Orly Ancient Jade

Hi there! Today's post is all about Orly Ancient Jade. I kept seeing Ancient Jade when I would polish shop and I was always tempted to buy it up but always put it back. It became a lemming for me and my best friend surprised me with a bottle (as well as a ton of other bottles, all lemmings!)
Ancient Jade is a dusty jade green. It leans a slightly more green than my swatch photos show. The formula was thick but highly opaque. It was easy to work with, as all Orly polishes are. Also, in the 24 hours that I wore this polish I had 3 strangers comment on how nice it was. Score! I love when people notice my nail polish lol.
The swatches below are two coats of Orly Ancient Jade and one coat of Seche Vite.

Comparison Post: OPI My Chihuahua Bites vs Essie Too Too Hot vs OPI Cajun Shrimp

Good morning! Today I have a comparison post for you. I've been meaning to post this for a while now but always end up writing up a different post. When looking in my stash I found three colors that are super close....all coral toned reds, so I figured I would swatch them for a comparison post.

For comparison we have:
OPI My Chihuahua Bites  vs.  Essie Too Too Hot  vs.  OPI Cajun Shrimp

Not 100% dupes but they are all really close.

I examined these under my bathroom lights and came to the following conclusions:

The closest to being dupes are the two OPIs.

OPI My Chihuahua Bites is more pink toned than OPI Cajun Shrimp.

The darkest of the trio is Essie Too Too Hot.

OPI Cajun Shrimp & OPI My Chihuahua Bites are more orange than Essie Too Too Hot.

Essie Too Too Hot has the strongest red undertones of the bunch.

OPI Cajun Shrimp & My Chihuahua Bites have the same formula.

Essie Too Too Hot is more 'squishy' feel to the formula (which may be my favorite).

Do I need all three? Absolutely not. If I were going to swap one it would be one of the OPIs, most likely My Chihuahua Bites as much as I love the name. If the world was coming to an end and I could only keep one it would be Essie Too Too Hot.



L'Oreal Waters Edge

Good Morning Ladies. I can rest easy now, I am now the proud owner of L'Oreal Waters Edge....which is a 100% dupe of my one time top lemming Essie Greenport. I don't know what I was doing when Essie released their Northfork Collection in 2009. Being that I'm from Long Island and about 40 minutes from the Northfork, you would think that I would have jumped on it. I didn't, and I regretted it for a long time. After some serious Google investigations I found that I also missed out on L'Oreal's Passport to Paradise collection in the summer of 2010 which was a re-release of the Northfork collection under L'Oreal. Waters Edge is an exact dupe for Greenport. YAY!

Waters Edge is a gorgeous teal/aqua creme. Formula on this took a little getting use to. I dislike how short the L'Oreal brush is and felt I had to really dip deep into the neck of the bottle to get any polish on the brush. The first coat was streaky and I found I had to apply thicker coats to get full color. I was able to get it down pat in 2 coats. I don't mind the extra work, because look at the color!  :)

The swatches below are two coats of Waters Edge and a coat of Seche Vite.

China Glaze Tickle My Triangle

Hello :)  Since the weather here in NY is getting colder I've been trying to get through more and more of my unused holo polishes. I'm ready to start using my fall shades, but I don't want to give up on summer just yet - I still have a ton of summer colors to show everyone. Today I have China Glaze Tickle My Triangle from their Kaleidoscope collection. I can't believe I've had this in my stash for months now and haven't used it till now.

Tickle My Triangle is a bright pink holo polish. I don't think it's bright enough to be classified as hot pink, but it's what I would consider a medium pink (almost a rose pink IMO). The holographic effect on this is great. Of all the holos I own, I think the Kaleidoscope collection may be my favorite.

Formula on Tickle My Triangle was like any other holo - draggy on the first coat. The photos below are three coats of Tickle My Triangle and a coat of Seche Vite.

OPI Tangerini Bikini

Good Morning! Happy Friday! As mentioned in yesterday's post, today I'm reviewing OPI Tangerini Bikini from their Summer Splash collection in 2004. This is another one I thought I was going to hate. I don't necessarily love the color, but it's not terrible. I think I would like this one more as a pedi color.

