NOTD ~ Barielle Blackened Bleu

New from Barielle - The All Laquered Up collection - is Blackened Bleu. The ALU collection is what introduced me to the Barielle brand. I've never tried their polishes before. I must say, I'm impressed!



The first coat was super sheer, and left me a little worried. The second coat brightened my spirits considerably and the third coat... WOW. I'm head over heels in love with this polish. In the pic, you can see how it can be dark, and then in the light it has the beautiful blue glitter... I am super impressed with Barielle as a brand and will definately be ordering more in the future!

On a side note - SO sorry I've been away.... We had one crazy weekend and it ended with my son getting some sort of stomach virus. That was not a fun time, poor little guy. DH also hurt his knee pretty badly. He just went to the ortho surgeon yesterday and will NOT need surgery unless he reinjures it. At worst he'll need a cortisone shot. Phew. That would have really hindered a lot of upcoming projects here at the house!

It feels nice to finally polish my nails again. There was nothing on them for a week!! OY!

Juicy Couture - Honest Opinions

Ok, guys & dolls, I need some honest opinions here.

I need to carry a TON of stuff with me all of the time. I saw this huge bag at Juicy Couture yesterday and thought it would be perfect to throw all my stuff in, plus diapers, snacks and what have you for the kids. It won't show stains either, which is always a plus.

Myself and my dad's fiancee love the bag, so does my BFF Tracy. DH thinks it's old lady and ugly. PLEASE let me know what you think. Be honest and don't worry about hurt feelings or anything. I'm on the fence about it now because of DH lol he's such a turd.

DuWop Twilight Lip Venom

Yesterday during my super duper mall excursion I saw the Twilight DuWop Lip Venom at Nordies. I am totally Team Edward so I decided to give it a go.

This version of the lip venom DOES contain cinnamon. When I chew cinnamon gum my tongue swells like a balloon. I was hoping for the same effect on my lips, and really I think it did give it a nice plump. After the first application it is PAINFUL. More so than the tingle of the original lip venom. Like it REALLY hurt for about a minute. But then it felt sort of cool.

I definately give this 4 out of 5 stars. Here is why:

PACKAGING


APPLICATION ONE

It looks like something is wrong with my mouth. The stain in the tube is minimal unless you swirl around and dig in there. This was the first application where I got very little stain. As you can see, it sort of settled in areas. Anyway, seeing as how I experience issues when I chew cinnamon gum I grabbed a MAC wipe and removed the lip venom. I happily note that the weird discoloration went with it. I decided to try again....

APPLICATION TWO

On the second dip I got quite a bit more color and it shows. You do still have to be careful, as it still went on a bit uneven. I wouldn't recommend applying this without a mirror. After I took this pic the baby woke up and began to cry, I didn't want to smooch her with the venom on so I wiped it off & was met with...

AN AWESOME LIP STAIN

I have almost NO pigment in my lips. It was nice to see a bit here to add some color on my face.

I say.... go buy it! It's pretty cool! Retail $16.00 at Nordstroms.

Oh. My. Damn.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled China Glaze swatches to bring you the scariest pic you'll see all week. Maybe all month.

This spider, whom I've named Charles, is living right beside the back door. He's stretched his home from the side of the house and over top the recycling bin. He basically has a spider mansion.

I do have a pic of the web but you can see my neighbors yard in it and their yard is borderline embarrassing because they don't take care of it, so I won't post that one, but if anyone could tell me what the eff type of spider this is, I'd really appriciate it.




As you can see from the final pic, Charles began to pose for me and began to spin around. Really I think he was just getting extremely pissed off and ready to eat me, so I ran inside after this.


It is so painfully obvious that I am not a country girl.

ETA - It's a barn spider! PICTURE and WIKIPEDIA PIC & INFO


Aggressive towards humans?! No, thank you. Hubby can kill it later.

China Glaze: Day 3

So sorry this is so late! I was actually working on taking pics of my whole NP stash. I got it ALL done and labeled except for the Barielle's which should be here in a few days. Once those are in I'll do a stash post.

That being said, I only got 3 China Glaze done today, but I'll make up for it tomorrow, I promise!

