POP Beauty-Turquoise

Today I have for you POP Beauty- Turquoise that I got at ULTA. I actually got it for free along with POP Beauty- Punk'd. I had bought Essie Matte about Me a while back at ULTA, never used it, and then found Hard Candy's Matte polish for only $4 (Versus $10 for the Essie) so I went to ULTA to return it and picked up these pop beauties which normally retail for $10 but they were on sale buy one get one free! Now let me warn you, I'm not sure why the color didn't transfer correctly to the camera but this is a lighter more green turquoise than the blueish color that you see in the pictures. I'll try to get more accurate pictures to you guys soon.

BTW, loved the consistancy...if I new the formula was so good I would have definitely spent the $10 earlier =) Shown here is three coats plus a TC.

Essie- Mint Candy Apple

I don't know why I never got around to buying this polish sooner, it seems to be a staple in every addicts stash..and if you're lucky its the first version! Obviously since I just bought this polish about a week ago its unfortunately not the 1st version which I would have loved to get but its still a great polish. Mint Candy Apple is a mint (duh) green/blue cream with no shimmer or sparkle what so ever. The application was only so-so which made me kind of disappointed.. it was a little too thick for my liking. 

I bought this polish at ULTA for $8 and I've come to ONLY buy my Essie polishes from ULTA because they still carry the old engraved better quality bottles which to me is a score...usually means better quality polish too.

OPI- Mermaid's Tears

OPI- Mermaid's Tears.

So we all have seen and heard the hype over the new OPI Pirates of the Caribbean Collection On Stranger Tides and especially this polish called Mermaid's Tears. I would describe Mermaid's Tears as kind of a sea- foam green maybe leaning a little bit blue, Tiffany's box blue with a hint of mint. However you describe it one this is certain...it is gorgeous. This was the one polish in the collex that really stood out to me and surprisingly I didn't own a dupe for it so thats when I knew I HAD to buy it. 


Let me just be mad for one minute. I am not sure what is up with ULTA these days but WHY DON'T YOU WANT TO CARRY ANY SHATTER!?! When the black shatter came out, ULTA didn't have it...when the Serena French Open Duo's came out...ULTA didn't have the Red Shatter, and when this collex came out imagine what happened. ULTA DIDN'T HAVE IT! I am getting really p/o'ed with them right about now. I want my shatter for heavens sake! 


Anyways hahah...I've got to say I really haven't had TOO much to rant about with OPI's formula. It rarely ever stays on my nails for more than a full day or through a shower but for some crazyyy reason, this one did. Maybe I was super duper extra careful because I adored my mani so much, idk but it was a real trooper for about 3 days! 


A+ OPI, A+.

China Glaze- Bogie

China Glaze- Bogie

Part of the Vintage Vixen Collection introduced in Fall 2010, Bogie is a warm, dark plum color with a grey/black base LOADED with tons of shimmer. I used two coats for these pictures but if you did a thick coat you could get away with just one.  When I went to ULTA the day I bought this, it wasn't a polish I was necessarily looking for but the color is awesome and really..for $2.99, how could you not buy it!? I love ULTA's clearance section, it always has THE BEST deals, I love ULTA so much that I actually just applied for a job there earlier this week hahaha. Hopefully I get it =)

I heard OPI Have You Seen My Limo? from the 2007 Holiday in Hollywood Collex is a pretty great dupe but with the OPI being more of a green duochrome...does anybody agree?

Ulta- Bombshell

Here is a swatch of Ulta Bombshell that I got from my Ulta Haul this winter.

In reality this polish is a berryish jellyish color, a little more pink than the picture shows but I just couldn't seem to capture that. Anywhoo, I hate this color. This is three coats and a TC.  Since there are holographic giltters within and since I did 3 coats it dried very gritty, even with two coats of TC. I'm not sure why I hate it so much but its just not my cup of tea. The application was pretty good otherwise, it stained my skin a little though.

Do any of you have this polish? Other bloggers seem to love it, do you?

Barielle- Elle's Spell

Oh my gosh, today I got the package of polishes Accropolish sent me for our swap! I'm so excited to blog about them but you sadly will have to hold your suspense for a few more days because I am trying to get rid of my backlog.  Let me just tell you they are better than I even expected.  The score is currently Switzerland 1. USA 0 hahha.

Okay today I have for you Elle's Spell by Barielle.

Lemings alert!!! I have wanted this polish for FOREVER. I saw another blogger post about it and I could not get enough.  While home on spring break I was perusing through Ulta's clearence bins and there it was, the one lone one left. I swapped it up before I could even blink. LOVEEE. Many people said that it caught their eye so they bought it, but then when they actually tried it they didn't think it was anything special.  I totally have to disagree, this polish is amazing. I hate reds as you know, and I would wear this color on my nails for as long as I lived if I had to.

Okay, enough with the dramatics. Elle's Spell is obviously a jelly and I had to do 4ish coats to get it opaique.  This color is great because it not only looks the bright red that it is, but also in certain lights it seems this deep red/purple berry color that I absolutely adore. It has what looks like gold flakes but are actually considered multi-color flakes.  The application was not too watery/thick but applied more clear then red on the first coat, and the second two coats left you with the berry color but then with the fourth I got this great red color.  This polish usually retails for $6 at Ulta stores, and $8 when sold directly from Barielle.

I have heard that it looks like Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure flake polish but from what I've seen it really doesn't. Have any of you used Hidden Treasure before? Do you think it looks like this polish?

*This is Elle's Spell layered over black*

*Picture courtesy of Stephscloset.com

and this is Hidden Treasure layered over Lincoln Park After Dark

*Picture courtesy of Squarednails.com

See..nothing alike! 

Ulta Haul!!

Hey guys, this is going to be a non-swatch post but I just so so excited and wanted to show you all of the new polishes I bought today from my local Ulta!

Here we go:

Left to Right: Bombshell by Ulta, Iris upon Stars by Piggy Polish, Aruba Blue by Essie, OPI Ink by OPI, One Less Lonely Glitter by Nicole (by OPI), Elle's Spell by Barielle and Decadence by Barielle

First off we have Bombshell by Ulta. It's a bright red jelly with holo glitter throughout. From what I have tested, it seems to lean pink. Clearance for $2.99

Second is Iris Upon Stars by Piggy Polish. It's a very vibrant purple with the SLIGHTEST bit of pink sparkle in it, almost too slight for the eye to see! It even comes with a toe ring =) $7.50

Third is Aruba Blue by Essie. It has a dark navy base with light blue shimmer.  The polish reminds me of a sapphire. You know what makes it even better? I just found out that this is the polish that Emily Blunt wears throughout most of the movie The Devil Wears Prada AND the polish that tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) wears most of the episodes of Glee! $8.00 

Fourth is OPI Ink by OPI. This polish is an AMAZING mix of blue and purple lacquer with pink micro-glitter throughout.  It is from the OPI Night Brights Collection. $8.50

Fifth is One Less Lonely Glitter by Nicole by OPI. This polish is a very dense purple glitter set in an almost sheer purple base. Covers pretty fully in 2 coats, although I would do three. $7.99

Sixth is Elle's Spell by Barielle.  Its a flaky red jelly polish which came out for Holiday 2010.  I CANNOT wait to try this polish, its been on my lemmings list since I've made one and i finally got it..on clearance! $2.99

Last but not least is Decadence by Barielle.  It is a teal with a shimmery finish from the Sugar Rush Collection. 

I hope you like my new polishes...posts on them soon to come!! ...Off to write a paper, byee!!

Trusty ole' polish

Sorry sorry sorry, I've been MIA. My week surprisingly has not been busy at all but I was just being lazy and didn't feel like posting. I'm having TONS of trouble trying to take better pictures, I have been using my iphone camera for all my pictures and its obviously not the best quality.  For this post I tried using my digital camera and adjusting the macro settings and the ISO levels and about every other setting on my camera but nothing looked good or captured the color correctly.  Is there any pointers you guys can give me or recommendations of new cameras? (right now I have an Olympus Stylus 740, 7.1 megapixel, 5x zoom) I welcome any suggestions =)

Lets get on to the polish, a few days ago I used Black Cherry Chutney by O.P.I. This has been on of my favorite polishes for a while now but I never had a bottle (I would just pick it at the nail salon).  This polish is from the Couture Color For Your Nails Collection from Ulta which came in a baby trio with Brisbane Bronze and Bogota Blackberry (all for $4.99 on clearance).

Okay so like I said my camera is not that great so I had to take a few pictures to show you the color from every angle.  The first picture is what the actual color looks like in the bottle and under bright artificial light...such a pretty purple right?! Well in the second 2 pictures (sorry the background in the second one is a bit distracting) the way the color is shown is what it looks like in person, a very dark purple almost black looking, a few of my friends even commented thinking that I had painted my nails black.  

The formula was just as expected from O.P.I although since it was such a small bottle (meaning smaller brush) it was hard to get enough polish on one try to cover a nail. I learned after much aggravation that tipping the bottle slightly to get the brush fully covered helped a lot.  Shown here is three coats and a heavy seche vite top coat.  Although this color is to die for I cant help but admit that I kinda wish it looked like the first more purple picture.

How about you guys? Has anybody used Black Cherry Chutney before? If so did it look like mine?

While the roommate is out to play

So my roommate is out having a great time (if you know what I mean) which leaves me all alone in my room.  Bored and all Sex and the City'ed out I bring you a quick little post to just touch on some key points that I keep forgetting to add in prior posts.

1. Although this may be silly to everybody, this is the longest my nails have ever been...EVER. I never used to let them grow past my fingertips and I had a horrible biting habit but I've ditched that addiction because who wants to ruin a b-e-a-utiful manicure? Not I haha, I finally realize why its such a big deal when one breaks a nail...it takes a great deal of effort to get them looking like that again, it's like a full time job!

