Perfectly Polished Tips 67 - Lippmann Collection Base Coat & Cuticle Remover

This is Lippmann's Cuticle Remover, it contains lanolin oils to help soften your cuticles while the chemicals do
the removing. I like to use this weekly after I scrub with Sally Hansen Cuticle & Nail Refiner. The SH scrub loosens everything and then this stuff gives it the last push to detach from my nail beds. It has a brush like the nail colors but it also comes with a dropper. You can either brush it on, drop it on, or put a few drops in warm water and soak your nails. I've done all except the last. It's not messy at all and it has no smell. I think it's pretty moisturizing. My cuticles definitely do benefit from it.

This guy over here is Lippmann's Rehydrating Base Coat. It contains aloe to help nails stay well hydrated. I know their nail colors have bitotin in them but I could not find anything that said if this did or not. I've been using this as a base for all my manicures for about 3 weeks now. My nails are definitely stronger (except for the one I jammed and it now has a tear very low down) and they aren't at all stained from all the dark shades I've been wearing. I always see a "Do not get on skin" caution on nail polish and I never understood why. Well now I do, this is super drying to my cuticles and the skin around them. I have to be very careful to make sure I leave a gap or else I am plauged with dried out yucky looking skin for a couple of days. The upside to that though is that I remember to use my CND Cuticle Eraser and LUSH Lemony Flutter.

I would reccomend both of these products. I am sure that there are cheaper alternatives to them though. For cuticle removers I really like Orly Cutique and a lot of ladies over at MUA rave about a Sally Hansen one in a blue bottle. I haven't tried that one. As for the base coat, Sally Hansen makes a hydrating base coat call Nail Quencher, I actually picked it up at Wal Mart for $2 the other day. These two products are worth it for me but since everyone is different you really have to try different things to see what works for you.

Perfectly Polished Tips 66 - Gimme More Gimme Gimme More

BLUE! In addition to nail polish I have an undying love for Britney Spears, she may have a few screws lose but I've been rooting for her all along.

Anyways, I mentioned China Glaze Blue Sparrow the other day. It is apart of China Glaze's Ink Collection which came out last spring/summer. It is a neon blue base with intense blue glitter. In addition to drying matte it is also very bumpy. The bumps can be smoothed with a couple coats of top coat. The polish wears well for being glitter and needs only two coats to be opaque.

There hasn't been sun here in days and I have yet to work on my light box. I took a few pictures with flash but it washed me out and the polish. So here is two coats with out flash, if you look close you can see the glitter.

Here is the 6th polish from the China Glaze Bahama Blues collection, Blue Island Iced Tea. It's a light blue base infused with silver glitter. This picture is with flash only because it looked like a muted grey with out it. This is on my toes right now and I love it. I'm really liking these metallic polishes as of late. That is something new for me.

Perfectly Polished Tips 65 - ManGlaze Swatches

ManGlaze is matte nail polish. It is for women and men who do not want glossy looking nails. I was a bit skeptical when I saw this polish, because one, I love glossy wet looking nails and two it's called ManGlaze. The company currently has two colors, a matte black and a matte grey. Apparently the polishes are made to last long. I have only swatched them so I do not know about wear time, I do plan on using one soon so I will report back. Both polishes applied very smoothly and the drying time was amazing. The company asks that you not put a top coat over them so I didn't and with in 10 minutes I was good to go. I was worried about the drying time because it's rare that I go with out using a quick dry top coat. The bottle design on these is amazing. I love the cartoon and punk look that they have going on.

Fuggen Ugly is a matte steel grey, it really is a gorgeous color. It has shimmer but nothing over the top or overly girly. This picture is two coats with out a camera flash.

This is Fuggen Ugly with flash. I really love this polish, the matte finish doesn't even take away from the awesome shimmer which I love.

The Death Tar is a matte black. This polish has great shimmer as well. This polish could be a one coater if you really wanted. I did two just because that is what I do.

