China Glaze - "Midtown Magic" - Flakie-fied AND Matte-i-fied!

Just for fun, I decided to add a coat of Nubar 2010 to my China Glaze "Midtown Magic" manicure (man, say THAT 10x fast!). 

And as if that wasn't enough, I added a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic!

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

OPI's "At Your Quebec & Call"

Hey, kids! 
Gosh, I'm sorry, but it's so hard to be happy and chipper and put exclamation points after every sentence, when you do this to your expensive coffee table after a mani:

Yep - this coffee table was the victim of spilled acetone in it's purest form. Why did I have a dish of pure acetone on my nice coffee table without protection under it? Yeah, I'm asking myself that same question over and over and over. ARGH! I'm so mad right now. And I have no one to blame but myself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Makes me feel like I can't even own nice things without ruining them. I've only had this table a little over 2 years. I bought it brand new, along with 2 matching end tables, a sofa table and a bookshelf. So, trying to find a varnish that matches perfectly might be a challenge. I'm hoping the company that I bought the furniture from will sell me some varnish or have a recommendation for me. I'm waiting on a call back from them...


Before THIS happened, I had just finished up my mani which I'm in LOVE with. I swapped with a friend from one of the groups I belong to on FB (I've become quite the swap-a-holic!!!). She sent me OPI's "At Your Quebec & Call" and I sent her an Essie and a DL that were on her wish list.


This beauty comes from OPI's 2004 Fall Canadian Collection. I can't remember when or where I first saw swatches of this, but I was in love immediately. I knew it would be tricky to find, since it's from 2004 and a Black Label OPI. But sure enough, Destany posted that she bought it while dusty hunting, and I asked if she'd be interested in swapping - and she was!


I've noticed that with the older OPI's, it takes more coats to get full opacity. Honestly, I might've been able to pull off 3 coats, but just to be safe, I went with 4. This polish came out prior to OPI going 3-free, so it was a little stinky. Also, it has the old smaller brush (not a Pro-Wide brush most of us are used to). So it took a lot more dipping, but it was worth it!


I love, love, love this polish. It's so unique, and unlike anything I currently own. I'd describe it as a golden olive shimmer. It's not green, but it's not gold, either. It's just...beautiful. 


And here she is:


Application:
Deborah Lippman 2 Second Nail Primer
Seche Clear Base Coat
4 coats of OPI's "At Your Quebec & Call"
1 coat Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
1 spritz CND SolarSpeed Spray

Do you have any Black Label OPI's?! If so, which ones? Did you find them "dusty hunting" or have you had them since they were released?

Thanks for reading my rant tonight. I already feel a little better, now that I've been able to "vent" about it a little. But I have a feeling tonight's tragic coffee table acetone event will haunt me every time I look at my table. Oh well, too late now, right?!


By the way, if you get anything out of this post, or from my blog in general, let it be this: 

KEEP NAIL POLISH AND ACETONE AWAY FROM THINGS YOU

 DON'T WANT PERMANENTLY RUINED!

Take the extra minute to cover your table or work area first. 

You'll be glad you did!

Color Club - "Revvvolution"

Hi, everyone! It seems that I only blog on the weekends. Not sure why that is, actually. I've been noticing lately that I've had "naked nails" quite a bit during week. Maybe it's because I'm just too pooped from working all day to take the time to do a full mani, snap decent pictures, then write a post about it. Or maybe I'm just lazy..........
I'll work on it, I promise!


Anywhoooo, I wanted to share with you all some pics of my very first Color Club polish, "Revvvolution". Now I know this polish has been out a couple of years and there are tons and tons of pictures on the internet of it. But I figured, since it's a sunny day today and I've already got it on, why not get some pictures of it?!


I received this beauty last week from my friend Kristin (check out her nail polish blog here) who is in one of the groups I belong to on Facebook. She swapped me this, along with China Glaze "Cosmic" aaaaaand one of her handmade nail polish rings! How sweet was that?! Up until recently, I never wanted to get into swapping. But now, I'm addicted! It's so much fun! I *heart* nail mail!

For some reason, Color Club polish is darned near impossible to find here in St. Louis. I really liked the formula of "Revvvolution", so I'll probably be wanting (needing!) more of these. I was shocked to find out that this polish could easily be a one-coater (BONUS!!!!!). I couldn't believe how opaque it was with one brushstroke. I guess to get more usage out of the bottle, you could layer it over a black polish like OPI's "Black Onyx". I've already got a swap going with someone else to get a back-up bottle of this polish, so I think I'll be set for a while!

Application:

Deborah Lippmann 2 Second Nail Primer

1 coat of Seche Clear Base Coat

2 coats of Color Club "Revvvolution"

1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Here are a couple of pictures taken indoors, using artificial light:

Drumroll please.....................

Now, the OUTDOOR pictures!!!!!!

This polish is EVERYTHING I've always wanted my "newer version" of OPI's "My Private Jet" to be. Even when I used to layer the Northern Lights Top Coat (by Out The Door) on top of MPJ it still never gave me results like this! And I'm not a huge fan of holos (GASP!), but this made it to my Top 10 List immediately after I put it on. 

