Old Korean Lady

Aka Peripera Metallic Green

I bought this Polish after seeing swatches of it on a blog. I HAD to have it. I ordered off of ebay. This is a Korean brand that is supposed to be scented.

It really does smell like an old Korean lady!! It's funny, because I bought my house off of an older couple, the lady was Korean, and the smell of this polish dry is EXACTLY the way my house smelled! It's not bad, just smells like old lady perfume. I can still smell it with topcoat on if I put my nails up to my nose, but it's not strong or really noticeable. 

So first of all, how AWESOME is this kitty bottle?

I took this pic with flash on. The polish is way less yellow and shows more of a blue duochrome without flash.

And here it is on my nails:

Flash:

No flash:

The flash pic is actually a little more accurate color-wise. 

Cost: I think I ended up paying around $17 for this with shipping from Korea. The polish itself was around $10. Totally worth it.

What I used: 1 coat Nailtek II Foundation, 2 coats Metallic Green, 1 coat Seche Vite.

Application/formula: Actually very good. It went where I wanted it, wasn't too thin or thick and not at all goopy. It applied to complete opacity in 2 coats. Dry time was a little faster than average (a little longer than a foil). The brush is similar to OPI pro-wide, which I really don't like but it worked for this one. There were a few stray hairs on one side, but I just used the other side of the brush and they didn't cause a problem. It was just a little bit brushstrokey, but nothing awful and you barely notice against the awesomeness of the color and finish.

Color/finish: This is a foily metallic light green that also has an almost micro-glitter shimmer. I wouldn't call it mint or lime, maybe a brighter sage color? It's slightly duochrome from yellowish green to almost totally blue. It's more of a lit-from-within douchrome than a depends-on-what-angle. It doesn't flash different colors when I move my nails, but instead has different colors depending on where the light hits it. I have NOTHING like this and I am so glad I got it. Worth every penny.

Misty Mountain Hop

Aka Essie School of Hard Rocks


This is from the Essie 2011 Winter Collection. I really love Essie's Fall and Winter Polish collections. They always have these beautiful, dusty, muted colors that are perfect for the time of year.

I got my hands on the winter collection mini set, but this Polish wasn't part of it. After I'd seen pictures of it on various blogs, I decided I wanted it. It seems quite unique to me for some reason, but now I wonder if Sally Hansen CSM Gray by Gray is a dupe. I have it upstairs, I'll have to look. I have a feeling that SoHR leans more green.

Flash:

No Flash:

Cost: Essie retails for $8 and can be purchased at select pharmacies and grocery stores, as well as from transdesign.com and essie.com. I don't know of anywhere you can get them for less.

What I used: One coat of Nailtek Foundation II, 2 coats of SoHR, one coat of Seche Vite.

Application/formula: Typical awesome Essie formula. The first coat was a little more sheer than I expected, but it covered completely in 2 coats. Not too thin, not too thick, great control and good pigmentation. I like the smaller Essie brushes (vs OPI pro-wide types), because my nails are very curved and it's easier to get the polish where I want it with a smaller brush. That's just personal preference though. One thing I will say, I had ZERO cleanup with this :-)

Color: I would call this a very muted, dusty teal/grey. It leans much more blue than green, but there is definitely green in there.

Leprechaun Puke

Aka Julep Emilie and CND Sheer 24k Sparkle


I am still up in the air about Julep, the polishes are pretty good, but I cannot get over the price per ounce ($50+!!). Anyway, I got Emilie on a BOGO deal and since I am a Maven I get free shipping, so this polish cost me $7 (still the same price as Zoya for a little more than half as much polish :-/). Anyway, I wanted to play around with something for our upcoming Holiday Party (I call it a Solstice Party, hubby calls it a Christmas Party). Turns out I got something more like St. Patty's Day in December...

Flash:

No Flash:

No flash is more color accurate.

If a Leprechaun drank too much Guinness and puked, I'd imagine it to look like my ring finger (since we're equating flakies to puke nowadays). Maybe he puked on another Leprechaun and that explains the green?

Anyway, It's a very nice color, it applied well in two coats. It was slightly watery and tended to pool a little, but nothing totally horrific. I'd describe it as a kelly green creme.

24k sparkle is what I am really excited about. I got is as part of a CND set for $14. The set had this, a plum creme and a navy creme. I haven't tried the cremes yet, but I love this, just as I love all of the other CND effects, particularly the sparkles (Sapphire Sparkle FTW!!). I really want to put this over CG Velvet Bow.

