Essie Smooth Sailing and XL B

Good morning, Dear Reader!

For today I tried out Essie Smooth Sailing, one of Essie's Summer 2011 releases.  It's a really pretty kind of slate blue with a great shimmer, and it applied very well and only took two coats.  I bought this bottle at a retail store, and it's weird to have an Essie without a label on the bottom (it's on the top of the bottle), but what's weirder is that there's not a capital letter to be found on it.  It's as if it comes from Essie's e.e. cummings Collection.

I used Smooth Sailing after a chop to even my nails out again, which it's no secret I hate doing.  As has become the custom, I used a full nail pattern I couldn't normally use to perk myself up a bit and take advantage of shorter nails.  I tried to get a picture of Smooth Sailing for you alone, but I had to use artificial light and the polish looks distinctly bright blue in every single one, so they're no good - the inclusion of any one of them would just make this post confusing as to what the polish really looks like.

The pattern I used to stamp them is from Chez Delaney's plate B from the XL series, one of the plates with great big tip patterns.  I'd decided to use Konad White Pearl Special Polish for the stamping, and the reason I first stopped at this pattern was that I thought it could look like waves in water if I used it sideways.  When I looked at it sideways to evaluate that idea, I realized it's a series of S's, which sealed the deal on that choice since it would give me heavily monogrammed nails.  The pattern is the one on XL B that looks like this, only sideways...

Essie Smooth Sailing with Chez Delaney XL B

The pretty shimmer shows in the bottle, and it's not hard to see in the plain polish on the nail, which was the failed set of pictures.  So now I have wavy, monogrammed nails while I adjust to them.  You know, the big thing that I just wait out after a chop is that since the actual tips of my fingers, on the very top of them, usually never touch anything since there's normally a great big talon in the way, they're uncomfortably sensitive after a chop.  If it were purely aesthetic, it wouldn't bother me that much - otherwise they get cut off, they grow back, and any chronological set of pictures of my nails looks like a flip book of nails growing as a result, but none of that's an especially big deal.

That's just about all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

RBL The Real Housewives of the Tudor Dynasty

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm back with swatches of the Fall 2010 Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes (samples from RBL), and they are fantastic.  All were good in two coats, and all four are gorgeous shimmers.  You can read about Ji Baek's inspiration for the collection here. RBL will announce their availability on Facebook.

Jane is a pale neutral with a hint of pink and lavender, and just the perfect subtle shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Jane Nail Polish, Two Coats

Anne is a grey green with just a hint of pink shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Anne Nail Polish, Two Coats

Catherine H. is a gorgeous Wedgewood blue shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine H. Nail Polish, Two Coats

My favorite is a real stunner, Catherine, which is a deep purple shimmer.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Catherine Nail Polish, Two Coats

I am absolutely in love with all four of these!  What do you think?

That's it for the RBL Extravaganza today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Diamond Cosmetics Spring 2010

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I swatched Diamond Cosmetics' Spring 2010 Collection, which the sent me to review. I had to use artificial light - it's been rainy here with no real end in sight.

I like this collection. A couple were two-coaters, most three, but they're good colors.

Serendipity is a pale grey-blue shimmer, and this is three coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Serendipity Nail Polish, Three Coats

Tranquility is a turquoise creme, good in two coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Tranquility Nail Polish, Two Coats

Razzmatazz is a pink with a strong flash which needed three coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Razzmatazz Nail Polish, Three Coats

Orange Blush is probably my favorite,a soft orange jelly. This is three coats.

Diamond Cosmetics Orange Blush Nail Polish, Three Coats

Gypsy Pink is a bright pink shimmer, a two-coater.

Diamond Cosmetics Gypsy Pink Nail Polish, Two Coats

Hot Lips is a bright purpley pink creme.

Diamond Cosmetics Hot Lips Nail Polish, Three Coats

I livened up Hot Lips with a Konad pattern from plate M32 I've wanted to use for a long time.

Diamond Cosmetics Hot Lips Nail Polish, Three Coats, with Konad M32

That's Diamond Cosmetics' Spring 2010. Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have some swatches of the new (or rebottled, I'm not sure which) Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro nail polishes. There were five that looked cool to me, so those are what I have for you.

They were pretty cheap at $4 each, and all five colors required three coats to be opaque and even. The brush is moppy a la OPI India Collection, but manageable to work with.

One thing I noticed in saving the pictures is that some of them have names that really, really don't correspond to the colors. Obviously, the name isn't that huge a deal, but it struck me as odd. I'll show you the ones with the mismatched names first.

Steel Grey is neither grey nor anything like steel. It's a taupe creme.

Steel Grey Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Polish, three coats

Purple Rain really isn't that purple. It's more of a vampy creme.

