OPI Pamplona Purple and Nfu-Oh #56

I didn't post my last mani with Nfu-Oh #56, mainly because I was house-sitting at the time and did not have access to my uploader cord until after I got back, and by then the mani was a chiptastic mess.

Anyway! So the other night I put on Pamplona Purple, which I lemmed for a while and then found in a tiny salon in town. Now..I hate to say it, but I just don't think Pamplona Purple loves me the way I love it. It's such a gorgeous purple, but it makes my skintone go all crazy.

I so did not want to completely redo my nails, though, so I slapped on a layer of Nfu-Oh #56, and oh my goodness. Match made in nail polish heaven, if I do say so myself! I totally feel ready for Halloween with this slightly witchy combination, but I don't care! Mainly because I love Halloween, but also because this combo is just so awesome. The Nfu-Oh turned Pamplona Purple into this crazy browish purple bruise color. Love!

I really wish I could have gotten some sunlight pictures of this mani, though! Those would have been pretty amazing.

Needless to say, I think I need to get more Nfu-Ohs.

ETA: I forgot to mention, Nfu-Oh has my favorite brush/handle combination ever. The handle is really long and curvy, because, you know, corset. This means I can hold it kind of like a pencil, which makes for really precise polishing.

OPI Cuckoo For This Color

This is one of the newest offerings from OPI, part of the Fall 2010 Swiss collection. I think it's gorgeous! It's a vampy green with definite teal undertones and packed full of blue-based teal shimmer.

This polish, despite a little tipwear, is really wearing great. No chips and I'm on the..third day already? Yes, I think that's right. I know a lot of people are saying this polish is pretty dupeable, but I know I don't have anything like it in my stash. Well, okay, that's not entirely true. I do have Zoya Suvi. HOWEVER. Suvi is much, much more green. If they were trees, Cuckoo For This Color would be a blue fir and Suvi would be an evergreen. Same family, but noticeably different.

In other news, my nails are growing quite well! I've been keeping them polished, and trying to take really good care of them. However, I think I need to find a new base coat. I just don't think my Zoya Anchor is doing much for me anymore. I know I've heard a lot of talk about Gelous lately, but I'm kind of confused about what it is, exactly. I know it's a base coat, but does it make your nails really thick, like you have gels on? If it does, I definitely do not want that. Do any of you have suggestions for a good (easily accessible) base coat?

OPI You're A Doll!

This polish is perfection. If I had to pick only five polishes to wear for the rest of my life, this would definitely be one of them. Thank goodness I don't have to be limited like that, though! I'd probably go crazy, haha. I don't think I could ever pick just five polishes!

 You're A Doll! is such an interesting color. It's a weird taupey lavender pink creme that sometimes leans gray. Oh, and it has strange red flecks in it. Odd, right? But it's so pretty!

I definitely encourage you to enlarge the pictures to see the fantastic red flecks.

So, tell me, what are some of your Desert Island Top 5 Polishes? (Honestly, though, who could ever wear only five polishes? Crazy!)

OPI Meet Me On the Star Ferry.

This polish is so, so beautiful. It's a wonderful plummy purple with slightly holographic (!!) shimmer. This is from OPI's spring 2010 Hong Kong collection. Honestly, when I first saw this one, I wasn't all that interested. But then I started seeing it more and more, and I fell in love! I'm so happy I was able to win this one from PolishSWATCHES.

So, so pretty. I realize that in these two pictures, the polish looks to be a different color. But that's the thing about MMOTSF! It shifted in different lighting! Goodness, I love this polish. Application was a dream, and wear was pretty good, too.

OPI Alpine Snow Matte

Just a quick post today, since I'm technically supposed to be cleaning, ha ha.

About a month ago, I had nice long nails. Then one night..they decided to break. Like, three of them. So, obviously, I had to file them all down. And all this happened right before I was about to go out. Enter Alpine Snow Matte.

Now, some of you know that I had been searching for a good white to use as a base for neons, sheers, etc. Well, I think I have found it.

ASM dries super fast, and, yeah, okay, it does look like you painted your nails with Wite-Out. But since most of the time it's going to be covered up, that's fine! I had a good coat of not-totally-streaky white on the first coat, and then the second and third really evened everything out. I decided to add a topcoat, so that it would be nice and shiny. And, boy, was it shiny!

I really do think I've found my perfect white.

Sorry that I don't have any pictures of ASM sans topcoat, but I really was in a hurry when I did this mani.

