Blog sale!

I've taken the blog sale down for the time being! Thanks for looking.

Borghese Rapid Dry polish swatches

Borghese sent me a couple of their new Rapido fast dry lacquer to reviewFirst I am sorry about my dry hands/cuticles, I had just removed an evil glitter polish.
Siena- a very pretty bronze with gorgeous shimmerDo not adjust your monitor, as beautiful as this color is, bronze shades give me lobster skinI love the shimmer in this, it's multi tones of bronze with green under tones and a flush of

Birthday Bash

I recently celebrated a birthday and naturally I chose to treat myself to some nail polish. This sounds less newsworthy than it actually is - I haven't been much interested in purchasing a lot of polish lately. For one thing, I'm saving for a new laptop. So when I pick up a bottle of polish in the drugstore and hold it lovingly in my hand, I have to really, really want it. Because otherwise I just think of it as $4 or $6 or $8 dollars that I could be spending on sweet sweet MacBook goodness.

Also...there hasn't really been much in the way of the new collections that's been pushing my must-have button. I never got too excited about China Glaze Vintage Vixen. Barielle's recent collections didn't do much for me. I didn't even get very worked up about the OPI Swiss collection although there are some I wouldn't mind having. But, you know? With more than 400 polishes in my Helmers..."wouldn't mind having it" isn't a good enough reason to buy anymore. The only thing I've really been wild for are the Tudor wives polishes from Rescue Beauty Lounge, and I passed on the pre-order because I couldn't justify the expense at the time.

Chanel always gets me, however. As the saying goes on MUA "there's no regret like Chanel regret" and I have found that to be true. Initially I was tempted by the Soho Story colors but when I saw swatches and heard the initial reports I did not feel a burning desire to own them. I cannot however say the same for Khaki Vert, which is on its way to me as we speak. It was the first birthday nail polish I purchased for myself and I'm very excited for it to arrive.

Anyway...on to the other finds...

My boyfriend very kindly agreed to come with me to Rite Aid on my birthday and I had such good nail polish birthday karma going that I still can't really believe it. They had some Halloween displays (I passed), the new Borghese collection, new-ish Sally Hansen Xtreme line, the new Sally Hansen Insta-Dris and the new Revlon Suedes. What!! This never happens. The only downfall of Rite Aid, really, is that they don't carry Milani. Or at least the ones around here don't.


I chose Powder Puff and Emerald City from the Revlon Suedes. I really wish that "Emerald City" would be retired as a nail polish name, FOREVER. I get it...it's green and sparkly...I don't know, at this point I would accept "Peridot City" in lieu of "Emerald City." At least it would be something new.


I received Mystic Lilac and Concrete in a swap from an awesome MUAer, so I just picked one SH Xtreme: Fireberry Red. To be honest this looks a bit similar to other polishes I have (namely, China Glaze's Ruby Pumps), but it was so pretty that I caved. At about $2.70 each, SH Xtremes have great bang for your nail polish buck.


I almost didn't get anything from the new Insta-Dri line. I keep passing these up, and even the ones I've purchased I mostly end up swapping or giving away. For some reason the colors never really do it for me and the brush is...well... a nightmare. It's huge. Wide. Gargantuan. And...shaggy. But for some reason I felt compelled to buy Metallic Momentum, which someone on the nail board likened to Chanel Kaleidoscope, which, hm, maybe? I don't know. I DON'T HAVE THE CHANEL. Which is something I'm getting very used to saying. Haha.


I used MM to do a chevron manicure - the only form of "nail art" I can successfully execute - over OPI Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ.


I'm a big fan of the chevron look, I just often find myself much, much too lazy to actually do it. I feel like this would be a good holiday combination. MM is a very pretty polish, however, it cements my theory that I am just actually not all that fond of metallics on my nails. But perhaps if you despair of ever acquiring the Chanel, this will quench your thirst.

Finally, here is Borghese's Mediterraneo Sea, from the very sparkly Scintillaire collection.