MOODY BLUE

Meh. This is four coats in the pic. As you can see, it's still streaky in places. The color itself is like a bleached out For Audrey. It does have the potential to be a gorgeous polish, if it were a bit thicker and maybe a hair darker. I bought this because of the hype. Don't believe the hype. Now... the next two... BELIEVE THE HYPE!

SHORT AND SASSY

New from Retro Diva... totally gorgeous. It is shades like this and the next one that have me begging for the Fall and Winter weather to get here. I always love Fall weather, but these new and gorgeous nail shades have me going crazy for it. This one only took two coats, and looks absolutely divine. Bravo!

WAGON TRAIL

Totally hot. I don't believe I have any of the other colors from this collection, but I'm sure this was the winner. It has to be. There is not much that would be able to top this gorgeous shade. I did 3 coats here, simply because the deeper this color goes, the hotter it looks. It would have been ok with two.

Until tomorrow =) I guess I owe you at least 5!

China Glaze: Day 2!!!

Hello!

Day 2 of China Glaze and I would love to show you four more shades!!! I did not paint my thumbnail with more than one coat (I thought that nothing on my thumb might look bizarre lol) in any of these because I got a cut (boo) and it hurts to put the polish remover on it... anyway, I hope you enjoy these!

And thank you so much to the 10 ladies following me and anyone else reading this! I'm super nervous about being a new blogger and I truly appriciate all of the wonderful comments & support!

On to the polish!!

CHIAROSCURO

This is a gorgeous color. I'm not sure it does anything for my skin tone though =( I found the application to be a bit runny and hard to keep up with. Fairly sheer and needed 3 coats. I think this one would be beautiful on someone a little more tan than me.

PURE ELEGANCE

This one is super sheer. The pic above is three fairly thick coats and still a bit uneven. The color is drop dead lovely though. I think if you put this to top off a candy pink color it would be stellar.

JAMAICAN OUT

One of my favorite polishes for my piggies in the summer! Seriously, this one is a must have. My MOM even said she loves it. My mom wears only nude colors on her fingers and peachy colors on her toes. So that is a HUGE compliment coming from her. In this pic I only used 2 coats of Jamaican Out, on my toes I believe I usually use three coats.

ORANGE MARMALADE

I did not expect to fall in love with this one. China Glaze really does glitters well. What a pretty, shimmery orange. I would wear this in the fall as well as summer. I love it when a nail polish can be used for more than one season! This one was only 2 coats.

Until tomorrow ;) I'll bring you MORE China Glaze goodies!

China Glaze Week!

And so begins my week of China Glaze!

I am on a mission to swatch ALL of my polishes for you guys. That means tried and untried.. imma swatch em! I'll post the pics here for your viewing pleasure, of course!!

Here are a few to start you off, and then I'll try and do at least 3 a day. I'm not sure at this point how many China Glaze's I actually own, so I might need to swatch more than 3 a day, but I will get them ALL done this week!

AVALANCHE


I loved this one. I just think it looks really cool. DH picked it because it matches the color of his car lol

SACRED HEART


This one was pretty, but didn't wow me. It was supposed to be a Neon but it really wasn't Sorry it's messy. I didn't leave it on long so I didn't clean it up at all. The gal I gave it to adores it =)

FOR AUDREY


ok really... who DOESN'T have For Audrey?? Any Tiffany's gal knows that this is a must have. It is just a gorgeous shade and matched the Tiffany's box perfectly. I keep hearing people say it's LE but my Sally's has it in their Perm section. So go get it ASAP!

CHERRY PIE


Totally gorgeous! I have a ton of reds, but Cherry Pie just blows my mind. It's juicy looking with lots of fun glitter.

That's it for today, dolls! I'll give ya at least 3 more tomorrow ;) xoxo

NOTD ~ Zoya Pinta

Heyyyy! Sorry this took all day to load, I was cleaning and didn't want to do the nails early and ruin them. I didn't end up going to that picnic so it gave me a chance to get some stuff done here then paint my nails. I did it in some BAD lighting so I was worried about the application, but it didn't turn out too badly!

My hand is a little skewed in the pic BUT it showed the color better than the other one. The first pic I took made the polish look black. Zoya Pinta is really a VERY dark purple cream. So dark I thought it was navy at first, but like I said, my lighting isn't very good here since I did this late. It may look lighter in the sun, I'll have to edit this post tomorrow and let you know about that.

