November 30, 2011

Win a Trip to NYC for a Sally Hansen Makeover!!!

Just wanted to tell you about this fun contest Sally Hansen and Star magazine are having. Here are some details:

"Start the new year with a new look thanks to Sally Hansen. The beauty giant is exclusively offering one lucky Star reader a trip to the big apple for a complete makeover. Sally Hansen style advisor Mary Alice Stephenson will be available to offer hair, makeup and styling sessions so that you can make 2012 your most fabulous year yet. Fifty finalists will also win a red carpet survival kit featuring products Mary Alice uses to prep her celeb clients."


Read more about the contest here!

November 28, 2011

Dr.'s Remedy Jolly & Joy Holiday 2011 Collection!


Just in time for the last day of Dr.'s Remedy's special deal on their holiday collection, I have swatches of Jolly & Joy! This collection is fabulous for the holidays, featuring red and green, but in a way that feels fresh. The polish I couldn't wait to try out was definitely Essential Emerald. Wowza!!! Is this polish pretty, or what?? Essential Emerald is a jade green polish with very delicate shimmer. The shimmer is that really fine kind that from you can't see from far away, but it really adds depth to the polish. I don't own anything this particular shade of green and that's saying something!! This color is unique and great for the holidays or any other time of the year!!!



 For these pictures, I used three coats of Essential Emerald, but I would probably wear just two. The formula was good, a bit thin, but that didn't make application difficult. The bubble in my middle nail was caused by my top coat, by the way, not this lovely gem! I loved this polish and highly recommend it to lovers of green!




 Next up is a polish I have reviewed before, Revive Ruby Red. Revive Ruby Red is a real true ruby red shimmer, not blackened or too bright red. I loved this color before and still really have a soft spot in my heart for it now.



 However, I had some troubles with the formula on this one. The first bottle of Revive Ruby Red I received last year was perfect, I described the formula as "nice and smooth. No problems at all." This time, I experienced some problems with the polish running into my cuticles. Hopefully, I just received a bad bottle this time. The formula of my old bottle really is great, so I hope they haven't changed anything. The good news is that this was totally opaque in two coats.



Passion Purple is another winner, a deep eggplant shimmer. I love deep purples like this that, despite being dark, manage to always look purple, NOT black. Not that I don't love black, but sometimes you just want a good dark purple, right? And they are really hard to find! But Passion Purple manages to stay true to it's purple soul. This is the kind of color I wear non-stop during the winter months, especially on toes.



The formula on Passion Purple was great, nice and smooth application. This is two coats and it's fully opaque and even. Hassle-free is the way to be in a holiday collection!



 Now, I saved the best two for last. OMG THESE GLITTERS!!!!!!!!!! WHY DOESN'T DR.'S REMEDY DO GLITTERS 24/7?????? Serene Silver Glitter is an unbelievably sugar-fine silver glitter in a clear base with super-fine red and maybe pink glitter pieces strewn about. This glitter is so sugary and fine, it's so cool!!! This makes it opaque in really just one coat!!!! I did two coats, because I was expecting to need more than one coat, but really.... one coat is enough here!! For those of you who hate chunky glitter, this is perfect! It's so smooth, but super sparkly at the same time!!


 Application was ridiculously easy for a glitter. For any polish for that matter. Like I said earlier, full coverage in one, maybe two coats if you have super long nails with very obvious white tips. Removal was easy too!! Overall, possibly the most amazing glitter I have tried. Definitely on my Top Ten of 2011 list.




The only thing I dislike about Resolution Red Glitter is the name. It's not really red. I suppose there is red glitter in there, but it looks kind of blush/pale copper colored overall. This is a really unique color glitter. It's hard to say exactly what color it is, but copper/blush/rose gold, whatever, it's gorgeous! It's the same degree of awesomeness as Serene Silver Glitter. Same sugary-fine glitter. Same coverage. This is a glitter for the fan of natural-hued polishes. Maybe Resolution Red Glitter will help glitter-phobes expand their horizons.


