Polish-aholic in Training

Seriously, this is becoming a problem. In the last 2 weeks I’ve bought 9 new polishes. And I haven’t even worn HALF of the ones I received for my birthday… Kirsten it’s all your fault, so this post is dedicated to you. My shoes are starting to get jealous!

 

Every Saturday henceforth shall be dedicated to nail polish. There’s no way I’m going to turn my whole blog into a polish-frenzy, but I figure that once a week will be enough to show off all my polishes (and give me a handy excuse to buy more). I’m secretly calling this new section “Sparkly Saturdays” but you can forget that I said that, since not all of my polishes are going to be sparkly.

Because I’m blaming Kirsten for getting me hooked, and because she bought me a load of polish for my bday, and because she got cranky that I didn’t like the oranges (so shoot me), we’re going to start off the Sparkly Saturday posts with a polish that she gave me. This one is from the China Glaze Anchors Away Collection, named “Ahoy!”, and at first glance I wasn’t really into it. But once I got it separated from it’s orange brother (Life Preserver), I was actually rather intrigued by it. I’m a huge fan of fuchsia, and I love microglitter in a polish, so it didn’t take long before I decided to wear it.

under a natural flourescent lightbulb

under sunlight

I was rather impressed with this polish, since it was  easy to apply evenly without it looking lumpy at all (which happens sometimes with glitter polishes). It covered nicely in two coats, and the dry time was pretty quick (which is good because I am NOT patient at all). It actually lasted a surprisingly long time for me (a whole 4 days) before I decided that the tips were unacceptably chipped and it had to go. I also liked how translucent the base was, since it was a nicely solid fuschia, but still showed the microglitter through beautifully. I think this technically makes it a “jelly” polish, and the hovering effect of the glitter would have been even more pronounced if I had done a third coat.

the glitter shows up way better
under incandescent light

The one problem that I had with this polish was trying to photograph it. The particular shade of fuschia was easy to capture in sunlight or with my natural flourescent lightbulb, but the glitter was hiding very sneakily no matter what I did. You can see the glitter okay in a few of the shots, but it’s so fine that the effect is really only clear in real life.

Last thought as I’m typing: this polish totally reminds me of Legally Blonde… That’s not a bad thing is it?

No Such Thing as Too Much

As many of you already know I’ve acquired way too much nail polish this year. Thankfully I haven’t bought most of it for myself, but my friends all seem to think it’s a good idea to get me more nail polish… I’m kind of weird about colour (always have been), so buying my nail polish is not the brightest idea, since my colour-neuroses definitely applies. Not that I don’t love the majority of the colours that were bought for me, I’m just saying that nail polish is something (like shoes) that I should buy on my own. Unless I want a specific colour. Then it’s totally allowed!

mmm holo-glitter!

The polish-trend began at Christmas, with one of my best friends, Aina. She’s allowed to buy me polish because she knows me better than almost anyone, and knows what colours I j’adore and which I despise. She also used to work in a salon, so she got the polishes for super cheap (yay staff discounts!). The first two she bought me were from the OPI Designer Series and the Burlesque Collection (“Design” and “Ali’s Big Break” respectively). I immediately liked Ali’s Big Break, since I rather like reds (especially with glitter), but I was quickly brought back down to Earth when I tried it out, and the colour didn’t look the way it did in the bottle. Even after 4 coats I wasn’t liking the results. It’s just a bit too sheer, and the glitter is too fine for it to really make a statement. Design, on the other hand I loved from the beginning, and it’s still one of my favourite polishes. It doesn’t look like much, but when it hits the light the holographic rainbow in the glitter appears! A single coat gives a subtle layer of sparkles (even overtop of other solid colours – I experimented with Design and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear “Blue It” with decent results), and the more layers you add the more intense the holo gets! I’m kind of dreading the day when I run out of this colour, since OPI doesn’t seem to make it anymore L For my birthday Aina got me more polish, but this time they were OPI minis from the Katy Perry Collection. They’re all ridiculously glittery, so I’m pretty excited to try them all! Oh, and she got me Nail Envy, because my nails break allllll the time :(

Nail Envy, Last Friday Night, Design, Ali's Big Break,
The One that got Away, Teenage Dream

The next set of polishes I got were from Icing, and they were totally an impulse buy. I was shopping with Mel and Nicole for nail polish for Taryn’s birthday (between the three of us and Kirsten we got her 21 polishes since she was turning 21), when I spotted their neon glow from the clearance rack, and I just had to buy them. $2 for 5 polishes is a steal, so even if some of the colours weren’t to my taste (ugh orange…) it was totally worth it! So far I’ve used the green and the purple, and they’re both super cute (if a bit blinding), but sadly the pink is dried up, and can’t be revived even with a few drops of nail polish remover. Not too sure if I’ll ever try the yellow, but maybe, since it will be summer soon.

look at all that glitter!!!

