Twinsie Tuesday: Hyped Up Polish You Were Disappointed By....

Good Morning! Today we have another issue of Twinsie Tuesday. Today's topic is a hyped up polish that we were disappointed by. The first polish that comes to mind is L'Oreal Owl's Night, since I bought it strictly off all the talk on MUA. It's still sitting in my untrieds. Since I haven't swatched it yet and I was short on time, I felt it was unfair to chose it. So I picked Essie Smokin' Hot.

I'm not saying Essie Smokin' Hot isn't a nice color, I just felt I read so much about it and when I finally got it on my nails I didn't feel the love. The best way to describe this is a deep gray creme with a touch of purple. This has been duped quite a few times and it has some exact dupes and close cousins in Color Club Rad Nomad, Color Club Ash Brown, Nina Ultra Pro Never Glum Plum,  Zoya Kelly, Sally Hansen Gray Area and Chanel Paradoxal.

The photos below show two coats of Essie Smokin' Hot with a coat of Seche Vite...

I was a little bored, so I topped it with a coat of Kleancolor's City Never Sleeps...

Still bored! LOL. Maybe I need a lot to really catch my eye. Like I said, it's a nice color but with all the times it's been duped you would think it was truly amazing. How come nobody is duping Essie Starry Starry Night instead? There is one close dupe (Fing'rs Blue Glitter) which is so hard to find. I want all of my HTF lemmings to be duped like Essie Smokin' Hot was.

Don't remember to check out the other Twinsie Tuesday ladies! Just click the links below :)

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Off topic, but did anyone watch the premier of Brooklyn 11223 on Oxygen last night? I like to watch anything local, but I don't think I'll be able to make it through a season of this show. I was hoping to find a replacement for The Challenge when that ends on Wednesday night. I'm wondering if anyone else had a hard time watching it like I did   lol  ;)

Lynnderella Very Pretty Vampire

Good Morning! It's another Monday :(  I hope everyone had a good weekend! I'm sad to see it end. Today I have some older swatches for you, it's a polish that I'm revisiting because my first swatches were so bad. I don't know if anyone remembers my first swatches of Lynnderella's Very Pretty Vampire....but they weren't good.

 So today I have two coats of Lynnderella Very Pretty Vampire over two coats of Orly Rococo A Go-Go, topped with a thick coat of Seche Vite.

I miss the old school Lynn bottles...they looked bigger lol  :)

 As much as I want to be completely enamored with this polish, I'm not a red girl. I'm thinking next time I may have to layer it over a black base and see what it looks like, but then I'll lose the black glitter that is in there. :::sigh:::

I hope everyone has a good day today! I'm hoping to get my Llarowe nail mail today, which includes 20 new bottles of Lynnderella <3  I'm stalking the USPS website. I almost wanted to call in sick to work haha ;)

Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed

Happy Friday!! Today I have a truly fantastic polish for you, Toxic Seaweed by Cult Nails! I picked this two of these up the night they went on sale and it just may be one of my favorite polishes so far in 2012. To be perfectly honest, I love this much more in person than I do in any swatches I have seen.

Toxic Seaweed has both of the best worlds....flakies and glitter all together in one polish. Everything is mixed up in a dark green jelly base. At times the base leans teal and the flakies flash red/orange for the most part. This is absolutely gorgeous and I love it even more than I expected to. Formula was easy to work with and I found this to be opaque in two coats. If you like this polish don't wait too long because it's limited edition.

The photos below show two coats of Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed and a coat of Seche Vite.

 I la-la-love this! You can pick this one up at www.CultNails.com for $10.00.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!!! Me and the boyfriend go on mini day trips every Saturday, and if the weather holds out I'm looking for something to do outside   :0)

Zoya Gemma

Good morning! I'm so excited for Zoya's Beach and Surf collections that I decided to celebrate with one of my untried Zoyas. I decided to swatch Zoya Gemma, which I scored on the clearance selection in Ulta. I picked Gemma up for $4 a couple of weeks ago, which is a steal. I also got 7 new Zoyas in the mail today, so I'm a happy girl right now  :)

Gemma is one of those polishes that everyone raved about. I remember seeing swatches everywhere! I love greens and all but I didn't quite *get* it. Well, when I finally put Gemma on last week, I totally got it! The olive green base has a blue/lilac shimmer and it's gorgeous! Formula was easy to work with and this was opaque in two coats. While I didn't notice it in person, I have lobster hands in these photos. I don't think that will stop me from wearing this again.

