Out With The Old, In With The New

December 31st is upon us already!  Wow...  You've endured plenty of my 'where has the time gone' ramblings, so I'll skip that this time.  My NYE mani came to me in a moment of inspiration last month.  I never have moments of inspiration.  Or...I do, but then I never actually get around to the execution part.  The idea I had was to represent this year with a texture (are we done yet? please?), next year with a satin (I hope I hope I hope I hope), and give a nod to FINALLY managing to stamp successfully this year after more than six months of failure.  That post even mentions an idea that I still haven't acted on.  How appropriate.

My New Years idea though?  Totally happened!  I used OPI This Gown Needs A Crown and Sally Hansen Lick-O-Rich, with Sally Hansen Platinum Star for the stamping.  I used Bundle Monster plate BM-408.

I feel like this is the perfect end of the year mani for me.  It really ties it all together and it uses one of my favorite new polishes of the year.  Yay!  This Gown Needs A Crown takes two photos to even begin to get the point across about the finish...but you really need to see it for yourself.

I really hope satins are the big trend of '14.  It's looking like it might happen, since Sally Hansen has eight out now too!  Look for swatches of four of them on here very soon.  I'm tempted to get the gold and silver too, to compare them to This Gown Needs A Crown and the just-released Love.Angel.Music.Baby...when I get that.  So that's what L.A.M.B. stands for?  I'd never wondered enough to find out!  I'll be making a nail supply trip soon and maybe I'll luck out and they'll have the Gwen Stefani collection.  We'll see!


I'm still not used to this length!  I just couldn't stand that patch anymore.


I have a few resolutions that will affect the blog in the new year.  The big one is to wear more of my untrieds.  I have over SEVEN HUNDRED polishes that I've never worn!  As my collection's grown I've steadily bought twice as fast as I've worn them.  I plan to fix that a bit in the new year, so expect to see older polishes sometimes, in addition to my usual new collection swatches.  I'll also be restarting Slimdown Saturday and Nichole might be joining me!  In general I want to try to focus on the rest of my appearance in general.  Last year was rough and the year before was trying too and I've really gotten away from that little bit of extra effort.  Hell, I let this happen.  Never again!  I need to try harder next year, all around.


So have a great NYE and drink one for me if you're imbibing....I'll be at work.  Yay.  Nichole will be back tomorrow and I'll be back to my standard swatching.  I miss it!

My Top Picks of 2013

Wow was this hard to do!  There has been so much great new polish this year.  I feel like I left something out or passed something over.  There's one notable blank spot.  I never swatched my OPI Euro Centrale picks and it's still weighing on me.  I also completely forgot to swatch Haven't The Foggiest, which seems oddly appropriate.

You'll notice a few patterns here.  There's a lot of blue and green, for starters.  It was a great year for both colors!  The brands are a bit obvious too.  Lots of Sinful Colors, lots of Sally Hansen...if you read this blog often, you know what I like.  Some are standing in for whole posts where there was just too much awesome to be represented here without taking over.  I felt like I should include a texture or two because they were such a huge deal this year...but I didn't.  If I did a second list for "honorable mention" it might include one of the L'Oreal Gold Dust shades or maybe Essie Lots Of Lux....maybe.

I've seen a few people ask others to name their favorite collection of the year, but I can't!  There are few I bought entirely.  Color Club Fiesta (only swatched Sunrise Canyon so far) and Harlem Lights, Revlon Evening Opulence, Sinful Colors Haute Rebel and Sweet Nothing...I can't think of any others.  If I had to pick a favorite, Haute Rebel might be the one.  It's not mindblowing, but there's nothing I don't like.  Not a single bad formula or unflattering color....it's just simple and "edgy".  If I can split the Sally Hansen Designer Collections up by designer, then it's a more emphatic toss-up between Tracy Reese or Prabal Gurung's fall collections....but even bending the rules I can't really pick.  This year was terrific!

