Dior Bond Street

Good morning, Dear Reader!

When Dior's City Gris nail lacquers became available, I got only one, and that's Bond Street.  Bond Street is a grey blue creme, kind of halfway between a deep denim blue and slate blue.  It's the only one that seemed unique enough to get - Gris Montaigne looks like a grey creme, and after Nubar's Fortress Collection I'm set on those, and NY 57th looks like a gunmetal shimmer, and I'm good for those as well.  That left Bond Street, which does not disappoint.

It went on like any Dior, perfect in two coats, and in addition to being a really cool color, it's super shiny.

Dior Bond Street Nail Polish, Two Coats

I love Dior nail polishes, but they're just too pricey unless the color is exceptional.  In the case of Bond Street, it was well worth it to me.

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

Dior Timeless Gold

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I've been neglecting you again this week, I'm sorry.  It's not just you that I've been neglecting, it's my nails too.  I've been working on a project that's tough on a manicure, so I haven't changed polish this week, which means I didn't have any pictures to show you.  Today, however, when faced with a scraggly, chippy, five day old manicure, I finally changed it.

I used Dior Timeless Gold, one of Dior's Holiday 2010 polishes.  It's a light gold, very pretty, and it was perfect in two coats.  I'm really happy that I decided to spring for this one.

Dior Timeless Gold Nail Polish, Two Coats

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

Dior Aztec Chocolate 886

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a swatch of Dior Aztec Chocolate, one of the new holiday colors from Dior.  It's an elegant brown with a visible shimmer.  It applied like a dream and dried quickly, which is typical of Diors for me.  This is two coats.

Dior Aztec Chocolate Nail Polish, Two Coats

I love browns for Fall, and I especially like how understated this one is.  I think it's really gorgeous.

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

Dior Blue Lilac (Lilas Bleuet) & Fimo

Good morning, Dear Reader, and happy first day of Spring!

To celebrate the first day of Spring, I did my first fimo manicure, and I'd call it a moderate success. I got some of the pieces of fimo as thin as I wanted them. It's festive, if nothing else!

I decided I wanted to use Dior Blue Lilac as the base, a color I've shown you before. Since it's sheer, I started with one coat of Essie Walk Down the Aisle, then did two coats of Blue Lilac. I added top coat, waited a few minutes, then went to town applying the fimo pieces I'd cut out before starting the manicure. I sealed the fimo with a coat of Diamont.

Dior Blue Lilac Nail Polish, Two Coats & Fimo for Spring

Dior Blue Lilac Nail Polish, Two Coats & Fimo for Spring, Closer View

I'll be interested in seeing if these stay on all day or not. I have errands to run, so I'll find out... Yesterday I got the tip from a reader to warm the fimo slices prior to application so that I could make them flatter on the nail, but the fact is that after cutting them, doing a three coat manicure, and waiting five minutes to apply the pieces, I just wanted to be finished and get on with the day, so I didn't. Maybe next time...

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

Dior Pink Ballet (Rose Ballet)

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have something a little different for you: Dior Pink Ballet (or Rose Ballet). They always have the French and English names on the box, and this is one of the rare occasions it could be referred to as either in English. What makes it different for me is that it's a sheer (gasp!) that I like (double gasp!!!).

It's distinctly pink, and it applies like a Dior - like magic. I used two coats, then to make it look like magic, finished it with two coats of Northern Lights Silver Top Coat. Northern Lights is a quick dry top coats with itty bitty holographic bits in it, and over Pink Ballet makes it look like a fairy came and sprinkled fairy dust on my nails.

If I had better light, the picture would be better, but I don't so it's not.

Dior Pink Ballet (Rose Ballet) Nail Polish, Two Coats, with Two Coats Northern Lights Silver

That's Dior Pink Ballet spiced up a bit. I like it quite a bit, myself.

It's also all I have for you for now, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Dior Silver Purple & Blue Lilac

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a couple of purple Dior nail polishes to show you, Purple Silver and the lesser known Blue Lilac.

Silver Purple is, at the same time, clearly both silver and purple shimmer. It's a pretty good trick. I did a full manicure with it this morning, using two coats of Silver Purple.

Dior Silver Purple #782 Nail Polish, Two Coats

The other Dior, Blue Lilac (Lilas Bleuet), is one I use post-swatching this week. It's a light lilac with a strong blue shimmer and flash. This is a finished manicure using two coats of Blue Lilac.

