A-England – Jane Eyre

As soon as I saw the press release for the new A-England Gothic Beauties collection, I know Jane Eyre had to be mine. I love A-England polishes so I ordered it through Llarowe as soon as it was available, and the rest is history. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, is one of my favorite stories. I’m a bit weird about it. I’m not a huge fan of the book itself, but I love the movie. That could have something to do with Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester. He’s perfect, isn’t he?  But I digress. Jane Eyre was the one polish in this collection where I went “OH OH!!!”

Jane Eyre is described as an “intensely smouldering crimson embers, imprisoned in a veil of sombre black.” That, my friends, is a description! The formula is amazing, a one coater if you do a thick coat, but this is two thin coats. The shimmer is outstanding and I couldn’t stop staring at my nails. This polish was one where I made an effort to get a photo in the sunlight, which meant I had to stop on a street corner on my way home from work. I definitely got some looks. But it’s so worth it! I wore this for FIVE DAYS and experienced very little tip wear. I see this color getting A LOT of wear this winter. I bet it makes an amazing pedicure.

As this post goes live, I’m on my way to Antigua for 9 days!! I have several posts scheduled while I’m gone, and Jess is stepping up and doing a few extra posts. I’m going for the USA World Cup Qualifier so naturally there will be special manicure happening, including one very special one! I can’t wait to share them!

A-England: Tristam

I love it. LOVE. IT. I ordered this back in July when Adina was running her 5gbp polish sale for hitting 5,000 fans on Facebook, and it just arrived this week. My original shipment got lost in the Olympic chaos and she had to resend them. Sidenote: Adina was really great about resending my order and answering my inquiries. Anyway, I ordered this and Galahad, both of which were on my lemming list. This polish is perfection. I used two coats, but it really only needed one. The holographic glitter is really subtle and shimmering. I believe this has taken over as the Most Complimented polish I’ve worn. And it’s definitely one of my most favorite polishes in my entire 460+ bottle collection. I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of Tristam this winter. 

Essie- Play Date & OPI- Spotted

Even though I am working my way through my untrieds and trying not to buy any new polish (special exceptions excluded, obviously), I picked up Essie’s Play Date this weekend because I knew I wanted it to be my Caribbean vacation pedicure color. I also thought it would make a great base for Spotted. I absolutely love this color. The formula is wonderful as Essies usually are, and it went on perfectly in 2 coats. It’s also super easy to control. I barely had to do any clean up because it doesn’t pool in my cuticles, or drag. This is a bit brighter than Rimmel’s Wild Orchid, but resides in the same family and are close enough that I may purge my Rimmel. I picked up Play Date at Target for $7.79.

NOW!!

I have to give a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge shout out to my friend Gina who sent this to me in a care package this week. She knew I was having issues with my eBay purchase of Spotted, while she somehow manage to bid and win two bottles.  So when I opened my package and saw a mini of Spotted, the sounds that came out of my mouth in excitement were not human. She poured some of her bottle into an empty mini and sent it to me!! Thanks Gina!! Obviously, I had to try it immediately, and I love the result. I definitely need some work on the application. You are supposed to put on a VERY THIN coat, and while I wiped my brush until I was sure there no polish on it, that still ended up not being thin enough. That’s why you are getting pictures that only have 2 and 3 fingers in them. My other fingers just look… special. I can’t wait to try Spotted over other colors and see the different combinations. You best believe there will be a DC United manicure done with this before the end of the season.

Unfortunately, you can’t buy OPI Spotted in the States at this time. You will probably need to find a kind and generous soul in France to purchase and ship it to you, or pay out the hoohah for it on eBay. That’s another reason I’m grateful Gina sent me this mini. I can’t really afford a full-sized bottle at the extortionate eBay prices so this is now my most prized polish!!

Oh.My.Varnish! Orly – Cashmere Cardigan with Essie – Shine of the Times flakie top coat!!

