Essie Braziliant Collection… and a long update… ermm… thing!

No, no, I’m not dead… life has just been kicking my ass lately!  Let me give you a little recap of my world since I last posted:

May 2nd – Went back to work, which was killer.  We were super-short-handed, so I worked a ton of hours this week and absolutely wore myself out.

May 4th – Our car wouldn’t start in the evening when I went to pick Daniel up from work.  He had to find a ride home and my dad had to come down to look at it.  They eventually got it started, and everything seemed ok, battery and alternator were both working fine… couldn’t figure it out.

May 5th – Car almost dies when I stop at a stoplight on my way to work.  I had to floor it to get it to go, which then caused a ton of smoke to shoot out of the back and it overheats.  Then again at the next stoplight.  All in the < 7 minutes it takes to get to work.  I made it there, but car was smoking and the temperature was way too high by the time I got parked.  Checked it out after work and sure enough, the coolant is leaking into the oil.  Looks like a chocolate milkshake.  This explains why it wouldn’t start the night before, and why it had been giving off white exhaust instead of the normal exhaust.  Had to find a ride home and Daniel’s parents loaned us their van.  Car needs a whole new engine – about $2000.  Car’s value is less than $1500.  Car becomes a permanent fixture in the bank parking lot and we begin looking at our options for financing another vehicle.

May 9th-13th – I have jury duty – yay.  :P  Pretty much the worst experience of my life.  I have absolutely no desire to judge anyone or hold their fate in my hands.  I had to attend every day, much to my dismay.  Fortunately, all but one of the trials I was in the jury pool for settled, but I did have to go through the selection process for one.  I was hoping they would choose their jurors before calling my name, but no, they called me.  I think I would have been excused either way – the prosecutor questioned me first and I was excused based on our close friend who is currently in prison (and I had visited the week I was on vacation), but I think the defense would have excused me based on my husband’s best friend being a police officer, my dad working for the police department for 15 years and me being around cops my whole life and some of them like family.  So, I never ended up on a jury, but I was so stressed out by the whole thing that I basically came home and hid for an entire week.  Also wore the same polish for 7 days straight – OPI’s Hot & Spicy.

May 16th-20th – Work is basically kicking my ass again.  Hired someone based on a phone interview because I never could actually meet her face-to-face – too busy!  :P  She had been interviewed by two other managers though and was hired both times, but on the first they had an internal application at the last minute and it is nearly impossible to turn those down (no training!), and the second upper management decided to split the full-time position into two part-time.  So, she comes well recommended, but it’s still a bit scary.  I run a drama-free zone, and I explained that to her – hopefully she doesn’t mess that up!  Also currently training a new employee, and having to issue verbal warnings to others, based on that new sales program I have mentioned before.  And looking at cars every evening when I get off work.  Realizing that they are EXPENSIVE!  My mom keeps telling me I can get her car (2002 Chevy Impala, 84k miles) for $5000, but that is absolutely not true.  The only Impala I found under $6000 had 175k miles.  Have one hopeful, but everything else has been a bust.  Stressful week!  I did manage to wear a different untried every day this week though!  :D

May 21st – Go to visit hopeful car in a town about 30 minutes away.  Very short on time – have a wedding to be at early in the afternoon.  Test drive car, ask lots of questions, decide to buy.  2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue, 104k miles.  Silver.  Good price.  Try to hurry very nice salesman as I now have less than an hour before the wedding starts.  Eventually get papers signed, hand over check, and tear out of the lot, flying to get home.  Have to stop for gas because, of course, no car on a sale lot has any gas in it.  Have less than 15 minutes to get ready for wedding.  We did make it, and we weren’t the last couple into the sanctuary, but it was close.  Thank god there was a long line at the guestbook, so the wedding did not start exactly on time!  So stressed about buying the car and trying to get to the wedding that I get a little bit drunk at the reception – just the nice buzzy drunk that doesn’t make you do stupid things or have a hangover!  Collapse on couch at 10pm.

May 24th – My brother and sister-in-law welcome their new baby, Bradley!  This is baby #3 for them.  They already have Nathaniel, 4, and Lorelei, 2.  Planning on another baby in the next 2 years – yikes!  We also have a nephew from Daniel’s brother (Sam, nearly 2), so this makes nephew #3!  Hoping there is at least one more girl so poor Lorelei doesn’t grow up being a complete tomboy – and I need someone’s nails to paint!  ;)

Soooo… yeah.  Thank you for reading all of that, if you made it through.  I won’t hold it against you if you scrolled down to pics – it was a loot to read!  ;)  I have lots of polishes photographed and lots more to swatch, so hopefully I won’t be taking such a huge break again!  Are you ready to finally see some swatches?

I fell in love with the Braziliant collection as soon as I saw promo pics.  I love bright oranges, and who can resist perwinkles and pale greens?!  This one did not disappoint.  Fab summer collection!

Absolutely Shore is a gorgeous pale green – it’s almost white with a green tint.  I really see this more as spring than summer, but I love it either way.  Didn’t really love the formula though… streaky, streaky, streaky!  This was 3 coats, and the last one was rather thick.  I’m pretty sure I used topcoat on this one to even out the application.  I don’t have anything in my stash comparable to this, but it might be similar to Nubar’s Baby Sprout, from the Spring 2011 collection.  I think it’s less white and more blue tinged.

Braziliant is a deep orange with a really dense pink shimmer that I have found nearly impossible to photograph.  I swear, it’s not a crème!  The shimmer is so dense that it doesn’t show up well unless you hit the right light… so kinda secret shimmer-ish?  If you really want a good look at the shimmer, check out Temptalia’s post here.  She really captures it in the last 2 pics she took.  I’m jealous, I never could capture it!  It is a gorgeous color, I went looking for it specifically when I started searching for this collection.

I LOVE Meet Me At Sunset – I am a sucker for these reddish-orange jelly-ish things!  This is the most color accurate pic, most of them came out more red than it actually is.  I have seen others refer to it as a red, but it’s orange – orange, I say!!  Similar in base color to Braziliant, just a touch more red.  Actually, when I bought these, the clerk thought they were the same and looked at the tops to be sure they weren’t.  To any polish-a-holic, they aren’t very comparable (hello?!  one is a shimmer, the other a crème!), but muggles just see orange.  The formula on this one is incredible.  It’s a little more opaque than a jelly, but sheerer and shinier than a crème.  Two coats to perfection.

Here you can see how amazingly shiny it is – no topcoat!!  :D  I really do love this one, but it is the one I have something quite similar to.  I compared it to OPI’s A Good Man-darin Is Hard To Find because I thought they looked close, but as you can see in the pic below, they really aren’t that close.  AGMIHTF (wow, what an acronym!), middle, is pinker and more crème-like than MMAS.

Once it was on the nail, I realized that MMAS is pretty darned close to Revlon Top Speed in Chili, which is one of my faves.  They aren’t quite dupes, but very very similar!  Chili is in the middle again.  It is a bit redder, but the finish is the same, and both polishes had fabulous formulas.

Finally moving on from Meet Me At Sunset… ;)

The finish and formula of Too Too Hot is the same as Meet Me At Sunset, so this was an instant love for me.  It’s an orange based pink that will look lovely on tips and toes.  It reminded me of Essie’s Watermelon, which I don’t actually own.  However, I do have Essie’s Rose Bowl, which is almost a dupe, just slightly warmer – I compared them in store before purchasing Rose Bowl and I could barely tell the difference.

So, Too Too Hot is not as close to Watermelon as I thought, seeing how it is warmer (and oranger) than Rose Bowl, which is a warmer version of Watermelon.  I have been loving Rose Bowl lately, even wore it as a pedi for over a month, but I think I prefer Too Too Hot after comparing them!

Super Bossa Nova was the hardest one for me to track down, which seems so bizarre – it’s a shimmery pink, I never dreamed it would be the first to go!  I went to 4 different stores before I finally found this one at Target.  Every other display I found, Super Bossa Nova was the only one gone!  I can see the allure though – a bright shimmery pink that will look great on almost all skin tones, plus it is super-pigmented, so you can get away with one careful coat.  I’m wearing 2 in the pic, but not because I had to… but because I’m weird and always do at least 2 coats!  It has a purpley/blue shimmer that is quite dense, but like Braziliant, it doesn’t always let itself be shown.  It isn’t quite as subtle, but she really sparkles when in the spotlight.  Because of the color of the shimmer, I thought I’d compare with China Glaze – 108 Degrees, middle.

When compared to 108 Degrees, the already kinda subtle shimmer in Super Bossa Nova looks almost invisible.  The base colors are similar, but the blue shimmer in 108 gives the color a blue cast Super Bossa Nova lacks.

