OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress

Purchased

Hi, and happy Friday everyone. I hope you all had an awesome Halloween. I can't believe that it's over already. At least we have Christmas to look forward to. Today's swatch actually reminds me a little bit of Christmas. OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress is a classic red with a great shimmer. I have a really old black label bottle of this one. I was digging through my Helmer looking for something to wear the other day when I came across it. I hadn't worn it for so long and I thought it would be fun to swatch it.

I don't know why I don't wear this shade more. It's a really beautiful red and the shimmer is just gorgeous. I only needed 2 coats to get the finish you see below. 

While it may not be the most unique shade in the market, it's pretty classic and I think it would look good on almost anyone. 

I definitely think I'll be busting out I'm Not Really a Waitress this holiday season. It's the perfect Christmas color!

What do you guys think? Do you have this one in your stash, too?

Wet N Wild Distressed To Impress

Purchased

Hi, guys. Happy Halloween! I was hoping to have some cool Halloween nail art up this week but I just got so busy. Oh well. I hope that you guys are rocking some spooky manicures in my stead. Today I have a polish that I swatched a couple of weeks ago but didn't have time to post until now. It's Wet N Wild Distressed To Impress which was part of their recent matte collection. I think it came out a couple of months ago and it may still be available in stores.

Distressed To Impress is a dark taupe color with a satin finish. Like the other shade of this collection I have, it's not quite matte enough to be a true matte. Instead it has a cool rubber texture that makes gives it a really edgy look.

Formula on this was was alright. It wasn't bad but I don't remember it being great either. I used two coats here without top coat. 

Even though this one is kind of cool looking, I don't think I love it enough to keep it. I just don't see myself wearing it very often. What do you guys think? Should I keep it or give it away?

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

Barry M Malibu

Purchased

Hello, hello! I hope that you are all having a good week so far. It's Wednesday which mean that the week is halfway over! Yes I am totally one of those people who lives for the weekend. Jumping into it, today's polish is another matte shade from Barry M, Gee, I have been posting almost all matte shades lately. I guess I am having a matte moment. :)

Barry M Malibu is a bright turquoise blue with a rubbery, satin finish. As you can see in these pics, it's not a true matte but more of a satin. I found this to be true of the other matte shade from this line as well. I don't mind though because I happen to like this finish a lot.

The pigmentation on this was really amazing. I think I could have really done just one coat. I ended up doing 2 because that's what I am used to but it looked great after the first coat.

I love bright blue shades like this and can never get enough of them. This would make a great pedicure shade as well. It really does remind me of a really blue ocean or at least a swimming pool. :) Really wish these Barry M shades were readily available in the U.S. because I am super impressed with their formula. 

I know it's almost fall but I love wearing bright shades all year round. I'll probably start busting into some of the vampier shades soon but, for now, I'll enjoy this manicure while it lasts. Happy hump day, all!

Barry M Copa-Cabana

Purchased

Hi, everyone! Wow has it really been a month since my last post? Geez I guess time really does fly. I admit that painting my nails has taken a backseat lately due to other commitments on my time. So sorry this blog isn't very consistent. I don't know when I'll be able to blog more regularly but I hope you'll still pop by from time to time.

Alright, so today's polish is another one from my European haul. It's Barry M Matte in Copa-Cabana. This is a really bright red almost leaning to coral. The finish is more of a satin than matte as you can see below.

Reds and oranges can be hard to capture on camera and I did have some issues with this. It looks slightly more orange in these pics than it does in real life. I really liked this shade. It's super fun and bright. The formula was amazing and it was super pigmented. I did 2 coats here but you might be able to get away with one if you're careful. Shown here without topcoat.

Like I said, it's not super matte but has more of a rubbery, satin finish. I actually like this finish a lot so I wasn't disappointed. If, however, you want a true matte, I would just slap a matte top coat on it.

I am very impressed with this line so far. Every polish I've tried has had amazing color payoff and I love that they have some unusual shades and finishes. I really wish it was readily available in the States though I know you can purchase it online.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to have another post up later this week. :)

Wet n Wild So Berry On Trend

Purchased

Hi, guys! I hope you're having a great week. It's still super hot here and the air conditioning broke in my office yesterday. Instead of sending us home, which would have been the humane thing to do, they sent people around with fans until they could fix the problem in the afternoon. I swear, I almost passed out at one point it was so hot in my office. Anyhoo, today I have for you Wet n Wild So Berry On Trend. This is from their Megalast line and is a new shade that is part of their Matte collection. I don't know if it limited edition or not so I'd grab it if you like it.

 

So Berry On Trend is a deep berry shade. I am a sucker for these kinds of purple/pink plum shades and I can never pass them up, even though I probably have tons of dupes. This one is a bit different because it is a matte. As you can see though, it's not a true matte and has more of a satin finish. Pigmentation was pretty good though a bit patchy at times. I believe I did 3 really thin coats for my swatches here. 