These polishes I got whilst shopping on my birthday with Aina and Taryn. More lovelies from the clearance rack at Icing, and some from the clearance bin at Chatters (woot for sales!). I was rather intrigued by the idea of matte polishes, and I liked the colours that Icing had (the silver, and purple), so I picked a few up. I tried the purple out the other day and was pleased with the results, though it took a long time to dry, and it was really easily smudged and ruined. “Smoke Screen” from Icing is also super gorgeous on, since it’s a black that’s packed with superfine glitter. You can’t really see the glitter in the bottle from the pictures, or really on your nails, but it softens the black so that it’s not so… black. The other two are from China Glaze, and of course they’re more sparklies. Everyone knows I get distracted by anything that sparkles, so it’s not really a surprise that I picked the most glittery green and blue EVER. I love the minty-ness of “Mistletoe Kisses,” and “Midnight Mission” is seriously the most perfect sparkly blue that I’ve been looking for for ages. Can’t wait to try both of them out! Side note: is it just me or are the Icing and China Glaze bottle almost exactly the same? The CG bottles have a raised logo on the top, and the glass is a bit thicker, but they look pretty much the same… WEIRD!

Icing: Thriller, Smoke Screen, Bet Me and Lose,
China Glaze: Midnight Mission, Mistletoe Kisses

Set #4 is from Kirsten aka as Glittagloves on the interwebs. It really shouldn’t have surprised me that she got me polish for my bday, but for some reason it really did. This set is part of the China Glaze Anchors Away Collection, and at first glance I was not overly impressed. I’m still really not liking “Life Preserver” since I can’t stand orange, but “White Cap” has definitely grown on me. I mean, how could I not love it, it’s sparkly! Not sure how I feel about “First Mate” since the colour seems very flat, even though I j’adore blues, or “Ahoy!” since it’s mauve. First Mate could totally work if I combined it with OPI’s “Last Friday Night,” since the sheer glitter might be just enough to give it some personality. Hmm experimenting!

China Glaze: Life Preserver, Ahoy!, First Mate, White Cap

The last (but not least) set is kind of random. But I didn’t really have any other way of showcasing the last of my birthday polishes, since there’s 1 from Sarah,, 2 more from Kirsten, and 1 from Mel. The matte pink from Icing is from Sarah (“Confessions”) is soooo cute. I tried it on my toenails two weeks ago, and it made my toes look like sparkly little plums (yes I know that’s a weird description, but it’s what my weird brain thought of!). Totally adorable! Kirsten also got me OPI “Smoke’n in Havana” and China Glaze “VIII.” Wasn’t interested in Havana, since it’s another orange, but it’s kind of grown on me, since it has a very subtle gold duo-tone, and just a hint of pink. It’ll look good on my toes for the summer, I guess. VII, on the other hand, is totally my kind of colour. It’s such a deep purple it’s almost black, but it’s definitely still a purple. I didn’t remember until a while after she gave it to me, but we had actually had a conversation specifically about this colour where I said I totally loved it. That was MONTHS ago. Yet for some reason Kirsten remembered! The last polish we’ll talk about today was the only polish I actually wanted for my birthday, and it was the last one that I received. “Black Shatter” from OPI! This polish set off a huge trend in the nail polish world, and pretty much everyone I know who’s into polish has it. I’m kind of loathe to actually try it out, since I’m pretty sure I’ll just make a mess, but eventually I’ll have to do it. Yes, I will post pictures…

Icing Confessions, OPI Smoke'n in Havana,
OPI Black Shatter, China Glaze VIII

Just a Hint of Glitter

Once again, dear readers, it’s been way too long since I’ve last uttered any public words of wisdom on my lonely, lonely blog. Life has just been too busy what with work, school applications, and boy drama, and you’ll get to read about all of that at a later date. But now I’m back, and hopefully this time for good. I’ve got lots of new ideas for future blog-posts, so keep checking back for updates!

This week’s post is inspired by two of my favourite and most fabulous friends, who also happen to write an equally fabulous blog. They’re known to the internet world collectively as Glittagloves, but I’m lucky to know them in real life as two of my besties, Kirsten and Nicole. Anyone who knows anything about these two know that they’re obsessed with two things: Harry Potter and nail polish. The former doesn’t have much of a place in their internet lives (with the exception of the occasional Hedwig-esque head tilt from Kirsten from over-excitement), but the latter is what their internet-fame is based upon. They run a rather well known blog that chronicles their exploits in the name of nail polish, and in celebration of having hit the landmark of 75 followers (the number is now up to 125 at the time of this post!) they’re giving away a set of nail polishes! I’m dying to get my hands on a set of these, since crackled nail polishes are gorgeous, and attempting to duplicate the effect free-hand is way too difficult for me to bother with. So everyone should go check out their blog, and of course enter the contest! I promise you won’t be disappointed, as these pair not only have fabulously gorgeous swatches posted every day, they’re also really fucking funny and adorable J

An experiment in layering (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Blue It and OPI Designer Series in Design)

Because of the influence of Kirsten and Nicole I’ve started painting my nails on a more regular basis, and I’ve realized that doing so is actually one of the easiest ways to accessorize an otherwise bland outfit. I generally apply the same rules to nail polish that I do to shoes: anything goes! It’s easy to match and coordinate nail polish with your outfit, but you can always clash on purpose if you want to be bit rebellious. Within limits of course, since some colours just don’t go together no matter what… I’m not going to write anymore about how much I love nail polish right now, since I tend to leave that obsession up to the Glittagloves’ and they do it much better than I ever could. Instead, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of my favourite manicures to inspire you!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Gunmetal (left)


Rimmel London Lasting Finish Pro in Gold Silk (right)