L'Oreal Summer 2011 Limited Edition Nail Polish

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm a bit late with them, but today I have L'Oreal's Limited Edition Summer Siren Collection, their four polish shades for Summer 2011.  I'd seen these a few times before and kept walking, but today I took a look and liked what I saw - they're really spectacularly sparkly and shimmery.

I used Pink Shells, which you could probably guess is the pink one, today.  Two coats could have worked, but mine were very thin and with the clear fake tip I have, I needed a third.  It applied really easily and dried very fast.  Here's L'Oreal Pink Shells.

L'Oreal Pink Shells Nail Polish, Three Coats

I took bottle pictures of the other three for you.  The only picture I'm not thrilled with is of the blue, Blue Marine, which seems to have some purple duochrome going on in indoor lighting, but that got washed away in the sun.  Here's Blue Marine.

L'Oreal Blue Marine Nail Polish Bottle

Yellow Seahorse has the potential to be what I wanted Chanel Mimosa to be, and I'm really hoping its shimmer shows up well.

L'Oreal Yellow Seahorse Nail Polish Bottle

The last one is called Coral Starfish, and it's a blazing orange with gold shimmer.  It's really pretty.

L'Oreal Coral Starfish Nail Polish Bottle

It's my hope that the remaining three shades sparkle the same way that Pink Shells does - it's hard to take my eyes off of it.

That's L'Oreal Summer Siren and the update for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Nubar Yellow Primrose & D26

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today seemed like a good day for more stamping, so that's exactly what I did.  I started with a manicure of Nubar Yellow Primrose, then I picked out the full nail pattern from D series stamping plate D26, which I used with Yellow Konad Special Polish.  A coat of top coat to seal it, and I was finished.

Nubar Yellow Primrose Nail Polish and Stamping Plate D26

It looks like retro kitchen decor to me, but oddly enough, that's a good thing.  That's what I know this morning, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Chanel Mimosa

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've finally gotten around to trying out Chanel Mimosa again, and yet again, I find it somewhat disappointing.  I'd have been mad if I paid for this one.

Mimosa is a yellow with a great shimmer in the bottle, but on me the shimmer didn't translate to on the nail at all. In normal lighting, it's that kind of finish where you're not sure if it's a creme or a shimmer.  The color is nice, but both times I've used it, it required four coats to be even and opaque.  For high end prices, RBL Yellow Fever is much nicer, and since the shimmer doesn't really show up in Mimosa, they're not too different from one another. Here's Mimosa under artificial light.

Chanel Mimosa Nail Polish, Four Coats

See?  It's just a standard yellow.  I could have used unrealistically bright lights and a closer macro shot to provide you with a prettier picture of the polish, but I was more interested in showing you what it really looks like on me wearing it.

Since a standard yellow isn't nearly festive enough to keep my spirits up these days, I added to it from one of the D series stamping plates, D23.

Chanel Mimosa Nail Polish with Stamp from Plate D23

Adding the smiley face, a pattern I've wanted for some time, made me think of something funny.  A good while back, I'd added Konad fake gem decals or some other nail art to a Chanel.  I liked it, it was fun to wear, nothing out of the ordinary.  Someone left a really funny comment on the post, lecturing me about how Chanel is all about simple elegance and reprimanding me for ruining it, and it just went on and on with the "you should know better" kind of thing.  It made me think of one of my aunts, who'd be about 98 now and always wore a hat and a fur coat, and I pictured her getting all irate about what someone else had done to her own nails, which made me giggle.  I think for me the bottom line is that for $23, I'm not just buying a bottle of polish, I'm buying the rights to do whatever the heck I want to do with it!  Today, that was a smiley face.

That's Chanel Mimosa and the story for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul & Konad m74

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I wanted something happy and sunny, so I wore SpaRitual Enlightened Soul with the diagonal flower pattern from Konad plate m74 stamped on it in Konad white.  Enlightened Soul is a yellow creme I showed you a while back, and I used three coats for this manicure.  It turned out pretty well.

