OPI Nordic Collection - Fall 2014

Hi there, gentle readers! Thank you so much for all the kind words. <3 We've been doing all right. We're slowly replacing all the essentials we lost, though that's been a bit slow because last month has been insanely busy. I've bought another camera, and I'm borrowing a laptop, so I'm able to finally make progress again with blogging. :) It's really wonderful to be back. I've missed you guys.

Today, I've got the 12-piece OPI Nordic Collection for Fall 2014 to share with you. I was pretty excited when I heard of this collection. I love the idea of all things Nordic, and my one visit to a Nordic location (Stockholm a few years ago) was filled with incredible memories. Also, this is the first year in a long while that I've been this eager for fall and everything that it brings. Just thinking about the cold nights and snuggling in warm sweaters fill me with joy. Ok, onto the collection...

OPI Ford Mustang Collection

When I was in high school, I loved reading Nancy Drew mysteries. Here was this super cool girl who solves crimes and helps people, all the while remaining witty, unflappable, and likable. And Nancy drives a Ford Mustang! As an impressionable youth, that fact seared itself into my mind and throughout the entirety of my teen years, the Mustang remained my dream car.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited when I saw the collaboration between OPI and Ford to celebrate the Mustang's 50th anniversary, and I've now got the six-piece collection in my paws to show you. :)

OPI Coca-Cola Collection

Hi, you guys! Happy Sunday! Do you have any plans for Father's Day? We have a fur baby (Dan the chinchilla), so we'll be celebrating Chin Father's Day haha. I have a small surprise for the hubby, but I can't say what because he's proof-reading this post for me. :)

OPI collaborated with Coca-Cola to come up with polishes inspired by their beverages, and I have the resulting nine-piece Coca-Cola by OPI Collection to share with you today.

NARS Orgasm

Hi, you guys! Happy hump day, as the camels would say. Half of the week is still left, but I'm already counting down the days till the weekend. :)

Today, I've got a color that is well-known in the nail polish world to show you. NARS Orgasm is a cult favorite, with an eyebrow-raising name and a high price-tag. It has been on my wishlist for quite some time, so I was thrilled when I finally got my paws on it.

It's a soft, blush peach with tons of strong golden shimmers. The formula is on the sheer side, which is evident after the first coat, though the coverage does build up. What you see in the swatches is three coats, and it still has some visible nail lines at that, but the slight bit of sheerness doesn't bother me and I would wear it like that.

I love how strong the golden shimmers are, but they do contribute to making the whole polish look orange, which is a bit disappointing. I had hoped it would retain more of its signature soft blush color once on the nails, but with each coat, it gets more orange, which is another reason I wouldn't go past three coats.

Overall, I'm torn on this polish. On the one hand, I love the idea of it and it looks stunning in the bottle. But once on my nails, combined with my skintone, it loses some of its charm and takes on a more prosaic orange hue, though it's still lovely. To be honest, I'm not sure it's worth the full retail price of $19. Thankfully, my bottle was pre-owned and I got it for a really good price, so I don't regret buying it and am super happy to fulfill a long-time lemming. :)

What do you guys think? If you have this, do you love it? Has there been a polish that's a huge lemming of yours, and did it live up to your expectations?

Zoya Awaken Collection & Monet - Spring 2014

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well. :) Is it me or is this month just flying by so fast? I love this time of the year, with all the flowers and trees blooming, and the extended amount of day light every day. I think my hubby, who does all the mowing, disagrees with my love of spring. We get just the perfect mixture of rain and sun so that the grass is growing like crazy weeds this time of the year lol.

Today, I've got Zoya's Spring 2014 offerings—the Awaken Collection and Monet special effects topper—to share with you. I always look forward to Zoya's spring collections with their fresh, understated colors and soft finishes, so I was super excited for this.

China Glaze Mingle With Kringle

Hi, you guys! Hope this week is treating you well so far! :-)

Today, I've got another polish from the China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Collection to share with you. Mingle with Kringle is a rich gold with a shimmery foil metallic finish.

