Chanel Peridot

My new academic year's resolution -- besides to finish my qualifying exams at the end of the Winter 2012 quarter -- is to be more consistent about posting here!

Chanel Peridot

Got lots of compliments on this one. It felt more like a foil to me than a duochrome and oddly enough, the duochrome is more pronounced in the photos than in real life. Still, it was sparkly and bright. A little streaky on the application and you can see some evidence of brushstrokes. Three coats, thinner than I expected though. The photo was taken on the fourth day of wear and, as you can see, it was still chip-free!

Close-up on Peridot

So bright, it burns. :)

I've been up to quite a bit lately. Attended a wedding in Seattle. Saw friends that I haven't seen in a long time (all of whom seem to be in wedding planning mode... so there was a lot of conversation about cakes and caterers, dresses and... more dresses). There are a lot of pregnant women in my life so I'm making quilts, burp cloths and other basic, easy-to-sew baby items. I have also started making quilts for Quilts for Kids, an organization that provides handmade quilts for children in hospitals. I don't get that much time for hobbies and volunteer work, so it's gratifying to be able to kill two birds with one stone on that one. Attempting to make a dress from a 1952 pattern... I suck at sewing darts but now I'm super picky about buying clothes because I'm so aware of how they're made and how they fit. I tried to herd my RAs and got a bit of participant running done in the last two weeks of the summer quarter. I'm doing a little bit of freelance editing for an academic in another country who needs a little help with English and English-language publishing. My own paper just got slung back to me for a second revise/resubmit and I'm writing this post while trying to force myself to read all the comments VERY VERY CAREFULLY so I can see exactly how dumb I am. (Seriously, I can't type numbers. It's a very bad thing to be bad at as a researcher!) I went to the dentist for the first time in three years: I needed two appointments to properly clean my teeth (ugh) and I found out that my previous dentist did a crappy job applying two of my crowns, and thus they need to be replaced (double ugh). Lots of dentist visits. Though I like this dentist and his office a lot: they're the most cheerful bunch of people and all patients get a flower at the end of their appointments. I'm getting LASIK in about a month, so there's been a lot of back and forth to ophthalmologists (and one day I'll spell that correctly on the first try -- I forgot the first 'l' again... at least I got all the 'h's this time). I can't wear glasses because all the glasses I've ever had have given me a splitting headache and my eyes seem to have developed an allergic reaction to all sorts of contact lenses in the past year. It's a sh*tload of money but I'm hopeful that it'll be a good investment. And I'm slogging through a huge backlog of NOTD photos and trying to get some of the summer and fall collections swatched. So I've been busy... and spending more money on fabric than polish lately. A history of cosmetics obsession translates really well to sewing and fabric choices.

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Missha HG R01

(2 coats)



The rose scent on this is so impressively strong. I could smell it days later.

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"Robot Hot" - OPI Not Likes The Movies

I'm not typically into duochrome polishes - I'm not sure why, but I'm just never drawn them. I'm really a creme girl at heart! But for some reason I got a hankering for OPI Not Like The Movies, and was lucky enough to get it in a swap with a lovely lady!

Here it is:

I'm so happy I decided to go with my gut and try this out! I absolutely adore it! It is a silver base that flashes green, purple and gold and is laced with fine silver glitter throughout. The overall effect is smooth, non-brushstroke-y, and just gorgeous. I can see myself wearing this one quite often actually. Maybe I've gone batty, but I couldn't stop looking at my nails, and it seemed to go with every outfit I put on! The hubs declared my nails "Robot Hot". Good enough for me!

How do you feel about duochrome polishes? Hot or not?

kittytokaren

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Some apparently retail-exclusive Essies: Jamaica Me Crazy and Dive Bar

As most people already know, L'Oreal recently acquired Essie and now Essie polishes are being sold at drugstores. I had heard they were only Walmart and Walgreens so far but I found the following at CVS. They retail like any other Essie (about $8).

(Hey, do you all remember the good ol' days when the etailers sold Essies to non-professionals for half the price? Those were good days.)

Essie Jamaica Me Crazy

Doesn't another company have a polish named this that's also a similar hot pink color? Pure Ice, maybe (another Walmart brand). I'm not one for fuchsias -- and I always misspell it -- but this one just LEAPT out of the display... and into my shopping basket. (Funny how that happens, eh?) It's such an exuberant and cheerful color! Very, very shimmery. Simply put: hot. I think I'd wear this on my toes. Two coats. Applied beautifully.

Essie Dive Bar

Photos do not capture this polish at all. Here, it just looks like your regular sexy blackened blue/teal shimmer. But it's actually a bit more duochromey than that. It gets kind of black and kind of green, depending on the angle, and while it is a weak duochrome effect, it's still pretty awesome. The application was less awesome: kind of brushstroke-y. And surprisingly: three coats. I would've assumed this was a two-coater.

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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, I waltzed on in to a Walmart and was granted this little lovely. A color-changing wonder, this is another one of those car accident colors - a color so intriguing that you risk running into other cars while turning your wheel because "OOOOOOH look at that color!"

Here she is "in motion" -



Olive-gold-orange-pink, Hard Candy is all that an a bag of chips. Whether you opt for this one or Space Cadet, get one of these lovelies for your tips.

Happy day, all!

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OPI DS Magic

ETA: WOW! 1000 followers! You guys are amazing. Thank you so much for reading our blog! :) (And thank you, too, to those of you who subscribe in other ways. :D)

I should, in theory, love this polish but I feel kinda meh on it.

OPI DS Magic

It's big, blue and beautiful... but leaves me lukewarm! Shimmering, metallic, subduedly sparkly and very, very bright. It even has slight purple duochrome going on (click on the pic and look at the sides of the nail). I think I wanted more of the purple duochrome. I think maybe I don't like vibrant metallic blues? It's kind of a mystery as to why this is on my swap/sell pile. Three coats.

So... another month went by. Let's tally up my "earnings" from my exercise: 22 polishes! I totally didn't adhere to my "only buy 20 polishes in September" plan at all. :( I went to an amazing dusty that time forgot and came out with 60 polishes in one go. And then I hauled a bunch of expensive LEs. I mean, it was a real bust, guys. But maybe I'll try to stay within the 22 this month... should I even figure out how much each polish should be worth? I mean, I'm sort of on unofficial low-buy anyway since my 60 polish bender at the dusty...

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An Nfu-Oh Flakie Extravaganza!

I love flakies.  They are so unique and never fail to get lots of comments.  The last time I wore a basic flakie polish over black, the cashier at REI totally couldn't believe I did my nails myself.  She asked where I got them done and when I told her I did it myself she was really surprised.

The Nfu-Oh flakies I have fall into two categories.  There are what I call pure flakies.  That is, they don't have any shimmer in them and the flakes are usually suspended in either clear or a very sheer jelly.  Then there are shimmery flakies, which are pure flakies, but with added shimmer.

The thing with pure flakies is that they aren't very interesting on their own.  In order for the flakes to really stand out, it's better to layer them over another polish.  So in my swatches, I've layered my flakies over several different polishes so you could see how they look.

First up is #40.  This is pretty much clear on the nail.  You can't see how cool this one is until it's layered over something darker.  I've layered it over OPI Alpine Snow Matte, Orly Country Club Khaki, Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme, and OPI Sapphire in the Snow.  I used two coats of the flakie here and I snapped this photo under my Ott Lite.

I also got pictures with no direct light source.  I think flakie polishes look best when they are in the shade.  I feel it makes the flakes pop out even more.

Here's #44 over the same four polishes as above.  I used two coats of #44 for these swatches.  I really love this one over black.  It reminds me of autumn leaves.

The shade really makes these flakes stand out.

Here's #50, which looks very similar to #40 on the nail.  The flakes in this one are a little larger than the flakes in #40.  Honestly, if you're going to order some flakies, I wouldn't order both #50 and #40 since they do look very similar.  I used two coats here.

And the shady picture.

The last pure flakie polish I have for you is #59, which has a slightly more pigmented base.  However, it's still pretty sheer and unless you layer it, you're going to have a very hard time getting rid of visible nail line.  I've layered three coats over the white and khaki polishes and two coats over the black as well as OPI Got the Blues For Red.

Here's the shady picture.  I chose to layer #59 over a red instead of Sapphire in the Snow.  I think this one looks really neat over the khaki polish.

That's all I have for pure flakies.  Let's move on to my shimmery flakies.  First up is #51.  I once wore this one alone and didn't like it.  It's way too sheer to wear alone if you don't want visible nail line.  Even after four thick coats, this one still shows visible nail line.  Again, layering this is a must in my opinion.  I used three coats over the white and khaki polishes and then I used two coats over the black and purple polishes.