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul Nail Polish with Konad m74

I needed something sunny because looking for work is taking quite a toll, and I've finally hit the point of having to selling off some things I really don't want to get rid of, and that bums me out.  This will be the only mention of it here because I'm going to just auction off what I need to on Ebay, and since I don't want anyone to feel duped by later finding out they bought something from me, I changed my user name there to the_nailphile.  I often get emails from readers when my pictures are stolen and used there, usually with an uncomfortable "I don't know if this is your auction..." as an opener, and I have no plans to use blog pictures there for anything, but I wanted to let you know that's me.  Nothing's listed there yet because I didn't want someone to place a bid and be uncomfortable with it later, but I ask that if you have questions, comments, problems, concerns, etc., about anything there please feel free to contact me through their private message system, as I'm not willing to let that necessity to take over the comments here.  That's the last you'll hear about any of it on this blog.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time,love and nail polish to you!

Lem-on Crushed Candy

Good morning, Dear Reader, and Happy Easter!

For today I doctored up my Color Club Get Your Lem-on manicure, but I used China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle Glaze rather than Konad.  I was thinking of what color to use for Konad, and I kept nixing choices because I know that the color shows up strangely on neon yellow, when it occurred to me to try out Crushed Candy for a potentially Easter-y version of Get Your Lem-on.

I added a coat of Crushed Candy, then two coats of some Nutra Nail strengthener that's clear and a coat of quick dry top coat to smooth it out.  I'd been using one coat of Gelous rather than the Nutra Nail, which worked just fine, but I don't have enough Gelous left for one manicure and most likely won't repurchase it.  The sun came out for a bit yesterday, so I was able to take a picture in sunlight.

China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle Glaze over Color Club Get Your Lem-on

This worked out well for me since it tones down the yellow so much and I'm wearing this manicure to church today.  It's like an Easter egg is getting cracked open and the yolk shows (although that imagery doesn't withstand close scrutiny - I really don't want an egg with a neon yolk).  I can also still catch the lemon fragrance under all those additional coats, which is pretty impressive.

That's my manicure for Easter, and so far, Easter is shaping up into a pretty dang good day.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Color Club Get Your Lem-on

Good morning, Dear Reader!

There's nothing quite like ten solid hours of sleep, is there?  You get to benefit from my fabulous sleep in that it's more likely I'll keep my thoughts generally focused!

Last night I changed my manicure to Color Club Get Your Lem-on, the yellow from Wicked Sweet.  It's a very nice highlighter yellow shimmer and the polish was easy to control, but it did take five coats to be opaque.  I'm sure a white base could reduce that number, but when I'm trying it out the first time and want to tell you how many coats it takes to be opaque, I just use the color.  There's still no sunlight, or hope for it, so I used artificial light for the picture.

Color Club Get Your Lem-on Nail Polish, Five Coats

Although I love this polish. I think it's just okay on me - it's not horrible, but not flattering either.  Neon yellow is such a fun color that I wear it anyhow.  I like it best on very dark brown skin though - to my eye neon yellow just pops off of dark hands, and it makes the skin tone look really cool.  For me, since I want a little more than "not bad," I'll probably add Konad to it today.

Get Your Lem-on has a great fragrance.  It smells like someone's making a pitcher of Country Time Lemonade from the can of powder (I'm assuming those still exist) while another person is zesting a lemon nearby.  I've been sniffing this one a lot!  Again, the scent is not too strong, and I do have to have my hands near my face to smell it.

That's just about it for this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

China Glaze Island Escape Swatches & Comparison

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still waiting for word on yesterday's interview, which went really well, so I have no news on that front, [I got the call - I JUST GOT THE DREAM JOB!!!] but I got a surprise from China Glaze this morning, so I have things to show you.  I went out to get some coffee early this morning, and as I was pulling out of the driveway I saw a Post-It on my front door, and when I went to look at it I found it was from FedEx and there was a little box at the door even though I wasn't expecting any deliveries.  I'm hoping it was placed there just yesterday... Anyhow, when I got back home I opened it up to find that China Glaze had sent their upcoming Island Escape collection for review, so I have some pictures for you.

First, I swatched the six polishes on a little thingy of fake nails (I believe "thingy" is the industry technical term for it), which I've never done before.  To be honest, I have no idea why I even had the fake nail thingy, it must have come with something else at some point, but it worked out fine.  Second, the sunlight here is almost non-existent and I did the best I could for you on the pictures, but if I notice a few minutes of good light I'll take additional pictures and add them to this post.

China Glaze Island Escape Collection Swatches, Two Coats Each

For reference, everything in the picture other than nail polish is white, that's the light I was working with.  As for the polishes, I thought I'd just go through them one at a time like usual.  If you click the picture it'll open full sized in a new tab, which may be the easiest way to go back and forth to it.

