Embarassing to the MAC

Well, this is super embarrassing. I know I said I hadn't uploaded pictures from my camera to my computer (I still haven't, I don't know why but I'm extremely lazy). I was going through my pictures and I DID have some that I had uploaded AND watermarked already. One of these is the very pretty (and sadly Limited Edition) Liberty of London for MAC polish, a dark green-blue. And boy, is it pretty.

First, let's talk about the gorgeous packaging. I couldn't throw it away!

The outside is pretty and so's the inside:

It's just so, so, so, so, SO pretty. And I'm not talking about the box anymore. The application was smooth and the formula was opaque enough. Here it is with two coats:

Here is is in a slightly shady version:

You know, I'm not usually a fan of MAC polishes. Their base collection is rather drab...I mean Nightfall and Biker Blue are okay but you can easily find dupes for them. Their limited edition collections though are torturous because they're usually the best colors.

Anyway I apologize for leading you to believe I'm incredibly lazy. I mean, I am lazy but I'm just glad that I had pictures on my computer to share

Guest Blog Entry! + Green is Still the New Black

Recently I was given the chance to do a guest blog entry for the UK site http://www.become.co.uk, a fashion/lifestyle/shopping website. In my (fabulous) blog entry, I discuss winter trends in nail polishes and offer suggestions for the darker winter days. I mention that a very cool look for going out at night or a party in the winter would be an all-black outfit with either snow-white or mint green nails just to give that contrast. And let me tell you, I have found the perfect mint green.

Unfortunately, I also discovered that my beloved topcoat, Out the Door, has a tendency to slightly yellow the colors of light polishes, a problem I've never had before with it. In fact, I learned my lesson once putting on an unnamed other brand of topcoat that it did the same thing so I stuck with it Out the Door...except now Out the Door is doing the same thing. I don't know what's going on but for now, I'm looking for a new topcoat. I'm trying the Sally Beauty's store brand right now, the UV-shielding topcoat and I'll probably try Poshe later too. I'm really sad to be breaking up with Out the Door but sometimes, relationships just end. Maybe the problem is a faulty batch or something but I was really disappointed since the coloring of the polish in the pictures (coupled with poor lighting) don't convey how beautiful this polish is. It's so beautiful that I actually wore it twice in a row, which NEVER happens.

Now, when I think of Revlon, I immediately think of their lipsticks. I was never a fan of their mascaras, I don't really use face makeup such as foundation, bronzer, blush, etc, but their polishes were all sorts of awful. No real variety, and the formulation was terrible. The most exciting thing they did was a couple of years back when they had that Dark Pleasures collection that was such a big hit. However, Revlon's polishes are newly formulated and I can truly say that Revlon is back in the drugstore polish game. Now the only brand that really has to step it up is Cover Girl.

There's a variety of new colors of the new, reformulated line called "Revlon Top Speed," but the one that caught my eye the most was this pretty mint green polish called Jaded. I'm really sad that I had such issues with my topcoat because when applied before my topcoat it looks a lot lighter. It really reminds me of mint, but I had to describe it, I would call it a sort of "ice mint."

Anyway, here are some pictures. The lighting is kind of bad so my skin looks all sorts of ridiculous but the polish is actually lighter in person:


The reason I feel like mint green goes so well with black because it's a fresh color that's not really expected. It's like a breath of fresh air. I have to admit, I've been a bit jaded (excuse the pun) as to green polishes lately. I realize that there are only so many ways a color can be jazzed up but I felt like we were just seeing a lot of the same hue. Here's a slightly better picture that doesn't make me look quite as jaundiced:


But what I really love about this polish is the amazing microshimmer.


When the sun hits the polish, it kind of almost glows. And surprisingly, the more I wore it, the more I noticed that it went really well with all sorts of colors...even yellow, and even purple. I think it's because it's like white but takes a but of the edge off the starkness with a hint of color, much like how a pale pink also complements everything, but this is just something slightly funkier. I know I'm making this polish sound like the second coming of Jesus but this is honestly a color that has broken me out of my nail polish rut and reminded me why I freaking love nail polish. It really is a form of expression and sometimes it really is the ultimate accessory. Of course I couldn't resist one last plug.

Thanks to Ranjit from become.co.uk for allowing me to share my opinions for the site.