I just love golds like this for the holidays. They're so appropriately festive and jubilant. :) This is a lush shade, with plenty of yellow to bring a lot of warmth and luxury to the gold color. It has a great formula that spreads out easily and applies smoothly. And two even shades is perfect for getting total coverage with the foil particles.

You can find Mingle With Kringle at your local nail salons and at beauty stores such as Ulta and Sally Beauty for a retail price of $7.50 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

KBShimmer Sand In My Stocking

Happy weekend, my gentle readers! Hope yours is off to a swell start! :D I'm going to type out a real quick post, and then go snuggle and play with my chinchilla hehe. :)

Today, continuing with the KBShimmer Winter Collection, I've got a really fun one to share with you. Sand In My Stocking—a blogger collaboration with The PolishAholic—is a colorful glitter filled with predominantly gold and also teal, orange, and brown glitters in a variety of shapes and sizes all in a sheer base.

This glitter is just so crazily fun and sparkly. I applied it over a black creme, and I really love how the glitters just pop against the dark base. The glitter density is so high in this polish that application is a total breeze. I just did one coat over the black for the swatches, and I've already got tons of glitter coverage. I was also able to easily get the large gold stars onto the nails, which is a total plus since they look awesome mixed in with the other glitters.

You can find Sand In My Stocking at KBShimmer.com for $8.75 and HarlowandCo.org for $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

OPI Wonderous Star

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well! I've been feeling so tired for the last few days, and I think it's the time change. It's getting dark so early now... by 4pm! I wish we could be on daylight savings all year round, or I just need to move to a more southern locale lol. :)

Today, I've got the last of my picks from the regular (non-texture) portion of the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection to share with you. Wonderous Star is a champagne-colored shimmer scattered with medium-sized black hexagon glitters.

The application is pretty easy. You do need to be conscious of the black glitters due to their size, but the wide flat OPI brush helps a lot with that. The formula is a little on the thinner side, so I did three coats for the swatches. The black glitters aren't too gritty, so it feels almost smooth to me on the nails, which is a nice bonus.

This polish is so interesting to me. I don't think I have another one quite like it in my stash. At first I thought I wouldn't like the contrast between the black glitter and the light shimmery base, but it actually looks quite striking once on the nails and it won me over. It's so unusual, I'd love to know what you think of it. :)

You can find Wonderous Star at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

OPI All Sparkly and Gold

Hi, you guys! Happy Halloween! Do you celebrate or plan to do anything fun? Lots of folks at my work bring their kids in for trick-or-treating in the afternoon, so I'm definitely looking forward to that. :D

Today, I've got another sparkly number from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection to share with you. All Sparkly and Gold is a medium slightly antique gold-colored glitter.

This is a really interesting shade of gold, and it's super sparkly and festive. Just like My Favorite Ornament, some of the glitter pieces in here are a little bigger than average, so they do a great job of catching the light as you move your hands, and there's a nice overall chunky look to it. I had no problems with application. Each coat went on evenly, with the glitters distributing well across the nail, and two coats is all you need for opaque coverage. It does dry a little gritty, on par with glitters like this, so you'll need top coat if you like a smooth finish.

You can find All Sparkly and Gold at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

OPI Ski Slope Sweetie

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well. :-)

Today, I'm kicking off a selection of colors from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 Collection. It's a large collection (18 polishes!) and I have quite a number of gorgeous shades to share with you, so please bear with me as I go through this set. :D First up is Ski Slope Sweetie, a sheer white with tons of golden iridescent shimmers.

This is such a sparkly and interesting polish. The shimmers in here are strong, flashing predominantly gold, but you'll also see bits of green and pink. In fact, the shimmers are so striking that they dominate what you see on the nails, making the polish appear more gold on the nails than what you'd think from the bottle. True to its name, it makes me think of sunshine bouncing off the sparkling spray you kick up as you come to a hard stop on your skis. :-)

The formula is smooth and easy to apply, though a bit on the sheer side in terms of coverage. I did three coats for the swatches, and you can still see a little of the nail line at that. It's a very pretty and unique polish, so to me, it's worth the extra coat. If I were wearing it, I would stick to three coats for a more ethereal look, or wear it over a white base for a more opaque look.

