Perfectly Polished Tips 251 - Polish Revolution Vegan Zombie

Another glitter mani? Seriously I think an alien has taken over my body. I do not think I have ever worn this many glittery manicures in a row. I am enjoying it though, they are different (for me!) and fun. I do think though that the next polish I choose it going to have to be a creme, maybe even a neutral band aid creme.

I posted a link to an etsy shop on my facebook page a couple of days ago. The link was for Polish Revolution, another lovely indie company who is just getting started. Her first releases were all glitter polishes but for my team creme stash I had nothing even remotely similar. The one that really called out to me was called Vegan Zombie. It's a sheer grey base with different sizes of green, teal, and silver hex glitters. I'm a vegetarian and my son is obsessed with zombies. So color aside I knew i *needed* it for the name alone.

I found it to be very sheer, I did a test nail to see how it would look not layered and I still had a very VNL and I'm not a fan of that. I ended up layering it over two coats of Carolyn New York Handball Courts. ( side note: I miss CNY so bad, they are seriously some of my favorite polishes, everything about them is perfection.)

Here is Handball Courts on its own - 2 coats

Here is Vegan Zombie - also 2 coats

Polish Revolution polishes retail for $9 plus shipping. I am not sure when she does her restocks so you may have to email her or just keep an eye on her shop.

Perfectly Polished Tips 243 - Zoya Designer Collection for Fall 2012

And I saved the best for last :) It is no secret that I love creme finish polishes. When I opened the box containing the Zoya fall collections I felt like Designer was made for me. I love every single one, even the red! Zoya does cremes so well, the formula is amazing and their brush is the only one that I can work with and not get frustrated. I know some people are probably getting sick of the smoked out grey that is being added to a lot of colors but not me. I live for them.

When Evvie was released during NYFW I had missed out on it and I was so upset. Evvie is a Peter Som custom shade and I thought that once it was gone that I would never get my hands on it. I am so happy Zoya decided to release it again because it is just as gorgeous as I had thought it would be. I think Natty has cured my MAC Blue India lemming, not to say that I wouldn't like to own the MAC. I haven't looked on ebay in a while but last time I did it was too much to justify buying. One day!

Evvie - smoky green

Monica - dark mulberry

Natty - smoked navy blue, has anyone compared this to Blue India? I would love to see pics.

Noot - charcoal green/grey

Rekha - blood red (Bibhu Mohapatra custom shade) this was slightly on the jelly side but perfect

Toni - dark maroon. I love shades like this but I suck at applying them, no idea why.

The Designer collection is available now at Zoya.com, the polish retails for $8 each.

(these were sent for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 223 - OPI Get in the Espresso Lane

This was supposed to be a NOTD Monday post! We don't have cable, we haven't for probably about 18 months now. We did however sign up for Amazon Prime because who doesn't need to stock their bathroom with 42 rolls of toilet paper at once? Thanks to Amazon Prime my kid recently discovered Go Diego Go! Whenever a computer is turned on she thinks it is Diego time...she is completely obsessed. I have been spending a lot less time on the internet because of this. It's probably a good thing though.

This week's NOTD is OPI Get in the Espresso Lane. It's from OPI's Touring America collection which was released last fall. In the bottle it is a murky, brown, kinda grayed out creme. I was hoping that it would be similar to the bottle color on my nails. It pulls way more gray and looks like cement on me. It's still a very nice color but with the beautiful weather we have had here in NC it is way too dark and drab.

The formula on this polish was decent, I had a bit of pulling which gave bald spots. One nail has three coats of polish because the first two were not even at all. The worst part of it all was the brush! I already have a strong dislike for the pro wide brushes, this one had bristles sticking out every which way. I tried to attack it with cuticle scissors but I was not that successful.

Yea, that is my steering wheel. NO I WAS NOT TAKING NOTD PHOTOS WHILE DRIVING! Who do you think I am? The high way FOTD taker from MUA? :)

In all seriousness though please don't take photos while you are driving. Not only are you putting yourself in danger but all the other people on the road! I was parked when I took these.

Zoya Surf & Beach landed here today! I hope to have swatches up over the next couple of days.

