OPI Spring 2014 Collection - Brazil Collection

We have already seen the spring nail polish collection from Essie and I have been eagerly awaiting more releases from my favorite nail polish companies, this is one of the times of the year where I purchase the most amount of polish shades and I am excited to keep adding some new shades to my collection.  We have yet to see a collection from China Glaze or Butter London however the new OPI collection is now up on the company's website and I am going to check these shades out today.  OPI usually has one of largest range of shades in their seasonal collections and I always know that I will like quite a few from every collection.

The collection for this spring is inspired by Brazil and contains twelve brand new shades, I have complained in the past about how this company seems to bring out the same shades over and over again and this collection does not contain anything revolutionary.  OPI has a huge shade range and many of their limited edition shades are close to ones already available, I find this to be a good thing as I don't have to be upset if a limited edition shade sells out and I can't find it anymore.

The shades contained in the OPI Brazil collection are as follows...

- Kiss Me I'm Brazilian - bubblegum pink cream

- Live.Love.Carnaval - medium warm coral cream

- Red Hot Rio - medium warm red cream

- Next Stop...The Bikini Zone - pale lavender with a subtle gold duochrome shift
- Don't Bossa Nova Me Around - nude cream
- Taupe-less Beach - pale taupe cream
- I Sao Paulo Over There - medium taupe cream
- OPI Scores A Goal! - deep warm red-brown cream
- Amazon...Amazoff - deep teal cream
- I Just Can't Cope-Acabana - medium banana yellow cream
- Where Did Suzi's Man-go? - medium orange cream
- Toucan Do It If You Try - deep orange cream

The shades in this collection are designed to remind one of the jungles and beaches of Brazil, I have never been to this country so I cannot comment on how accurate the shades and names are.  When I think of Brazil, I think of jungles and numerous Botany classes about the Amazon jungle.  Some of the shades fit this theme very well and others seem a bit out of place.  The bright hues fit perfectly with the season and the theme however I am not sure why two shades of taupe were included with the Brazil collection.  The most unique shade is the only duochrome in the bunch, many of the cream shades are similar to those in the permanent line up or have been featured in previous seasonal collections.

My favorite shade is Amazon...Amazoff, this bright deep teal reminds me very much of Butter London's Slapper shade.  That is my current favorite nail polish shade and I used it like crazy last spring and summer.  I will purchasing Amazon...Amazoff to replace my bottle of Slapper once it runs out.  Next Stop...The Bikini Zone is the only other shade that I find unique enough to purchase from this collection and I will also be grabbing of bottle of this one once it is available at Ulta.  I really like Taupe-less Beach and Don't Bossa Nova Me Around but neither of these shades are unique enough for me to track down, I would buy them if I found them but I can find shades like this from other companies very easily.

I don't like any of the oranges or yellows in this collection, shades like this never flatter my skintone and I would be skipping over all of these.  I also don't need any other pink or red shades right now and this pretty much rules out the rest of the collection for me.

OPI is not my favorite polish formula and one that I will deal with when I really love the shades.  The application of this polish is very easy and the wide brush makes the polish quick to apply.  My problem with this formula is not the application but the wear of the product.  I cannot seem to get more than one day from this formula before it starts chipping off like crazy, there is something about the combination of my nails and this formula that just does not work.  I am the only person that I know with this issue, all of my friends who use this formula absolutely love it and get at least three or four days of wear time without anything more than minor chipping.  I wish I didn't have these issues but this formula just doesn't work well for me and will never been a formula that I highly recommend.

I have a few shades to add to my shopping list but I think that I will have even more shades to add once I see the new collections from China Glaze and Butter London.

photo courtesy of Google

Essie Resort 2014 Nail Polish Collection

We just looked at the Deborah Lippmann spring nail polish collection the other day and now we are looking at what I believe is the first of two Essie polish collections.  I first saw this collection in an ad contained in Allure and I have finally found it up on their website.  The reason that I believe that this the first of two collections is that the company's founder describes this as more of a "late winter" collection than a true "spring" collection.  I am sure that the second collection will contain the traditional pastel shades that we saw in the last spring polish collection and I am happy that this company has decided to release two collections so that they can cater to all tastes...not everyone loves pastels.

The company's founder (Essie Weingarten" describes this collection with a quote.  "A beach escape is just the thing to recharge, renew, and break free of winter's icy reach.", states the Essie website.  There are four shades contained in this little collection, one deep shade and three lighter shades.  I am not looking for any new shades of dark polishes so I am more interested in the paler neutrals contained in the collection and then I will save my shopping of pastels for the next release from this company.

The four shades contained in the Essie Resort collection are...

- Resort Fling - bright peach cream
- Find Me An Oasis - very pale blue cream
- Cocktails and Coconuts - neutral tan cream with gold shimmer
- Under The Twilight - very dark purple cream

Under The Twilight is such a dark shade of purple that I actually thought that it was a black cream until I saw the shade description.  I might have been interested in this shade last fall but I am certainly not in the market for this dark of a shade right now, I will be skipping over this shade.  Resort Fling is a bright peach and this is not a color that I tend to prefer, I will also be skipping over this shade.  I initially thought that Find Me An Oasis was a pale silver cream but it is actually a very pale blue.  It appears almost white in pictures that I found on Google and I don't like this shade either.  The only shade that I really like is Cocktails and Coconuts, this neutral cream contained a gold shimmer and has the potential to be another one of favorite neutral shades.  I will definitely be picking up a bottle of this shade but will skip over all the others.

The Essie formula is not one of my favorites and I tend to only buy bottles of these polishes when I really like the shades.  I have found that this formula tends to be very hit or miss, I have had shades that are great and then I have had shades that take three or more coats to fully build up.  The neutrals and the jewel-toned shades are usually the best and the pastels typically are the hardest to work with.  I will be checking out a bunch of other spring polish collections before I decide if there are any other shades from those collections that I will want more than those in this formula...

photo courtesy of Google

Deborah Lippmann Spring 2014 Collection - Spring Reveries

Spring nail polish shades are always my favorite releases of the year, I usually buy all my pastels and brights this time of the year and wear them until after Labor Day.  I am alternating between pale pinks and dark grays right now but I will be adding more pinks and purples to my line up within the next few weeks.  I am ready to start looking for new shades and I was very excited to see that Deborah Lippmann has released her new spring polishes to her website.  Spring Reveries is the name of her newest collection, this is a range of pastel hues that reminds me of Easter Eggs.

