Happy Birthday!

Just wanted to give a birthday shout-out to EmpressStephanie, who runs Polish Addict. Words cannot express the tragedy that is my life since I cannot view her blog nor Scrangie's blog.

Anyway, happy birthday Stephanie! I hope you have a terrific and polish-filled day & year.

...and it's also my mom's birthday, so I have to give much love for my momma =) Happy birthday mommy! I love you.

Gah!

This is a hard season of nail polish for me to be away. True, I get cool Asian polishes but I can't get too many because it makes it difficult for me to carry back and to get through customs. Instead I've spent an hour looking at my friend Jen's pics because she has China Glaze Bahama Blues and the OPI Holiday Collection pics up. I LOVE China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea, and I can't wait to get it! It reminds of me a pretty Sony Cybershot I saw yesterday at the Sony store, which looks like this:

Sony Cybershot DSCW55 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Blue) via Amazon.com

I also really like OPI Don't Toy With Me, which I am definitely also going to get. A girl can never have too many reds! I'm actually really excited because it's been a REALLY long time since a new OPI polish has struck my fancy, and it can only go up from here right?

And let's not get started on the hotness that is ChG Emerald Sparkle, ok? Misa Toxic Seduction and ChG Emerald Sparkle are definitely the IT green colors of this year. The world could always use more green!

So I really do love Jen, not only is she my age and super cool, she got me NYC Molten Metal because I'm in China. It's a limited edition NYC, the same as NYC Midnight and Cognac Sparkle (the latter of which I missed out on). I feel like this is like an upgraded version of Chanel Kaleidascope, which I was not a fan of.
It's blingtastic and fantastic. I can't wait to try it! I've always really liked NYC polishes just for the cheap factor, but their limited editions that come out each year with their fall line is definitely something that keeps people interested. Although, I have to say that the polish is a bit more expensive than regular NYC Glossies, either $2.99 or $3.99 if I recall correctly. Don't be discouraged if you can't find it right away, they will still be around by winter. Or possibly later. But, me being me, I wanted to get it secured ASAP. I mean, look at this color! Luckily Jen and I have the same skin tone, so hopefully it will look as good on me as it does on her.

No Really, I'm Not a Waitress!

Please excuse the poor quality of the picture, since I rarely get full sunlight like I used to, I've been tinkering with some indoor lighting. Anyone have any suggestions? I don't think I can get a halogen lamp...

Anyway, for the past couple of days I've been wearing a classic OPI shade, I'm Not Really a Waitress. It's a classic red shade...and there's really not much to say other than that.
It's not to say that this isn't a good color. It's an almost cherry-cranberry shade in real life with just enough red/gold shimmer. I prefer how it looks in dimmer lights or in the shade because it borders on almost a vampy red shade. It is a very pretty color.

Other then that, I think the word "classic" sums it up pretty well. If you're looking for a staple red color and OPI wears well for you, this is definitely a must-have shade. Other then that though, red is red. There's not much that makes it stand out. Every drugstore brand makes a red like this, it's really only a matter of preference. It is one of OPI's most popular shades and a best-seller though.

I recently bought the September issue of Chinese Harper's Bazaar. It's the Fashion Olympics edition, and it's huge! Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi is on the cover, and it has some cool nail pictures and ads in it too. I've been noticing that within the past three years, nail polish and in particular nail art has really started to pick up. Anyway, I'll be posting (hopefully) pretty regularly now that one of my friends has fixed my internet. I now have consistent (albeit slow) internet, hooray! It's not too bad as long as it gets the job done =)

Impressions: Studio Tools Non-Acetone Nail Polish Remover Pads

I know I'm constantly apologizing for the lack of updates, I actually caught a cold though in the past couple of days so I really haven't been in the mood to do anything but sleep and rest. I have actually gotten a couple of new polishes while I've been here in China, so I'm eager to share those as soon as possible with you guys....even though there's not much sunlight to take pictures.

So, I decided not to bring a big huge bottle of nail polish remover with me here just because of the hassle and because nail polish wasn't an immediate priority. But, to tide me over until I could buy some remover, I picked up Studio Tolls Non-Acetone Nail Polish Remover Pads at Target. I used them last summer as well since they are cheap (I believe $1.99 for the box). They also come in an Acetone version, which I haven't tried yet.

