Julie G Holiday Frosted Gum Drops: Gift of Gold and Mistletoe

Hey everybody!  You can probably tell by the names of today's polishes that I am perhaps a wee bit behind in showing them. :D  The Julie G Frosted Gum Drops Holiday 2013 collection was arguably cooler than the original Frosted Gum Drops, with jewel tones that made you think of that expensive Christmas wrapping paper you couldn't possibly afford.

Of course, the Frosted Gum Drops polishes are textured, and Julie G's take on texture is like L'Oreal's, a bit gritty, but pure sparkle.  The first one I have today is Gift of Gold.

Gift of Gold is not a gold for the weak.  This gold is GOLD and it wants you to KNOW IT'S GOLD!  It's deep and rich and slightly burnished.  I used two coats for this decadent glitterfest.  Very, very pretty.

The other Gum Drop from the Holiday collection I picked up is Mistletoe...this one was actually my hubby's pick of the collection.  He chose really well.  Mistletoe is a beauty, probably THE prettiest green I own, textured or not.

Again, I used two coats.  UGH, look how pretty this is!!  It's such a true green, like if you looked up "green" in the encyclopedia (do you whippersnappers even remember those??), it would show a picture of this polish.

I highly recommend Julie G polishes.  They wear very well and are inexpensive at $3.99 a bottle.  The entire line of Holiday Frosted Gum Drops is gorgeous (hubby loved the red one, Ho Ho Ho), so IF you can still find them, check them out!  And for that matter, maybe you can still snag some of that pricey wrapping paper at 75% off??

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

Deadly Shimmer: Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer Candy Coated Poison

Hey everybody!  *cough cough* Please pardon my dust...I am in the process of redesigning my blog and can't seem to do it all at once. :) 

Today I have for you my very favorite kind of polish:  a beautiful one!  It's another completely mesmerizing design by Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer called Candy Coated Poison.

Wow.  This poison could trick anybody into drinking up! :P  Candy Coated Poison is a fascinating little number...it's a silvery blue metallic with the most beautiful green-gold color-shifting shimmer you ever saw.  Try saying THAT 3 times.  This polish is as much a chameleon as the craziest duochromes out there.

***INTENSE GOLD SHIFT ALERT***

Candy Coated Poison has a wonderfully worry-free formula and superb application.  I used 3 coats so as to minimize my pesky faux friend, Mr. VaNeLi. :)  It twinkles and gleams and just generally makes me happy.

Poison never looked so sweet...

 

I got my Candy Coated Poison from the Shirley Ann Nail Lacquer Etsy shop.  And this polish is selling right now for $4...for a FULL-sized bottle.  Go get it.  And while you're there, be sure to check out all of the beautiful polishes because...YOU JUST MIGHT WIN SOME!!

That's right!  It's a giveaway! :)  I am proud to be a sponsor in Cherish's giveaway to celebrate her 1000 Facebook likes and her one year anniversary.  So be sure to enter HERE for some really fabulous prizes!  And remember:  Cranberry Sauce. :P

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

It's Groovy: Orly High on Hope

Hey everybody!  Orly introduced the Hope and Freedom Fest Collection back in spring 2013, and after Christmas I noticed that Ulta had the whole collection on clearance.  I picked up two of the hippie-themed polishes, and today I have High on Hope to show you.

Let me first start out by saying that I LOVE THIS!  High on Hope is a deep navy blue packed with fuchsia shimmer.  It all blends together to look sort of violet purple.

The shimmer is High on Hope is one of the shimmeriest shimmers I ever saw.  This polish is just beautiful.  I just wouldn't have named it "High on Hope"...hmmmmm...in keeping with the Summer of Love theme, I think maybe..."Never Trust Anyone Over 30"?  NOOO...I didn't mean that!  How about "Outta Sight"? :D

I used two coats of High on Hope and had no application issues.  It's a well-behaved polish...unlike many people from the 1960's. :/

Next time you are visiting your neighborhood Ulta, be sure to check out the Hope and Freedom Fest Collection and try to snag this one before it gets away.  High on Hope is something you absolutely want...it's pretty far out! :P

I was actually born at the tail end of the 1960's.  Do you know what the best part of being born in the 60's was?  Being a teenager in the 80's!  AWESOME!! 

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

I Have No Words: Different Dimension Ocean's Daughter

Hey everybody!  I hope your weekend is going swimmingly well.  I say that loosely due to the fact that I'm extremely hydrophobic. :)  BUT on that note, it's always nice when the ocean does NOT remind me of the unpleasant thoughts of drowning.  Such is the case with today's amazing polish, Different Dimension Ocean's Daughter.

Looooook.  Are you looking?  This stuff is...yeah.  It's...so...awwwwwwwesome...Hey!!  Wipe off your chin, won't you? :P   Ocean's Daughter is a blue-tinged light sea green with holo all over the place.  See how strong the linear effect is in the photos?  As you can probably tell, I'm not even outside in the sunlight. 