Electric Pineapple is a yellow creme that has a slight greenish tinge to it, and it reminds me of a yellower Misa Green with Envy.  It's quite opaque for a yellow, and the second coat made it even and opaque.

Cha Cha Cha is a yellowish green with a gold shimmer, very much like China Glaze Moonpool, and I compared the two to find that Cha Cha Cha is a little bit brighter.  The only notable application issue was that I found brush strokes were pretty evident in the shimmer even after it dried, so it has to be applied carefully.  Here's Cha Cha Cha with Moonpool.

China Glaze Cha Cha Cha and Moonpool Comparison, Two Coats Each

Blue Iguana is a great glass flecked bright blue, very much like a glass flecked version of Nubar's Mali Blue, which is a shimmer.  Actually, three of these are about the same base color as three of that Nubar collection with a different finish.  Anyhow, the color of Blue Iguana is gorgeous - I spent a couple weeks in the Bahamas a few years ago, and the balcony of the room I stayed in had a clear view of the beach and ocean (which I could stare at for hours), and Blue Iguana is the color that the water was near the shore.  There were no application issues to mention.

Senorita Bonita has the same finish as Blue Iguana, but the shimmer bits are pink in a purple base.  Senorita Bonita's base color is very similar to Nubar's Pasadena Purple, again with a different finish.  Again, nothing was noteworthy about its application.

108 Degrees is a fantastic bright pink, also with the same finish as the previous two, and the base color immediately brought to mind Nubar's Hollywood Pink.  108 Degrees was also easy to apply and even.

Papaya Punch is an orange creme, and it reminds me a lot of OPI's Flit A Bit from last year's Summer Flutter Collection.  Papaya Punch is quite thick, but I did not find that to be problematic, and it was almost good with just one coat (it needed the second to even out the color).

That's just about everything I know about China Glaze's Island Escape Collection, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Color Club Wicked Sweet Scented Collection

Hello again, Dear Reader!

I just got two of Color Club's new collections, and I have bottle pictures of Wicked Sweet, the scented neons, for you.  These, I'll wear rather than swatch, since there are usually questions regarding the strength and longevity of the fragrance in scented nail polishes.

I took the bottle pics because the sun's out and these are really far prettier than I'd hoped, so I thought you might like to see them right away.  Here we go!

The namesake of the collection is Wicked Sweet, a neon blue shimmer.  I sniffed it to find out what Color Club characterizes as a wicked sweet scent, and it smells a lot like Juicy Fruit (but in the bottle, the nail polish smell is strong, so it's hard to pinpoint).

Color Club Wicked Sweet Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

Raspberry Rush is a great neon raspberry creme.

Color Club Raspberry Rush Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

Get Your Lem-on (great name!!!) is a highlighter yellow shimmer.

Color Club Get Your Lem-on Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection 

Yum Gum is a bright bubblegum pink creme.

Color Club Yum Gum Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

Always Get My Man-darin is a bright yellow orange shimmer.

Color Club Always Get My Man-darin Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

Gimme A Grape Big Kiss (another favorite name!) is a neon purple creme.

Color Club Gimme A Grape Big Kiss Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

The seventh and last is The Lime Starts Here, a unique neon lime green.

Color Club The Lime Starts Here Nail Polish from the Wicked Sweet Collection

That's that!  You know I love neons and scented nail polish, so I'll be wearing these this week for sure.  However, I also have the Color Club Starry Temptress Collection right here, so I'm going to run off and swatch those.  I'll get those posted for you soon, supposing the sunlight holds out.

Until then, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

OPI Black Shatter & China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm here today with another OPI Black Shatter manicure, one with a very long title.  Last night I'd decided I'd stop with the Black Shatter for a bit, but today I really, really, really wanted to try it over a good highlighter yellow, so I went with it.

The yellow I used was China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, which is a super neon yellow creme.  The yellows that really look like a highlighter are usually a hassle, and this one was no exception.  I put it on while I had my first cup of coffee, and being caffeine deficient at the time, I didn't pay attention to exactly how many coats I used but it was from five to seven very thin coats.  I know using white under it is an option to cut down on the number of coats, but the results are slightly different that way and I like how it looks with a billion coats of just the neon better.  In the plus column I'd include the fact that neons often dry quickly, and that was the case here - the dry time after applying quick dry top coat was no longer than usual, so the only extra effort involved is in the actual painting.

