Lynnderella - Chocolotta Love

Hi, everyone!

Happy Monday! How was yours? Mine seemed to fly by - which is ALWAYS nice!

I wanted to share with you pictures of my recently-acquired Lynnderella "Chocolotta Love". I got this polish through a swap, since it's next to impossible to buy this one directly from the producer or distributor. 

I have to be honest, I'm very "meh" about this one. As much as I love browns and unique polishes, this doesn't seem like a very practical polish for me. I know that sounds silly, but what I mean, is I don't see myself wearing this for more than one day. I know Lynnderella polishes are very, very hard to find, but I'd be okay if I never owned any more. I know, I know...I'm a minority when it comes to Lynn's!


Here were the base colors I chose to use:

Left to Right: OPI Brisbane Bronze, Espresso Your Style!, Romeo & Joliet, Color Club With Abandon

(2 coats of each)

Now, one coat of Chocolotta Love on top of each of these:

My favorite combo is CL layered over OPI Brisbane Bronze. 

Do you own any Lynnderella's? If so, which ones are your favorites?

L'Oreal - Owl's Night

Hi!!!


Sorry I've been a little MIA lately. I haven't been painting my nails much (*gasp*), since I recently trimmed them down. But now that they're back to a nicer length, I wanted to try out one of my new beauties, "Owl's Night" from L'Oreal's Project Runway Collection that was recently released. I found this a few weeks ago at Walgreen's, right as they were putting the display out. I loved the color so much, I bought 2 bottles (they were BOGO 1/2 off!). After I got home with my new polish, I started searching online for information about it, and learned that it had already become HTF. So, when I saw another bottle a couple of days later, I bought that one, too! I ended up only buying two colors from this collection - "Owl's Night" and "Raven's Strength" which is kind of a smokey navy blue shimmer. I can't wait to try out that one, either!!!


I'll let the pictures do the talking with this polish. But I did want to mention one thing - the tip wear.. I applied this polish last night and took pictures right after I was done. I wore the polish all day today and am noticing quite a bit of tip wear on my nails. Except for using a new top coat (Poshe Top Coat), I didn't really do anything out of the ordinary with this mani and I wasn't overly hard on my hands and nails today. Maybe it's the polish, maybe it's the top coat, who knows? Just thought I'd mention it.


Application
Deborah Lippman 2 Second Nail Primer
2 coats of OPI Nail Envy, Original Formula
2 coats of L'Oreal "Owl's Night"
1 coat of Poshe Super-Fast Drying Top Coat

I've gotta say, except for the bad tip wear, I was really, really impressed with this polish. This was my first bottle of L'Oreal nail polish I've ever purchased (nice price, btw!). Ya know, come to think of it, a lot of the drugstore brands have really stepped up their game lately and have come out with some pretty awesome collections (Maybelline, Wet 'n Wild and Revlon come to mind immediately). Nice job, L'Oreal - looking forward to what you've got coming for us in the future! 

What do you think about this new shade from L'Oreal? Have you ever tried other colors of theirs before? If not, why?

China Glaze - "Midtown Magic"

While I was at the local beauty supply store yesterday, I noticed they had just gotten the new China Glaze Metro Collection in! I love seeing new collections up-close for the first time! I ended up buying "Concrete Catwalk", "Skyscraper", "CG In The City" and "Midtown Magic". 

At first, I thought "Midtown Magic" was going to be a dupe of OPI's "Holiday Glow" (yes, the polish I JUST blogged about a couple of days ago!). But fortunately, I think it's a little more dark burgundy than brown (like "HG" was), so I can justify owning both!

"Midtown Magic" is a dark burgundy polish with little bits of gold and red glitter. The two glitters together almost make it look copper in certain light. Only basing this comparison on the polishes I currently own, I'd say "Midtown Magic" would be a close relative of both "Holiday Glow" and "Tease-y Does It" (from the 2010 Burlesque collection). 

Application:

Deborah Lippmann 2 Second Nail Primer

Seche Clear Base Coat

2 coats of China Glaze "Midtown Magic"

1 coat of Gelous Top Coat

1 coat Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Pictures taken indoors using artificial light, no flash:

Pictures taken outdoors:

What do you think of the new Fall 2011 Metro Collection from China Glaze? Are there any that you're anxious to get your hands on? I know I'll be going back for "Trendsetter", the yellow/mustard polish with glass flecks!


