Golden Toes!

It's that time again...to show you what's on my feet! (Without showing you my feet...)

They look kind of crazy on my hands (read: yellow and icky) but on my toes they are golden and glorious!

Index & middle: Orly Glitz & Glamour

Ring & pinky: SpaRitual Reflection

Gold is by far my favourite colour for my toes (closely followed by navy). In winter especially, I love removing my socks and boots to find sparkly gold tootsies! It's a little surprise for me at the end of the day.

What is your favourite colour for toes?

kittytokaren

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Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

(2 coats)

I've worn this as a mani twice now. Once last year and once this year. I've been bored both times. Goodbye MMUtM.

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A couple of Owls!

I have a bit of a bird phobia, but these are two owls I can appreciate!

Orly Nite Owl (pointer and middle finger) is a lovely taupe with shimmer - quite similar to Essie Mochachino, but more flattering on me as it seems a little warmer on the nail. Definitely one of those polishes that is appropriate in most situations, but isn't a complete snoozefest. I love having polishes like this in my collection!

L'Oreal Owl's Night (ring and pinky finger) is truly gorgeous . It contains the most beautiful gold shimmer - that is very apparent on the nail - in an olive-y green-brown-grey-something base. It's unique, murky, mysterious, but the gold shimmer is so fantastically vibrant! A winner.

That's all for today - short and sweet! I hope all of you lovely PoP readers are doing well!

kittytokaren

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China Glaze Stroll

The only one from the 12-piece Retro Diva collection I ever bothered to acquire.



(3 coats)

For me, it's good in two coats. But I wanted it as dark as possible so I went three.

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Late Start - Essie Over the Top

I first bought this over a year ago when Chanel released a bunch of dark polishes with shimmer for Fashion's Night Out 2010. This one reminded me of Chanel Steel in the bottle, so instead of splurging the price of 'ridiculous + ridiculous shipping', I opted for this.

Then, it sat in my collection. Waiting, longing to be worn. And when I finally did...let's just say I owe it an apology.

Essie Over the Top is a charcoal with pearlescent, but never brushstroke-y, multi-coloured shimmer that just GLOWS. I've seen reds that do this, but never something this dark. This is just flat out gorgeous and I can't believe there isn't more hype surrounding it!

I'm sorry Essie Over the Top - you are my new winter staple. I definitely regret not pulling you out last year. Shame on me.

kittytokaren

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Gateway drug - SpaRitual Sacred Ground

So this is a bit of a story...

As some of you know, I have a strict "brand rule". I stick to a couple brands that I know work for me and have good lasting power for two primary reasons - a.) it limits my spending and b.) saves me the frustration of trying to get formulas to work for me that just...don't.

I placed an online order a while back and included some polishes a friend wanted - one of them being SpaRitual's Sacred Ground. The company accidentally sent me two of them, so I felt it was destiny for me to try it out...before I gave it away of course.

Lo and behold, I loved it.

(The pictures I took looked so much colourful in Photoshop when I cropped them. Somehow when I put them in here, the depth and beauty of the shimmer was lost. Maybe it will work on some of your monitors and it's just Blogger being weird??)

A gorgeous polish...a gunmetal grey base that seems to have hints of smoky purple and/or green...with warm gold and purple shimmer. Incredible, without being over the top. AND the formula was great. I now count SpaRitual and Orly as "allowed brands"...I wonder if this will be really bad for my wallet?

Have you tried SpaRitual? What do you think?

kittytokaren

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Dior Porcelain

(3 coats)

The formula on this sucks. This reminds me of Chanel's Morning Rose in both color-concept (pink with fine glitter/flakey shimmer - Morning Rose is a darker pink with gold, this has silver shimmer) and formula (sticky, unleveling).

Morning Rose is in my purge pile. I'm still debating on this one. I like this so much more on me.

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Dior Timeless Gold & Pure Diamonds

Timeless Gold


(2 coats)

An extremely cool gold (though the camera makes it more silver-y pewter than it is). Really like it. But it makes me sad because Dior messed with perfection with their new paddle (Sally Hansen mop-style) brushes.

Pure Diamonds

(2 coats - ignore the ding, hasty swatching)

This one has their old brush. It was so perfect. It was like the OPI pro-wide except a little shorter and the bristles seem to be a bit finer. Application is SO nice with this brush. WHY did they have to take it away? :'''''(

This one is going in the swap pile. I don't do layering polishes. For me, adding a shimmery layer to a creme is like Dior switching to the paddle-mop from the old one. Ruining things.

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Dior Czarina Gold

(2 coats)

This is like China Glaze's Ingrid pumped up (and darker, which works better with mah skin). Love it.

