentioned that I found mine at Ulta but I've read others have bought it at Bed Bath & Beyond (only the special ones that have cosmetics sections) and Kmart. If you see Whimsical, definitely grab it right then and there if you want it because this beauty's becoming quite hard to find already. I've never seen it other than the day I bought it.

To wrap things up, I thought I'd also show you Blue Lagoon on its own. Unlike Whimsical, Blue Lagoon is super easy to find since it's core. If you're a blue lover like me, this is a nice one to have in your collection and it has great formula and coverage, especially for a pastel.

Orly Out Of This World

Out Of This World comes from my all-time favorite Orly collection, Cosmic FX. I love every single one of the Cosmic FX polishes and I think they're just about the best thing Orly's ever done. Out Of This World is a dark purple shimmer with a subtle gold duochrome. The duochrome isn't as prominent as it appears in the bottle but it does come out to play at the right angles and reminds me of distant lights twinkling in space.

The formula on Out Of This World was good, however I did get some shrinkage with my Seche Vite topcoat--I hate it when that happens! Seche doesn't seem to play nicely with a lot of my Orly shimmers and unfortunately I'm out of Out The Door topcoat so I just had to live with it. Shrinkage aside, I've been wearing this polish for three days now and it's held up pretty well--only one small chip in my index finger, which I was able to quickly touch up.

 I used three coats here. I do wish the duochrome was a touch more prominent because it really is so beautiful when the light catches it and gives this polish some wonderful depth. Zoya Julieanne from the Wicked Collection and Color Club Alias from the Alter Ego Collection are supposed to be a dupes/near-dupes for Out Of This World, so either of those might make a nice substitute if you can't find Out Of This World or you want to save a few bucks.

Do you have a favorite Orly collection? What's your favorite Cosmic FX polish? I think mine is a tie between Space Cadet and It's Not Rocket Science.

L'Oreal Amazon's Flash

Hey all! Just a quick reminder that if you haven't already, check out my very first giveaway! The contest is open for about another week so there's still plenty of time to get those entries in! :)

Now let's move on to some swatches! Today I've got L'Oreal Amazon's Flash,a bright yellow gold foil, for you. It was released around Fall 2011 but I still see this hanging around when I'm out shopping. I was originally drawn to how intensely bright Amazon's Flash is and I thought I was really going to love this polish but once I put it on, I wasn't so sure. It grew on me the longer I wore it and I still really like the idea of this polish but I'm torn about whether I find it flattering on me personally.

 

The formula on Amazon's Flash was a little bit streaky/brushstrokey but those are some standard issues with most foil polishes. This was three coats. I love how shiny this polish is-Amazon's Flash is an appropriate name since this baby catches the light like crazy--but I think it may be too yellow for my skintone. Ugh, frustrating!

This polish is a mixed bag for me. I like it but I'm not head over heels for it like I'd hoped. Oh well, it's still pretty-and boy, is this sucker ever BRIGHT. I really can't stress that enough haha. If you want a gold foil that's a little on the different side, Amazon's Flash might be worth a look. I think this would look fabulous on someone with a warmer skintone than mine!

My Stash

I finally got around to posting some pictures of my stash today! I reorganized it the other day and decided to take some snaps of the finished product. You can check out my collection by either clicking HERE or on the "My Stash" tab at the top of the page. Enjoy! :)

Orly & SpaRitual Spring 2012 Preview

Let's take a look at what Orly and sister brand SpaRitual will have in store for us this spring! First up is Orly. The Cool Romance Collection will feature four cremes and two shimmers, all with a kind of dusty, pastel theme to them. The collection will be available in January.

Bottom row, L to R: You're Blushing, Prelude To A Kiss, Jealous Much?, Faint of Heart, Steel Your Heart, Artificial Sweetener

You're Blushing and Jealous, Much? catch my eye the most but I like the feel of this collection overall; very light and easy. There hasn't really been anything out about Orly's 2012 collections so it's nice to have this first peek. I hope they do another FX collection!

As for SpaRitual, their spring offering is called the Water Collection. 20% of the collection profits will go to Surge, a US non-profit organization that works to improve global access to safe, clean water. I only own one SpaRitual (Sacred Ground), mainly due to the fact that you can only really buy them online, but I'd like to get more in the future and these look intriguing!

L to R: Deep, Lucid, Ebb & Flow, Undercurrent, Ripple Effect, Hidden Reef

The Water Collection's official release date is February 1.

Do any of these stand out to you? Which ones are you most excited for? Have you tried any SpaRitual polishes?

China Glaze Lorelai's Tiara

I saved my favorite Eye Candy glitter for last: Lorelai's Tiara. The gorgeous Some Like It Haute comes in a very, very first second but Lorelai's Tiara (appropriately) takes the crown for me. Lorelai's Tiara is a silver microglitter with larger pieces of blue glitter mixed in. We got our first real snowfall here the other day and that really put me in the mood for this polish--it just screams snowflakes and icicles to me!

The formula on Lorelai's Tiara is fabulous. I used three coats and only had one stray piece of glitter hanging over my nails that needed to be filed down after I was done. Each coat covered evenly and cooperatively.

I'm really in love with this polish. I can't stop looking at it! I'm not a fan of cold weather but Lorelai's Tiara just really puts me in a wintery mood. I think all the Eye Candy glitters are marvelous but if you get just one, I'd make it this. I love them all though and I dig the Marilyn Monroe theme they did for this collection.

Fun fact: The name of this polish is a reference to one of her most famous movies, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which is remembered most for her iconic performance of "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend." In the film, Marilyn's character Lorelai Lee lands herself in hot water after she finagles a diamond tiara from a very rich-and very married-man, who later accuses Lorelai of stealing it to avoid the wrath of his angry wife. Definitely a fun film to watch and a chance to see a film legend at her best.