Have a great weekend, everyone! 

OPI's "Holiday Glow"

Happy Hump Day, everyone! I took a vacation day on Monday, so I keep feeling like I'm a day behind. But it's so nice thinking that tomorrow's Wednesday, when it's really Thursday!


I decided to try out an older color of mine tonight and share it with all of you. I purchased OPI's "Holiday Glow" in October of 2010. I found it at a Merle Norman store in Bettendorf, Iowa while I was traveling for work. I guess you could say I was kind of "dusty hunting". I had never seen or heard of this color before, so I thought I better snag it while I could! This color was part of OPI's 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection. Also part of that collection were some of my all-time favorites: Merry Midnight and Sapphire In The Snow (That reminds me...I need to swatch SITS for you all, too!).


I don't know why I've never worn this color before tonight (or the other two hundred or so of my un-trieds!). It's so pretty! Probably not the best color for summer, but I WILL be wearing it again in the fall! It's a beautiful chocolate brown with gold (and a little bit of red and dark pink!) glitter. And in certain lights, you can almost see a reddish-purple glitter, too!


Application:
Deborah Lippmann 2 Second Nail Primer
1 coat Seche Clear Base Coat
3 coats of OPI's "Holiday Glow"
1 coat of Gelous Top Coat
1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
1 spritz CND SolarSpeed Spray

Sally Hansen's "Forbidden Fudge"

Happy Friday, everyone! I don't know what the weather's going to be like this weekend where you live, but here in St. Louis, it's supposed to be fairly nice; just a little bit of rain, but NO SNOW! On Sunday, it's supposed to get up to 79*! Woo hoo!!!!

I decided to take the day off today and run some errands and get a few things done around the house. While I was out getting some odds and ends, I checked out the nail polish aisle at the local drugstore. I'd say I probably browsed the nail polishes for a good 15 minutes. It's so nice to not be rushed and be able to enjoy shopping for nail polish and make-up! Anyways, I checked out the racks and found the Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle in "Forbidden Fudge". For less than $5, I decided I "needed" it. I also purchased a couple other SH's and a "Pure Ice". I've never purchased any SH's (other than a Prism polish many, many years ago), and I had never even heard of "Pure Ice" before today. So, today was a day of trying and buying new things!

I chose to use "Forbidden Fudge" tonight. It's a beautiful brown-copper sparkle. Having never used SH before, I wasn't sure what I was getting into. I liked the brush, but it certainly took some getting used to. The brush itself reminded me of the new Nicole by OPI rounded, "nubby" brush. However, this brush was much longer (the plastic stem that connects the bristles to the handle). Each time I took the brush out of the bottle, it seemed like a ton of polish came along with it. Even after I scraped the excess off on the inner rim of the bottle, it still seemed to have a lot of product with it. That worried me at first, because the last thing I wanted was super-thick coats leaving bubbles. But guess what? No bubbles! The polish was very easy to work with, and applied pretty effortlessly. No complaints at all. In fact, I'm kind of anxious to try other SH polishes now! That, too, worries me, because once I find a brand I like, I get "obsessed" with it and over-buy (have you seen my OPI polish collection below? Enough said.).

Oooooh, before I forget, I want to tell you about another "first try" tonight - China Glaze's "Fast Forward Top Coat". I recently read on The PolishAholic's website that Jen (the owner of the blog), was a big fan of this top coat. She also mentioned liking Seche Vite and Poshe. I've been using SV for about 7 months now, and she didn't give the Poshe a very high rating, so I thought I'd try the CG to see what I thought. I purchased it a few night ago, and tried it for the first time tonight. Very, very impressive! Yes, it dries quick, but it also doesn't bubble (like I've found with most/all of OPI's top coats). The best part about this top coat, is it's 3-Free (unlike SV)! That was my only gripe with SV (that, and the fact that it does cause shrinking) and a big reason I was open to trying a new top coat. So, I think I'm making the switch going forward and will use the CG "Fast Forward Top Coat"! I should also mention that it does, like Jen @ The PolishAholic also claims, stink to high heaven. But it doesn't bother me enough to stop using it.

Without further adieu, here's "Forbidden Fudge":

Application:

OPI Chip Skip

1 coat of OPI Nail Envy, Original Formula

2 coats of Sally Hansen's "Forbidden Fudge"

1 coat of China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat