something fishy

and delicate, soft, and ethereal. This is the quality, albeit in a different shade, that I was looking for in Glitter Gal LAAF and was able to achieve eventually, though I forgot how (I think it was two coats over one coat of OPI Don't Touch My Tutu!). Even more appropriate that in the colors soft sweetness it was created to honor the memory of young beauty blogger Talia. Part of the proceeds went to a children's cancer foundation. 

This polish was also a really great formula (not thick or chippy, 2-3 coats) and just beautiful all around--it would be great if Enchanted did a benefit polish once a year. This is last year's and I am one year behind, but the photos are also oldies. 

A Little Fishy Told Me. Sunlight.

A Little Fishy Told Me. Sunlight.

A Little Fishy Told Me bottle. Sunlight.

Moving on...

I might as well just get all of these out of the way. Holiday disappointments happen every year, what would the holidays be without them? You think your SO is getting you something special. Or anything. And you get...a laser pointer. Or nothing. You get a perfectly wrapped box and inside is...oh, what is it, it's heavy...is it that...nope. It's a GPS. Well, it's the thought that counts, really. Surely you don't hit the nail on the head every time either. 

This liquid sand was one I was looking forward too, but it turned out oddly bling-y and in these colors it looked sort of like an overdone Chanukah celebration or maybe a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader uniform. It took me about a month to realize the name, "Kiss Me at Midnight," referred to New Year's Eve. Soooo I guess bling isn't entirely inappropriate. 

Kiss Me at Midnight. 
Ring finger has one coat of It's Frosty Outside. Outdoor.

Closeup of Texture.

bond...bond girls

I couldn't wait for these Bond Girl OPI Liquid Sands to be released. My sweet bf got some for me when they first came out. These two are Pussy Galore (pink with pink shimmer) and Solitaire (white with silver glitter).

I super dig them both and find myself wanting to grab them over and over, *but!!* there is one caveat about the light, textured colors, at least for me. They catch dirt and show it really easily, and it doesn't seem to want to come off :( so it has about 1 full day to maaaaaybe 1.5 days of wear at most.

Can I just lodge one complaint about the sands and the OPI brushes? The sands tend to fluff up the bristles and the OPI brush is already pretty big, so it can make it a bit unwieldy. As for the formula on these two, they're great. A bit more sheer than the previous ones I've tried, and Pussy G has a frosty base, which I noticed started to get a little strokey if I wasn't careful. For these reasons, I also think it would look great layered over a similar color. Cute, cute colors, great for spring and I can wear the white one year round :)

Pussy Galore. Sunlight.

Pussy Galore. Sunlight.

Solitaire. Sunlight.

Solitaire. Sunlight.

dahling

Another new one, though apparently not even the newest (slow down, people!!), it seems I just can't keep up with new kittens and school. But I didn't want to keep going until it reached an entire month without a post. This beautiful black polish from the Zoya Pixie Dust collection is called Dahlia and was gifted from a lovely polish friend. 

I sort of held off on posting because I wanted to take a shot of the bottle before I posted it and I couldn't find it when I was taking pictures *kicks self* bottle shot to come. In the bottle it just looks like a boring black and silver glitter polish.

These Pixie Dust polishes seem to really sparkle when the light catches them and then dull a little in the shade, giving two different looks. My boyfriend commented on the black several times and actually seemed sad when I took this one off, "it's like you've got asphalt on your nails!" Cute. 

October Pink

Since I didn't really take the opportunity to celebrate Halloween this year, I thought I would reserve the last post of October for a special pink polish. I was also going to talk about boobs. But I thought that might be weird, despite the breast cancer awareness month. I thought to write about my maternal grandmother, who had breast cancer, but no...so pink nail polish, awareness...breast cancer.   

Starry Pink/Popular came out I believe around the same time as some of Revlon's dupes for higher end polishes such as Naughty/Perplex for Chanel Paradoxal and Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia/Scandalous (Lippmann's Bad Romance), Revlon's Whimsical (Lippmann's Glitter in the Air)...and others, but this chunky glitter in a sheer base is, to my knowledge, totally unique. To me it definitely screams Glinda, fairy princess, or at least vintage lurex. 

The formula is easy and I would say requires a sure three coats, though I wouldn't knock experimenting with one or two over a pink or lilac shade. Three coats gets a little...I don't know. Lumpy. Chunky? Maybe it's just me. I don't like three coats, but it's necessary for opacity. Partially I think the application problems are because of the quality of the glitter--if you look carefully, particularly on my pinky nail, the hexes are not lying flat and are taco-ing a bit. This is where I do start to feel like it may be worth spending a little more for the higher end glitters. 

However, this color, lying somewhere between pale pink and lilac with cool silver glitter seems to be unique only to Revlon, so unless they shell out for some higher quality glitter--this is what we have. It's still a very pretty polish and pretty special. I haven't seen anything like it. 

Starry Pink. Artificial Light (strangely focused, like a "Glamour Shot").

Starry Pink and a fail sandwich of Urban Outfitters Dust :(

Bottle Shot