Friday, February 19, 2016

flashback friday: shattered mint

Hey everyone! Hope you're doing fine on this Friday evening.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the handy app TimeHop, and how it sends you down memory lane basically every day. Two days ago, it reminded me of this post and how obsessed I was with OPI's Black Shatter (and every other shatter for that matter.)
It gave me the sudden urge to play with that old forgotten shatter again, and I decided to go full-flashback and recreate the mani!


This is OPI - Black Shatter over China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint.

When I pulled out my main bottle of Black Shatter, it was a sad sight because it had dried up into one little piece inside the bottle. I'm not sure if it'll come back to life, but I put in a bunch of polish thinner and had my boyfriend shake it for a while. I'm still letting it sit, but hopefully it can be revived.
I happened to have an untouched backup that was totally fine, and all the rest of my OPI shatters were fine as well. (My China Glaze ones bit the dust two years ago).


I totally still dig the look, its edgy and easy.
How long has it been since you played with shatter? Shake those babies up and give it another go!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

OPI Hello Kitty Collection - May Pal Joey + Charmmy & Sugar

Hey everyone! You may have seen my Instagram post hinting that a long-overdue blog post may be necessary thanks to the unbearably cute new Hello Kitty collection from OPI.
If you've been following me for a few years, you definitely know two things:
1) I love Hello Kitty.
2) I love OPI.
Which brings us to the conclusion that clearly I need this collection. Bad.



For whatever stupid and disappointing reason, my local professional beauty supply that carries OPI is not getting the collection. Which makes me real sad because I was hoping to pick up the entire thing there (including the little display that they all would come in.)
Wait a second... I wonder if my Sally Beauty supply would have the display and let me have that one? Hmmm.....

Anyway, I promptly hopped onto my favorite trusty polish website, Nail Polish Canada, and I picked up the Collector's Edition set that comes in the little pop-up box, with six polishes inside. (I also totally want the little train case type thing I've seen around but I'm sure that's out of my current polish price range. But a girl can dream?) So that set is on the way to me now, but in the meantime, I also hit up my local Winners and found a huge full display with 3 of each polish. How did they get it right away? Who knows. But I picked up the two I wanted most that weren't in the 6-piece set!


OPI - My Pal Joey
Now, this isn't an original color or anything, but it is a really great royal blue with a dreamy formula. It takes two smooth coats to get it perfect, and I experienced no staining which can sometimes be a problem with blues this pigmented.


OPI - Charmmy & Sugar
This is a cute and girly shimmer/glitter polish best used as a topcoat. The shimmer is pink with a duochrome flash and the bigger glitter bits consist of pinks and silver and a blue/green.

I brought it home thinking I had nothing like it at all in my collection! But upon arriving home, I realized I had something practically identical. You'd think this wouldn't happen to me after I've weaned off my polish buying so significantly, but no. I perused a few other people's reviews of the collection, and googled their names together but couldn't find anyone else who made the connection between these two polishes (probably because not a lot of people buy MAC nail polish besides MAC hoarders, who aren't necessarily also nail polish hoarders).



OPI - Charmmy & Sugar vs MAC Just Jewels
As you can see, these are basically identical. The MAC one has slightly less of the larger glitters throughout, but not enough to really make a difference so if you already own it, you don't need the other. The MAC shade has been long sold out though (it was in the Heirloom Mix collection for Holiday 2014) so if these glitters are catching your eye, pick up the OPI! It's cheaper, anyway.

Jeez, I guess posting so rarely causes me to ramble on and on when I do get around to posting! Hope you guys don't mind!
After noticing that I only scrounged up 7 posts in 2015, I've decided that I'm gonna try to come up with something to post at least every 2 weeks for the rest of the year. It might not happen, thanks to grad school, but I'll give it a shot! Got any suggestions for things you might like to see around here?
Until next time!

Friday, October 16, 2015

ILNP - Party Of Four

Okay, when it comes to indie nail polish, I am totally out of the loop. Like way out of the loop. So far out of the loop that I don't know if I could ever get back in.
I had a couple of pretty bad (read: awful) experiences in the early days of the indie craze. Stained nails, awful polishes, poor quality. And while I'm sure there are still things like that going on, holy crap, some of the brands have stepped up their game.

I was going through some old pictures I had never gotten around to posting, and came across these swatches of an old ILNP shade from back in the day. Looking at the pictures just now prompted me to check out their website. OMG. Cue the drooling. Ultra chrome? Ultra chrome flakies? Holographic ultra chrome flakies? What even. Someone get me one of those, stat.

Anyway, in case you ever stumble upon some older ILNP shades in a blog sale or what have you, here's a nice one to check out!


ILNP - Party of Four
This polish is a glitter topper with pink, blue, silver and black glitters. Lots of different shapes and sizes but it forms a cohesive look that I am super into.


I can't tell you for certain what base color I was wearing, but I thiiiink it was OPI - The Violet-ter, The Better.


I also made the whole look softer and milkier with a coat of OPI - Don't Touch My Tutu. I like it even better this way!


ILNP is definitely a great example of an indie brand that is 100% on par with the big brands, if not even better. I'm glad I have a couple of the old shades but I need to grab some new ones!

So tell me, what are some of your favorite tried-and-true indie brands? Anything I am hardcore missing out on?

I'm off to draft some more posts. Until next time!

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

catch up haul! miss me?

Hey everyone! Look at that - I was on unplanned hiatus again. Whoops. Did you miss me? Let's catch up.