I can already see that I am not going to be finding any new pink or purple shades from Spring Reveries but I am going to start looking to see what holes are in my pastel nail polish collection.  I have loved this nail polish formula for years and I love that it is now widely available at Sephora.  I haven't seen it very often in my local store but I will just order many of the shades online instead.

This line typically releases three or four new shades each season but they have decided to actually release six brand new shades for this spring and I hope that this trend will continue for the next few seasons.  Some of the shades have already been seen on the spring runways and I will make a note of which shades have already been shown in which shows.

The Spring Reveries collection...

- La Vie En Rose - pastel pink shimmer (shown on the Spring 2014 Badgley Mischka runway)
- Blue Orchid - baby blue cream (shown on the Spring 2014 Badgley Mischka runway)
- Spring Buds - pistachio cream
- Tip Top Through The Tulips - pale peach cream
- Build Me Up Buttercup - pale yellow cream
- Flowers In Her Hair - pale mint green cream

I really like quite a few of these shades and I want to pick up every shade but the peach and yellow ones.  If I had to pick just one shade to order, La Vie En Rose would be my top choice as I could alternate it with the rest of my favorite pale pink polishes.  Blue Orchid and Flowers In Her Hair are my next choices and then I would also consider grabbing Spring Buds to round out my shopping.

I am willing to bet that we will be seeing a bunch of pastel-themed nail polish collections this spring and I will need to decide which polish shades are my favorite.  Deborah Lippmann polishes have one of the best formulas in the industry and I would choose these other many other brands with similar shades.

photo courtesy of Bigelow Chemists

China Glaze Holiday 2013 Collection - Happy HoliGlaze Collection

Happy Thanksgiving!  The Macy*s Thanksgiving Day parade used to be the official start of the holiday season...a season that has been starting around the beginning of October for the past few years.  I find it interesting that I am nearly looking upon Thanksgiving as the beginning of the end of the holiday season, we have been seeing holiday products and collections early October and many of the top products are sold out by now.  My Christmas shopping has been started and I have been working on my Amazon shopping cart for early Black Friday deals.  Today's post returns us to holiday nail polish collections and I might be adding a few new red shades to my collection.

China Glaze is always one of my favorite nail polish lines but I have traditionally not liked their holiday collections.  I find this line turns out beautiful collections for spring and fall, all kinds of great bright shades in the summer months but the holiday collections usually repeat the same shades over and over again and are overly glittery or metallic.  We will see if Happy HoliGlaze is any better than the last few collections but I don't have high hope for it.

The Happy HoliGlaze collection...

- All Wrapped Up - blue purple microglitter
- Be Merry, Be Bright - purple and red hexagonal glitter suspended in a clear base
- Bells Will Be Blinging - large chunks of blue glitter suspended in a clear base
- Elfin' Around - bright orange-red foil
- Just Be-Claws - medium red foil
- Mingle With Kringle - medium gold foil
- Put A Bow On It - medium purple microglitter
- Santa Red My List - magenta foil
- So Blue Without You - mermaid blue foil
- This Is Tree-Mendous - olive green microglitter
- Your Present Required - multicolored microglitter
- There's Snow One Like You - white textured pieces in a white cream base

This collection rivals the Essie holiday collection as the ugliest collection this holiday season.  I hate the majority of the shades in Happy HoliGlaze and will be skipping over this whole collection.  I will admit that I like that this company has not released multiple versions of the same red shades over and over again this collection but I can't say that I would wear most of these shades and have no idea what some of them are doing in the holiday collection.  There are way too many "non-traditional" holiday shades in this collection and the collection lacks a theme.  It appears that China Glaze has grabbed a bunch of shades from their permanent shade line, modified the shades a little bit, and then slapped some type of holiday-inspired name on the bottle.  Elfin' Around and So Blue Without You look like they belong in a summer collection.  This Is Tree-Mendous, All Wrapped Up, and Put A Bow On It look like they belong in a fall collection. This is the oddest assortment of shades in any holiday collection...

I only like two of the shades, Mingle With Kringle and So Blue Without You are very pretty even though I wouldn't use So Blue Without You until next summer.  The rest of the shades are not my cup of tea and they range from the odd to the ugly.  The ugliest shade award goes to There's Snow One Like You, this was supposed to be inspired by snow but looks like huge white chunks applied to the nail.  Every photo that I find of that shade is uglier than the next. 

This collection is a huge miss for me and I won't be buying nail polish until the spring collections release. 

photo courtesy of Google

Essie Holiday 2013 Collection - Encrusted Treasures

I have been reading reviews of the new holiday collection from Essie and I think that I will tackling the Encrusted Treasures collection today.  This collection contains six new polish shades and is the first time that Essie is trying the "textured" polishes that OPI has made popular in the past few months.  I am not a fan of OPI's Liquid Sand polishes and I have heard that the Essie shades make these look nice...

The prettiest holiday color collections gain media and blog coverage for beautiful shades and unique products, this collection is gaining coverage for being one of the ugliest collections of the season.  I was reading about Encrusted Treasured on The PolishAholic's beauty blog and I was intrigued by her reviews of what she considers to be a group of truly hideous shades.  It is rare that I am attracted to ugly shades but I couldn't look away from the swatches of these over-the-top colors.  This collection contains six new shades for the holiday season, four of which are glitter finishes and two of which are this company's version of the textured finishes.  There is a chance that I might be attracted to one of the glitter finishes but we will see what my thoughts are when I look at the whole collection.

We are starting with the four glitter shades and then finishing with the two textured shades. 

- Ignite The Night - silver and gray glitter
- Lots Of Lux - bright blue glitter with hints of gold
- On A Silver Platter - bright blue hexagonal glitter suspended in a gold base
- Peak Of Chic - large white bar glitter suspended in a clear base

The textured shades...

