Emerald Greens: OPI, Ulta, and Zoya

Hey everybody!  Sorry for my absence during the past week...I've had a lot going on and not very much time to devote to the blog. :/  BUT I am back tonight with another green family post.  This time, it's those luxurious emeralds.  Emeralds were always my favorite gemstone...I got my very first gemstone ring, an emerald, the Christmas right before I turned 14.  It was pretty microscopic, but I still have it. :)

First up is a polish by OPI that I believe was created for Ulta as a freebie with purchase during the Christmas 2012 season.  It's called Skip the Gift Wrap, and it's a shimmery metallic emerald that's very nice even without a bow on top, thank you. :)

Skip the Gift Wrap is, in my opinion, a true emerald green.  It's not kelly, or hunter, or pine.  It's got an easy formula but is rather on the sheer side...I used 3 coats.  It's a touch frosty, but it's the good kind of frosty...no, not the one from Wendy's, but you know what I mean. :P

Next up is an Ulta polish that I am *cough* just getting around to trying out. :/  It's called Envy.  Ooooh.

Envy is a little more hunter green than Skip the Gift Wrap.  It's also a metallic shimmer, but it doesn't have as much shimmer as Skip the Gift Wrap.  It also doesn't have that frosty look.  I liked the application on this a lot.  It may have to do with the tiny Ulta brush that is more suited to my toddler-sized nails.  Sometimes, those wide OPI brushes make me feel like I'm using a spatula. :P

Last on our emerald tour is last year's Zoya Giovanna...loved my some, disliked heartily by others.

I was one of the ones who loved Giovanna.  It's got all that lovely blue in it!  It's not what I would call a true emerald green.  Maybe a created emerald.  No.  Make that a blue indicolite tourmaline.  Trust me on this one.  But YIKES...I look at my pics, and I should have used 3 coats instead of 2!  That is some bald-looking mess going on there.  Okay, if you're going to be out meeting people in macro, use 3 coats. :D  Giovanna has that pleasant frostiness about it too.

Are you an emerald green fan?  How about emeralds in general? :)  What was your first gemstone jewelry?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day. <3

A Disturbing Green Post: Nicole by OPI and Orly

Hey everybody!  Today I'm continuing my green polish posts...I've already posted about some grassy greens.  Today I have the category of green that's a fun one:  disturbing greens.  These are the greens that are a little off for some reason.  Or maybe they just plain bother you. :)

First up, I have a polish that a lot of people love, but in the bottle it looks so...I don't know, murky?...to me, Orly Coachella Dweller.

Let me begin by saying that Blogger magically turned the color of Coachella Dweller into a pea soup green.  It looks totally different from the picture I just took and uploaded.  Oh well.  The second pic looks like the The Real Coachella Dweller. :)  I decided after I got it on my nails that it's not as disturbing as I once thought...more like that comforting fern green you'd see in a therapist's office at your weekly session.  I used 3 coats, as the formula was a tad thin.

Next up is a polish graciously given to me by sweet Yun of The Polish Hideout.  You may remember all of my whining last year about not being able to find the Nicole by OPI Tink Collection...well, Yun kindly sent me 2 of the polishes that I loved from the collection, including Sweet on Pete.

Wow.  Now that's one frightening green.  I remember having been somewhat bothered that I liked it so much on Yun.  That's just plain old zombie blood there...or rotting meat...or appendicitis.  I used 3 coats after experiencing some streakiness.  Oh, and please excuse all the dents in the polish...I was doing yard work for a couple of hours and poked myself with quite a few sticks before I took pics. :P  Sweet on Pete is touch greener than Sally Hansen Triple Shine Statemint I posted about earlier.

And last I have another disturbing Orly, It's Not Rocket Science.  This one could be called "Glamorous 70's Funeral."  This one is from the Cosmic FX 2010 collection, and I'm not sure if it's still a part of their core line or not, as is another one from this collection, Space Cadet.

Ahhhh, well, if it's got to look like nausea, at LEAST it can sparkle, right??  It's Not Rocket Science is a goldish-green with a crazy amount of glittery goodies that just light up the polish.  It's a bit sheer, so I used 3 coats for opacity.  And I checked:  butter LONDON Wallis is darker and more gold; It's Not Rocket Science is definitely more green. 

So...what are your feelings about my disturbing greens?  Are they the stuff of your nightmares, or perhaps your dreams?? 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! :)

Nail of the Day: Orly Rococo-A-Go-Go

Hey everybody!  How is it going in your world today? :)  Today I wanted to show you a lovely polish that is quickly becoming one of my favorite purples.  It was a suggestion to me by one of my readers...she emailed me to let me know that TJ Maxx had this polish in an Orly duo on clearance.  And I can say it was certainly worth a lot more than the $4.50 for two price tag.  Meet the charmingly-named Rococo-A-Go-Go.

I have seen comparisons of Orly Rococo-A-Go-Go to Zoya Jem, and the two do look very similar.  I don't own Jem, but from the pictures of it, Rococo-A-Go-Go has more shimmer.  YAY for shimmer!  There is a lot of sparkly, glass fleck action going on in this one.  Rococo-A-Go-Go is a red, plummy purple .

Orly Rococo-A-Go-Go is from the 2011 Mineral FX collection, which was insanely beautiful all the way around.  As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind having more from that collection. :P  The application was pretty easy on Rococo-A-Go-Go, and the polish dried quickly on me (imagine that!).  I used two coats.  The only negative thing I can say about it is I had crazy tip wear...but lately, *every**single**polish* I wear has awful tip wear!  I blame it on the pollen.

