Wet n Wild All Access Matte - My Picks Pt 2

 purchased by me 

Part 2...or is it Part 3?  A couple of weeks ago I showed you guys three polishes from Wet n Wild's All Access Matte collection.  On Friday I followed up with three of the four lipsticks.  Today I'm wrapping things up, for this collection and for September, with the other three polishes.  I loved the previous three so much that I had to go back and see how the others were.  One thing I can say right off the bat, they have that same sweatery vibe and soft matte finish.

Use It Or Lose It: Week One

Did you think I forgot? It has been a week, so it is time to take a hard look at some items on the chopping block! I'm actually looking forward to this and have been all week. I think, perhaps, I make bad choices sometimes. Annnd if you have no idea what I'm blathering on about, you should definitely check out this post!

SinfulShine Shining Bright Off The Runway - My Picks

 purchased by me 

It's been a year since we've seen a new SinfulShine display.  They seem, so far anyway, to be a fall thing.  Last year's Hot For Shine collection was terrific, so I was eager to see the new one for myself.  I was on the hunt for almost a month!  It was up on Nouveau Cheap in August, but I didn't find it until the recent 99¢ sale.  They weren't officially part of the sale that time around, but the cashier gave me the deal anyway.  Yay!  There are eight shades in the display, three of which are new.  I debated getting Haute Shine, but I feel like I have endless berry pinks at this point...and most of them are from Sinful!  I did get the other two new shades, along with two repromoted ones.

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Spirit Mint

press sample

Finally! The last offering from OPNL for Fall! It definitely seems to be a season for holos. I don't think anyone in their right mind will be complaining about that...I certainly won't. 

Wet n Wild All Access Matte - Lips

 purchased by me 

Hey look!  I remembered that there's stuff other than polish!  I'm so one-track that I accidentally tagged this post as "nails" at first.  Derp.  The polish in Wet n Wild's All Access Matte display was what drew me in at first, of course, but once I was there...I couldn't resist buying three of the four lipsticks too.  The fourth shade, Sunset Siren, seemed too orange but the rest are right up my alley!

...because odd numbers don't collage well...that's why

Leesha's Lacquer Fall 2014

press samples

In an effort to broaden my Indie polish horizons, I've been throwing my line out in lots of directions. Happily, I got a bite from a brand that I had only drooled over on the internet! Leesha's Lacquer picked me! (yes, there was clapping. Shhh) She was kind enough to send me her Fall 2014 lineup, and let me tell you: it's pretty nifty.

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Rake It or Leave It

 press sample

Just when you thought OPNL was done throwing shiny things at you (and me)! Today's offering is a deceptive little bottle of glitter...Rake It or Leave It.

Long Nail Problems

Know what I miss?  Stamping!  It's not just that my nails are over 20mm now and too long for most of my plates.  My faithful "squishy" XL stamper is too short and too firm for my nails at this length.  When I was staying with McGee for a weekend back in July, she showed me her stamper and it seemed perfect, so I ordered this.  Sadly, it's firmer than the one McGee has and might not work for full-nail designs.  Phooey.  Still, I wanted an excuse to take a few more photos of the gorgeous Picture Polish Illusionist.

Swatch and Review: Blackbird Cosmetics

purchased by me

Looking for a new indie brand to try...but have enough shimmers to reflect all the light the Sun puts out in a year? How about some mattes then? There is nothing like a good matte to make a shimmery duochrome office-appropriate! And (new to me) Blackbird Cosmetics has some rather outstanding mattes that are definitely worth owning.

Autumn Colorblocking

I don't do nail art too often, partly because the dress code at work requires nail polish to be "conservative and simple"...whatever that means.  Usually I play it super safe.  This look started with last night's simple mani, Orly Buried Treasure, but today's the first full day of fall.  I had to celebrate and dress my nails up a bit.  Some silk scarf-inspired colorblocking in the colors of fall foliage is classy and simple enough, right?

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Fall 2014

press samples

You guys. Look. LOOK. 