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Pinky Perplexity - Essie Lion Around

Remember how I went on my Hunt for Red (by) October last year? I may have to consider doing the same thing to find my perfect pink - opaque, not too sugary sweet, but not too fleshy either. This came close, but didn't hit the mark...and it's driving me bananas. (B-A-N-A-N-A-S.) I think the winner might have been Chanel Mistral, but I missed out on that one. :(

Essie Lion Around is from this year's Resort collection, and I wasn't planning on picking it up. I was quite happy with my picks - Da Bush and Your Hut or Mine. However, I was in Ulta one night, and through a complicated issue with returns and coupons, it somehow managed to work out such that they paid me to take it out of the store...yeah...I'm still looking over the receipts on this one. It was the one polish that spoke to me in that 15 seconds I had to decide!

I actually expected to hate the finish of this polish...and I do. But not as much as I thought I would. It isn't apparent in my photo, but there is subtle pearly shimmer in the polish, giving it a satin appearance on the nail. I don't know why, but somehow the combo of that finish and this particular colour makes me feel queasy - like when I think of pork that is a few days expired. The effect isn't as strong as I anticipated though, so that's good.

What I was genuinely surprised by was the colour - it was much peachier on me than I expected! I'm not sure why I thought it would be cooler-toned. I normally like a little peachiness in my pinks - it keeps them from being overly saccharine - but the orange-y yellow tones in this are a little strong and kind of...blends...with my yellow-toned skin a little too well.

In the end I don't totally hate this polish - I appreciate it not as my perfect pink, just for what it is. I like that it's a pink that isn't 4-year-old-with-a-My-Little-Pony pink. (Although MLP is pretty kickass. I had one when I was a kid. I called it "Balls". I kid you not. How my parents kept a straight face I will never know.) However, I don't think I'll be keeping it. I'm trying not to keep polishes I'm not excited to wear!

Any suggestions for my perfect pink? Would you like to see a pink "Hunt"?

kittytokaren

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China Glaze 108 Degrees

You know, I received this from China Glaze in the spring (and wore and photographed it in spring) but it seems much more appropriate to post this in summer, don't you think?

China Glaze 108 Degrees

Hot magenta jelly with either pink or purple shimmer. It is HOT. (The polish, not the weather. At least, not for me.) Still some VNL at three coats, as befits a jelly. :)

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Dior Nirvana

Dior Nirvana

Nirvana indeed! A wonderful teal polish that has a very subtle but very real blue shimmer. I'm so glad Dior has started releasing more interesting shades because for awhile there, I was afraid I would have to start to enjoy reds, pinks and beiges in order to ever get a Dior Vernis fix. :P Two coats. Looked great for all four days I wore it.

Closeup of Nirvana

I took maybe two dozen photos with the express goal of trying to capture the shimmer. You can kind of see it in this closeup photo. I didn't even notice the shimmer when I applied it. I only realized it was a shimmer polish when I got out in the sun. (It was a great moment because my first thought was, "Aw, man, did I accidentally get some shimmer polish mixed up with my Diamont again??" (No, I didn't.)

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My Top 5 Summer Pedicures (2011 edition)

I started a tradition last year of sharing with you my favourite pedicure colours of the summer...without showing you my feet of course! (See Piff's picks from last summer here as well!) In observation of this tradition, here are the top 5 pedicure colours that I've been loving and wearing this summer!

Thumb to pinky:

OPI Gift of Gold

Last winter, I almost always had a gold glitter pedi on my feet. Something about taking my socks and boots over and seeing gold glimmering back at me made me happy. I decided to try it out in summer and well, and my fav gold glitter for the warmer months has been Gift of Gold - for two major reasons. (1) It has fine, fine glitter, which I think looks really great and makes for easier removal, and (2) the tone of the overall polish is much warmer than the other golds I own, which I find very summery.

OPI Cajun Shrimp

A classic OPI, sent to me by the very sweet and amazing ilexica! This is just a punch of colour for the toes that I can't get enough of...and it seems to go with everything.

OPI Done Out in Deco

Before I broke up with RBL, Purple Haze was one of my favourite pedi colours. While DOiD is definitely not a Purple Haze dupe, the idea remains the same. A pastel-ish, but saturated purple on the toes looks great with metallic sandals, but remains feminine and summery without being in-your-face. I might like this better on toes than on tips!

Essie Watermelon

Exactly the colour you think of when you think of watermelon. Such a fun summer colour for tips or toes! It's a perfect hot pink that leans red instead of blue (like Bachelorette Bash), and it's just...cute!

Essie Midnight Cami

One of my all-time favourite pedi shades, and it is actually my current pedicure. Yes, dark is maybe not the way many ladies want to go in summer, but I think it's a really elegant counterpoint to the lighter fabrics and colours women are wearing. It seems to coordinate well with many other polish colours for tips, and the shine is amazing. I adore this.

What are your fav pedi shades for this summer?

kittytokaren

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Illamasqua Radium

I love this polish. Love love love.

Love love love love.

Illamasqua Radium

I wore this for four or so days? I believe this was taken on Day 3: just a bit of tipwear in evidence. It's such a great green polish: it's between lime and grass and is full of yellow and light green shimmer. This was three coats.

Closeup of Radium

So bright, so green! So up my alley. I wore this in May -- yes, it's a very long backlog of NOTDs I've got -- and it was such a great pick-me-up spring color. :)

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China Glaze Fault Lines Crackle over Huemorista Hidden Rainbow

I wasn't ready to take off my Hidden Rainbow mani so I put ChG Fault Lines over it.

China Glaze Fault Lines over Huemorista Hidden Rainbow

Errr. This was not pretty. Is there a reason this dried so dull and cracked so sadly? C'mon, it was a purple shimmer crackle! That's practically a formula for gorgeous, no? :( This is one thick coat of Fault Lines.

Fault Lines over Hidden Rainbow

Yeah, doesn't look better in closeup... at all. Yuck.

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Serena Glam Slam! - Wimbledon

I grew up in a "tennis family". I've watched tennis on TV since I was in utero, and one of my earlier memories is of jumping up and down on my bed yelling "Go, Agassi, GO!!". ( This was way back when he had long hair and was the new kid on the tennis block...I feel ancient.) I've also spent years of my life watching my little brother - who is *phenomenal* - compete in a million tournaments. My family has trekked to tennis events all over the world, and I have to say, my absolute number one favourite is Wimbledon! So naturally, I was excited about the polishes coming out for the most storied of the slams!

I only got the polishes from one of the duos - the silver one. The purple just simply didn't appeal to me. Here they are...

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness

A really beautiful silver foil. Completely over-shadowed by Chanel Graphite, which was released at a similar time, but it really deserves some real kudos. It's like Grahite's younger, lighter sister - yes, a silver foil, but just a bit more complex than that. It has a touch...juuuuuussssttt a touch...of gold pigment thrown in. This serves to warm the polish up a bit, which I appreciate. Other silver foils, like OPI DS Radiance, were too cool for my skin tone. I find this one very wearable for me.

OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

Usually not something that is up my alley, but it's a cute layering polish. I chose not to show these two polishes to you layered, because I don't like the way they look together, and I think you get a better idea of what is in this polish from a bare-nailed pic.

As lovely as these polishes are, they really don't say Wimbledon to me. Wimbledon is all about classic - classic all-whites, classic traditions, classic strawberries & cream. In that sense, I'm a little disappointed. BUT, that being said, they are completely Serena. Which is what it's really all about isn't it?

Are you a tennis fan? What's your fav Slam?

kittytokaren

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Dior Beige Lotus

Total impulse buy from a Duty Free shop at the Taipei airport. Twas my conference mani.

Dior Beige Lotus

I actually really like it. It's a good neutral with a bit of sparkle. Two coats, a typically great Dior experience. (Why are they sooo expensive though??)

Conference went well though it was absolutely exhausting. I almost forgot my poster in France, which wouldn't have been bad because I don't really have any more use for it. Still, it cost $120 to print so keeping it is a matter of principle.

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OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte and au revoir for the week! :)

I'm off to France today. Love conferences in cool places. I also love that the NSF came through with $1500 funding to cover travel and lodging (which is JUST enough, given the really high prices of plane tickets to Europe from the US lately). Let's hope that they'll allow me to carry on my poster tube because I do NOT want to lose this thing.

OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte

It's flat on the nail at a distance but it's gorgeous up close. The multicolored shimmer is lovely. Applied really nicely for a matte; the above is two coats. One coat is ideal because with more than one, you run the risk of clumping. This was taken on day 3; it's pretty tenacious!

La Paz-itively Hot Matte closeup

No, I am not wearing this to the conference...

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Color Club Wild Orchid

(2 coats)

This is one of the best grays ever. The formula is fab too. Applied in 2 very easy coats and it dried like lightning!

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Essie Smooth Sailing and OPI Navy Shatter

I never thought that eBay would be my preferred outlet for buying any nail polish but gotta say, it does me well for Essie. (The trick is to, um, buy a lot and order from a seller who has a great combined shipping deal.)

Essie Smooth Sailing

Photos just don't do this justice. It's actually a kind of chunky iridescent shimmer that sparkles blue and pink and purple and is so very, very, very pretty. Great application, two coats. This is the third day of wear.

Closeup of Smooth Sailing

You can sort of see the great shimmer in this photo. Just imagine it all over the nail...

Essie Smooth Sailing and OPI Navy Shatter

Am loving the jelly crackles. Some people might be annoyed that there's such a difference between one and two coats of the polish -- the discrepancy is most obvious on my middle finger -- but I kind of like the variation it gives to the polish. At one coat, it's obviously a blue jelly; at two, it turns more into dark navy (almost black but not quite).

Closeup of Smooth Sailing and Navy Shatter

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