Three Way Holiday Green Comparisons

As mentioned in my last post, I am so loving green polishes this Holiday. And, I'll say it again, green polish is new to my life in the past 2 years. I must have been in some rut, avoiding wearing green polish. I would wear it on my toes but, just not on my fingers. Too funky.

I'm so glad I snapped out of that one! Look what fun I'd be missing out on...

 

Three random, Holiday greens. Using the last photo, from the left: from Color Club's Under The Mistletoe collection in 2009 (no name); Orly's 'It's Not Rocket Science'; and Finger Paint's 'Comet's Collar'.

Each one is worthy of Holiday wear. I like all of them. So, here are the skittles of green...

I used 3 coats on all of these and added a top coat of Color Club's 'Vivid'.
On my thumb and ring finger, I'm sporting the Color Club green from 2009. On my index finger and pinky, that's 'It's Not Rocket Science.' And just on the middle finger is 'Comet's Collar'.

As it so looks, the Color Club felt gritty but it sparkles. 'It's Not Rocket Science' is a swampy green that was a hit last Fall. And 'Comet's Collar' is new this season but doesn't have much 'umpf' next to the other shades of green. I'd recommend 'Comet's Collar' for nail art or stamping.

For the Holiday look and feel, my vote is for the Color Club green. Which one do you like?

Three Polish Brands; One Big Holiday Polish Haul

These are my recent nail polish hauls. And it's a haulage!!

I got these at Sally's. I wanted to get 'Ingenue' as well, but it was gone!

These two polishes are from Orly's Holiday Soiree collection. On the left, the gawdawesome 'Androgynie'. The one on the right, that's 'Oui'.

Go ahead and take a closer look...

'Androgynie'...the final frontier. The baby lacey nail file is cute but utterly useles.

'Oui' to a gold and silvery-purple duochrome.

Lovely shades. Nothing terribly new, but these are the shades of polish I like. You can see some 'hot damn' swatches of this collection at I Drink Nail Polish's blog.

I was at the right place at the right time to get this collection from China Glaze...

This China Glaze collection is from the one called Eye Candy 3-D. I don't know what the 3-D part is because these polishes have no more or less depth to them than any other glitters. But, maybe I missed getting the free 3-D glasses that should have come with these.  I did get in on the sale at Ulta though. I bought 2 and got 1 free. At first, I was only going to get 5 but since that sixth one was free, I got them all.

The first one above is called 'Lorelei's Tiara.' That's the one that has silver glitter and then some teal glitter swirling around within. That is one of the more unique looks.

Next to that is 'Marry A Millionaire'. Great saying that goes with a medium purple glitter with holo bar glitter. Another rather new look to me.

And then the last one in this line up is a gold glitter; 'Blonde Bombshell.' This is the one I wasn't going to get at first. It's a gold glitter but has these larger sizes of gold glitter as well. I feel I have to get my nose right down into it to see the differences in the sizes, however.



Next set...

From left over to right; 'Material Girl'; 'Some Like it Haute (named after one of my favorite movies); and then 'Love Marilyn.'

 'Material Girl' is a dusty pink glitter with larger sized pink holo glitter.

Next is 'Some Like It Haute.' This one is another favorite. It's a dark, slate gray and has holo glitter suspended in it. Last is 'Love Marilyn' and this is a gorgeous red glitter sprinkled with silver glitter.

There's 'Androgenie' next to 'Some Like It Haute'...

 I know they are not the same and the only similarities can be they are both dark and have holo glitter. However, when you put them side by side, they actually bring out the unique flavor of each other.

Blurred for shimmer, you can see both are full of holographic glitter. 'Androgynie' has the larger hex shaped pieces.

And lastly, I found the Nicole By OPI's Holiday Glitter collection. I picked up just two...

 On the left, 'Orna-ment For Each Other'. Now that's a Santa suit red! It's got speckles of gold glitter within a sea of red glitter. Ho Ho Ho!

 And on the right, that's 'Glitter In My Stocking.' It's a bright gold glitter that has red and copper glitter thrown in for some major holiday awe-ness.

They look like glitter tree ornaments, don't they?

There were a total of 4 shades to this collection. One was a fuchsia glitter ('My Sleigh Is In The Shop) and the other was a bright blue with a rainbow assortment of colored micro-glitter called  'Snowman of My Dreams.' I hemmed and hawed over that one and I think I've convinced myself that I will have to go back and get it.


I better get busy and Holiday Swatch! Do you have any of these or, are there some here that you know you'll get?

Orly's Rococoa A Go-Go and a Vampire's Coffin

What have we here? Duochrome? Hotness? Word!!

This is Orly's 'Rococoa A Go-Go'. Orly had this mad collection called Mineral FX that was released last year, I believe. If you yell out 'Sparkly Duochrome,' I'm going to do my best to bunch push everyone else out of the way to get mine. :)

Something about this shade is spooky or alien. That's how it gets into the Halloween Vanity Hall of Fame. Maybe it's a shade of a coffin's lining!

Don't let the mani scare you though. I didn't 'wrap' the polish around the tips. I find that this is more noticeable the longer my nails get, for some reason.

There is not one thing 'flat' about 'Rococoa A Go-Go.' It's bold and flashy and wants to be admired...

 I have on 2 coats of polish with a top coat of Lumos. Lumos is touted as the replacement to Seche Vite. As soon as I get more information on this wonderful top coat, I'll share it. However, it has a helluva shine.

I got something funky going on with my middle nail with this mani. I think this is when I failed to fix a broken (coffin??) nail. I did cut it down, sadly, after this mani. But that cliche of 'oh, I broke a nail' doesn't even sit well with me at the pink vanity.