Perfectly Polished Tips 197 - Perfect Formula Holiday 2011

The holidays are over you say? Well good thing this collection is made up of such versatile colors! For their holiday collection Perfect Formula chose, what are in my opinion, classic shades. They can be worn year round, they aren't over the top or in your face loud. Of course there is nothing wrong with loud polish, it's just not my style. Perfect Formula's polish is B3F, which means it is free of Toluene, Formaldehyde, and Dibutyl Phthalate. I think I gushed about the brush in my last post on the brand. It is perfect for my nail size. It reminds me of the Carolyn New York polish brushes (RIP CNY, I still miss you!) The formula on these was very nice, I happen to need more practice in applying polishes with a jelly like texture. In the photo below of Invite Only you can see some of the bald spots. That is completely user error, it happens to me every time I use a plum color like Invite Only. It sucks because it happens to be one of my favorite manicure colors! Practice makes perfect, right? In the photos I applied the polish in two coats, except for Invite Only which is three. I did not use a base or top coat.

Black Tie

Caviar

Invite Only

There is another color in the collection, Tulle, which appears to be a soft light pink. I was not sent that one so that is why it is not included. You can purchase Perfect Formula on their website or QVC. Each bottle retails for $15. This brand is fairly new to me and I have been very impressed with what I have seen so far and I cannot wait to see what is coming up next.

(these were sent to me for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 168 - Sally Hansen Gray by Gray

This Sally Hansen Gray by Gray from the Complete Salon Manicure line. This Sally Hansen line is new to me. I will admit that I am kind of a polish snob. I don't usually buy drug store brands. The prices for drug store polishes as rising and I feel like why should I pay $7 for that when I can get a salon brand that I love for only a couple dollars more.

I set out to find this polish because I had heard it was a near dupe to MAC's Blue India which I missed out on. I failed on my search and was lucky enough to have a dear friend pick up a bottle for me. It didn't quite cure my lemming for Blue India but it is a gorgeous creme which I always appreciate.

In the bottle it looks slightly more blue than my photo shows, but on me it pulled more gray. The brush for this polish made me nervous at first, the ends are a bit tapered and I was worried that it would be a pain to work with. I was wrong though, it made application a breeze, I have small, thin nail beds and brush kept my cuticles nice and clean. The formula was great, this polish has one coater potential but my skills are a bit rusty. I did two on the above manicure to make sure everything was nice and neat.

I am not sure of the exact price on these, I want to say I saw them for $6.50 at my local Walmart. I didn't see any other colors unique enough to buy but if the line comes out with more colors in the future I will definitely be checking them out.

Perfectly Polished Tips 129 - Zoya Twist

The Twist collection is made up of 6 bright and cherry colors for spring. When I saw that this collection included a blue and a gray I was overly excited. I have been on the hunt for a cheap and easy to get gray polish, although Harley isn't a creme it still (temporarily) satisfies my craving. I did try to franken a gray creme but the formulas must not of liked one another because I got tons of bubbles each time I used it. Anyways back to Twist, I think I can honestly say I love each color in this set, which doesn't happen often. They all applied like a dream and 2 coats of polish was plenty, except for Cassie, I used three coats because it was a little sheer. I think this collection includes a color that will work with every skin tone.

Harley is a pale grey shimmer. This photo was taken in the sun, the rest were taken in artifical light.

Malia is a light purple creme, I love this polish...it fits in with my purple kick perfectly.

Cassie is more pink in real life, with goregous gold shimmer.

Barbie is a bit pinker and less peach in real life, it also has the beautiful shimmer that I love Zoya for.

Moxie is a raspberry creme and kind of the odd one out, my first thought was why didn't they do a mint green but after trying it out this is a perfect juicy berry shade.

Last but not least Jo. A wonderful powder blue with silver shimmer.

The Twist collection is up for sale now on Zoya.com. Zoya is also doing a polish exchange, I am not 100% sure when it ends, but I believe it is still going on right now. You can send them unloved polishes, empties, even minis and they will send you full size Zoya polishes. You have to pay shipping and I believe it is $3 per polish. You can go here for more details.

