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!

4 Swatch Comparisons - China Glaze, Zoya, L'Oreal and Revlon!

It's SATURDAY!!!! Yaaaaay! Except for getting a run in this morning, I have nothing else on my to-do list today! I love weekends like this!


I wanted to show you all a comparison I did of 4 polishes that appear to be similar to each other in the bottle, but that are actually quite different on the nail. I picked up Revlon's "Mistletoe" a couple of weeks ago at Walgreens and once I got home, I wondered how much it looked like one of my all-time favorites, China Glaze "Wagon Trail" (but I just never got around to comparing the two). Then, just tonight, I thought about two others that are kind of close: Zoya "Edyta" and L'Oreal "Owl's Night". So, while I was thinking about it and had time, I thought I'd swatch all 4 to show you how alike and different they are.

China Glaze "Wagon Trail", Zoya "Edyta", 

L'Oreal "Owl's Night", Revlon "Mistletoe"

Same order for the swatch photos below:

I used 2 coats of each color in the photos above (no top coat or base coat).

Which one is your favorite of these 4 colors? I'd have to say that my favorite is still Wagon Trail. Up next is Owl's Night, followed by Mistletoe, then Edyta.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone!

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

Revlon - "Facets of Fuchsia"

Happy Sunday, everyone! Hope you've been enjoying your first Fall weekend of the year! Here in St. Louis, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! As my mom always says, "If the weather were like this all year-round, we wouldn't be able to afford to live here!" Fall is definitely my favorite season of the year. I just hope we get a full Fall this year, and we don't get ice and snow too early!


Today, I wanted to share with you my mani of the day: Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia. I recently purchased this at Target for around $4. Except for wearing Revlon's Perplex, I don't have a lot of experience with their polishes. But let me tell ya, so far, so good! Talk about an all-around bargain! I just was amazed at their quality, and am quite impressed with their color selections! And you can't beat their price and availability!


Facets of Fuchsia is supposed to be a dupe of Deborah Lippman's Bad Romance. Now, I can't claim this to be true, since I don't own Bad Romance. Based on the swatch pictures I've seen online though, I think it's safe to say they're close to identical. If you like BR but don't want to fork out the $18 for a bottle, go get yourself a bottle of FoF - you won't be disappointed! But go quick - this is a Limited Edition color from Revlon and won't be around long!


I layered FoF over 2 coats of OPI Black Onyx. I didn't want any VNL and I was afraid it was going to be sheer, so I figured I'd be safe and just layer it over black. 


I do recommend using either Poshe or Gelous Top Coat (I used both for this mani!). They will smooth out your nail and give you a high-gloss shine! 


Application:
Deborah Lippman 2 Second Nail Primer
1 coat OPI Nail Envy, Original Formula
2 coats of OPI Black Onyx
1 coat of Revlon Facets of Fuchsia
1 coat of Gelous Nail Gel Coat
1 coat of Poshe Super-Fast Drying Top Coat
CND SolarSpeed Spray

Thanks for stopping by! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!


-Katie

Revlon - "Perplex"

WARNING: PICTURE-HEAVY!!!!!!!!!


"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!"


Those were the exact words that came out of my mouth when I was in the cosmetics aisle at Big Lots today and saw a lonely bottle of Revlon's "Perplex" sitting by itself on the bottom shelf - with a $1 price tag on it!!!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted it! I immediately picked it up (for some reason, I was worried if I didn't snatch it up immediately, someone else might...?!? Weird.). Anyways, I ended up purchasing this, along with 2 other Revlons (again, for $1 each) and 3 older Sally Hansen's (for $1.50 each). I was all smiles when I left the store today. My thoughts were, "MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED"!


I should also mention that I found these goodies at a Big Lots 3 hours from my house. I was traveling for work today in Pekin, IL and on my way home, I was going to pick up a bite to eat before I hit the highway. In the same strip mall as the fast food restaurant was a Big Lots. I've always heard that each Big Lots has different inventory, so I figured I'd "bop on in" to check out what they had. Boy, what a great unintentional find!


Thennnnnnnn, when I got to Springfield, IL (1 hour away from my first stop in Pekin), I stopped at their Big Lots. And guess what?! They had a TON of Perplex's!!!! Again, I found myself grabbing everything I could find, without a basket! After much debate with myself, I ended up only buying 2 at that store (for a total of 3 in one day), along with a couple other Revlon's (the scented ones!) and a few other things. All in all, a GREAT day for me, indeed! :-)


"Perplex" can easily be a 1-coater, but I chose to use 2 coats. I haven't used a Revlon polish in years (probably 15+), so I was curious about the quality. Honestly, not bad at all! Easy to apply, no streaking, no bubbling, dried pretty quickly. Definitely not $1 quality with this beauty. I believe this polish originally retailed for $4.99, and to me, even that would be a killer price for this polish! I'd pay double that, without question!


I think it's safe to call this color a duochrome. In some lights, it looks taupe-y, in others it looks almost violet. Then in these pictures, it even looks gray. Love it!


Apparently, "Perplex" is a dupe of Chanel's "Paradoxal" (which I believe retail(ed) for around $23). From swatches I've seen online, it's a perfect dupe, too! I love deals, I really do! :-)


Enough babbling, right? You probably wanna see pictures of this beauty!


Application:
OPI Chip Skip
1 coat OPI Nail Envy, Soft and Thin Formula
2 coats of Revlon's "Perplex"
1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

In summary, if you're looking for "Perplex", try your local Big Lots soon! Before some crazy twenty-something comes in and takes all they've got left!