Essie Bossa Nova

I took my aunt for a manicure and pedicure for her anniversary, at first I was just going to get a pedicure but when I saw how disgusting my cuticles had gotten I gave in and got a manicure as well. The place that I go to by my grandma's finally got new polishes, some OPI DS's and the new Essies as well. When I spotted "Lights" I oohed and aaahed but then I spotted "Super Bossa Nova" and grabbed it instead. For some reason I have been gravitating towards bright creme colors, it's not a bad thing per say but very un me!

                                        


I got a little nail art as well. I swear I could practice all day everyday and still not be anywhere as good as the woman who work there. They are so amazing! I watched as this woman did butterflies on this customers fingers. I practically had to wipe away the drool. Ah Erika..one day.. one day.

But this is a short one today, I'm heading to the Bronx to see my sister and preparing for this horrible heat wave we are having on the east coast..BLERG!

Essie Porcini

I got this and two other Essies with Julie when we went to have our nails done back in March. We tried a new salon by her house, which was pretty decent, and they had some discontinued polishes for $2. There weren't that many good colors, but at least we got a few things. This color is a pretty dusty pink with gold shimmer. It is semi sheer, perfect opacity at three coats.

Essie Porcini, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Short one today!

Hey everyone:)

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we will be posting more in the coming weeks, so please forgive us! Here are too looks that I did this week:

 This color is gorgeous, but will not photograph for sh*t! Its a beautiful striking blue and green duochrome that came out last year. I really wish it would photograph, but here is a quick link to it. I go bored the next day and added some white stripes and a red glittery heart that is from Color Club design nail polishes. I think it has a nautical feel, what do you think?

And this is a manicure that I did for a weekend outing with Renee that ended up being one of the worse events ever. We'll blog about it on All glitzed up sometime this week, but it was awful! But besides the crap night, I had a fun manicure for the event, I found new funky fingers in Five Below, which is a chain of stores in NY and NJ. It seriously is amazing(but you have to be fast, the good colors go fast!) And of course I topped it off with my new Butter London in Knackered for spring 2012. I am trying to get Renee to buy it, it seriously is the most gorgeous color. But that is it for now, I have some afternoon tasks, tata!

Warning: Artistic photo coming..

So I've had instagram on my IPhone for about 4 months now. And I kinda forgot about it. But the other day I used it, just a quick snap of the impromptu heart I painted on my nails that I painted "mademoiselle" by Essie.

A little side note about this color, it was actually created for the magazine "Mademoiselle". Remember that magazine? I loved it! When it went out of print.. and I was sent Glamour in its spot. It just wasn't the same!

This is the best color for a french manicure, or if you just want a simple nude "mannequin" hand just do 2 coats. But once you do more than 2 coats, it becomes this gorgeous pink. On my hand I did 4 coats. Now I now... it is a long wait, but it is so worth it.

 

The red and pink heart was just made with striping nail polishes from Sally Beauty Supply.  Warning! The brushes on these polishes suck. Majorly. Don't even bother with them. Use a regular detailing brush. You have no control with it, it just sucks.

But that's it for now, if you want to follow me on Instagram, my name is Fairymoore!

Yet Another Glitter In The Air Combo

"geez, can't this chick get new material??" you're probably thinking....

I am the kind of girl, where if something works well, I stick to it. I like a shirt... I buy it in every color. It's just me. So when I ended up falling madly in love with Glitter In The Air, I now probably wear it once a week or so. And stare...and stare...

It's 3 coats of GITA over the pink essie swatch that I cannot remember lol - it's a pale coral sheer pink...

My LONG Nails, and My New KOH Polish!

(A friendly reminder that we are only 100 followers away from our mini-giveaway! Sign up here: http://apolishedlife.blogspot.com/2011/05/500-followers-giveaway-nfu-oh-flakie.html )

Hi everyone! So sorry for the time off from blogging. Life, without fail, has a way of interrupting the delicate balance here and there! I had a lot of scares and excitement mixed together over the last few weeks. On the sadder side, my grandmother became very ill and was hospitalized for nearly 2 weeks. Happy to report she is home again and doing well. The excitement comes from my recent engagement!