Double Review: Orly Prim and Proper and OPI Absolutely Alice

First up, Prim and Proper.

This polish..oh, this polish. I wanted to like it. I really, really did. But it just looked weird with my skintone, and it was brushstrokey, and it just was weird overall. I put it on because I was really in the need for something girly and feminine. I think this was almost too feminine, haha. It's a light, light, light metallic lavender frost. The formula was pretty good, and it dried well, but it's just too..something. Not my style.

I don't know. I guess I'm just not really into this finish of polish. It was pretty, sure. Just..not for me. (By the way, the pictures are color-accurate.)

Next, Absolutely Alice.

Sadly, I only have one picture for you. This polish is so gorgeous, but I had so many problems with it. First of all, the formula was gloopy. I expect that with glitter polishes but this one was overly gloopy. Dry time was amazing, though I had to use three coats for full coverage. I needed this polish to last for a week, since I wanted to wear it for the Alice in Wonderland midnight premiere. Now, I'm not stupid. I knew I'd have to touch it up a little bit before going to the premiere. But this polish.. It peeled off in huge chips on the second day. By the fourth day, it was even worse. I had to touch it up so many times, sometimes having to completely redo some nails. I ended up just chipping it all off on Friday morning. It's frustrating, because it's so pretty. My picture really does not do it justice.

It's a gorgeous cobalt blue glitter with gold glitter dispersed throughout. First of all, I'm sorry about the state of my cuticles. Second, I'm sorry about the fact that I'm only showing three nails. I had already started chipping if off by this point. Third, I'm sorry for the raggedy edges on my nails. In addition to the polish chipping off, my nails also started breaking like crazy. It was just not a good week, haha. So, overall, love the color, hate the formula. But it's a glitter. What can you do?

NOTW/Review: Orly Cashmere Cardigan with OPI Mad As A Hatter

This was my NOTW from several weeks ago, and I absolutely loved it. Seriously, it was just so pretty and girly and shiny. I got the idea from Little Music Boxes, who did it with OPI A Grape Fit! I thought that this had the same vibe, just a little lighter.

Blurred to show glitter.

I just loved this combination. The beautiful periwinkle creme Orly really brought out the purple glitter in MAAH. The formulas on both of these polishes was great. The Orly dried super-fast, and it only took two coats for a smooth finish. The OPI also was only two coats, though if I was going to wear it on a bare nail, I'd probably want to go with three coats. It dried quickly, as well, which is a plus to glitter. I only did one nail of this polish, though, because I didn't want to deal with having to remove a whole manicure's worth of glitter, haha. It wore fairly well, and like I said before, it was so pretty.

Review: OPI Jade Is The New Black

Yeah, I know, everyone and their mother has posted this color already. But it's just so pretty! JITNB is a gorgeous darker-end-of-the-spectrum jade green. It's pure creme, too. Like, seriously, the formula was flawless. It just flowed onto my nail. OPI's really got the formula down with their cremes, don't they? Wear on this one was amazing, too. I had it on for seven days with minor, MINOR tip wear. I only took it off because I was bored with it.

Color in these pictures is spot-on. Both the polish and my skintone. Yes! Finally, my skin color isn't all wonky! We've been having decent weather lately, so I was actually able to get outside and get some sun pictures. Ha, it's ironic that I say we've been having nice weather, since it's storming like crazy right now. But last week? It was so pretty. And I actually got a sunburn on Saturday! I forgot what the sun felt like, haha. I am pretty bummed about this rain we're going to be getting for the next few days, though. I was supposed to go to the zoo with a few friends tomorrow, but we can't now, because of the rain. I haven't been to the zoo in over a year, because it actually closed at some point last year, but now it's under the management of a new owner and is open again.

Anyway, yes. This polish is amazing. I most definitely recommend it. It was the only one that I purchased from the OPI Hong Kong collection, but after I left Ulta I started regretting not getting Meet Me On The Star Ferry. Luckily for me, I won it in a contest! I haven't gotten it yet, but I can't wait until I do.

Hello, my name is Jean, and I have a polish-buying problem.

Yep, you guessed it. I bought even more polish. But wait! Before you say anything, you must understand: LEMMINGS. Serious, serious lemmings.