I tried to cut my list down to a reasonable length, but even small and buddied up, there are a ton of photos.  Blogger won't let me write down at the bottom of the post for some reason (it threw several fits about this format as is), so there's no closing line.  Please get comfortable, click to expand the post, enjoy, and click the links if you wanna know more about any of these polishes.

Sinful Colors
Beau Khaki

Revlon
Heavenly and Urban

Sinful Colors
Truth Or Dare

Color Club
Beyond

OPI Rent

Merry xmas, xmas people!  Today's post is going up on its own, since I'm off xmasing.  Originally I was going to swatch all of the OPI Holiday On Broadway duochromes in celebration of their tenth birthday this season...but I couldn't bring myself to do it!  The thought of wearing such special polishes for such short times kinda broke my heart.  I think they're special enough to wait for times when I can wear them as NOTD's.  Movin' Out was my birthday mani, but I wore Rent for an ordinary couple of worknights.  It's soft and subtle and back then I was still kidding myself that I could swatch all six.


Rent is the subtlest shade in the collection.  It's just a very fine fuchsia-to-green duochrome shimmer with a scattering of tiny silvery microfleck.

over You Don't Know Jacques

I've seen people put it down as boring or something, but I love it!  It's not a knockout duochrome like most of the other shimmers in this collection, but it is a duochrome.

over You Don't Know Jacques

You have to catch it just right, but....

over You Don't Know Jacques

The twinkle of microfleck completely makes it, no?  I owe Rent a debt of gratitude too.  It started me off on gathering this "vintage" collection.  I got it in a swap only a couple of months after getting back into polish.  Today I my Holiday On Broadway collection is complete!  Zeus got me Standing Room Only and Opening Night Gold and made no secret of it at all.  Merry xmas indeed!  It's been a difficult year, but things are looking up and this is his way of thanking me.  I have the world's best duckling!


I hope you're having a great xmas and Nichole and I will both be back soon!

My Picks from Sinful Colors Holiday '13

If you read our blog often, you know I love Sinful Colors.  I love how many new shades they put out and how most months have at least one new display from them, even if some of the polishes are repromoted.  There is such a thing as too much though.  Decorate Decadently is too much.  Thirty-six shades in one MASSIVE display.  I goggled at G.'s post about it on Nouveau Cheap.  My brain kinda hurt.  Twenty-six of those shades are new!  My wallet whined.  When I found this display at Walgreens, I examined it very carefully.  I'd already picked up some of the shades from Rite Aid's Glitz & Glittered collection (G.'s post), so those could be passed over.  The whole row of bar glitters got only a quick look because...bar glitter.  I picked quite a few shades from Decorate Decadently.  ...and then I found a display called Naughty Or Nice? at Wegmans.  It had one of my favorites, Last Chance, as a repromote....making it different from the Naughty Or Nice? display that G. posted about.  At this point we're looking at something like forty shades in Sinful Colors holiday displays.  Oh man.  I'll admit that part of the reason that these are my final xmas swatches of the season is sheer intimidation.  The abundance is awesome, but it's also....kinda scary.  This is a VERY long post even though it's hardly all of the shades offered by Sinful Colors this season.  There are a ton of older swatches of some of the repromotes down toward the bottom.  Go get yourself a cocoa or an egg nog, because we'll be here for a while.


Red Eye is a deep pink metallic foil.

This is just one coat, but I probably should have used two.  It's way pinker than I expected, especially with the name.  I guess "Pink Eye" wouldn't have sounded right.

It's pretty, but way too pink for me personally.

There are two purple foils.  Triple Platinum is a softer lavender and Purple Heart is more grape.

Two coats of each this time.  The little silver bits are almost impossible to remove if you get them on your skin, but wow both are stunning!

There are two more foils.  Pine Away is a jungle green and Blue Steel is a smoky blue.

Gold Medal is a metallic gold frost.

This is two coats and I'll be blunt.  I don't like it.  It's thick and brushstroke-y.  I'm hoping it stamps well.

