Sally Hansen Gem Crush – Big Money

Of course the name of this polish would be appropriate for me to wear on my grad dinner night – I am a Commerce student after all! I gotta make the big bucks :p

Sally Hansen’s Gem Crush Nail Color in Big Money. I’m not a huge fan of glitters – they’re terrifying to remove and a little too much for everyday wear. I do love this one though! The tiny base glitters  are a neutral gold, almost metallic taupe, interspersed with larger round particles of lavender glitter. It’s one of the more unique and wearable ones I’ve seen, and it’s pretty dense for a glitter polish. Tips: To make removal easier though, I started with a coat of OPI’s Tickle My France-y (review & swatch here), and used two coats of Big Money. Also, glitters tend to “eat up” top coat , so you might want to use two layers of top coat if you want that ultra-glossy smooth finish.

Close-up of the neutral gold + lavender glitters

Bonus – it went with my dress beautifully! (Say hello to my friend Justina on the right – she was integral in persuading me to start this blog, by the way! Justina, don’t hate me for using this photo please :p).

OPI – Steady As She Rose & Silver Shatter

It’s been a while! Almost two months in fact, since I’ve written a new post. Hope all of you have had a wonderful summer in the meantime!

I didn’t have a chance to swatch (or even use) many polishes while on exchange in Europe. I did receive several new ones from friends for my birthday when I returned to Vancouver (thanks guys!) but I left for Hong Kong only a few days after that. And the lighting in my room in HK leaves much to be desired; couldn’t get a decent photo of anything.

But enough of the excuses! I’m back now to spread some more nail polish love, and that’s all that matters, right? :)

Okay then, here goes nothing. I’m clearly a little rusty. I have here a nail polish that my dear friend Antin got for my birthday (pictured above is me with two of them. Doesn’t she have good taste? :p)

OPI Steady As She Rose, another pale and muted hue from the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection. I would clumsily describe this as a light, grayed, rose-lavender creme. Looks really clean on the nail. Applied somewhat streaky in the first coat; my advice is to apply as little pressure as possible with the brush to prevent dragging. It’s a great colour for those looking for something relatively neutral, but that is still a little out of the ordinary.

Here it is, shatterized (a word I just made up, what).

OPI Silver Shatter, which I believe came out in the same collection. I really love the look of Silver Shatter over pale, muted colours, so it was a perfect addition to the Pirates collection.

I bought Silver Shatter myself while I was in Hong Kong. I usually shy away from purchasing OPIs in HK as they are grossly overpriced – they run for about $120HKD/$15CAD on average, which is almost twice as expensive. However, I found this in Bonjour Cosmetics on sale for $64HKD, which makes it cheaper than the usual places I buy OPIs from in Vancouver. Nice!

The OPI Shatters are irritating, though. My Black Shatter is so goopy, it’s almost unusable. Silver Shatter turned goopy near the opening of the bottle within minutes. I fear the shelf life of the OPI Shatters is going to be very short indeed, so keep that in mind when purchasing. I’ve actually still got two more Shatters to review, so keep an eye out for them!

Layering 101: Essie – Kisses and Bises

A few weeks ago, I scored a beautiful new Essie polish from Shoppers Drug Mart for $2.99! Keep an eye out for SDM’s clearance racks, as sometimes there are gems lurking.

The shade I snagged is Essie’s Kisses and Bises, from the Spring 2011 collection French Affair. I was actually considering buying this at full price, because the shimmers in it are beautiful. I can’t pinpoint what colour exactly, but I would describe it as pink and gold, maybe a dash of copper? The shimmer is extremely fine and suspended in a milky off-white base colour.

On its on, Kisses and Bises won’t add much colour to your nails, but it is a brilliant layering polish. I’ve shown it layered over OPI Do You Think I’m Tex-y?. As you can see, it adds such a beautiful dimension to the jelly colour underneath. There are some visible brush strokes, but it’s not noticeable at all.