Tangerini Bikini is a bright orange polish with subtle shimmer. Like Cabana Banana, this polish is very sheer and the formula is runny. After 3 coats you can still see my VNL.

The photos below are 3 coats of Tangerini Bikini and no top coat.
(FYI - Tangerini Bikini and Cabana Banana are still available on AveYou.com)

OPI Cabana Banana

Good Morning! Today's post is all about OPI Cabana Banana from their Summer Splash collection of 2004. I was at a supply store when the owners young daughter brought over a basket of black label HTFs. I wasn't really in love with any of them, but I felt bad turning her down so I picked up Cabana Banana, Tangerini Bikini (tomorrow's post) and Paris Couture For Sure top coat. I didn't want to use Cabana Banana at all. I hated it. I wanted to do a quick swatch of it and be done. Surprise, Surprise, I kind of like it LOL.

Cabana Banana is a bright yellow polish with subtle shimmer. How cute is the name? The only downside of this polish is that it is so sheer. The formula is on the runny side, and after 3 coats you can still see my VNL.

The photos below are 3 coats of Cabana Banana with no top coat.

OPI Coral Reef

Good Morning! Today I have OPI Coral Reef from their It's Summer For Shore collection in 2003. I wish I had better photos for you, the weather in NY has been less than sunny lately. I wore this polish for two days hoping for sun and it never happen. I got two quick sunlight pictures and then my camera batteries died.

Coral Reef is (obviously) a coral polish with holographic shimmer. In my opinion it leans orange as well. The holographic shimmer in this is subtle yet strong enough to stand out. Formula was great and easy to work with. Because this polish is black label, this is before the OPI Pro-wide brush days (Yay!)

The photos below are three coats of Coral Reef and one coat of Seche Vite (I don't feel that SV killed the holo in this at all). I still have 2 bottles of Coral Reef available for sale under the blog sale page :)

Amazing Layers: China Glaze Flying Dragon & Nubar 2010

Good Morning! As mentioned in my post yesterday, I have an amazing layering combo for you today. I've never fallen in love with a layering combo the way I fell in love with this one. Even my boyfriend noticed and said this is his favorite polish yet LOL!!! Something about it reminds me of snake skin.

I loved China Glaze Flying Dragon so much I didn't want to take it off. I wanted something to layer over it and I grabbed my bottle of Nubar 2010. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but I really fell in love! I've worn Nubar 2010 over black polish before, but something about this makes it really stand out.

The photos below are two coats of China Glaze Flying Dragon, a coat of Seche Vite, and two coats of Nubar 2010. You can buy Nubar at www.ByNubar.com

China Glaze - Flying Dragon

Good Morning! Happy Monday! First off I want to say Welcome to the new followers I've gotten in the past few weeks.  :)

Today's post is focused on China Glaze Flying Dragon. I had seen Flying Dragon so many times and never picked it up because I have so many magentas like this. I saw this last week on the shelf at a beauty supply store and I thought to myself - how can I NOT own this? So I grabbed it.

Flying Dragon is a purple/magenta polish with lighter purple and blue microglitter. I love the glitter in this and it really makes it stand out, in my opinion.

I really liked the formula on Flying Dragon, I thought it was easy to work with. It does dry matte like a neon, but that's not something a coat of Seche Vite can't fix.

The photos below are two coats of Flying Dragon and a coat of Seche Vite.

As always, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my blog.
Check back tomorrow, because I have an AMAZING layering combo featuring Flying Dragon.

Rant: When will people stop testing the polishes in the stores?!?!

Hey ladies! I need a place to rant about this and I figured I would do it on my blog, because I'm sure we've all seen it and been extremely annoyed about it since we're all polish lovers.

Since I'm polished obsessed I spend a ton of time standing in front of the polish displays looking at what's available. I wish the general public would STOP TESTING THE NAIL POLISHES IN THE STORE. Unless the bottle says TESTER on it, why would you? It's extremely annoying to me, especially if I'm interested in buying a polish.