Feast your eyes on this masterpiece and not my paper cuts.  It would appear that stuffing W-2s is quite hard on the hands...

Ocean's Daughter is a bit sheer but built up quite well in 3 coats.  I had no issues with dragging, or pooling, or looking one tiny bit non-awesome.

I'm not one to tell you all what to go purchase...I mean, you're grown-ups and you know what you like and all.  But I feel the need to be bossy on this one and declare that YOU NEED OCEAN'S DAUGHTER.  That's as plainly as I can put it.  And if you don't like it, first go seek out some good therapy, and then send me your bottle of unwanted polish. :D

I purchased my Ocean's Daughter on Etsy, but you can also find it and other tantalizing Different Dimension polishes on the following sites:

http://www.llarowe.com/catalog/Shop-by-Collection/Different-Dimension
  http://meimeisignatures.com/index.php?id_category=284&controller=category
  http://www.edgypolish.com/brands/different-dimension/


And I just realized that my post title is a total fib...I had plenty of words to describe Ocean's Daughter's blatant deliciousness! :)

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

Happy Birthday to Me: Different Dimension Orion Nebula

Hey everybody!  Yes, it's my birthday.  January 14 is the worst possible day of the year to have a birthday when you work in the field of accounting.  But I'll cut Mom some slack because she couldn't possibly have known this fact back when I was born. :)

There's just nothing like buying yourself a birthday present off your own wish list.  I believe I am the only person in my family who is aware that I have a wish list.  It's kind of along the lines of when I turned 30 and decided to throw myself a party to lament my lost youth...it had never occurred to anybody in my family to have a birthday party, and so after that first one, a grand tradition of my family actually throwing birthday parties began.  So the moral of the story is when nobody else does it for you, do it for yourself! :D

I have wanted Orion Nebula by Different Dimension since first I laid eyes on it, so I bought this little gem for myself!  

Can't you see why??  Can't you??

Look at that.  Just LOOK at that.  Hot pink in a black jelly, and ALL the glitter is circle...and some are even holographic! <3  Sure, I had to fish a bit for the big pieces...but when I had the finished product, all I could do was stare.  I guess you could say the POLISH did the fishing...because it got me hook, line and sinker. :D

I layered Orion Nebula over black because the black jelly base is quite sheer.  The photos show two coats.  There was plenty of smaller glitter with each dip of the brush...it was only the very large pieces that took a little more effort. :)

Want to guess why I adore this polish?  Is it because it's a jelly?  Because it's loaded in fabulous circle glitter? Because black and hot pink are, like, totally 80's??  None of the above.  I love this polish because it looks like a lava lamp.  I can just hear it...blub...blub...blub...

I got my Orion Nebula (and some other lovely Different Dimension goodies!) on Etsy.  

Thanks for spending time with me on my birthday...I did my partying on Saturday, so I'm probably just going spend time with my puppies tonight.  And paint my nails. :)

Have a lovely day! <3

Zoyas I Love: Crystal, Perrie, and Edyta

Hey everybody!  Have you heard about the serious epidemic going around this week?  It's called Zoya Fever! :)  Zoya is running their buy 3 for $12 promo, and I'm telling you...it's really hard to decide what you want...isn't it??  I love Zoya to bits, and when I look at their colors, it's a bit overwhelming when you know you get 3 and they have about 867 that you love. :P

So...here am I...donning my public servant cap to *maybe* help you arrive at a decision!  Isn't that nice of me? :)  First up is, without a doubt, one of Zoya's loveliest polishes, Crystal.

I LOVE Crystal.  It's a beautiful ice blue metallic foil with a very heavy gold shimmer.  The gold is so highly visible in Crystal that on the nail, this polish looks mottled...almost like a Saran wrap mani.  Just gorgeous!!

I think I am one of the 6 people on the planet who doesn't own Zoya Charla. :)  For me, Crystal has that magical feel that everybody ascribes to Charla...it's ethereal and flawless.  And of course, just the fact that it's a Zoya foil should tell you how fantastic it is!  The application is wonderful and the formula perfect.

Another of my Zoya faves is a polish that I don't think has gotten much airtime...Perrie.  Perrie is sort of like the creme version of the my shimmery love Dannii. 

Perrie is a cool-toned medium orchid purple....YES there's that very popular word again!  Zoya describes this color as lavender, but it just doesn't look very lavender on me.  Don't get me wrong, it looks FABULOUS...just a bit deeper than lavender. :D

Perrie's formula is a little thin, but it's easy to work with and levels out pretty well.  I didn't have any flooding with it.  I like this color better and better each time I wear it...and I predict a lot of gals will pick this one up this week. :)

Last up, I have a Zoya that's textbook me:  strange!!  Meet the complex and incomparable Edyta.