I can't say I'm in love with it. Sometimes I look at it and it looks SO pretty... then other times I want to take it off. I'm hoping it grows on me since it's staying on until Monday!



Edit - in the sun you can definately tell it's purple. It's growing on me. I thinks I likes.

Zoya Part 2

Hello!

Today I'm swatching 5 more Zoya polishes. I am saving Pinta for tomorrow's NOTD because I want to wear it to a picnic and for the rest of the weekend. I'd like it to be as fresh as possible since I don't change it until Monday.

Speaking of Monday... what would you guys like to see swatched?? OPI DS's or my China Glaze stash?? I want to eventually get my WHOLE stash swatched!

On to the Zoya's! I'm learning a lot about the polish. MOST only require 2 coats AND they are pretty fast drying, even without Seche Vite top coat!

Up first today is Drew:



Drew is simply divine. Such a gorgeous color. Girly and hip! I'm pleasently surprised with this one. When I saw the bottle I was like mehhh... even though swatches from other blogs were gorgeous. This one is a fall must have!

Next we have Shivon:



From what I understand people love this one. Me... not so much. I don't hate it. I just don't love it. Maybe it's my skin tone but it doesn't look right on me =(

Next is Demi:



Oh my... what a gorgeous cream. Can you even stand it?! I never thought I could love a purple creme, but Demi certainly proved me wrong!

Next is Yasmeen:



I was on the hunt for a blackened shimmery purple. Yasmeen, while gorgeous, did not fit the bill for that. It's a dark shimmy purple but the blackened effect I was looking for is not there. Not as much as I wanted anyway lol It's still a keeper.. I mean LOOK at it! The search is still on!

Finally, today, we have Ibiza:



True to it's name, Ibiza is GORGEOUS. I'm not a blue wearer. But I'll wear me this blue. Slight shimmer and was almost perfect in just one thicker coat! I did 2 coats for sanity's sake but you could definately try and work it out with only 1. It does look a bit more blue IRL. ** Please please please use a base coat with this. I only kept it on for about 5 minutes and my nails are stained blue. When I keep a color on I always use Zoya Anchor Base coat. It is my fav base coat and will save you nails from looking like you're morphing into a smurf =P

Till tomorrow! I'll be posting my NOTD, Pinta, and then taking a break til Monday!

Zoya Part 1

This will be the first of MANY Zoya swatch posts within the next few days. I plan on posting 3-4 more tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday are extremely busy for me so nothing will be new then, but Monday I'll be back with at least 3 more.

I did hear back from Zoya via Twitter regarding the Mattes I ordered. They stated some Matte orders needed to be refilled. Those Mattes sure are popular this season! I'm saving them for my Matte week so no rush =) I still need to call about that Remove+. UGH. I hate the phone lol I was too late to call today so it'll have to be tomorrow.

Onward!

Up first we have Emme:



I did Emme a few months ago, but seeing as how it is a Zoya polish and never before posted on this blog, I wanted to include it.
Emme is a gorgeous bubblegum pink shimmer. After I applied this I went for a walk with my DH and could not stop staring at my nails. I'm sorry for the poor quality of the picture, but it still doesn't take away from the beauty.

Next we have Lulu:



I purchased this one for mom. Her name is Luann so Lulu was the closest thing. My nails look SO bad here. Dirty even. I didn't prep them really in any way before this swatch fiesta. Sorry =\ I was excited. LOL
Lulu is a lovely sheer nude. This color actually fits my mom perfectly. I told her I picked this up for her so she is extremely excited. She's peeved I didn't tell her about the Tweet code lol I didn't know she'd be interested!! I promised to make her aware of the next one.

Next is Clara:



I picked this one up to give to my Dad's fiancee after I swatched. I am sorry I even told her about it because I want to keep it for myself. This is honestly one of the most gorgeous polishes I've ever seen. I'm shocked, to say the least. It's going to look lovely on her too, perfect for her coloring! Zoya is really knocking it out of the park with these names! This one is definately on my next order.