Perfectly Polished Tips 108 - Franken Polish Extravaganza

For whatever reason my Sally Beauty doesn't have China Glaze Recycle. I've been craving that polish since it was released. My first franken polish was a grey creme but it bubbles like crazy, and unfortunately causes all the polishes I've since mixed it with to bubble as well. I don't have a photograph of it because who wants to look at a bubbled up manicure? Not I. Here is what I did make.

looks much nicer in the bottle, and is bumpy on the nail.

to make this I used CND Voodoo, Essie Below the Belt, BB Couture for Nail Diamond Dust, and Cutex Crocodile. The Cutex has to be an oldie because the chemical stench is almost unbearable.

This is made from CND Voodoo and CQ French White. I apologize for the smudge on my middle finger, I hit it just before taking the photo. This grey is a lot lighter than my first franken.

I didn't test the first one with a base coat but I think it might be wearable. The second is right up my alley but I feel like it might be a little too light.

Perfectly Polished Tips 101 - Metro Chic & You Don't Know Jacques

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic and OPI You Don't Know Jacques are two popular colors that were released this fall. I did separate posts on both of these polishes but I never compared the two. The question of are they too similar to own both comes up often. In my opinion no they are not similar at all. Metro Chic goes very purple on me while Jacques pulls a lot of brown. Jacques is also darker than Metro Chic. Of course this is going to vary from skin tone to skin tone.

The lighting today made MC look very grey, usually I get more of a purple look from it.

In real life and in natural lighting Jacques doesn't look this brown. I like it either way though.

Here are the colors side by side. You can see that the tones have changed again, which makes me think it's a pretty versatile polish.

I love both very much and I love that they are cremes even more. I switched to posting large size photos, does it make much of a difference? You can always click on the photo for a bigger one but I think that might also have to do with my photo bucket settings. Let me know what you think.

Perfectly Polished Tips 89 - My Not So Glamorous Private Jet

OPI has a collection of polishes named the Designer Series. These polishes are either glitter filled or holographic. Designer Series or DS (for short) Glamour is one of my favorite polishes. First it's blue and secondly it has a holographic finish. I only have three DS polishes but so far I haven't had an issuse with them. The apply smoothly and evenly and I do get good wear of out them. They don't dry as quickly as China Glaze's OMG collection but the formula beats out China Glaze's.

This swatch is two coats of Glamour with no base or top coat.

My Private Jet was apart of the Night Brights collection which I believe was released in early 2007. This swatch is two coats of MPJ over 1 coat of Zoya Purity (white creme). I personally had such a hard time with this polish. Intially I did 4 coats over my bare nail, I had streaks and barely any color. It takes on more of a grey look rather than black. I just felt like it wasn't pretty enough to warrant struggling to apply it. Currently there are two versions of this polish. The newer version which seems to be popping up in stores is not holographic, it's just sparkly. I believe Stephanie at the Polish Addict did a comparison of the two. I kinda want the newer version because from pictures I like it better than the orginal.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! My Halloween mani was a big FAIL. I tried to do OPI Ghostess with the Mostess and paint a ghost face on my index fingers and they just looked like blobs. I ended up wearing a very bubbled grey creme franken. That was why there were no pictures from me yesterday.

I believe Glamour is still available, honestly I don't know much about the DS line. The etailers that I have listed on my side bar might have it. As for the holographic version of My Private Jet you can try transdesign.com but I think it's going to be hit or miss.

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 46 - Sephora by OPI Metro Chic

I wasn't too excited when I heard that OPI was making a line of polishes for Sephora. I've been so disappointed with the new formula and pro wide brushes that I didn't even want to bother. However once they started getting good reviews and I found out the brush was normal I got excited. Metro Chic is apparently sold out everywhere right now and going for $65 on ebay. I happend to see that someone on MUA had one up for swap so I jumped at my chance to get it. I absolutely love it. It applied so smoothly and even. It was opaque in two coats, and the brush was the normal skinny kind! The color is amazing as well. It's the mushroomy grey that seems to be all the rage this season but with a bit of purple mixed in. It's muted but not enough to be ugly and it's not super dark either. I'm so happy I was able to get my hands on this and will probably be wearing it a lot.

2 coats in kinda sun light. I missed the sun. It's not as dark as in this picture.


With flash, this picture is more true to life.

Sephora by OPI polishes retail for $9 and can be found at Sephora.com and certain Sephora locations. Unfortunately, this polish is out of stock and isn't expected until November. I would call though because you never know when a new shipment will be in.