- Hor D'oeuvres - silver and gold glitter with large silver pieces in a clear base
- Belugaria - big black pieces of glitter in a black cream base

This collection has a few pretty shades in but it is definitely not my cup of tea.  Ignite The Night is my favorite of the collection, I would wear this silver and gray glitter more often this winter than any of the other shades.  Lots Of Lux is very pretty and quite unique, I don't own any blue bright glitters in my collection and I think this shade will fill the hole very well.  Peak Of Chic is a good neutral glitter shade and I like that I would be able to wear this shade all throughout the year.

The rest of this collection are not shades that I would wear.  On A Silver Platter is an ugly combination of hues, I have never seen anything like this shade and I doubt that I will ever see anything like it again.  Both of the textured shades have too many going on in the bottle for me to ever want to wear them.

I can see the Belugaria shade being a cult favorite, this is a one of a kind shade that only comes around once in a few years.  I like that Essie has broken with the "traditional" holiday shades for this collection but I can't say that I really love this collection.  This is probably one of my least favorite collections of the season however it is certainly one of the most unique.

courtesy of Essie

Zoya Holiday/Winter 2013 Nail Polish Collection - Zenith

The nail polish collections for this holiday season have been some of my favorites so far.  The Butter London collection has produced a bunch of hits for me and I am very excited to look at the Zenith collection from Zoya and I continue to stalk the China Glaze website in hopes of the new holiday shades debuting slightly sooner than normal.  China Glaze is often one of the last collections to come out every season so I will have to keep waiting and check the Zoya collection out today.

The new collection from Zoya is named Zenith and contains six brand new shades.  I seem to remember that most Zoya collections have a whole range of shades in and six is much less than I am used to seeing.  Zenith contains two pale shades and four deeper shades, all of which contain copious amounts of shimmer and shine.  I am already looking forward to heading over to Ulta and shopping from this new collection.

Zoya's new holiday shades!

- Mosheen - Mosheen by Zoya can be best described as an astro ice blue topper, great for layering over other hues.
- Payton - Payton by Zoya can be best described as a full-coverage, galactic cranberry with holographic glitter.
- Belinda - Belinda by Zoya can be best described as a full-coverage, cosmic purple metallic. (Originally designed for designer Zang Toi / AW2013)
- Dream - Dream can best be described as a full-coverage, deep space blue with holographic glitter.
- Cassedy - Cassedy can best be described as a full-coverage, celestial pewter metallic.
- Seraphina - Seraphina can best be described as a full-coverage, Polaris silver metallic.

I love all six of these shades and I want each of them.  My favorite shade is the one that I have included a photo of with this post, Dream is a unique bright blue glitter and I have nothing like this shade in my collection.  My second favorite shade is the other full glitter in this collection, Payton is a deep cranberry glitter that is a bit less "Christmas" than China Glaze's Ruby Pumps.  Cassedy and Seraphina are my versions of neutrals, I love silver and pewter shades.  I have found that silver hues tend to look more attractive with my skintone and match the majority of my wardrobe choices.

Mosheen and Belinda are both very pretty shades and I would like to own them but I won't be heartbroken if they sell out before I can order them.  Mosheen is a shade that I would either get tons of use from or forget that I even have it.  There is something telling me that I have a pale blue topper shade from Chanel already and I almost never use it.

I love this collection from Zoya and I am heading to Ulta to pick these shades up then I will be right back to stalking the China Glaze website!

photo courtesy of Zoya

Deborah Lippmann Holiday 2013 Collection

I may have been trying all different nail polish brands recently but I have a soft spot in my heart for anything that Deborah Lippmann brings out.  I have loved her products ever since 2006 when I first played with many of the shades and then my obsession was cemented when I found out that she was the personal manicurist to Sarah Jessica Parker on the set of Sex and the City.  I used nearly ever since drop of the Sarah Smile nail polish hue before I threw the bottle away and I always wish that these polishes were easier to find around me. 

This holiday season, Deborah has introduced three new polish shades that were original debuted on the Kate Spade runway earlier this year.  I love Kate Spade so I am even more excited to try these new shades out.  The three shades were combined into a nail art look for the runway and I don't know that I will be replicating the whole look but I would love to combine the white hue with one of the other shades to create a simple nail art look.

These three shades have a unique finish called "matteen", a matte finish with a subtle hint of shimmer to avoid the "flat" look that sometimes come from a matte finish polish.

The three shades are...
- Pseudo Silk Kimono - stark white
- Harem Silks From Bombay - deep moody purple
- Red Silk Boxers - deep ruby red

My favorite shades is Red Silk Boxers, I love both the name and the shade of this polish.  I have glittery red polishes, cream red polishes, and metallic red polishes but nothing that looks like the finish of this shade.  I will also pick Pseudo Silk Kimono up to use as accent to that shade and many others that I already own.  I am also considering buying Harem Silks From Bombay because I love the name and have nothing in my polish collection that resembles this shade. 

This new polish finish will just add to my Deborah Lippmann obsession and I will be adding even more shades to my nail polish collection this holiday season...

photo courtesy of Pinterest

OPI Holiday 2013 Polish Collection - Mariah Carey

I am hot on the holiday nail polish collections right now and we are going right from Butter London to the newest from OPI.  The new collection from OPI is much larger and contains nearly every shade of red known to man.  Red is my favorite lip and nail color so I want to pick up some more shades from this collection however I have so many reds already that I don't know if any of these shades will fill any holes in my polish collection.  There are eighteen shades in total so I can't wait to see how many shades I will want from this collection.  I already have a list from the new Butter London collection and now I will be making that list even longer...

The newest OPI holiday collection is designed around and for Mariah Carey.  I am already singing "All I Want For Christmas" as I type this and eating Halloween candy at the exact same time.  I can't say that I am pumped about the collaboration with Mariah Carey as that is one of the most overplayed Christmas songs of all time but I do bet I will get some great new shades out of this collection.