I am so excited to show off the Fall 2014 collection from Octopus Party!  I think you will all be pretty stoked when you see these as well. I am just over-the-moon with how each collection just seems to get better and better.

CrowsToes Finnnally, It's HOODIE TIME!!

 purchased by me 

Ok...so...it's fall and my birthday is this week...and...and...I went a little nuts.  Nuts...ier?  I'd been sulking over one of the Llarowe A Box, Indied shades since before the box went up for sale.  The box sold out fast and I started seeing that polish on Storenvy...also sold out.  Then one night about a week ago, there it was.  I couldn't resist.  I went for it!  Splurged!  What better polish to wear to ring in my favorite season!?

Finnnally, It's HOODIE TIME!! has a three sizes of metallic orange hexagonal glitter and tiny gold holo glitter in a blue-gray jelly base.

The blue and orange was inspired by Syracuse University colors.  I'm not into college sports, but I love the contrast anyway!  I don't have anything else even sorta like it.  It applies pretty well for something with glitter.  This is three coats.  It took a lot of smoothing though.  I needed a couple of coats of Gelous and a couple more of NYC Grand Central Station.  It's one you wanna be sure to get glossy, because the holo twinkles add a little special something extra.

They're not in-your-face, just enough to add interest.

Gotta treat yourself sometimes, right?  What was your latest splurge?

 all products in this post were purchased by me 

Use It or Lose It Challenge

I have never made a secret of my hoarding tendencies. It might even be one of my more useful qualities. But it does make organizing a major pain in the ass. Since I have had decent luck lately changing my bad habits, I figured I'd have a go at this one...and invite you all to suffer play along too!

Nail Honey Wanderlust Honey Pots Collection

blogger discount

I'm on an indie makeup bender again, and you're all coming with me. I'm making an effort to try things from brands that I have not tried before...which means there are a lot of brands for me to try. Today I've got the first of two makeup-related posts from Nail Honey! This is the Wanderlust Collection, and it is just beautiful!

Picture Polish Illusionist

 purchased by me 

Sometimes a polish is too special to just swatch and remove.  Picture Polish Illusionist has been on my desk since June.  Yep, that long.  I bought it from Llarowe in the same order as Nichole's bottle of Nail Pattern Boldness Boop-Oop-A-Dupe and Crows Toes Huginn & Muninn.  Wearing both of them only briefly was tough, believe me.  I've almost swatched Illusionist many times since then, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  Zeus and I are having a day out to celebrate that he's been out of the hospital for a whole year, so I'll be out and about with plenty of time to enjoy this gorgeous polish.  It's so good to see how much progress he's made and Illusionist is a perfect celebratory polish!

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics: Anime Duo

Yesterday I showed off the rather disappointing Black Dahlia duo...and today I have the wholly fabulous Anime duo! This might not be everyone's tune, but my-oh-my...I love hot pink.

Maybelline Color Show Veils - My Picks

 purchased by me 

If you're a frequent reader of our blog, you know that I'll often waffle over something for a while before buying it.  I've been looking at Maybelline's Color Show Veils, a new line of five toppers, literally all summer.  When Nichole and I met up and wandered around a few shops back in July, we perused a Veils display at Rite Aid.  We agreed that I'd probably hate Teal Beam, and I set it back down.  Thing is, I kept picking it and the rest up and looking almost every time I saw them.  Part of my hesitation was the word "textured" in the display.  I found out that they aren't and my willpower started slipping.  When my favorite CVS got the Fashion Rocks display, I had coupons and they had a sale.  The tipping point was reached and four of the five Veils came home with me.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics: Black Dahlia Duo

I am a sucker for a good sale. I can't help it. Especially when its something I really love...I lose all self-control. So when I saw the Lip Tar + polish duos on sale for $15...you know what I had to do. I grabbed this one and Anime. Yes...I needed both of them. Hush you.

Sinful Colors Summer/Fall Hodgepodge

 purchased by me 

Sinful Colors put out so unbelievably many new shades over the past few months that some kinda fell by the wayside in my swatching basket.  The 99¢ sale at Walgreens this week is a perfect reason to fix that and get them swatched and reviewed already!