You just can't go wrong with pearls and shimmer.

So, what do you think of this lovely purple?  I'm so glad Jessica pointed this one out to me.  Nothing like have readers who enable your addiction! :P

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

My First A-England: Briar Rose

Hey everybody!  I hope you're doing well this week.  Well, as the title of this post suggests, I've finally acquired my very first A-England polish.  After months of going back and forth about which one I wanted as my inaugural A England experience, I chose the one I had a feeling it would be all along...Briar Rose, from the Burne-Jones Dream collection.

I'm not going to repeat what you've read about this polish a hundred times already...about how striking it is, how strong and dense the scattered holo effect is, how easy it is to apply.  Nah, I'm not going to bore you with all that. :)  Instead, I'll tell you about the other things I like!  

First off, I adore Pre-Raphaelite art.  I've always related to those sad-eyed, juicy-bodied maids of old.  My 1998 (back when all you guys were about 3) calendar was an Edward Burne-Jones calendar that contained one of the paintings from whence came this collection's inspiration, The Rose Bower.

Other reasons I love this polish, in no particular order:

1.  I love Sleeping Beauty...well, particularly Maleficent, but Aurora was pretty nice too.

2.  You can't make a mistake with this!  Very helpful for somebody so clumsy that she just smashed her elbow whilst putting clothes in the dryer.

3.  It's that color that sucks me in every time...a metallic, slightly wine rose.

4.  A-England is just a cool brand.  I mean, I love the Camelot legends, AND I have John William Waterhouse's The Lady of Shallot over my bed (you'll see that one on my wish list)!??!!

5.  The best reason of all:  this polish looks dusty.  Like it's literally covered in dust.  Magic dust.  It gives it such an antiquated feel.  It makes you want to break out the heirloom jewelry...

...or at least the 10-year old jewelry that was designed to look antiquated. :P

So my first experience with A-England was a marvelous one.  The legends are true.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

Sally Hansen Triple Shine, Chapter 3

Hey everybody!  Here am I, back yet again with some super-shiny prize winnings. :D  Tonight I'm continuing my Sally Hansen Triple Shine post series with two really pretty cremes.

First up is Pixie Slicks, a delicate baby pink. 

Pixie Slicks is a charming little pink that's truly pink...and it doesn't have that vague coral-ish look about it that annoys me to no end. :)  Formula on this was good.  I used three coats, which I've had to do on the Triple Shines in my attempts to...well, you know the story. 

Next I have a color that really made an impression on me, and for a couple of reasons: Statemint.  One reason is because this is plainly not mint.  It's chartreuse.  The other reason is because it IS chartreuse, and I LOVE it.  I love the way this looks.

Why do I love this?  I think it's because it offers all the brightness of yellow without actually being yellow. There is just enough to green in there to make it really interesting.  I used 3 coats of the decidedly not-minty Statemint.

Fun fact:  Statemint is the exact color of a banana pepper.  See?

Better than my famous food analogies...it's PROOF!!

So, do you like the latest installment of Triple Shine colors?  And how are you feeling about Statemint? 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! :)

Sally Hansen Triple Shine, Chapter 2

Hey everybody!  I hope this week is going well for you. :)  My sister Melanie and I recently won a fantastic prize of 16 Sally Hansen Triple Shines in a photography contest, and I have some to show you today.  I've already posted about Red Snapper and Wavy Blue, so today's post is a continuation.  And now that I have so many, I'll probably continue even more. :P

Let's dive right into it, shall we?  What an awesome segue...first off I have Dive In! 

Ahhhhh, isn't it lovely??  Dive In is a turquoise blue cream that is probably my favorite of all the Triple Shines.  It's just so happy.  And for all you girls who just LOVE the arrival of spring, this is definitely a springy polish.  I am still a bit surprised that I don't have this color already, but I don't.  I used two coats of Dive In.

Next I have Kelp Out, which is a medium green crelly.  This is a really nice color that I could have posted about in my grassy green comparison if I hadn't wanted to keep my Triple Shines separate.  The formula was easy to work with but a little thin for my desire to avoid Mr. VaNeLi, so I used three coats.

And in case you were wondering, Kelp Out is quite the shiny little number.  And I know my coloring looks a little strange(r) in these pics, but I wanted to capture Kelp Out correctly. :)

There are several glitter toppers in the Triple Shine line.  I layered Sparks Fly, a silver/blue glitter combo, over Kelp Out...and I'm kinda loving this look.  It's like Swamp Thing goes to Vegas.  This is one coat of Sparks Fly, and the formula was very good on this one.

And if Dive In is my favorite Triple Shine, Flame On has got to be a *very* close second. 

Flame On is a BEAUTEOUS hot pink metallic with a subtle shimmer.  And it looks just like shiny vinyl on the nail!  Seriously...you see a teensy weensy bit of brushtroke stuff in the pics, but you cannot see any in real life.  It's just like you wrapped your nails in plastic.  LOVE!!  I used three coats of Flame On for opacity.

I love the application and colors of Triple Shines, but I have the same problem will all of them:  inordinate tip wear.  I don't get it.  Have you all tried any, and what has your experience been with them?  Is it just me having these issues??

Stay tuned for more Triple Shines in all their glory!  Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! :)