"The most-asked-for brand in the industry! With a superior range of shades and the hottest special effects and textures, OPI is the go-to brand for nail fashion. From elegant classics to eye-popping brights, OPI has your color! Formaldehyde-free.", states the Ulta website in describing the polish formula.  This is one of the best selling polish formula and one that I converted to later.  I like the formula but the color range was always a bit more limiting than many other brands.  OPI isn't my favorite polish line but I do find many shades that I like and their nail hardener is my standard at this point.

Here are the Mariah Carey holiday shades...

- All I Want For Christmas - classic red-blue cream
- All Sparkle and Gold - dense gold microglitter
- Baby Please Come Home - bright lilac microglitter
- Cute Little Vixen - deep magenta shimmer
- Emotions - charcoal black microglitter
- I Snow You Love Me - large circular silver glitter suspended in a clear base
- In My Santa Suit - classic red-blue shimmer
- It's Frosty Outside - bright silver microglitter
- Kiss Me At Midnight - pale bright blue microglitter
- Make Him Mine - rose gold microglitter
- My Favorite Ornament - light champagne microglitter
- Silent Stars Go By - cool rose microglitter
- Ski Slope Sweetie - pearly iridescent white with gold shimmer
- Sleigh Ride For Two - deep burgundy shimmer
- Underneath The Mistletoe - classic red-blue glitter
- Visions Of Love - deep burgundy cream
- Warm Me Up - deep charcoal shimmer
- Wonderous Star - large gold glitter suspended in a clear base

This is like any other OPI collection for me, there are always shades that I like but never any that I really fall in love with.  There is nothing in this collection that I am dying to buy but there are quite a few that I would like to add to my collection.  If I had to pick a favorite, Warm Me Up will be a great charcoal neutral for the cold weather months.  Emotions is my second favorite shade, this charcoal glitter will also be great for me. 

My other choices are: All Sparkle and Gold, It's Frosty Outside, My Favorite Ornament, Silent Stars Go By, and Visions of Love.  I mostly like the shades with the Liquid Sand finish, which is surprising since I hated this finish when it was first introduced.  I think I am warming up to this finish when it is combined with neutral glitter shades that I can wear all year long.  I might actually be the most excited about the fact that I can wear a few of these shades all throughout the year and a few shades in this collection break with the tradition of reds and greens.

photo courtesy of Google

Butter London Holiday 2013 Collection - Illusionist

The first of the nail polish collections for holiday 2013 have hit the websites and I am very excited to see that Butter London is leading the way this year.  I have been collecting Butter London shades for the past few months and I know that I need to get a jump on hitting up Ulta to get the new shades before they sell out.  I will have to see if this collection is also offered on Sephora's website and how fast I can get my hands on a few of these shades.

The Illusionist nail lacquer collection includes two permanent shades and four brand new shades.  All of the shades are very pigmented and will make a statement this holiday season and all throughout the rest of the winter months.  I think I will even continue to wear the red shade in pedicures throughout the spring and summer.  Most of the shades have a dramatic shimmer finish and will stand out from the rest of the polish collection releases.  The holiday season is known for dramatic nail polish releases and these shades will lead the way!

Butter London is an English brand and celebrates some of the best of English culture.  I have been an Anglophile for years so I buy these polishes for a combination of the shades and fabulous formula plus I love all the names to them.  The promo picture of this collection gets me excited to start stalking Ulta and Sephora for these new shades!

The new Butter London Illusionist collection...

- Union Jack Black - jet black nail lacquer that goes on like liquid leather
- Come to Bed Red - sexist red nail lacquer in history
- Stardust Overcoat - sheer silver holographic overcoat, like a magical sprinkling of stars
- Petrol Overcoat - sheer tornate topcoat with the opalescent sheen of oil reflected in rain
- Stratford Honey Overcoate - sheer gold shimmer overcoat named for a historic London town
- Bramble - opaque eggplant cream named for prickly shrubs with a gorgeous hue and delicious berries

The first two shades are the ones that are part of the permanent collection, I don't own either of them but I love both of them so they will be part of my shopping list along with the other four shades.  I want all six of these shades but I think my favorite is Bramble.  This eggplant cream actually fills a hole in my polish collection and I will wear this all throughout the cold weather season.

I love this little collection from Butter London and hope this is a preview to all the great nail polish hues that will be released in the coming weeks!

photo courtesy of Butter London

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener with Color

I am always changing my nail polish color out and everyone that reads this blog knows that my nails always seem to need some extra TLC (especially in the late fall and winter months).  I recently started to get one manicure a month, I had dismissed them for years as a waste of money especially since I tend to change my polish color almost every other day.  My view was changed once I saw how nice my natural nails would look once they were filed nicely and my cuticles were cleaned up.  I use mostly OPI shades in the salon and my stylist recommended one for me to use at home and continue to look and feel of salon manicures.

Cue the backstory.  The first time that I got my nails done, I was asked why I kept my nails so short.  I replied that I often cut them all when one or two break and then I keep them all short.  She recommended that I try a good nail strengthener and use it at least twice a week.  Her favorite is the OPI Nail Envy and I loved that it is available in some of their best selling shades so I can use it alone instead of only as a base coat.  I started by buying one shade and am considering the original clear base coat on one of my next visits. 

The Ulta website provides a description of the product and the benefits that can be reaped with the use of it.  "Nail Envy Colors - strength in color.  Original Nail Envy is renowned for strengthening natural nails with hydrolyzed wheat protein and calcium. Now Nail Envy is available in three favorite, classic OPI shades plus one exclusive shade to add a tint of color to nails while strengthening them.  With Nail Envy Colors, your nails can be harder, longer, and stronger - beautifully!"