So to celebrate, I got acrylic tips yesterday. I know a lot of people frown upon tips, hell...I do, too! They hurt. They ruin your nails, they chip easily..blablabla. I get it. And I agree. But I wanted nice nails for when I show off my ring (it's being adjusted!). So I sucked it up and I'll keep them on for a while. My nails were badly damaged from all the stress these last few weeks have brought me, I chewed them down to nubs. So tips were well needed. I did ask for them to be short, because I cannot function well with long nails.

Here goes. My tips, with a nice light pink essie swatch (the name escapes me at the moment). I think I am going to top it off with Glitter In The Air when I get bored. I think that is the least boring color out there. :)

And now for the KOH Polish. I thought Nfu Oh was art in a bottle, well check out this presentation! I've been so psyched to receive this very expensive little treasure, and even more excited to swatch it. Check out the presentation! Quite impressive. This set comes in a shiny black case, with a fan, and a pretty uniquely shaped bottle. Way to go, Koh! You are worth every penny spent! Do you see this swatch? Wow. For all the flakie lovers out there, this is a no-brainer must-have. The color is called Blue Universe.

What do you think? What is your price-limit on polish? Would you pay $30??

Keeping it simple...for now;)

I've been in a color rut as of late, I did the bright green glittery extravganza for Patty's day, but since then.. yeah the whole 7 days.. I've been keeping it pretty tame, for example:

I also forgot to add that I used micro glitter in clear as well as the Nubar 2010. Seriously, guys, if you find yourself in a Micheal's craft store..Seek it out! It is so much better then the glitter then sell on ebay. Plus you get 16 colors! I paid about 5$ for it. And you get a decent amount of glitter in each packet so this is going to last you ages. Here is another manicure:

I lovvve this color, it has hints of purple, and brown.. and of course gray. I was going to leave it all by its lonesome but after about 10 minutes of drying I covered it in 2010.

I am still conflicted with Rimmel and their stance of animal testing because they say they do not.. but are owned by Coty. Ahh.. Nothing in life is ever simple. ever.

But just wanted to make it a short one, as I am very deprived of sleep! But then again when you work 10 days in a row that tends to happen, ah the glamourous life of a nanny.. diamonds, bling and the like (yeah...right)

P.S. Don't forget to enter our giveaway!

Wants! (Erika)

As I stated in my last blog, Here are my current wants of the nail polish world ( or more like needs!)

Nouvelle Vague

This polish came out for the spring 2010 Chanel line, from the moment that I saw it.. I was majorly lemming for it. Some says its Tiffany blue, but I think its more of a cross between a baby blue and a smidgen of sleeping beauty turquoise. This color has been retailing for over 50-100$ on the evil bay and other e-tail sites. I adore this color, but I do not adore that amount of money..le sigh.

Sea By RGB Nail polish

I've never heard of RGB before.. I probably have, but my nail polish memory is a bit foggy;) I found this color on about.com one day, and I was struck by how vivid and striking it was. The swirls of blue and green.. it really does remind me of a night time sea. Now I own "Teal we meet again" by OPI for Sephora.. and it could be a pretty decent dupe. But I don't think it comes near to how amazing and beautiful this color is (and you all know how I feel about my OPI for Sephora nail polishes!)

Starry Starry Night by Essie

Now I am pretty sure this was Essie's version of the very coveted Night Sky by Chanel( does anyone remember that one? It was a nail polish contest by Seventeen magazine, that if you sent in an original nail polish creation, Chanel would sell the color. I remember the ads for it, the color in French was called Ciel de Nuit) Now I know I have a better chance of getting hit by lightening then owning that color, but I think the Essie version is a great replica. Alas, this too is a very HTF color and when it does come on eBay.. it too is very $$$. One day Erika, one day.

230 by Clarins

I discovered this color about two years ago on a few NP Blogs. I love the name it was dubbed "Unicorn Pee" and I can understand why! This color is super rare and super gorgeous! If you go to the blog I linked, it shows more pictures of this amazing color in different lights. I have not seen a dupe for this color, maybe the Sally Hanson prisms but that is about it. Curse Clarins for discontinuing this amazing color, curse them straight to fiery hell! Ok, maybe not.. but curse the eBay sellers that sell this color for over 100$ The last time I saw this color on eBay, it fetched 172$ Yep.. Insanity defined.