The photos below show 2 coats of Zoya Gemma topped with a coat of Posche...as well as my nails pre-nubbin lol...

Thanks for stopping by!

Twinsie Tuesday: Discontinued Polish (OPI My Auntie Drinks Chianti)

 

Good morning everyone! Today we have another Twinsie Tuesday post. Before I begin, I apologize that my swatches today aren't the best. My nails are in such bad shape and nothing is really helping them. No matter what I do they are breaking and after walking around with 6 patched nails I decided to file them down and start from scratch. I completely forgot that I didn't have any 'discontinued' swatches in my back log of photos, so my apologies for the nubbins :0/

Today's Twinsie Tuesday topic was a discontinued polish. During my free for all polish spree last year, I bought almost anything I could find with a black label (no joke). I wanted to pick a polish that had been discontinued for quite some time for today's post, so I chose My Auntie Drinks Chianti from the Italian Collection. The Italian Collection was released in Spring 2001, so this is just about 11 years old. I found this not too long ago in a small beauty supply store up the road from my grandmother's house.

My Auntie Drinks Chianti is a hard color to describe. Each time I look at down at my nails it seems to have morphed into another shade. When I first put this on it looked very rose/mauve to me. After a few minutes it looked more pink, and then I started seeing purple and then raspberry. In the bottle it reminded me a little of OPI Dim Sum Plum, but with a subtle shimmer. When not in direct lighting it seems to be a shade darker than what my photos show.  Formula was easy to work with and this was opaque in two easy coats. It also has the older OPI brush, which I miss. Overall, it's nice...but I don't think it's a me color. I've had it on for about six hours now and I'm going back and forth between liking and not liking this. Right now I can't see myself wearing this for a second day. I'm without a doubt impressed that after 11 years the formula on this was like new. I didn't have to add a single drop of thinner to this at all. There seemed to be some evaporation within the bottle but that's nothing! Right now, My Auntie Drinks Chianti appears to be sold only on Ebay. It is currently retailing between $15.99-$30.99.

Enough talking....on to the swatches:

Thoughts? Am I being too hard on this polish? Part of me wants to rename this My Older Auntie Drinks Chianti, due to the fact that it seems too mature for my liking. The rose/mauve is not me. While I'm still in my 20's I'd like to keep it as funky as possible lol. I originally wanted to swatch OPI Santiago Sangria, but I misplaced it and found it once it was too late. Oh well.

Don't forget to check out the discontinued polishes the other Twinsie Tuesday ladies are posting about today!! I'm excited to see what everyone chose (and what I may have to shell $$$ out for on Ebay, haha)

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

 

Thanks for stopping by! :O)

St Patrick's Day NOTD: China Glaze Paper Chasing & Lynnderella I Can Afford It

Happy St Patty's Day everyone! I hope everyone has a fantastic day, no matter if you are celebrating or not. Just be safe whatever you do  :)  Today I'm showing off my St Patrick's Day manicure.....and I'm looooving it.

I've been dying to try Lynnderella's I Can Afford it, but since it's an amazing green I naturally had to hold on to it until today, St Patrick's Day. I wanted to try it with a matching base for the first time so I picked out China Glaze Paper Chasing, which was pretty close.

 Amazing bright green shimmer. 2 coats. Strange formula. It feels almost oily to me. The first coat is sheer but it builds nicely. If I was going to wear this one alone I would have added a third coat. I can get by the sheerness of the formula as long as the outcome looks as vibrant as the color above. Paper Chasing is from the Summer 2009 Kicks collection.