My final swatch of the day comes from the new fall line. Kalmia:



This color is totally me. I just adore it. Though it looks suspiciously similar to China Glaze Street Racing, shown below. This is a great shimmery orange-red color. I absolutely adore this shade. I don't care who makes it or what season it is, it'll always be one of my most used!

Comparison pic of China Glaze Street Racing and Zoya Kalmia:



And, just for kicks, a french mani I did using Essie Brandie Alexander & Zoya Midori... kinda watermelon like ;)

Haul! New OPI Spain & Zoya!

WOW! This was certainly a day for nail polish!!!!
I ordered a few of the OPI Spain and a few of the Designer Series from TransDesign.com when they released the Spain collection on Friday.



L-R: DS Couture, DS Classic, DS Illuminate, Here Today... Aragone Tomorrow, Give Me Moor!, Suzi Skis In The Pyrenees, and Barefoot In Barcelona.

Zoya had their tweet code going on around the same time as well. I was SO excited about this one. I love Zoya's but don't own many. The code was good for 3 free nail polishes of your chosing. Zoya does some AWESOME Tweet deals, so if you aren't already make sure you follow them by searching @Zoya_NailPolish!



L-R: LuLu, Clara, Drew, Kalmia, Shivon, Demi, Yasmeen, Pinta, and Ibiza

I also ordered the 3 matte polishes but they haven't shown up yet =\ I ordered them first before any of these other ones so I'm a little nervous that I won't get them. They are definately my top 3. I also ordered the Remove+ (this nail polish remover is INSANE. It is so good and the only thing that will remove my glitters quickly) and that didn't show up with the polishes I ordered it with... so I guess I need to call CS about that one. From what I can tell, their CS is awesome, so hopefully it'll be an easy fix ;)

I plan on testing ALL of these and posting swatches within the next few days. So stay tuned!

Street Racing .... 2 Fast 2 Furious!

Wow. Everyone is raving about Stroll but I think Street Racing should have the number one spot in this collection. China Glaze, you have outdone yourself with this one. This polish came out with the Retro Diva collection. My BFF Lindsay sent me some AWESOME polishes and this was one of them. I immediately did a pedicure with it and was blown away. WHAT a color this is. Not red... but not orange. The pic below makes it a bit more red than it is. I had no intention of making this my manicure as well (I had Dior Lemon Balm out for that), but when I saw how beautiful it was on my piggies I just had to!!


Pick this one up ASAP. I've never seen anything like it. While my collection isn't as extensive as some, it's pretty big.

NFU Ohhhhh Baby!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated. Weekends are always so hectic here and then it takes forever to bounce back into something normal. You don't even want to know what my nails looked like before I took the old polish off this morning =\

First today I redid my Pedi (I'll spare you the feets pics) into a yellow from BB Couture. My very FIRST BB Couture polish... Little Deuce Coupe. Now... I don't know if it's because I tried it as a Pedi... but I found the polish to be streaky and not easy to handle. I don't expect to keep this color on my toes long. Hopefully it'll make a nice Mani. Yellow is a harsh mistress... hard to work with. I may need one with a shimmer.

My NOTD is Dior Black Plum (courtesy of one of my BFF's Tracy. She went to Vegas and got me the LAST one!! WOOT! Loves her!)


I absolutely ADORE this polish. Dior makes some goodies, let me tell you. They may be expensive, but I think if you can find a nice color they are totally worth it. This is only two coats, as I added a coat of NFU Oh #60 on top. Really two coats does the trick anyway.

I bought NFU Oh #60 because I can't seem to get my hands on Sephora OPI in 212. The NB swears #60 is better and since I haven't seen 212 I'm inclined to agree. I'm blown away and can't wait to try this over other polishes like black or gold.



The pic totally doesn't do it justice. I could NOT get a good pic to show the flakies in this. Sometimes they look gold, other times rainbow... it's just gorgeous. Totally worth the $12.50. Free shipping right now makes it even easier to buy!!

Also... I don't know about you, but I CRAZY took advantage of the Zoya tweet buy and have 12 polishes coming my way. 10 are for me. I'll have to do a week or two of Zoya to catch up with myself. So be prepared for that AND I want to do a week of mattes since I just got my OPI mattes and 3 of the Zoya's are Mattes... fun times. Stay tuned!