I compared The Death Tar to some other black and charcoal polishes that I own. Besides being matte it is pretty unique to my collection. Essie Over the Top and Lippmann Hit Me With Your Best Shot seem to be identical. The Death Tar has much more shimmer than those two and is a hair darker. The last polish which is L'Oreal Patent Black Silver is more of a true black rather than a charcoal like The Death Tar.

Surprisingly enough I didn't have anything that was at all similar to Fuggen Ugly. I don't usually wear grey so I'm glad that I finally have one that I like. ManGlaze can be found at ManGlaze.com and they retail for $6.66.

Perfectly Polished Tips 64 - Preview of Zoya Flourish for Winter 2008

For this winter Zoya has put together a rich color palette filled with six metallic finished polishes.

(left going clockwise) Zara which looks like it may be a dupe to the once elusive Sally Hansen Arabian Night, Richelle looks like brozen molten metal..I might even be able to love this one, Shivon is a golden rose shade, Cyma (which is shown on the model) is Zoya's typical berry shade, Kalista is a deep almost plummy brown (I am dying to see this one in real life actually. I don't usually wear shades like this but I'm drawn to it), and Mieko looks a little on the coral side from pictures, but I'm wondering if it's a reddish orange a la last year's Kamilia

Please excuse the grey blob on the first photo, my photo editing skills are not up to par. There are no blues or teals this year, but I'm looking forward to this collection. I've been all about the purples lately, and I even want to wear a metallic. I'm not sure when this collection is going to be released, I think last year's winter collection was released at the begining of November but I'm not 100% sure on that.

Perfectly Polished Tips 63 - I've Got the Blues

Okay, so I'm trying to find a new look for my site. I'm not sure how I like this lay out but it will do until I have so more time to update. If there is anything you readers would like to see here please don't hesitate to ask! I'm open to pretty much all requests and suggestions.

Anyways, blue nails. It wasn't until I found my love for polish that I obsessively felt the need to check the finger tips of all women. Now the first thing I look for in pictures and in real life is nail polish color. I haven't seen any cool manicures in real life unfortunately. Some celebrities such as Rihanna and Christina Aguliera are known for their wild color choices while others such as Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester stick to neutrals.

I was so drawn to Xtina's nails in this picture that I didn't even notice the horror that is the rest of her. I'm not liking this transformation, honestly I miss her Dirrty days. Anyways, here she is wearing a bright blue polish which actually compliments her purple clutch and maybe the shirt. I instantly thought of China Glaze's Blue Sparrow which I will have to post pictures of soon. It's a neon with amazing glitter. Last year I would have never even considered wearing blue or glitter but now bring it on! If you aren't a glitter fan you could try something a little softer such as Color Club Jeweltone Blue or NYX Titanic. For cremes check out the post I made about China Glazes Bahama Blues collection. Bermuda Breakaway would be perfect.

Perfectly Polished Tips 62 - Lemming Fulfileld

When I first joined the Make Up Alley Nail Board I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My wist list grew from 0 to 100+ with in an hour. This polish was one of those polishes that I never thought I would see in real life. CM (or Color Midmic) Midnight Imposter. It's a navy blue with sparkles. The sparkles are the stringy kind but mini. I thought my need for this would have been satisfied when I received Essie Starry Starry Night but it wasn't. I was so excited to put this polish on that I put on right over top of my China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway manicure. It applied very well and is highly pigmented. It wasn't sunny here again, I took about 100 pictures with and with out flash. These three are the ones that made the cut. The glitter applies a little strangely, packed together in some spots and sparse in others. I don't know if two coats would fix this because I didn't want to wait forever for it to dry. It dried kinda matte which surprised me, after 1 coat of INM Out the Door it's still a little bumpy, that doesn't bother me though.

I'm not really sure where you can find the CM brand, the bottle doesn't have a website or phone number either. I think most come from random beauty supplies, ebay is another option as well. I had another CM and again it applied well and wore well.