Zoya Wonderful Collection

Sorry, I know these swatches have been a long time coming and I actually don't have the swatches for the Wicked part of the collection yet. But these pics were taken with my new camera and are pretty gorgeous if I do say so myself =)

First of all, my materials for swatching if anyone's interested...cut up pantyliners work better than cotton balls or cotton pads in my opinion. Nail polish remover is a must, as well as paper & pen for taking notes.

Burke is described as a sienna red cream, and I really love this as a basic red. It's super glossy, and this is two coats. It's a good, everyday red.

Stacy is described as a mahogany red cream. This is two coats, and it reminds me a bit of Icing Redwood so I definitely love it....I'm all about the vampy reds

Kelly is described as a paynes gray cream. I'm usually not a huge fan of grays because they can be hit or miss but I love this color. Two coats here.

Kristi is described as a crimson red cream. I found that you only really needed one coat for a fresh pop of color, but two coats (as shown here) evens it out more and just gives more gloss

Cola is described as a desert sand red cream. I actually really like this color, it really reminds me of Coca-Cola (my favorite soda!) but it really draws out the yellow in my skin, ick. So I wouldn't really recommend it for Asians with similar coloring as mine. It's a brownish red and it kind of has a bit of a tricky application. It could definitely benefit from a few drops of thinner. This is still two coats too.

Finally, my favorite for last: Shawn, a myrtle green cream. I thought it was gong to be disappointing because the bottle color is nothing to get excited about. BUT it's darker on the nail than in the bottle and it's the perfect green to try if you've never tried green before. It's a lovely shade, but I did have one problem with it: make sure you have a REALLY good basecoat because it left intense staining upon removal. I wasn't wearing my normal topcoat though.

And I will definitely try to post the Wicked collection soon but I was very impressed by the Wonderful collection. I'm normally all about the shimmer, sparkle, and glitter but these were all gorgeous creams and I really love them all. They're SO glossy without topcoat too, so just imagine the shine magnified with a good topcoat. Here are the spoon samples of both collections though:

I've been playing around with a new watermarking software so my address is a little wonky, sorry! Also, are we liking the new camera? It can be finicky at times but the quality is amazing I think.

Happy Earth Day!

Personally I think every day should be Earth Day but that's just me...anyway yet again I am doing like a million things at once so I put on an old green color, Misa's Toxic Seduction. Love this color! And it was the perfect green to match my green dress.

I can't think of anything new to add, except hey! Check out my past forays into greeeeeeeeen polish.

And if we're going to be talking about checking things out, there's an amazing new blog out called Polish Our Planet, and I only wish I were creative enough to start it and format it the way it is! Polish Earthgirl (who I have just now nicknamed as PE) weaves in great eco-tips with amazing polish pictures.

Oh, and I just applied for an internship this summer for the NRDC. Here's to hoping I get it!

Finally, if you understandably want to stay in this weekend, check out this Best Movies on "Earth" list that We Are Movie Geeks put together. I would add "Wall-E" to that list for families with little kids that aren't interested by former American VP Al Gore, but definitely give Planet Earth a view. It's just absolutely stunning.

Anyway, in celebration of all things green, here are 76 little things to help fight global warming, brought to you by BeatGlobalWarming.Info

*these really all make a difference!*

1. Plan car trips efficiently and combine errands.
2. Turn off lights when you leave the room, and appoint a person to be the “light monitor” at home, school and work. Use natural light instead of electric light whenever possible.
3. Decline a bag when buying only an item or two.
4. Plant trees -- as many as you can. Donate trees at http://www.americanforests.org/planttrees/ And to celebrate an occasion, give trees at http://www.arborday.org/join/TICTIM/index.cfm?trackingid=306
5. Print on both sides of the paper and reuse printed paper for scraps and notes.
6. Use cloth napkins and towels instead of paper.
7. Use electronic checking instead of paper checks.
8. If you have a choice, take the car that gets better gas mileage.
9. Use the Internet to shop, to reduce global warming both by using less gasoline and by making a contribution with your purchases. Go to: http://www.ourenergy-shopping.com/ and a percentage of all your online purchases from more than 700 participating retailers (including Walmart.com and The Gap), will be contributed for green energy credits automatically every time you shop.
10. Read newspapers and magazines online.
11. Insulate your hot water heater and hot water pipes, and turn down the heat on your hot water heater.
12. Set your furnace 3-4 degrees lower and your air conditioner 3-4 degrees higher.
13. Run full loads for your washer, dryer and dishwasher.
14. Replace light bulbs with energy efficient CFL bulbs (compact florescent), and ask businesses that you frequent to change to energy efficient bulbs.
15. Buy paper products made from recycled paper.
16. Charge your cell phone in the car. Unplug chargers when not in use.
17. Activate the energy saving feature on all computers and printers.
18. Share a ride (car pool).
19. Work from home; allow employees to work from home once or twice a month.
20. Return empty printer cartridges to the manufacturer or store -- Staples, Office Depot, etc.
21. Don’t buy disposable products.
22. Fix or mend instead of replacing. Reuse as many things as possible -- recycle everything you can! Insist that recycling is offered at your place of work and home if you rent.
23. Get removed from unwanted mailing lists at www.junkbusters.com
24. Buy carbon offsets at http://www.nativeenergy.com/services.html
25. Use a coffee pot instead of individually wrapped packets for groups.
26. Use glass instead of plastic, paper or Styrofoam cups.
27. Send an E-Card instead of a paper one.
28. Buy bulk instead of individually wrapped products.
29. Buy previously owned books, DVDs, videos etc., and rent a movie instead of buying it.
30. Give away useful products instead of throwing them out.
31. Make your next car at least 35% more fuel efficient than your current one.
32. Take brief showers.
33. Use light dimmers if you have them.
34. Use reusable plastic containers instead of zipper-top plastic bags.
35. Use a lunch box instead of a paper bag.
36. Use a thermos or cup instead of buying throw-away juices or small plastic bottles.
37. Walk a few flights of stairs instead of taking an elevator.
38. Shut doors and air vents in unoccupied rooms.
39. Drive 5-10 miles per hour slower. (N's note: Ok this is SUPER hard for me living in Southern California but I get amazing mileage out of my car even when I'm going at 65, CA's speed limit...and especially when I'm on cruise control, see below)
    
40. Roll to red lights vs. using the gas and braking (it will save your brakes as well), and at any opportunity, use cruise control when driving.
41. Save a piece of the rainforest at http://www.arborday.org/shopping/donations/orderrfr.cfm
42. Install a water filter instead of buying bottled water.
43. Wash clothing in warm instead of hot, and cold instead of warm water.
44. Buy organically grown food and drink coffee made with organically grown beans.
45. Shop at farmers markets and buy food grown locally.
46. Buy reconditioned computers, printers, etc.
47. Walk instead of drive for short distances.
48. Keep your car tires properly inflated.
49. Share this list with everyone you know, by E-mail of course.
50. Buy music online and download it instead of buying the actual disc.
51. Make sure your place of worship is green. Help them start or do more.
52. Keep the lint pipe of your dryer clean.
53. If you need an appliance, buy an “Energy Star” appliance since they are the most efficient.
54. Take digital photos and only print the desired pictures.
55. Send electronic bills instead of paper bills by mail.
56. If your power company offers a green energy option, take it! Ask them to offer it if they don’t!
57. Cut and paste an electronic file instead of printing a paper file.
58. See or read “An Inconvenient Truth;” learn all you can about the climate crisis.
59. Print only the parts of documents you need, not the entire document.
60. Turn off heating and air conditioning units when you’re not home; better yet, use a programmable thermostat to do this for you.
61. Bring your own reusable or recycled bags to the supermarket.
62. Remove a few light bulbs from lights fixtures or banks of lights.
63. Volunteer to head an effort to “go green” at your work, school, place of worship or any organization you belong to.
64. Pray for others to follow your lead. (“When you pray, move your feet” -- African proverb)
65. Send a Native Energy greeting card ($12) as a donation toward clean energy. http://www.nativeenergy.com/cards.html
66. Make sure the gas filter and air filter on your car are clean and keep your car tuned up.
67. Remove any heavy items from your car.
68. Avoid rush hour driving whenever possible; better yet, take public transportation.
69. Have your paycheck deposited directly to your account.
70. Use propane or natural gas for barbeques and camping instead of wood or charcoal.
71. Install an attic fan to ventilate your attic, and then insulate your attic.
72. Install ceiling fans to help with both heating and cooling.
73. Install weather stripping around drafty windows and doors.
74. Turn off decorative lighting at night and ask stores you frequent to do the same.
75. Don’t use wooden chopsticks! Either bring your own (plastic or ceramic) or use a fork.
76. Wrap gifts in newspaper, magazine or other used paper product instead of gift wrap.

Happy Earth Day!!

Early Morning Hotness: Shades by Barielle

Note: I had meant to post this last night/early morning, at around 1AM but my internet died =(

Barielle, the fab salon line that people (myself included) go gaga over their basecoats for, recently released a drugstore line. And I use the term "recently" loosely because I've been MIA lately (I might take it easy this quarter and only take 16 units instead of 20/21 units per quarter like I have been for the past year...understandably, I was a bit burnt out). All Lacquered Up already released the shades for their upcoming collection, but make sure you head over to a CVS and snatch up any of the older ones before they're gone!

Luckily, I was able to snag Date Night and Sneak-A-Peek. They are, without a doubt, the standouts:


Sneak-A-Peek is a gorgeous light dove grey with subtle silver shimmer. I don't have a lot of greys but I will admit this looked really nice against my tanner skin.


Date Night is just....amazing. I know green and blue are colors that people are really hesitant to try, but I'll be the first to encourage anyone to get this shade. It's the perfect dark green to compliment any skin color, with gorgeous olive shimmer to really make it stand out. I was afraid that the color wouldn't work for me because olive tones draw out the yellow in my skin (I really look terrible in olive green) but luckily on the nail it's different than how it looks in the bottle. It works a bit like camouflage... sometimes it looks darker, sometimes it looks lighter. The picture here, luckily, is the best representation of how it looks most of the time.

I've already gotten ansty with my purple nails. It's time to change them to silver and sleep =)

Dahlia Darling

I do not like Sally Hansen's bajillion different nail polish lines. It makes life incredibly difficult sometimes. It would be so brilliant they were just condensed into just one line. Then again, maybe we wouldn't have like 80,000 variations of pink or red available for us.

Even though I give SH a lot of flack, it's easily one of the best and usually affordable drugstore nail polishes. That's because while I adore cheapo brands, Sally Hansen usually has a lot of variety, especially of late. But really, sometimes pink is just pink. And I say that as a polish whore with about 50 different shades of the same pink or red. But then again, I easily every color in the rainbow, even the colors I can't see.

Anyway, I LOVE Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine in Dahlia. It's one of the most multifaceted, "sophisticated" (read: not crazy BLING BLING IN YO FACE) glitter topcoats around. It's multicolored, fine shimmer with tiny gold flakes. I tried it over, what else, a pink Sally Hansen color, and fell in love. It was cloudy that week so I don't have fabulous pictures but you can see the results:

Oh, and True Tulip is a straight creme, so all this beauty is all Dahlia

See what I mean about the sophistication? It's so subtle, but wonderful.

As with all good things though, there is a downside. Dahlia is not a clear glitter topcoat, so it will slightly alter the base color to be a bit lighter. So, it works best with lighter colors and black. You can layer anything over black.

Here it is over a darker color, LA Flare Green (a beautiful green creme PS)



As you can see, the glitter also shows up a bit differently over LAF green. It's not unpleasant, but it does make a difference in color. That's really the only downside to this. But then I think about how great it goes over black and over lighter colors and I'm won over again. I'll have to play around some more but I'm definitely loving Dahlia.

Help!

Occasionally you stumble on a gorgeous polish but it's either unnamed (ahem, Opera polishes), or they stuck the wrong label on it. It makes for very confusing times.

So, I got this Sinful polish and the label said Coco Diamond, but it's definitely not Coco Diamond...

Sorry it's not a great picture but it's a sort of green-teal (more on the green side) with gorgeous glassy flecks of aqua blue in it. This is a terrible picture but the sun came out only like five days after I wore it, so there's quite a bit of tipwear in the picture. Again, apologies.

I did wear this while I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA because it was a very appropriate nail color...it looks like the ocean! And I know I'm biased because I still think the Monterey Bay Aquarium is like the best thing in the world (mostly because it is!), but the Aquarium of the Pacific satisfied my craving for aquatic life.

Anyway yeah if anyone knows what the name of this color is, please let me know! I've never seen this Sinful color before.

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!

Early Morning Hotness: Misa, Misa, Misa!!!!!!

These pictures are LONG overdue and I apologize. I'm actually still pretty exhausted since I drove 7 hrs back home yesterday! California is a HUGE state. I know Steph and Scrangie have swatched them already, but here are pics from Misa's Poisoned Passion Collection for Fall/Winter 08. Actually, it would be a good idea to revisit their posts because Misa accidentally sent me two Dying Love's so I didn't get A Sin Worth Committing (the blue). Good thing Dying Love is a charcoal grey that actually looks good on me! Summer's not over yet, but these colors are perfect for fall and winter, the time of darker polishes. And it's so making me crave for those times too.

With this collection, Misa has really gone above and beyond. Each polish only needed two coats, no streaking problems at all, and everything is just rich and luscious. Photos are taken in direct full bright sunlight because I swatched outside today, which was fun. But, sunlight pics can be a double-edged sword because it can sometimes wash a color out (and my skin looks super washed out) so I took a picture of it in shade too...and everyone can see the high-gloss finish of each polish too. Like I said, Misa really went above and beyond with this collections.


First up, #175, Love Bite. GORGEOUS vampy burgundy creme. I love this color especially because it reminds me of Icing Redwood, except maybe a pinch darker. I love vampy reds, there's just something so sexy about them.



#176, Dying Love, is one hot charcoal grey shimmer. Ok yeah it's been done before, and dark greys don't really look good on me (and I always get confused because dark greys look so green to me sometimes)...but I will say that this polish is very, very nice. I also think that it works with my skin and the shimmer is just soo pretty.

I think I like it most how it looks here in shade, because that's how it looks most in real life

#178, Forbidden Lust, is a pretty, shimmery purple. Definitely a staple for purple-lovers. I love how it has a glowy look in sunlight.


#179, Toxic Seduction is by far my favorite. A gorgeous green with a touch of teal and is full of gold & multicolored microglitter. It's so beautiful that I'm glad all of these colors are good w/two coats, because then I don't waste as much when I wear this color over and over again. I'm really glad Misa added a green to this collection, it's definitely something that stands out about this collection specifically and also gives it a bit of an edge.


Finally, #180, Fatal Affair, is a very vampy purple with unique blurple shimmer. And try to contain your shock folks, because I actually really love this color too. Me. Loving a purple. Global warming is doing some funky stuff with my head ya'll, because I think I'm suffering from a heatstroke. But I think the pics can speak for themselves



So pretty much I had no issues with any polish in this collection. I especially love how I only need two coats for every single polish here, andI can definitely see where they drew inspiration from the Milan fashion shows. Everything here was so rich and (pardon the pun), polished. I know Misa polishes can be hard to find but they are definitely worth it.

But wait, there's more!

Misa also sent me some other polishes to swatch: Camellia Destiny, Heaven White, I Will Survive and Red Hot Mamma. The colors are pretty straightforward so these were taken in direct sunlight as well.

Camellia Destiny is a milky pink sheer. It was kind of streaky with the first coat but evened out a bit by the 2nd coat. Since I'm not a huge sheer fan, these is three coats here but you can still see that there's a bit of nail showing through. It's very lady-like but the streakiness bothered me a bit

Heaven White is a pure white, the same kind that Pure Ice Super Star! was but only needed two coats. Like with Camellia Destiny, it was streaky with the first coat but evened out with the second one.
I Will Survive is a GREAT song. I love Gloria Gaynor, she's so sassy and fun. This polish is also very sassy, a straight up glossy black polish. It's pretty much as if NYC Black Lace Creme and WnW Black Creme had a baby. It's got the mega-gloss factor of the NYC and the opaqueness and application of the WnW. Here it is in two coats. Plain but pratical.
Finally, Red Hot Mamma is just...well, it's a hot red for sure! It has a pretty hint of shimmer too that makes it a very glowy color.

I'm just about falling asleep at my laptop here so enjoy the beautiful pictures! Good night (or more accurately good morning)!