I almost passed up Smooth Sailing – it’s gorgeous, but I was just sure it was a dupe for RBL’s Catherine H.  I picked it up and put it down about 5 times in the store before I finally just grabbed it and went to the register.  It’s a bright periwinkle / cornflower blue with tiny little flakes in it – the finish is the same as Mochacino from the retail collection.  I love this finish and hope Essie keeps using it!  It reminds me of little rain drops, all irregular shaped.  It might even be similar to the little flecks in Illamasqua’s Raindrops, but I have only seen pics, so I’m not positive on that one.  I’m lusting after it big-time though, so if anyone has it available, please let me know!

Back to the real question… is this a dupe for Catherine H?  Sorry to be a bummer to those of you who didn’t get your hands on the RBL before it sold out, but they aren’t that close.  Depending on your level of obsession, it might hold you over until Catherine H is available again, since it did get chosen in the Bring it Back vote, or it might kill your lemming altogether.

Catherine H is much deeper, dustier, and has a pink shimmer that is quite a bit different from the little flakes in Smooth Sailing.  However, the flakes in SS seem to have a bit of pink and blue in them, so it’s almost like a toned down version.  I love them both, but will probably not wear the RBL in the summer, since it is dusty and kinda murky looking.

Overall, the formulas on this collection were outstanding – the only one I had any trouble with was Absolutely Shore, and we all know how those white-based shades are.  I used 2 coats in all the pics above, except AS.  I love them all, but my top pics are Smooth Sailing and Braziliant for originality and Meet Me At Sunset and Too Too Hot for formula and perfect summer shades.

This collection is being spotted in Walgreens and Targets across the country, but Cilucia heard from Essie that they won’t be available at Ulta and other salon retailers until June 1st.  For those of you who need your e’s on the caps, there is still hope!  ;)

What do you think of Braziliant?  Any favorites?

Basecoat: none
Topcoat: none, except for Absolutely Shore – Beauty Secrets Fast Finish
Number of coats: 2, except for Absolutely Shore, 3

China Glaze - Island Escape Collection

I had planned on posting Chanel Mimosa next, but umm... you're going to have to wait on that one.  I did wear it, but ugh, application was terrible and it didn't look good.  It didn't seem so bad when I initially swatched it, but a full mani was not good.  I'll try it again when I get over being angry with her!  ;)

I knew I had to have the entire Island Escape collection the first time I saw swatches, but I've been lazy and haven't gotten around to posting it, though I've had it for, umm... at least 2 weeks.  Oops!  I really like the collection as a whole, though a couple of the formulas were a bit disappointing.  There is nothing earth shattering here, but it is a great summer collection that I will get a lot of use out of!

108 Degrees is a glass flecked pink, perfect for summer.  A bit on the sheer side, but I don't mind VNL when it's crazy-hot out.  I don't have an exact dupe in my stash, but it didn't seem all that original.

Seniorita Bonita is mostly purple, but it has some heavy pink shimmer, which is quite hard to capture.  This was the sheerest of the collection, and slightly disappointing because of it.  I really had to layer this one on to get it to show up.  It did dry though, and super-shiny at that, so maybe I shouldn't complain?

Blue Iguana is the last of the glass flecks in this collection, and I really love it.  I have seen a lot of complaints of how sheer it is, but I've seen worse.  It's a bit of a stainer, so be careful!  I can't wait to wear this one!  There is a slight pinkish duochrome to it, which makes it awfully similar to Nicole's You're S-Teal the One - I've compared them below - NOPI is in the middle.

These two are pretty much dupes.  Blue Iguana is much more pigmented than You're S-Teal the One, so if you're torn, I suggest it.  You can usually get China Glaze's cheaper too!  :)

Cha Cha Cha is the lone shimmer in this collection, supposedly similar to the famous Moonpool.  I don't own it, so I can't compare, but I prefer this to the pics I've seen of Moonpool - less frosty!  However, the application on this one wasn't great.  You can see some bald spots on my index nail, and this was 3 coats.

Electric Pineapple is a bright green/yellow creme which applies easily, especially after the sheerness of the previous polishes.  It looks similar to OPI's Fiercely Fiona, but they aren't dupes, as you can see below.

Fiercely Fiona is much more yellow than Electric Pineapple, but I love 'em both!

