Gunmetal Dupe Alert!

Check this shiz out, yo.  (I...I have no idea where that came from.)

A friend of mine recently left our company, and I was so proud and sad!  She was an intern when she first came to work for us, and I was her first boss at the company.  That girl was a sharp cookie, and I knew she was destined for greatness!  She was quick to learn of my lacquer obsession, and when she moved from intern to full-time employee, I congratulated her by purchasing a Butter London for her that she'd had her eye on (British Racing Green, should you have been curious).  So when she got a new gig outside the company, she said goodbye with a sweet note and a bottle of Sinful Colors "Secret Admirer."

Is this gorgeous, or what?  How did I not know this existed?  She did a great job picking a color for me; I totally would have picked this out myself.  Gunmetal has always been a favorite color of mine, so it only stands to reason that I already had a couple of colors in my collection that were quite similar:  OPI "Just Spotted the Lizard" (an alleged Revlon Carbonite/Chanel Graphite dupe) and Ruby Kisses "Steel Magnolia."  Below you'll see Steel Magnolias on the index finger, Just Spotted the Lizard on the middle finger and Secret Admirer on the ring finger.

Now, I suspect this may ALSO be a dupe for China Glaze "Stone Cold" from the Hunger Games collection (with a clear topcoat on account of Stone Cold is a matte.)  I kinda wanted Stone Cold, and indeed I saw it at Sally Beauty recently.  I came THISCLOSE to buying it to test my dupe theory, but man...I needs ta keep my monies.  (Anybody wanna verify this for me?)

I really do think that Secret Admirer is what I wanted Carbonite to be.  I never could find Carbonite in stores to be sure, but if it's true that Just Spotted the Lizard is a Carbonite dupe, then Carbonite is greener than I thought it would be.  Secret Admirer and Steel Magnolia are pure shimmery grey/silver, which is what I expect true Carbonite to be.

See?

Thanks, former coworker!

Talk Nerdy to Me

At last!  A post!  A post I promised a month ago!  I was right; it was tooooo much of a hassle to wear and photograph all of my Nerd Lacquers right off the bat.  I'm sorry...these are some glitter-packed lovelies but, good GRIEF, what a royal pain to remove!  I could go on all day about how horrendous that process was, but such whining would detract from how yummy these polishes are in every aspect.  I mean, really; the colors, the branding, the names...I cannot help but love it all!!!

First up, "I Think You Call Me Sexy."  I don't know why this picture is upside down, unless Blogger decided that it would be fun to imbue this picture with some of the spontaneous, whimsical nature of the TARDIS?  Here you get an indication of what topcoat-eaters Nerd Lacquers can be.  I've got one coat of Seche Vite over this, which is usually enough to glass-over (yes, glass-over) some pretty gritty glitters, but I really wanted this to have a glassier finish.

"No Medal for Chewie."  Poor Chewie.  I just don't think they could find a medal in his size.  Either that, or they were afraid of the impact that a possible dismembering would have on the regal nature of the medal ceremony.  The logistics of placing a necklace on a Wookie notwithstanding, I'm not sure why a polish with this name isn't brown and silver?  I think that would be appropriate.  Nevermind that, this color is FUN!  I can never have enough green; add some golden-green and blue glitter?  Shut the front door.

Hope everyone has had a great Memorial Day weekend!  Tomorrow we trudge back to the grind.  I think the scene below will be me in the morning; feel free to join me.

Shaun of the Dead Opening Scene

Get outta here, ya ruffian, ya!

Good evening, all! I continue to be terrible at posting regularly. What has gotten into me?  Darned if I know.

Today I again reach back into unpublished manis to bring you a vampy Ruffian I did a few months back ago.  Presenting the ever-popular Ulta For Bitten topped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Wined Up.

 I liked this look a LOT.  Most people who saw it only viewed it as red-on-black, but I knew about the lovely red sparkle in For Bitten. 

I tell ya, the Sally Hansen flat, tapered brush is PERFECT for Ruffians.  I did this free-hand, and that's quite an accomplishment for someone as shaky and graceless as myself. 

Recently, I was able to acquire quite a few Nerd Lacquers, and I hope to present those to you soon in a two- or three-part series.  Glitters such as Nerd Lacquers drive me NUTS to remove, so we'll see how long it takes me to get through them all.  Idiotic me has already worn some of them without photographing them, but today I'm rocking I Think You Call Me Sexy, and I've snapped a pic.  These are some seriously gorgeous polishes, and I can't wait to show them off. 

Happy Sunday to you all!

Barilla's Holland Opus

Hey, all!  Sorry it's been so long since I posted.  Things have been ducky, and Disneyworld was AWESOME, but my creativity has been just totally zapped.

I haven't taken any new mani pics in a few weeks, but I thought today I'd dig back and see what I hadn't shown off yet.  And lookie here!  My OPI Holland collection swatches!  I really liked this collection...way more than I thought I would.  I saw other girls' swatches and thought, "Meh.  Nothing earth-shattering."  But when I saw them in stores, I realized that I wanted so many of them!  They're all so very wearable, and the ones I chose have that little "ooh-aah" that you only realize is there when you look closely.

