Couple O' Swatches

I have soooo many polishes I haven't worn.  My collection is well above 500 now and that's not including the SOG polishes.  So time to stop spending and start swatching.

So first up is Golden Rose Holographic 104.  I purchased a bunch of these a year ago and never got around to wearing them all.  This is 3 coats. Nice light green but the holo really only shows under fluorescent light.

It's a smaller bottle at 6ml but definitely on the cheap side for a holographic polish.  I think I paid less than $3 for it.

Next up is one I'm sure you've all seen but it's only recently been made available in Canada.  Essence Where Is The Party? 2 coats.  Massive disappointment for me really.  Why? Well most of the time it just looks purple.  It's really hard to notice the duochrome coming through.  Especially disappointing when the bottle looks like this:

Bummer.

Later
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Score!

Last weekend I struck nail polish gold...well as far as I'm concerned anyways.

To start with I finally found a Shoppers Drug Mart with the new Essence display.  They also had some GOSH polishes on clearance.  This little haul was only $20.

From L-R: Gosh: Fossil Grey and Rusty,  Essence: Luxury Secret, High Spirits, Where is the Party?, Gleam in Blue, Glamorous Life, Lovely Secret, You Belong to Me and Break Through.

But the real score of the day came from Winners:

They had a small selection at this particular Winners and I was about to walk away with only Essie's Dive Bar in my hand when I spotted a Barielle 5-pack and was totally expecting the contents to be the same neutral colours I've seen at other stores.  I had another 'holy shit' moment when I spotted Elle's Spell in the pack!  This was on my list of most wanted polishes and honestly never thought I'd find it.  And here in Canada is the last place I thought I'd find a brand new bottle of it.

So I ran home and slapped on China Glaze Poinsettia as a base (bad choice as you'll see).

Then I added 2 coats of Elle's Spell and topped it with Seche Vite.  I really wanted this to be darker, but I think I just made a poor choice of base colour.

And so the next day I added a coat of Essie's Matte About You.  I love the polish but the China Glaze base gives off too much of an orange glow.  Also...ugh, gotta love that Seche Vite shrinkage.

Anyways, as a last addition to my score post:  My sister found a girl in her local 'mommy swap' who was selling OPI's.  When she told me the names of the polishes I started freaking out because they are all old school black label polishes.  She's selling them so cheap that I told her to take them all so I can't wait to get my hands on them now.

Later
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Couple of quickies

On my Red Carpet Manicure in Violetta Darling base:  Showcase plate B86 using Kleancolor Metallic Green and Sally Hansen Chrome Royal Purple.  I wish I'd used a darker green.

Them on the same base I tried this one out with not much success.  First I stamped with plate BM205 (the butterfly design) and used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Showtime (a silvery scattered holo).  I honestly thought this would have been a little more obvious, but it was barely visible.  Anyways, I freehanded the tips with Essence Fairy Berry and then took it off right away.

Later
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Feeling bitchy today

Warning, long rant ahead...but let's take a look at this first:

This is L'Oreal Resist and Shine #737 which is described as black with a khaki shimmer.  One coat.  It looks pretty much black at almost every angle.

I stamped it with Essence Just In Case and BM16.  Simple and subtle...I like it.

So now onto the bitching...
I'm annoyed again with some bloggers.  Maybe I should stop reading them and just look at all the pretty pictures.  When the Justin Bieber polishes came out I read a lot of comments on them - mostly negative.  Some bloggers even said they were 'ashamed' to own a JB polish!  This infuriated me really.  So his music isn't your cup of tea...so what?  It's not mine either.  But there is no doubt that JB is an incredibly talented kid and a great role model for young people.  Music aimed at young girls always seems to be the butt of a lot of jokes.  I can understand that the JB line of polish gave pause to most people at first because he's a guy, but the best thing about that polish (besides some great colours) was that part of the proceeds were given to a charity.  I don't typically give a crap what is on the label if I like the polish.  But to say that you're ashamed to own it because you 'don't like' the person whose face is on it?  Ridiculous.  If anyone has a good reason why JB is so terrible I'm all ears.

Now this new Kardashian line that everyone is fawning all over is the inspiration for this rant.  Yeah people seem to be really excited over this one...um, granted I don't know a whole lot about their family but what I do know (besides the fact that they are famous for nothing other than being rich) is that one of them is an unwed young mother, one of them has a sex tape and their father got OJ off, correct?  Now this is not my own personal opinion, but a lot of people consider some of what they've done as immoral.  So how come it's cool to buy a polish with their name on it but it's such a crime to own a Justin Bieber polish?

So yeah I don't necessarily like the Kardashians but if I like the colours I'll probably buy a couple.  Why?  Because I love polish of course!  Isn't that why we're all here?

Be nice dammit :)

Later
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Hauliday Pt.2

Ah screw it, I'm just gonna post all the rest now.  Get ready for a long post.

From my Florida haul:

Del Sol 3/$10 at CVS I think.  L-R: Superhero, Rock Star and Heartbreaker.  I haven't had a single day with enough sun to see these babies in action yet...grrr.

Pure Ice $2 at Walmart.  L-R: Calypso, Spit Fire, Silver Mercedes and Mint Dream.  I thought Calypso would be a good chrome type polish to stamp with.  I was wrong, it's sheer.  Silver Mercedes on the other hand is fan-friggen-tastic!

Essence found at Ulta, I think the larger ones were $2? and $1 for the little ones.  L-R: Fairy Berry, Humpty Dumpty, Underwater, Sundancer and Just In Case.  The first two are great for konad.  Underwater was disappointing.  It has a pretty blue shimmer in the bottle that doesn't show on the nail.

Sinful Colors $2 at Walgreens.  L-R: Mint Apple (holy awesome!), Purple Diamond and Nail Junkie.  I'm sure you guys have seen those plenty already.  The Avons were from the Avon Store for $3 on sale - Golden Wine and Deluxe Chocolate, both have an awesome gold shimmer.

Hard Candy $5 at Walmart - Date Night was in the bargain bin for $3 and the other of course is Beetle.  Beetle surprised me when I swatched it because the base is green.  The new Wet and Wilds were $1.79 at Target - Gray's Anatomy and Hannah Pinktana.  These are almost $3 at Walmart here in Canada, and man those brushes suck ass!

Kleancolors $3 at some random jewelry store. I wanted to buy a ton of the hex glitters but at day 7 and $3 a pop, I decided I'd spent too much already.  These are Red-Hot and Peaceful Heart.  Red-Hot was the first colour I slapped on when I got home.

Revlons $1 each at Big Lots.  L-R: Beach, Cotton Candy, PERPLEX (ya baby!), Chocolate Truffle, Grape Icy, Midnight Affair, Perplex again lol, Not So Blueberry and Ocean Breeze.  Most of them are scented.  Midnight Affair is a really nice dark blue but I got a mangled bottle dammit.

And finally...

Orly Matte Vinyl - I think it was $6.99 but I really wanted it and I found it on day one.
Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe - $4 at Sallys in the bargain bin.
Orly Galaxy Girl - $10 at Ulta (!) but I used a coupon and paid $6.50.
OPI Russian Navy Matte - $4.50 at a random salon in the bargain bin.
OPI Don't Mess With OPI - $7 at a random salon.
OPI What's With the Cattitude - $3!!! (steal of the trip) at a random salon in the bargain bin.

So there ya have it.  Yes I went crazy and honestly I could have done way more damage.  I had to stop myself several times from buying more.  My luggage ended up being 15 pounds overweight and I'm sure it was due to all the polish I bought.  And I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat! :)

Later
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