2. I have asked for a konad kit for easter (yes, I do get easter gifts haha).  After reading Polish Hoarder Disorder (PHD)'s blog post "Konad. What? and How?", I realized konad Isn't:
                         1. As expensive as I thought
                         2. As hard as I thought
                         3. As messy as I thought
I'm REALLY looking forward to trying some things out...all day tomorrow is going to be spent picking out the plates/ colors that I want. Any recommendations?

3. I still have yet to get an organizational tool for my polishes...after looking on transdesign.com at the organizer I showed you in a previous post I realized that I cannot fathom spending the $30 on a little plastic thing (which I would now need 2 of because I have over 60 polishes), so I am still using an Ulta bag..but I'm heading to target over the weekend so I am determined to find something that works just as great as that one but less than half the price!

4. The polish that I showed you guys today (although initially put on yesterday afternoon) already majorly chipped. What a bitch.

5. I'm looking for a light cream/white color (kind of the same color as Ballet Slippers by Essie) but I cant seem to find a good one.  I have a pet peeve about ordering nail polish online...I need to physically see it before I go and spend money on it, meaning I can't buy Ballet Slippers because Walgreens does not carry Essie yet.


6. Yes, I said it. I'm not sure if you guys have heard but pretty soon..or so they say.. Walgreens (my old job) will start carrying Essie polish. HOW GREAT..I'm literally ecstatic. Essie is awesome.


7. I have gotten my whole suite into painting their nails every few days...just this afternoon four of them (out of 5) were painting their nails!

Okay, I bet there are still tons of things that I will remember I left out right when I hit publish but I can't think of them right now so my rambling is over.  Sorry no swatch pictures in this post, but I'll leave you with some of my favorite... Warhol!!

OH MY GOSH. How could I forget!?! The biggest thing of all.  I will be having a small giveaway (2-3 polishes) when I reach 100 followers so pleasee recommend me to your friends/ fellow bloggers =)

Firsts

Today is just full of firsts for me..it was my first day of classes as a second semester Junior.  How crazy is that? I am almost three quarters of the way through my undergraduate college experience..I'm scaring myself out just talking about it! Although college is NOTHING like I thought it would be, I can honestly say that its only different, not worse than expected.  I really wish I would have gone to a bigger school (which was the last thing on my mind while applying) but I guess that just shows how much I've changed throughout these three years.  My friends from home (that go to college at home) keep telling me that I've changed since I've gone away but I don't understand why they see it as a bad thing. We all need to grow up sometime... don't we?  Well anyways, today it was also my first time using a certain polish that should have been on my wish list because its amazing and a half, Tease-y Does It by O.P.I.  

Now here's the thing... It seems purple in the pictures right?... well not according to my nails it doesn't.  It looks more like the second picture (VERY BAD quality, I realize, but it was the only picture that captured the real color).  It is a very dark brown base color with flecks of red sparkles in it in some lights and as you can tell in artificial lights it looks very purple..I honestly like both so it really doesn't matter to me ( I bought it with the intentions of it being more red though).  I wouldn't suggest this to people who are looking for purple polishes though because it only looks like that very rarely.

As with all O.P.I's (considering the price is a steep $8.50) you expect the application to be nothing but perfect and I have to say it was (and extra score, I found this one on clearance for $2.99 at Ulta).  I love using new polishes because you don't have to stick the brush far into the bottle to get WADS of lacquer, which makes application that much easier and clean- less lumpy.

okayy well I'm off to a night of movie watching and junk food eating with my suite-mates!! Have a good week =)

Bling Bling

HELLO FOLLOWERS!!! [finally haha] I'm really happy lately because I'm going back to school in less than a week! I miss all my friends and my sorority sisters soo much and I can't wait to go back to my easy ass job doing nothing as opposed to my horrid job back home. Therefore I am out of my dark polish phase =)

I used Lotsa Luxe by Ulta which is a pretty gold. Obviously as you know by now, Ulta polishes are some of my favorites and this polish just supported that opinion.

The application was not streaky at all, which is what is expected from metallic polishes and went on well enough only to do one coat. Like I told you in my last post, I used the Ulta Ridge Filler when using the Sula lacquer and it went on a little watery/streaky and I was wondering if it was because of the Ridge Filler. Well, I used it again before the gold polish and I've come to the conclusion that it was just the Sula polish that was the problem because the gold went on just fine.

In my experience when I buy gold polishes, it comes out either sheer or brownish..not the expected gold that I want. All I can say is Ulta got it right! Its the perfect (in my opinion) shade and ratio of yellow to brown hues. It has a greet sheen to it and is exactly what I wanted. OH, and did I mention it was on clearence!? Instead of the pretty steep price of $5 per bottle, it was almost only $3.75, woo!