Recent Manis and a Glorious Haul

I have a few more recent manis as well as some new polishes that I've purchased.

First up is Amy's Nail Boutique- Cherry Blossom layered over OPI- Pooltime Lime. 

Cherry Blossom is packed with various sizes of matte hexes in hot pink, light pink, and white. The glitter was so densely packed, that I only needed one coat. I dabbed it around a little bit.

The sun was out when I took these pictures! I really like how the glitter in Cherry Blossom ends up arranging and laying on top of other particles. With the green, this reminds me of cherry blossoms and bamboo.

I took a picture indoors without the flash so that the sun wouldn't be as blinding. 

Amy's Nail Boutique polishes can be purchased through Amy's Etsy Shop.

Here is OPI- Pooltime Lime by itself taken indoors without the flash. This one is a black label oldie from 2004's Summer Splash Collection. Although I really liked the color, it was a streaky brushstrokey mess. I needed three coats and you can see that there are some bare spots. It dried to a shimmery, frosty finish. It's a yellow-leaning green.

Here it is without the flash. The dry time on this took very long. It was denting/smudging hours after I painted my nails. I still love OPI black labels and greens though!

Next is F4 Polish- Granite is just gorgeous. Just a disclaimer that these pictures do not do it justice. When I did my nails with Galaxy, I was in a bit of a hurry. 

Granite is a gorgeous dark blue/gray shimmer filled with various colors and sizes of glitter.

I used three coats of this just because the base was a little bit thin, but it built up to opaque coverage. I used the Elmer's glue base coat with this, so it was a breeze to remove. F4 Polish can be purchased in the Etsy Shop.

Here's a combination that I absolutely love! This is Utopia Polish- Paint Splatter layered over Etude House- Dear Darling Nails 43.

I just love the way these transparent neon glitters look. Unlike it's sister, which is Utopia Polish- Gumdrops, Paint Splatter has various sizes of the transparent glitters minus the blue and green. 

This combination reminds me of funfetti! Paint Splatter was so packed with glitter that it only needed one coat dabbed around.

This is Etude House- Dear Darling Nails 43 taken indoors without the flash. I purchased this one in a blog sale a while ago and I don't know much about the brand Etude House, just that it's foreign. Dear Darling Nails 43 is a white shimmer filled with pink shimmer particles.

Here it is with the flash. Dear Darling Nails 43 was a little bit on the sheer side and needed three coats to be opaque. It was still slightly streaky, but Paint Splatter hid that well.

Now on to new polish!

My order from my Zoya New Year's promo finally came in. It took a while because I wanted to wait until the Pixie Dusts were available to ship. The three free shades I chose were Jo, Suvi, and Indigo. The Pixie Dust collection includes: Dahlia, Chyna, Godiva, Vespa, Nyx, and London.

Nubar- Indigo Illusion, OPI- DS Shimmer, Cult Nails- Coveted and Flushed

Sally's Haul! I purchased the new China Glaze Glitz Bitz n Pieces collection. I got Bling it On, Mosaic Madness, Graffiti Glitter, Glitz N Pieces, Razzle Me Dazzle Me, and Scattered & Tattered. I also got a free ORLY- Wild Wisteria because my Sally's was trying to clear out of their old ORLY bottles.

My very first Nfuohs! I got 51, 52, and 59

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

Another Job Interview Mani!

I recently had another job interview so I decided to go with something safe. This is Essie- Imported Champagne. I was unable to figure out which collection this was from. I got it at Trade Secret for $2 when my local store was going out of business. It is a champagne frost just like its namesake. This took three coats. It was somewhat streaky and it had some air bubbles.

 It's really shiny! These next two pictures are with the flash. From what I could find, Imported Champagne is discontinued, but Essie has a shade available called Imported Bubbly and the swatches look very similar and could possibly be dupes. I'm wondering if they just kept the same shade but updated the name?

