Stash Spam - Orly, Essie, CND, etc, and My SFW Stash

Done!  A bit later than I'd wanted it to be, but my stash spam is complete!  This final post rounds out the last of the plastic boxes and goes downstairs for the horrible Sterilite three drawer thing that holds my SFW stash and my black and white creams.  I've also finished that imgur album, if you'd like a better look at the whole shebang.  Let's wrap this up...

Stash Spam - Drugstore, High End, Imports, Store Brands, and more

Thanksgiving pretty much ran me over, but in a good way.  Great meal and always good to see my family and their pets.  Time to get back to the stash spam though!  Today we're finishing up in Helmer 3 (which is in my closet) and moving to the boxes.  There's a lot of variety in this one, so if you see a brand you don't recognize, just ask.  I'll try to actually reply, though I have issues with blogger comments not working.

Anne Kathleen: Holiday Night Lights

promotional samples

Are you ready for more awesome from Anne Kathleen? This might be the awesomest awesome that ever lived in Awesometown. I've been hinting and teasing about these for nearly a week...maybe I should just get on with it?

Akira Lacquer: Winter 2014 (part two)

promotional samples

Part two! Part two! It is always satisfying when the second part comes fairly soon after the first. No cliffhangers here kids. So without too much more blathering, let's get on with it!

Akira Lacquer: Winter 2014 (Part One)

promotional samples

This is such a major collection that it is getting broken into parts. There are eight holiday colors (that I actually love. Weird) plus two others that I have been hinting about since last week. I have to say. before we get on to the swatches, that every single collection from Melodee gets better. I feel exceedingly privileged to have been invited to be a small part of it...shush, it's the holidays and I'm feeling mushy.

Anne Kathleen: The Giblet Collection

promotional samples

I was (happily) chosen to swatch the next little collection from Anne Kathleen, which makes me clap my hands like a two year old. This one is perfect for late Fall...especially if you need the shinies. Make sure you read this whole post, because there is some important Black Friday info at the bottom!

Stash Spam - Sinful Colors, Wet n Wild, Revlon, Maybelline, and more

The spam goes on!  In Part 1 I showed you what's in Helmer A and half of Helmer B.  Today it's the second half of Helmer B and part of Helmer C.  My "big" brands are in the Helmers, kinda in alphabetical order, but mostly based on what fits.  The plastic box posts will have much more variety, but not the oomph of the Helmer ones.

Stash Spam - China Glaze, OPI, NOPI, SOPI, and Sally Hansen

Last week I hinted at something big and swatchless this week.  My collection has been a mess for months and I realized that the only way to fix that and still have anything to post was to post the collection.  No better time than a holiday week right?

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer: Death and Taxes

promotional sample

Anniversary colors are often my favorites. Instead of being season/trend driven, they tend to come from the heart of the maker and be a little more unique. This offering from OPNL is absolutely no different.  The level of awesome here was an inevitability.

Ok, before we all start oogling...let's wish OPNL a happy anniversary first, and thank Dave for making such crazy-fabulous polish.  He has come a very long way in such a short time, and I am honored to have been allowed to participate even a little.

Bundle Monster 2014 Create Your Own Collection

 purchased by me 

Bundle Monster held their second Create Your Own stamping image contest back in March.  I didn't enter because by the time I thought of a few designs, I didn't have time to do them.  Hopefully they'll do it again next year.  The finished Choose Your Own (or CYO) set came out recently and I rushed to order it.  They were doing a promo with a free stamper and scraper set, so I got that too.  I'll be reviewing it in a future post, but the TL;DR is that both stampers are firm and firm stampers don't work on my curvy nails.  I'm gonna try to recruit Zeus and Player 4's flatter nails for a fairer review.  Back to the plates.  I've tried five of the images so far.  The fifth was a no-go with the polish I wanted to use.  Let's see the successes first...