So my question for you all: If you have experience with Color Club polish, what is your favorite color? What Color Clubs do you think I should add to my wish list?!


Thanks again, everyone, for taking the time to read my blog post today! I know there are a ton of polish blogs out there, and it means so much to me to know that you took time out of your day to read mine! THANK YOU!

China Glaze - "Fortune Teller"

This is the moment I've been waiting for since the day I first saw a swatch of China Glaze's "Fortune Teller". I don't know where I was, or what I was doing. I don't even know whose blog it was that I saw it on. All I know is I fell in love immediately with this color and knew I had to have it right away!


Well, after doing a little research on the polish, I soon realized that this little beauty wouldn't be an easy one to find. Apparently, this color was a Sally Beauty exclusive color from 2009. I've been to quite a few Sally's and have NEVER seen it in stores. So I knew I'd either have to buck-up and buy it off of eBay, or find someone online who would want to swap it for something I had or could get.


What I learned quickly is that if you just speak up, and let others know what you're looking for, there's a good chance someone out in cyberspace might be able to help. Sure enough, a friend of mine in one of the Facebook groups I belong to happened to have an extra bottle and was willing to swap with me! Only about a week after I mentioned my love for "Fortune Teller" online, it was in my hands! I can't thank you enough, Neeka! I don't swap very often, but this was probably one of my favorite trades (next to my all-time favorite, "Unripened"!!!!!!).


"Fortune Teller" is a beautiful black creme polish with different sizes of orange/copper hex glitter. For this mani, I used 2 coats of FT and felt that I got full opacity and didn't need a third. I also needed 2 coats of top coat, because this puppy just soaked up the first coat. Even after 2 coats of top coat, it's still a little bit rough. I'm thinking it might be worth investing in a bottle of Gelous. I don't use glitter polishes very often, but when I do, I want high shine and smoothness.


Ok, enough with the babbling. You're probably here to see pictures, right?


Application:
OPI Chip Skip
1 coat of Seche Clear Base Coat
2 coats of China Glaze "Fortune Teller"
2 coats of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
1 spritz CND Solar Speed Spray

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo, Katie

OPI's Ulta Exclusive Polish - "How You Blue-In?"

Happy Friday, everyone! I tell ya, I could TOTALLY get used to these 4-day work weeks! It still feels like Thursday, but I'm so glad to be off for the next couple of days!


So, you all probably recall the post I wrote last weekend about the Ulta Exclusive OPI's that I got, right? If not, here's the original post.

I had mentioned in the post that one of the colors I purchased that day, "How You Blue-in?", looked like a dupe of the Nicole by OPI polish "Too Rich For You" (which I had purchased at Ulta a few months ago!). 


Well, here are pics of "How You Blue-In?":


Application:
OPI Chip Skip
1 coat of Seche Clear Base Coat
2 coats of OPI "How You Blue-In?"
1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Now, here are the pictures of Nicole by OPI's "Too Rich For You" that I took right after I bought the polish at Ulta a few months ago. To see my original blog post about this polish, click here.

So, as you can see, these are dupes; the recent Limited Edition collection from Ulta and the Nicole by OPI Gossip Girl collection are the same. But if you're like me, I prefer the OPI bottle shape and brush over the Nicole by OPI bottle and brush. If you liked the Gossip Girl collection but weren't able to snag any of 'em, now's your chance! I'll definitely be keeping the OPI Ulta Exclusive version of this color and will put the Nicole by OPI version up for swaps! That reminds me, I reeeeeeeally need to go through my polish collection and start getting rid of a lot of polish! The more I get rid of, the more new polish I can buy without any guilt!

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

There's no place like home! Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - "Downtown Rubies"

Happy 235th Birthday, America!

I hope you've been enjoying your holiday weekend! My weekend has been pretty low-key, but I'm not complaining! I could totally get used to these 3-day weekends! And as a bonus, that means only a 4-day work week ahead!


Yesterday, while at Ulta, I found Sally Hansens Complete Salon Manicure "Downtown Rubies" for $1.99. This particular Ulta moved their clearance section to the middle of the store, and it was a little more organized than their usual clearance section. Of course, I went straight to the nail polish tray. I saw only 2 SH's, and bought them both (this, along with "Touch of Mink"). For $1.99 (normally $7.99 at Ulta) each, I felt that was too good to pass up!


So in honor of America's birthday today, I decided to try "Downtown Rubies" as my holiday mani. I have to be honest, while painting my nails, I kept picturing the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy clicks her ruby red slippers and says, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home..." My nails look like little ruby slippers!


I really love the Complete Salon Manicure line from Sally Hansen. I like their handle, their brush is nice (but takes a little getting used to) and their formula is high quality. This polish was a little "goopy" and thick, but it wasn't hard to work with on the nail. I did get frustrated when I kept dipping the brush back in the bottle. Because the brush is a little larger than most, I had to make sure I placed it back in the bottle carefully, so that I didn't make a mess with the polish on the rim. 


Have you used a SH Complete Salon Manicure polish before? What did you think? What's your favorite color from that line?




Application:
Deborah Lippmann 2 Second Nail Primer
1 coat of Seche Clear Base Coat
3 coats of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Downtown Rubies"
2 coats of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat