Cruisin'!

I'm heading out on Monday for a much-needed, long-awaited cruise the to Caribbean...woohoo!  I've actually done several cruises in my time, but it's been a few years since I was on one, so I can't wait!  On the agenda is a port I haven't visited and a cruise-line-private-island dealio where my party and I will have one of those nifty private beach cabanas - complete with water slide, hot tub, our own chairs, catering and free house drinks.  Sweet Pete...it is unwise to write a post like this several days in advance.  Makes it that much harder to wait out these last few days!

I've been sitting on this mani for a little while.  I really loved it, but I just kept waiting for the time to be right. 

How beachy is that?  It's H&M Deep Sea and an unlabelled Sally Girl mini glitter that I got as a freebie in a swap.  Seriously, this makes me want to dive into the Caribbean rightthisverymoment.  I wish it had a longer life span; it would be PERFECT for cruising. 

I wore it for one day shiny with Seche Vite, which made it shrink back; then I mattified it with Essie Matte About You.  THAT's when it really popped for me.  The shrinkage is frustrating, but I've come to accept that as the trade-off for how often and easily Seche Vite allows me to change my polish.

While I'm gone, I'll be testing out the weartime of Sally Hansen's holiday Salon Effects Polish Strips.  I'm very excited about the plaid and argyle patterns, and I can't wait to show them to you when I get back. 


Have a great week, ya landlubbers!

Butter London - Mixed Bag

The good news:  While in Austin recently, I picked up four new Butter London polishes.  I showed you Pink Ribbon in a recent glitter sandwich.  Today I bring you All Hail the Queen (top) and Victoriana (bottom), two lovely shimmer-packed polishes.

The bad news:  This stuff chips and wears WAY too fast for what it costs.  No other way to say that.  I've bought polishes that cost half as much and wore twice long.  It's a good thing Butter London puts out some beautiful, unique colors, because otherwise I'd think twice before purchasing.


Truth time:  What's the priciest polish you've ever bought, only to be disappointed by the quality? 

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Yes.  We have no bananas.



Today's post...bums me out.  I did this really cute mani, but the weather blows, so I could NOT get any decent pictures.  So, I threw all the lights in the garage on...they tend to be the best substitute in a pinch.  I took a few pics, was satisfied with what I saw in the viewfinder, and proceeded to remove the mani.  Fast forward a few minutes when I loaded the pictures up...and saw that they all sucked.


Sigh.  Forgive me.  I loved the mani, I ain't doing it over, so here's the crappy pictures.

Repeat after me:  This is a polish blog, not a photography blog.  This is a polish blog, not a photography blog.  Thank you.

I love this combination!  They're both Barielle beauties:  the brown is Make It a Latte, and the purple is Grape Escape.  Latte has a barely perceptible warm golden shimmer, so in that regard, purple really shouldn't be a good fit for it; but the shimmer is hard to discern, so it just looks like brown and purple to most viewers.  And brown and purple makes me think of...PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME! 

Funky frenches are SO dang fun...I love coming up with different color combos.  This is probably the shortest nail length I've ever worn a french with, but I kind of like it! 

Hey, guess what everybody...TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!  Make it count, y'all.

Blingy Pink!

How's everyone's weekend so far?  Mine's been a bit of a mixed bag, if I'm honest, but at least I've been rocking some nice nails!


My best friend recently gave me the most awesomest Bag of Awesome ever as a thank you gift for being there through the process of her wedding and delayed reception.  Well, wouldn't you know, she channeled my brain PERFECTLY and picked out a China Glaze pink that had been on my lemming list for a while...Strawberry Fields.

We went out for a deeeelicious Japanese dinner last night, so the night before, I did my best to make Strawberry Fields look as good as I could.  I blinged it out with some gold stars, to bring out the gold shimmer in this gorgeous polish.  In full sun, the shimmer hides a bit.  It's easier to see in shady outdoor or flourescent lighting.  How backwards is that?  Nevertheless, Strawberry Fields did NOT disappoint.  I looooove it.

I'm not sure if this is why she chose it, but when we were seniors in high school, said best friend and I went to NYC for our senior trip.  One day we had a full day's bus tour of the city, and it just so happened that our guide was a Beatles junkie.  What a coincidence; so were we!  Our guide chose to show us the part of Central Park closest to the Dakota, where John Lennon was shot.  This section of the park is called Strawberry Fields.  It has a lovely mosaic in the walkway, and people leave candles and flowers on it.  We were so pleased to get to experience that.

Do any of you had good experiences with friends picking out the perfect polish for you?  Do tell!

Sparkles, sparkles everywhere!

Another Sunday night, with another Monday morning just around the corner.  Boooo!