Urban Decay Chaos

Happy Friday kids! I am currently enjoying my tri-weekly peace and quiet time. It is glorious. While I plot and plan, here is a nice swatch of one of the only bright blues I actually like!

Throwback Thursday - Sally Hansen Opulent Cloud

 purchased by me 

This week my throwback isn't anywhere near as old or rare as last week's and it's possible you've seen it before.  Maybe you even own it.  Opulent Cloud came out in Fall '09, one of just four limited edition shades (the rest were "permanent" for a couple of years) in the HD line.  I love the HD's in general and I wish they'd done more of them...but that's a much bigger post for another day.  I've only had Opulent Cloud since last year.  In 2009 I was much better at not buying polish.  Back then I'd buy maybe five to ten bottles a year.  Hard to imagine now.  I didn't even see the display Opulent Cloud was part of.  I wound up buying it from an eBay seller after a long lemming and much frustration.  I paid more than I normally would for a drugstore polish...and then, of course, it sat untried.  I'm glad Nichole got me to make Throwback Thursday a feature because it's gonna be perfect for knocking off collected untrieds.  Today is Opulent Cloud's day at last!

Minimalist Princess: Cinderella

Another streamlined and simple manicure, fit for a princess. This week its Cinderella, whom I consider the most painfully white-bread of all the princesses...with the exception of maybe Snow White.

Frankenpolish: Coastal Winter

Winter is looming, dark and bleak and cold...and happy. I actually love winter. I love jackets, scarves, gray skies, fireplaces, hot chocolate, and wool socks. Unfortunately, we don't get the traditional snowstorms or icicles. We get cloudy skies and slate blue waters. Such is life on the coast. I decided, with my new franken-obsession, that I would make myself a color inspired by what I see most days.

Sinful Colors Holiday '14 - My Picks

 purchased by me 

The holiday season is sneaking up, isn't it?  Thanksgiving is next week, so it's starting to feel ok.  My first sighting of the big Sinful Colors holiday endcap at Walgreens was back before Halloween, but I wasn't ready yet.  I'm still not quite there really...but here we go anyway!

Milani Bedazzled - My Picks

 purchased by me 

My last post was about a polish that you almost definitely won't find anywhere...because it's almost fifteen years old.  Today's polishes are less HTF, but still frustratingly scarce.  Milani's Bedazzled collection for fall is only at CVS and Walgreens.  I haven't been wandering quite as much lately, but I've still been to several of each store in the two months since it came out.  I've only seen it at one CVS, the one that gets almost everything and sells out quickly.  Somehow I talked myself out of the mesmerizing Constellation Eye Liners and pretty lipsticks.  All LE makeup draws my attention, but you know I have a week spot for polish.  Just two of the three came home with me.  Nothing against Enchanted Sapphire, but I'm trying not to buy EVERY blue cream anymore.

China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You

Can you believe I found this on clearance at Sally's? I actually hemmed and hawed over it as well...not sure if I wanted it because I liked it, or because the internet was all a-flutter over it. But it was marked down to $3.99 and it was a red-tag weekend...so I kinda had to bring it home. I'm glad I did.

Recycled Water Marble

I love water marbles. They are beautiful and serene and perfect. They also make me rage. It's always a crapshoot whether or not they are going to turn out like I think. This is one of those times when I just have to shrug and say "good enough." I like the colors, I just regret the particular polishes.

Throwback Thursday - Gap Orbit

 purchased by me 

Ever suddenly need to wear a certain polish?  After a week away from pretty much the whole world while I had the flu, I was hit with a random urge to swatch one of the oldest polishes in my collection.  Nichole decided I should do a weekly-ish series of "vintage" polish swatches, and so begins my Throwback Thursday feature.  Kicking it off with Gap Orbit.

Minimalist Princess: Pocahontas

See, I'm sticking with this one! It is definitely more challenging than I initially thought it was gonna be...but in for a penny, in for a pound...right?

