Pinktastic!

I know I've mentioned a couple of times that I used to not be adventurous with my nails at all...I used to ONLY wear pink nail polish. But, well, given this batch of swatches can ya blame me? Pink is pretty hot!

Sinful Forget Now is a bit more on the fuchsia side, but it's still a gorgeous color with sparkles:


Sally Hansen 10 Day in Forever Mango is a pinkish mango color:

If you want a lighter pink, Sally Hansen Salon in You-Gurt Style is perfect, though it was a bit streaky. It's a great milky pink though, just requires a bit of patience:


L'Oreal Trust Fund Baby is a great slightly pearly pink, not super frosty but adds a bit of extra shine, a very classy pink:

Boots Rendezvous is a dark rose-pink with a punchful of gold shimmer:


Naturally, I saved the best for last. Rimmel Pop Apricot is a truly juicy pink color with a bit of pretty gold glitter:


I hope you enjoyed this mini picspam of delicious pinks. This post is dedicated to the very kind and very sweet duffimac over at MUA, who used to not like pinks at all! Hopefully this post will inspire her to give pinks a chance =)

Drugstore Gems: Wet N Wild

Yes, I like my salon brands like OPI and Essie but well, nail polish obsession doesn't have to be an expensive habit. There are plenty of great drugstore brands out there. Previously, I mentioned Black Radiance and Sinful Colors, but Wet n Wild has great color selections and their cheapest polish is 99 cents! It's really a great deal. Not only that, their polish is definitely the best cheap polish you can get (sorry NYC, I'll point out your minor flaws a bit later). WnW Black Creme is my resident favorite pure black polish because it's opaque in one coat and so cheap, which makes it great for frankens too.

Dreamy Poppy is another standout, a bright pink color that's fun and great for summer. I used to not like straight cremes but they've really grown on me


Talk about getting your bang for a buck!

I think this is the fastest that I've ever edited pictures and gotten a post up lol (within 20 minutes). It usually takes me a while because I'm very easily distracted. I had to get up early today to take one of my roommates to school because he's going to be carless for a while, and I'm sitting with my chem book open while listening to another roommate play on a PS2. But the main reason I wanted to post fast is because I have another midterm this Thursday, which means I really only have today to justify a bunch of posts. Anything past today is a bit shameful because I'm obviously procrastinating! I do have a ton of swatch pics still to edit so today might be super megapost day

Getting Creative With Drying

It's been super overcast and weird here lately in the Inland Empire (it's like the immense smog blocks out the sunlight), so I haven't been able to get many good sunlight pictures. There's also the matter of my camera deceiving me, it usually displays a yellow hand on my camera if it's crystal clear but it hasn't worked out so well in the last four pictures.

Anyway, the super sweet ilikechickens12 sent me a hard to find (HTF) polish the other day! Thank you so much Liz! It's soooo beautiful:
I will get a better picture of it someday. However, as with all Creative Nail Design (CND) polishes, it did NOT want to dry. I used my usual quick-dry top coat, INM Out the Door, and after an hour and a half it still was not dry. Then, I soaked my nails in ice-cold water for 20 minutes....nothing So I sprayed some canola oil on my nails and that still didn't work. And I was hungry, so my nails got messed up when I ate chips and salsa. Oh well. My friend Jen told me that she never had a problem w/Creative drying, but she used their base and top coat. So until I get a hold of both to try that, I will have to hold off on the beautiful Blue Blood.

Anyone else have tips on how they get CND polishes to dry without using the CND base and top coat? Please let me know, I'd love some more CND polishes!

Your Daily Dose of Hotness

So yesterday all my roommates from last year met up to do some typically Asian-y stuff in Rowland Heights, CA. We're all best friends so they understand my weirdness as much as I understand theirs. Anyway, there's this place called Life Plaza and we went there to get dessert. It's split up into a store side and a restaurant side. Somehow, I honed in on the store side and noticed they put in a new display with pa polishes! It's like I have a polish radar, lol.

Anyway so pa is a Japanese brand with lots of excellent colors and they are good quality. The gorgeous and fabulous greyeyez on the nail board discovered it first, and they can be ordered through Orange Lighthouse. The downside is that the polishes sold on the site are very small. However, after my friends and I said our goodbyes left to go to our separate cars, I ducked back into Life (and if they ever found out, I would be teased so much!), and snagged two full size versions! They don't have names, only numbers, but I'm not sure they're available through Orange Lighthouse, since the full-size and smaller bottles were different colors. They were also a bit pricey, $7.90 each but not too bad for an imported polish. Especially since they're pretty rare in the US.

