Canadian Star

Nicole By OPI usually gets a bad wrap.  The number one complaint is that gosh-darn awkward bottle shape!  How is any photographer or blogger supposed to hold that bottle?  It is not ergonomically correct and makes your fingers look all wonky.  My own personal complaint is that I expect a branch off brand of OPI to be cheaper than OPI, but these babies are like $7 at Target!  What gives?
I have a lovely friend who found a set of NOPI at Marshalls (or TJMaxx - same difference, no?) for a much better price.  And it had this lovely blue-purple duo-glitter/shimmer in it. I like it alot (say it like Lloyd Christmas).  Thanks Sarah!!  Canadian Star is too sheer on it's own - after trying 3 coats I decided it needed undies.  I picked Butter London Marrow since it was pretty much the only purple creme (thought the bottle shows shimmer) I could find in my stash.   I used 1-2 coats of Marrow and then 1 coat of Canadian Star.  
What can I saw but wow!  It's gorgeous!  CS changes from purple to fuchsia and blue.  The glitter/shimmer is fantastic!  So super duper sparkly; fuschia and teal are the prominent colors.  The formula though sheer, went on like perfection with a smooth, even formula.  1 layer of topcoat and this baby is ready for a party!  Woot!!  My frozen wine cooler mix is in the freezer so I'll enjoy a slushy adult beverage while looking at my nails tonight once all the littles are asleep. 
I tried to take more pictures than usual to capture some of the duo goodness.  I failed miserably, no fuschia to be seen.  Hope you enjoy looking at them anyways - and sorry for the drag spot on my middle finger…I was impatient and gave it zero dry time between coats, no fault shall be laid on the polish.   

Joyluscious Swatch Fest!!

I recently met a really nice gal, Joy, the creative mind behind Joyluscious.  When I initially spoke with her at a beauty store customer appreciation party she told me a bit about her brand and how she came about making it.  What stood out to me in the conversation were the key things all us polish hounds look for in an indie brand.  Joy spent a good amount of time testing glitters, tossing batches with curling or beeding glitters.  She has a wide variety of glitter toppers as well as a few that stand on their own withough underpants. Today I will review 3, but I will review more once my sister and I swap colors.  
First up, Hulk!  Hulk is part of the Joylicious Super Hero collection (she also has Spiderman, Captain America, Iron Man and Silver Surfer). Hulk is sheer lime green base full of large lime green hexs and small red hexs.  There is also a green and red micro shimmer.  Application was easy, but I do wish more of the hexs came out for display on the nail.  I used 3 coats of Hulk alone on my index finger.  To show what it looks like over another color I layered 2 coats of Hulk over 2 coats of Zoya Envy on my other fingers.  I really love how you can see the reg and green shimmer glowing when Hulk is layered over Envy!  1 layer of topcoat and Hulk is surprisingly smooth.  

Look at that gorgeous shimmer!!

Next up…Victoria.  This one surprised me and was my favorite of the 3 in this review!  If I remember correctly Joy had made this polish for a friend.  Victoria is a lovely deep red polish with medium red hexs and red micro glitter - all in a shade that matches the base.  Application for Victoria was smooth and plenty of glotter came out with each brush dip.  Victoria evened out very nicely with 2 coats, no underpants needed here!  1 layer of topcoat used.

Finally - Silver Surfer, another Super Hero polish.  SS is metallic silver with medium silver holo hexs.  I thougth this one would be fine on it's own but after my first attempt I relized I needed to swatch it again with underpants.  SS went on smoothly and streak-free.  I like how the holo hexs came out in a sprinkling and are like little spots of bling on top of my nails.  I used 1 coat of SS over 2 coats OPI Skull & Glossbones.  1 coat of topcoat.

So what do you think of Joyluscious??  I really enjoyed her polish and look forward to swatching and reviewing more of them!!  You can follow Joylucious on her on Facebook or her blog where you can also purchase her creations!!  If you are in the Bay Area you can also stop by San Jose Beauty Supply and pick up one of her polishes!!

Cake-Hole + As If!

I'm in a rush trying to get through all my neon, bright summer polish before the summer is over!  It's kind of silly, but I think it's more that I am so eager to get to some of the fall colors that I have received in the last couple weeks!  Anyways, you will either see an infulx of brights or you will see them fall of the face of this blog as I embrance the browns, burgundys, emeralds, and all the other gorgeous jewel tones that are so Fall!  Yes, I'm a Fall girl - they are my absolute favorite colors…favorite holiday (Halloween), favorite foods, favorite clothing styles, etc etc.
So here is Butter London Cake-Hole (so hard for me to remember because I want to call it Pie-Hole).  I received this in a swap from my friend Sheila…thanks so much!!  C-H is a really bright (but not scorching) neon pink that dries to a rubbery matte finish.  I liked the look of the finish but I had other plans for C-H.  The formula was spot on!  Perfetly smooth, and self leveling in 2 coats.   I had no problems with dragging.  My pictures don't show how pink Cake-Hole really is, boo.
I decided to have fun with this one and used a glitter layer on ALL of my nails, not just as an accent.  I picked up this bottle of Nostalgic As If! from the Clueless collection on Copious.  AI! is an awesome matte glitter bomb full of large black hexs and black bars, small and large white hexs and bars, and a bubblegum pink medium hexs.  I used 2 coats and got plenty of glitter with each dip.  The glitter was easy to move around so each nail was covered well.  No problems with clumping either.  I used a coat of Gelous (Yay, I remembered) and then a layer of topcoat.  Smooth and glossy!  It's like an 80's party on my nails!!