I don't even really have a good excuse this time for being inactive, so I totally admire bloggers who have a full time job and families and stuff and still manage to blog on the regular because clearly I am not capable and I don't even have a job at the moment (and certainly no kids). I am in grad school, so there's one decent excuse I suppose.

I've also got this prettttty great new boyfriend (Hi, Andy!) who's been bugging me to get back on the blogging game because he thinks it's really cool (because duh, it is). He even helped me organize some of my nail polish AND make swatch sticks. Legit. So, he's a keeper, and I'm sure he will keep reminding me to stay on track. I know it seems like a lot of the blogging world has transitioned to mostly Instagram and quicker platforms like that but hey, someone's still gotta keep writing a whole bunch of nail polish nonsense somewhere to keep us all in the know.

I've got a few goals in mind for this new blogging spurt, which I will hopefully make good on:
1) Learn about all the new and upcoming stuff so I don't feel left out.
2) Get my Facebook page up to 10,000 likes. (It's been so close for so long!)
3) Have a blog sale. (Lemme know in the comments if you'd be interested in that!)
4) Run a sweet giveaway!

Anyway. I haven't done a haul post since February. So there's six months in there plus most of September that I haven't done (or even thought about). And obviously, being somewhat out of the game, my polish shopping has gotten way, way less shameful. But I still have my moments. Let's see what I can remember...


In March, my true love Chalkboard Nails sent me a package full of love, and of course nail polish. She sent me my first LVX polishes in such fun colors, my first CND Vinylux, and some Color Club minis because girl knows I love me some CC.

LVX - Midori
LVX - Porcelaine
LVX - Laguna
CND Vinylux - Grand Gala
CND Vinylux - Dazzling Dance
CND Vinylux - Chiffon Twirl
Color Club - Tiny Umbrella (mini)
Color Club - Sea-ing Blue (mini)
Color Club - The Islands (mini)
Color Club - Frozen Daquiri (mini)

My friend Tracy came to my rescue when she spotted the China Glaze Electric Nights collection at our local beauty supply this spring. I was stuck at work all week that week and never would have made it there before the good stuff sold out, so not only did Tracy pick them up for me, but she delivered them to my work. Can I get an amen? Thank you Tracy!

China Glaze - Point Me To The Party
China Glaze - Let The Beat Drop
China Glaze - Can I Get An Untz Untz
China Glaze - PLUR-ple
China Glaze - UV Meant To Be

And because I clearly have amazing friends, my pal Jessica sent me a message at like 1 AM one night letting me know there was a huge bin of Nicole by OPI polishes for FIFTY CENTS at a supermarket near me. So naturally I went right away. And got every color. Because duh.

Nicole by OPI - Plum To Your Senses!
Nicole by OPI - Carried Away
Nicole by OPI - Goodbye Shoes
Nicole by OPI - Sweet Daisy
Nicole by OPI - Party Bus
Nicole by OPI - Backstage Pass
Nicole by OPI - Lips Are Dripping Honey
Nicole by OPI - A Lit-teal Bit of Love
Nicole by OPI - Honey-Dew You Love Me?
Nicole by OPI - Diva Into The Pool
Nicole by OPI - Light a Candle
Nicole by OPI - I'll Have The Salmon



In an attempt to remain current and cool, I ordered myself one Enchanted Polish from a Nail Polish Canada restock in April (and the other one pictured was for a friend.) And yum, look at dat ColourPop!

Enchanted Polish - Dream On



While in Florida in May, I found some polishes on clearance because clearance is my bitch.

OPI - My Silk Tie
OPI - Shine For Me
OPI - Christmas Gone Plaid
OPI - So Elegant
OPI - You're So Outta Lime!
OPI - It's All San Andreas's Fault


I needed to be restrained in the Lancome company outlet in Florida because they carry Urban Decay now. Almost just said "I'll have one of everything" but I showed some restraint. The whole thing pictured above only cost $68 so you knowww the deals were insane. My haul included the Electric nail polish trio:

Urban Decay - Deep End
Urban Decay - Gold Mine
Urban Decay - Woodstock

Other than that, a few random purchases I can recall include:
L'Oreal Color Riche - Hello Captain
Essence - Glitz & Glam
Essence - Under The Sea
Essence - Underwater Love
Essence - Rock My World
Nicole by OPI - A Million Sparkles

PHEW! I made it. I think. I definitely missed some in there but who knows what.

It feels good to be typing to you here in this little white box once again - I hope at least some of you are still subscribed to me and excited to hear from me. Drop me a comment below and say hi! And I'll see you again soon. 

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

i'm on that mermaid life

Hey everyone! I've got some amazing nails for you today if I do say so myself! (And I do say so.)


Totally wanted to leave these on for the rest of my life.

The base color for this mani is a new-ish one from Essence (it came out in Canada in maybe October or November), called Aquatix Bay, I did three coats for best coverage.
The seashell stamping image is from the Cheeky summer collection, plate CH-38.
I used a Mundo de Unas stamping polish. I think it's called Lilac. They stamp sooooo amazingly.
I added some rhinestones and pearls to continue with the mermaid effect.


Mermaid nails are just the best. I am a mermaid. If you didn't know.


Hope you guys enjoyed these nails as much as I did!
BTW - Any of my polish friends out there in sunny Florida wanna take me to the Iggy Azalea concert in May? I'll be there for vacation with my fam, and at this rate, I'ma be taking my mom to see Iggy Iggs.