Papaya Punch is the last of the collection, and the best formula.  It's a gorgeous bright orange, not neon at all, but it will get attention!  It leans to the yellow side of orange, so depending on your skintone, this one might be troublesome for you.  I am addicted to oranges - it seems like I gotta have every one I see!

The cremes in this collection apply much better than the glass flecks, but the only real problem children are Seniorita Bonita and Cha Cha Cha.  SB was kinda watery and extremely sheer, CCC is prone to balding.  I <3 the colors, so I will deal, but if you don't have much patience, you might want to avoid these!  I LOVE Papaya Punch and Blue Iguana - both of them were stunning and pretty easy to apply.

Are you thinking about picking up any of this collection?  Tell me which ones you like!  :)

In other news, I head back to work tomorrow... ugh.  Can't vacations last forever?

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: varies, 2-3

Zoya Sunshine Swatches, plus updates

First off, thank you all so much for your kind comments about my dear Sydney. Apparently my mom had a change of heart and decided she couldn't go through with it, and is trying a couple of different things to deal with Syd's issues. Of course, my parents didn't tell me they had changed their minds until after I found her a loving home, so then I had to tell the kind individual "thanks, but no thanks." grrrrrr! I guess the important thing is that she is currently alive and well and I know I have a place for her to go if my parents again decide she isn't worth the trouble. I have lost quite a bit of respect for them over this, even though they didn't do it. The idea of it just sickened me. I have only spoken with them once since this whole thing happened, and it seemed a bit awkward. I'll see them this weekend, so we will see how that goes.

Again, thanks so much for the comments - I truly appreciate them. I am so sorry that I was unable to respond until now - I lost my beloved computer last week! ;_; I was infected with a nasty malware/rootkit and was unable to recover. I have never seen anything like this one - it had installed itself and had taken control of my system before I even realized there was a problem. It's called Windows Fix, in case you see it... very similar to Windows Repair, but more invasive! It blocked my administrator access, hid all my files, and made it impossible to run any executable files, except for Internet Explorer. It also redirected all Google searches to crap pages, ran non-stop IE scripts, and tried to bring up advertisements every couple of minutes. Like I said... I've never seen anything quite like this one! My hubby always says that the antivirus companies are the ones creating this stuff to keep themselves in business and I've always rolled my eyes and told him he was paranoid, but after all the things this one did... I'm a believer! No random person could create this - it was too good!

I was so frustrated at losing my computer... I have had a lot of problems over the years, but I never had come across something I couldn't fix - I've NEVER had to reformat, and I've had a computer since 1987. *sigh* I felt absolutely defeated, especially after consulting with a colleague and coming to the conclusion that it was my only option. It was a rather easy transition - my external hard drive was up and running, so I was able to easily transfer files and save everything that was needed, but still... ugh. I'm still running Windows Vista (yeah yeah yeah I'll upgrade when someone gives me extra $$... well, actually, I'll blow that on polish and stay with Vista!), so it took FOREVER to get from factory condition to the current updates. 100+ updates to SP1, another 40+ to get to SP2 and then a bunch more from there - took all day!! But, everything is up and running now, possibly a bit better than before! My other PC does work, though it is around 10 years old and slower than I would prefer, but Disqus won't load on it. Same with my work PC - Disqus just says it's loading forever, but nothing ever happens. Weird, eh?

Anyhoo... onto the swatches!

Zoya Sunshine totally caught my eye, once I saw Temptalia's swatches, I had to have them all! Fortunately, Zoya ran a BOGO on their summer collections, so I was able to pick up the ones I really wanted for minimal cost.

Apple is a beautiful spring green sparkle polish, like the springy sister of Ivanka. The finish on these is the same as the Sparkle collection, though Summertime is a bit more sheer. This was 3 coats of Apple and it went on very smoothly, dry time was great. I swatched without a basecoat though and this little minx stained me in the 10 minutes I wore her! :P

Tanzy is a medium orange, so blingy and sparkly! Three coats here. Reminded me quite a bit of one of the new Wet 'n Wild FastDry's, 9021Orange.

9021Orange was a bit brighter and more sheer - I think I used 4 coats in this swatch and it still has some VNL. I don't really know why they call it a FastDry... cos it definitely is not! You probably don't need both of these unless you are an orange fiend. The Wet 'n Wild is pretty danged cheap, but if I were choosing, I'd get the Zoya. It has a MUCH better brush, is more opaque, and actually dries!

