Barielle Slate of Affairs

Hey everybody!  Today I have a gorgeous little number by my favorite under-appreciated brand, Barielle.  If you get Barielle's email of the day, you know that sometimes they will offer a really great deal for that day.  Today's polish was part of one of those deals in honor of Wife Appreciation Day.  Hey, I'm a wife!  How convenient for me. :) 

Let's take a look at one of the three polishes I got (in my self-appreciative package), Slate of Affairs.

Barielle describes Slate of Affairs merely as "a worn denim", but there is more to it than that.  It's a gorgeous grey-toned blue with a strong bright blue shimmer.  It's practically an antique too, having been released back in 2009 in the All Lacquered Up collection.  I used two coats, and the formula was typical Barielle creamy perfection.

I didn't mention that I got Slate of Affairs and two other shades for $7.95 plus free shipping.  It's really great being a wife! :D  Be sure to sign up for Barielle's daily deal emails, and you'll get great offers like this one.

As always, thank you for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

OPI Designer Series Radiance and Magic

Hey everybody!  I hope your weekend has been fantastic.  Hurricane Joaquin is skirting by us, so we're nice and cloudy and gloomy.  And that makes me happy. :)

I am wrapping up my posts of the OPI Designer Series polishes that I got from the Ulta clearance rack.  I spent between $2 and $6 on these, which was pretty exciting.  Exciting to me, anyway. :D

First up is DS Radiance, arguably the Queen of All Silver Polishes.  This metallic polish applies like butter and is probably a one-coater, but I used two because I'm me.  If you're in the market for a silver lame for your nails, this gal's for you.  It's a white silver with no pewter undertones.

Oww!  My eyes!!  And I'm kinda digging this with my skin tone.

The last Designer Series polish I was able to snatch up for cheap is Magic.  This polish has a lot going on, but it's all good stuff.  Magic is a violet-tinged royal blue glass fleck shimmer with color-shifting flakes.  Not recommended for girls who don't want to be noticed!

You can see the heavy purple shift in the bottle.  This is less pronounced on the nail, but it's still there.  Wow, I just love the non-color I turn whilst sporting blue polish! 

I totally did not see that bald patch on my middle finger...?  Oh well...SHIMMER!

I used two coats of Magic, but as I'm spotting a bald patch, I'm thinking I could have used three.  My bottle's formula was a bit thin.  Magic wasn't too bad of a stainer either. 

I'm quite happy with my OPI Designer Series selections I was able to get for way cheap.  I would love to find a stray bottle of DS Sapphire that wasn't a bazillion dollars.  Do you have any Designer Series favorites?  Do you think they're as special as they used to be before the plethora of indie choices that we have today?

On a side note,  in case any of you are perplexed at times with my blog terminologies, I have added a tab called "Lacquer Reverie Glossy of Terms" to clear up any confusion. :) 

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

Nail of the Day: China Glaze Riveter Rouge

Hey everybody!  In honor of the beginning of fall, which doesn't mean very much change in temps in my part of the country, I'm showing one of my favorite fall polishes.  China Glaze Riveter Rouge is a real antique, hailing from the 2010 Vintage Vixen collection.  And what a great collection that was!

Riveter Rouge is a burgundy red with a tiny hint of brown.  It's also heavy with microglitter that some people describe as silver, with a tendency to be bumpy.  However, my bottle looks like it has gold microglitter, and it is not bumpy at all...just super sparkling.  Angelo's hair not included in most versions...

The formula of Riveter Rouge was thin with a huge side of watery, but I used two coats, and everything evened out nicely.  This is the type of color that makes you think of fall foliage and drinking cocoa.  Hey, maybe our leaves will change before December this year! :P

You can still find the Vintage Vixen collection around here and there.  Despite the watery application, I do recommend Riveter Rouge for its beautiful autumn color and fantastic sparkle.  What is your favorite color to wear in fall?

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

Hard Candy A Mermaid's Tale and Wild Child

Hey everybody!  How is your week going so far?  