Frankenpolish: The Beginning of a New Obsession

I realize that if you are reading this blog, the chances that you know what "frankenpolish" means are pretty damned high. In fact, there is a good reason you are giggling at me right now for my late arrival to this party. But I have been bitten by this bug, and really...it's bad guys. I'm hooked.

Use It or Lose It: Clutterpocalypse

Hello! No, I haven't given up on this...I've just been taking a break. It is hard on my skin to be constantly switching products. My face isn't as young and resilient as it used to be, and a small pause in the challenge was definitely required. To fill the gap, I've decided to tackle The Drawer in my bathroom...where all my toiletries go to die.

Water Marbling, Two Ways

Water marble is, for me, one of the most challenging techniques in the world of nail art. Very few things have made me curse so loudly or so creatively. Turns out there is more than one way to make a blogger cry create a water marble. I decided to give it a try... after all, I don't think I had scared the neighbors with my language in a few weeks.

Radical Alcohol Marble

I'm an 80's child. I wore neon on the regular. I crimped my hair. I had L.A. Gear sneakers. Basically, I was as cool as legally allowed. Because of the era I grew up in, tacky neons have a place near-and-dear to my heart. Every time they come back into fashion, I gleefully rub my hands together and go hunting for the perfect bright accessory. We are currently (sadly) in the trough of the never ending neon ocean, so I had to make do.

Minimalist Princess: Elsa

So this isn't one of the options in the poll, I know. But my girls, who are insane fans of princesses in general, asked me to do some "princess nails"...and my newest series was born. It is hard to say no to a sweet little face (but not impossible. I'm no chump!)

China Glaze Well Trained and Lug Your Designer Baggage

 purchased by me 

It took some searching, but I finally tracked down a bottle of Lug Your Designer Baggage!  It was on clearance AND I had a birthday coupon.  Woooo!  Heads up if you're a Sally Beauty shopper, whatever's left from The Giver and All Aboard is on clearance now.  Apocalypse Of Color too, but the stores here always tuck the Halloween clearance away until after xmas.  When I bought Choo-Choo Choose You, I wound up with Mind The Gap too because they were out of Lug Your Designer Baggage.  This time I wound up with an unexpected "extra" too.  I needed a couple more dollars on my total to use the birthday coupon, so Well Trained came home with me too.

Golden Doodles

No, not dogs. That would be weird. Though I guess this could be sorta curly hair inspired...if you want to stretch things to the limit. I'm just mad about sharpies still, and decided to spend an evening doodling on my nails. I had no real plan to start, but I love where I ended up.

Milani Bella Eyes Powder Gel Eyeshadow - My Picks

 purchased by me 

There was so much buzz about the new Milani Bella Eyes Powder Gel Eyeshadow when it first came out.  I don't wear makeup very often, but when a drugstore product is so universally praised, I get curious.  I wound up buying six of them at CVS shortly after they came out...and then running out of time to get them onto the blog before the Halloween theme-a-thon that was Pretty Ghoul Science.  So here were are.

Anne Kathleen Snowfall in Silver

promotional samples

It is no secret by now that shiny things make my heart flutter. I know that, you know that...hell, I bet Santa knows it (hint hint, fatman. Diamonds are shiny too). When I was offered the chance to swatch the Winter collection for Anne Kathleen, you can probably guess my level of excitement...especially when she told me it was five silvery holos jam-packed with holo glitter. After my head exploded, I got to swatching.

Goodbye Ghoul

 purchased by me 

November is here way too soon!  Pretty Ghoul Science is gone for the next eleven months and my stiletto nails went with it.  For months people asked me how I could do anything with such long nails, but now that they're gone I'm a fumbling mess.  To ease the shock of shortening them so much I did a transitional sorta Day Of The Dead thing for over the weekend.

Inspiration: Miss Argentina

I know, I know. This should have been a Halloween post. But I decided that it was so happy and bright that it didn't deserve to be pigeon-holed into Halloween. This is definitely more of a springtime manicure than a fall...but I don't care. It makes me happy on so many levels.