I think Reva turned out to be my favorite, though I'm not usually a pink person. The formula was TDF, absolutely flawless, and the warm berry color looks great with the gold sparkle. 3 coats, but I think I could have gotten away with 2.

 

Faye was the one I was most looking forward to, and she didn't disappoint. I saw a lot of negative comments on her around the nail community, that the purple base was washed out by the gold sparkle, but I didn't think it was all that bad. The bling is rather blinding on the nail, but it also looks fabulous against that mauvey-purple base! And Faye always makes me think of Faye Valentine... any Cowboy Bebop fans out there? ;)

Rica is a pink-leaning coral that surprisingly, doesn't look as horrid on me as I imagined it would. I did waffle on this one, but finally decided to just get it and complete the collection. I'm glad I did - she'll look great this summer, especially on toes!

Finally, here is Kimmy, a gorgeous orange-based red. She's not quite as flashy as the others in this collection, but that doesn't mean much - she's still really lovely. A stainer though... don't forget your basecoat! 3 coats here, but definitely could have been ok with 2. Kimmy reminded me of Hard Candy's Lava, so I compared the two below.

The base colors are similar, but the finishes are different. Lava is a glitter, though removal is pretty easy compared to most glitters, but Kimmy definitely has that different foily shimmer common to this whole collection.


I really like this collection and can't wait for summer so I can wear them! I could start now, but our lack of sun would make it kinda pointless. :P I love the sparkle finish - it's all the fun of glitter, with none of the painful removal. These come off easily, though they do leave some sparklies on your skin. Application is great on all, and the dry time is good. My only complaint is the staining I got from Apple and Kimmy, but if I had been wearing basecoat like I *should* have been, I doubt it would have happened.


After I took off Tanzy, Reva, and Faye, I looked down at my little cotton round and it was beautiful - check it out!

It's like a sparkly butterfly! :D


As everyone knows by now, the Zoya Exchange has started and will be running for a week. My list is kinda huge... Dovima, Ali, Renee, Loredana, Robyn, Pinta, Jo, Paz, Purity, Irene, Perrie, Dana, Ki, and Yasmeen. It's pretty much my entire wishlist - yay to not lusting after any more Zoyas!

Are you participating in the Zoya Exchange? What are you ordering? What are you sending in?


Basecoat: none
Topcoat: none
Number of coats: 3

Zoya Intimate Swatches & Comparisons... and a plea for help

So... it's been 2 weeks since I've posted.  I don't want to constantly be saying "sorry 'bout that", but umm... sorry 'bout that.  I have been so stressed out with work and life that I really haven't felt like blogging.  I have been painting my nails, but only every 4-5 days or so, and I haven't been taking pictures.  I'm having a bit of trouble with my camera - it is suddenly refusing to capture light correctly, as you will see in these pics.  I almost didn't post them because they are all kinda dark and not what I prefer, but I haven't felt like re-swatching everything either, so I hope they are helpful to you.

Work has been just... terrible lately.  I really need to find another job.  I have been there nearly 10 years, but things have changed so much and it's just not a place I am comfortable working anymore.  :(  It's really sad, but it's the truth.  I had mentioned before that we switched our focus from service to sales, and with that came a daily sales requirement that is... well, I won't say it is unreachable, because it isn't impossible, but it isn't likely to happen.  My department started off very well with the new program and put a lot of effort into it, but then the bank decided to change the rules of the program and did not reward for the hard work like they had promised they would.  As a result, most of the department quit putting in the effort.  Since I am responsible for them, if they don't do it, I lose my job, so everyone is breathing down my neck.  I am basically begging the staff to put some effort into it, with hardly any improvement.  I asked the other day what would motivate them to their original efforts again, and was told nothing was going to do that.  Um... so basically, they have gotten me fired, along with themselves.  *sigh*  I love my staff and I absolutely understand their feelings, but they don't seem to understand that if they don't follow along with the program, we are all getting fired!!