I’ve also tried Kisses and Bises over a black polish, and it looks even more phenomenal. The wicked pink/gold shimmer really alters the base black colour into something very unique indeed. I will post this combination when I get a chance!

OPI – Tickle My France-y

Hmm, nudes. I’m not a huge fan of “mannequin” hands – a few months ago I was sort of enamored with the idea of having nails that were exactly the colour of your skin. I’ve learned since then that it’s a hard look to wear, because it requires your nails to be in tiptop condition – every minor cuticle issue just becomes so apparent!

I’ve tried a couple of nudes, and I find that the ones that somewhat blend into the skin, but still offer some contrast, are ideal. Does this one live up to my expectations? Well…

OPI Tickle My France-y, another gem from their 2008 France collection (at this rate I’m going to own every polish in that collection…). I really like it! The shade is just a bit darker than my skin, and the colour is definitely pinker than my skin – the most muted taupe-y pink/lavender you’ll find. It looks elegant and clean, non-fussy but still pretty.

I think the problem I generally have with nudes is that they have a tendency to make you look jaundiced or give you lobster hands. And with a cream nude especially, formula is important – a lot of them can be super streaky and difficult to apply. This one was fine though, two coats and the streaks sort of meld into each other and become smooth again. And of course, you know how much I love the OPI ProWide brush!

Thanks to my friend Justina for letting me know about this colour! I remember asking her several times last term about her nail polish when she had this colour on. I love it! :)

butter LONDON – All Hail the Queen/McQueen

IT’S READING BREAK! Rejoice! Oh, and a happy Anna Howard Shaw Day to you (I give all my love to people who know that reference)!

How have I been spending it, you ask? Oh, not much, just sitting around at home being sick out of my mind, being spoon-fed medicine by my mother. I’m telling you, it’s truly an experience every time she brings me another dose of medicine. Currently she has me taking this cough syrup which is making me feel, uh, woozy. Drunk drowsy. Mind is fuzzy. You know the deal.

Thankfully I’m nearing the end of the illness (hopefully). Sore throat is gone, just have the lingering annoying cough. Maybe I’ll finally be able to enjoy my reading break starting tomorrow? Oh wait, I’ve still got a stack of homework and midterms to study for. Who has time for Valentine’s Day? No one wants to be close to a sick person, ha! So unfortunately I’ve had no one to share this lovely nail polish with:

butter LONDON’s All Hail the Queen (also known as All Hail McQueen). Ah, how I have lusted after you for weeks! Finally found this gem a few months ago at BeautyMark in Yaletown. Funny naming though – I’ve always known it as All Hail McQueen from blogs (this shade was created as a tribute to the legendary designer not long after his passing), but when trying to look for it at the shop, all I could find was a polish that looked very similar, but was called All Hail the Queen. Rest assured, some Googling afterwards confirmed that it was the same shade. Why the name change? Who knows, maybe some copyright issues?

All Hail the Queen is a very unique neutral polish with lots of microglitter – it’s not immediately evident, but it clearly has a slight holographic thing going on. The glitters very subtly reflect “rainbow”, similar to GOSH Holographic. It’s definitely the most interesting neutral polish I own, and makes it so awesome – suitable for everyday wear in an office, for example (or at school if you don’t want people looking at your nails strangely, haha). But it still has enough interest with the holographic glitter for a polish lover like myself. Kind of eccentrically sophisticated. Loves it.

butter LONDON is a pretty new brand to me, but my experience with this polish was pleasant. It comes in an classy rectangular bottle with a removable cap – very much like Chanel. The brush is also Chanel-esque; rounded and long. The price was  quite steep (can’t remember exactly, but it was around $20CAD), but the polish applies with great ease and is just the right consistency. It’s also a 3-free lacquer, meaning it contains no formaldehyde, toluene, or DBP, and claims to be not carcinogenic.

It’s not often that I drop over $10 on a polish, but when I do, I expect it to be amazing. For the uniqueness of the polish alone, I think the price was worth it.