I was at Target today looking at what they had when the girl next to me tested five different Essies. In the past I've watched a mother give her daughter a full manicure, only to leave the cap 1/2 off and walk away. I've seen a woman swatch it on her toes in CVS. I've seen it at Walgreens. I've seen someone test the OPI polishes at the front display in Ulta, with store staff standing right there saying nothing. I think I'm pretty easy going, but this really makes my blood boil. This isn't Sephora, where they have the tester bottles.

I've personally never tested the polishes. I'm sure if I had, I would have saved a couple of hundred dollars on polishes I don't necessarily love. I'm starting to wish that polishes come sealed!  Does anyone else share the same feelings on this?

Julep 'Sienna'

Happy Sunday! Back to work tomorrow :(  Today's post is the final review of the Julep polishes I received this month.  I'm excited to see what is going to come in September's box. I googled the 'It Girl' box for September and it's coming with a yellow polish. I may request another box pull lol.

'Sienna' is a gold shimmer polish. I wasn't expecting to like this. When I got the box I loved it in the bottle. On my hands I hated it. I swatched it and took it right off. Maybe I could wear this around the holidays but not now.

Formula on 'Sienna' was great. This could have been a one coater if I was more careful.
The swatches below are two coats of 'Sienna' and no top coat.

(Check out the last photo - this window like decal is on the side of the bottle. I HATE it!)

What the hell is this window like decal on 1 side of the bottle?!?! I hate it lol.

Julep 'Emilie'

Good Morning! The posts today and tomorrow are basically a continuation of yesterday's post. I'm going to review the Julep polishes that came in my box this weekend. First up is 'Emilie' and tomorrow will be 'Sienna'.

'Emilie' is a medium green creme. I was excited because I don't have a dupe for this in my stash, but I've read it's a dupe for OPI's 'Jade Is The New Black' which I never bought (and now I don't have to). I like it because it's not too dark, and it's not too light.

The formula was amazing! It was almost a one coater. I wasn't sure if I should even do a second coat but I went forward with it.

The photos below are two coats of 'Emilie' and a coat of Seche Vite.
(Sorry for the lack of clean up - things are changing soon!)

My First Julep Maven Box

Happy Friday! I signed up for the Julep Maven right box before all of the Julep drama began. I tried to keep an unbiased opinion and waited for my box to arrive. I took the quiz and got 'It Girl'. At first I wasn't 100% sure if I would sign up. I liked the green polish (Emilie) but I wasn't crazy about the gold (Sienna). I spent a few days thinking about it and just decided to go for it.

In my box I received 'Emilie' a medium forest green polish, 'Sienna' a gold metallic/shimmery polish, a base coat, a full size gycolic hand scrub, a sample of the gycolic hand scrub and a sample of SPF 30 hand cream. I was most excited for the hand scrub (which retails for $32). I used it right away and while it made my hands soft I'm not convinced it's any better than the current hand scrub I was using. It also smells just like the Bath & Body works 60 second manicure scrub (not that it's a bad thing, I just wanted something more unique).

I'm going to post the swatches individually from this post. Below you can find photos of what came in my first box. I'm still undecided whether or not I will continue the subscription. I will definitely get a September box but October may be the deciding factor. Overall the polish was great but I'm turned off by the regular retail price of $14.00 for a smaller bottle.

Has anyone else signed up for the Maven box? What are your thoughts? Will you continue your subscription?

Sienna & Emilie

Essie 'Borrowed and Blue'

Hey ladies!! Sorry for the late post. I've been in a crappy mood this week, I don't know why but the week can't end soon enough. Just a quick post for tonight.

Tonight's post features Essie's 'Borrowed and Blue' from the 2011 Wedding Collection. I kept seeing swatches of this and felt compelled to purchase it. I thought for sure it would give me lobster fingers but in person it's not bad!

'Borrowed and Blue' is a light creme blue. It reminds me of Hard Candy's 'Sky' without the shimmer. Either way I'm glad I own both.

Formula was decent. It was a little runny and kept flooding my cuticles but it wasn't terrible. The swatches below are 2 coats of 'Borrowed and Blue' with no top coat.