I plan to try to review my latest Julep box some time soon, so stay tuned!

EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!!!! SQUEEEEEE!!!

China Glaze, OMG!!! Ok, not OMG, but almost as good as China Glaze OMG...

Are you ready for it?

Are you sure?

Can you handle it?

Have I told you lately how much I am loving China Glaze?

What if I told you there was another reason to love China Glaze?

Here is a boring pic of China Glaze, because I am obviously trying to fill space and build suspense...

Ok, I think you're ready....

.....


..........


................

MAGNETIC NAIL POLISH THAT'S NOT GOING TO COST YOU $15!!!!!! (Hopefully)

Did I overdo it? Anyone else ridiculously excited about this? I've read that these will be available around May :-( boo!

Other People's Blogs! (Giveaway!)

Amanda over at Amandalandish is giving away 3 really SWEET polishes, check it out!

http://amandalandish.blogspot.com/2011/12/230ish-follower-giveaway.html

I've never heard of this brand, but these colors look fantastic (Dragontini?? I AM IN!). I love the bottles too!

I Don't Have Cancer Nails

Aka OPI Grape...Set...Match & Servin' Up Sparkle


Ok, I know, what's with the title? I found out today that I don't have cancer. To make a long story short:

Went to the doc in August for other issues, he found a quarter sized lump on my thyroid. I got blood work, an ultrasound and a referral to an Endocrinologist. All the blood tests came back good and I finally got a biopsy done on the concerning nodules. One was a cyst (the one that started this all) and was drained, the rest were biopsied. I FINALLY got the results today and all is benign.

I decided I needed a mani to celebrate and I just happened to pick up one of those tennis lady duos at Beauty First. Set contained Grape...Set...Match (sparkly purple) and Servin' Up Sparkle (chunky, multisized holo glitter). I got it for 30% off, too! I know I just got done saying I am not a glitter fan, but I am a big holo fan. I'm also a purple fan (it's my favorite color), so this was the perfect combo.

Here's a pic of GSM on its own:

Not the best pic, my nails were still wet. This is 3 coats. I am very disappointed when I have to apply 3 coats of any polish (except neons, since it's expected and they dry fast). The pic isn't the greatest as my nails were still wet.

This is a red based true purple with tiny blue, pink and purple shimmer particles. It's really quite nice, but the formula isn't the greatest. It was a bit sheer and watery. Dry time was slightly better than average though, so that helped.

Here it is with SUS on top, one coat:

Flash:

My only complaint is that, despite how it looks in the bottle, the glitter is sparse, or just doesn't pick up on the brush well. I applied this coat very thick to get the glitter on the brush, then went over it a few times without redipping the brush to get the glitter to stick. I also didn't get a lot of the hex pieces (about 1-3 per nail). I guess I could have done a second coat, but that would be 7 coats total with base and topcoat, YIKES!

Here are some blurry pics to show the sparkly holo goodness:

So what do you think? I am kind of up in the air. Again, I'm not a big glitter fan and this just somehow seems like too much. Believe me, that means something coming from the 28 year old mom who wears acid green eyeshadow! At the same time, it's kind of boring to me, likes it's really nothing special and should be more than it is. I'm not totally disappointed, and I do like it, but I guess it just seems like it's missing something I thought it would have. Or maybe nothing can excite me now that I got such great news!

Deck My Nails

Aka Zoya Noel


Loving this!! I recently picked up a few polishes at Beauty First. Among them, this beauty. I know everyone has been drooling over the Zoya holiday collection, but to be honest, I am not much of a glitter fan. I'm especially not particularly excited about the idea of pointy bar glitter hanging off the edge of my nails. I got a mini bottle of Holly in my Birchbox, but even that wasn't terribly exciting to me. However, when I saw Noel, I knew I had to have her.

Flash:

No Flash:

Noel is a medium, dusty blue metallic with a soft white gold shimmer that runs through it, seen best in the bottle pics:

On the nail, what looks like veining in the bottle translates to a subtle white goldish scattered shimmer on the nail.

Cost: Zoya can be purchased from Zoya.com or at Beauty First stores for $7-8.

What I used: One coat of Nailtek II Foundation, 2 coats of Zoya Noel and one coat of Seche Vite.

Application: No issues to report. Same lovely Zoya formula as usual.


Musings: I like the color a lot. I am really starting to love Zoya Polish. They do the most amazing glass flecks and "lit-from-within" metallics. Just to note, I put this on 3 days ago. Pretty good wear time :-)