Here are the two I snagged, Q12 & Q21:


Q12 is a shimmery sheerish white, it's pretty but the silver shimmer is a bit gritty without topcoat:

Q21 is really a standout, it looks like a mermaid's tail....well what I imagine a mermaid's tail would look like at least. The base is a jelly green, and it has the same kind of chunky glitter in some of the newer Sinfuls:


I apologize for the quality of these pictures, I swear my camera is very deceiving sometimes. But it truly is gorgeous. Can you see all the different colors that flash in the bottle? For more information on pa polishes, you can visit Orange Lighthouse or Dear-Laura.com

Also, it's been a while since I've done an Early Morning Hotness post...those are usually when I should be sleeping but am blogging instead, hehe. But it feels nice to get back into a bit of a routine!

Zoya Extravaganza!

Feeling the hot summer days already? Well the people at Zoya have decided to make the summer even hotter for us nail polish lovers. Now with every order on Zoya.com, you can enter a promo code for a set of three free polishes! These code were designed specifically for 6 bloggers and 1 dedicated to the style team in their hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The promo ends Friday, July 18th. Here are the codes & colors you get:

Polish Addict: Miley, Rea, and Stephanie. Promo Code.

The Beauty of Life: Indigo, Nikki, Tobi. Promo Code.

Blogdorf Goodman: Indigo, Audrina, Annie. Promo Code.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Style Team: Lo, Audrina, Elodie. Promo Code.

Scrangie: Trixie, Ki, Yasmeen. Promo Code

Temptalia: Tart, Suzanne, Sunny. Promo Code.

All Lacquered Up: Tart, Fergie, Lianne. Promo Code.




...I'm not going to lie that took me a while to compile all those together. You can only use one code per order, no stacking codes! Seeing all these colors is really making me itch for some more Zoya polishes...I can't say that there is one promo that I would choose over the rest but I'm really lemming Elodie, Gaia, Rea, Lianne, Tart, and Annie.

Here's another hot Zoya though...Akyra is a metallicy forest green/dark teal. It's gorgeous and definitely one of my favorite greens. And we all know how there is a dearth of good green polishes in the world.
The lighting is a bit weird but this is definitely the most representative of the color. Being curious of the origin of the name, I googled 'akyra' and 'akira' and found some interesting things. I don't know if Zoya intented to name it after the 1988 movie Akira but it sounds like a very powerful movie that I now want to watch.

Today is a lazy Saturday so I did some swatches of two AWESOME polishes I got yesterday and am planning on uploading some more pics. So look forward to lots of posts and pictures coming up!

A Touch of Class

I can be sooooo forgetful that it's a bit embarrassing sometimes. I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but for some reason, it just hasn't happened until now.

I surf around a lot on the internet when I have nothing to do and love finding new sites to visit regularly. A real gem that I've stumbled on is A Touch of Blusher, which is run by PJ in the UK. The best thing about this blog that it features a lot of cosmetics that I might never have heard of before, whether they be European brands or Japanese brands. And some Asian nail polishes? To die for! I also love that she's created Beauty City guides, it's definitely handy for when I want to visit Tokyo, Taipei, or London (so far those are the cities she's evaluated, London is coming). I'm actually considering visiting Taipei sometime before December because of the direct flights from China to Taiwan now. I don't think I'd have to get a visa because of my US passport so hopefully that will happen!

Anyway, continuing on, A Touch of Blusher is a general cosmetics site but occasionally you can find a great pictures of upcoming collections that include some hot nail colors. For European readers and those that frequent Japan too, this is definitely a handy blog to keep reading.

These Boots Were Made for Paintin'

Boots is a powerhouse British cosmetics/beauty/health brand that in recent years has expanded to the U.S. It's most commonly found at Target and CVS stores. Their nail colors have always been pretty basic, but they started adding some new ones that are pretty hot. One of them is Sunset, a bright-ish rose pink with gorgeous silver shimmer.


The application was very smooth but my only gripe is that the neck of the bottle is a bit narrow and tall. I feel like if I'm not too careful dipping the brush back into the bottle, I could easily mess up the brush by jamming it too hard against the sides. I'm hoping they'll release other new colors soon too, because for $4.99, it's not very expensive and I loved the application. I already scooped up another one, Rendezvous (a dark pink with gold shimmer) while they were on sale at Target, and there's a pretty hot dark purple one that's very pretty too.

Responses

Hello there! Sorry for the slow trickle of posts, I've been busy with summer school and all. Here are some answers to some comments:

Reader Stef wanted to know where I find empty bottles for frankens. You can buy empty nail polish bottles at some beauty supplies or online at either 8ty8beauty or head2toebeauty. Or, you can use empty bottles. I sometimes use empty (or near empty) bottles of my go-to quick-dry topcoat, INM's Out the Door. If I'm removing any excess polish, I usually pour it into a ziploc with tissues or paper towels inside to absorb the polish. Or, I use a tiny dropper (you can buy them at Sally's Beauty) to clean out the inside with a little bit of acetone and then wait for the acetone to dry. This can also be done with Q-tips soaked in acetone too but sometimes they will leave little cottony fibers. I hope this helps Stef!

