Tropical Watercolor eyes

It's been so hot & humid lately that I decided to do a tropical-ish look.But then my hubby's doc said that my eyes looked like a beautiful watercolor painting ergo the titleThere aren't many full face pictures because after this one the Hot Guy had to take the pictures,(My arthritis has been a demon lately) and his pictures had more boobies and butt than makeup so I will just have to break out

Lancome Exotique Kiss

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I changed my nail polish to a nice subdued shade for the week, and I went with Lancome Exotique Kiss.  It's an opaque peach with lots and lots of sparkly shimmer in it.  It applied very well and only needed two coats.  I'm a pretty big fan of Lancome nail polish - they're like Dior in that the quality is superb.  After my little rant about Chanel's constant price increases, I was thinking of that with high end brands, and Lancome has recently gone up a buck or two to $18, the only change I recall in several years (also like Dior), and in proportion to the total price that seems reasonable to me.  The only down side to Lancome is that the color selection is pretty slim.

I had good sunlight to take pictures of Exotique Kiss, and here it is.

Lancome Exotique Kiss Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think it's great - I tend to prefer a strong finish like this paired with a more subtle color, so it works well for me.  Unfortunately, the two repairs on my right hand were hastily done and didn't hold, so this manicure got as far as a trip to church.  I changed it when I redid the repairs in the afternoon to something completely different, but I'll show the new one to you later.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Misa Shake It to the Samba

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I woke up hungry this morning, and you know what I really wanted?

Cantaloupe!

I like to have it for breakfast with cottage cheese in the middle, but I couldn't find any decent pictures like that - they all had gross things added, like a ton of brown sugar (brown sugar's not bad in general, but on this...).  I just did the manicure like plain cantaloupe anyhow because the lack of pictures the way I like it kind of indicates that mine is not a universal preference.

I did this manicure in the ruffian style on all ten nails, having built a bit of confidence with that technique yesterday.  For the outer rind I used OPI San Tan-tonio and for the green I used OPI Don't Mess with OPI, both from the OPI Texas Collection.  I don't really count them in this manicure since you can't get a good look at them.  I really just wanted to see how opaque the OPI's are, and they're more pigmented than most recent OPI collections have been.  I used one coat of each, and they were opaque enough close to the cuticle that no more was needed.  It looks like either would need two coats for a regular manicure, but we'll find that out for sure soon.  To complete my cantaloupe nails, I used two coats of Misa Shake It to the Samba.

Misa Shake It to the Samba Cantaloupe Manicure

I like it but for the fact that the tan section blends in with my skin so well - it shows up in the picture alright, but is really hard to see in person.  I don't think I could have done better though - the tan is about as dark as I could go for the rind color, I'm just kind of pale to wear this one as well as someone else could.  Looking at it, I think this would work much better against dark brown skin, where the tan would show well and the cantaloupe color would really pop.  But I'm stuck with zero pigment in my skin and I don't expect that to change today, so I'll just have to wear it as well as I can.

I don't have any fabulous stories starring the cantaloupe.  I did grow some gorgeous ones in that garden I told you about yesterday, but harvesting them was a little anticlimactic after several months of answering the daily whine of "When can we pick some cantaloupe?" from my then-stepson.  It would have been cute had he been eight, but he was nineteen, and his use of the word "we" followed by any verb generally meant "you," so that sort of sucked the fun out of it over time.  Ahhh, fond memories...

That's today's Produce I Wish I Had manicure, and just about all I know at this hour.  I'm still hungry, but have come to acceptance of the fact that cantaloupe and cottage cheese isn't in the cards for me this morning, so I'll go find something else.  Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  

Japanese OPI DS Couture

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm wearing out on the cremes this week!  I took another break from them today to wear the Japanese OPI DS Couture (DS 004-JP).  This one is a warm kind of peachy shade with the same strong rainbow holographic effect as the Japanese OPI DS Luxury.  Couture also took only two coats to be totally opaque and even, and it's also unusually smooth to the touch when dry.