This week has been a sparkly one for me!  I didn't set out to have this happen, but it just happened that I had an awful lot of glittery polishes sitting in my untried pile that I decided to give a whack this week.  This also means that I've got a full-collection post for you this week!  Let's get to it...


I'd been really keen to try out Revlon's Impressionists collection, so when I found them at a Target recently, I snatched each and every one of them up.  This week I wore all three for at least a full day, but the results had a tendency to dictate my urgency to photograph.  See if you can draw your own conclusions:

L to R:  Blue Mosaic, Starry Night, Facets of Fuschia

 Blue Mosaic was an absolute model to photograph.  Gorgeous, shimmery, reflective...lovely.  It leaves bald patches even after about three coats that are really only noticeable in macro-shots.  Good coverage for what it is. 

Facets of Fuschia is equally lovely.  I know a lot of people are swatching this over a black creme, since technically it's a jelly, but I don't think that's necessary.  It has adequate coverage with two coats, superb with three.  I don't own Lippmann Bad Romance to do a dupe comparison, but luckily I no longer feel the need to own it!  This is beautiful.  It only gets minimal photgraphic coverage because it did chip pretty quickly.

The bummer of the bunch is Starry Pink.  I'm gonna give Revlon the benefit of the doubt and hope that I got a bad bottle, because this thing was a hot gloopy MESS.  Silver glitter in a delicate pink...file this under "Lots of promise, fails on follow-through."

All three were a NIGHTMARE to remove.  No other way to say that.

I also decided to try a technique I'd wanted to have a go at for awhile...a glitter sandwich!  Below you'll see one coat of Butter London Pink Ribbon, one coat of SOPI Traffic Stopper Copper (a real favorite of mine lately) and then another coat of Pink Ribbon.

Sorry for the lighting.  Sunsets are very pink around here!

This is one of those great, subtle work looks.  Most people aren't going to see it as anything but a simple nude mani, but you'll know there's that extra something going on.  Love that!

After having spent SOOOO much time removing glitter from my hands this week, it's apt to be cremes and holos for me for awhile now, but it was fun being blingy this week.

Polish for a cause

Happy Wednesday!  It has been decreed that from henceforth, the first Wednesday of every month shall forevermore be...PINK WEDNESDAY!  Huzzah! 


Today I've got one for you that I recently picked up at our (for lack of a better way to put it) local hippy grocery store.  It's like Whole Foods only not corporate.  Also, easier to get in and out of.  This here is Peace Keeper Paint Me Stunning. 

 Peace Keeper states on their bottle that, "All distributable profits, after taxes, support women's issues."  Their website also goes on to list a lot of specific information about the ingredients that they do and don't use; as you would imagine with such a line of cosmetics, they're very aware of the impact their ingredients have on the environment and on our bodies.

In my hand above, I'm holding Peace Keeper Paint Me Luminous.  To be honest, you'll probably never see me swatch it here.  I wasn't terribly impressed with either of these polishes.  The formula was fine and it dried VERY quickly, but they were incredibly sheer and the colors weren't terribly unique.

I'm really not much of a tree-hugger, and while I give mad props to Peace Keeper's ethics and mission, I'm the sort that would rather just give my money straight to a cause than filter it through a product I don't need and don't care for.

Hello, Austin...tatious Turquoise!

Happy Sunday evening!  Everybody ready for the week to come?


I recently made a quick trip to visit Austin, Texas.  I'd never been there before, and I'm game to go ANYWHERE I've never been!  Helps when you know someone in the city, too.  I had vacation to burn, so I figured, why not?

They've got a BEAUTIFUL capitol building.  I snapped this after we'd spent the day wandering up and down Sixth Street at the Pecan Street Festival.  There were LOTS of great vendors, and I bought a couple of pairs of gorgeous locally made earrings.  I just love bringing back locally-crafted souvenirs.  Got some soap, too.

Fans of "Dazed and Confused" will appreciate this snapshot, taken on the drive back from the Pecan Street Festival.  Should you have a hard time catching the reference, I give you the following:

Alright, alright, alright!

There was an Ulta near my hotel, so of course I insisted on visiting it.  If you'll recall, my nearest Ulta is a good hour away, so this seemed like a good time to bring back a mini haul.  Of course, you know what I HAD to get...

Yep.  OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise. I'd been familiar with this for awhile, but held off in the event I ever DID make it to Austin, but also because it just didn't seem all that unique.  I was a bit wrong about that.  The picture doesn't quite capture it, but in full sunlight, it reflects a good bit of shimmer and a faint indication of some pinks and purples.  Really quite lovely.  One coat of this is very sheer, two leaves a faint hint of VNL (seen pointer finger for an idea), and three will get you the opacity shown on my ring finger.  All in all, a most excellent and very appropriate souvenir!