I may not have spent the past few months blogging about my polish purchases, but I did in fact *make* polish purchases. :)  On one of my more recent polish shopping jaunts with Mr. Sweets,  I picked up two of the new 2015 releases by Hard Candy:  Wild Child and A Mermaid's Tale.  I was drawn to the former due to its combination of duochrome and glitter.  I purchased the latter because I always buy polish with mermaid names...I think there must be 72 out there named Mermaid's Tale. 

So this particular A Mermaid's Tale is a medium electric blue shimmer that has a slight green undertone.

The formula is good, with an easy and non-messy application.  It's a little sheer so you may want to use 3 coats.  And what is up with my fingers in these pics?  They look absolutely cadaverous.  Oh well..early Halloween! :/

Wild Child is the more complex of the two.  It's a medium purple shimmer with a slight green duochrome that doesn't really translate on the nail.  But in my opinion, Wild Child's best feature is its blue microglitter.  Yay sparkle!

Mmmmm...shimmer.  And tiny blue glitter.  Niiiice.  Wild Child is also a sheer little number...I'm wearing three coats in the pics, which covered up Mr. VaNeLi quite nicely.

So has Hard Candy been releasing anything lately that has gotten your attention?  I'm always on the lookout for interesting drugstore/big box store polishes.  Hard Candy polishes are sold at Wal-Mart (which I avoid like the plague...but you know) for $4 each.  

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day! :)

Nail of the Day: OPI Innie Minnie Mighty Bow

Hey everybody!  After years of searching, I've found it.

My perfect red:  OPI Innie Minnie Mighty Bow.

See?  I told you.

As words cannot describe how much I love this, I shall not attempt to use them.

Moral of today's story:  be sure to eventually wear those polishes you've forgotten you own.  THIS could happen to you, too.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely evening and a safe Halloween! <3

Drugstore Halloween Pt. 2: More Bonita Witches Ball!

Hey everybody!  I hope your weekend has been wonderful. :)  Today I have three more polishes from the Bonita Witches Ball collection to show you.  I had already picked up Eat, Drink & Be Scary and was so impressed with the formula that I picked up more whilst polish shopping with Mr. Sweets.

First up is one I just really like, and I can't quite figure out why.  Oh well.  It's called Dying to Party.  It's a grey-tinged white creme with silver shimmer, a ghostly look, if you will.  I love polishes like this but keep forgetting that they don't look good on me.  I did have some streaking issues with this one and used three coats.

Next is one I purchased for this fall's campaign of "I'm Determined to Get Over My Hatred of Orange." :)  This is Cocktails and Carving, a pumpkin orange that's absolutely loaded with silver shimmer.  This polish is almost a one coater, but of course I am me and therefore did two.  Cocktails and Carving is dustier than the photos show, sort of like a pumpkin PIE orange.  It's very pretty.  It made me rather tempted to squirt Reddi-wip on my fingers.  Mmmmmm...Reddi-wip...

Another super-gorgeous-and-nearly-one-coat polish in the collection is Too Cute to Spook, a berry/fuchsia with a heavy silver shimmer.  I know you all are extremely shocked to read that this one had Lacquer Reverie written ALL over it. :P

And here is Eat, Drink & Scary that I've already shown you, complete with swollen fingers. :D  You can read the full review here.

I apologize for the lack of angle variety in tonight's post, but I have lately been suffering from crustacean cuticles and can't seem to hide it in pics!  UGH!!  :/  The Witches Ball collection is available at Rite Aid for $2.49 each.  These polishes wear very well, and I highly recommend them if you're looking for an inexpensive polish fix! 

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

Mamma Mia! Sinful Colors Sinful Shine Prosecco

Hey everybody!  Isn't it interesting to watch the rise of a humble polish that suddenly finds itself to be the beloved flavor of the month?  Tonight's polish is one of those lucky colors.  I had heard some buzz about Sinful Colors Sinful Shine Prosecco and happened up on some in Walgreens over the weekend with Mr. Sweets.

One look at the bottle told me exactly why this polish has ascended to fame.

