China Glaze Sexy Silhouette

Let me tell you, this little devil of a polish does not like being photographed in the cloudy weather.  Additionally what's up with this picture looking like my bottle is floating?  I'm going to end up on PhotoshopDisasters or something.


China Glaze Sexy Silhouette is from the Fashion Lounge collection but mostly can be found in the Core Colors now at Sally's Beauty Supply.  I picked this up when China Glaze was having a buy 2 get 1 free sale because it was an interesting fuchsia like red with a slight purple shimmer in the bottle.


I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Sexy Silhouette and a top of Seche Vite.  The formula was good - not too runny or thick but after seeing my nails in the light, it's a bit sheer and not as opaque as I originally thought.  You can see some VNL (visible nail line) on some of my nails.

The sun makes this color almost look matte but I assure you, it's not.  You can also see all the ridges in my nails which I need to buff out.  You also may want to just use a plain ridge filler (there are several on the market).

Indirect sun here - you can start to see the VNL on my first two fingers and you can see a bit of that purple shimmer peeking through.

I felt like taking one picture indoors - I only use 6500K "natural" lights in my house so it most mimics the sun but you can see just a bit more fuchsia here and much more VNL.  Go figure.  Overall a nice color but I liked it better layered over grey.  ^_^

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].

Sinful Colors A Pretty-In-Pink Collection

Image of (huggy) Bear from (fluff)Friends, SGN

Oh Valentine's Day - I have such a love/hate relationship with you!  Please enjoy the following press release from Sinful Colors.

SINFUL COLORS INTRODUCES A PRETTY-IN-PINK COLLECTION

Perfect for Valentine’s Day

Love is in the air, romance is in bloom and pink is paramount. Welcome February 14th, a day marked by kisses, sweethearts and flirting, of course. This year, treat your tips to a Valentine’s makeover, coating them in a feminine, delicate, or dynamic shade of pink. From bubble gum to baby doll – and everything in between – Sinful Colors has the best array of pink polish to pretty-you-up for the big day.


The 8 loving shades in the collection include:
Pink Forever: Bazooka meets Bam-Bam to equal beautiful.
Beautiful Girl: Classic ballerina with a flirty finish.
Glass Pink: Sheer, shiny, shimmer-happy bliss.
Boom Boom: Magenta-infused pink, which pops on toes and tips alike.
Scandal: No-nonsense neon, slick and sensational.
Soul Mate: Muted peachy pink with a melon twist.


Sinful Colors surpasses the masses with more than 300 amazing polishes, including the above-mentioned shades. All hues are available at major drug and mass market stores nationwide for $1.99, by calling 1-800-448-0763 or online at www.sinfulcolors.com

Ginger Kitty Designs Giveaway!

Picture from GingerKittyDesigns

Doesn't that look awesome?!  Shatter/Crackle is the thing for spring 2011, with both OPI and China Glaze coming out with polishes - not to mention it's been in the Europe Market for awhile (Barry M, etc).


Now Ginger Kitty Designs has her hands on a bottle of shatter/crackle and is loving it!  She's having a giveaway for a Nail Polish Crackle Ring.  Please be sure to check out her blog for your chance to win!  Giveaway closes on 24 January, 2011.

Jesse's Girl Spring Break

I have the exciting opportunity to review the new line of High Intensity nail polishes from the company Jesse's Girl and today I picked one of my favorites ever - the purple creme.  I'm a huge sucker for purple cremes (almost as much as I love purple glitters!).  Jesse's Girl has all kinds of makeup, not just nail polish so be sure to check out their website.


I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Spring Break and a top of Seche Vite.  Spring Break is a light purple creme and I found the formula to work well - not too thick, not streaky.  The cap is square shaped which was more pencil like to me (which I prefer) but the brush was a little on the thin side for me.  I'm used to the OPI Pro Brush from using that the last several days - but Jesse's Girl was NOT impossible, just took a few more strokes of polish.


STILL CLOUDY HERE.  I'm seriously about to go beat up some clouds or something.

Great color - this will be really nice during Easter season (when I prefer to wear light cremes) but I think it's also a great base for a Konad.  


The High Intensity polish line launches officially on 25 January on their website and the "prepacks" have already been spotted at Rite Aid stores.  They do provide free shipping on domestic orders over $20 and do ship internationally as well.  They even accept PayPal.


Jesse's Girl sells for $2.99 a bottle online or at Rite Aid stores. You can visit Jesse's Girl on their website, Like them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter.


Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Hard Candy Sky

Following the blogger buzz over Chanel Riva and how Hard Candy Sky was its dupe, I went in searching for my $4 Hard Candy at my local Wal-Mart and found several bottles.  Now, I do not own, nor do I wish to spend $20 on a bottle of Chanel again, so please check out Vampy Varnish for a comparison post for this one.  Hard Candy Sky is a light blue base with blue shimmer.  I actually had a color like this when I was about 16, but I don't remember the brand or name of the polish - I just know it was a drugstore brand.

I had to say, I found this formula to be a little thick and streaky at the same time - almost chalky.  Nor my favorite, but it worked.  I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Sky and a top of Seche Vite.  I'm still dying with grey skies.  :[

On some nails, you can see the streakiness of this polish poking through and giving me VNL, and on other pictures you can see the blue shimmer.  It's subtle, but it's there.