 These two glitters are just so amazing, I can't even. They both will look fantastic year round, not just during the holidays. They would also make excellent "starter glitters" for people who are afraid of glitter. They're easy to apply, easy to remove, and look sophisticated, not like middle-school age glitter. I hope Dr.'s Remedy makes more awesome glitters like these in all sorts of colors.



Overall, I love this collection! Great colors, great formulas for the most part (I think Revive Ruby Red was just a bad bottle). And those glitters!!! OMG. Go buy them now while they're only $14 and free shipping!! They are worth every penny, believe me.

The Dr.'s Remedy Jolly & Joy collection is available now at remedynails.com. Don't forget to "Like" Dr.'s Remedy on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

These polishes were sent to me for review by a PR agent for Dr.'s Remedy. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.


November 26, 2011

What I'm Wearing, Vol. I- butter LONDON Wallis


I thought it would be fun to start a new series of posts called "What I'm Wearing". These posts will show you what nail polishes I'm actually wearing as full manis. Nail bloggers review collections so early and I sometimes wonder if the other nail bloggers of the world are really wearing holiday colors in September. Personally, I like to stick to the current season a bit more. I refuse to wear "holiday" colors until at least December 1. Which brings me to my fall-appropriate mani, butter LONDON Wallis!


butter LONDON Wallis is an antique golden olive polish that has an old feel to it. This color reminds me of something you'd find when diving for treasure in an underwater sea cave off the coast of Greece. Not that I've ever done that, but my dad has!


I did this mani at night, in a darkened room, so I thought two coats was enough. I guess I could have used a third coat!!! You can only see that in bright light though, so that's fine. Inside, Wallis looks more antique golden brass color, but outdoors it looks very olive green. Either way, I love the color, and this metallic shimmer/sparkle finish is excellent.


butter LONDON is having their Friends and Family sale right now, and with 30% off all orders, Wallis is looking like a good deal! Just enter celebrate11 at checkout. I'm contemplating ordering The Black Knight from the holiday collection.

butter LONDON Wallis is available now at butterlondon.com

November 25, 2011

Don't Forget This Deal!!


Just wanted to remind you about this special deal from Dr.'s Remedy. I hope to have the Dr.'s Remedy holiday collection swatched this weekend for you!!

DR.'S REMEDY TAKES THE HEADACHE OUT OF HOLIDAY SHOPPING WITH A SPECIAL OFFER
BLACK FRIDAY THRU CYBER MONDAY



 

Dr.'s REMEDY is a line of doctor-inspired cosmetics that is dedicated to using clean, hypoallergenic ingredients. The birth-child of two New York-based podiatrists, Dr. Adam Cirlincione and Dr. William Spielfogel, Dr.'s REMEDY proves quintessentially-perfect for any person looking to better the condition of her skin and nails. Dr.'s REMEDY is sold exclusively at www.remedynails.com or by calling 877-323-NAIL. 

Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors Part II!



If you enjoyed the first half of this collection yesterday, I think you'll really find a few new favorites in the second half of the Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors. Let's get my least favorite color out of the way first.    Kim-pletely In Love is a sheer pale pink with an interesting shimmer finish. This finish is kind of like a subdued glass-fleck. In some lights, the iridescent flecks look a little blue, which is cool. However, most of the time, the shimmer just looks like small glass flecks in the polish.



This is four coats of Kim-pletely In Love, hence why it's my least favorite polish in this collection. I'm sure it was intended to be sheer, it's just not something I would really wear. If you like French manicures, I bet this would make a really lovely sheer pink for a French. The tiny glass-fleck shimmer would be a cool look with a French. The formula was great, this applied evenly and not streaky. If you like sheer pinks, this is a good one. I just don't really wear them myself.



Next up is It's All About The Glam, a sparkling white with the same tiny glass-fleck finish as Kim-pletely In Love. It's All About The Glam reminds me of freshly fallen snow at night. It actually kind of made me excited for the first big snow storm (until I have to shovel LOL).



