April Favorites

Since the month is winding down, I thought I would recap with my five favorite polishes of the month, two of which I have not written about here, but will. The winner this month is definitely Butter London!

I have to start out with Lillibet’s Jubilee, especially since Will and Kate’s wedding anniversary was yesterday! This polish is beautiful, goes on nicely, and is to commemorate a historical event to make it even better.

Trout Pout is next. I even have the matching lip gloss for this color. If you love Trout Pout but haven’t purchased it because of the price, it is definitely worth every penny for its uniqueness.

I haven’t written about this one yet, but since I wore it and have photos ready to go, it’s making my list. This is Deborah Lippmann Mermaid’s Dream. This polish is really something special!

I am always reaching for White Cap by China Glaze. I love this polish and it looks amazing over so many different colors, especially the summery polishes that are so popular right now. Every time I pick up a plain polish, I wonder how White Cap would look over it.

Essie Turquoise & Caicos is just one of those classic colors, and with summer on the horizon, I have been gravitating toward teal and turquoise hues. This polish combined with White Cap was definitely my favorite combination in April! 🙂

American Apparel Office

I am writing this as I mourn the loss of a nail on my right hand, and boy do I mean a big loss! I tore an entire nail off in almost one swoop this afternoon by opening a container in the garage. It’s actually quite tender and seems to be ripped down to the beginning of when I actually stopped biting! That means I have THREE nails gone from my right hand after ripping them on various things. Luckily, the thumb and middle finger are finally starting to grow back. Oh well…the important thing I DID NOT BITE!

Anyway, I have some American Apparel polish to show off today, in the shade called Office!

This polish is gorgeous and application is very smooth. I’m wearing two coats! Plus, it is affordable at $6, but when I bought my polish I had a coupon (of course I did!) so it was a little cheaper than that. Office is a beautiful minty green. I honestly debated this polish because I have quite a few green shades, but I can honestly say that this one is different than the others and is pretty unique. This shot is outside in natural light on an overcast day.

Here it is indoors. It looks a little more saturated here, but in real life is more consistent with the second photo. I really like American Apparel’s polish and definitely have some more shades on my wish list! Another thing I like about their polish is the shape of the bottle. I know that it doesn’t really matter overall, but I prefer the square bottles like Essie and Butter London, probably because they are easier to store.

L’Oreal Now You Sea Me + Deborah Lippman Here Comes the Queen

Well…I gotta say, for how much I debated L’Oreal’s Now You Sea Me, it was kind of a let down. I debated whether or not I wanted this polish for quite some time, and am glad that I at least had a coupon for it! The color is stunning, but the polish itself is very watery. That said, it is a pretty color and I really like how it looked paired with Deborah Lippmann’s Here Comes the Queen, which was part of a Juicy Couture boxed set during the holidays. Now that the holidays are over, you can find that boxed set for a very affordable price on eBay!

Just a warning: my nails had some serious dryness issues this week and they are kind of ragged and raw in these photos, but I just had to show how pretty this color combination is! Also, I used Essie Matte About You and liked that additional effect.

Here they are outside, in natural light. I love the matte, and the gold flakes are gorgeous. Okay, I have to say that I DESPISE the word “flakies”…flakes is just fine by me!

Here’s a mega up close (okay, macro) shot of it. I really liked the effect and will probably do it again.

In other news, the OPI Spiderman polishes are available on Amazon from some sellers. I ordered Just Spotted the Lizard, as that’s the only color that really piqued my interest!

Polish Haul!

This was definitely a week where I binged on polish, thanks to the .99 cent sale on Sinful Colors at Walgreens! I decided to do a haul post of the polishes I purchased recently thanks to the excellent sales going on!

Picture above, Sinful Colors:

• Cream Pink – This is a neon with a hint of gold shimmer. I am so happy I picked this up, because the first time I didn’t see the shimmer in it.
• Unicorn -Pastel yellow creme. This seems like the cheaper alternative to the Hello Kitty yellow polish that I liked, so I’ll take it!
• Kissy -This is similar to Zoya’s Charla (which I did not notice until I got home!), but Kissy is a smidgen darker. This color is like a mermaid, and I LOVE mermaids so I am excited to wear it!
• Secret Admirer- Black with silver shimmer throughout.
• Nail Junkie – This one I am the most excited about because it is supposedly a dupe of China Glaze Atlantis, which is on my wish list. It’s just a gorgeous, glittery jelly polish. I am OBSESSED with jelly polishes right now.

Sally Beauty has had a buy two, get one free sale all month long. Since the month is ending I decided to stop by on a whim to see if they had one of the polishes I wanted, Fast Track from the Hunger Games collection. (Not a big Hunger Games fan, but the polish is good). I have a Sally Beauty rewards card so this polish was a steal with the Sally discount and the sale! Here’s what I picked out:

• Fast Track – Taupe with gold shimmer. Natural, but with a kick.
• Awakening -Apparently this is from the Halloween 2010 collection. I hate Halloween so that doesn’t thrill me, but this polish is really pretty! It’s a dark rose/mauve duochrome with flashes of gold.
• Shower Together- A beautiful blue. This is different than the other blues that I have. It’s from the Eco Collection released awhile back.

These last three polishes are totally random ones I found along the way. When I was taking advantage of the Sinful Colors sale, I noticed a basket of clearance polishes, Sally Hansen Infinity Band was there for a couple dollars. Since I have been wanting a gold polish like this one, I decided to buy it after putting it back once! The pink Butter London polish is called Disco Biscuit, and it’s a gorgeous hot pink jelly with tiny bits of blue glitter.

The Maybelline polish was a totally unexpected purchase. I was just on a random errand and saw this polish on the shelf. Funnily enough, the night before I was reading about how unique and cool this polish is. Since it’s from the 2011 Fashion Week collection and limited edition, I figured whatever, it’s gone. Not the case, at least not at the Kmart I popped into! I walked by the makeup aisle, not even intending to stop, and it was sitting right there on the end cap with just one bottle left. It’s called Cool Couture and it is AMAZING. It’s a dark blue-gray with blue and green shimmer throughout.

I don’t know what one to try first!

Butter London Lillibet’s Jubilee

When I found out about Butter London releasing Lillibet’s Jubilee, I flipped with excitement. While I’m not an obsessive royal watcher, I do enjoy the royals and last year I woke up at 3 in the morning out of excitement the day of the royal wedding, which I watched on a text/Twitter date with a friend. The celebrity my hubby resembles most is Prince William (except my hubs has kept his hair, nothing against PW! -Oh, and my hubs is cuter, but I might be biased there) so I can’t help but like the guy. Since Prince William is the head of FIFA or something like that (soccer mumbo jumbo), my hubby likes him too! Anyway, after all of that rambling, the point is that I like the royals and could not wait for this polish!

Lillibet’s Jubilee is a limited edition polish designed to honor the Queen’s diamond jubilee. Here’s the description from Butter London:

This exclusive commemorative colour honours the international celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne. Lillibet’s Jubilee is a silvery, lavender metallic foil, heavily infused with holographic glitter.

The glitter in this polish is very fine, and application is perfect.

Warning: not the best photos! And look how messy my nails are? The polish applies like a dream, but if you get it on your skin, clean up is a pain and that glitter gets everywhere. Still, this polish is worth it. I thought the color was perfect for the occasion too.

Here it is in full sun. Again, not a very good shot, but you can at least see the shimmer in this polish. At first I thought that this might be similar to another polish I have, Nicole by OPI’s Miss Independent, but that is not the case. Miss Independent is pink, not lilac, and takes more coats for opacity. Lillibet’s Jubilee could be a one-coater, but I used two plus a top coat. Lillibet’s Jubilee is a limited edition polish too, so if you like it, get it now!

Sinful Colors Citrine: Dupe for Sephora’s Tangerine Tango?

Last night I read on Nouveau Cheap that Sinful Colors Citrine is an apparent dupe for Sephora’s Tangerine Tango polishes that were released as a limited edition set with Pantone. I did not care for the polishes, but I did get the lip gloss set because I thought it was the most unique of the Sephora + Pantone offerings. After seeing that Citrine was a possible dupe for Tangerine Tango, I decided to pick up a bottle at Rite Aid. Citrine is on the “Wow Pop” display and I haven’t seen that one at Walgreens, where Sinful Colors is on sale right now for .99.

Here is Citrine against the Sephora box. It looks like a pretty good match here, at least to me!

Here is a full sun swatch on the nail wheel. I think this is a really unique color and has a little more kick than other orange colors, which is why I totally admit to hopping on the Tangerine Tango bandwagon!

Here’s the swatch against the box. This is just natural light, indoors.

Here’s the kicker! Full sun, next to the lip gloss. They are very similar and Citrine is a good dupe for Tangerine Tango, at least to me! For $2, if you want to get with the trend, this is a bargain compared to the $24 nail polish set at Sephora.

Deborah Lippmann Marquee Moon

Marquee Moon was my first Deborah Lippmann polish, and the only reason is because I found it for a steal on eBay. While I don’t doubt her polishes are worth the quality, her polish is expensive. That said, I fell in love with Marquee Moon despite seeing the hatred from some other nail bloggers out there. I like this polish for a few reasons: the randomness of the glitter, the name, and the color.

Here it is indoors with natural light. Application was very smooth and easy, at least to me. I find this polish incredibly romantic for some reason, even though “Marquee Moon” is song from the late 1970s by a band called Television and does not sound romantic whatsoever! In my mind, Marquee Moon is something dreamy from the 1920s. It’s funny how we randomly associate things, isn’t it? At least I do that.

Here it is outside in natural light. It’s so dreamy! Look at the glitter in the bottle! I love this color. I’m so happy I wasn’t disappointed in it!

Orange, Blue, and White Colorblock Manicure

How cute is Essie’s new Poppy-Razzi collection? I am in love! Lucky for me, this display made an appearance at my local Walgreens way earlier than the May release date. I immediately fell in love with Lights, Camera, and Action. Bazooka is pretty too, but the first three I truly adore. The girl working at Walgreens was nice enough to give me a coupon too, so it was a total win! Anyway, I decided to do a colorblock manicure with some blue, after loving that Orly display at Ulta.

I used Orly Blue Collar (which I already had- I did not buy this from Ulta!), Essie Action, and Color Club Art Club in white. The Poppy-Razzi collection is really unique. The orange looks like plain old orange in the photo, but in person it has a bit of pastel, but it’s still a neon. These are very unique neons and not like the other neon polishes out there. For the record, I hate the name of that Orly polish. When I see that color I don’t think “blue collar”, I think something beachy!

Here it is in full sun. Again, I made the mistake of not using white underneath the orange neon so there is some visible nail line. I LOVE this polish. I think it would look even better with a matte top coat.

Here it is in the shade. I really like these colors together. The Essie polish applies nicely, as does the Orly. Another fan of this look is my husband! He really likes the blue color…he always likes the blue colors!

Zoya Zuza

When Zoya released the Beach and Surf collections, Zuza seemed to be the big front runner, and I was no exception to that, as I fell in love with this color right away. Zoya describes it as:

Deep, saturated, oceanic turquoise with gold and silver metallic shimmer and a foil-like finish. A beachy, colorful, foil-like shade with the perfect balance between blue and green.

Here it is indoors. Isn’t it gorgeous? This is the quintessential summer color.

Here it is in extremely saturated full sun. I swear, there is just no in between right now. It’s either cloudy or crazy bright! Anyway, I love Zuza and the application is perfect. Practically opaque in one coat, but I used two for good measure.

If you like Zuza and want to buy it, I would love if you used my Share the Love link!

A Couple of Ulta Displays

Today I was in Ulta and spotted a couple of great polish displays. Ulta has A LOT of nail polish, and I like that there is now access to Butter London and Zoya in my area. Today there were two displays that caught my eye, including this Revlon display which appears to be from the fall. Isn’t that odd? Anyway, it is limited edition, so I ended up taking home the green one, Punk (with my 20% off coupon of course!).

The other display that caught my eye was this Orly display. Aren’t the colors on here divine? I love how fresh and summery these are! The orange/white/blue together just made me smile. I may have to do an orange, white, and blue colorblock manicure one of these days!

In other nail news, Zoya has announced their Earth Day exchange, which is set to be active this Saturday and Sunday. I haven’t decided if I’ll be participating, but am thinking about it, as it is a good bargain and a great way to recycle! We’ll see. 🙂