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!

Nails Of The Day: Sally Hansen Mint Sprint

I own a couple of these Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes, and um...hm. I like the idea of a quick-drying polish that achieves complete coverage in one coat, but I am not a fan of the brushes on these babies. First of all, the brush stem is wide and flat -- too wide and flat to wipe excess polish off on the neck of the bottle. So, it's very difficult to control the amount of polish you have to work with. In addition to being pretty wide (which I don't mind, I ride for OPI's ProWide brush, although this is a ProWide and a half), the brush is thick and kind of jagged across the bottom. This is the first Insta-Dri I've tried, so perhaps my bottle of Mint Sprint just has a bummer brush. Still, it was hard to get the polish to look neat across the bottom of my nails, which annoys me. I suppose I should get used to it, however -- the new Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure colors and the new Rimmel range in the square bottles have similar brushes. So I guess it's the wave of the future. And as with anything, practice makes perfect.

Anyway: I love the color. This is what I put on this morning after removing OPI Pamplona Purple, which I did end up wearing to work on Thursday and Friday, and much as it pains me to tell you...I forgot to photograph it. The manicure fell apart really quickly because of all the cleaning and dishes I had to do after my sink backed up and overflowed...but that's a story best left for my regular blog at some point. There are no overflowing sinks in Happytime Nail Polish Land!

You can find Mint Sprint at drugstores, but hurry...it's a new release and from what I can tell, getting snapped up in a hurry.