Boy, Borghese. Talk about a brush I hate. It's like they are deliberately butchered to provide the worst application possible. They are literally terrible. This is why I don't own many Borgheses...it took me a long time to warm up to the $8 price tag, and then when I discovered that awful brush wasn't an anomaly but rather standard issue...well...sigh. But this is a pretty, unusual glitter/color combination.


I look forward to showing you more of these on the nail...as always, thanks for looking!

Flaming Gelati?

This is what happens when nail art goes wild.
I used Borghese Tutti Gelati as a base  and T32 Chez Delaney plate.I can't remember what colors I used to stamp. I was trying to create a sort of flame look.....yeah didn't quite work.
I like the way it turned out  none the less.This is why I love nail art, you can almost always make a mistake look intentional.
What does it look like to you?

Random Borghese swatches

Borghese has a nice variety of colors, so I thought I'd share a few.
Biscotto Beige is pretty close to maniquine hands on me but for most it would be a nice creamy medium beige.Mezzanotte Blue is a yummy Navy blue jelly. I used 2 coats but I'm sure a 3rd would make it opaque.Bella Berry is a shimmery wine. I love this shade!Plumagio Purple is more of a deep blue with purple micro shimmer. It's a

Borghese Tutti Gelati collection

I love Gelati....yum!The Borghese Summer 2010 Tutti Gelati collection is just as yummy!6 beautiful Jelly/sheer shades of summer fun!These are all sheer or jelly but they are Gelati so they should be. :o)I admit I've only had a couple of Borghese prior to this, but these colors are so pretty.I love the brush too, it's wide but not painting the barn wide and the formula is very nice.All pictures

Borghese Tutti Gelati Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was out and about taking care of some errands this morning, and I ran into the new Borghese limited edition collection, which I think is called Tutti Gelati. But who knows, I never remember the names of drug store collection correctly, do I? I didn't - I was corrected, thank you!

Anyhow, it had six shades, three of which I have hear to show you. The others were a tealy blue shimmer that looked sheer and wasn't too unique, a melon creme that was totally not unique, and a six so forgettable I don't even recall anything about it an hour later.

The sun was fading in and out for the swatches, and they're the best natural light I was able to get.

Limoncello is a delicate yellow shimmer, and I used it over one coat of Orly White Out. I used three coats of Limoncello - is was okay at two, the third really gave it depth.

Borghese Limoncello Nail Polish, Three Coats over White

Pistacchio is a great green shimmer, but it really needs to go over an opaque base. I did not use one, and it took five coats to completely eliminate VNL, which find just awful with a green.

Borghese Pistacchio Nail Polish, Five Coats

The one I'm wearing is Tutti Gelati, a pink with a really cool subtle shimmer. The base color is not terribly unique, but the shimmer is. It required three coats.

Borghese Tutti Gelati Nail Polish, Three Coats

These all applied really well and were easy to control, so I am happy with them. I just know that next time, Pistacchio needs a white base for me.

The other thing I found while running around was Milani nail art pens, and I grabbed a couple. I'll show you how those are this week.

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

Added half an hour later:

I added decals to my mani, and the sun popped out for a better picture of Tutti Gelati's shimmer, so I thought I'd tack it on here.

Borghese Tutti Gelati Nail Polish, Three Coats with Decals

Borghese Ecstasi Indigo

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I was out and about today and ran into a limited edition Borghese display I've passed up a few times, but this time I cracked and came home with Ecstasi Indigo, which is a very dark blue creme.

I've never had a ton of Borghese - they're pricey for drug store nail polish, and the brush takes some adjustment. I'm used to the brush now and like it, but it is really big. It's still easy to control, which is why I like it.

The quality of Borghese is usually quite good, and that is true of Ecstasi Indigo. In two coats it was deep blue creme perfection.

Borghese Ecstasi Indigo Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added a litle white Konad from plate S9, using White Konad Princess Polish for the stamping.

Borghese Ecstasi Indigo Nail Polish, Two Coats, with Konad S9

I got a couple other drug store nail polishes I'll have to show you in the next few days, plus a little surprise.

Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!