Gilded has gold shimmer and a generous scattering of small red glitter in a clear base.

over Gold Medal

A coat of Gilded hides the brushstrokes in Gold Medal nicely.  Sorta reminds me of the basic look of the Maybelline Brocades.

Blue By You is an intense blue shimmer.

Not a new shade, but one I kept almost buying...I wish I'd gotten it sooner!  This is two coats and it's amazing!  It has the typical sulfur stink of blue polish and it seems like it would stain, but I'd call it worth the risk.

Seriously...look at this shimmer!  Look!

Last Chance is a dark green crelly.

I don't know quite what happened here.  Last Chance is darker in person than my camera wanted to see.  It's one of my absolute favorite Sinful Colors shades, which is why I swatched it again.

Frustratingly, I caught it better the first time!  My older photo (below) is much more true-to-color.  BIG stain warning on this one, but I can handle being a little green for something this beautiful.  Absolutely love it!

24 Karat has dense gold microfleck in a clear base.

over Last Chance

Perfection!  I always love a gold flake/fleck top coat.  This is two coats for density.  It's reminiscent of Zoya Maria-Luisa, but the particles are way too small for it to be a dupe.  It's not a dupe for All About You either, since it's less brassy.

over Last Chance

I tried it over a lighter color too.  I can't imagine there's much it wouldn't look good over.  So versatile!

over Bellatrix Emerald

Fig is a fuchsia shimmer.

Fig's been out since around the time I got back into polish and was one of my earliest Sinful Colors purchases.  Somehow this is the first time I've worn it.  This is two coats and it's a little on the runny side.  I probably could have used a third coat.

Unwrap Me is a mix of tiny black microglitter and small black and light red hexagonal glitter in a clear base.

I honestly don't know if I should call those glitters red or pink.  As glitters go, Unwrap Me applies pretty well.  I did dab a bit, but I almost always dab glitter.  I like that it's not overly xmasy.  I can see using this year-round.

And now the reruns.  Click shade names for previous reviews.

Daddy's Girl

Enchanted

Silver Screen

Charmed

Queen Of Beauty over Sugar Sugar

Ruby Ruby

Aubergine

Sugar Sugar

Exotic Green

Call You Later over Exotic Green

Bottom line: Of all of these, the only one I wouldn't recommend is Gold Medal.


Dashing off to finish wrapping presents, rush an xmas eve mani, and then go to Ma's for dinner!  Is it really here already??  Hope you have a great whatever it is you do!

My Picks from SpaRitual Illuminate

When I first saw Sparitual's Illuminate collection at Ulta, it literally stopped me in my tracks.  The six shades in this collection are as gorgeous as the Italian glass that inspired them.  I only bought Invention that day and I almost instantly regretted not buying at least a couple of the other shades.  I went back when they went on a BTGO sale, but they were out of stock of Imagination.  I spent a couple of weeks pining for it and I checked a couple more Ultas without any luck.  On Thursday I made a last-ditch effort to find it.  I went to an Ulta that tends to sell out of LE polish pretty slowly.  There they were, a handful of Illuminate shades....and no Imagination.  I perused every inch of the salon polish display.  Nope.  Dejected, I wandered around while Zeus and Player 4 oohed and ahhed at stuff and giggled at shade names.  I harrumphed "I know I'll never find it."  ...and five seconds later, there it was.  They had a full display on the lower level of a table in the middle of the aisle.  I gasped and grabbed it.  I'd been waiting to post these while I held out dwindling hope of ever finding Imagination at Ulta and I'm thrilled to be able to wrap my little story up with a happy ending.  It's a Festivus miracle!  ....even though it happened on the 19th and is completely commercially-oriented.  You can start with my misappropriation of Festivus when you air your grievances.  My big grievance is with Ulta for putting polish in weird places!  But now my picks are complete and I can very happily present you with swatches...


