It's not easy pickin' a green...

Hello!

It's good to be back posting again! I know I've been a little M.I.A for the past few months, but there are a couple good reasons for that. First, my nails have been in horrible shape. I really think the winter months did a number on my nails and cuticles. They're finally to a point where I can paint them and not be embarrassed (Thank You, Nail Envy!!!!!!). And second, I just recently got a new camera. My old Canon broke and I waited quite a while to replace it. So, now that my nails are better and I have a nice new camera, I can get back to doing what I love - blogging!

My first post back is going to be a bottle shot post. I'm planning on wearing green polish to work tomorrow for St. Patrick's Day, but I'm having a very difficult time choosing a green polish! Until tonight, I didn't really realize how many green polishes I actually own! Decisions, decisions!

My first bottle shot picture is of my green China Glaze polishes (with an Orly that I snuck in because I forgot to include it with the other Orly's!).

Left to Right:  China Glaze"Starboard", "L8R G8R", "Glittering Garland", "Westside Warrior", "Zombie Zest", "Holly-Day", Orly "It's Not Rocket Science"

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Next, is a picture of some lonely greens from various brands...

Butter London "British Racing Green", Essie "Pretty Edgy", Essie "Sew Psyched", Deborah Lippmann "Billionaire", Revlon "Mistletoe", Revlon "Emerald City", Orly "Meet Me Under The Mistletoe", Orly "Jealous, Much?"

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My first 3 Zoya's (and first 3 green polishes) came from Zoya's St. Patrick's Day promo last year (2011). In the promo were Shawn, Ivanka and Suvi

Zoya "Opal", "Bevin", "Gemma", "Yara", "Shawn", "Ivanka", "Suvi"

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And now some of my favorites....

Nicole by OPI "Green Up Your Act!", OPI "Jade is the New Black", "Call My Cell-ery", "Green-wich Village", "Gargantuan Green Grape", "Fresh Frog of Bel Air", "Zom-body to Love", "Don't Mess With OPI", "Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow - Suede", "Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow", "Cuckoo For This Color"

Now, the hard part - deciding which color to wear!

Check back here tomorrow to see which color I chose!

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! 

OPI's Ulta Exclusive Polish - "I'm An Aqua-holic"

Happy 4th of July weekend, everyone! I hope you've been enjoying the holiday with friends and family!


As some of you know, OPI collaborated with Ulta for an exclusive 4-color summer collection called "Shimmer Into Summer" that was released for sale today. So, naturally, I was at Ulta at 11:30 am to get my hands on some of the colors! I ended up purchasing 3 of the 4 colors: "How You Blue-in?", "Sparkle Teal Sunrise" and "I'm an Aqua-holic" (which I will show in this post tonight).


I didn't realize this when I was at Ulta today, but these colors are (or are almost) exact dupes of the Nicole by OPI Gossip Girl collection colors:

L to R: "Too Rich For You", "Scandal Secrets and Sparkle", "Party in the Penthouse", "Spotted!"

So, if you weren't able to get any of the Nicole by OPI Gossip Girl colors, this would be a great opportunity to have them! Plus, if you're like me, I prefer the brush and bottle of the "regular" OPI. So, if you didn't purchase the Nicole by OPI's because of their bottle or brush, here's your chance to get the OPI version!

As a side note: I already owned "Too Rich For You" (see the original blog post here) and it is a dupe of "How You Blue-in". But because I love the OPI bottle and brush, I think I will put "Too Rich For You" in a future blog sale or swap.

Here's a picture I took of all 4 colors when I was at Ulta this morning:

L to R: "Sparkle Teal Sunrise", "Glitter-ally The Best Silver Ever", "I'm an Aqua-holic" and "How You Blue-in?"

"I'm an Aqua-holic" is a really pretty blue semi-foil shimmer polish. I can honestly say, I don't own anything quite like it! As with all of my OPI polishing experiences, application was a breeze! Gosh, I really love the OPI formula - it never disappoints!




Now, here are pictures of "I'm an Aqua-holic":


Application:
OPI Chip Skip
2 coats of OPI Nail Envy, Original Formula
2 coats of OPI "I'm an Aqua-holic"
1 coat of China Glaze Patent Leather Top Coat
1 spritz OPI RapiDry Spray
OPI Avoplex Nail & Cuticle Oil

Please pardon the air bubbles in this mani - I rushed it and didn't give the coats enough time to fully dry! Don't blame the polish! :-)

If you like any of these colors, Ulta has a pretty cool deal going on right now: Buy $17 worth of regular-priced OPI product(s) (which is equivalent to 2 regular-priced OPI polishes that retail for $8.50 each), you get 1 of these Ulta Exclusive polishes free! So for me today, I got these 3 Ulta Exclusives for the price of 2! And if that isn't good enough, don't forget to take your $3.50 off coupon (must be a minimum of a $10 purchase)! You can find that coupon on Ulta's website.

Nicole by OPI - "Too Rich For You"

This'll be a short post tonight, I promise! (But it is kind of picture-heavy!)


I found this pretty little thing a couple of days ago at Ulta in their clearance section for only $3.99 (normally $7.99)! They had a ton of really great colors (various brands) this time on clearance, but I managed to only come home with 2 colors (this, and an Orly, which I'll swap soon, too).


"Too Rich For You" is part of last year's Nicole by OPI Gossip Girl Collection. The collection consisted of 4 colors, and were limited edition. If you can find this polish, snatch it up - it's a beaute! 


Application:
OPI Chip Skip
1 coat of OPI Nail Envy, Original Formula
2 coats of Nicole by OPI "Too Rich For You"
1 coat of China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat
1 spritz CND Solar Speed Spray