Once Yellow Polka Dot Bikini had dried, I applied a thick coat of OPI Black Shatter.  This time, I gave it a minute or two to crackle, and I found that Black Shatter really will just flake off without top coat.  A flake came off of one nail  after a bit, so I sealed the mani with top coat so no more came off.  I'm using up what I have around so I've been using Poshe, and I again used three coats of it to level Black Shatter off.  I did a thin coat of Poshe, then waited a minute or so for it to set, then added another and waited again before the final coat, sealing the edges with each of the three.  I've found that when I use it that way, multiple coats of Poshe do not shrink my manicure.  Here's the final result.

OPI Black Shatter over China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

This one seems to have lost that Cece Deville feeling that the Black Shatter and Shocking Pink manicure had, but yellow and black seemed a little Def Leppard to me.  Again, I was able to confirm that my sense was accurate.

Mullets All Around

I was also able to verify that the colors in this picture weren't just a fluke.

What's Up with the Guy on the Right?????

Here, we can see that I like Black Shatter with neons, and that any time I pair a neon with black, I'll be overwhelmed with '80's nostalgia and find the band wearing corresponding colors.  I'm tempted to tell you some funny Def Leppard stories, but this post is long and I don't want to bore you.

With that, I'll wrap it up and get to work.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul & Konad m83

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm back to the SpaRitual Truth Collection today with Enightened Soul, a crayon yellow creme.  I don't know what, if anything, it's a dead-on match to, but I know there a lot of basic yellow cremes available.  What makes Enlightened Soul special amongst them is that it only took two coats to be good, while yellows are usually a huge PITA and often require more.  I think RBL Yellow Fever is a two-coater, but it costs twice as much.  The application of Enlightened Soul was also very good - the polish is very easy to control.

SpaRitual Enlightened Soul Nail Polish, Two Coats

I rarely wear yellow alone, it's usually a base for Konad.  Since my new Konad plates got here from WowSoCool, I tried out a couple of patterns from plate m83.

Konad Plate m83 over SpaRitual Enlightened Soul

Now it's more fun!  The stamp on my ring nail is just one big stamp, and I painted the little bird blue and the rest red before scraping the pattern to get two colors in it.

That's the scoop for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky & H8

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I used another Chez-Delaney plate, H8.  The pattern I wanted from it is a flaming tip pattern, which was just too much fun to pass up.  I was considering what colors to use to most look like fire, and I concluded that it would be pretty hard to pull off well using only two colors.  I still wanted to use the pattern, so I decided to go for the look of flames on an old hot rod, like this:

I've Got This One Covered, Indi

I started with the yellow, for which I used three coats of China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, then I did the stamping in Konad Cool Red Princess Polish.  I found it took a while to get a feel for scraping this pattern without messing it up - on the big tip patterns, it's really easy to get the edge of the scraper too deep into the pattern and scrape away far too much.  Once I got the hang of it, the stamping went quickly, and I'm happy with the end result.

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, Three Coats, with Chez-Delaney H8

I think it worked out reasonably well, and the manicure makes me laugh a little bit.

That's all there is to tell this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polih to you!  

Illamasqua Rare & Elope & Konad M44

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I decided to have more fun with brights and Konad to ward off the cold.  I started by selecting a highlighter yellow, Illamasqua Rare.  I figured I'd add some green Konad to it, but I noticed in picking it out that Illamasqua Elope was pretty close to Konad Green Special Polish, and added an accent nail of Illamasqua Elope before stamping the Rare nails with a striped tip pattern from Konad plate M44 in green.  I like the result, but something about it still reminds me about running shoes from the 1970's.

Illamasqua Rare & Elope Nail Polishes with Konad M44

Rare, the yellow, is more neon than my camera could pick up, and a nice one.  It took three coats to be opaque and even, which is quite good for a neon yellow.  I used two coats of Elope, the green.

That's just about all I have for you right now, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

American Apparel Butter & BM10

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today's Nails of the Day is American Apparel Butter with a pattern from Bundle Monster Plate BM10 stamped in Psyche Pink Konad Special Polish.

Butter is a pale yellow creme and applied, well, like butter.  It was good in two coats with no problems.

American Apparel Butter Nail Polish, Two Coats

It looked a little plain though, so I added some little flowers from plate BM10.