 

It's not the most exciting shade but, like I said, I can never resist colors like this. I also like the satin finish, which reminds me of leather. I have one more polish from this collection to try out. 

What do you guys think? Do you like the satin look or do you prefer a true matte?

Stashed (20)

Hi everyone. I hope you're having a great weekend so far. It is insanely hot where I live right now and it's made me not want to do anything. I don't know about you but I can't wait for fall weather.

I still haven't been buying much lately but Ulta is doing their 30 days if deals right now and had butter LONDON on sale 2 for $15 yesterday. So I stopped by and grabbed these two shades. 

Sorry for the bad lighting. This is Wallis and British Racing Green. Racing Green has been in my wishlist for ages so it's nice to finally have it. 

That's all I've stashed this week. What's new in your stash?

Barry M Sugar Apple

Purchased

Hello and happy Monday, everyone. I hope you all had a good weekend. It was super crazy hot where I am this weekend. Clearly the weather did not get the memo about fall. I stayed mostly indoors this weekend because of the heat, which was OK because it meant I got a lot of reading time in and watched a couple of episodes of Hannibal.

Today I have a polish that came to me all the way from England. My cool friend offered to pick me up some UK makeup and I asked her to bring me back some shades from Barry M. So this is Barry M Sugar Apple, a bright pastel blue that leans a little green. I expected this to be more green than blue because of the name but it's definitely more blue. I love this polish so much. It's super bright and beautiful.

Despite this being part of the Gelly line, the formula really isn't jelly like at all. This shade was very pigmented and I only required 2 coats for full opacity. This had a really great formula and was super shiny when it dried. 

I loved how bright this was. It falls into that category of neon pastels that I really love.

I really wish that Barry M was available in the States. I know you can order it online but it's just not the same as being able to see it in person. Really happy I got this one though. 

Do you have any favorite foreign brands that I need to try?

Sally Hansen Coral Reef (Original)

Purchased

Hello, everyone. I hope you all had a nice, long weekend. I actually just got back from my vacation last night. Nothing too crazy but I went to visit family about 5 hours away. It was nice to just hang out and relax for a few days. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to do my nails before I left so they were bare all weekend.

Today's polish is an oldie but goodie. I am sure that some of you are aware of the recent hooplah over Sally Hansen changing some of the formulas and shades on really popular shades. Sally Hansen Coral Reef was one of those shades. I managed to snag a bottle of the original formula (even though I am pretty sure I have a bottle in my stash somewhere).

Coral Reef is, unsurprisingly, a coral shade that is that perfect spot between pink and orange. It is a creme finish and the formula was good though not fantastic. I used 3 thin coats to get the finish you see here. Topped everything off with one coat of Out the Door topcoat.

I am a sucker for a good coral so it's no surprise that I really like this one. It's great for the summer or for when you need a punch of color. I am not the biggest fan of the Xtreme Wear bottles or brushes, but I will put up with them for this polish.

I am really glad I was able to get the original formula of this beautiful polish. I had given up hope of finding the original Pacific Blue but I found one bottle just last week. I hope to have a swatch of that one up soon. Happy hump day, everyone!

Zoya Sunshine

Purchased

Hi and happy hump day! Today I have Zoya Sunshine for you. Sunshine is a shade from Zoya's Pixie Dust line of textured polishes and is a beautiful, rich medium blue.

Like all of the Pixie Dusts that I have tried, Sunshine had a good formula, thick and pigmented but not hard to apply. I just made sure that each coat dried thoroughly before going on to the next coat. I think it helps it dry with a better texture. The color payoff on this shade is really great and I did 2 thin-ish coats in these swatches.

Sunshine is chock full of evenly sized silver glitter which gives it a nice grit that isn't too chunky or too fine. I love the finish on the Pixie Dusts and I think this blue is pretty awesome. 

I love this polish to bits and am glad to have it in my collection. I haven't tried it with top coat yet but I bet it would be stunning as well.  

I am so behind on all of the summer and fall collections. I saw the new Zoya display at Ulta the other day and had to refrain from buying all of them. Hopefully I'll have time to stash more polishes soon. Until then I have plenty of untrieds I can swatch. Have a great week, everyone!

Stashed (19): European Vacation

Hello! It's been a while since my last Stashed post. I've been trying to be good and save money, so that means no new collections for me. While this makes me a bit sad, I know that I have a ton of pretty polishes that I've never used that I need to make time for. However, I could not resist it when a friend told me that she was going to Germany and London this summer and asked if I wanted her to pick up anything for me. She came home with the pile of goodies you see below.