Inspired Glitter Gradient

Fall is coming, and I love it dearly...so why do I keep doing Christmas manicures?! This time, it isn't my fault. I was inspired...

Sinful Colors 99¢ Sale AGAIN!?

 purchased by me 

Just when I thought I saw a pattern to Walgreens' 99¢ sales, they have another one!  The last one was less than a month ago.  I won't complain, as long as the Halloween display turns up before the sale ends on 9/20.  This time around I didn't have issues with limited edition shades not ringing up at the sale price, but the SinfulShine shades I bought came up at full price.  The cashier adjusted the price for me without me even asking, but that's on them and some might not.  I still included SinfulShine swatches down at the bottom anyway.  I've also added a few that I'll be reviewing tomorrow, which is why those don't link to reviews yet. [Update - Shades from this post have been added.]

Nail Honey Sweet Jelly Bean

blog discount

I've got a whole bunch of Nail Honey goodies coming (hopefully this week!) and this is just the first. Of course I had to start with the polish. I'm not a heathen.

NYC Fashion Queen - My Picks

 purchased by me 

By this time last year I'd already found an xmas collection at Kmart, so it never surprises me when stuff shows up there ahead of other stores.  I think G. of Nouveau Cheap is right in speculating that NYC's new Fashion Queen collection will turn up at Rite Aid (and maybe CVS) soon, but I've only seen it at Kmart.  This collection has a mix of five Crystal Couture full-coverage glitters and three "regular" polishes.  Of the eight shades, I bought the two most dynamic glitters and...something else you'll see at the end.

Cirque Panacea

Yay Friday! What better way to end the week than to show off the other amazing Cirque polish I managed to get my hands on? See what I meant when I said that this definitely is not my normal color choice? 

Cult Nails Tulum

 personal gift 

Just a quick, and late, little something today.  I've been swatching my butt off for something I'm planning for next week.  Cult Nails Tulum was my work mani for the past week.  My buddy McGee gave it to me when I visited over the summer.  She's still adjusting to neutrals and she insisted I take this one off her hands.  I can never say no to polish!  Thanks, McGee!  I definitely like it as a transition into fall, though it's right on the SFW borderline for someone as pale as me.

Tulum is a deep taupe with gold microfleck shimmer.

The formula's thinner than I've come to expect from Cult Nails.  I wound up needing three coats for full opacity.

Something super sparkly is on the way tomorrow...

 all products in this post were purchased by me or received as a personal gift

Cirque Erda

I know, this is more a Christmas color than a Fall. But I don't care. Its so pretty and shiny and lovely. 

Wet n Wild Fall '14 - My Picks, Part 1

 purchased by me 

Not all that long ago I was still feeling very summery.  Dunno what happened, but something in my head went ding and now all I want is fall!  Wet n Wild's latest All Access Beauty collections are perfect for getting into an autumnal mood.  This post is "Part 1" because this time around, the lipsticks were as tempting as the nail polishes.  Look for three of them in a future post.  Today I've got three of the six polishes from this display.  I love the look of the whole sweatery color range, but I wound up with the three that are the most "me".

Decisions

I am a terrible decider. So I am leaving it (mostly) up to you.

Maybelline Fashion Rocks - My Picks

 purchased by me 

There's not much that's new in Maybelline's Fashion Rocks displays.  I spotted a couple of them a few weeks back and scoured everything in them so I could give G. of Nouveau Cheap a full report.  I'm a bit let down that there aren't new LE shades of their Color Sensational gloss, because the two I bought last year are great.  The only new things here are four LE Color Show polish shades.  In keeping with the music theme, they all have song-inspired names.  I'm old, so I caught the references in Plum As You Are (Nirvana) and I Got You Beige (Sonny & Cher) right away.  Greyzy In Love took me a second, but the Beyonce connection dawned on me after a little thought.  Fashionably S-late stumped me completely.  I had to google it.  Falling In Reverse?  Ok.  Maybe that one's just coincidence?  Anyway...I first found the displays at Walgreens and Wegmans, but held out until I found one at my favorite CVS location over the weekend.  Plum As You Are and Fashionably S-late had to be mine!