Perfectly Polished Tips 28 - Fashion Rocks 2008 Nail Trends

Hey everyone, I am plagued with rain and clouds. I have a ton of stuff to swatch for you but no sun light. Hopefully I will have some new stuff up in the next couple of days. So for the time being I decided to show a couple of pictures from Fashion Rocks. I have Taylor Momsen, Miley Cyrus, and Lindsay Lohan.

Taylor Momsen, better known as Jenny from Gossip Girl rocked out with dark nails and new bangs. I couldn't find a close up of her nails but it appears that she is wearing either a gun metal/charcoal color or black. For the charcoal look try Color Club After Hours or Lippmann Hit Me With Your Best Shot. For glossy black goodness Color Club Black and Lippmann Fade to Black are both one coaters. It's so hard to believe that this girl is only 15 years old, she is goregous. Although I must say I am not a fan of the bangs.

While Taylor chose to go vampy Lindsay and Miley went neutral. It looks like Lindsay's tips might be naked and Miley may have a shimmery silver on. To get tips like Lindsay just remove polish and buff lightly. You could add a clear top coat for shine if you'd like. For Miley's silver tips I would go with Lippmann Stardust or Maybelline Silver Speed, one coat would probably do.

That's all I have right now, I might make a post about my pedicure routine a little later.

Perfectly Polished Tips 25 - Color Club Dance to the Musique

This is Color Clubs second fall collection. It is full of deep, highly pigmented shimmery goodness. All of these polished applied beautifully and are each full of gorgeous shimmer. I was very impressed with the color choices for this collection. Each of my swatches are two coats of color - no base coat or top coat. So far I've only worn Groove Thang and it wore well as usual for Color Club.


After Hours is a lovely smoldering grey, this picture didn't capture the shimmer well but it's there. I like this because the shimmer is silver only, it doesn't change like Lippmann's Hit Me With Your Best Shot.


This is my favorite of the bunch. For some reason I'm on a big purple kick lately and this fits the craving perfectly. It glows and has some pink shimmer which my camera did not pick up. I have a feeling that I will be reaching for this one a lot.


Feel the Beat is a nice pumpkin-y orange with pink shimmer. I'm not an orange wearer, I don't know if I can pull this off but this one might be saved for toes only. Please excuse the smudged pinky.


Groove Thang is another favorite. It's a dark blackened purple with shimmer. It was really hard for me to capture the color. I must have taken over 100 pictures and even in full sunlight I wasn't able to get it. In this picture you can kinda see the color.


Slow Jam is my least favorite. It's a nice brown/berry color with gold shimmer. I'm just not a brown wearer. It is very lovely for fall though.


Velvet Rope is a orangy red with fine gold shimmer. I am on the fence about all shimmery reds, sometimes I love them, others not so much. I much perfer a vampy red creme, or something along the lines of OPI Got the Blues for Red.

Another winning collection from Color Club in my opinion. I am in love with a lot of the fall colors that were put out this year. This collection will not dissapoint! It also came with Vitabase base coat, I've only used it once so far, so that review is for another day!

Special thanks to Color Club.

Perfectly Polished Tips 15 - OPI La Collection De France You Don't Know Jacques

To be completely honest I am not impressed with OPI's La Collection De France collection. I feel like the last few collections they have put out haven't been great. I purchased three polishes from this collection; You Don't Know Jacques, Louvre Me..Louvre Me Not, and Yes I Can-Can. Jacques is definitely the stand out one of the three. Swatches of the rest can be found on Scrangie's Beauty Blog if you are interested.

You Don't Know Jacques is a muddy grey, maybe taupe color with a creme finish. The first coat leaned a lot more towards a light brown on me and that is when I almost didn't finish the mani. The second coat was more like the bottle color. I was thrilled with the application, after OPI's India and Mod Brights I was worried about how it was going to go. My bottle applied like a dream, no clumps, no streaks, and best of all no wonky brushes. I am not a pro wide brush lover however I really didn't mind it since the formula consistency was so nice. The pictures below are 2 coats of YDKJ as well as a base coat and a top coat.

Direct Sunlight

Artificial Lighting.

I kinda like this color but I'm not sure how I like it on me. Sometimes it looks grey and other times slightly brown. I guess OPI might have worked out some of their formula kinks. It's about time!