NOTD - Chanel Particuliere

I love this polish. It's my new favorite neutral polish. It's a clean, on-trend, taupe-mushroom color. I've found that it wears well on me - this is 3 days after it was applied. It's pigmented, too. With a super careful application, I can get away with one coat, but I prefer two, because the color becomes a bit deeper after that second coat. I know some people complain about Chanel's polishes and their application, but this one's a winner! In case anyone is wondering, I used 1 coat of Orly Bonder, then two coats of Particuliere, and topped everything off with Sally Hansen's Instra-Dri Anti-Chip top coat (the base and top coats seem to work like magic for me!).

NOTD - China Glaze Grape Pop

I love this polish. It's great medium-dark purple cream polish, although my camera skews it a bit blue. This is 1 and a half coats (to even some streakiness), and the coverage is great. I could've done another full coat, but I was in a little bit of a hurry, and I think it turned out just fine. This is very similar to the Rescue Beauty Lounge polish called Mismas. Close enough that I swapped away Mismas (this is sacrilege, but I dislike RBL's polishes. I know, I know. How dare I). Anyway, I love this color. I think it suits me rather well, and I love that it's a dark-ish color that isn't blackened in some way. 

NOTD - Sephora by OPI Sample Sale

What a bright, shimmery red! I was hoping it'd be more burgundy, since I had ordered it from Sephora.com. At first I was kind of sad... but then I realized it looks pretty good with my skin tone, and can be a 1-coat-wonder, if it's applied carefully. This is two coats, since I wasn't careful. I really like the Sephora by OPI brushes to be easy to use, and the formula is usually great! I'm sorry to see this color isn't listed on Sephora's website anymore (not that I'm anywhere near finishing the bottle - which I can't find, now). I topped this with one medium-thick coat of Diamont (which I desperately need to thin)!

NOTD - Chanel Peridot

Ahhhh. I love green stuff. Eyeshadows, nail polishes, etc... no green blush or lips, please! In January, I think, I saw a very poor swatch of some upcoming Chanel polishes. One of which was called Peridot, which is a green, semi-precious gemstone. I wrote down "Chanel NP - Peridot... MUST OWN!" and then sort of forgot about it. last month, swatches surfaced of this magical nail polish, and my lemming was reborn. I had to have it. I happened to get the 3rd to last bottle from my local Nordstrom (after turning down the SA's hard-sell offers on the quad, cream eyeshadows, etc. She was not amused, and I kept thinking "Hello? This is still a $50 sale for you!"). Anyway, this polish is stunning. It's olive, emerald, and gold in one, depending on the angle and light. I would've loved to see a little of the blue that appears in the bottle, but I'm not that picky. Love this polish, but it doesn't wear particularly well on me. You can see some tip wear already on my pointer finger.

NOTD - Chanel Graphite

It's been said that Chanel regret is bad regret. And I find that to be true, as I think many people do. Remember how quickly Chanel's Jade polish sold out? It was listed on eBay for literally hundreds of dollars. So, I don't mess around. A Nordstrom Note for $20.00 and a gift card left over from Christmas helped me get a hold of two of Chanel's fall 2011 polishes. This is one of them, Graphite, a glitter-dense graphite grey polish. As soon as I saw it, after feeling so confident I wouldn't fall for it, I had to have it. I'm so, so glad I did. This is a 1-coat polish. Seriously, how many glitters can say that? I love how it looks textured, but it's smooth as silk on the nail. It's not a straight-up grey, as there's a gold hue in there. It's a slight hue, but I think it makes this polish wearable for warm-toned me. The picture above is without flash, just natural light. The picture below is with a flash, so you can see how shiny and glittery this polish is.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

NOW (Nail of Wednesday) - China Glaze OMG!

I totally lucked into getting this polish. It was still available when I first started to get into nails, and I thought the name was very funny. I've had it for a couple of years, and Wednesday was the first time I had worn it. OMG is a silver holographic polish. I did wear a top coat (Diamont), which did tone down the "holo" by a remarkable amount. This polish was extremely thin, even though I applied 2 coats, you can still my nail line (click to enlarge). I'm not sure if I love it. I'll have to compare it to Nfu oh #61.

NOTD - Barielle Elle's Spell

I love flakey polishes. My only qualm is that they're usually sheer. While I don't normally notice Barielle polish, Elle's Spell caught my eye, and I had to have it! This is 3 (!!) coats, and it's still not as opaque as I would like. I really like how smooth it is, though. The flash on my camera really washed out the plummy tones this polish has - it's not quite the red it appears to be in the top picture. The picture below is blurry, but I wanted you to see the flakies in the polish - so pretty! And, let's not forget the multi-chrome appearance of these irregular pieces of sparkles, either. The flakey bits will subtly flash a soft teal green and yellow/orange, too! I applied one thick-ish coat of Diamont on top, in an effort to make this mani last a bit!

NOTD - OPI Mermaid Tears, with a twist!

I love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. When I was 5 or 6, my parents took my sister and I to Disney land, and I adored the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, as well (Johnny Depp in guy-liner? Count me IN!). It'd make perfect sense, then, that I would be very, very interested in the OPI collection based on the movies. I've only picked up two of the colors, and plan on finishing my collection, but I HAD to have Mermaid Tears, mostly due to the name (I'm a sucker for mermaid stuff!)

This polish was a touch streaky with one coat, so the second definitely helped even things out. On it's own, as you can see, it is a cream grayed teal.I had thought I had a Konad plate with a mermaid on it, but, alas, I was wrong. So, I used Konad's Princess Polish in Violet Pearl to stamp a fancy gold fish, instead. This mani is topped off with 1 coat of Diamont. Super cute, don't you agree? As a small side note, I'm well aware my clean-up skills are... lacking, to put it nicely. ;)

NOTD - China Glaze 108 Degrees

I love shimmery hot pink nail polishes. I really love shimmery (not glittery) polishes in general, and China Glaze makes amazing shimmers. So pretty and sparkling. It really reminds me of Zoya Astra, one of their uber-glitter polishes. I probably don't need both, but I love this type of color for summer. This is two coats and 1 coat of Diamont, and even though I just did this mani last night (and haven't done anything strenuous since), I've already got a few minor chips. What's up with that?

As a side note, I recently bought the entire Summer 2011 China Glaze collection, Island Escape, on eBay from a relatively new seller (she had 2 feedback). Normally, I have no issue with purchasing from new sellers, but I can't recommend this seller. Mostly, because the 6 polishes were sent in a small flat rate Priority box with NO PACKAGING MATERIALS, save those thin-walled boxes polishes arrive in from Trans-Design. Seriously. Amazingly, only one polish broke (one that I was super interested in, too, Cha Cha Cha. This explains why there's green polish on the bottle of 108 Degrees). I was dissatisfied with how the seller decided to resolve the issue - either a refund of what the polish was "worth," based on the final auction price (which was a bit over $3.00), or she could try to source another one, and I'd have to pay shipping for her to send it. I took the refund, and still have not left feedback. Note to would-be or current eBay sellers, per FTC regulations it is YOUR responsibility to make sure your buyer gets exactly what they ordered in the condition they ordered it in. I'm looking at you, Sparkling*Nails (also sent a polish that got broken when shipped, and has forever lost my business for not making it right) and friedpickles63 (latest seller).

NOTD - OPI Ali's Big Break

I never really wear red nail polish, unless there's something special about the red. This is a special red, I think. It's from OPI's Burlesque collection, released for holiday, 2010. It's a fairly neutral red cream with tonal red glitter. The depth the glitter gives is really spectacular! This color isn't wearing the best on me (this is day #2 for this mani, and you may note it's already chipped once). Then again, I do type all day at my job... and here.... maybe it's not OPI's fault? This is two coats (and the second coat wasn't entirely necessary, yay!) under 1 coat of Diamont.

NOTD - China Glaze Sugar Plums

My nails were naked for a long, long time. I just didn't have time to do much with them. Not so now, though! I lusted after this polish the moment I saw swatches on Scrangie's blog, and knew I had to have. Unfortunately, I was on a no-buy when China Glaze's holiday 2010 collection was out in stores, so I couldn't buy it then. And, swapping for it always failed for me. So, when I had a bit of spare cash, I picked this beauty up on eBay for a nice price. Love it!

Shimmery mulberry/cranberry with red and holo glimmers (I can't call it glitter). I noticed this polish went on a little bumpy, though. Almost like there were bubbles that couldn't quite get it together to become true bubbles, so instead, they made the polish uneven? I don't know. And, although most China Glaze polishes play well with Diamont for me, I think Sugar Plums doesn't like it. Oh well. I'm almost out of it, anyway! If you like warm berry colors, this is a must have!

NOTD - NARS Pokerface

I'm a sucker for purple nail polishes. Especially those that have names based in current pop-culture references, like Pokerface. Although the term "pokerface" doesn't belong to Lady Gaga, she's certainly laid some claim to it. Anyway, NARS released this pretty lavendar with their holiday 2010 collection. For whatever reason, my camera decided to make this color pull periwinkle, but it's a neutral, light purple with a in-the-bottle-only shimmer, at least, on me.

Pokerface is one of 3 NARS polishes I've tried, and seems to be the best as far as application goes (Orgasm was super sheer, and MASH... I'm on the fence). Not super thick, not super thin, this polish was squarely in the middle. Two coats was needed, because the first coat was a bit streaky. This is after 2 days of wear, with 1 coat of Diamont on top.

NOTD: Chanel Black Pearl

I'll admit it. I am a sucker for Chanel's nail polishes. I know they're expensive ($25.00 - the first colors I purchased from this line were $19.00, and I couldn't believe I was willing to pay that price!), but I just love them. They wear decently on me, and I usually only get colors that are unique (with only 1 true exception - I own Black Satin, but it's my only cream black), so I don't actually own too many.

As soon as I had read that Chanel was releasing a color called "Black Pearl," I knew I had to have it. I didn't care if I had to sell all of my worldly possessions, I would own, and love it. I waited patiently for details, hoping this color would truly mimick the hues of natural black pearls, and I haven't been disappointed.

Black Pearl was released with Chanel's Spring 2011 line, and leave it to Chanel to buck the typical pastel pinks and lavendars every one else is releasing, and include a rich black with a green/blue pearl. Black isn't even the right word. In the worst case, this color appears as a gray with a hint (very subtle hint) of green. In sunlight you really see the duochrome black/green.

The formula on this was standard Chanel - not thick nor thin, perfectly in the middle. I couldn't get away with only 1 coat, though. For full color depth, I used 2. Two coats of Black Pearl topped with 1 coat of Nubar's Diamont stayed about 3 days with 0 chips or tipwear.

NOTD: China Glaze Afterglow + LA Splash Be Mine

I had been lusting after Afterglow from China Glaze for months before I finally decided it would be worth paying retail for. And I'm glad I did. Afterglow is a pretty neutral pink with a blue pearl - super pretty, but fairly sheer. I did 2 coats of Afterglow, and decided to add some sparkle and make this my first Valentine's mani. I had picked up LA Splash's Be Mine glitter top coat, which is a clear base, with light pink hearts, and small-sized golden glitter.


Afterglow applied like any other China Glaze, very smooth and easy. Be Mine, however, was a PITA. It was super, super thick, so it looks like I just glopped it on (I didn't! I swear!). I tried to smooth things over with a topcoat of Diamont, and it's lasted 4+ days. The glitter and hearts from Be Mine ended up being the same tone or shade as the pink in Afterglow, though. I was kind of hoping for some contrast, but, hey, live and learn! Plus,I still have visible nail line. Ugh. Oh well. I still love it!

NOTD: OPI Cuckoo for this Color

I love me some OPI nail polish. They wear so well on me, usually. Anyway, this was my NYE mani, and I like it. It reminds me a bit of MAC's Beyond Jealous, I think? A blackend teal with shimmer. Blackened colors that still look like something other than straigtup black are awesome. That little bit of silver shimmer in the bottle translates to tonal shimmer on the nail, though. You can see a bit of chipping on my pointer finger and a little tip wear on my middle finger, but still - after 4 days of clacking away at a keyboard at work, my nails still look pretty nice! This color is from the Swiss Collection of 2010.

Top coat: Nubar Diamont

NOTD - Christmas Edition- OPI's Visions of Sugarplums

I'm trying to use up a nail polish, but with so many options, I find myself overwhelmed, so I go back to my favorites. This, my friends, is one of my favorites. One of the Ulta exclusives from 2009, Visions of Sugarplums is a gorgeous deep purple with shimmer. I love it. It took me forever to get it (darn my Ulta and selling out of things!), but it was worth it. I realize there's some tip wear going on, but hey - I unwrapped presents and cooked a Christmas dinner with this mani! I think it's earned a little wear!

Alas, however, it will be removed tonight and changed to... well, something else!