So tell me what are your biggest lemmings? Which ones have been fulfilled?

Perfectly Polished Tips 61 - Some More Zoyas

I would like to eventually swatch my whole collection. I've been trying to do the new ones that come in as I get them, but what about all the older ones? So I decided maybe if I did it by brand that it wouldn't be as intimidating. I started with Zoya. I touched upon my thoughts of Zoya in yesterday's entry. Overall it is a good brand. I love Qtica prouducts too - their body scrub is amazing.

Kotori is a foily metallic blue and is basically the same as Rea just a different color. This one is very sheer though (Rea is not) this swatch is two coats, 3 would probably make it more opaque and even.


Tama is a hot pink with pink/purple shimmer.


Hope has some amazing pink shimmer that I just couldn't capture well. It is there though.


Casey is for all the creme and vampy lovers. It's more purple in person and might even be twinny to Lippmann Collection Dark Side of the Mood. I need to swatch them side by side to see.

I'm hoping to get my light box built with in the next couple of weekends. It's raining today and I can only image how dark and gloomy the fall/winter are going to be up here!

Perfectly Polished Tips 60 - China Glaze Bahama Blues

Here are the blues minus Blue Island Iced Tea. It was cloudy here today so the pictures aren't 100% but Blue Island just wouldn't photograph. As soon as I have a sunny day I will get a picture of it. These all applied fairly well. My Bermuda Breakaway was a little thick but nothing to horrible. I wish the names were a little more creative but in all honestly I'm just happy to have a whole entire collection of blues. None of these are similar to any of the other blues I own so that is always a good thing. Anyways on to the pictures.

Bermuda Breakaway is my favorite from the collection. I've been asking about a blurple creme for awhile now. I'm glad someone finally made one!

Calypso Blue is my second favorite but only because I love cremes. This is a true navy polish, it doesn't look black under any lighting. This makes me happy because all the navy cremes I currently own look black.

Bahamian Escape is a light sky blue creme. It's a smidge darker than Color Club's Blue Light but lighter than OPI's Just Groovy.

Blue Paradise is a lovely medium satin blue. I had a slight problem with the brush strokes since it does have a metallic finish, but it's such a nice color that I don't mind.

Carribean Blue has that amazing glass flecked glitter in it. This is probably my favorite out of the lighter colors of the collection. I'm a sucker for the glitter and the color's not so bad either.

China Glaze has done it again. I really cannot wait to see what next year's collections look like. Seriously this, Rodeo Diva, and Ink? All amazing. Way to go China Glaze.

These can be found on the etailers, I've included a link to them on my side bar. *I'm not affiliated, just a happy customer.*

Perfectly Polished Tips 59 - My Favorite Zoyas

I was introduced to Zoya nail polish last year. They have some unique colors but I'm not so sure about the wear. I think you have to use their base coat and top coat to get a satisfactory manicure. I usually just use whatever I love at the moment but it usually leads to chips and bubbles. One day I'll get the Zoya Color Lock system and fully enjoy my polishes. Anyways, with the Zoya promo going on I figured that I would share my top three Zoya polishes.

Rea is a foily purple that really stands out. It is very blingy, I'm thinking it would make a good pedicure color. I might try that today. I've only used it on my tips. It was love at first sight though.

Indigo started (and almost ended) my blue love affair. It has these gorgeous rainbow sparkles through out the polish, but they are so sparse and not very noticble. I got this polish for the sparkle and the couple of times I've worn it I was disapointed. However today when I swatched it in full sun light I fell in love all over. It truly is an amazing color.

Yasmeen is my number one Zoya and purple. This color just glows, you can even see it in the picture. It has amazing shimmer and is just an all around beautiful color. Yasmeen seems to be a universal color, I don't think there is anyone who can't wear this color.

Zoya can be found at Zoya.com.