American Apparel Butter Nail Polish, Two Coats, with BM10 in Psyche Pink

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

More Nails Incs

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I bet you already know what's in store for today - more Nails Inc nail polishes.  These are two Nails of the Day that are relatively recent.  I got both polishes from HQHair.com, and like them both even though they're very different.

Dover St Market is a purple creme I've wanted for some time, but never been able to find in stock anywhere that ships to the U.S.  I was surprised it was there when HQ Hair had a discount code going a few weeks back. It was a two coater, but barely - once was almost enough.

Nails Inc Dover St Market Nail Polish, Two Coats

Isn't that a great purple?  I was well worth the wait for it.

The other is Long Acre, a weirdo green/yellow creme that appeals to me.  This was also a two coater.

Nails Inc Long Acre Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added a tip pattern from a Bundle Monster plate, BM18, to it in Konad Green.  I think I might have liked it better without the stamping, but what the heck...

Nails Inc Long Acre Nail Polish, Two Coats with BM18 in Konad Green

I love Nails Incs, big cap and all (it doesn't hinder application for me, and my hands are pretty small).  The colors are great and I like the quality of the polish quite a bit.

That's the update for this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Konadicures

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been so busy showing you swatches lately that I haven't shown you too many Nails of the Day, so I have Konadicures from about two weeks to show to you.  I've been on a big Konad kick lately.  There's no real order to the pictures, they're just some Konadicures from recent weeks.

First up is Color Club Mrs. Robinson with the rose pattern from Konad plate M65, stamped in Konad White Special Polish.  I really liked this one because it had the old-fashioned feel of the fabric on Grandma's couch on a neon, and the contrast was fun.

Color Club Mrs Robinson Nail Polish with Konad M65 in Konad White

Next is Nubar Hot Pink with two patterns from Konad M59 in Konad White, topped with Konad Silver Glitter Top Coat.

Nubar Hot Pink Nail Polish with Konad M59 in Konad White & Konad Silver Glitter Top Coat

Today's Nails of the Day is Nubar Black with an accent nail in Orly Luxe, with the black stamped with Orly Luxe and the Luxe stamped with Konad Black Special Polish and Konad plate M63.  I stamp my left hand first, and the Orly wasn't dry yet so I squished it a little, then waited a while to stamp the right and took the picture of my rarely seen right hand.  I always have a hard time taking pictures of my right hand...

Nubar Black and Orly Luxe with Konad M63 using Luxe and Konad Black

The rest are all really bright.  For this one, I used Nina Ultra Pro in Solar Flare, which is brighter than the picture, and Bundle Monster plate BM12 using Konad Psyche Pink Special Polish.

Nina Ultra Pro Solar Flare Nail Polish with BM12 in Konad Psyche Pink

Although the polish for the next one, Nails Inc Lime Street, comes from the Kings of Neon Collection, it's not really neon.  I don't recall the plate number of the tip pattern I used, but I stamped it with Konad White.  The Lime Street, a mini, had a good brush and went on well, with one brushload covering a nail and requiring only two coats.

Nails Inc Lime Street Nail Polish Stamped with Konad White

Next up is another Nina Ultra Pro called Bubble Gums, which sounds like a very severe case of periodontal disease.  I used Konad plates S9 (the pattern) and M19 (the tips) in Blue Pearl Special Polish.

Nina Ultra Pro Bubble Gums Nail Polish with Konad Plates S9 & M19 in Konad Blue Pearl

Yet another Nina Ultra Pro (I went to Sally's...) is Grin and Berry It, which is a purple with a strong blue flash.  I stamped the butterflies pattern from Konad plate M32 on the tips using Konad White.

Nina Ultra Pro Grin and Berry It Nail Polish with Konad M32 in Konad White

That brings us to the last one, China Glaze Shocking Pink with Konad plates M74 (pattern) and M19 (tips).  I could have shifted the M74 down just a bit, and I double stamped my tips with M19.  When I do a Konadicure with Konad Black that I really like, I finish it first with Konad top coat, then Diamont to dry it, to avoid smudging the black.  I don't generally use Konad top coat, but I do have it handy for use over Konad Black.

China Glaze Shocking Pink Nail Polish with Konad M74 & M19 in Konad Black

Those are all the Konadicures I have to show you.  I'd saved a couple when I'd planned for the Sephora by OPI Chic Prints to last several days, and have shown you so many swatches in the last week that I ended up with a big bunch of pictures for you.  I hope you enjoyed them as much as I liked wearing them!

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!