I didn't know that one of the colors was exclusive...now I have most bottles that I will want to get.  The available colors are:

- Hawaiian Orchid - medium cool pink cream
- Samoan Sand - pale nude cream
- Bubble Bath - pale pink cream
- Pink to Envy - clear with a pink tint

I bought the Bubble Bath shade, I have used this shade for a few months already and had it on frequent rotation in my polish line up.  Using the Nail Envy was a no-brainer on this, I can combine the shade that I love with the benefits of the best selling base coat.  I can already see a difference in the length of my nails after using it three times and I can click them on hard surfaces with ease now (I could never do this before or they would break).  The Hawaiian Orchid shade would be pretty for spring and summer so I will want that shade but not right now.  My next shade will be Samoan Sand and I am on the fence about Pink to Envy.  I will either love or hate the way this tint appears on the nail so I might need to try it in a manicure first.

photo courtesy of OPI

China Glaze Fall 2013 Collection - Autumn Nights

I spent yesterday's post mooning over the new Zoya collection and today we are moving onto the China Glaze fall collection.  I already have started making a long list for the next time that I visit Ulta and I am sure that this collection will provide even more additions to that list.  I have started using deep red hues on my toes this week but still haven't moved over to using them on my hands yet...but that will come before the end of the month.  I have a great red from the China Glaze fall collection of 2012 and I am looking forward to polishing my nail with it very soon!

The new collection from China Glaze is named Autumn Nights and I am envisioning a range of deep jewel tones in multiple finishes.  In short, I expect this collection to be very similar to the Zoya collection that we looked at yesterday.  I don't know how many of these shades that I will need if I am able to purchase all of the shades that I wanted from Zoya but it will be nice to have some backup options in the event that shades are sold out. 

Here is the Autumn Nights collection!

- Goldie But Goodie - rich gold foil
- Gossip Over Gimlets - rich silver foil
- Charmed, I'm Sure - deep cool rich purple cream
- Don't Make Me Wine - medium magenta metallic
- Kiss My Glass - silver metallic with blue flash
- Public Relations - silver metallic with cool purple flash
- Queen B - rich blue/purple cream
- Red-y and Willing - medium cool red shimmer
- Rendezvous With You - deep purple/gray foil
- Scandalous Shenanigans - medium blue frost
- Strike Up a Cosmo - warm rose gold foil
- Tongue and Chic - medium aqua shimmer

I must say that I prefer the Zoya collection and this is one of my least favorite collections from China Glaze (usually the makers of fabulous collections).  There are very few shades that I want from this line up and am really only interested in the foil finish shades.  I love all four of the foil shades and will want to add all of them to my collection, I am the most excited about Strike Up a Cosmo but I know that Gossip Over Gimlets will be a staple in my fall polish rotation.  The only other shade that I really like Charmed, I'm Sure.  All of the metallic shades look like ones from previous holiday or fall collections and there is nothing unique about any of these shades so there will be a very short shopping list from this collection...

photo courtesy of China Glaze's Facebook

Zoya Fall 2013 Collection - Cashmeres and Satins

September has just began and I am know craving some new polish colors for fall.  Therefore today we are going to look at the newest collection from Zoya and then we are going right into looking at China Glaze's new collection tomorrow.  I start wearing fall reds and jewel tones on my toes right around Labor Day and then will start wearing them on my hands toward the middle of the month.  Zoya is a nail polish formula that I have just began to wear and will be buying more of over my next few Ulta visits.  This is one of the formulas that my hair stylist recommends the most and is one that contains no animal products or byproducts in the formula.

The new collection is called Cashmeres and Satins, this company always divides their seasonal collection up into two parts.  Each part has a different finish and most of the time the two parts contains the same or very similar shades in the different finishes.  So I expect that we will see a group that contains a metallic finish and a group that contains a satin finish.

The shades that are part of the Cashmere collection:

- Giovanna - stunning emerald green metallic (originally designed for Zang Toi/AW13)
- Maria-Louisa - gold cellophane accent topper (originally designed for Rafael Cennamo/AW13)
- Livingston - lush autumn red cream
- Channing - rusty coppery red metallic
- Pepper - brick red cream (originally designed for Peter Som/AW 13)
- Mason - exciting red violet metallic
- Flynn - lush camel brown nude cream
- Louise - rich brown cream
- Neve - sapphire blue metallic (original designed for Zang Toi/AW13)
- Hunter - dark sea green cream
- Sailor - classic dark navy cream
- Claudine - striking dark meteorite gray metallic

I love this collection and I am really pumped to grab some new nail polish shades in the coming weeks!  My favorite shade is the one that I have pictured, Giovanna.  I can only imagine how lovely this shade looked when worn by the models on the Zang Toi runway and I want to start wearing this shade as soon as possible.  Flynn will be a good choice for a neutral and this will be one that I will fall back on and use as a staple in my polish line up.  Here is the rest of my shopping list when I visit Ulta: Maria-Louisa, Livingston, Pepper, Neve, Hunter, Sailor, and Claudine.  I would love if Zoya sold sets of polishes, I want so many shades from this collection that I would be more than happy to order sets.

I already have a nice list for my next Ulta visit and I know that I will be adding to it tomorrow when we check out the new collection from China Glaze.  This is one of my favorite collections so far this season and the best nail polish collection that we have seen so far.

photo courtesy of Zoya

Deborah Lippmann Fall 2013 Collection - Jewel Heist

We haven't looked at many new nail polishes so far this fall and now we are turning our attention to the new polish shades from Deborah Lippmann.  I must say that I am the most excited for the new China Glaze collection but I am ready to look at these polishes and start to decide that shades I need for fall.  Jewel Heist is their offering for fall and this is one of the first times that we are seeing a unified collection from this company and not just a group of new shades.

Jewel Heist contains three deep jewel tones and then three holographic top coats to match each shade.  I am more interested in the three jewel tones but we will see if any of the top coats will work with my current style.  I might want to try one shade with the matching top coats but I don't think that I will purchase all of them...I see a deep navy blue in this collection so this would be my choice to try the top coat on.

To anyone that is not familiar with this polish line, the formula is now 5-Free (no DBP, Toluene, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, or Camphor).  I am not sure what the addition (or lack of) Camphor does to nail polish but I guess it was taken out of the formula for a reason.

Here are the six new shades...