Um.  YIKES!  Named for an Italian white wine (I had to look that up, as I don't drink alcohol :D), Prosecco is a taupe-colored crelly with a boat load of gold shimmer.  It's quite thin, and I'm sporting FOUR (4) coats in the photos.  Amazingly though, it dried very quickly between coats, which surprised me, as my former experience with a Sinful Shine was a more arduous path to dryness. :)

Application of Prosecco was fabulous.  And as you can see, it's very shiny too.  Prosecco has my absolute favorite quality in a polish:  it's dirt cheap and looks expensive.  YAY for fooling everybody!! 

Have you been fortunate enough to snag Prosecco?  When I told Mr. Sweets about its current status as an "it" polish, he suggested I buy all 3 from the display.  See ladies, there ARE men out there who actually encourage the insanity.  How lucky am I?? :)

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

China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You

Hey everybody! :)  So...China Glaze has released yet another gorgeous fall collection.  I always love their fall stuff.  I seem to recall...something about...buying the whole collection last year?  Oh, I could be wrong.  No...wait...I'm not. 

The All Aboard collection is right up my alley, or should we say track, due to some of its rather peculiar colors.  Khaki with heavy shimmer?  A fabulous ORANGE?  Why yes, yes indeed.  But since I hadn't the funds for the entire collection *cough* yet, I settled for my top pick, Choo-Choo Choose You.  Choo-Choo is a purple/green/taupe/copper multichrome color shifter that is absolutely filled with shimmer.  I say it's purple...it looks rather purple in the bottle, but it's one of those confusing shades that makes you wonder if it's really purple you see. :)

Every picture I've seen so far of Choo-Choo Choose You shows the greenish/taupe side of the color, but I couldn't seem to capture the green in any of mine.  This purple/copper shade is what my nails were in the sunlight.  The green showed up indoors in lower lighting.

Choo-Choo Choose You has some of the prettiest shimmer you'll ever see...so pretty that it merits its own blurred bottle shot:

Pink and gold, and lots of it too!  There was a down side to this beautiful polish though, at least for me, and that was crazy inordinate tip wear.  And I used 3 coats, and it still ended up looking sort of sheer for some reason.  I don't think it does that on normal people. :/  Well, I'll not let that minute detail get me down.

For a full review of the entire All Aboard collection (and some nice green pics of Choo-Choo), check out Yadi's review over at Night Swatcher.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! 

Drugstore Halloween, Part 1: Bonita Eat, Drink & Be Scary

Hey everybody!  I hope you're doing superbly on this Monday evening.  

I spent the weekend out of town with Mr. Sweets, so you know what that means!  Drugstore shopping! :)  Walgreens was having some amazing sales, but more about that later...tonight's polish was 100% Rite Aid certified.  I suppose I should add that Rite Aid was also having amazing sales. :P

I have never tried anything by Bonita, but I have been seeing them pop up more and more at Rite Aid.  I spotted a Halloween display of Bonita polishes, and the one that really stood out to me was this one.  And I'm telling you now that it's got the best name ever:  Eat, Drink & Be Scary!!! :D

Eat, Drink & Be Scary is an interesting polish all the way around.  It's sort of foil-ish with a heavy silver/blue shimmer that looks like velvet.  The application on this is really good.  It could be a one-coater, but I did two because I'm me.  

The color of Eat, Drink & Be Scary is rather complicated.  In the store, this looked like a navy shimmer.  But in certain lighting it can look teal or even black.  

Eat, Drink & Be Scary is a very rich-looking polish for $2.49.  Yes kids, I said $2.49.  But wait...there's more!  This was on sale for $1.86.  Yep.

What do you all think of this color?  I rather love it.  I recommend checking out the Bonita Halloween Witches Ball collection at least for Eat, Drink & Be Scary.  And admit it:  you love the name.

Stay tuned for MORE drugstore finds brought to you by me and Mr. Sweets!   Have a lovely day! <3

Coming Around...

Hey everybody!!  Wow, I've missed you all! 

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things after my 3 month long hiatus.  So much has changed for me personally since my last blog post...I'm still trying to get over it. :/  I thought I would show you some of the things I've been wearing since June.

butter LONDON Shag - metallic and shimmery and gorgeous and chipped all over the place...