In other life news... anyone in Illinois (or anywhere else that we can get her to!) willing to take in a very sweet and loving cat?  Sydney is my parents' cat, she is around 13 years old, black and tan tiger-striped and will be your very best friend.  She has had a few potty problems lately and my parents have decided to put her to sleep, even though otherwise, she is healthy and happy.  Recent vet visits have proven she has no diseases, but my parents do not want to deal with the inconvenience of these litter box problems and are going to have her put down.  I have begged them to let me have her and they refuse, same with taking her to the local humane society.  They claim they don't want her to be anyone else's problem, but that is not fair - someone else could love her and understand that there are potty issues with age.  I am so angry, hurt, disappointed, and disgusted with them.  I'm also not speaking to them, which does suck because we are normally very close.  I am hoping if I can find her a loving home, my parents would be willing to try that instead of killing her because she is inconveniencing them.  I wish I had a good picture to show you - if you look in her adorable little face, it is impossible to not love her. Sydney is tiny, weighs maybe 3 lbs?, has a tiny short tail that is all wonky and weird at the tip (we believe it was caught in something when she was young - we picked her out at the vet's office when she was a couple of years old, they found her roaming the streets), and is missing a bottom tooth (not sure when that happened, I just noticed the last time I was there that it was gone!).  She is extremely quiet - she actually is unable to make sounds!  When we first got her, she made little creaky sounds instead of meows, but within the last few years, she has lost the ability altogether.  She still tries, but no sound comes out.  She has the biggest green eyes and the sweetest little face.  Sydney wants to be everyone's best friend.  She will do anything for attention, including walking on her hind legs just trying to get you to pet her!  She currently lives with another cat and they get along great - he thinks she is his mother and she treats him as her own.  If anyone has any suggestions for anything else I can do to try to help her... please let me know.  I am heartbroken over this.  Here are a couple of blurry pics of Sydney with my hubby... she adores him and as much as he hates to admit it, the feeling is mutual:

So... moving on now to what you came here to read about - Zoya Intimate Collection.  I've had this for awhile... basically, since Cilucia at Spaz & Squee posted swatches and I HAD to have it!  She has a great post with them and great comparisons - check it out here.  I've done different comparisons than her, so hopefully between the two of us, you'll figure out what you need and what you can skip!

Dove is a light grey creme that leans neither blue, brown, or green - just a true grey.  Not too many of those around!  Similar in color to China Glaze's Pelican Gray, Cilucia compared them - PG has shimmer.  I tried another pale grey I had, Avon's Urban Grey.  Definitely not a match!

Compared to Dove, Urban Grey looks off white!

Marley is a shimmery lavender that is surprisingly opaque in two coats.  I dunno if I would classify it as a shimmer... it's more like a hidden shimmer, but it's not so hidden as, say, Essie Sew Psyched.  I don't have much in the way of lavenders (lemming Rumples Wiggin' bigtime!), but I do have this, Avon's Luxe Lavender.

Umm... again... no match.  Not even close.

Gemma is a dusty army green with a blue shimmer - totally unique, I haven't seen anything else like it!  I decided to try to make it myself with a similar colored polish topped with CND Ice Blue Shimmer.  Here are my results (resluts!):

From left to right: Essie Sew Psyched, American Apparel Army Jacket, and Gemma.  As you can see, Army Jacket topped with Ice Blue Shimmer comes close - if you have both of these, you might be able to skip out on Gemma. 

Caitlin is a beautiful periwinkle cream and honestly, I have nothing even close in my 700 +/- stash.  Others have said it is an exact dupe to Petites Periwinkle, but that polish is not available to me here, so I haven't gotten to see for sure.  All You Desire compared it to Spa Ritual's A World of Compassion and has stated they are dupes as well - check out her post here.  Then don't forget to come back - I know her, blog is AMAZING!

Dannii is a purple umm... I don't know what to classify this finish as!  Any suggestions?  It's kinda foily, but not a foil, and the little particles in it kinda remind me of a glass fleck, or something like Charla... but it's not really any of those things.  This is the one I was most excited for and I really love it.

In the bottle, the color seemed similar to Zoya Zara, but as you can see, totally different!

Finally we have Jules, another weird finish like Dannii, but this time in a gold/silver blend.  I like this one a lot more than I thought I was going to, it's pretty unique.  I heard rumours that it was dupe-ish to Wet 'n Wild's Shield and China Glaze's Swing Baby, but it really isn't... at all!

Left to right: Swing Baby, Shield, Jules.  The other two, besides being different colors, are way different in finish to the Zoya.

Overall, I was very pleased with this collection.  Nice range of colors, nothing is a total dupe to something in my stash, and application was great.  I think I did 2-3 coats on each (depending on color), which is pretty standard, especially for Zoya.