- Fake It Til You Make It - metallic champagne gold with small red, gold, and green hexagonal glitter
- Glitter and Be Gay - sheer top coat with sheer gold base
- Laughin To The Bank - deep emerald green shimmer
- Shake Your Money Maker - sheer top coat with green base and teal and gold glitter
- Rolling In The Deep - deep navy cream
- Va Va Voom - sheep top coat with navy base and bright blue and navy glitter

My favorite shades are the blues, I want both of the jewel and glitter polishes and these might be some of my favorite pieces of the season so far.  The last shade that I want is the deep emerald green though I will be skipping the top coat for that shade.  I am not interested in the gold hue, it might be too warm for me and I wear very little gold shades in my jewelry.  I am not sure how I feel about mixing gold nail polish with silver jewelry and might decide later on in the season.

photo courtesy of Deborah Lippmann

Essie Fall 2013 Nail Polish Collection

My nail polish obsession has only continued to grow since I started doing yoga and decided that I needed weekly pedicures in order to survive the bare foot sessions.  Bad pedicures are considered a sin in yoga classes and I am determined to stay above the curve on this issue...not that I think that I will have much of a problem with this.  Now I will be thinking about more about fall polish shades for my weekly pedicures and feel that I need to add some new jewel tones to my collection.  I also think that I would like a good neutral in my collection so that I always have a neutral in my collection.  Essie has just released their new fall collection this week and now I have some more selections to add my collection...

There are six new shades in this collection, nearly all of which are deep jewel tones.  There are four deep hues in this collection and two lighter shades offered along with them.  On first glance, I am more interested in the deeper shades and find the lighter shades to be boring side.  There is a deep navy blue in the new shade offerings and I always want to add more deep blues to my collection so I already see one that I will really want when I get to Ulta.

We will start with the two lighter shades in this collection since they could both be bought and worn right now.  Vested Interest is the lightest of the shades and is a "dusty green" with a cream finish.  It appears gray in pictures and would be a nice neutral for fall but isn't unique enough to warrant me purchasing a bottle of the polish.  The second of the lighter hues is called The Lace is On.  This is a deep pink with what appears to be a purple shimmer to it.  I am not a fan of this shade and it appears more magenta than pink to me.  I can easily skip over both of these shades without my nail polish collection suffering and I am moving onto the deeper hues in the collection now.

The first shade that I want to look at is the dark blue shade and this is the one that is featured in the print ads for this collection.  After School Boy Blazer is a "deep navy cream" and one that I know I will love to add to my collection.  It is a nice navy cream that I will use in manicures and pedicures this fall and winter and will be the first shade from this collection that I will want to buy.  The next shade is another one that I must have, Cashmere Bathrobe is a great neutral and one that I could use with all kinds of colors.  This shade is a "deep gray" and has a slight silver shimmer to it.  I don't see much of a shimmer in the picture and I have a feeling that this will only come out in the outdoors.  I wanted a great neutral to use all throughout the seasons and this is one that I will be adding to my collection.  Cashmere Bathrobe might even edge out After School Blazer as the one shade that I must buy from this collection.

The next shade is a traditional red cream that is part of nearly every single fall collection.  Twin Sweater Set is such a cute name that I might need the polish just for the name but I do like the shade too.  I have similar red creams but I use them all the time on my toes and this one is worth a purchase.  The last shade in the collection is named For The Twill of It and this one is very unique.  This one is a shimmering deep gray and one that I thought that I would love.  However, I looked it up on blogs and it is a duochrome that shines purple or blue.  I'm not a big fan of the duochome and liked the shade better when I thought it was a deep gray shimmer.  I will be skipping over that shade now.

After School Blazer is my favorite shade of the new collection but I think that Cashmere Bathrobe is the shade that I would buy first.  I have nothing like this one in my collection and would use this one all throughout the next two seasons.  I want to round my shopping out with Twin Sweater Set and grab a new red for yoga pedicures.

photo courtesy of Essie

OPI Fall/Winter 2013 Collection - San Francisco

Today we are back to the fall collections and I am ready to look at more new nail polish shades for fall!  We looked at the Butter London fall collection earlier this month and while I did like them, I was somewhat dismayed because the company released several shades that would be perfect for summer and decided not to create "traditional" fall shades.  I am ready for some deep jewel tones and want to expand my collection, I must say that my neons are getting a little old and I am ready to buy some new shades.  I saw the advertisement for the new OPI collection in several of the August issues of leading beauty magazines and this is a collection that will meet my expectations of what I want for fall.  I have been using OPI more than usual recently and I love the huge brush and how easy the polishes are to apply, this brand is truly error proof in application and the recent shades that I have used have much better formulas than those from when I first started using the brand about a year and a half ago.  I wonder if I got a few bad bottles in the beginning or if OPI has slowly been revamping its polish formula...

The fall/winter collection for this brand is another one of their city-inspired collections, this one is inspired by San Francisco and contains a huge variety of hues and some shades that are available in the new Liquid Sand finish.  I personally have not found a shade that I like in this finish but maybe this collection will change my mind.  I like OPI collections for how easy they are to find and how wearable most of the shades are, this is one of the safest and most widely used nail polish lines on the market today.  I am excited to see silver, blue, and deep purple hues in this collection and am already starting to think about what shades I want to add to my collection this fall!

Here is the San Francisco collection from OPI!

- A-Piers to be Tan - medium warm tan cream
- Dining al Frisco - medium blue with silver frost
- Haven't the Foggiest - medium silver foil
- Peace and Love and OPI - deep charcoal foil
- Keeping Suzi at Bay - navy blue cream
- Incognito in Sausalito - very deep navy blue cream
- Lost on Lombard - deep cool berry red cream
- I Knead Sour-Dough - warm plum brown with subtle shimmer
- Muir Muir on the Wall - deep plum with shimmer
- In the Car-Pool Lane - deep oxblood cream
- Embraca-Dare Ya! - bright magenta with warm gold shimmer
- First Date at the Golden Gate - medium warm red cream
- It's All San Andrea's Fault - medium cool taupe (Liquid Sand Finish)
- Wharf! Wharf! Wharf! - medium navy blue (Liquid Sand Finish)
- Alcatraz...Rocks - deep cool purple (Liquid Sand Finish)

The blues and silvers in this collection are the shades that I will be adding to my collection first.  Haven't the Foggiest is my first choice, I am almost finished with my bottle of Platinum Silver from China Glaze and would benefit from a new bottle of silver foil.  Peace and Love and OPI is my second choice, I use silvers as neutrals all throughout the year and this is another good choice for me.  The blue shades would all have a home in my collection, I love Keeping Suzi at Bay and Incognito in Sausalito and I will be playing around with them and the silvers in accent manicures this fall.  Muir Muir on he Wall and In the Car-pool Lane will round out the rest of the collection for me and Muir Muir will fill the lack of ox blood shades in my polish collection.