Dior Blue Lilac (Lilas Bleuet) #381 Nail Polish, Two Coats

I thought Blue Lilac could use a little something, so I added a couple of kitchy flowers to my tips using Konad plate M60 and Konad Special Nail Polishes in Blue and Violet Pearl. The pattern is the two flowers, I just painted one each color, then applied. Here is the Konadicure with Blue Lilac.

Dior Blue Lilac (Lilas Bleuet) #381 Nail Polish and Konad M60

Those are my purple Dior nail polishes for you. I know they're really different from one another, but I thought that's why they'd be kind of fun to put together. They're opposites, but they have a little in common just the same.

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

Dior Turquoise Diabolo

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Just for funsies today, I took the lid off of a box that was full of polish to randomly pick an oldy but goody for today. Fun now, I'll be sorry when I have random bottles of polish all over, but I can worry abut that later... In any case, I struck gold. What I found was some old Diors, and I selected Turquoise Diabolo. In needs a dark blue base, and in the same box was Lippmann Collection's Devil in a Blue Dress, so I was set!

I started with three coats of the Lippmann. I don't know if the color development folks at Lippmann just like jellies or if they're stingy on pigment, but it took three coats. As I was doing coat number two, I wished I'd chosen another base color. However, it dried fast, so it was no biggy. Then I gave it a coat of the Dior, the clouds parted, angels started singing, and all was well.

Since it was so much polish to dry, I finished it with Lippmann Collection Addicted to Speed, which dries almost too fast. It starts freezing up on the brush stroke at the free edge of my nail. Since it's $20 for the full size, I only have a mini of it that came with a little mini set, and it did the job.

Here it is as it looks in regular good light.

Here it is in full sun.

The Dior sparkly colors like this came in a bunch of colors, and they're fantastic. They look foily in normal light, and just insanely sparkly in direct light. What fun! Of course, since they're old, they're discontinued - they really shouldn't have stopped making these, though!

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

Dior Black Plum & Clarins 230

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I tried out Dior's Fall 2009 nail polish, Black Plum. I applied like a Dior (like buttah!), and is a great deep plum creme which definitely doesn't look black in normal lighting. This is two coats.

Pretty thought it was, it was begging me for a little something else, so I added one coat of Clarins 230 to it. 230 is magical!

I like Black Plum both ways, and I'm really happy with it. The application on this one is just amazing!

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

MAC Mercenary & Dior Gold Nugget

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'd heard that MAC Mercenary and Dior Gold Nugget were dupes, but when I saw Mercenary I did not think so. This morning, I thought I'd compare them for you. Unfortunately, there's no sunlight, but I can still see the diffference in artificial light. They're close, but not the same.

Here they are side by side, with my middle and pinky being Mercenary and index and ring being Gold Nugget. Gold Nugget is more golden and the sparkle is more pronounced, while Mercenary is more bronze.

If I had more pictures to show you, I would, but I don't so I won't.

Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Dior Purple Candy & Lippmann Prelude to a Kiss

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was so displeased with my failure of a manicure yesterday that I changed it to the opposite of what I had. Since the problem was that it was way to much, I thought I'd change it to simplicity itself: Lippmann Collection Prelude to a Kiss. This is three coats.

Much better! The last time I wore this, I didn't care for it, but I like it now.

I had a new one to try out this morning, so I just used it, this time Dior Purple Candy. Here's two coats.

I thought Purple Candy could use a little something, but having learned my lesson yesterday, I kept it simple with a delicate pattern from Konad Plate M67, using Konad Princess Nail Polish in Coral Blue.

I really like it! I wavered on Purple Candy for a while, but am glad I went for it while I could.

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

Tiny Bottles!

Good morning, Dear Reader!  The stars did not align properly yesterday, and I'm still waiting for the something fabulous that I have coming.  As soon as it shows up, I'll show it to you.

Today I have two Nails of the Day pics for you with only one thing in common - they both have tiny, tiny bottles.

The first is one that I wanted forever, almost paid ridiculous ebay prices for, and then found recently for $0.33.  Happy day!  It's purple, it's sparkly, what more could I want?  It's L'Oreal Bijou Crystals in B. Brave.  Look at how tiny the bottle is!

 

The other is today's NOTD, which I may or may not Konad.  It's Dior Poison Blue, which cost more than $0.33, but is one spectacular blue.  It has a secret shimmer that only shows up in strong light, and is probably my darkest blue that still looks blue rather than black.  Here's another tiny bottle!

 

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

Inaugural Mani

Hello again, Dear Reader!