Oh myyyyy.  My own photos are renewing my amour for Edyta.  This is the perfect non-shade to confuse and delight all your friends!  Is it brown?  Maybe.  Is it green?  Possibly.  Is it AWESOME??  Oh yes.  It's a delicious metallic shimmer multiple personality in a bottle! :)

Look at that sparkle!  And what color IS said sparkle?  Who knows??  Yes, Edyta is that confusing.  And how I LOVE it!!  Let's see what Zoya has to say about this color:  "A complex mixture of gold, olive, blue-green and smoky grey with a sparkling metallic finish."  Clear as mud!  Hey!  It kinda does look like mud!  An oh-so-glamorous mud. :)

You love this one, don't you? :)  If you love crazy shimmery, and if you love weird, Edyta is your girl.  You will be in love with the bizarre elegance and cock your head to the side more than once as you try to figure her out...

Have I assisted you with any choices?  I doubt it, but I flatter myself to think I could *possibly* sway somebody to choose my recommendations... :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! 

The Cheapskate Files: Essie All Tied Up

Hey everybody!  It's a pretty exciting day for me...we are actually getting to experience a little part of the massive cold front that's currently affecting the country.  I'm not sweating!! :)

When I was on vacation last month, I managed to snag several bottles of my favorite type of polish:  cheap. :D  Oh...I shouldn't say "cheap"...it sounds so...cheap.  How about calling it "polishes I found at an excellent price"?  Yes...much better.  I found a bottle of Essie All Tied Up, from their Summer 2012 collection, for something like $3 at TJ Maxx.  I can honestly say that I don't own anything even close to this color!

Essie's website describes All Tied Up like this:  "this rustic bronze with subtle golden shimmer glistens with a restrained, yet warm and sensuous charm that will leave him totally tongue-tied."  Well now that's different.  Not only would I not call this color "bronze", but for some reason I'm never thinking of how I can render some guy speechless with my manicure.  For somebody who loves vampy shades, I'm more like Goldilocks. :D

I would personally describe All Tied Up as a medium rosy terracotta.  How's that for a description?  Hey, it's better than bronze! :)  It does have a lovely golden shimmer.  I love shimmer! <3

I used 2 coats of All Tied Up for the photos...then my camera got all upset upon seeing me wearing a color that hailed from the Orange-esque Dynasty and paid me back by portraying me as Wilbur the Pig.  You'll have to trust me when I say that I still look my regular color in person. :)

Let's talk formula...oh Essie, WHY can't you make everything like this one?  It was just perfect...creamy and easy to apply.  And it really is a lovely color.  It's just that my camera and I aren't used to seeing me like this.  It's a sort of "not-very-me" neutral. 

Bonus Points if you can spot what's wrong with this pic!!! :)

So...how about that?  I'm wearing ALL kinds of new things!:)  Do you have a color like this one?  What color does it turn your skin?  And most importantly, SHOULD nail polish be considered a lethal weapon against a man?? :)

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

A Troublesome Vamp: Revlon Elusive

Hey everybody!  I hope you are doing well in this the first week of 2014. :) 

People who complain all the time get on my nerves.  Nobody wants to hear that, you know?  LOLOL...so that's why I debated about the title of my post, because I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. :)  But don't you hate it when you have high hopes for something that looks SO pretty in the bottle, but something about worries you when you get it on?  *Sigh* - that would be today's story...meet Revlon Elusive.

Well, it looks really pretty, doesn't it?  It took me mucho many tries to capture something nice-looking for this one.  You see, Elusive is sort of jelly-ish, and you all know I love my jellies...but then, it's also sort of not jelly-ish.  That doesn't make much sense, but there it is.  The not jelly-ish side of it was most problematic for me.  It was this watery black stuff that stuck to everything.

Midget Pinky *just* squeezes in for the shot...

Elusive is a blackened teal base loaded with varying sizes of teal hex glitter.  It is from Revlon's Fall 2013 Evening Opulence collection, which I have only seen twice over these past 3 months.  This polish dries matte, and I am just not a matte fan.  I love to shine way too much for that nonsense. :P  I used 2 thick coats of top coat over 2 coats of Elusive.

In all fairness, I should add that my main problem with Elusive's formula was that when I said it stuck to everything, I meant it stuck to my cuticles, and I just about couldn't get it off after loads of cleanup.  ***More complaining coming up!***  You see, I have rather strange cuticles.  The cuticles sort of abruptly turn into my finger skin...it's bizarre.  The skin around my nails is very hard, and it has a tendency to lock in those thin, blackened colors like it's trying to fully embarrass you. :)  And embarrassed I am when I see macro shots of it.  Mission accomplished, Elusive.  Blast you!!!

BUT I like the idea of Elusive.  I like mattes on other people.  I love blackened teal.  I love teal glitter.  And I really like this polish on me when I'm not taking super close-up shots of it.  Ah, who cares?  All my poorly-sighted friends will never know the difference! :D

I have read some reviews about Elusive that indicate you either love it or hate it.  Do you all have this one?  Do you love it or hate it?  And most importantly, will you forgive my sour mood?  I'm post-Christmas dieting and starving. :D

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