And well, no one likes to face criticism. So even though this next, loooong comment from Anonymous was well, annoying to read, I think it's important that I still address this. Anonymous, in response to my post on different types of nail polish remover, had this to say:

I find it interesting that essentially you stating that non-acetone nail polish remover is still acetone polish remover with less acetone in it than acetone polish remover has.
Um, I think the key word here is "Non." As in "Non-Acetone." This means that NO acetone is used in non-acetone polish remover. Other ingredients such as rthyl acetate, or methyl acetate are most commonly used in these polish removers as a substitute for acetone. BTW, acetone is really a relatively safe solvent. You speak about solvents as though they are a dangerous thing. Of course you knew that ordinary water is the most common solvent in existence? You can safely use pure acetone to remove nail polish. Acetone is acetone, regardless of the labeling as "Polish remover," or whatever. The same acetone is founf in Home Depot and Lowes!
The bottom line is this: Non-acetone polish remover does NOT contain ANY acetone. None. Zilch...That's all I'm trying to say. If in doubt, read the ingredients on the back of a bottle of non-acetone polish remover. You'll see what I mean!!!

I don't think Anon meant to be mean (or maybe he/she did), but I will admit that it wasn't my best post. I promise I will do a better, more comprehensive post about different types of remover because well, I did forget that there are removers out there that are natural and contain alternatives to any types of acetone. So please be patient, and do have patience with me too. I'm not perfect but I do appreciate listening to different opinions. Yes it stings a bit in the beginning, but sometimes the truth does hurt a bit.

PS: I do know that water is a common solvent though, I don't think I made it very clear. I didn't mean that all solvents are dangerous though I don't think that was conveyed very well. Pure acetone still has its hazards though.

Also though, if you do have any questions or comments, please e-mail me or comment on one of my posts. If you feel uncomfortable about your comment, since I do post some comments on the blog sometimes, please e-mail me directly or leave an e-mail address I can write to. Thanks!

Oh yeah, and since I am a tennis nerd, I am excited to have been up since 8AM PST watching the Federer-Nadal final of the Wimbledone Championships (which ended around 1PM). Needless to say, the match was pretty epic and though the player I wanted to win didn't (Federer), I think Nadal absolutely deserved it and that they both played some amazing tennis today. Rock on!

Happy Fourth of July!

Despite all the political shenanigans that's going on these days, I don't think patriotism is dead in America. Every year, the 4th of July is more than consumerism, it's a way to show pride in celebrating the day America gained independence from England. I really wanted to do like a cool design on my nails to celebrate today, but since I'm still sick I opted for a lazier option. I'd been sporting Lippmann's My Old Flame, so I just put NYC Starry Silver Glitter over it. The result? Very festive nails. It looks a bit like fireworks, doesn't it? Well, if the sky were red.

The Lippmann Collection is a brand of polish that I've never tried before because it's so darn expensive ($15) for colors that just aren't appealing to me. Even the most interesting one Rehab, wasn't beautiful enough to totally win me over. However with the big Bath & Body Works sales going on recently, I found some that were 75% off. I've heard the raves about application and wear so I figured for 75% off, what did I have to lose, right? Well, it's true. The application and pigmentation was amazing. One coat provided amazingly opaque coverage, I only had to do two to achieve perfection. My Old Flame is a true, classic red creme, the only thing that did bother me slightly was that I could see a bit of the brush strokes up close. But overall, I definitely think that if there are any colors in the future that are appealing to me I wouldn't hesitate to pay the full price for it. The above picture was taken after I had been wearing My Old Flame for FIVE days. Here it is fresh and pretty:
It's very much a pretty, classic red. Lippmann polishes retail for $15 and can be found only at Bath & Body Works flagship stores (you can check online here for which stores near you are flagship ones), select Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus stores, or online at the Lippmann Collection store.

I've Got the Blues

Good morning! Normally I'd be ecstatic that I got out of lab so early (finished within an hour!), but I'm still battling a nasty cold so I'm pretty exhausted, stuffy, germy and woozy. So yes, I'm feeling a bit blue....but that's ok, because blue doesn't have to have negative connotations! I will admit, my post yesterday about frankens was an introduction to one of my creations, Casino Night. It's named after the epic season two finale of The Office (US)...notice a theme with my frankens? Yep, I'm trying to create an Office-themed collection. Here's Casino Night in all it's shimmery, glittery, fun glory:





This franken actually has a pretty easy recipe as well:

Casino Night Recipe:
1/2 Sinful Colors Midnight Blue
1/2 Sinful Colors Hottie
add black to darken (I used WnW Black Creme)

I didn't use too much black because I didn't want it to be too dark of a blue, but just a tad darker than the base color of Midnight Blue. Casino Night has both shimmer and a bit of chunky glitter. Though it looks a bit gritty and rough in some areas, with a good topcoat it can all be smoothed away for a glassy and even finish.