Purple Rain Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Polish, three coats

The other three have names that really describe the color. Marine Blue is a sea blue shimmer.

Marine Blue Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Polish, three coats

Violet Metal is a cool purple with a purple blue flash.

Violet Metal Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Polish, three coats

Finally, Midnight Blue is a deep blue shimmer.

Midnight Blue Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro Nail Polish, three coats

So those are my picks of the Rimmels. I did a manicure with Midnight Blue and will likely add some Konad to it in a bit.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

OPI Holiday Wishes 2009, Part I

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have some swatches of the OPI Holiday 2009 Collection, Holiday Wishes, for you today. There's no order to them, it's just six of them.

These were all three coaters for me, but went on well and the brush was good. The reds exemplify that thing I was telling you about that drives me nuts about OPI reds, where after three coats I can still see through the tips of my nails. Since there are a lot of pictures, let's get straight to them.

Ginger Bells!, we should just knock out of the way first. It immediately struck me as a darker version of OPI & Apple Pie, and looks like canned pumpkin puree to me. It's a creme.

OPI Ginger Bells Nail Polish, Three Coats

Sapphire in the Snow is a purple blue creme.

OPI Sapphire in the Snow Nail Polish, Three Coats

Glove You So Much is a pretty burgundy shimmer.

OPI Glove You So Much Nail Polish, Three Coats

The rest of today's pictures are of red glitters, and in all of them you can see through my nails.

Sort of a magenta red shimmer with gold microglitter is Crimson Carol.

OPI Crimson Carol Nail Polish, Three Coats

A red shimmer with gold microglitter is Dear Santa.

OPI Dear Santa Nail Polish, Three Coats

My favorite of today's bunch is a deep red shimmer loaded up with red and gold microglitter called Smitten with Mittens.

OPI Smitten with Mittens Nail Polish, Three Coats

That's all for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

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I'm Illamasquaddicted

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday was a spectacular day here, and some Illamasquas arrived, so I went up on the roof and swatched them in the sun. There was a creepy guy wearing only lounging shorts and a ponytail five feet to my left, and a table full of young guys discussing their college escapades with psilocybin mushrooms five feet to my right as a swatched. The irony is that I probably looked the oddest, painting and repainting my left hand and taking pictures of it!

The Illamasquas are amazing, and I'll show them to you in alphabetical order. They're all over a base in direct sunlight. None have a top coat.

Alarm is an orange red creme, and this is two coats.

Baptiste! What to say about Baptiste... It's a drop-dead sparkly purple shimmer. This is two coats with no top coat, but look closely and you can see the reflection of my camera and the skyline in my nails.

Elope is a vivid green, somewhat jelly textured creme. This is three coats.

Hectic is a muddy army green creme, similar to RBL No More War but more brown. This is three coats.

Strike is an incredibly shimmery slightly teal light blue, and this is two coats.

Just for funsies, since I'll be moving soon and this may have been my last episode of swatching on the roof, I thought I'd share with you a billboard that's made me giggle every time I see it for two years. It's on the right, "Effen Vodka: Imported from Holland." In my head I say "Effen Vodka" contemptuously, and it makes it funny.

Can you see from these pictures how I've become Illamasquaddicted? They're just wonderful. They're available on Illamasqua's site, and they do ship to the US for 5 GBP - not bad at all!

That's what I have for you for now, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

A Trio of Konadicures

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After all the swatches and plain colors I've shown you lately, I thought I'd show you the Konadicures I've done after my swatchfests.

For the first, I used two coats of Nubar Sphinx Purple as a base, then added a floral pattern from Konad plate M37, using FingerPaints Papier Mache for the stamping.  This is a picture of the finished manicure in the sun.

 

 

Next up is my Seahorse Konadicure, which made me giggle all day Friday.  It's two coats of Nubar Cayman Coral with the seahorse patterns from fauxnad plate C04, also using FingerPaints Papier Mache.

 

 

The last one really pleased me too, because it's the first time I've had the nerve to use this pattern.  It looked hard to center, which it was, but the Konadicure didn't turn out bad at all!  I started with Misa Blue over a Boy, and the pattern is from Konad plate M64.  I used blue Konad polish which I'd thinned for the pattern - I've found the thinning puts an end to smudging the pattern with top coat.

 

 

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  

Don't forget - Nubar loves you, too!  Until March 31st, they have a coupon code that's good for 20% off orders of $50 or more on www.bynubar.com, and they have free shipping over $75 (after the coupon).  The code is nlphle2050, and it's here just in time for the release of their Coral and Cleopatra Collections, which became available last night.  Have a good haul, enjoy a good break on the price, and until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!