Maybe I Need To Stop Buying Nail Polish- A Haul

So I may not be posting as much but that does not mean that my spending on nail polish has waned. In fact, it has probably increased. In the past year or two the amount of polishes available to consumers has exploded in conjunction with the popularity of nail polish itself. We now have available to us polishes from countries around the world along with the always innovative polishes from indie sellers. Big name brands have taken notice of this and stepped up their game offering a wide variety of creative colors and finishes. Now is definitely the time to be a nail addict. I'm definitely happy, but maybe my bank account isn't! These are all polishes I've bought in 2013. And there are probably more that I've stashed away in a Helmer that I've forgotten about (bad girl!).

Hard Candy polishes. From left- Crush On Pink, Crush On Tin, Fun 'N Festive, Pixie Pink, Cocoa Smore, and Gummy Green.

Sigh. I'm so, so impressed with Hard Candy and bringing out this completely revamped line of 45 polishes. I literally want every single one. I don't think that has ever happened to me before. There are maybe a few I could live without. It was almost torture limiting myself to these 6. The bottles are small at almost half the size of a standard polish, but the price is right at $4 a bottle. Just be prepared to go hunting at WalMart to find them. (Here is a list of all the polishes)

Hit Polish. From left- Tes-Stained Linen, Turq-ish Delight, On Angels Wings, and Lilacs in Bloom.

Unf. These are so pretty. I'm most excited about Tea-Stained Linen. It's so unique!

Cult Nails polishes. From left- Disciplined, Untamed, Scandalous, Flushed, Annalicious, I Got Distracted, and Spontaneous.

I finally picked up the Cult Nails polishes that had been on my wishlist when they had a sale recently. You can never go wrong with Cult Nails.

Etude House Sweet Recipe Ice Cream Nail Polishes (not sure if they have actually names but the colors are numbered 1-4).

I was REALLY excited for these. The whole Etude House Sweet Recipe collection looks amazing, but these called out to me the loudest. These polishes were shipped all the way from South Korea (Etude House is a Korean brand) and I couldn't be happier. Korean cosmetics and skincare are becoming a new obsession for me. (I bought these on eBay)

Hits Mari moon Modern set. From left- Cool, Dreamer, Trendy, and Cutie Pie.

More foreign polishes! These are from Brazil and I bought them from Ninja Polish. I have the Unique Set (and posted about it here) and need the Modern Set to round out my collection. These polishes are a must in any polish lover's collection. Especially Cutie Pie. I think I need a back up of it.

From left- Ninja Polish Divinity and Nebula, A England Dragon, Hits Salsa and CanCan.

The rest of the polishes from my Ninja Polish order. You can't tell from the picture but Divinity is a multichrome in the same vein as Clarins 230 and Max Factor Fantasy Fire. The bottle of Nebula is backward because it shows the color shift in the bottle better. The A England polish is a long time lemming that I'm super excited to finally have. And lastly the two Hits polishes are color changing flakies in a colored base. It's hard to tell with Salsa, but it has the same color flakies as Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and Essie Shine of the Times.

From left- Orly Orange Crush, China Glaze Beach Cruise-r and Surreal Appeal, Essence Oh My Glitter!

Some random polishes. The first three I think I got on clearance at Ulta or Sally Beauty. Something like that. It was a busy polish buying day.

From left- Rainbow Honey Be Mine, Urban Outfitters Chilly, Ulta XOXO and Diva, and OPI Fresh Frog of Bel Air

Last batch of random polishes. I needed Be Mine by Rainbow Honey to round out my Valentine's collection from them. The Urban Outfitters glitter polish I'm really excited about. I wish I had bought a few more polishes while I was there but I was trying to be restrained. And the last three were Ulta impulse purchases.


And theeeeeeeeeeeere we go. I really should stop buying polishes faster than I can wear them. Do you see anything that catches your eye?

Foie Gras and Gold Glitter Nails

 So, nail polish. I'm still obsessed with it. And it's only been a little over four years. I am so fickle when it comes to hobbies and tend to abandon them all pretty quickly. Nail polish is the one thing I've stuck with in my life. When I think about it, it's such a funny thing to have as a hobby, but I love it. :)

This mani caused the most compliments/comments I've ever gotten on my nails. I say comments and not just compliments because there are always those people who say things like, "Wow, that sure is bright" or "That glitter really stands out" and you know they absolutely HATE what you're wearing. Haha. I don't care though; it makes me happy!

This is one coat of Sally Girl Later (gold glitter) over 2 or 3 coats (can't remember!) of China Glaze Foie Gras.

The gold glitter! It's so blinding! Seriously though, if you have a Sally Beauty Supply near you, you need to pick up this little guy. Yes, the bottle is TINY, but at only 99 cents it's affordable to get an extra bottle or two. Or three. And this was only ONE COAT of the glitter. No fishing around for glitter or dabbing the glitter on for this one.

Halloween Nails with China Glaze Fortune Teller

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to wear my Halloween nail polish the week before Halloween. I haven't worn China Glaze's Fortune Teller in at least year and forgot how much I love it. It's the perfect Halloween polish and one of my favorite from China Glaze. In fact, it was my first China Glaze ever. I remember going in to Sally Beauty Supply just to get it like 5 months after my nail polish obsession began. I just wish it hadn't been limited edition!