Hard Candy can be found in drugstores for $4 a bottle.  You can Like them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter.

Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Glitter

It's mid-January and the Nicole by OPI "The One Less Lonely Girl Collection" has arrived at Wal-Mart and will be showing up at Target, Sears, Ulta and other retail locations next month.


This collection was supposed to have 6 colors but a surprisingly 7th arrived in this collection which I will swatch last. The "7th color" is apart of a separate collection - sorry about that!  Additionally, these bottles were the beginning of the new "Perfect Stroke" brush which slightly resembles the "new" Sally Hansen brushes.

All bottles in this collection had a little cardboard tag that talked about the Pencils of Promise, a charity that works to build schools and increase educational opportunities in the developing world.  Justin's goal is to build 15 schools around the world for needy children and has been giving proceeds of his earnings to PoP.  No information was provided on how much money from this collection will be donated to PoP.

One Less Lonely Glitter is a lot lighter in the bottle and way less blue than the promo picture.  I think the person doing the product pictures needs their monitor calibrated.

I used a base of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, three layers of One Less Lonely Glitter, and 2 coats of OPI Top Coat to seal it in. However, the glitter was still gritty and I really should have topped it with some Seche Vite to smooth it all out.  I love that the purple glitter in this polish looks a lot like little rhinestones - very Katy Perry nail like (if you've seen her Twitter pictures of polish, you know what I mean).


I didn't have any sun, so here are some mediocre polish pictures (boo).

Removal was an absolute pain which took acetone and soaking for me (I don't FOIL it, even though I should - I just think it wastes foil, haha).  Even still, I absolutely love this polish both in color and glitz.


Nicole by OPI is available beginning at ULTA, Meijer, Harmon, HEB, Sears, Wal-Mart and more for around $8 a bottle.  For more information, visit their website, follow Nicole by OPI on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

OPI The One That Got Away

The final polish of the Katy Perry collection is called The One That Got Away which is listed as a deep berry.  Now the promo picture was much more purple than my actual bottle but even then my actual bottle picture looks way more red than berry.  It's almost a plum?  There is a shimmer in here too that is a bit goldish but didn't transfer well onto the nail.


I used a base coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, 3 coats of The One That Got Away and topped with OPI Top Coat.  Even with 3 coats, I still felt this was just a tiny bit sheer and reminded me a little of a glass flecked raspberry polish.

I also had a bit of a problem with application because I had one wonky hair on my brush.  I'll end up clipping it later, I'm sure, but that one hair seemed to drive me nuts.

In the shade you can see a bit of that goldish shimmer in the bottle.  Again, not the most unique color but still not bad.

I also had to add some Black Shatter to top it off.

I really didn't like this as much as I love the Black Shatter over pure glitters.  I think shatter/crackle is a lot like matte... it's fun to play with - it changes the texture and appearance of your nails, but ultimately it's just another step to apply and sometimes you get bored with it.

Removal left my nails just a tiny bit stained red but I just washed my hands with soap and a nail brush and my beds were fine again.

OPI is available at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and Ulta, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer. Please visit their website for details [official website].  

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Essence Movie Star

My local HEB grocery store now has a small display of Essence makeup, and the nail polish was QUICK to sell out.  I believe it was $1.99 a bottle for 0.16 fl. oz but it might have been 99 cents - I need to go back and check, but either way, I decided to pick up this grey in my search for the perfect grey to go with my GREY SKIES.  Blah.


Movie Star I guess is supposed to be about the silver screen.  This is a bluish grey creme that was a tiny bit on the thick side but not unmanageable.  I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Movie Star and a top of Seche Vite.

There was just a bit too much blue in this for me - as you can see it dries darker on the nail than is shown in the bottle.  I think I need a bit more white in it to even it out.

Same story with the shade.  Overall, a good color and probably an amazing base for a winter Konad.  I may keep this one around for these gross grey days with no sun.  :\

NOTD: 16 Jan 2011

Instead of taking my nail polish off and putting something new on, I decided to layer.  And layer.  And layer.


This started out with a base coat of Seche Natural.  Next came two coats of Essence Movie Star followed by a layer of Seche Vite.  Then I added a coat of China Glaze Sexy Silhouette and topped THAT with a coat of CND Effects Violet Shimmer.  Oy.  This is going to be fun to take off but I SAW THE SUN so I'm running outside next.

Do I already have a violet red with grey undertones?  I'm sure.  ^_^  Was this fun?  Of course.

Blogs of Note

Happy Sunday!


Enamored Enamel hasn't posted since last year (har har) but one thing I love about this blog is the large pictures.  I'm not a fan of clicking (and clicking and clicking).  She does post a lot of batch swatches and doesn't really comment on formula or wear, but if you're looking for a quick picture, this is a good place to look.


Eternal Enamel also hasn't posted since last year (sad face now) but had some pretty amazing nail art.  I hope she reactivates her blog because I really enjoyed reading this blog.


Finally is my friend and inspiration, FrmHeadToToe.  If you like makeup, jewelry, or fashion, THIS is a great place to look.  Jen is absolutely beautiful and amazing and her tutorials are out of this world.  If I ever get married, I've already told Jen that I'm flying her to me to be my makeup artist (and hair, and I wouldn't mind if she picked my dress out too).  I love this girl.