Shiny Things from Ice Polish

Ever go on Etsy and "window shop"? You fill your basket with shiny things...and then close the tab with a sigh. I don't even want to talk about how long these sat in my cart after an afternoon of browsing. Finally, I managed to have a few spare dollars, and I snatched these up. I must admit, I am quite happy that I finally bit the bullet.

Two from China Glaze All Aboard

 purchased by me 

I've been awaiting the arrival of China Glaze's All Aboard collection ever since I saw the first CosmoProf sneak peeks over the summer.  My excitement was derailed when I found out that my local-ish nail supply won't be carrying new China Glaze collections anymore.  Phooey.  It's not just that I have to pay more now, but China Glaze fall, Halloween, and xmas collections fly right off the shelves at Sally Beauty stores near me.  I don't think I've ever seen a full display for those seasons.  I headed to a nearby Sally thinking I'd buy Choo-Choo Choose You and Lug Your Designer Baggage.  No luck on the latter.  I wound up getting Mind The Gap instead.  I might have to resort to eBay for Baggage and also Boundary Of Memory from the Giver collection.  Harumph.  So like my Sally Hansen Designer Collection post last week, there's a "...to be continued?" hovering over this post.

Jessie's Girl Glee

I posted a couple of picture on instagram this weekend to announce it, but I finally went to Rite Aid and bought some Jessie's Girl polish. I dunno why it took my this long, it isn't like Rite Aid is that far away...but it's not on the way to anything, so going over there feels like a chore. But Friday night, sans kids, I wandered over...and grabbed Glee and Fire Fly. I think I'm in love.

Better Know Your Nails

[I'm not a licenced medical or cosmetic professional. This post is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice.]

I've been trying to lure myself out of my one-track focus on nails.  It's...kinda not working.  Even in Nichole's makeup discussion group on Facebook, I find myself mostly only piping up when nails are mentioned.  Being part of that group hasn't exactly gotten me to wear makeup often, but it has brought me into contact with people who aren't as nail-focused.  I used to be way more into makeup than nails, if you can believe it.  I know how it feels to be confident in one, but not the other...partly because I've kinda switched over the years.  Somewhere along the lines, with a lot of help from the Nail Board and intensive reading of loodieloodieloodie, I got my nails under control, but I can still relate to how overwhelming nail care can look from "outside".  Now I enjoy offering advice when I can.

Nail care is a massive topic and my head spins a bit even trying to pick a jumping off point.  Cuticle care is a foundation, and a crash course in nail anatomy seems like a good next step.  If you're setting out to have the best nails you can grow, you might as well know how they grow, right?

I couldn't think of a name for this post, so I borrowed one from The Colbert Report

Sally Hansen Ever Green and Golden Rust

 purchased by me 

Some of my favorite polishes have come from previous Sally Hansen Designer Collections, so I always get excited when I know a new one's coming out.  I was giddy when I found fall's at Bed Bath & Beyond last month and my photos wound up on Nouveau Cheap.  Love that feeling!  Thanks, G!  [She called me her pal. Eeeee!]  I almost bought a couple from the collection right then and there out of excitement, but I kept my cool and reminded myself that I can get a much better price at CVS.  I've got CVS savings down to a science.  When I finally happened upon the collection there over the weekend there was no more holding myself back!  I spent a long time looking at each shade and came away with two...so far.  The collaborating designers this time around are Tracy Reese and Prabal Gurung again, but the two shades I picked aren't associated with either.

Vampy Nails on any Budget

I love this time of year. I get to break out all my dark colors...without getting the "Oh cheer up! It's Summer!" Look here, random lady at the grocery store: I like dark colors. They were made for me. This is the time of year when everyone and their mom starts pumping out deep oxbloods, wines, and plums...and often charging through the roof for them. I took a peek through my stash, and found five options for pretty much any (reasonable) price point.