Perfectly Polished Tips 58 - China Glaze Rodeo Diva

China Glaze has put out some truly amazing collections this year. Every collection that comes out is better than the last. Their first collection for fall was Rodeo Diva. This collection is filled with highly pigmented, rich, deep, and shimmering colors. I only got five from this collection (and I have one on the way) because I wasn't feeling like fall at the time. I may have to go back and get AOTRodeo Divas. The applied nice and smooth, I didn't have any issues with the formula either. The wear is up to par as well.

Cow Girl Up is a magenta color with tons of shimmer. It has some gorgeous blue shimmer that my camera just didn't pick up. I think this is going to make a good pedicure color. I'm just not feeling the pink on my hands lately. I blame all the beautiful blues and purples.

Lasso My Heart is a pinky boarding purple color with gold shimmer. I would say it's almost metallic like as well. I'm not sure how I feel about this color, it's the only one that went on and was taken off immediately after I was finished polishing.

Midnight Ride is my favorite from the collection. It's a blackened shimmery purple. In the sun this color is to die for. I wish it was a little less black so that it looked like I was wearing purple instead of black, but other than that I love it.

Rodeo Fanatic is my second favorite out of these five. In the bottle it has some amazing purple/blue shimmer but it didn't transfer to the nail well. I've heard that this is a dupe to MAC Whirlwind which was an LE color last fall. So if you missed out on Whirlwind here's your chance to have something similar. Some people have been complaining about the shimmer settling to the bottom of the bottle, I haven't had this problem but apparently you just need to shake it well.

Side Saddle surprised me. In the bottle it looks very plummy on the nail though it goes brown. I had two other colors similar to this (Zoya Anastasia & NYC Cognac Sparkle) and i passed them on because they were too brown. I fell right in love with Side Saddle though. It has the most amazing gold shimmer I have ever seen. Usually brown and gold doesn't look good on me since I'm so cool, but Side Saddle has just enough purple in it to make it okay.

China Glaze can be purchased at Sally Beauty, and the etailers.

Perfectly Polished Tips 57 - A Winner & Navy Oh Baby!

First off, I want to congratulate Christen - she is the lucky winner of my Lippmann polish give away. I really enjoyed doing that contest, I hope to do another soon!

Second, navy polish. I am a big blue wearer as most of you know. I love all shades of blue. My most recent quest was Sally Hansen Salon Navy Baby. It's a beautiful, shimmery navy but it is not blackened. Meaning you can tell that it is blue. I will admit that I am not big on drugstore nail polish. It costs more than buying the good stuff off line. Sallly Hansen's salon line might just be the exception. They apply wonderfully and have a nice brush. I'm not sure about wear time because I change polish so often. After I applied Navy Baby I felt like it needed something more. I pulled out Pure Ice Oh Baby, which is a purpley blue glitter top coat. Together they are amazing. I'm wondering what it would be like to franken them together. I would have to get another bottle of Navy Baby though because it's hot on it's own. So anyways here is the out come-

Alright, it looks much better in person, but you get the idea. I'm starting to branch out and actually enjoy layering and glitter. It gives me a whole new way to use my stash.

Perfectly Polished Tips 56 - Lippmann red Comparison

Lippmann I Want Candy is from last fall if I remember correctly, and Stop and Stare is from this fall's collection. My first thought when I opened Stop and Stare was wow this looks similar to the other jelly red that I'm not crazy about. In the bottle they are very similar but on the nail IWC is very sheer. Stop and Stare can be mostly opaque in 3 coats.

On the nail the difference is very apparent. I'm not crazy about I Want Candy mostly because I don't like having a visible polish line. I love Lippmann polishes though so I will keep it and maybe one day I will love it.

Perfectly Polished Tips 55 - Last Day to Enter

Today is the last day to enter my Lippmann Give Away! So be sure to enter!

