KOTD: OPI Holiday Glow w/ ChG Delight and Emotion

I don't think I ever told you girls what my wonderful husband did last week...

As he's been unemployed, he's used this time to do a few things that he wasn't able to get to when he had a job. One of those things was cleaning out all his old geek junk from my IL's attic. We're talking a crap ton of Magic cards, RPG books, anime books/videos... you name it. And since we have no room in our house to store his geeky past, he took the stuff to sell at a used bookstore. He made $60, and then he said I could use it to buy nail polish, as he knew I wanted some more appropriate colors to wear to interviews.

So last week, I placed a TD order. Mostly with OPI Suedes, Holidays, and work safe colors. One of those I ordered was OPI Holiday Glow. I put it on last night. Here's a pic...

As you can tell, I did a konad, but more on that in a minute... As for Holiday Glow. There's a reason the initials are HG. LOL. I don't know what exactly this would be Holy Grail for, but whatever it is... this fits the bill. It's a hard color to describe, but I'll do my best. It's a deep burgundy/brown base with tons of gold, pink, and burgundy shimmer. It looks like glitter, but it's not at all bumpy. This is 2 coats, as the first one is a little thin. It also took 2 coats of TC to bring out the shine.

HG is from OPI's Holiday 2009 Wishes collection. I got 2 other colors from this collection, Merry Midnight and All A-bordeaux the Sled. Both of these look amazing as well. But at first glance, it looks like HG may be my favorite. I got mine from TD, but 8ty8 has them as well.

As for the konad, my plate collection is lacking in anything fall related. As I didn't want to do another falling leaves mani, I just chose flowers and butterflies. Zzzzzzzzzzzz, I know, but I think the colors look great over HG. I used Delight and Emotion to play up the pink and gold in the sparkle.

If you haven't tried any of the Romantiques yet, get a couple... I promise you won't be disappointed, especially if you use them for konadding. You can get them at just about every etailer and on eBay.

That's all for now. We are planning to go the beach this weekend, so you may see nothing from me until Monday. Have a good weekend. :)

Okay, scratch that...

I'd had a bad day. My kids were being little hell-beasts. They were 2 steps ahead of me all day, so when I finally put them in their rooms to nap, I figured I'd get some work done. They were both quiet, so I ran outside for 10-15 minutes to mow the front yard. Yes, 15 minutes. Front yard is way tiny. So when I get back in, not only where they not asleep in their beds, but Blake had gotten up on the piano, reached in through the pass-through to the kitchen, turned the faucet around and water was pouring out all over my piano. Nice. Don't know how long that'd been going on. Piano seems, okay, but it's more a piece of furniture than an instrument. Anyway, before I ramble myself into 2 paragraphs, the moral of this story is that when I get pissed, I buy nail polish.

I'M WEAK!!!

I ordered:
ChG Turned Up Turquise
Orly Sol Cabana
Orly Midnight Star
OPI Catherine the Grape
OPI You Ottaware Purple
OPI Kinky in Helsinki

Hmmm... you think I like purple? LOL. I got TuT and SC because they look so pretty and summery and I think both of them will be great for Konadding. I got Orly MS because I'm hugely, muchly lemming OPI PPP and I'm not one for dusty hunting and there's never one on eBay. Well, there have been 2 on eBay that I've seen. One was $30 and the other one is on there now, but it's in England and shipping alone is almost $10 (seller quoted me 6 GBP), and no telling how high the auction would go. Plus, it's used and I've got weird issues about used things. Anyway, I've seen pics of MS and PPP side-by-side and they are almost EXACT dupes. So, as much as I've disliked Orly's formula in the past, I figured I'd give it a try. I got all the above polishes for $30+ shipped. Not too shabby. Now, I really need to hold out til fall to place another big order (planning on Zoya Truth, Zoya Dovima, and 4-5 colors from OPI Spain.

Also, I'm going to be in Charlotte, NC this weekend and my sis and I are planning on checking out this huge mall that has many stores we don't have here in Knox Vegas. I may have to take a little peek at Sephora (we do have one here, but it's on the other side of town), BB&W for Lippmanns (same deal as Sephora... flagship on other side of town), and possibly Nordies for Chanel. Shhhh. I'm excited. Husband and CC are not. LOL. I know, I know... I just posted about being more frugal, but I have been budgetting this trip. I have a little saved up for this weekend. I'm a SAHM who doesn't go anywhere but the grocery store. I'm having a little fun at the mall. Dangit. :P

Lastly, I did my nails tonight and put on OPI Rose to the Ovation. I'll have pics soon, but I wanted to give a quick review first. Holy smokes! Gorg.e.ous. Like I think this is the most beautiful polish I own, gorgeous. It's definitely in the INRAW, Soho Nice to Meet You, Bogota Blackberry family (and others, I'm sure... these are just what I have), but it takes it to another level. There is this fine shimmer in it that makes it just come to life. It looks very similar to the 3 I mentioned above in the bottle, but once it's on, it has so much more depth. Swoon. I got it on eBay (and when I post my pics, I'll give the seller a shout out), for $8 + shipping. I snatched it up like nobody's bidnez when I saw pics on nailgal. Other sellers have it for $25 and I can see why someone would pay that for this color. I wouldn't b/c I'm a cheap-ass and the $15 I forked out for Star-ring the Rockettes was bad enough. If you see it cheap (or at a price you feel comfortable with), get it. You won't be sorry.

