Chanel Mimosa Comparison + Easter Mani

Yay I'm on vacation this week!  :D  However, I always get sick when I'm on vacation and this time is no exception.  I stayed at work much later than I should have Friday night trying to get everything done and by the time I left, my throat was the tell-tale gritty that means a cold is imminent.  :(  I felt crappy Saturday and most of yesterday, but I seem to be feeling a bit better today.  A little stuffled, but the grittiness has finally went away!  So I guess I'm not sure I caught a cold... maybe it was just my allergies going crazy?  Or maybe my body is fighting off a cold and it never got farther than gritty throat?  Whatever happened, I'm just glad I'm not going to spend my vacation sick, like I usually do!

So, since hubby and I are off this week, I'll try to stop in with some posts, but they might be random and kinda disorganized - like this one!  ;)

I broke down and bought Chanel Mimosa this past week... my first Chanel.  I was really drawn to this shade, more so than any others they have put out.  It got here super-quick and I was not disappointed.  It's a beautiful yellow with a unique shimmer and the formula is not as bad as I've heard it to be.  I haven't had a chance to wear it as a full mani yet (planning on putting it on tonight or tomorrow!), but I did a little comparison between it, Revlon Top Speed Electric, and NYC Taxi Yellow Creme (which has shimmer, so technically it isn't a creme!).  I noticed a lot of people on the NB are talking about Electric possibly being a dupe, so since I had both, I figured I should swatch.

Mimosa is on my index finger (far right), Electric on middle, Taxi Yellow on my ring (far left).  You can really see Mimosa's shimmer here, and see how the other two's shimmer is much less noticeable.

I know that pic is kinda small, so here is a HUGE one that might help a bit more - please forgive all the dryness and cuticle disaster!!  Click on it for full size!

Edit: this pic makes Mimosa and Electric look closer than they are.  Photobucket has done some kind of compression here that has fuzzed out a bit of the details.  They are not dupes!!  Similar, but different enough to own both - or only one, depending on your tastes/budget.

You can see, Mimosa and Electric are close, the amount of shimmer is really what sets them apart.  If you never wear yellow or you are just not sure, get the Revlon and save yourself $20.  If you LOVE yellow polish (or are a Chanel collector), get Mimosa.  It's beautiful and unique, plus it's LE.  I figured that even if I didn't love it, I could swap it pretty easily once it isn't available anymore.  I love it though, can't wait to wear it!  I liked it so much that I ordered Morning Rose last night, so you'll be seeing that one too.  I don't normally do pinks, but it's a  yellow-based pink, which isn't all that common, and I think I can actually pull it off - it *hopefully* will be the first light pink I can wear!

And since it was Easter yesterday, I couldn't resist wearing Glitter in the Air, by Deborah Lippmann.  I was rather torn on ordering it, since seeing My Lucid Bubble's review, but I finally decided to bite the bullet when I had a 20% off Beauty.com code and some Drugstore.com Dollars, so I ended up getting it for around $12.  The glitter is really sparse and the base color doesn't show up at all, so be warned before you try it.  I tried it over ButterLondon Lady Muck, but didn't really love it that way, so then I tried again over OPI's What's With the Cattitude and it looked fab for Easter!  Next time I'll try it over something a little closer to the base color.

This is 3 coats of WWTC and 2 coats of GITA.  It looks so simple, but it really was a lot of work!  :P  It was fitting for the holiday, though I didn't get any comments on it.  >,<  I thought about mattifying it, so it would look more like an eggshell, but didn't ever do it.  Maybe I will before I switch to Mimosa?

In some other news, I finished my spreadsheet this weekend - woo woo!  I do have a few more polishes than I thought, but I wasn't that far off, plus/minus 50 from what I was estimating.  However, there are a ton of them that I don't love, so I'll have to either put them up for swap or have a blog sale or something to make room for new pretties that I do love!  I'll be posting my spreadsheet sometime soon and ya'll can tell me what you'd like to see next.  I have sooooooo many untrieds, so I'm looking forward to working my way through them.

Also... I'm looking for a few ladies to possibly go in with me on an order at Nailite - they sell some really cheap polishes (and an exact dupe for Essie's Starry Starry Night for only 99 cents!), but they have a $25 minimum.  I don't mind spending $25 somewhere, but I figured it might work out for several people if we made 1 order - then lots of us could have our lemmings fulfilled!  :)  Anyone interested??  Email me at: threnodynx @ gmail . com if so!!  :)

 

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

Essie Retail Swatches

So Essie was went retail and is now available at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Target, Meijer, etc. etc. ... which is both great and irritating.  Essie wasn't readily available here, so I'm excited to be able to get my hands on them without ordering, but it does suck to see destroyed displays.  Since Essie has been available at Walmart.com, my collection has tripled - free shipping, so I can order 1 or 2, not feel guilty, and not have to actually set foot in Wal-mart - it's a dream come true!  ;)

Today I have for you a bunch of the retail exclusives that I've managed to pick up - Dive Bar, Sweet Talker, Mochacino, Jamaican Me Crazy, Devil's Advocate, and Mango Bango.  There are 5 I don't have - Oui Madame (pearly/frosty white shimmer), Trophy Wife (teal pearly/frosty shimmer), Beach Bum Blue (cerulean pearly/frosty shimmer), Miami Nice (hot pink shimmer), and Master Plan (neutral/taupe cream) .  I doubt I'll be picking any of those up - maybe Miami Nice, but it's doubtful.  None of them really appeal to me.  If you have one and love it, tell me why - convince me!!  ;)

Now on to the ones I do have... we'll start with Dive Bar.  Check out these bottle pics!