Next blog, my trip to the city haul!

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again! (Julie)

I saw this amazing tutorial from a new blog on make up/nail polish/everything wonderful and I was immediately drawn to all the sparkles! It's SUCH a beautiful concept, but I just wasn't able to execute it like Audrey was on her demo. Maybe because my nails are too short, or I'm not coordinated enough...or perhaps because I had to improvise with most of the swatches she used! Either way, it was disastrous....but you can't blame a girl for trying.

Here were my choice swatches - It's a lovely little group of colors, they just don't work together! Too much going on -

1- Essie in Pink Glove Service
2-OPI in Sparkle-icious
3-Hard Candy in Hot Pants
4- (the only one I did have) - Golden Enchantment by China Glaze

I am not going to show you my entire hand today, because I haven't cleaned all the excess glitter and my fingers are an absolute mess. But I think this'll give you a good idea. And I think if I had to give this little concoction a name, it'd be fairy diarrhea. YUM!

Collection Pics (Julie)

So I had to follow suit since Erika has such an amazing collection! Mine isn't nearly as large or beautiful, but I'm working on it. Actually, this past summer, I sold just about all of my NP at my yard sale because I had no room for anything! Everything you see here is pretty much brand new, as of late summer '10. So rest in peace former collection! I am impressed with how far I've come since then though! My heart belongs to sparkles, the chunkier the better. I have many different brands, and plenty more coming in the mail this next week. So I will update this post as they show up. Here's what i have so far:

I have a horrible make-up bag that is soon going to be replaced with some kind of kaboodle. Take a peek inside...kind of a beautiful mess!

We'll start with Finger Paints. A nice inexpensive brand with really pretty swatches. I am not really too into their NP because I notice that even with a decent base and top coat, they like to peel off in one big strip. So I've limited my FP collection to strictly colors I MUST have. And these are really beautiful!

My Nubars *Swoon* Nothing much needs to be said about this brand. It's a growing obsession and I expect many more soon.

My Ulta swatches - the aqua color is fabulous!!! The pink is gritty and I'm not a fan, but the sparkles in this color attracted me to it. It's very beautiful.

My love, my life...China Glaze! I have more CG than any other color. I'll start with my very favorite 2 colors. This is Pixie Dust and Golden Enchantment. I don't remember the name of the gold one. But they're top coats and complete just about any color you can imagine, and reflect about every color of the rainbow. These should serve as staples to any nail polish collection, because they really do complement just about every swatch.

I have the blues....My China Glaze Blues...

Metallics:

Some random beauties (my favorite of the 4 being the black with red sparkles.

Prior to my yard sale NP clean out, I had just about every color made by Sinful Colors. Now I only have two. Mainly because I'm not a huge fan of their formula. But these colors are irresistible.

My Color Clubs - do you see that orange/pink/luminescent swatch to the right? Wow, i know!! I need to get a few bottles of this because I run through this color really fast. I probably wear it more than any other color.

Here is my first nail art swatch. It's a really pretty black with colorful sparkles.

My very lonely and bland Essie collection. I do like them, but I haven't explored essie all that much yet.

My 3 Orlys. Another brand I don't care for the formula all that much. But they do come out with some really great colors once in a while that I can't leave behind.

Hello, sparkles! My one and only O.P.I (more are coming!), NYC in the most amazing swatch I've seen from them, and a Forever 21 color that I adore.

Just LOOK at this color! I know! Gorgeous!

You're not so bad yourself OPI. (this is from the burlesque collection)

2 extra brands - Sally girl I won't be buying again, the application is awful. Nail Savvy I found new at the thrift shop and have no idea where to find this brand.

It's a nice concept, I love the pink and blue sparkles though! Anybody else make a better formula with a similar color?

My beloved Deborah Lippmann in Bad Romance.

And you see? I wrote this too soon, because just as I posted this blog, my brand new Hard Candy showed up! Do you SEE this swatch? No I mean do you really see this swatch? Holy moly, it's freaking fabulous! It's called Hot Pants. It's infused with large and small sparkles and a translucent pink jelly base. Woohoo! This just made my day brighter!