My nails still aren't in great condition, but I love this polish so much I had to share.

China Glaze Fortune Teller

Fortune Teller is famous for how amazing it looks matte. It is actually my favorite way to wear it.

China Glaze Fortune Teller

I've seen Fortune Teller on eBay for around $10, so if you really love the color it might be worth it.


Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

Fish Scales and "Woe is me" Tales

I'm STILL upset about the stupid neighbor thing from yesterday. Especially since we had to spend $90 and 4 hours building a mini fence in front of the actual fence between our yards. I acknowledge that my dog is bad to chew on the wooden fence boards when her dogs are barking at him, but I try and prevent it and don't let him out when her dogs are out. But she doesn't do anything when her dogs are running and bouncing off the fence on the other side. I have to be the responsible one and throw money away to keep my dogs from misbehaving while hers are free to do whatever they want. UGH! You know what? I don't think she let her dogs out ONE TIME today. Talk about an extreme reaction. They still need to go to the bathroom. Does she seriously think I don't ever want them to go out? I wanted to thank everyone who commented yesterday on my rant-y post. You all made me feel so much better. I just want so bad to believe that everyone has at least some shred of rationality to them, and it bothers me that some people will never have that, no matter who talks to them or what they say. So sorry I've been a bit of a Debbie Downer lately. I'll return you to your regularly scheduled pretties shortly.
As a way of easing back into it, here is the fish scales part of the title.  According to my boyfriend this mani looked like fish scales.

This is 2 coats of China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise under 1 coat of Hard Candy Break Up.

In the sun

My camera is dumb. It makes non-neons looke neon and actual neon look pastel. Turned Up Turquoise is a saturated neon green-based teal shimmer. Break is large opalescent hex glitter in a clear base. They glitter is hard to get even, but I like the way it looks so I keep using it.

In the shade

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a... Dragon? China Glaze Flying Dragon Swatches

China Glaze has to be one of my favorite brands of nail polish.  They are inexpensive (I but them for $2.99 online) and come in HUGE variety of colors and finishes.  Plus, it really seems like the listen to their fans' requests.  But, I usually get so caught up in new collections that I forget about some of their older, equally awesome polishes.  Which leads us to Flying Dragon.

I wanted this color since the begining of time (aka when I first got obsessed with nail polish), but I always forgot about it when faces with swatches of new collections.  I finally bought it and have not been disappointed.  It really is a must own for any nail polish fanatic, glitter, or neon lover.

Flying Dragon dark neon purple with blue and purple glitter.  It's rare that you see darker neons, but you can definitely it has neon pigment when you compare it to a non-neons and due to the fact it dries matte.  The glitter isn't very sparkly at all, which I kind of like for a change.  It makes the polish incredibly unique and despite being pretty opaque the glitter isn't buried.  Seriously, you NEED this polish.

This was 3 coats with a base and top coat.

China Glaze Flying Dragon in the sun

China Glaze Flying Dragon in the shade

Available:

• $5.99 at Sally Beauty Supply and their website. ($4.99 Beauty Club Card)
• $2.99 at Transdesign.com

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

China Glaze DV8

This post is going to be short but sweet.  That's okay... most people just look at the pictures anyway!

DV8 is part of China Glaze's limited edition OMG! collection.  You used to be able to find these still at online retailers but I haven't seen any for sale in months.  Your best bet is to swap for it or pay the ridiculous eBay prices.  I only have this one and L8R G8R  I just wish I had bought the whole collection when I had the chance!

You know some nail polish you wear just because how easy it is to apply?  Well, this definitely isn’t one of those.  Quite the opposite really. Terrible cuticle drag and bald spots and shows imperfections on nail and from application easily.  The good news is that it dries pretty quickly, but you need to let it dry pretty well between coats so you don’t get bald spots.  This won’t stop me from using the polish because it’s so damn pretty, but it is a hassle that I’ll save for when I feel like messing with it.  Polish was pretty thick, and I had to use lots of thinner to get it to a workable consistency. It felt like I put half the bottle before it made any difference!


This is 2 coats (maybe could have used 3).


DV8 is a medium teal-ish blue holographic.

DV8 in full sun

Available:

• Probably just eBay these days.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night/whatever!

China Glaze Rated Holographic

I've been *meaning* to start a blog for awhile now.  but I know it's a HUGE undertaking that takes lots of time and effort.  I've always known I wanted to do it for the right reasons, but I wasn't sure if I had the dedication.  Well, I recently acquired tons of free time, so the perfect time to start a blog was born.

These swatches are probably about a year and a half old.  I told you that I've been thinking about this for a long time.

With the disappointing release of Tronica, China Glaze fans are really starting to appreciate how awesome the Kaleidoscope and OMG! collections really were.

Rated Holographic is from the Kaleidoscope collection.  While these polishes aren't nearly as prized as the ones from OMG!, I really enjoy them.  Versus the linear holo particles from OMG! these have a more scattered holo effect.  Rated holographic is a mauve peachy-pink.  It is a nice juxtaposition of a work-appropriate color with the bling-tastic nature of a holographic.

This is 3 coats.

Rated Holographic in weak natural light

 Rated Holographic in strong sun

Thank you for reading and have a nice day/night/whatever!