Intellect is a blue jelly with fuchsia, blue, and silver flecks.

darker in person

I'll admit to going a bit nuts here.  I decided I wanted to get my nails to look like the bottle, no matter what it took.  It took five coats.  FIVE.  I don't even care.  It was worth it.  I could have stopped at three, leaving it even sheerer than it is here, but I kept going.  Photos can't begin to do five coats of Intellect justice.  It really does look just like the bottle and it's outstanding.  My camera read the blue lighter than it really is, but the next photo is pretty close to right.

I can't see myself ever wearing five coats of Intellect again, but I'm glad I did it once.  It wouldn't be as magical over a nude or a blue cream similar to the base.

darker in person

In a collection inspired by Murano glass, Intellect captures the concept best.  It has exactly that art glass feel, down to the dichroic sparkle.

darker in person

I mattified it just because.  It's still pretty this way, but it loses something.

darker in person

Intuition has blue-to-fuchsia flecks in a purple jelly base.

I got the in-bottle look of Intuition at four coats.  Again, I don't think I'll ever wear it on its own again, but I'm glad I did it once.  It's another glassy beauty.

The shift is stunning and electric when you catch it.

It nails that art glass look too!

I think Intuition looks better mattified than Intellect did.

The denser flakes and stronger shift keep it more dynamic.  Mattified it reminds me of FingerPaints Itsy Bitsy Spider, though it's somewhat darker and has denser flakes.

Imagination has a beige-tinted base with blue-to-fuchsia flecks.

I don't think any number of coats of Imagination would ever be opaque.  The base is way too sheer.  I fudged it and layered it over my perfect nude, Revlon Trade Winds.  I still find it oddly exhilarating to have a polish match me that perfectly.  Even over the nude base, I still wound up using four coats of Imagination to get the same look as the bottle.  It's an odd shade, I have to say.  It was worth hunting down, because it's unique, but I'm not sure I'll wear it over a nude again.  I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but it has a speckled look at some angles.  When the shift really gets going, the pink takes over and you don't notice anything else.

...but when it's not glowing you can see what I mean about speckles.

That's why I did four coats.  It looked patchy with fewer.  The closer the flecks packed together, the more even it looked.  I'll admit, I loved the look when the blue was at its strongest.  You can even get hints of gold at the extremes.

I'll be trying it over a taupe or maybe a brown sometime, though I think it has pretty broad layering potential because the base is really just tinted.

I mattified it because I'd done it to all the others.  I find it...confusing.

My mom would call this look "cold in the pool", I think.  I had a lipstick in the '90s with a similar glow and she always said I looked like I was freezing when I wore it.

Invention has a mix of gold foil pieces and green-to-pink duochrome glass flecks in a clear base.

I posted about Invention back in mid-November.  You can read my full review and see more photos here.  It's more densely flecked than the other three I tried, so it only took three coats to look like it does in the bottle.

Since they're so sheer, they're ideal for layering.  I want to play around with them over different base colors eventually, but for now I just compared them all over black.  All are one thick coat over a black cream.

Invention * Imagination * Intuition * Intellect

Amusingly, Intuition is purple on its own but predominantly blue over black, while Intellect goes the other way.  Imagination and Intuition are very similar over black, but the results aren't quite identical.

Invention * Imagination * Intuition * Intellect

They might use the same shimmer, but Imagination looks more teal and less blue.  I think it's because of Intuition's purple base.

Invention * Imagination * Intuition * Intellect

They all layer beautifully!  The extremes of all four are breathtaking and magical.

Invention * Imagination * Intuition * Intellect

Bottom line: I love all four and only passed on Intention and Improvisation because they were too pink for me.  If you're thinking of getting them specifically for layering over dark colors then you could probably pick either Imagination or Intuition, since they look similar over black.  I recommend layering for all four shades, since they're sheer.  I'd call it mandatory for Imagination.

Two posts in one day! I'm in a completely crazed scramble to finish xmas before xmas is over...