Best of 2013

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone. This post is a bit late, as you can see. These polishes are just those that I have tried in 2013, but they were not necessarily released in 2013. I didn't try very many indies this year but I hope to next year. High on my list to try are KB Shimmer, Picture Polish and Pahlish. Hopefully I can save enough money to splurge a bit on some new brands. Alright, here is my list of favorite polishes in 2013. Enjoy!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Killa Red
I snagged this during the RBL sale and am so glad I did. I don't have a shortage of reds but there's just something about this rich red jelly that I just love. I am totally considering a backup.

Maybelline Emerald Elegance
This whole line was gorgeous and I especially loved this beautiful emerald green. Look at all the glitter!

Maybelline Crushed Crimson
Another polish from Maybelline's Brocades collection. I love how rich and opulent this looks. The gold and red go together perfectly.

China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle
I love these pastel neons and Too Yacht to Handle was a super gorgeous addition to my collection this year. Formula was a bit fiddly but the results are stunning.

Sally Hansen Red-io Active

I hate the SH Insta-Dri brush but I will suffer through it for this gorgeous, glow-y red. Ugh, so beautiful.

Dare to Wear Ready For My Close Up

So. Much. Glitter. I love the mix of glitters in this polish and it really sparkles in the sun. 

Salon Perfect Playful Plum

Another polish that seems to glow. The purple lover in me is really happy that I found this one. Perfect for fall or any other season.

Nicole by OPI Cinn-a-man of My Dreams

This one stands out from the other textured polishes because of its unique color. I don't have anything like this in my collection. I love how warm and shimmery it is.

Cult Nails Fetish
This black wax finish polish is so sexy and edgy. Love it a lot.

Illamasqua Fragile

This was my first Illamasqua polish and I immediately fell in love with it. It's unique and delicate looking. 

Zoya Carter

Zoya does texture so well. Carter is beautiful and complex. 

There's my list of favorite polishes of 2013. Did any of these make your lists? What must have polish am I missing?

Have a safe and happy new years, everyone. See you in 2014! :)

Maybelline Emerald Elegance

Happy Friday, everyone. This has certainly been quite a week and I am glad that the weekend is finally here. I am going on vacation tomorrow and am looking forward to just chilling out. I am just visiting my parents so I will be driving. I had the hardest time trying to figure out what nail polish supplies to take. I don't want to take a lot but then I do want to take advantage of being on vacation to get some swatching in. I'll probably go polish shopping while I am there, too. :)

Today I have another polish from the Maybelline Brocades collection. I love this collection so much! Emerald Elegance is a gorgeous, deep yellow-toned green with tons of green hex glitter. I love the richness of the base color and I really like how the glitter lays. It reminds me of fish scales. Below is two easy coats with Poshe top coat. All of these swatches were taken outside in the shade except for the last picture which was taken in the sun.

Isn't this shade gorgeous? I love how the gold glitter peeks out to create a really rich base color. I am still missing 3-4 polishes from this collection though I have all of my favorites. I am keeping a lookout for the displays though because I will totally buy the others if I see them. :)

Hope you're all having a wonderful Friday. Do you guys know about the Rescue Beauty Lounge sale this coming Sunday? 5 hours only and RBL polishes (with exclusions) will be 50% off. I totally have my cart ready. Have a good weekend, everyone1

Stashed (9): JulieG, Maybelline

Hi, guys! Is everyone having a good weekend? I had a really busy Saturday. Spent most of the morning seeing cool things at Designer Con and then went to see Thor 2. Thor 2 was a really fun movie - perfect popcorn entertainment. Loki has become my favorite character and I am starting to see why everyone is so crazy about Tom Hiddelston.

I've been totally lax on my Stashed posts lately and haven't been keeping very good track of what I have bought. I only found one picture of my current purchases so that's what you are getting today.

I picked up 3 polishes from the new JulieG Gumdrops line. I really wanted to get all of them but I tried to refrain. Also bought polishes from the Maybelline Brocades collection. This only shows the green polish I bought but I have picked up 3 more since then (they are awesome). 

Haven't had much time to paint my nails lately and I am going on vacation in about a week, but I will try to schedule some posts before I leave. Am also trying to figure out what kind of polish supplies to pack since I will be away for a while. Does anyone else have this dilemma when packing for a trip?  Haha - polish addict problems. :) 

Happy Sunday!

Maybelline Crushed Crimson

Hi, guys. Hope everyone had a good weekend and is having a good week. No idea how it got to be Wednesday already. Sorry things have been a bit quiet around here. My life's been a little crazy and it's going to be that way for most of this month. So please bear with me if things are a little inconsistent around here in the next few weeks.