NOTD: Misa Carmine Treasure

Um... why did I wait this long to try Misa? Seriously, it's awesome. And I'm only basing that on my swatching last night and my NOTD today. The formula is amazing. Super smooth and highly pigmented. Also, it's cheaper than OPI and Essie at e-tailers and the bottles are great. The remind me of the Lippmann bottles, but they aren't as squatty and the brush handles are longer (read better).

As for Carmine Treasure, I mainly chose this as my NOTD because there are no swatches of it anywhere. I love it though, it's such a pretty pink. It's bright pink, a little on the warmer side, with gold shimmer. This was fine with 1 coat, but I did 2 just because I can't help myself. It was $2.99 at TD. I bought 7 of them. :S

Also, quick update on Blind Love, as I only had it on 2 days and had to re-do my glue-ons to change polish. The wear was fine, I just got bored w/ the color. It was gorgeous, but like I thought earlier, it didn't work with my skintone.

All moods change with platinum!

So, here I was feeling uber depressed today because of my shitacular nails, and nothing was getting me out of my funk. Just looking at them made it worse, so this evening, I put on a set of glue-ons. Instant happy. Out of sight, out of mind. :)

Well, I still know that they are under there and I just need to take better care of my nails. I need to give them some time between glue-ons and I need to stick to soaking them off. No more popping them off. It's easier and I don't have to mess w/ stinky acetone, but it's not doing my nails any favors.

Once I had the nails on, I had the hardest time deciding on a color. I was on the phone with my mom and I'd narrowed it down to BB Couture Blind Love or ChG Sneakerhead. Both are untrieds. Of course, my mom did not approve of the Blind Love after I described the color, she said it wasn't natural. Naturally, that's the one I picked. LOL.

Lemme tell you, it is gor-g-us. Seriously, I know it's a very close dupe for Chanel Kaleidoscope, and if I'd found Kaleidoscope first, I'd see no problem w/ forking out the cash just for the color alone. I'm glad to have just spent $8 on it, but the color is worth $20 easily. However, since I've heard iffy things about Chanel's formula, I'm happy to have the BB Couture. It was so easy to apply, and while I did a second coat, it honestly would have been okay w/ one. It is a bit brush-strokey, but I think that is inherent to this color. It doesn't detract from it in anyway. The texture just adds to the metallyness of the color.


Here's a pic:



It is so amazingly pretty, I can't stop staring at my fingers. I don't know if it even works w/ my skintone, but I love it so much I don't care. This will be another one that I'm going to be sad to see it go.

Also, I may actually do a pedi w/ this color and that's saying something. I haven't dealt w/ my toes in awhile, other than general maintenence. I tend to only wear close toed shoes, so pedis are kind of worthless to me. However, I am going on a short trip in a few wks and I do plan on wearing sandals that weekend, so a pedi with this color (and that's saying something considering I usually prefer red on toes) may just be in order.

In short, I love, love, love and I'm kinda mad I didn't try it sooner. LOL. :)

BTW, I love the length my nails are now. Kind of in-between my BB Couture Dragon's Breath (longer) mani and my OPI Oui Bit of Red (super short) mani.

Additionally, while I was dealing with my horribly nubby nails, I really worked on them to help them grow. Here's a list of all I used:

- ProStrong BioFusion Nail Grafting Serum
- ProStrong ProAccelerator
- ProStrong ProCal
- Sally Hansen Nail Nutrition
- California Mango Mend
- Revlon Cuticle Moisture Oil

And as you can tell from the pic above, my cuticles look better and the skin around my nails is less red. I've also been applying lotion religiously today, which is something I normally neglect to do.

I need to really make a point of being nicer to my fingers. Hopefully, it'll work.

One last thing... I caved and placed a TD order. Hell, I figure if my husband can eat lunch out everyday, this SAHM who has frozen meals for lunch everyday can replace nail polish for meals out. LOL. Didn't order any OPI (gasp), though. I figured I'd give Misa a go. Here's what I got:

- Misa Got to Be Reel
- Misa Forbidden Lust
- Misa Toxic Seduction
- Misa Russian Sage
- Misa Chocolate Icing
- Misa Dying Love
- Misa Carmine Treasure
- Essie Sexy Divide
- Essie It's Genius
- ChG Strawberry Fields
- ChG Blue Island Ice Tea

Should be here tomorrow or Wednesday. Can't wait!