I think the above picture really shows off this tiny glass-fleck formula. It's very pretty!!! It's All About The Glam needed three coats to be opaque, but it's a relatively streak-free white. Those are pretty hard to find, so if you're in the market for a non-streak, easy to apply white polish, check this one out.



My Empire... My Rules is a nice milk chocolate taupe creme. We've been seeing a lot of taupe cremes this fall, but this might be my favorite variation. It's undertones are pretty neutral, so I think it will flatter the most skin tones. It's very smooth-looking and not too gray or green. Overall, a very nice taupe creme.




My Empire... My Rules did take three coats to be even though, and I felt like it shouldn't have needed the third coat. It was just a tad streaky on the sides. The formula was nice otherwise, as has been the case for this whole collection.



Ahhh!!!! This one is my favorite, I think of this whole collection!! Follow Me On Glitter didn't look like much in the promo pictures, but it's soooooo cool! This gem is a graphite gray/black jelly base filled with small graphite glitter pieces and larger holo hex glitter. The effect of the holo hex glitter randomly strewn about in all of the gunmetal color is really awesome. Love this one!



This was three coats, but it was worth it! If I had been more careful, I probably could have done just two coats. Follow Me On Glitter dried a little bumpy, but it smoothed out pretty well with one coat of top coat.



Listen To Your Momager! is a really beautiful pool blue shimmer. I love colors like this, and this one is very pretty and shimmery. It reminds me of something, but I couldn't find whatever polish I was thinking of. Any suggestions? Either way, I do love this color and the gorgeous shimmer is heavily packed in there.



Luckily I had sun to photograph this one! This was two coats, girls with longer nails might want to slap on a third coat. Nice formula again, no complaints! I'll be wearing Listen To Your Momager! really soon. Maybe on my toes!!



Sealed With a Kris is a pretty red creme with a squishy texture. It's not translucent enough to be a jelly, but it's squishy nonetheless. Sealed With a Kris has a berry/pink undertone and was really flattering on me. Despite the fact that I own 9 gazillion reds, I really love this one and Kourt Is Red-y For A Pedi for some reason. I think it's the squishyness. Either of these two reds would make an excellent addition to your collection. Go with Sealed With a Kris if you have cool-toned skin.



This was perfect in two coats, and flawless to apply. It looks really holiday-ish and bright to me! Festive.



I was originally really excited for Rainbow in the S-Kylie, but I think I prefer OPI Rainbow Connection. Rainbow in the S-Kylie is a multi-colored glitter polish with all different shapes, sizes and colors of glitter. It has medium-sized round glitter and both medium and large hex glitter. In comparison to OPI Rainbow Connection, I think Rainbow in the S-Kylie has more medium-sized glitter and less large hex glitter. I will do a direct comparison in a few days.



I did two coats of Rainbow in the S-Kylie over Sealed With a Kris. I am not sure if four coats or so would build up to full opacity, but I will give it a try when I do the comparison with OPI Rainbow Connection. I really love polishes like this and will absolutely wear it a lot, I just think I like Rainbow Connection more!!


One comment about the Kardashian Kolors as a whole, they dried really quickly!!! I was really impressed with the drying time on almost all of these, except for All About The Glam, which took a bit longer than the others. My personal Must Haves from this collection are Follow Me On Glitter, Khloe Had a Little Lam-Lam and  Kendall On the Katwalk. I do think there are some great choices for everyone in this collection. If you want a nice new white, definitely get All About The Glam. Kourt Is Red-y For a Pedi is a flawless coral red jelly, so I would definitely recommend that, and there are pretty neutrals too! Let me know if you want to see any other comparisons besides OPI RC and NOPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie.

The Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors collection is available now at Walmart, Walmart.com  and Target.

These polishes were sent to me for review by a PR agent for Nicole by OPI. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.