I've got to wrap this one up for tonight, as lots of other things are waiting on me (like hubby, who needs me to pick him up from work!), but please leave your thoughts in the comments.  I have switched over to Disqus because it is SO much better for replying to comments and keeping track of conversations, so please, comment away!

And any suggestions on the Sydney situation would be much appreciated.  *sniffles*

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: 2-3

Nicole by OPI - One Less Lonely Girl Collection

I rolled my eyes when this collection was announced, but then I ended up getting 4 of them... and I keep talking myself out of a 5th!  I don't hate Justin Bieber or anything, I don't really have an opinion of him - hell, I didn't even know who he was for a long time, just the name.  One of the girls I worked with had Bieber Fever and when I told her I had no idea what he sang, she played "Baby" for me.  Ooops, I had heard that song, but I thought it was a girl!  Needless to say, that's not really my kind of music.

I am typically a big fan of Nicole polishes even though they don't seem to get a lot of love anywhere else, so I started hunting for the collection when it came out.  Wal-mart's website has a feature where you can see where items are in-stock, so I had to drive to Urbana to find these.  Yeah, yeah, Champaign and Urbana are sister cities, but from my house to the Urbana Wal-mart is like 20+ minutes!  :P  I found OMB!, One Less Lonely Glitter, and Me + Blue there - I had to order My Lifesaver online, as it hasn't appeared here quite yet.

So first up is my fave, OMB!

Red is my favorite color, but I typically don't love it on my hands.  However, OMB! is so amazing that I didn't want to take it off - evar!  I have never seen a red foil like this.  It is intense!

When I rooted around through my collection, I thought this looked pretty similar to I Stop For Nicole, also by Nicole.  In the bottle at least.  Not so much on the nail.

As you can see, OMB! is a deeper, more true red than ISFN.  The finishes are totally different too.  I don't think I've seen anything quite like OMB! before - have you?  I'm thinking it will make one sexy pedi!  Application was superb - 2 coats went on flawlessly.  Might be able to get away with 1 if you are careful!  Super-quick dry time because of the foil finish.

My Lifesaver is a mint green that doesn't seem all that unique, but it has just the right undertones to be flattering on those who mint is usually a problem for.

I have to admit, I ordered this because of hype.  Lots of people on the NB were saying how great it was and I caved.  It's pretty, but I didn't super-love it.  The formula seemed a bit thick and you can tell in the application.  :P

It's not an exact match for anything in my collection, but I think I might like the squishiness of Turquoise & Caicos better.

Next is One Less Lonely Glitter, a pretty lavender glitter-bomb...

Wow, look at all the sparklies!  A unique color too, at least in my collection.  I don't have anything even remotely similar to this one, so here's a close-up where you can see the different shape/sizes of glitter.

Can you think of anything this might be dupey to?  *stumped*

And finally I've got Me + Blue.  AKA Me + Lumps.

So when I re sized this, it made it not look so bad.  I should post another close-up so you can see how lumpy this one is, but I won't... it's too scary and gross.  Me + Blue is a gorgeous blue with silver holographic glitter, but the glitter sinks to the bottom and just makes everything look rough and bumpy.  Here it is again with 2 coats of Gelous:

Me + Blue + Gelous = still bumpy.  :P  Maybe if I thinned it?  It's pretty danged thick, so maybe that's the problem.  I'll let you know after I try it.

Nicoles also introduced a new brush with this line - it's very similar to the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure brush, but the stick is short!  I was super-excited when I saw this because I do like the CSM brush, but hate the long funky sticks SH puts everything on.  I think the new brush works great on everything but creams - i.e., My Lifesaver.  Maybe my brush is a bit wonky, but it seemed to bring out the flaws in the polish and make it really hard to get an even coat.  No problems with the others though - I will have to try another cream and see if I have the same problem.

Apparently My Lifesaver is from the second round of these polishes, but it was available before the rest of the collection, which is kinda weird.  I have to talk myself out of Step 2 the Beat of My Heart every time I see it.  I have Honey-Dew You Love Me?, which is a teal version of the same thing and I haven't had much luck with it, so I keep saying NO to S2tBoMH, but I know I will eventually cave.

Did you pick up any of these?  What were your faves?

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none (Gelous on Me + Blue)

Number of coats: 2 for all but One Less Lonely Glitter - that was 3