Orly Star Trooper - coffee-colored jelly and white glitter!  Yikes, it's pretty!! Oh, and this...

Zoya Payton - imagine blackberry jam where the seeds are holo.  Yep.

China Glaze Optical Illusion - my absolute favorite microglitter!

Zoya Aurora (complete with tip wear!)

I hope you all have enjoyed your summer and are ready to listen to me whine about the slow-poke arrival of our Southern autumn. :)

And a special thank you to my co-bloggers and friends Liesl, Yadi, Christine, and Emily for checking on me over the past weeks.  It means more than you know. <3

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day. 

My New Sinful Colors Picks! Embers Only and Peppered Amazon

Hey everybody!  It's Friday!  Isn't that nice? :)  And talk about nice (I love segues), our favorite super-affordable-but-unfortunately-named brand, Sinful Colors, has come out with some beautiful new shades for summer!  I was on my monthly drugstore polish shop fest with Mr. Sweets looking for Hot Chili, thanks to Liesl Loves Pretty Things and the way she makes me want AWL the polishes, and not only did I find Hot Chili, but I also picked up two of the new shades.

First up is Embers Only...heh heh heh!!!  Embers Only!!  Do you all remember Members Only jackets?  Of course you don't.  You weren't born back then.  But I digress.

Ooooooh.  That's mighty nice.  Embers Only is a true red...to me it doesn't lean orange or blue...it's just red.  It's bright too, and it's got a pink shimmer and sparse pink and gold glitter.  This one is a crelly and a little thin.  I used 3 coats of Embers Only for pretty good opacity.

My best high school bud Todd had a Members Only jacket back in 1983.  He wore it with his parachute pants and looked totally awesome!  But again, I digress...

I made the comment to my friend Yadi at Night Swatcher that I am making the BOLD prediction that this next shade will be the coveted Sinful Colors shade of the year:  Peppered Amazon.  Peppered Amazon??!!  :/

My bottle had spottitis wonkimus for some reason, but try to overlook that and look at how utterly fantastic Peppered Amazon is!!  It's a creamy, dreamy, slightly dusty jade that's loaded with more silver shimmer than an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras.  This is an unusual shade and finish of green, and it's gorgeous!  Application was fabulous on this one, and I used 2 coats.

What do you think of these Sinful Colors shades?  I'm loving Embers Only, but Peppered Amazon is SO lovely that I am anticipating the possible arrival of Salted Nile for autumn? :P  I purchased these at Rite Aid. 

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

The Blogger Made Me Do It: Sally Hansen Open Mica Night

Hey everybody!  I know you all are ready for my special little blame game in which I don't accept responsibility for my polish buying.  Today's guilty culprit is Yadi of Night Swatcher!  I am not usually somebody who is drawn to glitter toppers, but when I saw Sally Hansen Open Mica Night on Yadi's blog, well...I knew it should be mine.  After all, she specifically said we needed it in our lives. :)

YIKES!!  It's holo AND square!!  What a gor-gee-ous topper Open Mica Night is.  Look at that bottle shot!!  This lovely glitter spread well, but since it's so chunky, it needed a little help with landing in all the right places. ;)

I dabbed on Open Mica Night over Nicole by OPI Back to Reality...TV, which is a rather strange little number.  It's a dusty, deep periwinkle with a sludgy look about it, and it's got a pink shimmer.  It's very unusual, but I like it.  I debated on using such a flashy topper as Open Mica Night over it because of the shimmer, but I love the result.  Rule #3:  Shimmer makes the world a happier place!

Now, once more, let the colors and flash assault your eyes!!

AND...let me add one more thing to the awesomeness of this mani:  I used OPI's new Glitter Off as my base coat, so no worries about busting out the old foil tonight when I change.  I have read some negative reviews about Glitter Off, but I have to tell you that it works fantastically with my chemistry.  So, if you're like me, and butter LONDON chips like crazy on you, check out Glitter Off for all your non-foil, glitter-friendly needs! :)

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

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! :)