OPI- Melody in Mocha and China Glaze- Pure Joy

I got a little bit behind with posting in order to keep up with my manis, so this entry will feature two polishes. This first one is OPI- Melody in Mocha. This is from OPI's 2004 Holiday Harmony collection. It is a black label.

Melody in Mocha is a medium brown shimmer. It is so beautiful in the sunlight! It was a very nice neutral shade.

You can see how reflective it is from this picture taken indoors without the flash.

This picture was indoors with the flash. This polish had a very thin formula and it is somewhat sheer. It needed three coats, but applied and built up smoothly. Sometimes it was streaky.

Next is China Glaze- Pure Joy. This is a new one that was recently released for the China Glaze Holiday Joy Collection. This is a brilliant red glitter filled with gold glitter. This shade just screams Christmas!

This shade can be very versatile. It can be used as a layering glitter or worn by itself. I really enjoyed wearing this alone. It took three coats to be opaque, but it built up nicely.

With this blurred picture, you can see how the gold glitter is scattered throughout it.

Here's yet more polish that I've acquired during Black Friday sales!

Butter London: Henley Regatta, Chimney Sweep, and Thames.

New Kawaii Lacquers!

F4 Polish- Mr. Mouse, Who-Ville, S'Mores, Granite, and a mini Minty Melon they threw in for free :)

I got these from a blog sale. MAC- Al Fredo, Barry M- Silver Cascade, and Enchanted Polish- Gummy Worm

OPI- Into the Night and Orange Glitter

I tried out a fun Halloween combo! This is OPI- Into the Night topped off with an unnamed orange glitter in a pumpkin bottle. This combination worked well, and was very noticeable with the complementary colors. I believe the pumpkin polishes are made by Blue Cross. I purchased this one last halloween. 

The orange glitter is composed of medium sized hexes and they're suspended in a clear base. The glitter was so concentrated that I only needed one coat of it! I dabbed the glitter around a little bit in order to make sure it was evenly dispersed.

Here is a picture indoors without the flash. 

I took a couple pictures of OPI- Into the Night before I added the orange glitter. This picture is with the flash. Into the Night was part of OPI's Amazing Spiderman collection released this past May. This one was really sheer. It required three coats to be opaque and was somewhat streaky. It's a darker blue shimmer, but not quite navy blue. 

Here's a picture of it without the flash.

I had the perfect dusty-hunting scenario today. It was payday PLUS I had a break in between appointments for work! I went overboard but got some vintage goodies!

 Covergirl Nailslicks- Smoky Topaz and Let's Go Green, Wet n Wild- 415A and Metallic Green

 vintage Sally Hansens- Cyber, Funky Frost, Ace Frost, and Denim Creme

 MAC- Sacred White and Silverstruck, Sally Hansen- Gold Chrome, China Glaze- Twilight and Primavera

 Revlon- Plum Flip, Magical, and Crystal Ball

OPI- Greece Just Blue Me Away, Megawatt, and DS Exclusive!

I also got some nail mail today:

OPI- Yokohama Twilight and Butter London- Two Fingered Salute

The Vintage Gem: MAC- Pink Freeze

 I have a super old vintage gem today! This is MAC- Pink Freeze. I got it in a blog sale and I don't really know much about it except that it is really old. It's a pale pink frost.

 The formula was really runny, but surprisingly it was opaque in three coats. It was somewhat brushstrokey, but that's to be expected of a frost.

 It had a really smooth finish to it.

 Here's the bottom of the bottle. It apparently "expired" in March of 2000, so that's definitely an indicator of how old this is. I really like the square frosted glass bottles!

Some new additions:

 From 5Below: Funky Fingers- Pixy Dust, Prince Charming, Mermaid Lagoon, and Confetti

Nicole by OPI- Honey-Dew You Love Me?, OPI- Fireflies, and Polished Perfection- Fire Flower

Green with Gold Glitter

Over the weekend I wore Zoya- Evvie topped off with Stila- City Lights. Zoya Evvie is from this fall's NYFW Designer collection, but it was released earlier this year in the limited edition Peter Som gift box. I do not know if City Lights is from a collection since it is in a mini bottle.

 These two shades were a great combination together. Green and gold usually look nice paired.

City Lights was a prismatic gold glitter. I only layered one coat of it over Evvie. In this blurred picture, you can see the different colors the glitter reflects.

 I took a couple pictures of Evvie before I layered City Lights over it. This is with the flash. Here it looks almost like a muted greenish gray, but it's much more green.

Without the flash, it is pretty accurate how this color looks in low lighting. The gold glitter brightened it up a lot though so that it didn't look as dark. Evvie is a pretty dark grayed green with some blue hints to it. It is definitely a fall color, but I'll wear those year-round. It also applied flawlessly with two coats.

I got some more epic nail mail for my birthday!!!

 I am in a local swap group on facebook and we participated in a secret swap. Sara from Spicey'z Nails was my partner. She sent me some sweet polish plus tons of goodies!! I got Hits-Afterglow, Essie- Mojito Madness, Sally Hansen- Purple Pizzazz, and a mini of Color Club-Wicked Sweet (which I hear smells like blue raspberry)

I also found a blog sale with some awesome vintage gems!! Here's Mary Kay- Mulberry Spice and Mocha Freeze, Maybelline- Ultra Violet and Terra Cotta, Wet n Wild- Black Ice and 428B, MAC-Butter, Sally Hansen- Purple Power and Lime Pop, and Wet n Wild- Love Affair

Fish Egg Friday Part Two!

I have another Fish Egg Friday mani. I got six containers of microbeads in a variety pack, so I just figured I'd coordinate them with the manis I'm wearing currently on Fridays. I am wearing three coats of Zoya Audrey topped off with two coats of Zoya Chloe, and then I added an accent of clear beads. I took the picture before I put topcoat over the beads. 

Heres's my mani before adding the beads. I really like Chloe! The Zoya Fleck Effect collection is really unique in that the base the flakies are in is slightly tinted. I tried to wear this one alone, but I wanted a little bit more coverage, so I used a base of Zoya- Audrey. 

Here's a pre clean-up of Audrey by itself. It is VERY sheer, and this is three coats of it. Audrey was part of the limited edition Peter Som box set that was released a couple months ago. 

I also got some small purchases. I've been really good about regulating my nail polish purchases lately, and I've decided to participate in the Nail Polish Buying Challenge. It is not exactly a no-buy, but it puts some serious limitations on purchasing nail polish. You are permitted to get nail polish if it's at least 50% off or free. Shipping costs do not count against you. You just have to last a month. I've been monitoring my buying since April 20th- so I put a pretty big dent in. So here are my exceptions...

I got Zoya- Zuza for free by redeeming my Share the Love points- I just had to pay for shipping. I also bought MAC- Pink Freeze, and Milani- HD from Oh So Lacquered's blog sale. These were about $2.50 each, so they were definitely at least 50% off. I'm really excited about the MAC. It's a vintage bottle. I actually like the older frosted glass MAC bottles and I'm not really a fan of the new ones (which also hold less polish and have an increased cost.) Although I've been being good, I'm not able to resist a good blog sale. I know many people swap, but I'm not to the point where I can part with any of my collection yet.