My favorite glitter is the pink hex layered perfectly over the black hex.  (:

Cake-Hole is a Macy's exclusive Butter London color.  You can purcahse it online or if you are a lucky-ducky, it will be in your Macy's beauty department.

I purchased Nostalgic As If! from Copious for $0.01!!  I have purchased about 6 polishes from Copious and the most I have spent is $0.60.  They frequently give out $10 credits to existing customers and you get $10 to spend when you sign up through a link.  Here's my Copious link if you haven't joined yet!  I've had nothing but good experiences so I recommend joining.  http://copious.com/invites/4fd174a46058f159520071c0

Orange Marmalade

**Disclaimer - this post is much like my feelings on this polish.  Scattered across the board.  So I apologize if I jump around and my paragraphs make no sense.**
Orange, neon, sheer, jelly, shimmer.  These are the words that best describe Princess Polish Orange Marmalade.  When I put it on last night I wasn't really feeling it.  It seemed too neon and sheer for my taste.  But looking at my pictures of it out in the sunlight I think it's really quite pretty.  

I used 3-4 coats of OM but because it is a jelly it never built up to opaqueness.  It went on very light and kind of streaky with the first coat but it did even out with the second coat.  I did a third coat because the second was still so sheer it was almost like having nothing on my nails.  OM dried to a rubery matte finish that glossed up nicely when I used my topcoat.  
I've had a love/hate relationship with this OM today.  At times I catch a glimpse of it and think it's too bright.  In direct sunlight it's a creamy orange almost like a creamsicle color and I like that.  Alas, before 24 hours I am getting quite a few chips.  Dislike.  ):
Do you have any Princess Polishes?  Which ones?  How do you like those compared to Orange Marmalade?  

The Engineer

I have a very good friend who is going to launch her own indie line, Red Dog Designs, very soon.  I am so excited to show you one of her creations.  This is The Engineer from The Original Series Collection.  It's a nod to the original Star Trek - you know the one, with Captain Kirk!  You can read more about her inspiration on here Facebook page.  
I'll use her own description of The Engineer , "we know a ship can not be expected to run with - "The Engineer" - red in color and on the alert!  Never will there be 'not enough power' with this polish!  Don't worry though, it will always leave it's phasers on 'stun'"
The Engineer is a really gorgeous red polish with small and medium sized hexs.  There is also a fine red glitter and light sprinkling of holo micro-glitter.  TE went on easily, not streaky, no bare spots, plenty of glitter came out with each brush dip.  I used 2 coats for full coverage.  What I noticed, that I was so thankful for, was that when I went to clean up any 'coloring out of the lines' the removal was so easy.  Unlike most reds I didn't feel like I had red stainage around my cuticles, nor did I have to go over the same spots multiple times to remove any unwanted polish marks.  TE came of quickly and easily leaving my nails, cuticles and nail beds looking great.  I finished it off with a coat of Gelous and a topcoat.
Gorgeous!  Wht do you think?  Here's a review of the entire collection at Pointless Cafe.  Be sure to Like Red Dog Designs on Facebook to be up to date on the collection launch!

DS Extravagance

Extravagnace is my first DS.  It's gorgeous.  Now I understand what all the DS fuss is about.  I received this in a swap from my friend Gina at My Dirty Little Obsessions.  Thanks Gina!!  I'll keep this short and let the pictures do the talking!
In all honesty I have never been that excited or impressed with the OPI DS collection.  I always skipped them when I saw them at Ulta.  I think the main problem is you have no idea how beautiful they are until you get them out in the sunlight.  Then the magic happens!  
Extravagane is a gorgeous raspberry color with scattered holo particles.  This is one of those glowy polishes that I adore.  I used 2 coats for full coverage.  Application was flawless, smooth and even.  1 layer of topcoat and I was ready to dazzle! 

We are attending a wedding today and I am wearing Cult Nails Untamed on my toes.  The bubblegum pink of Untamed and the raspberry color of Extravagance compliment my purple dress AND match my daughter Naomi's dress perfectly!  I'll try to rememeber to take a picture of us together so you can see!