L-R: Box, Individual Package, Pad

Quantity: 6 individual pads

Claims: Extra-thick felt nail polish remover pads are ideal for easy and convenient nail polish removal. Each pad contains a special formula to help soften cuticles, and add strength and resiliency for more beautiful nails. One pad cleans all ten nails.

My experience: The felt inside the packets is thick and supersaturated with remover. The scent is strong and a bit unusual, not like any remover I have smelled before. Not pleasant but not entirely unpleasant (it's bearable, for lack of better words) and quite strong. Also, one pad doesn't clean all ten nails, it can clean up to five since all the remover dries up by then.

Likes:

• convenient for traveling, no worries about spills
• price isn't too bad

Dislikes:

• the way the remover feels against bare skin, because the pad is so saturated with remover, it can make your fingers feel pruny
• the remover also feels very sticky after, which added onto the pruny fingers makes it feel very uncomfortable
• kind of drying
• the remover dries so quickly that by the fourth and fifth nail it becomes a struggle to remove the polish- I actually found out that this can be avoided by keeping the pad folded as shown in the picture above, but the trade-off is that your fingers get prunier.

Conclusion: They kind of suck but they are good for short-term vacations when you don't have anything else, since they are so convenient. That being said, I need to find some real remover ASAP.

Also, I'm sad because there are some beauty blogs that I can't access, like ALU, Scrangie, Nail Addict. It's very weird. Luckily I am able to see my own blog, but that means I can't always keep track the latest nail trends in the States for four months =(

Mini Nicole-fest

Hi guys! I actually AM alive! I've just been having issues with internet and I've also been having a blast in Shanghai. No matter how many times I've been to this city, I'm constantly rediscovering more stuff to do and my friends and I have been having lots of fun just wandering around.

So, a bit of belated business to tend to...the Canadian Nicoles! First of all, Canada was awesome and I just love Niagara Falls...

The American Falls & Horseshoe Falls from the Rainbow Bridge

American Falls at night

Isn't it so beautiful? I could just sit and take pictures forever. Obviously with the sightseeing and soaking in all Canada could offer in the four days I was there, I didn't get to see much nail polish UNTIL the very last day I was in Canada. We stopped by the Shopper's Drug Mart inside the Eaton Shopping Centre in Toronto, and I got some Nicole's on sale! They were priced at $7 instead of the $13 CAD they usually are. Pricey, especially with the sadly weaker dollar, but it's a unique souvenir for me. Now, these aren't any regular Nicole's...these are two Nicole's that actually can only be bought in Canada! They are exclusive to only Canada, so I'm really glad to have gotten my hands on them.

I adore vampy, or darker, colors even though my parents hate them and always give me weird looks whenever I wear darker shades. But, I feel like polish is very expressive so I love wearing dark shades when I'm feeling fun or down. Also, they just look cool sometimes. The first shade is Drama in the Dark, a black base with slight green and blue sparkles.
It's actually a bit of a plain color, but I'm always really weird about wearing just straight black...most of the time, I just can't pull of straight black creme polish...I'm always tempted to layer something over it. It's a pretty color, but not much of a standout. I did get good, opaque coverage in one coat, this is it with two coats.

However, since I am a fan of green polishes, Nicole Drama in the Dark was what really grabbed my attention. The base is a dark green and it has green shimmer sparkles as well.

Shade picture:

I love it! It's shown here with two coats although in hindsight I should have put three. I'm so glad that many polish companies have started to make more green polish. It may seem a bit "out-there" for some people...I will admit that it took a lot of courage for me to wear green polish because I always thought it would look weird. But, I kind of thought that with red too and now I love red polish. Green is actually a lot more flattering than other people think. I do know though that for some people, it can be a giant step out of the comfort zone. However, you never know unless you try!

I really wanted to find the Canadian version of Respect the World because it's apparently darker...here's the American version, a pretty teal color that's a bit frosty.

In shade:

It would be prettier darker, but I do like how the American version looks too. I miss my polish collection!!!

Well I'm practically falling asleep as I write this, but I promise you that I will find a balance here soon so that I will get back to posting pics soon. I have a bunch of pics that I saved up just so I wouldn't run out of things to post about during my four-month time here. So, stay tuned!

Oh, before I forget though, according to reader Danielle, for all those in the Niagara Falls area, they are building a Sally's Beauty Supply in St. Catherine's!