NOTD: OPI Man of La Mancha

I'm not sure how I feel about this color. It's from OPI's 2003 Holiday on Broadway collection. It's d/c, but it, as well as all the collection sans La Bohemme is available from TransDesign.com for $4.99 (their price recently went up 20c). In the picture, it looks like a pretty, glitter rose color, but IRL, it's more complex. The rose is beautiful. The green and gold glitter is beautiful, but there is an orange shade that it flashes to in certain lights that looks like crappola. OPI described this as red, but it's anything but red. It's sheer and does take 3 coats to reach opacity. I'm considering picking up some of the other polishes in this collection, while they are available, because I love the concept, just not the orangeyness.

I'm not sure if I'll wear it again, but I'm keeping it because of my attachment to the name. It's a long drawn out explanation, but let's just say that Man of La Mancha reminds me of Quantum Leap which is one of my favorite shows ever.

UPDATE: I hated this color and I was so happy to take it off. Of course, I left it on 3 days b/c I didn't want to deal w/ reapplying a new set of nails, but gah... it sucked. I hate it so much, I may end up giving it away.

New Strategy and a HTF

I am horrible at updating blogs. Awful. I just forget and then 1 day turns into months and then I sound like a total asshole with my "so sorry I've been remiss" post. So, to remedy this, I figure I'd start a new strategy. I'm starting with reviewing my NOTDs and giving detailed comments. Usually, I do this on the MUA review pages, and I'll continue to do so, but sometimes, especially with a non-OPI polish, the polish in question just isn't in the product listing. Thus, I'm doing my reviews here.

However, they probably won't be NOTDay. More like NOTEveryOtherDay. As I mentioned earlier, I took my acrylics off in early March. They still are only half-nails and generally look like shite, so I'm now using glue-ons. At least until my natural nails are polish-worthy and probably after that. I have some major ridging on my natural nails and I have yet to find a quick-drying, non-glumpy ridge filler. As much as I'd like to change my polish everyday, it's just not feasible considering the glue-ons get weak after a polish change, even w/ non acetone polish remover and I totally have the change my tips.

Also, there may or may not be pictures. My camera charger is MIA and now that I'm thinking about it, my camera is MIA. Hm. All I have is my camera phone, and while I'll use it, depending on the quality of the pics, I may not post them.

Now that all that crap is out of the way, on to the good stuff... the HTF polish. I'd been lemming OPI Double Decker Red for a year. I'd tried to buy it on numerous occasions only to have either the site or the eBay seller tell me "sorry sucker, out of stock". I'd given up on ever owning it. Which was a shame because the more I would read about how it was the perfect, HG red, the more I wanted to own it and hold it and call it my precious. Can you imagine? Over a red creme? Please. But that's what happened.

So color me surprised when I found it on TransDesign. By that time, however, I already had so many red creme OPIs, that it took me 3 TD orders before I finally stuck it in my cart and pressed send. Then I waited 2 days with bated breath (thank God, I'm in TN. LOL). As I took the haul out of the box, I'd almost forgotten that I even ordered it. But there it was... along with some money-wasting Sations, Essie Marshmallow, ChG Sneakerhead, OPI Pompeii Purple and Black Cherry Chutney. Being that it was old formula OPI, I waited a few days to apply it until I had more than an hour for my nails to dry. And.......

Well kids, I'm kind of underwhelmed. Sob. It's a red creme and it's pretty, but it's no Vodka & Caviar (my HG red creme). Most of the reviews I'd read stated that it was a true red, but this that I got was decidedly a blue-based red. It's almost like a lighter Got the Blues for Red.
However, while GtBfR has the sexy,vampy thing going for it, DDR is just kind of "there", though a pretty "there". Last night, I put on 2 coats and it's still kind of sheer in places, so I'm probably going to do a third one tonight.

To be honest, I hated it last night. The application was difficult and the formula was that odd runny/thick/thin thing OPIs can have, of course, it was old formula/old brush. Today, however, it's grown on me. It kind of reminds me of '40s glam. Think spectator pumps, pencil skirts, and hose with lines. It's a nice, wearable red, which because it's blue-based works well with my fair/pink skin. Unlike another red creme in my collection, Thrill of Brazil, it doesn't slap you in the face with it's redness. Once I got over the shock of no choir of angels accompanying my application, I liked it. I'll definitely wear it in the future, especially this summer as I think it's more of a summer red than a fall/winter red (which is weird because it was released for Fall/Winter 2003). If you can find it, you may want to consider picking it up, but it's nothing super special. More than anything, I was just finally happy to be able to squash my lemming (poor little lemming).

Here's a poor picture with my camera phone. Hopefully, I'll be able to take real pics soon.

OPI Double Decker Red

As an aside, if you are trying to find HTF polishes, you may want to check out TD (http://www.transdesign.com/). I've gotten several OPIs, as well as an Essie or two, from them have been discontinued shades. Along w/ Double Decker Red, I've gotten Man of La Mancha, Hey! Get in Lime, Van-Couvered in the Snow, and Essie St. Barth's Blue. Now, granted, they aren't in the same league as OPI La Boheme or Essie Starry, Starry Night (which I would kill for), but it is nice to find something that you know won't be around forever.