Then, I topped it all with Lynnderella I Can Afford it (2 coats)

I Can Afford It is made up of different sized green glitter with a few gold and purple pieces mixed in. I have a few purple and gold pieces on my nails, but my camera didn't really want to pick them out for the photo. You can see them if you look hard enough. This combo is pretty darn great if I can say so myself, LOL!! My co-worker saw my bright sparkly green nails from about 20' away yesterday. That's what I would call a win.


What is everyone wearing on their nails today??

EDIT: 3/19/12 -- Double up on your base coat when using China Glaze Paper Chasing because this one was quite the stainer. My nails are now stained lime green  :o/

Zoya Press Release: BEACH and SURF by Zoya Nail Polish for Summer 2012

Some amazing information to share with everyone this morning:

Announcing Summer 2012 nail color by Zoya Nail Polish!
BEACH and SURF dive into the color...

 New nail color - coming soon to a salon near you and Zoya.com!

Summer 2012 is going to be a super stylish season for nails with the latest offering of nail polish collections, Beach and Surf, from the new color of fashion, Zoya! This new splash of color, designed by the Zoya color experts, is kissed by sea and sand translating beautifully onto the nail in the famous, full-coverage Zoya formula.

Dive into the creamy shades of the Zoya Beach Collection or the shimmering sea foils of the Zoya Surf Collection. The choice is yours – this color palette is sure to be a splash!

Zoya BEACH Collection

• Reagan (ZP614) - deep cerise pink cream
• Lara (ZP615) - vivid cerise pink cream
• Shelby (ZP616) - soft pinky pink cream
• Arizona (ZP617) - soft coral orange cream
• Tracie (ZP618) - sea grass metallic
• Wednesday (ZP619) - soft aqua cream

Zoya SURF Collection

• Rory (ZP620) - lotus pink foil metallic
• Carly (ZP621) - thalia purple foil metallic
• Kimber (ZP622) - magenta pink foil metallic
• Myrta (ZP623) - coral orange foil metallic
• Meg (ZP624) - mermaid green foil metallic
• Zuza (ZP625) - aquamarine foil metallic

Zoya is the new color of fashion... 

The Zoya BEACH and SURF collection was designed and inspired by resort runways and tropical get-a-ways.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya BEACH and SURF as well as over 300 other ultra high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for women so we name them after women.

BEACH and SURF by Zoya Nail Polish - 12 new colors:
Available April 1, 2012 (USA)
www.zoya.com

Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl.oz. bottle (US).

Dare I even mention how excited I am for this? These look so JUICY and they are exactly what I have been craving lately. I'm a creme girl at heart, but I'm so interested in seeing the metallic foils since foils also have a place in my polish obsession. I think these will make amazing mani and pedi combinations. Now the countdown to April begins......

Twinsie Tuesday: Green Polish (Week of St. Patrick's Day) Lynnderella All Hallow's Eve

 Good morning ladies! Today we have another Twinsie Tuesday post. This week's theme was a green nail polish - in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I have strong Irish ancestry, and while I don't do the St. Patrick's Day parades, corn beef and cabbage or heavy celebratory drinking....I do always reserve a few days in March for green polish.

Today I have swatches of Lynnderella's All Hollow's Eve for you. Do I even need to introduce All Hollow's Eve? Green + glitter = magic. It's as simple as that. Lynnderella recently announced that All Hollow's Eve will be one of three polishes she is discontinuing, so I'm relieved I picked this one out when she opened shop for her Early Halloween collection (if only ordering her creations was this simple and drama free now). I wore this polish a while back and still had the photos to post. For St. Patrick's Day this year I'll be wearing Lynnderella I Can Afford It, which I have been dying to wear since I got it in the mail.

The photos below show 2 coats of Essie Pretty Edgy and 2 coats of Lynnderella All Hallows Eve, topped with Seche Vite. My photos do this polish no justice, it's absolutely amazing!

When I wear my Lynnderella polishes it's a reminder of why I love them so much. I'm (im)patiently waiting an invoice from Llarowe for my wishlist. Of course, I made a master wishlist with every polish I even *thought* I wanted. Did anyone else send in a wish list? My last name starts with a W so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get in when Llarowe does the Z round.