I saw that purple shimmer mixed in with the teal and about died - it's so gorgeous!  On the nail though...

Where did that purple go?!  I wore this for 2 days and held my hands every way I could think of with every light source I could and never saw any purple... none.  Such a disappointment... I kinda want to swap mine away, but I would feel bad, since there is no purple!  Others say they see it though... am I blind?

Once this was on my nails, I realized it wasn't all that unique.  Here it is compared with Too Rich For You by Nicole.

The Nicole is in the center... these two are super-close.  TRFY has a few more sparkles than Dive Bar, but the colors are dead-on dupes.  No muggle would notice the difference!!

Sweet Talker is a pretty pale blue, perfect for spring time!  Makes me think of Easter and daffodils... and bunnies!  ;)  You can barely see it, but it does have some shimmer, not just a plain creme.

When I received Sweet Talker, I immediately thought I had a Hard Candy Sky dupe on my hands - both are sky blue and have the same aqua shimmer.

Once swatched though, it's obvious the two are quite a bit different.

Sky (middle) is very milky and so danged sheer and streaky, you really have to use very thick coats.  Sweet Talker isn't fantastic in the application department, but it is better than Sky.  Could probably use a little thinner - it was a bit thick.

Mochacino is a gorgeous neutral/taupe with little flakes of silver running throughout.  This is probably my favorite of the retail exclusives, one of my favorite Essies ever, and probably in my top 20 polishes.  I just adore it!

It's perfect for work, but the little flecks of silver keep it interesting and edgy.  I wore this one for a week straight and didn't get sick of it one little bit.  I don't have anything to compare it with... let me know if you can think of something!

Jamaican Me Crazy is a fuchsia shimmer - so shimmery the particles are almost foily, but it's not a foil.

My camera absolutely hates colors like this - these berry-ish shades never show quite right and the crazy amount of shimmer made every other pic blurry.  I like it a lot and was surprised, I usually shy away from pinks.  Maybe I'm branching out?  I think this will look great in the summer, especially on toes!

Devil's Advocate is a really dark purple - practically black.  It's extremely shiny!

I don't have OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark (blasphemy, I know!), but I'm thinking this is really darned close.  I do have William Tell Me About OPI, which is a less black version of LPAD, so I compared the two of them.

WTMAOPI is lighter and always appears purple, where Devil's Advocate looks like black in most indoor lighting.  It was smooth and easy to use, but I bet it could stain cuticles like a mofo!

Last today I have Mango Bango - my first coral creme!

I never thought I could pull off coral, but I was proved wrong - I can!  :D  Mango Bango probably isn't all that unique, but I absolutely loved the color on me.  It's such a happy spring/summer color, I think I'll probably use it a ton.

I picked up Elf's Summer Ready Nail Kit after seeing it reviewed at Polished Pirate, mainly because of that coral, so when I got it, I had to compare it to Mango Bango.

Elf's Coral is lighter, pinker, and kinda jelly-like, where Mango Bango is deeper, more saturated, and definitely a creme.  Gahhh I love them both so much!  I've suddenly become a huge coral fan - give me your must haves!

I have to say, when I swatched this one, I was oohing and ahhing over the formula as much as the color - it was so smooth and easy to apply.  I wore it as a full mani earlier this week (so a couple of weeks after originally swatching it) and I really had a time getting it even.  I'm assuming I just need to add a little thinner, but dang, that was quick to get thick!

These retail exclusives are available wherever Essies are suddenly showing up - Walmart, Walgreens, Target, Meijer, CVS, etc., and retail at $8.00.  The price varies on where you get them, but I haven't seen them cheaper than $7.75 in store.

What are your favorites from the retail exclusives?  I LOVE Mochacino and Mango Bango, and like Jamaica Me Crazy quite a bit, but I could have skipped the others.  I can't wait until they put out new retail exclusive shades!  :)

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: varies - 2 to 3

Zoya Ivanka - My St. Patrick's Day Mani (a little late!)

My mom was still in the hospital on St. Patrick's Day, but I did manage to squeeze a mani in - White Kwik Silvr was looking so terrible by then that I had to do something, and I couldn't resist painting my nails green!  I had a ton of bottles sitting out on the coffee table and was having trouble deciding.  I asked hubby, but he doesn't care, so finally I started looking through clothes to figure out what I was wearing and which green would match it the best... and suddenly I thought of Ivanka.  I've had it since the summer and it is still untried (I'm embarrassed at how many untrieds I have!), plus it was a perfect match to the cardigan I was wearing.