Here I am again, two hours later... I've watched the news, done my Inaugural Mani, and found that there's little else to do at 6:30 a.m.  Since I'm pleased to no end with my Inaugural Mani, I thought I'd post it right away!

After yesterday's successful, although wacky, mani, I thought I'd do something a little more refined this morning.  One thing I learned yesterday is that I'm capable of double stamping my much loved tip patterns, so I had one in mind for today - my favorite tip pattern from plate M56.  I've been going with red, white, and blue because I don't align myself with any political party, and for today, I let my uber pale hands provide the white.

Since a red Konad stamp doesn't show up as red on anything other than a very pale blue, I decided to go with a red base and a blue stamp.  Since it's a special day, I chose a special red: Dior's Poppy.  You've seen it before and you'll see it again, so here it is on its own.

 

 

For my blue, I used SpaRitual Surreal, and double stamped my tips with the M56 pattern.  Here's what I ended up with - I'm so pleased with it that I'll show you both hands!

 

 

 

I'm really thrilled to find that I can still use the tip patterns, even if using them takes twice as long.  Truthfully, each hand takes about 10 minutes to double stamp, so it's not as though I'm signing my life away when I pull out a Konad plate, but for someone as impatient as I am an extra ten minutes is about my limit.  I've missed my tip patterns, and am happy to have them back!

Fortunately for me, I have lots of errands to run when the rest of the world wakes up, one of them at a place where the service woman always, without fail, recognizes me as "The Nail Lady."  She asks to inspect my nails and gets all excited about them.  The last time I saw her she'd ordered Konad supplies from wowsocool (my source, who I have linked on the right), so I'm looking forward to seeing what she's come up with.  I like going out and about when I have a comment-worthy manicure, and I think this one qualifies!

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

The Louboutin Manicure

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday, my plans to keep my Konadicure were thwarted when my long-nailed friend lausiepoos posted a picture of her Louboutin manicure on my message board.  I've always been afraid to try one, thinking I'd never get all the red polish out from under my nails, but she assured me that removal was no more difficult than glitter, and I decided to give it a go.

I started with two coats of Dior Poppy on the underside of my nails, then applied two coats of Chanel Black Satin as usual, and topped it with a coat of SpaRitual Tout de Suite.  I didn't use any kind of top coat on Poppy - I figured two coats will be hard enough to take off, and didn't want to add a third.  Here's what the finished product looks like.

 

I like it, but from the top, it looks like plain black.  It takes closer inspection than the average person would give so see that it's a little more fun than that.

I've wanted to try this for about a year, and since I'm happy with it, I'm grateful to lausiepoos for her encouragement.  I'd planned to wear the two light CNYs I was telling you about yesterday next, but that's likely not in the cards for me!  I'll probably have to wear dark manis for a day or two until all the red is gone from the nail line, but that's okay.  I can finally say, and prove with pictures, that I was brave enough to try a Louboutin mani!

That's all I have for you for now, Dear Reader.  Until later, love and nail polish to you!

Seduce Me, Greenwich Ave, Poppy, Can You Dig It?

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been so busy showing you collections lately, today I thought I'd catch you up on some of the manicures I did after swatching those collection.

Since I'm still early in the process of unpacking after my move last weekend I've been keeping it simple some days, but the fun thing is that in upacking my nail polish I'm finding some old true loves I hadn't run into in a while. That's what all of the manis I have to show you today are - nothing new, just newfound oldies but goodies.

First is China Glaze's Seduce Me, a rich berry creme.

Next is one from a brand that does not receive nearly enough love, Carloyn New York. My experience with CNY has been extremely positive, and I love Carolyn's colors. This is one of my all time favorites, Greenwich Ave.

I also had to go do something this week for which I wanted to feel very confident, and you know what that means - its time to break out Dior's Poppy! The only thing that could make my Poppy a little more eye catching was a simple tip pattern from Konad plate M62. It worked - I felt like one indesctructible chick wearing this one!

Last is today's Nails of the Day, SpaRitual's Can You Dig It?. It's a rich golden brown with a strong shimmer, but I was going into a bit of Konad withdrawal, so I did a delicate pattern from plate M4 just on my tips. The temptation was to Konad the heck out of the whole thing, but I resisted - this polish is too good on its own to allow for much more than a subtle accent without detracting from it.

So those are some of the NOTD's you've missed this week, Dear Reader. I have some swatching to do, and hope to get that done for you today, so you may hear from me again before the sun goes down. Until then, love and nail polish to you!