Perfectly Polished Tips 54 - NARS Zulu

I'm sure you all remember the image above from the 2007 Holiday Sephora catalog. Everyone went crazy asking what nail polish the model was wearing. She is wearing Zulu, a forest green jelly from NARS. From what I understand Zulu was discontinued and the re-released for a limited time only. The polish was a Sephora exclusive as well. Shortly after it was released maddness ensued. Everyone wanted a bottle of Zulu. Scaplers on the bay of evil got wind of this hot product and jacked up the price. It's gone for close to $80, that could be for a partially used bottle too.

Quite a few people have email bombed NARS asking them to please consider releasing Zulu yet again. Stephanie over at The Polish Addict has created a petition that will go to the company in hopes of them changing their mind. If you have a free second please sign the petition by clicking here. You can even email NARS if you'd like.

Stephanie also created some buttons for people to add to their blogs, website, or whatever else they may have. You can check out the rest of them over on her blog. So let's help support Steph and her quest to bring back Zulu!

Perfectly Polished Tips 53 - OPI Yes...I Can Can

Another polish from OPI's Collection de France. This is a deep eggplant shade with gorgeous silver shimmer. I think it has a tint of blue to it as well. I didn't have any problems with the application of this polish. I haven't worn it yet but I did wear You Don't Know Jacques from the collection and got very good wear out of it. OPI's previous India and Mod Brights collections did not give such good ware. However as I mentioned when I reviewed You Don't Know Jacques I am not impressed with this collection. I feel like OPI could have done so much more. They seem to be pulling an Essie and playing it safe. My swatches are 2 coats of polish without a base or top coat. They are in direct sunlight as well.

I am not giving up on OPI yet though, I have high hopes for their Holiday in Toyland collection which has already been released on Aveyou.com. I really hope OPI steps up their game with future collections.

Perfectly Polished Tips 52 - OPI It's Summer for Shore Collection

Since today is the last day of summer I wanted to share my favorite set of polishes. They have a summer theme but I love them year round. OPI released these beauties for the summer of 2003. This is their best collection in my opinion and the only collection where I love every polish. I know OPI has the Designer Series but $13 for one polish is a bit extreme, especially for me. These are all some what hard to find so I only use them once in a while. My bottle of A Day at the Peach is actually a mini which is why I put off swatching these for so long. Luckily enough, a sweet lady is sending me a full sized bottle. Enough blabbering on to the pictures.

A Day at the Peach


Blue Moon Lagoon


Coral Reef


Crim-Sun


Sand-erella


What's Dune?

I love summer and the warm weather - but fall has already brought so much polish wise. I'm kinda excited for fall!

Don't forget to enter my Lippmann Give Away! It's open until September 23rd at 11:59PM.

Perfectly Polished Tips 51 - SpaRitual Surreal & Blue Comparisons

I'm really big on blues, it's funny because when I first started wearing nail polish regularly I would only do pinks. Then I moved on to red and sometimes purple. I think my first blue was CND Blue Blood and it was so out of my comfort zone. I kept on collecting blues though, but it wasn't until I purchased OPI Dating a Royal that I felt comfortable in blue. Now it's my favorite color to wear. I've praised SpaRitual before for it's amazing colors and formula. Here is another polish from the fall 2008 Inspired collection, Surreal. It's a dark, blackened blue with amazing blue shimmer. The only thing that sucks is that you can't see the shimmer unless you are in bright light. So it's one of those ones that just looks black. SpaRituals have a beautiful glow about their shimmer though so I don't mind.

Dupe Alert! Surreal and Orly Star of Bombay are basically the same polish. I also compared the two to Chanel Blue Satin. Blue Satin is lighter than the other two though and you can tell you are wearing a blue polish and not black in all lighting. I prefer SpaRitual's formula to Orly so I will be passing the Orly on to another blue lover.

SpaRitual can be found at SpaRitual.com, SkinStore.com, and Aveyou.com. Orly can be found at Sally Beauty, head2toebeauty.com, 8ty8beauty.com, and transdesign.com.

*I am not affilated with any of the websites/stores/sellers that I post about on here.*