Japanese OPI DS Couture Nail Polish, Two Coats

It's another great one.  The shades of the Japanese OPI DS's seem to be a little more girly, and they're far more sparkly.  I'd trade in the US versions for the Japanese in a second, given the chance.

That's just about all I have to tell you about at this early hour.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Konad White Pearl Special Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

WowSoCool has some new Konad goodies in, and I have one of them to show you today: Konad White Pearl Special Polish.  I tried it out yesterday over Chanel Peche Nacree using Konad plate m9 for the pattern, and it was really nice to use.

White Pearl is quite thick, but I left it that way and found that it was just right for stamping.  It's opaque, makes very clean stamps, and was super low maintenance.  I also found in applying top coat that it doesn't smudge, much like Konad Black Pearl Special Polish.  Here's White Pearl over Peche Nacree.

Konad White Pearl Special Polish over Chanel Peche Nacree with m9

I'm always more excited about new Konad stuff than new polishes because it can be used with every polish, so it just seems like a bigger deal to me.  This one, White Pearl, I will definitely get a lot of use out of.

That's the update for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Chanel Peche Nacree

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I got a couple of the Spring 2011 Chanel nail polishes yesterday, and I decided to wear one of them today.  The two I chose were Black Pearl and Peche Nacree, and after a few days of wearing darks (I wore Chanel Strong over the weekend), I thought Peche Nacree would be a nice change of pace.

It applied really well, but it took three coats for me to get it opaque.  Part of that is due to the bottle design, I think, where it has the little ledge to wipe off the brush as it is removed from the bottle - that meant I had to do really thin coats.  If the coats were normal, I think two would be enough.  The color is a delicate peach, and it has a shimmer that makes the finish look like a pearl, which I think looks really cool.

Chanel Peche Nacree Nail Polish, Three Coats

It's certainly not a must-have, as there are many similar shades out there, but since it's a particularly nice rendition of a peach shimmer and I'm partial to Chanel nail polish, I'm happy that I got it.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Milani Bare in Mind & Teddy-Bare

I will admit these are not my usual kind of colors but they are quite lovely.I might actually be falling for Bare in Mind.....really!
Let's start with Bare in Mind a peachy nude with  beautiful pink shimmerIn natural light, shade
In full sunlight
Now for Teddy-BareIn natural light, shade
In full sunlight
Both have a nice formula with 2 coat coverage.Not my favorite brushes, a bit too skinny but

Bewbies & Nail Polish

Jacie of You've got Nail and I did a little overseas swap....She sent me Bewbies:6 beautiful bottles of Scandal nail polish, Nfu-ohs younger sluttty sister.
Click to enlarge all pictures and drooooool
Jacie also sent me a couple of Ulta3's and a beautiful Perfection Holo
Now let's compare the girlsNfu-oh is a smidge taller but has half the boobies of Scandal

The bewb off! lolVery much like

Zoya Fire & Ice Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Zoya sent me samples of their Fire & Ice Collection for Holiday 2010 for review, and I have swatches of them for you.  There are six shades in the collection, all of which were just fine to apply, all good in two coats. I took the pictures in the sun, and they're just in alphabetical order.

Crystal is a foily blue with gold bits, a really cool winter blue.

Zoya Crystal Nail Polish, Two Coats

Gloria is a very warm rose pink foil with gold.

Zoya Gloria Nail Polish, Two Coats

Lisa is a very bright, slightly pinkish red that has the sort of sparkly finish we've seen a good bit of lately.

Zoya Lisa Nail Polish, Two Coats

Sarah is also red, a bit deeper and cooler than Lisa. Note: Thre press release calls this Sarah, the label says Sara.

Zoya Sarah Nail Polish, Two Coats

Tiffany is a peachy foil, and although I normally shy away from peach, I really like it with this finish.

Zoya Tiffany Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last one, Valerie, is a great sparkly wine shade.  I haven't been able to compare them yet, but I think it's similar to Nubar Vino.

Zoya Valerie Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's Zoya's Fire & Ice Collection, which is available today.  I'm quite a fan of them - I really like the colors, the finishes, and how they work together, and the polishes are easy to work with.  There's nothing I would call a dud in this collection.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Girly Franken and Claire's Flakies swatches

So I thought I should probably go a little more subtleas far as my polish, for hubby's disability hearing yesterday. Well I frankened a very nice sparkly peachy pink.I wish the sparklies showed better. It's a crystal looking large particle sparklie finish.
And a major pain to remove. But it is pretty and a nice color for when I have to go "normal".
I went to the mall to see if Claire's had the

Piggy Polish review and swatches

First I have to say that I've seen swatches of Piggy Polish a few timesbut when I opened the box and saw the colors in real life I was/am WOW'd!!I was sent these 6 colors:

Frosty- a Silvery white metallicThis is Two coats and it is slightly sheer but I don't think I'd like it as much opaque.Slightly streaky as is with all metallics but very nice application and not hard to work with.Wild Side-

Prissy Pirates

This manicure was for my personal entertainment.I started with 2 coats of Barielle Shdes Blossom, a beautiful color that does not love my skin tone.I am really loving the Barielle Shades, all that I have tried thus far have a very nice formula, are well pigmented and very unique colors.I then realized that this color didn't love my crazy Native American/Nordic complection so I thought I'll add

Revlon Scents of Summer Collection

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

The cool thing I was waiting for still isn't here, but something much cooler is: Revlon's Scents of Summer Collection, on sale, no less.  I got all eight and have swatches for you.

All eight were three coaters for me, but that's offset by the fact that they're scented.  This year, Revlon mixed up the fragrances more - last year was all fruit, this year is a mix of candy and non-food scents.

Peach Smoothie is a pale peach with a nice gold shimmer, and really does smell like peaches.

Revlon Peach Smoothie Nail Polish from the Scents of Summer Collection

Gum drop is a pale blue purple creme and has a sweet candy smell.

Revlon Gum Drop Nail Polish from the Scents of Summer Collection

Beach is a great odd green shimmer with a hard-to-describe-but-good air freshener scent.

Revlon Beach Nail Polish from the Scents of Summer Collection

Ocean Breeze is an amazing blue/teal shimmer with a Fresh Air air freshener scent.

Revlon Ocean Breeze Nail Polish from the Scents of Summer Collection

Orange pop is a vibrant orange shimmer that smells like Sunkist pop.

Revlon Orange Pop Nail Polish from the Scents of Summer Collection

Grape Icy is a vivid purple shimmer that smells like grape Jolly Ranchers.

Revlon Grape Icy Nail Polish from the Scents of Summer Collection

Bubble Gum is a hot pink creme that really does smell like bubble gum.

Revlon Bubble Gum Nail Polish from the Scents of Summer Collection

Cotton Candy, the one I chose to wear, is the pale pink of cotton candy with a subtle shimmer, and smells just like cotton candy, too.

Revlon Cotton Candy Nail Polish from the Scents of Summer Collection

That was my happy drugstore find - I love them all.  I was actually kind of crabby going into the store because I'd called them about something else, they sent me to another branch, and the other sent me back to the store I called.  In the end, it meant I got first shot at a novelty limited edition drug store display, so I was thrilled.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  

BB Couture Spring 2010 Butterfly & Ladybug collection swatches

Three of the Butterfly collection up first.Skipper is a gorgeous barbie pink with blue secret shimmer that gives it a great blue cast.The normal BB Couture smooth formula, 2 coats to perfect.
Emperor is a sweet Peach with slight pink undertone and silver shimmer that just makes it fabulous!If I could carry off peach, this would be the one for me!Again the formula and application was perfect!