Hi polish friends, welcome to Thursday. I'm actually pre-writing this the night before because I'll be on my way up to Chicago for some fieldwork. Pretty much my least favorite part of my job but the weather is going to be in the 60's and feeling perfectly like Fall sweater weather so I am excited for that :) I've got my Fall polishes out, some new sweaters, a fuzzy blanket, and my pumpkin cupcake candle going. You'd better believe I'm ready! Today I have an interesting polish to share with you, actually a pretty interesting take on a nude polish. This polish came in a set of three full-size Ciate polishes that I bought during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. The trio was dessert themed and it had a full size of my favorite Ciate, Pepperminty so I just went for it. Cookies and Cream is the pinky nude polish of the group.
Ciate Cookies and Cream is a semi-sheer polish but it can be buildable. I don't personally care for sheers too much so I choose to build up the color to be fully opaque. The color was easily built up in three thin coats of polish. The color was very interesting and nothing like I've seen before. It's really like the color the milk is after you dunk a bunch of Oreos in it. It's a light nude but it has a hint of pink to it. I really enjoyed it. My swatches are three thin coats with topcoat.
Overall I was very happy with this polish. I have been very surprised with how many Ciate polishes I have liked recently. With the ones I've tried, they've had good formulas and unique colors. I liked that this polish could be worn sheer or could be easily built up and I love the unique color. This one was a big winner for me!
Hi everyone, welcome to Wednesday. I hope the week has been treating you well. It's another rainy stormy day here. I was supposed to go in the field for work but I postponed it until tomorrow. The high starting tomorrow is going to be in the 60's and I'm super excited for that. That sounds like Fall weather to me! Today I am excited to show you the Halloween offering from OPI this year and the best part is that they are full-size bottles. Every year OPI offers a four-bottle mini set but this year there is a full four bottle collection based on the cartoon Peanuts. The collection consists of two solid colors and two glitters. I also did do a video on this collection which I will include at the end. Let's get started. To Be or Not to Beagle- First up, one of the glitter offerings. To Be or Not to Beagle is a black based glitter with black microglitter, black hexes, skinny black bars, and multi-colored hexes in pale lime, pale orange, red, aqua, and cobalt. The bars didn't stick up off the nail and the glitter applied smoothly like a regular polish, no blobbing and spreading. I used one coat plus topcoat over Ciate Cookies and Cream.
Good Grief! Next up, a vibrant yellow cream. This yellow is sunny, vibrant, and perfect for Fall. In the bottle I thought it would be too bright for Fall but I wore it for three days over last weekend and fell in love with it. The formula is a bit tricky, as is the case for most yellows. It was a bit streaky, needing three careful coats plus topcoat to get the look you see below.
Who are you Calling Bossy?!? Most posts I've read regarding this collection call this polish a black cream but to me this seems like a black crelly. The first coat applies slightly more sheer but even and full coverage is achieved with a second coat. This polish is very shiny and if you didn't want to, you wouldn't need to apply a topcoat. I used two coats plus topcoat for my swatches below.
Where's My Blanket??? Last up, the second glitter offering. This polish is a mix of black hexes, black microglitter, pale green/yellow glitter, and pale orange peach colored glitter. Like the first glitter, it had a great base to glitter ratio making it a breeze to apply. I used one easy coat over OPI Good Grief! followed by topcoat. This one reminded me of candy corn!
Overall I was quite pleased with this collection. I really enjoyed the yellow polish and the two funky, easy to apply, glitter mixes. There were no problems with the black polish, it just wasn't unique enough for me. I was also very pleased to see full-sized bottles of all of the polishes in this collection, Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year and it's nice to see it recognized. Let me know what you think of this collection down in the comments!
Hi polish friends, welcome to Tuesday. Yesterday I was driving to work and actually thought it was Tuesday. All within the span of about 30 seconds I went from being really excited to realizing it was Monday yesterday. Today though, we are hopefully getting our internet fixed. It works in chunks of about a minute and a half so at this point I want to strangle MediaCom. We are on the next level of tech and this week they called every single day trying to get us to cancel our appointment because our problems were a normal "city outage". I doubt everyone in town has had the same problems for the last six months. As I got ready this morning I played out a conversation in my head of a theoretical conversation with a manager and me yelling to my hearts desire. Yea....it's bad.
Today for Twinsie Tuesday the prompt was teal nails for ovarian cancer awareness. I was excited to whip out some teal polish beauties and get to work. I wanted to keep the polish look simple and let the teal polish shine. I have a thing for blue polish and teal is one of those polish shades that really is stunning in my opinion.
To create this easy look, I started with a base of a polish I had always wanted to get my hands on, Butter London Slapper. I finally snagged a mini bottle in a set during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. This teal is vibrant, creamy, and a breeze to work with. For my dots, I used a small dotting tool and OPI Ski Teal We Drop, a dark teal blue. I finished off with one coat of HK Girl topcoat.
I can't wait to see the other teal Twinsie looks, I'm a sucker for a good teal polish!
Hi everyone, welcome to Monday. This weekend was fantastic and went by far too quickly. I finally feel like I'm back on my blogging and Youtube game and it feels really good. My migraines are greatly decreased, my depression is going away, and I finally feel good about doing things again. I did so many blogging things this weekend and it felt so good to feel accomplished. I have another new video that just went up this morning, you can find it here! Other than that, the hubby and I hung out a lot this weekend, went shopping on Saturday, and walked around a cool park yesterday. Today I have Essie's Fall offering which features six polishes. Some of the swatches have the bottle and some don't, the difference being that the ones without the bottles were the mini bottles and the ones with the bottles were the regular size bottles, let's jump right in. Take it Outside- a light taupe-y grey cream. Great formula on this one, two coats with topcoat below.
Dress to Kilt- A darker red cream. The color wasn't anything special to me but the formula was good. Two easy coats with topcoat below.
Fall in Line- A murky blue-green cream, kind of a cool-toned camo green. I thought this was a really unique and interesting color, great formula as well, two coats with topcoat below.
Partner in Crime-A deep dark chocolate brown. I'm in love with this one! It's very dark and vampy, almost black-looking on the nail but it is so shiny and sleek. The formula was great and it was super shiny. I used two coats and it really didn't need topcoat but I did it anyway.
Style Cartel-A dark navy blue crelly. Again another great formula, slightly sheer on the first coat but it evens out on the second coat. Swatched with topcoat below.
The Perfect Cover Up- A medium green-toned marine teal green. I saved my favorite for last. I have been seeing this color all over this year for Fall, especially in clothes so it is definitely on trend. I love the color and this baby is a one-coater! One coat with topcoat below.
Overall, my final thoughts on this collection are that the colors are kind of bland but Essie really knocked it out of the ballpark formula-wise. I mean, when did Essie start creating amazing formulas? My favorites were The Perfect Cover Up, Take It Outside, and Partner in Crime. What do you think of this collection?
Hi everyone, happy Friday. Well look at that, I might have actually gotten myself together for the first time in a few months ;) I had a really boring day at work yesterday and then I suddenly decided I needed to come up with a new post and a video and do it all in one night, so I did. Considering our internet works in minute and a half spurts I'm surprised it worked out, but here it is, my Summer to Fall transitional polish picks. It's a weird weather time here in Illinois. For example, today the heat index is 106, tomorrow will be in the 70's. I'm not ready for dark vampy colors but I'm also not really into neons anymore either. Here's 15 polishes I pulled to transition into Fall while keeping a little bit of Summer brightness but going a little bit deeper in color. The video version of this post is at the end! On a personal side note, last night I had a weird dream that I needed to buy both the Naked Basics palettes. I'm just wondering what kind of person has dreams like that, anyone besides me? *crickets* 1. OPI Amazon...Amazoff-I was surprised to see this in a Spring/Summer collection this year and while I love the color, I just never reached for it because it felt too dark for Summer. I can see myself reaching for it now and into Fall.
2.Ciate Pool Party-This polish was a freebie add-on with my purchases from the Nordstrom Anniversary sale but this little mini blew me away. This polish is everything I wanted Essie Butler Please to be (which I recently threw away). The color is a bright and vibrant cobalt blue and it's amazing!
3. OPI Blue My Mind-This shimmery metallic blue is one of my favorite OPIs, even though they make a lot of these deep blue metallics. This one is the brightest of them and it really shows up blue on the nail. Obviously the swatch below is an older one and it looks very bright. In person, it's more of a deeper lake blue.
4. OPI Teal the Cows Come Home-Yep, I like these frosty metallic-y blues...I know not everyone will. I chose this polish over OPI Dining Al Frisco because it's more vibrant and has that hint of Summer-y essence to it.
5. Zoya Kelly-This polish reads more Fall to me but it's such a gorgeous and chic color. On me this polish is a blue grey slate cream and it's nothing I've ever seen before.
6. Zoya Yuna-This next polish is from the new Zoya Fall collections (reviews coming soon), but I knew it had to be included. This polish is a blue grey base with gold and copper shimmer. It's stunning, that is all.
7. OPI Do You Have this Color in Stock-holm?-Another vibrant option, this blue-violet cream keeps the vibrancy of Summer but can appear darker indoors. This is another unique color, unlike anything I've ever seen.
8. OPI You're So Vain-illa-I wanted to include a nude because I'm a big fan of a good opaque nude. I went with a darker version for the transition to the cooler months.
9. Celestial Cosmetics Sun Kissed-I would have never thought that I would fall in love with a holo but this one is perfect. The holo is so strong in all lights and I love the burnt orange color.
10. Butter London Rosie Lee-The rose gold trend continues and I chose this glitter because it's a pinker, darker version of rose gold.
11. Zoya Rocha-Orange screams Fall to me and Zoya Rocha is a bright version of the deep dusty oranges we typically see for Fall.
12. Essie Watermelon-Another bright pick, this polish is another traditional polish but to me it's a bright version of the traditional maroons we see for Fall.
13. Picture Polish Flirt-Ugh, this polish is perfection! This was a release from a Summer collection and while it's a bright pink, it has a hint of berry.
14. Essie Jamaica Me Crazy-This shimmery purple is bright but not too bright to qualify as a jewel tone to me.
15. OPI OPI Scores a Goal!-Another odd choice for a Spring/Summer collection, but this is a perfect transition color for me into cooler weather. It's a medium warm red raisin color and I love it.
Leave me a comment with your favorite transition color!
Hi polish friends, happy Thursday. Unfortunately I don't know the results of my two spine MRIs from yesterday yet. The doctor thought he would be able to look at them but it was a no go. Basically in the next two days if I get a call from him it's bad, if I don't get a call, it's good. I did however get upped on my dose of migraine medicine and put on a second migraine medicine which should also help me sleep. Now I guess I just painstakingly wait for two days haha! I was so tired after yesterday I went to bed at 9:15 after falling asleep with my computer balanced on me :) Today I have another collection to show you, one which isn't new, but I still wanted to show anyways. It's weird because this collection has been out at my Sally's since the Summer but it just came out at my Ulta in the last week or two. Let's get right to it! China Glaze's Surprise Collection consists of six chunky glitter polishes, all with clear bases, all with mixes of matte and shiny glitters. Glitter Up-dark blue, light blue, light peach, and dark peach hexes. One coat over China Glaze Capacity to See Beyond.
Don't Be a Flake-black, aqua, and rose gold holographic hex glitters. One coat over China Glaze Intelligence, Integrity & Courage.
I'm a Go Glitter-lime green, fuchsia, and aqua hex glitters. Two coats over Essie Take it Outside.
Shine-nanigans-fuchsia, violet, and pale green hexes. Two coats over L'oreal Flashing Lilac.
Create A Spark-black, periwinkle, and pink holographic hexes. One coat over Essie Style Cartel.
Glimmer More-fuchsia, peach, pale pink, and pale yellow hexes. One coat over Essie Partner in Crime.
The formula was pretty much the same across the board. Some of the polishes had a little too much clear base and needed two coats to get a good amount of glitter on the nail. This collection was just okay for me. Some of the glitter colors repeated too much for my liking so it was hard to distinguish the polishes from one another. Also, the best method to apply these was the "blob and dab" method instead of applying them like a normal polish. My favorites were Don't Be a Flake and Glimmer More. Did you pick up any from this collection?