I spent all summer longing for Revlon – Modern Grace, and while searching for it, I learned that Orly – Cashmere Cardigan was a very close dupe. Or rather, MG is a dupe of CC since CC came out first, but that’s minor detail my friends, minor details. The point is, both colors were Limited Edition and when I saw that Ricky’s still had Cashmere Cardigan for sale on their website, I was ecstatic! It was discontinued before I even found out about it, so it was a pretty exciting score for me.  When it finally got here, I was thrilled, and then amazed… I think I actually love Cashmere Cardigan more than Modern Grace! Mel had found me Modern Grace months ago, and I had even found a back up when I got to NYC last month, but I still had to have Cashmere Cardigan. Both colors are ones I’ll get plenty of use out of, but will be super sad when they are gone, so I try to use them for really great manis.

The formula is fantastic, one to two coater depending on patience. The color is just slightly more purple/greyed than Modern Grace, boardasnails does a great comparison here! It’s magic on it’s own, and a top 5 in my collection (massive honor haha), but it’s straight up OH MY VARNISH with Essie – Shine of the Times on it. I started with an accent nail, but I had to do a full mani of it. I took the picture above so you could see CC on it’s own, but right after the pic, SotT was all over all 10 digits. Topped it all off with Essie – Good to Go (yes, look at me trying out a non-Seche Vite top coat!) and let the awesomeness sink in. Pretty sure I my productivity at work that day took a dive because all I remember is staring at my nails all day haha.

Revlon- Naughty

By now you’ve probably heard/seen/read that Revlon is re-releasing a bunch of polishes under new names. These include older polishes, as well as recent releases such as Facets of Fuchsia (Now Scandalous). I have those, and am not enough of a hoarder to buy them again under new names. HOWEVER, some of the other colors are amazing. Revlon is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands with some of the stuff they’ve put out this year.

Here we have Naughty, a rerelease of Perplex, which was a dupe/near dupe of Chanel’s Paradoxal. Whew! It’s a gorgeous greyish/taupey purple that has an amazing shimmer when they light hits it just so.

 

I used:
1 coat Orly Bonder
3 coats Revlon- Naughty
1 coat Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

The formula is a dream, and you can get away with 2 thick coats or use 3 thin coats for full opacity. There is zero dragging or streaking, and it dries quickly enough that 3 coats isn’t a massive inconvenience. How is Revlon SO. GOOD. at making dupes of these high-end brands?!? As a homeowner, who has a car payment/student loans/credit card payments AND a nail polish habit to fund, it’s nice to have access to cheaper dupes of coveted polishes. I consider Naughty a “classy” polish, one that is subtle, suitable for all occasions. I’m currently getting away with wearing copious amounts of glitter under the “but it’s festive!” rule, but it’s not something I can do all the time. This polish lets me feel sparkly while still maintaining a professional appearance. Plus it’s just really pretty. It’s been getting a lot of wear on my toes recently.

I picked up my bottle of Naughty at Walgreens, for $4.99. But it’s also available in the display that’s popping up at Bed, Bath & Beyond ($3.79) and K-Mart ($4.99), with Stunning and Whimsical. This isn’t one of the harder colors to find, so snatch it up before some other smart chick does!!!

OPI Muppets Layering: Excuse Moi! over Pepe’s Purple Passion (matted)

I love how this turned out!!

1 coat Seche Rebuild (base)
2 coats OPI – Pepe’s Purple Passion
1 coat OPI – Excuse Moi!
1 coat Essie – Matte About You (matte topcoat)

Confession: I HEART the Muppets
Confession 2: I haven’t seen the movie yet:(
Confession 3: But I do have all the Muppets polishes 🙂

Pepe’s Purple Passion is an oddly gritty, thickish polish that isn’t really purple.  It’s more burgundy but I can forgive it for all of its weaknesses because of the name, lol.  It’s actually not a very easy polish to apply but I think if you thinned it a bit and had a ton of patience, you can make it work.  I have a ton of patience, so it wasn’t terrible:)  Mel reviewed Excuse Moi here.  It’s an awesome glitter.