Don't forget to check out the other amazing ladies who are all sporting green today:

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Jordana Sequins

Hey all! Super quickie post for today, featuring Jordana Sequins. Sequins is the polish I used during the last Twinsie Tuesday post. I figured this little guy needed more love. Here is 2 coats of Sequins over OPI Shorts Story. Excuse the dryness and the chip. I didn't see the pinky chip until after the photos....

I fell off the face of the earth this last week  due to the fact that I have an ill family member. It's definitely shaken everything up and besides working and going up to the hospital pretty much daily, I haven't had much time for much else. She was transferred to another hospital late Thursday night that has a great rep (she would have gotten better care at my dog's veterinarian than the hospital she had been in) so I'm hoping things look up from here. So if I seem absent for a little while, that's where I am. I have so much catching up to do (blogging and emails) that I'm hoping to get some time in this weekend. Let's just put it this way....I spent part of last weekend with naked nails, and I walked around with a chipped mani for about 2-3 days this week. The polish gods must be wondering what is going on inside my head, haha.

I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!  :0)

Twinsie Tuesday: Jelly Sandwich

Good Morning! It's that special day of the week again, it's Twinsie Tuesday! When I originally looked at the schedule for this week I saw jelly sandwich as the theme and though to myself this would be a disaster. I had only tried one jelly sandwich before, using Essie Marshmallow and it was a FAIL. Besides Marshmallow, I only own 2 other jelly polishes due to the fact I had sold/swapped the rest of them. I had Revlon Royal to work with (too dark to sandwich anything) and Deborah Lippmann Yellow Brick Road. I remember seeing swatches of a jelly sandwich featuring Yellow Brick Road on Goose's Glitter and I was blooooown away. Deborah Lippmann's Yellow Brick Road was in a pile of polishes I was going to sell/swap, so I decided to give it another chance before I had to try and franken a jelly. I originally tried to sandwich DL YBR with Lynnderella's Connect the Dots but the white didn't stand out enough, in my opinion. I layered two coats of DL YBR and a coat of Jordana Sequins and came out with this......

 

To complete my jelly sandwich I added another coat of DL YBR and voila!

Visible nail line and all, DL YBR can keep it's home in my helmer. I may put Essie Marshmallow in the swap/sell drawer instead lol.

As always, don't forget to check out the other Twinsie Tuesday ladies. We've also added Brandi from The Collegiate Nail to the rotation, so make sure you check out everyone:

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

On a side note, my no/low-buy was going so good and I was getting really proud of myself. I've been saving my dollars for the Lynnderella polishes that I want, and I've probably only purchased about 10 polishes in the last month (down from the 400-500 I bought in 2011 lol). Sometimes, rules must be broken. And if you have some extra money to spend RUN to Aveyou.com because they have the entire Hologram Collection from Layla up. My bestie alerted me to this last night and I whipped out my credit card like it was on fire lol. I was trying to hold out and buy them in Ulta for the sake of the $3.50 coupon, but with the coupon code Gimme25 you get $25 off $100. You can get all 8 Layla holo polishes for $99 + $1 shipping. Just figured I would share to anyone who has been waiting for these.
 Thanks for stopping by! :)

Essie Pretty Edgy

Happy Monday all! Today I have Essie's Pretty Edgy for you. I was going though some of my back logged photos and decided to go with this one. I'm going to make this one short and sweet, since this will be featured in another post (I'm hoping on Wednesday - since tomorrow is Twinsie Tuesday). 

Pretty Edgy is a medium green creme with a pretty blue undertone. Formula was easy to work with, and it was opaque in two coats. The photos below show 2 coats of Essie Pretty Edgy topped with a coat of Seche Vite.

 Pretty Edgy....if you don't like green lol.


On a side note - if I follow your blog and you aren't on my blog roll it's because I've been having trouble with it for a few weeks now. Even though I add & update everyone, it's not saving correctly. Damn technology ;)  I've seen other people post about it also. I'm hoping it will be fixed soon.