It's so bright. Although it is very elegant and conservative, it wasn't really my color. I was eager to change to something bright and glittery as soon as my interview is over with. I think everything went well and I will find out later this week if I got the job :)

I did go to ULTA for a premature celebration and in honor of the OPI Germany collection:

Germany OPI's: Every Month is Oktoberfest, German-icure by OPI, Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine!, and Don't Talk Bach to Me

New Essence Color & Go's: Walk on the Wild Side, Gorgeous Bling Bling, Party Princess, Oh My Glitter! (But there's no glitter in this one!), and Chic Reloaded.

I'm liking the new Essence packaging but since it holds much more polish than the older bottles, the price doubled. They used to be $1 and now they're $2 each. They are still relatively inexpensive compared to most polishes that I buy, but part of the allure of Essences are that they are so cheap and you can get a few colors without paying a fortune. I noticed that the brushes in these new bottles are double the size also! 

Essie- Shift Power

I have a quick post tonight. I'm wearing Essie- Shift Power. I do not have the bottle pictured because I have started moving, and it is packed away somewhere :( My China Glaze Peppermint cuticle oil got left out of packing- so I definitely won't forget it! Internet isn't set up at my new place yet, so this will be my last post for a few days. I figured I would post this before it got more chipped up with moving, and my nail-painting headquarters is dismantled at the moment. Shift Power is from the Winter 2008 collection. It's really sheer. This is three coats. It's streaky too, so I would consider it a frost. It reminds me a lot of Apple Bottoms- Gold Mine. This is definitely one of those polishes where you have to give ample drying time in-between coats or else it will smudge and have bare spots. The wear on it is pretty good, and the tipwear on my middle finger is attributed to packing and carrying boxes.

The Weekly Update

Apple Bottoms- Gold Mine  This was a gorgeous gold! I was unaware that Apple Bottoms made nail polish but I found a 6 pack gift set of them at Ross for $5 and just couldn't pass it up! The finish is somewhat streaky but that doesn't bother me. This is three coats.

without the flash

China Glaze- Fortune Teller  Unfortunately I missed out on this when it was at Sally's a couple years ago, but I was able to find a great deal on ebay. I love this! I wore it on Halloween. It was the perfect festive polish! It is orange glitter in a nearly opaque black jelly base. This is two coats.

Without the flash

Before removing it, I was curious to see what it would look like mattified. I put a coat of Essie- Matte About You over it. I was happy with the result!

Last weekend, I was surprised to see that ULTA had the OPI Muppets collection in. I splurged on all six of the glitters for now. I'll probably go back for the rest eventually. This is OPI- Fresh Frog of Bel-Air. I love the fact that there are different sizes and colors of glitter. This has tiny pieces of green glitter and larger pieces of the silver. I think that these were meant to be layered because there are a lot of bare patches on the nail. This is three coats. For the next Muppet glitters I wear, I'll remember to layer them over a similar base color. That way, I'll probably only need 1-2 coats.

Here it is without the flash. Note that these Muppet glitters are a nightmare to remove. Even with the acetone and aluminum foil method it took a long time and a lot of scrubbing with the cotton balls. If you plan to use these, you definitely need patience for the removal!

Zoya- Kissy This is part of Zoya's holiday collection. This is very tiny pieces of fuchsia glitter and holographic stringy bar glitter. It is very unique. It looks like a fuzzy sweater to me. The texture is very interesting. This needed three coats. It dried very quickly too, but I used Seche Vite because it was very gritty. I also had to file down my nails after they dried because of the gritty glitter hanging off the tips.

Here it is without the flash. The removal for this looks like it would be time-consuming, but it wasn't bad using the foil and acetone method. Absolutely nothing like the OPI Muppet glitters! These are also great for layering, but I just decided to wear it on its own.

ORLY- Old School Orange  This was part of their Plastix collection. It is not completely matte, but not a creme either. It does feel like plastic! These wear a lot better than the mattes. They take a little bit longer to dry. If you notice, I have indentations on my middle finger. I did my nails too close to going to bed.

Here it is without the flash.