First up, a few polishes I picked up at Sally's last Thursday. I really only went in there to get a new bottle of Poshe (the tale of what happened to my old bottle is forthcoming), but then I decided to glance at their sale rack. SKFJBSKB. So glad I did. There was China Glaze Glacier! One of the most-lemmed polishes on my lemming list. And right next to it was ChG Dreamsicle! What the heck, Sally's? Have you been holding out on me? Because those definitely were never on display with the rest of the glitters. Anyway, their sale items were buy 1, get 1 50% off, and my mom was only getting one polish (Finger Paints Wine Wristlet), so I also got Finger Paints Cobalt Cardigan. It's a super-pretty dark navy that seems to have a little bit of teal in it.

This picture does not show just how pretty these polishes are. Glacier has all this pastel opalescent glitter, and Cobalt Cardigan is not that black-looking, and the flakies in Merry Midnight aren't even showing up. Sigh.

(L to R: ChG Glacier, ChG Dreamsicle, Finger Paints Cobalt Cardigan, and OPI Merry Midnight [Which I left out of my previous haul post, so I decided to include a picture here.])

Moving on.

I'm visiting relatives in south Florida this weekend, and there's this huge shopping center nearby. With an Ulta. Now, I have never been to Ulta before. When I walked in..oh my goodness. It's just heavenly, isn't it? There were so many polishes I wanted, but I had to restrain myself, since they were all a bit expensive. They even had the China Glaze Up & Away collection! I didn't get any, though, because—and yes, I know this might be blasphemous—none of them were really drawing me in. They looked so pretty online..but in person? I don't know. I just felt they lacked..something.

They had so many other amazing polishes, though! Including OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte! I passed on it, though, because I already was spending too much, haha. I did get OPI Mad As A Hatter, though, because my Trade Secret still hasn't called me to tell me they got more in, like they said they were going to. I also picked up OPI Jade Is The New Black. As for non-OPIs? I checked out all the Ulta brand ones, but nothing was really pulling me in.

Then I got to the Essie section. You know you're addicted when you see a polish from 20 feet away and know EXACTLY what it is. The polish in question here was Essie Aruba Blue. YES! They had it! And oh my word, it's so gorgeous in person.

I only bought one other polish, and that's Sula Paint and Peel in Watermelon (It looks more like a cherry blossom to me, but whatever). I've been curious about these polishes for quite some time, but I've never had a chance to see them in person. My mom was also intrigued, so she agreed to split the cost with me. Originally, I was going to get Moss, but I've been craving a good pink lately.

(L to R OPI Mad As A Hatter, Sula Paint & Peel in Watermelon, Essie Aruba Blue, OPI Jade Is The New Black)

Yeah..Only MAAH is really color-accurate. The Sula is a bit darker pink (like these cherry blossoms), Aruba Blue is darker and prettier, and JITNB is a bit darker, as well. The lighting in this room is just really weird. Sorry!

Review: OPI La Paz-itively Hot and Diamond Cosmetics mini-haul.

I put this on on Thursday night. I wasn't really feeling this color when I first put it on. I even thought about taking it off and replacing it with something darker. It was about one in the morning, though, so I decided I'd just leave it. I'm happy I did. I actually really, really like it. At first, I wasn't sure if it worked with my skintone. I think it does, though.

La Paz-itively Hot is bright fuchsia with a subtle blue-violet flash. Really ostentatious and pretty. Application was so-so. Fairly streaky, but I managed to even it out. I did two coats, because I knew I wouldn't be going in public this weekend, so I wasn't really concerned about VNL, of which there is quite a bit. Three coats probably would have fixed this, but whatever. As pretty as this is, I still want to try the matte version. It looks awesome.

Oh, and I apologize for the horrible cleanup job. Like I said, I wasn't going out in public this weekend, so I didn't really take the time to make this look amazing, haha.

All pictures taken with flash, indoors. I apologize for the huge chip in my index finger in the last picture and the chip on my thumb, but I had to take the picture. This polish perfectly matches my Cheshire Cat pillowcase! I love it.

On another note, my Diamond Cosmetics order came today! I was shocked to find it in my mailbox, because according to FedEx, it wasn't going to be here until Tuesday. Actually, FedEx has been weird throughout this whole shipping process. For some reason, my package shipped from its origin point in south Florida, to Orlando, Florida, to Atlanta, then to here. I live in Florida. I don't see why it had to bypass me by hundreds of miles, only to come right back this way. Oh, well. It's here now! These colors are so, so pretty. I want to wear them all right now, but I'm not going to, because I already decided on wearing SOPI Brainiac for next week, and I don't want to have one of these beauties on for only one day.