This layering combo was gorgeous without the matting (forgot to take a picture) but matting it brought it to a new level of sophistication.  What do you think? 🙂

Revlon – Whimsical !!! (over OPI – Planks A Lot)

1 coat Seche Rebuild (base)
2 coats OPI – Planks A Lot
2 coats Revlon – Whimsical
1 coat Essie – Good to Go! (top)

Revlon definitely wins brand of the year for this one.   Those of you that know me know that my biggest lemming of all time is Deborah Lippmann’s Glitter in the Air.  There’s something about that cotton candy-like light blue and pink hex glitter (with blue and silver micro glitter) floating in milky blue base that makes me drool.  I could look at swatches of it alllll day.   What doesn’t make me drool is the cost of one Deborah Lippmann polish ($18-$20).  I know they’re worth it, but I was waiting for a sale to happen (ANYTHING) and it just wasn’t going happening in my area.  When I first heard about Whimsical being a GiTA dupe, I knew this had to be mine!!

More, more, more under the cut…

Wet n Wild Color Icon – Believe Me, It’s Real

1  coat Seche Retain (base)
1 coat Essie – Sexy Divide
1.5 coats Wet n Wild Color Icon – Believe Me, It’s Real
1 coat Wet n Wild Color Icon  – Back Alley Deals (ring accent nail)
1 coat Gelous (glitter tamer)
1 coat Seche Vite (top)

*cue Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby*

*whispers* Ice Ice baby!

The song was stuck in my head EVERY.TIME I walked into a Walgreens.  The search for Wet n Wild’s Ice Baby collection was long and hard (like most awesome Wet n Wild collections) but this was worth it. I’d do it all over again if it meant the end result were these gorgeous polishes.

More under the cut!!!

Mattese Elite Crackalacquer – Deep Purple

1 coat Seche Rebuild
3 coats Mattese Elite – Intoxicating (magenta shimmer)
2 coats Mattese Elite – Passion (glitter)
1 coat Gelous
1 coat Seche Vite
1 coat Mattese Elite Crackalacquer – Deep Purple
1 coat Seche Vite

I had a very Mattese Elite Thanksgiving holiday which is why there’s so many layers.  I literally did not have time to do my nails again after I had on Passion. It was an extraordinarily busy holiday, and if I can offer some advice: don’t offer to host Thanksgiving… ever! lol

But Thanksgiving is an awesome holiday and the Ravens were playing that night so adding on this deep PURPLE Crackalacquer on top of the many layers I had seemed logical.  Honestly, even though there are so many layers, it didn’t really feel abnormally heavy or thick.

I know the crackle polish trend is heading south, but if your nail polish is chipping and you don’t have time for a full manicure, buck the trend and slap on some crackalcquer!  The effect is always cool. Seriously, how does it work?!?  How does it separate and make your nails look like a dinosaur egg?!!  lol  I actually love how this polish didn’t crackle toooo much so it looked like a solid purple with a hint of glitter peeking out in some angles.

My favorite thing to layer under any crackle polish is glitter, of course.  Mattese Elite just came out with some good ones *wink*  😉  Crackling with this polish requires a medium thick coat, and after a few minutes like magic, it crackles.  The crackle itself dries matte so a shiny top coat is a must on top of it all. 🙂

Deep Purple Crackalacquer is new crackle polish by Mattese Elite.  You can pick up Mattese Elite online, or at any Ricky’s NYC location for $5.99.

Sinful Colors – Daddy’s Girl Goes Argyle

I’ve been meaning to post this color since September when I picked it up. I had the retardedly cutesy notion that I could post it on my Dad’s bday haha (not that he reads the blog, but just because I could). I actually did the mani, but my pics were lost in the Great Computer Meltdown and I finallllyyyy got around to using the color again this past weekend.

I love this color, and would be surprised if Sandy didn’t own it, being our resident purple girl. It’s a fairly sheer purple jelly, so it takes 3 coats to get the deep royal purple you see here, but it’s a decent enough formula that the extra layer isn’t a problem for application or drying time. I couldn’t quite get a picture of it, but the shimmer in it actually is a gold-ish color which really makes it pop.

Now, I’m sure Mel has been patiently reading through this wanting to know about that awesome argyle accent nail… guess she’ll have to hit the jump to find out how I managed it!