Here's the shady picture.  This polish is truly a rainbow in a bottle.

Here's #52.  It's blue in the bottle, but sometimes it's blurple, sometimes it's blue, and sometimes it's green.  Very unique!  I layered three coats over the white and khaki polishes and then I layered two coats over the black and then Ulta Moody Blues.

Here's the shady picture.

Here's #56, a green.  I think this one is perfect for St. Patrick's Day.  I layered three coats over the white and khaki and then I layered two coats over the black and CND Green Scene.

The shady picture:

Since I think these look coolest over the black, I did a swatch with just a black base.  I layered just one coat of each of the flakies over one coat of Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme.  This is #51, #52, and #56 from left to right.

And in the shade.  I'd also like to point out that I like Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme so much that I decanted it into the bottle that my OPI Black Onyx came in.

And because this post isn't already picture-heavy, I thought I'd add in one last photo of the above polishes.  This is #56, #52, and #51 from left to right.

I hope you enjoyed my Nfu-Oh Flakie Extravaganza!

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Orly Cosmix, Part II of II: the rest of 'em that don't have dupes that immediately come to mind

The rest of the Orly Cosmix... some taken in the sunlight, others taken in the lightbox and in the shade (because the sun doesn't necessarily show off these changeable polishes as well as the other two conditions -- which is rare for me).

Orly Out of this World

Three coats. Blue-purple (and sometimes gold) duochrome shimmer suspended in jelly that looks like it may be black. Probably my least favorite. I just feel like I've seen this somewhere else before but I don't know where.

Orly Galaxy Girl

This polish is brilliant. Burgundy jelly filled with teal-blue-purple shimmer. The teal is the most prominent shimmer color. I used two coats here but I should have used three.

Orly Space Cadet (again)

I raved about this polish here. A lot. With a lot of photos.

OK, off to pack for Chicago now. And to eat the delicious strawberries I picked today at an organic farm right off of the Pacific Coast Highway. And the olallieberry pie I bought at the farm.

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About a thousand pics of Orly Space Cadet (Cosmix FX collex)

I LOVE this polish. People around me love this polish. I have gotten so many compliments on this one. And I try to keep the number of swatch photos down (below ten anyway) but I feel like so many photos show different interesting facets of this beauty. So I'm posting, like, several dozen photos.

Orly Space Cadet (in sunshine)

Duochrome metallic. OMG. SO gorgeous. I can't even figure out how to describe it properly. It absolutely burns in the sun. It's this gorgeous dense duochrome shimmer (that is described as glass particles... but doesn't seem to be the China Glaze-esque glass-flecks) that shines magenta, gold, green and purple suspended in green jelly. Except there's more shimmer than jelly and I only noticed that it was a green jelly base when I looked at photo closeups. It did take four coats to become totally opaque but it was WORTH EVERY COAT. The primary shimmer that comes through in normal indoor lighting though is magenta, though there's always a little bit of green and gold flanking the edges. All the colors come out in the sun though depending on the angle of your fingernails: sometimes it looks like blackened metal and other times all the other colors come out to play!

It's like Orly bottled awesomeness.

Closeup of Orly Space Cadet (in sunlight)

Orly Space Cadet (in lightbox)

To show you how changeable it is depending on the light, I took a bunch of photos in the lightbox as well. Note: the lightbox does not simulate indoors lighting, it just shows what it would look like without the sun hitting it so hard, which made it look darker (as in the photos above). I have a couple of shots of the polish indoors, too...

Closeup of Orly Space Cadet (in lightbox)

The same nail at different angles.

Orly Space Cadet (indoors)

See what I mean by the magenta being more prominent indoors? (Sorry these are kinda blurry. Lighting inside my apartment -- without the lightbox -- is not great for photos.)

I just did a practice talk by myself in preparation for my talk on Monday. I've been rehearsing this all over the place: while pedaling on the recumbent bike with a PDF version of my PowerPoint, while washing dishes with my laptop a safe distance from me (with a paper towel over the keyboard), while standing up in my at home, while having a projected PowerPoint presentation in a room on campus. I'm going to do the talk with my labmate this afternoon for the last time, and then the next time I'll actually give the talk will be on Monday. I think I deserve the weekend off. :)

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