In the bottle, Ivanka is gorgeous.  On the nail... I was speechless!

WOW.  No words to describe her beauty!  I couldn't stop staring at my nails for 2 days straight.  It is such an intense, vibrant color that practically glows.  Check out this low-light pic to see what I mean!

Even in super-crappy lighting, Ivanka still glows and stuns.  The finish is amazing too - it's sparkly like glitter, but flat particles that are extremely foily.  The Sparkles collection by Zoya is full of these, but Ivanka (and Charla) are truly the stand outs.  My macro setting isn't as amazing as some peoples *looks over at Cilucia at Spaz & Squee* but I did get a close up of these flat foil flecks...

I normally have a bit of trouble with the Zoya formula - almost all of them are pretty runny and I don't know that I have any that are one coaters (I don't even know of too many two coaters!), but this one wasn't too bad.  I believe this was 3 coats, dry time was great, and it looked great for 2 days.  I ended up slapping Black Shatter over it on day 3 and it looked pretty cool.  No pics of that though, my Shatter job wasn't so great!

It doesn't seem like Zoya does many limited editions, so this one should be available for quite awhile.  If you don't have it, I suggest picking it up during the next Zoya promo - Zoya Exchange perhaps?  *crosses fingers*

Basecoat: Essie Feed Me + Instant Artificials

Topcoat: Poshe

Number of coats: 3... I think!

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

I'm back!! and China Glaze - White Kwik Silvr

Mom went home from the hospital yesterday and is doing very well, but unfortunately she lives 30 minutes away, so I won't be getting to visit her much.  Thank you all so much for your kind words and well wishes - you have no idea how much I appreciate it!

So now that I'm back... omg, where to begin?  I have tons of pictures I haven't posted and I have been hauling like crazy because I've been stressed and that's what I do!  ;)  I haven't had the chance to swatch anything though, so there is a huge backlog of polishes waiting to be tried.  Hopefully I can get to them verrrrrry soon.  :)

I actually managed to wear the same polish for 12 days - yes, 12! with only one little touch-up, so that's what I'm going to start with today to ease myself back into this.  I wish I had taken shots of this before I took it off - I couldn't believe how well it held up after 12 days of me!  I normally have no luck with China Glaze - if I can make it more than 48 hours with no chips, I'm happy.  White Kwik Silvr only had a few small chips after 12 days (if you don't include when I hit my pinkie at work day 2 and chipped part of my nail off - that was my one touch-up).  I don't know if it was my basecoat/topcoat combo or if it was the non-B3F formula or what, but this one was like iron!

Even though I have Frosty from the 2010 'Tis the Season collection, I've been lusting after White Kwik Silvr forever.  I finally broke down and ordered it from an etailer a couple of weeks ago.  It arrived a couple of days after my mom got sick and it was perfect timing.  I was really down that day and it felt so good to get a big box of goodies in the mail!  I figured this was a great work-appropriate shade and *hopefully* it wouldn't show too much damage since I didn't know when I would get the chance to do my nails again.  I didn't expect 12 days!

It's a hard little bugger to photograph, let me tell you that.  It's not just a straight white shimmer, there are little bits of color in there, much like Sally Hansen's Fairy Tale Ivory and China Glaze's Knotty.  It's subtle, but it gives it a little something extra to keep it from being just a bland white.  I thought it would be a dupe to Frosty, but they are a bit different, and to be honest, I prefer White Kwik Silvr.  I didn't do a comparison, since ALU did - check out her post here (scroll down a bit). Fantastic photo - she really captured what I'm talking about - there is a warmth to WKS that Frosty doesn't have... which is appropriate, since it is named Frosty!  ;)

Sorry for the scary hand, but honestly, this was the best shot I could get of the glass flecks.  My camera freaked out on this one a bit and couldn't get a nice crisp shot no matter how many times I tried.  For all my raving about how well it held up to me and the hell I put my hands through, the best part was that I really loved the color.  It's elegant and classic, which are not words I usually use to describe anything about me, on me, near me, etc.  ;)

Now... onto the not-so-hot stuff... this is a really sheer polish.  It took 5 coats to get what you see here.  Dry time was great though, being old formula non-B3F.  It did stay on 12 days, but by day 9, I had some major tipwear and a couple of tip chips, plus my right index had a huge crack in it.  I was afraid I would hit it and the polish would all come off in one piece, but it stayed put, just looked awful.  Fortunately, only I noticed.  Polishes like this are great for those times when you don't have time.  Chips aren't very noticeable and this color goes with everything!

I think I'll be getting a backup of this one... and I only currently have 1 other backup.  It's Orly's Galaxy Girl, if you were wondering!  ;)  I think I am getting a backup of Barielle's Elle's Spell and possibly Urban Decay's Bruise (pretty sure it is my fave color, ever!), but I don't usually do backups.  I think that I will be wearing WKS often though and since it is long discontinued, I need to get it now while I can!

Basecoat: Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Basecoat

Topcoat: Essie Good to Go + Beauty Secrets Fast Finish

Number of coats: 5