China Glaze Grape Crush: there's nothing I like better than an HTF that cost me a couple of bucks!

About half a year ago, I stopped in a random dusty while waiting for a Hawaiian barbecue takeout order. I walked out with China Glaze Grape Crush. For free. (Well, I bought a couple of other polishes which came to $12 total and the woman who owned the shop didn't feel right about selling me a two-thirds full old nail polish... so she threw...

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Franken - Flare

Sometimes, you need a little glitter.This is a lovely little mix that I made using all of the warm tones of the Martha Stewart glitters. I wanted to my fingers to look like they were on fire -Eh, it didn't really work. This is over two coats of Orly Luxe, so the glitter is actually quite sparse; I wanted WOW and I got MEH. Oh well, there's...

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Color Club Enchanted Holiday mini set, Part II of II: Magic Elf & Snowflakes

The rest of the Color Club Enchanted Holiday mini set... Color Club Snowflakes over Revlon Powder PuffThis was going to be sheer so I layered it over a soft white. Pretty iridescent glitter in a slightly cloudy base; leans towards looking pinker (as on the nail) than bluer (as in the bottle). Two coats. Color Club Magic ElfSaved the best...

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Models Own Peacock Green

(2-3 coats - can't remember)This kind of finish ain't really my style but the color is T...

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Color Club Enchanted Holiday mini set, Part I of II: Enchanted Holiday & Wishlist Red

I love Color Club mini sets: unlike most minis, these actually feel substantial. The bottle is nice and weighty for its size, the brush is pretty much normal, and they're a breeze to apply. Even though I feel no affinity to Christmas (which, I am aware, was a couple days ago), I was thrilled when this set unexpectedly showed up on my doorstep...

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Nails Inc St John's Wood (oh and I'm going to Taipei today)

Nails Inc St John's Wort This was a GREAT polish: pretty blurple creme that applied just perfectly in two coats. Dried very quickly too with Diamont. If only Nails Inc weren't so expensive in the US... I'm leaving in a few hours for Taipei, Taiwan. It'll be a short trip for the amount of travel I'll be logging (over 30 hours in a plane coming...

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Hard Candy Beetle

You know when you pass something by and kick yourself later, only to be given a second chance by another brand? THANK YOU, Hard Candy!Please feast your eyes (yet again, as you've probably seen this fifty times) on Beetle by Hard Candy -After passing over Orly's Space Cadet during a (rare) frugal moment in Ulta and kicking myself for days,...

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Merry Christmas! - OPI Smitten with Mittens

My perfect Christmas polish!Smitten with Mittens is from the Holiday 2009 collection - one of my all-time favourite OPI collections! I really fell in love with it last year, and cast aside my similar polishes (aka China Glaze Ruby Pumps) in favour of this particular red glitter. It is absolutely stunning - a deep red with gold glitter. The...

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Layering Love - Essence Choose Me

Well all know that this was the Year of the Dupe, right? Case iwhatn point, Essence Choose Me, also know as OPI:CMIYN/Zoya:Charla/Orly:Halley'sComet.So what do you do when you have a lot of dupes? See what they look like over other polishes, that's what.Shown above is Essence Choose Me over a black polish - China Glaze Black Diamond, I...

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The Giving Season - Chanel Fire

I've had this polish for a while, but I wanted to save it until this time of year because of the story that comes with it!I have a friend on the internet. Yes, someone I have never met! She lives in the UK and we message and chat about all sorts of things and we send each other items we can't get in our respective countries. It's definitely...

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OPI Sparkle-icious and OPI Show It & Glow It!

(3 coats)In LOVE with this one.(3 coats)But I didn't care for the rest of the Burlesque glitte...

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CND Amethyst Sparkle

You know when you buy something simply because Everyone Else is buying something, and then you realize that they were buying it because it is AMAZING?Enter CND Effects Amethyst Sparkle:Well, hello there, my love! You are a light dusting of purple shimmer AND I LOVE YOU.This is Amethyst Sparkle over Ulta's Smoke Screen, and I have to tell...

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A Russian Substitute, Part 2 - OPI Unripened

In Part 1 of this little mini-series I brought you a polish that I thought resembled Chanel Feu de Russie from the Paris-Moscou Collection - OPI Tease-y Does It. (See that post here.) Now it's time for the next Russian Substitute!Chanel Nuit de Russie was just gorgeous - a dark polish with teal shimmer. Of the three Russie polishes released,...

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Del Sol Trick or Treat (color changing!)

Wait, it's December, d'ya say? NOT October? Not EVEN November?? Well, here's a Halloween polish I wore for a few days. I love Del Sol polishes but I've heard tell of extremely bad customer service from less-than-happy customers. The color-changing is just a never-tiring novelty that I so enjoy. Unfortunately, I wore this on a very cloudy...

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A Russian Substitute, Part 1 - OPI Tease-y Does It!

*sigh* Could. Not. Photograph. This.It's gorgeous and I couldn't capture it in one (or even two) photograph(s). So how about a ton of crappy ones!? Yaaaayyy!!With flash:No flash/shade:See the depth of the sparkle? Awesome. (This is probably the best/most accurate picture. Sad, I know.)In bright light:In the shade:Sparkly!See how it flashes...

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Ulta Smoke Screen

As we all know, I am not a neutrals girl, but be still my beating heart! Allow me to introduce Ulta Smoke Screen -This little creme number was an afterthought during an online Ulta binge, and thank goodness it was. It's a cool-based deep gray, and it is SUBLIME. It applied like butter, wore incredibly well and was unlike everything else...

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The Sultry Season - Essie Going Incognito

Today I have another polish from the Essie Winter collection this year - a collection that grew on me and now I own all but one!! (See my posts on Hot Coco, Smokin' Hot, and Masquerade Belle - which I have now grown to love.) Going Incognito is a rich and sexy green - it's like OPI Jade is the New Black's chic-er older sister. For some reason...

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iHaul: making up for lost time

I've bought literally no nail polish for the past two months (except for a huge bunch of Street Wear for super cheap when I was in NYC at the end of October, including the teal creme Moody!). I didn't have time, didn't have that much interest and I was trying to pre-emptively make up for the fact that I needed a new laptop. My three-year-old...

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