Today I have a really gorgeous polish an one of my favorite of 2013. This is Crushed Crimson from the LE Maybelline Brocades collection. Every polish in this collection is super gorgeous and I need them all. I think I have 4 or 5 right now but I want to get rest. Crushed Crimson is a really rich burgundy red with gold shimmer and is filled with red and gold hex glitter. This polish was really pigmented and I only needed 2 coats to get an opaque finish. I did use top coat to get a smooth finish on this but it wasn't super gritty. All of these photos were taken outside on a cloudy day.

Brocades is a really great title for this collection because it makes me think of rich, opulent fabrics and the color combos and awesome glitter in these polishes really goes with that them. I love the complexity of this polish. I loved wearing it and it just looked so lovely and perfect for fall. If this polish is any indication of what the rest of the collection is like, then I am going to love them all.

If it's not clear yet, I love this polish. If you like glitter and intense jewel tones, then you should definitely try to find this collection while it's still available. Thanks for stopping by today!

Maybelline Sage Staple

Happy Friday, everyone! I am really looking forward to a long weekend. Hopefully I will get a lot of reading and knitting time in. Maybe a bad movie or two. I would like to get some swatching done but it's seriously going to be 100 degrees here so I don't know if the sun will be too crazy to get decent pics. We will see.

Today I have a new polish from Maybelline's recent Vintage Leather line. I spotted the polish display at Target about a week ago. There were polishes missing but I did manage to grab 2 that looked interesting to me. This is Sage Staple, a medium sage green.

So the finish on this is pretty interesting. The polish is matte (obviously) but also contains little flake like glitter that are supposed to, I think, add a leather-like texture to the finish. It's kind of an interesting finish. I don't know how much like leather it looks like but it's definitely different. The flakies do not give it an actual texture that you can feel (it's still smooth) and just adds to the "leather effect."

The formula on this was kind of thick and I was having issues with patchiness on the first coat. The second coat helped a lot though and I only needed 2 coats for the look above. I did't try this was top coat as this actually chipped on me the day after. So yeah, I am on the fence about this one. I have the plum polish in this line as well which I will give a try. However, I don't love this look. I prefer a straight matte if I am going for matte.

Anyone else spot these yet? What do you think - yay or nay?

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!

Maybelline Denim Dash

Happy Wednesday! Today I am posting a really pretty polish that I got at the last CVS sale. This is Maybelline Denim Dash, a really beautiful deep blue with awesome shimmer. I am pretty sure The formula on this was super opaque and I could have gotten away with 1 coat though I did 2 here out of habit. I think this color is just beautiful and I love it. I find the brushes on the Maybelline polishes to be a bit on the stumpy side but I can deal with it for something as lovely as this.

This is one of the first Maybelline Color Show polishes I have tried and I really love it. I don't know if you can really see the shimmer but it is awesome in person. If you can still find this one somewhere, you should snap it up. Love this one.

I am playing around with the picture sizes on the blog if you can't tell. I wanted them to be bigger but not too big since I don't have the best camera and want to keep the image quality high. I kinda like this size though. What do you guys think?

Stashed (5): Ciate, Zoya, Maybelline, SpaRitual

Hello! Hope you have all being having a good weekend. It's still ridiculously hot where I am though I can tell that fall is coming with the cooler nights and shorter days. Fall is my favorite time of year so I welcome the change.

I have a pretty small haul this week. I have been trying to spend less on polish lately and I seem to be doing alright. Hopefully I can maintain it. :)

I received my Zoya order from when they had the CAMO promo code. These are all from the new fall lines. I am missing one polish in this picture that broke in transit. Zoya is sending another though and I should have it soon.

I did some shopping at the discount stores and drugstore this week as well. The Marshalls and TJ Maxx near me both had a bunch of the Ciate foil and caviar kits for $9.99. I decided to try the foil kit and chose one with a pretty coral polish. Also picked up two of the new Maybelline Leather Effect polishes. I tried one and I am not sure if it's for me. I love matte but these are a little odd and it chipped in a day. I'll have that on the blog soon. Also picked up one of the Sephora by OPI colors (can't remember which) also at TJ Maxx. A bunch of those are popping up now that they are discontinued at Sephora. It was $3.49. And then I picked up a pretty gold/chartreuse foil type polish by SpaRitual. 

That's it for my haul this week. Did you pick up any new polishes this week?

Stashed (3): OPI, China Glaze, Salon Perfect, Zoya

Hi, guys! I have another Stashed post for you today. It's been a while since I have done one and I have some pretties to show you. Most of this is from a big haul I did over 4th of July weekend when I went to visit my family.  If you like stash/haul type posts (and awesome manicures), you should check out Mandee at The Bookish Manicurist. Her Polish on Parade post videos are super fun and I really do love seeing what people are hauling. On to the polishes!