As much as this flashes as a duochrome in the bottle, it wouldn't do that on my nails. Rats! However, that deep burgundy is the same color of the lining of a vampire's coffin.

Have you seen a vampire's coffin? Which would freak you out more, to find it occupied or....empty????

Who You Lookin' At? Says the Night Owl

Seems like there has been a lot of 'bird' collections this season. That's OK with me; these are some fine shades!

Orly got into the game (bird, game...get it) early on. Maybe the early bird gets the worm?

I like this taupe because it goes in my category of 'pleasant surprises.'  'Night Owl' is a taupe that would not bring attention to itself except for the taupe micro-glitter. I don't have anything else like it in my collection. Not to say there isn't one out there. I'm, however, happy to have this beauty.

And the best part is, that the color in the bottle is exactly what I got on my nails. With 3 coats, I got a coverage that was complete and finished. I don't have a top coat on this manicure; it was shiny all by itself. This could be the smoothest Orly polish I own.

The glitter gives it a whole, new depth to it.

And I must tell you, if it wasn't for that micro-glitter, this would be a shade my grandma would have worn. Remember the taupe frost by Sally Hansen? Yea, it was grandma's pick.

I love my grandma with all my heart but, I don't want to wear her nail polish. I'll take this cutey, instead.

 

This is in no way a decent manicure. Bless my eyes, they don't see what the camera shows. But, that color is BOSS and a wise 'Night Owl.'

I used to have a cashmere sweater this taupe color. Would you pick this shade to wear? I think this color would be a cool one for some boots!

Ogre Snot or: How I Came to Love Naming Colors

A couple of years after I moved to Virginia Beach, VA from Nashville, TN, I started dating a guy who managed a comic book/miniature collectibles/gaming store. I enjoyed hanging out there and looking at the vast array of items. One area that I enjoyed was the rows and rows of paint used to paint miniatures. Not only did I enjoy just looking at all the different colors, I was obsessed with the names of them; whimsical, silly and so comic-book style. But the one I remember is a green called 'Ogre Snot.' Besides being so hilarious, it popped into my mind, I could come up with names like that too.  Hence, my love affair with giving colors names.

The swatch I have for you today reminds of that time. I'm going to compare this year's green from the China Glaze Halloween collection to last year's green.

'It's Alive' is the green for 2011. Last year we had fun with 'Zombie Zest.'

Another side by side comparison.

A close up of 'It's Alive.' The glitter is larger and more of a moss green. The base color is a blackened green with light green glitter.

Check out the side by side on nails...

That's Ogre Snot 'Zombie Zest' on the middle finger. I can see that 'Zombie Zest' is an olive jelly base with micro micro-light green glitter. There was a lot of drag on that 'Zombie Zest.' It was like trying to use a wet, ol' booger as polish. (Now that's GROSS!) 

I used 3 coats for each. I think 2 could have done it but since I wasn't satisfied with 'Zombie Zest' and went for a third coat, I went ahead and did that third coat with 'It's Alive' as well.

Swampy greens with glitter have been trendy for the past year. And I'm quite OK with that. I love the color! So I dug in the vanity drawers to pull out a couple more to compare...

From the left: China Glaze's 'It's Alive', China Glaze's 'Zombie Zest, Sinful Color's 'Call You Later', Orly's 'It's Not Rocket Science'.

With the a passion for oogly-boogly color names like 'Ogre's Snot', I found I had a fairly good creative talent for coming up with names. Any makeup company out there that would like my service, I'm very affordable!!

What swampy green do you like?

Black Magic Going on at Emberstone Castle

Did you know that I wanted to get married on Halloween? I really did! But my hubs, he isn't too...uhm....what's the word?....'out there'.  So we decided on November 1st. Which is the pagan new year day, anyway. So, you must know that Halloween is my second favorite holiday after Christmas.

I went shopping today with Kari from Once Bitten Blog. We went to Target and had fun ohh-ing and ahh-ing at the cute Halloween stuff. I need to find my Halloween decoration box and get to decorating, because that shopping got me in the Halloween mood.

In the meantime, I'm decorating up my nails...

Here is Orly's 'Emberstone.' I keep calling it Brimstone...lol.  'Emberstone' looks like an orangy-red indoors. But it pops open to a bright, sparkly orange outside. This is certainly micro-glitter. I see pink, orange and maybe some silver in this. And the name 'Emberstone' so works with this shade. I love it!

Doesn't 'Emberstone' sound like the mysterious castle or estate's name from a mystery or vampire story? 'Emberstone Castle: What Happens at Emberstone, Stays Dead at Emberstone.' 

Here's the 'Black Magic' that is going to be added as an accent...

I've gone on a bit about this little stinker 'Black Magic'. Jump here to see the story.  This is the Wet 'n Wild 'Black Magic' that DOES have the sparkles. Please, look for it and you will be so happy you did. These photos give NO justice to the very pretty sparkles set in this black jelly. The micro-glitter is all different colors with a bit more purple glitter than the other colors. It is cool to look at in the bottle but you'll gasp when you see it in real life on your nails.

And now, here's the mani...

Both of these polishes apply beautifully. 'Black Magic' is super smooth and it makes me want all polishes to go on so sweetly. The first coat gave me doubts that it was going to be opaque. But, that second coat covered it and you are seeing it with just those 2 coats! 'Emberstone' has 3 coats and it was so easy to remove.
You will be seeing a full manicure with the sparkly 'Black Magic' soon. It so deserves it. And a statement about Orly's 'Emberstone', I feel you can work this shade year-round.