Gouda Gouda Two-Shoes

Pedal Faster, Suzi

I Don't Give a Rotterdam

Of these, I think Gouda Gouda Two-Shoes is probably my favorite.  This surprises even me; it's a work-appropriate taupey-y rose.  Sounds boring, right?  WRONG.  I can see this color looking great on pretty much any skin tone, and again, it's got that little special shimmery something that I just LOVE in otherwise boring colors.  I was torn between buying I Don't Give a Rotterdam and I Have a Herring Problem (which is similar, but with more green), and I'm glad I chose Rotterdamn.  I do so adore a cornflower blue.  Pedal Faster is a lovely pink, but it was a bitch to photograph!  It also drives me moderately nuts that it really ought to be called "Petal Faster, Suzi" if they're trying to play off of Holland's famous tulips, but whatever.  I'm gonna have to put it in third place just for that. 

I hope everyone is having a great time Spring-ing into April! 

Hungry for Hunger Games?

Greetings from Disneyworld!  By the time you read this, I'll be hanging out at the Mouse's House.

I'll be at the World with my family, and while I'm gone, I hope to see "Hunger Games" with my sister-in-law.  We've both read the books and loved them.  (Who didn't?)  The China Glaze Hunger Games collection was pretty awesome; so awesome, in fact, that my Sally ran out pretty!  I only managed to get three of them.  In truth, the only one I still really want is Stone Cold.

Here we have Harvest Moon, which represents District 9:

 It's a delicious blend of bronze, brown and gold.  Quite lovely, really.  I don't follow "rules" about certain colors in certain seasons, but I still feel that this smacks SO hard of Fall, that I probably won't wear it much again until then.

Next up is Riveting, representing District 3:

 What can I say; it is...riveting!  It really is.  I feel like this sort of color should not look right on my pale, cool-toned skin, but I was VERY pleased.  I can only imagine that this would be flattering on most anyone, and that has GOT to be a rarity for an orange.

Last but not least, the "flaky" (more on that later), Luxe & Lush (District 1):

I feel that calling this a flakie is a bit of a misnomer.  I expect a flakie to sort of...blend into its basecoat, changing it and forming something totally new.  I compare this more to the randomly shaped mylar-type glitter topcoats that are becoming popular, especially among frankeners and independent lacquer mixers.  Flakie or no, it's captivating.  I've shown it over several different color families to show you what a versatile "effects" polish it can be, and unfortunately I can't remember what these base polishes are!  If you're very curious about one, let me know and I'm sure I can narrow it down.

All in all, I think this China Glaze did a fantastic job of coming up with colors that really represented the Districts of Panem.  This could have just been a random assortment of colors with names that were sort of reminiscent of the Hunger Games, but it isn't.  By the time you read this, many of you will have already seen the movie, and I hope it didn't let you down! 

May the odds be ever in your favour!

You've Got Green on You

Better late than never, right?  I painted my nails in the spirit of St. Patty's, but I really don't much care for getting out and, ahem, "celebrating" the holiday.  That's just as well, because I haven't been feeling well, and ended up sleeping the day away!  That, in turn, explains why I'm just now getting around to posting this.

I should further explain that I LOVE all things Irish.  Really, every day is St. Patrick's Day for me.  That would be why when it came time to do this green skittles mani, I found I had sixteen different greens.  Long story short, that's a lot of any one color for the size of my collection.  Presenting...my favorites!

Pinky: OPI On Stranger Tides, Ring:  Zoya Shawn, Middle:  Milani HiTech, Index:  Sinful Colors Envy, Thumb:  China Glaze Cling On

Pinky:  Zoya Yara, Ring:  Zoya Ivanka, Middle:  Zoya Gemma, Index:  Zoya Midori, Thumb:  Finger Paints Tough Art to Follow

By the by, please excuse the slapdashiness of this mani.  I did it in about 10 minutes, which was all I had at the time! 

For these photos, I chose to "pose" with my collection of tippers/beaters for my bodhran.  If that last sentence made very little sense to you, check this out:

That's Sean McCann from Great Big Sea (my very favorite band) demonstrating.   That thing he's beating the bodhran (drum) with is called a tipper or a beater (depending on who you ask).  I'm an extremely novice player, so when I was in Ireland a couple of years ago, I picked up several tippers so I could learn more about which styles felt most comfortable to me.

The three on the right came from Ireland.  So of course I found I still prefer to play with the one on the right that came with my bodhran!

This tipper is relevant to my interests.

Hope you've enjoyed this late ode to St. Patrick's Day and unsolicited lesson on Irish instruments!  Happy Sunday!

Quick Alert: Nerd Lacquer now in stock!

And I just ordered WAY more than I should have.  So excited!  Cannot wait!

Get thee to Etsy!  Get 'em while you can!!!