The navy blue shade in the Liquid Sand finish makes me want to try it more now than in collections past.  I will try to find more photos and reviews of Wharf! Wharf! Wharf! and see how finish looks when applied.  I will also see if my salon carries this shade and what the overall thoughts are on it.  I will report back if I decide to purchase this Liquid Sand shade.

photo courtesy of Google

Butter London Fall 2013 Collection - The Colour Clash Collection

Butter London has just released their fall nail polish collection and I couldn't be more ready to add more nail polish colors to my collection.  The last time I bought several bottles at once was at Sally Beauty Supply last June and they were all bright China Glaze colors.  I am ready for something new and we all know that I love Butter London's formula and all of the shades that they have brought out so far (and all the English names!) and this is exactly where I wanted to start my fall nail polish shopping.  I can't really say that there are any shades that I need except a black hue to do an accent manicure with.  I won't really be looking for black in many of the seasonal collections when I know that I can get it any time from China Glaze or Chanel.

The fall collection from Butter London is called The Colour Collection and actually reminds me more of a summer collection than the tradition jewel tones for the fall.  This is a company that would break the mold on the traditional fall shades and I am interested to see what they have brought out.  I see six new shades with this collection release and I am sure that I will want at least two or three of them.  I want to see how these shades will play out with some of the fall fashion trends that we have been seeing going down the runway since last Fashion Week.

There are six new shades to this collection and now it is time to start looking at them  I see a bright pink, a pretty periwinkle, and then bright yellow and orange hues.  I know that I will rule out the orange and yellow hues right away and I am just not sure how I will work some of these shades into my fall look, these might be best for the very end of summer and the very beginning of fall.  I think I could use the periwinkle shade into the fall but I am not sure about any of the others.

Here is the Colour Collection!

- Cotton Buds - An opaque, pure white crème. Wear under your lacquer to make colours pop!
- Cake Hole - An opaque, nearly neon pink crème nail lacquer. A pink so bright, it can’t be wrong!
- Giddy Kipper - Opaque, indigo shimmer.
- Pimms - Opaque, sunflower yellow crème.
- Silly Billy - Opaque, fire orange crème.
- Wellies - Soft lime crème.

I want two shades in this collection, Cake Hole and Giddy Kipper.  Cake Hole would be a shade that I wear right now but then put away about half way through September.  I would try matching it with a bright pink lipstick to extend the wear further into fall but I need to play around with this look before I would make the decision to extend the wear time longer than usual for summer shades.  I love the Giddy Kipper polish and would wear this now and I am pretty sure that I could take it all the way into fall.  This would be my first choice for the collection and is the one that I will order first.  Butter London is hard enough to order at Sephora and Ulta and I have to focus mostly on shades that I love when dealing with the painful ordering of these polishes.

I will be interested to see if the other large polish collections are made up of more traditional fall hues or they follow the bright trend that Butter London used on some of the runway collections.

photo courtesy of Butter London

Butter London Nail Foundation Flawless Base Coat

Yesterday we looked at a brand new (to me at least) nail polish brand called SpaRitual and today we are going to continue to trend of nail polish and products.  My latest Sephora package arrived last week and I ordered two new products from Butter London that I was very excited to try.  I ordered both the base and top coats from Butter London and have been using both of them to see how well they enhanced the performance of my polish and its wear.

I go through top and base coats like water, I use one or both of them with nearly every single manicure and pedicure and am always looking for new formulas to try.  Today we are going to look at the base coat from Butter London and we will then follow with the matching top coat in the next few days.  I started with wanting to ordered the base coat alone but then decided to throw the top coat in my online cart at the last moment to see how they work when used together.

My obsession with this base coat, Nail Foundation Flawless Base Coat, started a few weeks ago wen I was reading an issue of Vogue.  The article that I was reading focused on the models' backstage beauty habits before they go out on the runway.  This was the base coat that many of the manicure artists used on the models but then the article went on to say how many of the ladies then bought this product for themselves to use alone for simple matte manicure.  Sine you all know how much I love to wear pale cream polishes on my nails, this polish appealed to me right away and ended up in my Sephora shopping cart within a few hours.

"A basecoat that hides and smooths tiny ridges and imperfections in the nail giving a wonderful result to the look of your lacquer.  This silk-finish, stain-resistant basecoat provides the perfect foundation on which to paint butter LONDON™ nail lacquer. The non-toxic formula has a matte effect that’s so beautiful, you can also wear it alone.  Butter LONDON is a new-era design house, creating extraordinary moments in color by living on the inside edge of fashion. Butter LONDON does not add formaldehyde, toluene, or DBP to any of its nail formulas. It's color without compromise. For brilliant results, use butter LONDON lacquers with the corresponding butter LONDON base and topcoats. When used together, the products last significantly longer than a typical manicure."

I have this product both of the ways that were suggested and this is one of the best (if not the best) base coats that I have ever used, I love that I can use it alone or with other polishes.  When used as a traditional base coat, it helps to create a smooth finish for polish and I love using it to smooth out the ridges in my nails.  My nails are awful with ridges and this helps to improve the wear of my polish and improves the overall texture.  When worn alone, it creates a nude hue on the nail with a sheer matte finish and lasts for about three days without any type of wear issues.

What way do I prefer this base coat?  I really don't know which way it works the best, it is a very nice base coat formula but I am just tickled pink that I can use it in multiple ways and brush two coats on when I need a quick low maintenance manicure.  I think this is officially my new favorite base coat and based on the fact that it was out of stock on the Sephora website for two weeks after I read the Vogue article, I will order another bottle of this polish for a back up when mine starts to get low.

photo courtesy of Sephora

SpaRitual Nail Lacquer

As you will recall, I signed up for the Glossybox beauty boxes earlier this month and my first box arrived yesterday morning, this box continued all products from the United States and is a great way for me to find some new brands and decide if I want to pick up any additional products for the summer months.  I am still going through my box and beginning to try the products out but I have tried one product out already and I am going to review today.  The box contained a mixture of trial and full-sized items and I was very happy to see that I received a full-sized SpaRitual Nail Lacquer in a pretty deep red shade. 

SpaRitual is a brand that I have never heard of before and I love learning about new nail polish brands since I collect several new shades every single season right now.  China Glaze and Butter London are still my current favorite polish brands to collect right now but I always want to grow my collection and see what else is out there on the market.  I found this brand on the Beauty.com website, one that I occasionally order from and might end up ordering much more from very soon.

"SpaRitual has designed a lush, shimmering palette of Nail Lacquers orchestrated in a range of four dynamic harmonies. The SpaRitual Color Harmony Ritual fuses the disciplines of color therapy and numerology to provide a quick mental retreat and moment of contemplation.  Each SpaRitual shade is associated with a unique message or meaning and numerological value.  Vegan nail lacquers free of DBP, formaldehyde and toluene."

The color range from this line is huge, I was surprised at how many shades where in this relatively unknown product line.  I received the shade Spellbound, a deep shimmering red that reminds me of fall leaves and a shade that I used to have several years ago from Deborah Lippmann.  I am not going to go over every single shade in this range, they start with pales and then go all the way down to jewel tones and I can see that nearly every texture is represented with this polish line.  I see all kinds of shimmers, glitters, and creams in this line and I want to grab a few more shades of polish very soon.

I can already see a few shades that really appeal to me, I will list them here as a preview to all the shades in this polish line.  I love...

- It's Raining Men - pale gray blue cream with iridescent finish
- Jet Setter - pale pink shimmer
- Crystal Waters - aqua blue with a green iridescent finish
- Emerald City - medium blue green cream
- Charleston - shimmering platinum silver
- Beyond Love - deep pink shimmer with silver glitter
- Fire - deep red shimmer with red glitter

What impressed me most about this polish was the formula, it is completely vegan and free of many of the big chemicals in other brands.  The formula is so very different but it wears exactly like only from China Glaze or OPI, it makes me wonder what is not in this polish that is can be considered vegan and still wear exactly like other and then why these ingredients are still contained in other polish formulas.  This will be a point of research for me for the next few weeks while I try out more shades from this line to see if the quality is consistent through all the different finishes.

photo courtesy of Beauty.com

Look at This Manicure!

Happy Birthday to me!  I must say that I have no plans today other than starting a new workout routine at the gym I just joined and I am craving a salon visit.  I have a hair appointment next week but I really want a new manicure and to try something different with both my hair and nails.  I have been all about pink nail polish shades lately and I have been on the lookout to add more bottles of this hue to my polish collection.  I have been using my favorite pink from Illamasqua nearly three times a week since the beginning of the warm weather and this trend shows no signs of stopping for me this summer!

I wanted to see some more pink shades and Goggled "neon pink manicure" and found the above picture.  Most of you know that I am not a huge fan of nail art and I can pull off an accent manicure or polka dots on my nails but I can't do anything more complex.  I fell in love with this picture as soon as I saw in on my screen and I am really beginning to think about taking it to my salon and seeing if one of the manicurists can recreate it for me.  I am not totally sure why I fell in love with this nail art, I guess it stems from my love of pink, silver, and animal prints and I really want to try it out as a birthday present to myself!


photo courtesy of Swatchandlearn.com

China Glaze Summer 2013 Collection - Sunsational

The summer collections are basically over with for the year, several companies didn't really release a separate summer collection and tend to wait until fall to bring out their next big collection.  I can understand why not every company will bring out a separate collection, I tend to spend most of my beauty products money on the products for the spring and fall and then only pick up a few new lip and eye shades throughout the summer and early winter months.  And it goes without saying that every company wants to bring special products out for the holidays since this is the time of the year that I buy more beauty product gifts than ever before.  One of the beauty items that I buy all year and update every single season is nail polish and therefore I decided that our last summer collection should be the one that I know that I will buy several products from this summer.  And that is the newest collection from China Glaze!

The new summer collection from this company is named Sunsational and is a series of super funky bright hues for the summer months.  I love bright shades in the summer, especially pinks and aquas and I have been buying shades like this since the middle of April.  I am excited to add a few more of these shades to my collection before I start picking up jewel tones to go into the fall months.

This collection appears to be range of shades, all of which are bright hues with cream finishes.  I do not like brights with shimmer or glitter finish as they can go from pretty to tacky very quickly and are rarely suitable for manicures.

Here are the shades in the newest collection from China Glaze!

- Sun of a Peach - true peach cream
- Shell-o - bright magenta cream
- Neon and On and On - bright salmon pink cream
- Bottoms Up - bright lilac cream
- That's Shore Bright - bright periwinkle cream
- Too Yacht Too Handle - bright aqua cream
- Keepin' It Teal - medium deep aqua cream
- Isle See You Later - bright robins egg blue cream
- Are You Jelly? - cool bright purple cream
- You Drive Me Coconut - warm bright purple cream
- Highlight of My Summer - cool mint green cream
- Heat Index - bright fuchsia pink cream

My favorite shade is actually the bright lilac cream from this collection, I don't own any shade like Bottoms Up and I really want to try a completely different type of bright hue.  I don't know that I have even really seen many shades like this, this is one is just so different that I must buy it the next time that I order from Ulta.  That's Shore Bright is another favorite of mine for the same reason, I love the bright periwinkle shade and it would fill a hole in my collection too.  I have loves in both of the teal shades, I want to order both even though neither of them is very different from the shades that I already own.  I use teal shades so much and get so many compliments of them and I know that I would get lots of use from these shades.  From the pinks, I want Shell-o and Heat Index, I was hoping for shades that were different from the typical bright pink and I am not disappointed by this collection.

We have about a month until we start hearing about fall and I will taking that time to try a bunch of new products out.  I always try out a bunch of fragrances and body products in the summer and I will be reporting back with my thoughts and then we will begin heading into the fall collections by the end of June!

photo courtesy of China Glaze's Facebook page