I am Under Elle's Spell!

This is a long-time want of mine, and I was able to trade with a wonderful lady over at makeupalley.

Now I know I said I wouldn't be swatching all that much for the next few days, but I already had red nail polish on, so i thought it wouldn't be cheating if I just throw a layer of Elle's Spell on top to see if it's worth all the fuss. News flash...it IS! It's so pretty and lights up in the sun. It's what I'd call the perfect swatch. No doubt, Erika you are going to LOVE this!

Does anybody else love Elle's Spell? Oh, and did you notice our new March banner?? We are going to change our banner every month because well, we feel like it lol. And it's fun!

This is swatched with just 1 layer of Elle's Spell over a candy apple red polish. I bet 2 or 3 would make this even neater.

You know you want to click me! Look at the close up!

Mail Days Make Bad Days Better

I really am having an awful/horrendous/wretched/etc...day. It's that bad lol.
But I just arrived home to a bin full of packages. 4 to be exact. I really got some goodies - is that TWO Elle's Spells you see? Yes it is! And one of them is for my dearie, Erika. (it's a surprise til she sees this post lol)

I had my second exchange through makeupalley.com, It was a breeze to arrange, and the sweetheart I had the pleasure to swap with sent me two lovely extras that I've never heard of! They're fabulous glitters and I can't wait to swatch them. I don't think they're from the US. I wonder where she got them!

And, to brighten my day even farther, my new friend from the nails forum at purseforum.com has informed me that I am getting a "RAOK" from a member there! I never got a RAOK before! (that's random act of kindness) I have NO idea who it's coming from, and I don't know what it's going to be. Needless to say, I am giddy with excitement!

Lastly, please excuse my lack of swatching lately, I really am just trying to give my cuticles a breather. Expect plenty more soon
Here is some eye candy of my new polishes.

Mail Day From the UK! And CLEARANCE Time At Ulta - What a Haul!

Today is a fantastic day in my little world of lacquer. Woke up this morning feeling totally confident that I would find Barielle's "Elle's Spell" at Ulta, so I drove my tush 25 minutes out on the island to pick through their stock and find a bottle.

No such luck. No Elle's Spell. But ...there's a big fat but here...I managed to arrive the very day that they put out all the clearance items and I just about went nuts! Barielles for $1.99, Ulta brand for $0.49, Piggy Polish for $0.99, and Chi for $0.99. I bought a bunch of swatches after spending a good half-hour picking through the new sale items.
*swatch names coming soon*

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Then I arrived home, tried a few swatches out, even attempted a very BAD reverse french manicure which I have to show for pure comic relief---

Just ran downstairs to check the mail about 15 mins ago, and to my surprise, my Barry M order showed up, all the way from the UK. Thanks Barry M :) These swatches are divine! The grey/purple is called Dusky Mauve, and is a dupe for the Chanel swatch everyone is nuts over. I also got Indigo, and Pink Iridescent.

I can't wait to swatch all these! I will get to that tonight or tomorrow. For now, just enjoy some unveiling shots, and have a great night!

Here is Indigo - the only one I've swatched so far. It is a much more purple blue than it shows in the photos.

Barielle "Shades" French Mani Kit from TJ Maxx (Julie)

I always get sidetracked on my way to work because just about every store known to man pops up on the way there. I had remembered i read somewhere recently that they found Barielle at TJ Maxx so I thought I'd drop in on my way to work. Mixed into the chaos that is TJ Maxx (did I also mention how much I loathe that place?) there was ONE Barielle french mani kit left...in fact, it was the only thing they had for nails. It was only $4.99! I remember seeing this product online for about $16 and I had almost purchased it full price but had a change of heart. So needless to say, I left TJs pretty happy ;)

I gave it a try when I got home. Not quite using their colors. Actually, I only used the white they provided, and the little strips to help with the whole "french" part.

I think I did pretty good. So if you have a TJ Maxx nearby, you might want to check out their cosmetics dept and see if they have any left.

I paired it with my beloved Zoya shimmer top coat. And sealed it with Seche. I will give the whole set a shot after I've grown tired of this mani, and will update this post.

Hey have you noticed my nails are growing?? Go back to my initial posts when we started this blog about a month ago. I'm proud of myself! I've shed my artist dirty nails and I'm starting to see the rewards!

Thrift shop nail polish HAUL!! 12 bottles for $8 weeee

OPI, Orly, China Glaze, even a Barielle!! I love New York, and I love thrifting. We get all the designer clothing rejects from the rich Manhattanites, and apparently the nail polish discards, too. :) These are all either unused or what appear to have been tested. I think perhaps they were extras or past seasons from a nail salon? Some of the bottles even look to be worn, but those were not used. Maybe they were in storage. There were quite a few bags, but the other colors weren't really my style.

What's strange is I was thinking today "what a treat it'd be if I found some nice NP at the thrift shop sometime" and BAM. There they were, beaming at me - just glistening through the plastic bags screaming "buy us, Julie! Buy us! You can afford us!"

the colors:
Orly- Tie the Knot
Orly - Moon Shadow
Orly - Spellbound (very similar to moon shadow)
Orly - Sweet Temptation
OPI - Heart Throb
OPI - Elephantastic Pink
China Glaze - Thataway
China Glaze - Heaven
China Glaze - Drastic
China Glaze - Heart Of Africa
Barielle - Restorative Nail Serum
Orlane - #26