Most of the nail polish is from Barry M and there are also a couple of German brands as well (can't remember which ones right now). I was really excited to get some of the Barry M Gellys and a couple of the matte shades. My friend also grabbed a couple of seasonal shades for me (hearts on the cap). I also asked her to pick up some tins of Vaseline. I love how Vaseline is packaged in the UK in adorable tins. In the U.S., we get this tiny plastic tubs that look that the big Vaseline ones. I don't like how narrow the opening is on the U.S. containers but love the tins. So every few years I will have someone who is going to the UK pick me up a few. Really excited to try the Limited Edition flavor. 

Thanks to my friend A who didn't think I was a total weirdo for asking her to get these things for me. What other non-U.S. brands do you guys love? Are they available here in the U.S. or do you get someone to mule them back for you?

Sally Hansen Liquid Gold

Purchased

Hi, guys. Look, I'm back! I had a really fun, whirlwind trip to Atlanta last weekend. I can't believe that I am back already. My polka dot manicure held up really well and was oohed and ahhed over. I am probably going to take it off tonight but I had a lot of fun wearing it. So today I have another of the Sally Hansen Color Foils to show you. This one is called Liquid Gold and, as you can imagine, it's a gold chrome.

As noted in my previous swatch of another Color Foil shade, this one had a slightly problematic formula. I originally tried this over base coat and that was a big mistake. It was super patchy and weird over base coat so I took it off and had a much easier time applying it. For this swatch I used 3 coats without top coat. 

You definitely need a steady hand when applying this, as every little bump and mistake will show. It does smooth out a bit as it dries so it wasn't too bad. 

Chromes aren't for everyone but I think this will be good for stamping. I haven't tried them for that yet but I'd like to soon. 

That's it for today, folks. Hope you're all having a great hump day!

missing in action

Hi guys. Sorry I've been MIA for a while. Things have been a little bit nuts with my life lately. I just got back from Comic Con, which was crazy but super fun. And I am jetting off to Atlanta tonight. I've still been painting my nails but haven't had time to take photos or edit them. Hopefully I'll have some time next week to swatch some things. I haven't been stashing much either, which is good, but I do feel that a trip to the beauty supply store might be in order. I have missed most of the summer collection and really want to get some of them before they are hard to find.

Thanks for all of your patience. I will leave you with my two most current manicures.

This crazy rainbow manicure is what I had on at Comic Con. I was trying to do a manicure inspired by Let Them Have Polish, but mine came out way brighter. It's still really fun though and I got lots of compliments on it. It also happened to match one of my balls of yarn. :)

I am wearing this polka dot mani right now. The base is Urban Decay Chaos, which is a great, shimmery cobalt blue. This is a fun and eye-catching mani. I will have lots of fun wearing it this weekend.

If you want to see what I've been up to, follow me on Instagram. Warning that I like to post a lot of food p0rn. Have a lovely weekend, all!

Sally Hansen Minted Metal

Purchased

Good morning! Look, posting twice in one week. I wonder how long I can keep this up. :) Today I have Sally Hansen's Minted Metal from the most recent Color Foil collection. Foils and chromes are coming back with a vengeance and I like them. Sure, application can be a bitch but it looks really cool when it's done right. They are also great for stamping. I only picked up 2 polishes from this collection because they were kind of pricey ($6.99 I believe).

Minted Metal is a blue-green foil. I tried this over base coat first and that was a big mistake. It was really patchy and weird so I switched to no base coat, which worked a lot better. Minted Metal is a weird shade and looks green in some lights and blue in others. This dried a lot lighter than I thought it was going to and it ended up being a sort of seafoam silver. The formula was pretty pigmented and I only needed 2 coats for the swatches here. No top coat used. I don't know if it really would have affected the finish but I didn't feel as if I needed it so I just skipped it.

As with most chromes, application was a bit tricky but if you're careful it should not be too hard to get a smooth finish. Just be sure that your nails are smooth and free of any bumps or even dust, because this polish will showcase all of your nail imperfections. 

 

I haven't tried to stamp with this yet but I plan to soon. This is a very fun polish that requires a bit more work but is worth it in the end. 

What do you think of the new chrome trend? Do you love it or hate it?

L'Oreal La Pastille

Purchased

Hello! I hope you are all had a fantastic Fourth of July weekend if you happen to celebrate. Today I have the second polish from the recent L'Oreal speckled polish collection. L'Oreal La Pastille is a light nude shade with mixed matte black hex glitter.

If you recall, I was pretty disappointed in the other polish that I bought in this collection. I was hoping that the other one was a fluke and that the formula on La Pastille would be better. Unfortunately it wasn't and I actually found it to be even more watery and sheer than Spot Me. I used 3 coats for these swatches and you can see that it's still very sheer. I didn't want to do more coats because it was just getting super thick and chunky.

I don't really know what else to say about this one except that I didn't like it. Formula was way to sheer and watery and this shade does nothing for my skin tone. I am pretty sad that I don't like these as I was hoping to find more speckled polishes to add to my collection. It was a nice try by L'Oreal but the execution needs a little work.

:)