Review: OPI Sea? I Told You!

Last night I went to see Avatar in 3-D. It was absolutely amazing. Sure, the story's been told before: Man from outside world becomes one of the natives, falls in love with the chief's daughter, chaos ensues, and they must save the people. However, it was done in a way that was new and fresh, and, really, it was beautiful. Everything about the movie was beautiful. I really don't see how you would even be watching the same movie if you didn't see it in 3-D, though. The 3-D is integrated so well that it becomes essential in order to have a complete movie-watching experience.

This isn't a movie-review blog, so moving right along! I wanted to paint my nails blue, to match the Na'vi. I honestly don't have many blues in my collection, but I remembered I had OPI Sea? I Told You! in my untried pile, so I reached in there and grabbed it. I'm so happy I did. This color is absolutely gorgeous. It's a beautiful aquamarine with blue-green microshimmer (Not glitter. This is most definitely shimmer. EDIT: Okay, this was actually micro-microglitter. When I went to remove it, it got really rough, and was a bit difficult to remove. Not as hard as with regular glitter, but more difficult than with a standard shimmer polish.), and it actually has a bit of a foil finish. Application was amazing, though the formula was a little thin. I think I did three coats to get perfect coverage. And then, of course, one coat of Poshe to really bring out the shimmer.

This polish is from the Sunbelievable Collection, I believe. I also have Banana Bandanna from this collection, which I'll try eventually.

This polish is so difficult to photograph, though. It was practically impossible to capture just how pretty this polish is. Most of the pictures really showed the foil effect, but none would show the shimmer! These two pictures are the closest to actual polish color. (Both taken indoors, with flash.)

Review: OPI You Don't Know Jacques!

So this is my first official OPI polish. Sure, I've got Sephora by OPI Darkroom and 212-Sephora, but I had heard there were significant differences. So, so true. Now, I love my SOPIs. However. Their formula is a bit, well, watery. Real OPI formula? Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. This polish just flowed onto my nail, and there was barely any cleanup at all. I love the OPI brush, too.

Anyway, this color is amazing. It's just a bottle full of dirty, grungy taupy gray-brown goodness. I could have gotten away with two coats, but I ended up doing three because I messed up a nail when I was putting on the topcoat.

Wear on this is so amazing, by the way. This polish lasted five days with very, very minimal tip wear. Five days! I don't remember the last polish that I wore that wasn't chipped and horrible-looking by day five. I will definitely be investing in more OPIs in the future.

I apologize for the horrible condition of my hands. It's been so cold here lately, and my hands are so insanely dry and cracked. I'm working on getting them back to normal. Also, I'm not quite sure why my hands look so red in the second picture. They don't look like that in real life, I promise! (First picture taken with flash, second picture taken without, both in artificial light.)

Oh, and I've been bad again. As you know, it was my birthday last Saturday. Well, Sephora has that special birthday gift for Beauty Insiders. I've never gotten it before, because I'm not all that big on lip gloss (It always ends up being sticky, or it wears horribly.), so I was never really interested before. However, they've got a new gift now! It's this little Beautiful Eyes kit with plumping mascara, silver-green (!!) eyeliner, and pretty white iridescent eyeshadow. This I had to have. Well, we don't have any Sephoras around here, so I had to order online.

Originally I was going to get SOPI Absinthe Makes the Heart, but when I actually looked at again..I just wasn't feeling it. I'm not sure why. I guess I just wish it was more, I don't know, green. It looks so charcoal in all the swatches I've seen. Instead, I got SOPI Brainiac (Love the name!), Sephora Brand Blue Sapphire, and Tarte FRXation. I don't have any colors like Brainiac in my stash, and I've been wanting Blue Sapphire for quite some time, and it's so cheap! I ended up throwing in the FRXation at the last minute, because my lips have gotten so chapped because of this blasted cold (both the weather and the sickness kind of cold). Well! These purchases qualified me for that clutch that Sephora was promoting about a month ago (The one with the eight samples in it). I wasn't sure if the code would still work, but it did! And I love samples, so, obviously, I had to throw that in, too. And it's free, so, why not, right?

So, anyway, expect reviews of all of those items once I get them and try them out!

P.S., I'm sorry if this post is a little, well, rambly. I've got a horrible, horrible cold, and I think maybe even a slight fever. It's causing me to not be able to think very clearly, haha.