So the first part of this haul came from a personal sale. When I got home, my mom told me that our neighbor had been trying to sell some polishes at a recent yard sale. The daughter of the house is a formal nail tech who is going back to school and was getting rid of a lot of polishes. She told my mom that I should come by when I was back in town to see if anything was left and she would sell it to me. My mom said she knew she had some brands I liked and that she was only selling for $2. A few days into my trip I finally managed to see my neighbor, and I totally hit the jackpot. She had a bunch of OPIs (lots of new collection stuff) and I snatched up almost all of her OPI collection.

l to r: OPI Got A Date To Knight, Pink Friday, My Very First Knockwurst, Meet Me On The Star Ferry

l to r: OPI Ink, Funky Dunkey, The Color to Watch, Cuckoo for this Color, Just Groovy

l to r: OPI Servin Up Sparkles, Number One Nemesis, The World Is Not Enough, Light My Sapphire, You Don't Know Jacques, Skyfall

l to r: Borghese Capri Coral, Revlon Mistetoe

I also got 8 or 9 mini Sephora by OPI polishes that have no names. All of the polishes about I got for $25! $25!! Can you believe that? Yes, awesome haul.

So the next batch I picked up at the local beauty supply near my parent's house and drugstore shopping. As you can see, I am very much in summer mode.

l to r: Dare to Wear Honeysucks, Dare to Wear Upper East Side, China Glaze Shell-O, China Glaze Too Yacht To Handle, Orly Mayhem Mentality

I don't have any Wal-Marts near me so I went on a mad hunt for the Salon Perfect matte glitters while I was at home. Unfortunately they were super hard to find. I did manage to find a few though they were hidden in the cosmetics section and I only found like one bottle of each. I am going on the hunt for more today.

l to r: Salon Perfect (no label but reminds my of ChG Flying Dragon, Kaboom, Jolt, Bang

l to r: Sinful Colors Star Dust (1164), High Strung (1125), Eva So Bright (1158), Maybelline Spotted, Sally Hansen Sugar Coat Pink Sprinkle

l to r: Zoya Chyna, Zoya London, Essie Naughty Nautical

I also picked up this nail art brush set for $5. I needed some finer brushes and the ones at the art supply store were more expensive so I gave this a go. And so far I really like them and use them a lot. They had other sets as well and I may pick one up the next time I am at that supply store.

That's my long overdue haul post. Of course I have bought more since I took these pics, but those will have to wait for another day. Have a great Sunday, everyone!

Stashed (2): Sinful Colors, Maybelline, L'oreal, NYC, China Glaze Oh My!

It's been a while since I did a haul post but that doesn't mean I haven't been stashing. I was going to save this for the weekend but, after seeing how much I had acquired (and I am sure I am missing stuff) I decided to go ahead and post this so it wouldn't get overwhelming. I hope you guys like this haul posts. I love seeing haul posts on other people's blogs so hopefully you guys enjoy seeing them, too. Alright - on to the polishes!

l to r: Sinful Anchors Away (1197), Sinful My Buoyfriend (1198), Sinful Into The Blue (1194), Maybelling Blue Marks The Spot, Maybelline Drops of Jade, NYC Matte Top Coat

All of this was picked up on one trip to Rite Aid. Couldn't resist the new Maybellines and the Sinful summer polishes. And I have been wanting to try the NYC matte top coat which I hear is more of a satin finish.

China Glaze Wave Runner Ombre Kit: Wave Runner includes White on White, Celtic Sun, I'm With the Lifeguard, and Frostbite.

I picked up this kit as Sally's a few weeks ago. It was only $14.99 for the pack which is a really good price for 4 China Glazes. I usually get my ChG at a supply store for $3 or so and this averaged out to not much more (and my supply place isn't close). I also don't own any of these colors so win!

l to r: Heat Wave, Short Shorts, Teeny Tiny Bikini

NYC is so cheap - only $1.99 for each of these. They look fun and summery and I get top coat with it.

l to r: OPI Don't Burst My Bubble (Oz), Jessica Midnight Madness, NYC Delectable, Butter London Dosh, Mineral Fusion Axurite Sky

The OPI was a replacement that OPI sent me for my curling When Monkeys Fly (they responded to my email and shipped it super fast). The Mineral Fusion is a new to me brand that I saw at Whole Foods. They actually had a good color range and this was $7.99. The bottle shape is pretty interesting, too.

Most of the Messy Jessi Speckled collection. I just can't get enough of these speckled egg polishes.

L'oreal Berry Chic lip gloss and I Pink You're Cute Color (or is it Colour?) Riche Liptstick

More from the Rite Aid haul. This was in the new L'Oreal pink display. The gloss is awesome (hoping to review soon) and the lipstick is this crazy bright pastel coral. I have been wanting to try a shade like this for a while now. I don't know if it'll look good on me but we'll see.

Thanks for checking out my haul post. I'd love to know what you've stashed lately so let me know in the comments below. Have a fantastic week!