You can find Ski Slope Sweetie at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

Butter London Brown Sugar

Hi there, lovely readers! Happy Mid-Autumn! We celebrated with friends last weekend by eating mooncakes, the ubiquitous food of the holiday. I've never been a huge fan of the original flavors like lotus and red bean, but one of our friends found more interesting flavors for us to try, like jasmine tea, and they were delicious. Being the tea-lover that I am, I love anything tea-flavored. :-)

Today, I have another gorgeous lacquer from the Butter London Rock Your Colour Collection to share with you. Brown Sugar has a reddish brown base filled with oodles of golden shimmers and gold and pink glitters.

Gosh, isn't this one just sensational?! It's my favorite from the collection. It's so sparkly and full of warmth, really just a perfect color for fall. The formula's equally awesome. It's easy to apply, coming out effortlessly though a little on the thin side. I ended up doing three coats for total coverage, but you may be able to stop at two coats depending on your application. Even though this is a glitter, it dries glossy and smooth to the touch, which is a total bonus. :-)

You can find Brown Sugar on butterlondon.com and at select retailers such as Nordstrom and Ulta for $15 for 0.4 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

China Glaze Goldie But Goodie

Happy Sunday! It's definitely a happy one for me. :-) I'm so excited that football season is kicking off. Football is one of my favorite things about fall and I've been eagerly looking forward to this since the last season ended in February.

Over the next few days, I've got a selection of colors from the China Glaze Autumn Nights Collection to share with you. Let's kick off today with Goldie But Goodie, a rich antique-looking gold in a foil finish.

This is a really interesting gold. It's not as yellow as most golds are. Instead it has a bronze/brownish tint to it that mellows it out and gives it that antique look. It makes this more wearable than your standard gold, while still being very pretty and festive. The formula is great on this. It goes on smoothly, with the foil particles spreading out evenly without any clumping or bald spots. I just needed two coats for total coverage.

You can find Goldie But Goldie at your local nail salons and at beauty stores such as Ulta and Sally Beauty for a retail price of $7 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

Zoya Maria Luisa

Hi, you guys! Happy hump day, as camels would say! :)

Today, I've got another color from the Zoya Satin Collection to share with you. While the other colors in the collection are all vibrant jewel tones, Maria Luisa is a topper comprised of warm golden flakes in a sheer base.

This is such a pretty topper. The gold flakes instantly jazz up any color, and you can use it for a full-on mani or for just an accent nail. What amazed me the most about this polish though is its formula. The flake density in here is amazing! What you see in the swatches is just one coat over Zoya Mason, and it's already at the perfect coverage. The flakes go onto the nails so evenly and smoothly that it feels like I'm applying a creme polish. There are no bald spots or clumps, just perfectly even distribution of flakes. :-)

You can find Maria Luisa on Zoya.com for $8 for 0.5 fl oz. If you are new to Zoya, you can get your first two bottles of Zoya for $8 - $9 total and free shipping! More info HERE.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

Zoya Tinsley

Hi you guys! I'm a little late with today's post, but here it is finally. I'm off work for the holiday, so I'm having a super lazy day and it's hard to get anything done at faster than a snail's pace lol. :-)

Today, I've got another sparkly shade from the Zoya Irresistible Summer 2013 Collection to share with you. Tinsley is a pink rose with tons of sparkly golden shimmers in a glass fleck finish.

Just like Kerry and Amy in this collection, this is another one that Zoya refers to as a foil, but it seems more like a glass fleck to me. The first coat is a little thin and sparse, but the second coat does a lot to fill in everything and reach great coverage. I stuck with two coats for the swatches and I'm happy with the coverage at that, but you can still see just a bit of the visible nail lines, so you may want a third coat if you prefer total opacity.

You can find Tinsley on Zoya.com for $8 for 0.5 fl oz. If you are new to Zoya, you can get your first two bottles of Zoya for $8 - $9 total and free shipping! More info HERE.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.