NOTD

Now, I know it seems as if I've been posting nothing but Nail of the Day pictures lately, but that's only because it's true.

I will have some other, more exciting posts coming soon, promise! But for now, let's take a peek into what I'm wearing on my nails today, shall we?

Essie French Affair (don't mind the sloppy-ness!)



This is the pink shade from Essie's French Affair collection, and the apparently the star of the show since the entire collection was named after it. When I first saw this color, I wasn't super excited about it. I normally don't like how baby pinks look on my nails at all. (Same goes for mint green, good thing I only had to buy 4 different bottles of it to figure that out.) But since this week at Rite Aid, Essie nail polishes are buy one, get one half off, and the only colors they had that I didn't were this, Mademoiselle and Ballet Slippers...I decided to get it. Hey, you can't pass up a deal like that! I also purchased Ballet Slippers because I've heard great things so I'm excited to try that one out on my toes next.

I have four out of the six shades that came out with French Affair. I first purchased Nice is Nice*, when I had a free salon nail polish with my rewards points at Ulta, then i ordered Topless & Barefoot from Ebay because I couldn't find it anywhere (and it's gorgeous so I can see why), I later bought Sand Tropez which is a really nice nudey-brown and now, French Affair! I really like how French affair has a purpley undertone, and I bet it would look even better on tanned skin. It reminds me of Viva Glam Gaga 1 in nail polish form. Needless to say, I'm loving this color for spring!

*I originally had my heart set on purchasing Lilacism with my rewards points from Ulta because it had been on my wish list forever. When I got there, Lilacism was sold out (isn't that always the case) but there was one bottle of Nice is Nice (the first "nice" is pronounced "Neece" as in, the city in France...would have never figured that out if no one had told me) and it looked very similar to Lilacism. I fell in love with it the first time I wore it and have since worn it four times on my nails, and that means a lot considering how many polishes I own. I think, even if I did own Lilacism, I'd still be reaching for Nice is Nice more often because it has a slightly more pink tone to it and I think that works well with my skin tone. Blah blah blah...the point of this ramble is that I'm slowly learning that even though you want a certain thing, trying new, unexpected things out sometimes works out best! :)

Anyway, I promise to have more interesting blog posts and videos posted soon! Thanks for reading!

-Liz

NOTD

So, funny story...

I am such a lunatic that I rushed to the post office right after work on Tuesday, then straight to my mom's to put our chimichungas for my sister's birthday in the oven just so I could run to JcPenney real quick because OPI Nail Polish was BOGO1/2OFF. You know, because I am in desperate need for nail polish. Obviously.

I grabbed my youngest sister and in three quick jerks of my poor little steering wheel, we had landed in the parking lot. I darted to the back of the store where the salon (and nail polish) are located. Al was close behind. Kathryn, the birthday girl, met us up there about a minute later and we all scoured the racks of the new Texas Collection as well as some permanent shades. I was so excited I didn't even let the pushy (and clearly bored-out-of-her-mind) sale's associate bother me. After about 14 minutes of picking polishes up, putting them down, picking them up again, and convincing myself that I in fact, do not have the exact same shades already at home, I found the two #winners.

I had chosen two from the Texas Collection, the first one a jelly shade called Big Hair, Big Nails. The second (and the whole reason for this lengthy post) was a gorgeous baby blue with silver micro-shimmer named I Vant to be A-Lone Star. It was unlike anything else I'd owned. It was perfect.

My sisters both purchased two of their own favorites, one of Al's happened to be I Vant to be A-Lone Star as well. Both of them also had some of my older polishes they had borrowed to return to me. It was like Christmas.

After we stuffed our faces and laughed hysterically at our dinner conversations involving the infamous Aunt Wendy, pretended we didn't eat a giant piece of cheesecake, and watched Kathryn open gifts on what seemed to be the longest lasted birthday in history, it was finally time to go home. Since it had been pouring rain, I put all my bags and purses, leftovers, change of clothes and everything else I had brought on me so I'd only have to make one trip to the car. [This really doesn't have anything to do with rain, I despise making more than one trip-ever.] As I was dumping everything into my car, I felt one bag slip out of my hands. Was it my bag of dirty work clothes? No. How about the sealed Tupperware with Mexican food enclosed? Nope. It was my bag of nail polishes!

I didn't think anything of it until i got in the car and started smelling a very strong, very distinct chemical smell. I knew, at that time, that something awful had happened. Please don't let it be one of the new bottles. PLEASE dont' let it be one of the new bottles. It was I Vant to be A-Lone Star.

I Vant to be A-Lone Star

I sprinted in the house and immediately started grabbing the non-broken polishes. Note: putting bottles covered in wet nail polish under cold water only makes it dry faster. Kathryn and I stood at the counter with the nail polish remover, cleaning off 8 or 9 bottles, trying to avoid the shards of glass that were nearly invisible. Thank goodness she was there, I needed the support.

Luckily, I'm a genius and I asked Al if I could "borrow" her bottle so I could at least get some swatches and a week's mani out of it. Good idea, me.

So there it is. The sad, sad tale of the nail polish that might have been. Traumatic I tell ya. But the poor little bottle is better off, I like to think she's on a farm somewhere, where she can roam free with all the other broken polishes.

NOTD - 02/27/11

Here's my Nail of the Day (and hopefully the rest of the week!)



OPI-Your Royal Shyness
Sinful Colors-Glass Pink (on ring finger)



I've been really into light pinks lately and YRS has the slightest shimmer, it's really nice. A little streaky in application but what can you ask of a sheer, lighter-than-light pink? On my ring finger I just put a couple coats of Glass Pink because it added a tiny bit of subtle sparkle. So subtle you can't even tell in the picture! Anyway, this is a great natural looking pink nail good for every occasion.

Side Note: Also loving Zoya's Hurry Up drops, they made my nails dry almost instantly!

-Liz

N.O.T.D. (Nail of the Day)

This is actually my first NOTD! Yay, me. Okay, so the whole point of this post is to be short and sweet. I like that, it gives me a break from my normally lengthy posts. Here we go...

I'm wearing Orly Berry Blast under the new China Glaze Black Mesh Crackle polish.

Real quickly, let me do a teeny tiny review on the Crackle polishes. :)
I do like them, however, I don't think they're all that "unique" because I remember having these in Elementary School. They are neat, and differet compared to the polishes that have come out recently.
OPI came out with one first, with the Katy Perry Collection, that is called Shatter. China Glaze (the one I'm sporting in the pictures) came out almost immediately after, for about $3.50 cheaper...(it made it really hard to pick which one to buy...)
Anyway, China Glaze released a black, pink, purple, white, grey and teal crackle polish where as OPI only came out with the black. I viewed some CG swatches online and noticed that the colored ones didn't really crackle. They just looked like polishes that have been on for a few days. The black looked good though, so that's the one I bought. I got it mine at Sally's Beauty Supply for $5.

I have a few tips if you're going to wear this, however, based on my own experiences.

• Paint the base coat pretty thick because the crackle will pull the color and make it appear more sheer
• Make sure to lay the crackle on thick because it wont crack right if it's applied too thin.
• I definitely recommend a top coat over the crackle because it can peel easily, being that it is already separated.
• I think if the Black Mesh Crackle was over an orange polish it would look AH-mazing for Halloween!
  
  

As I mentioned earlier, the crackle polish sort of pulls the color underneath...the pink Orly color is much more vibrant on its own. I am really considering buying the white and grey crackle polishes, I just hope they work...

My next NOTD will be a picture and a short caption, I promise!!

Do you have any crackling/shattering polishes?

Do you remember them?

Thoughts? Comment below!

-Liz