Sally Hansen Mind Your Manors

 purchased by me 

Call me fickle, but I'm prone to love/hate relationships with certain types of polish.  Shard glitterss might top that list.  Few things in the polish world bug me as much as thinking I see an iridescent flakie only find out it's shards.  Revlon's Moon Candy duos are perfect examples.  I'd have been all over them if they were flakies.  Flakies lay flat against the nail, but shards often have a nasty habit of sticking up.  I even cut my lip on one once.  I'm incredibly leery of them...and yet...they're so....shiny.  If I could resist shiny things, this blog wouldn't exist.  So when I saw Sally Hansen's new Create & Ornate collection on Nouveau Cheap, I clenched my fists in shard rage.  [Ok, who am I kidding?  I can't make a fist.  My nails are too long.  You know what I mean though.]  Then I saw it at my favorite CVS on Sunday.  One of the four shard toppers is blue, gold, and copper.  Ooooh!  Why must they tempt me like this?  I caved, of course.

Matte Glitter Everywhere...Else

 purchased by me 

I'm strangely in-tune with the weather here lately.  It's only just really starting to feel summery, and so am I.  I've had some unpleasant stuff going on.  Let's just say that teeth are icky and leave it at that.  Whatever the reason, I'm only recently beginning to feel like wearing bright, summery colors on my nails.  A couple of weeks ago I got a sudden urge to top everything bright with everything else bright...and now I've got a second batch to show you.  I topped yesterday's OPI Neons with a few more bright matte glitters.

OPI 2014 Neons - My Picks

 purchased by me 

This might be the best whim I've had in a while.  I'd seen the remnants of OPI's newest batch of Neons here and there and been drawn to a few of them, but always set them back down.  Then when the full collection turned up at Wegmans during a $6.99 OPI sale I just couldn't resist anymore.  What I wound up with isn't exactly my "safe" trio of blue, green, and purple...but it's not far off either!

[note- All three shades dry slightly matte, but are shown topcoated.]


Life Gave Me Lemons is a slightly muted vivid chartreuse neon.

over white

This turned out to be an excellent whim.  I almost didn't buy this one, but went back and picked it up on my way out of the store because I kept thinking about it.  I didn't expect to love it anywhere near as much as I do.  For something with "lemon" in the name, it's unusually green, no?  The formula is surprisingly thick for a neon, but that's a good thing in my book.  This is two coats over white, without any streaking.  Woohoo!

over white

You Are So Outta Lime is a neon spring green.

over white

Something about this one really drew me.  It's such a distinctive and unusual color.  I was pretty sure it would awful on me, but yet...I also really wanted it.  I'm weird, I know.  Warmer greens are generally more my thing, but shades like Sinful Colors Mint Tropics sometimes turn my head.  I'm glad this one did...partly because I think it will be the perfect base for Zom-body To Love, which I recently added to my collection.  Formula-wise it's a lot like Life Gave Me Lemons; thick, but in a good way.  This is two coats over white.

over white

Push And Pur-pull is a red-violet neon.

over white

Of course I love this!  It's so 90's Brunette Barbie.  Magenta might be the only color I've always liked.  Two years ago Sinful Colors Dream On was my gateway back into brights and neons and Push And Pur-pull is like its big sister, deeper and sexier.  Its formula is different from the previous two.  It's much thinner and took three coats, even over white.  It still looked slightly patchy too.  It's so pretty that I don't even mind.

over white

Bottom line: Life Gave Me Lemons is my unexpected favorite, but I would recommend all three.  Push And Pur-pull is a little patchy, but not unwearably.


Labor Day?  Time is zipping past!  The funny thing is that after an unusually mild summer here, it's suddenly gotten hot and muggy.  The first week of September is shaping up to be warmer than most of the rest of the summer was.  Odd.  Hope you're enjoying yourself if you have the day off!

 all products in this post were purchased by me 

Baseball and Fangirling

It may or may not be a big surprise (especially if you follow me on instagram), but we are big baseball fans around my house. Last weekend, we took Thing #2 to her first Major League baseball game...and of course I had to have nails to match. (it didn't help. We lost.)