A Bouquet for Euridice: Drugstore Haul!

I love the name of the Barielle nail polish "A Bouquet for Ava" so I'm using it as the inspiration for my drugstore haul from this weekend. Doesn't it look like a nice bouquet arranged on the platter like that?

The Rimmels are from CVS from a few weeks ago. I have never purchased anything from Rimmel, but the display looked enticing, and I love dark colors. The rest of the nail polish is from Rite Aid. I don't normally shop at Rite Aid, but I was quite enchanted by all the nail polish they had on offer!

First off, I saw two special displays of Borghese. I couldn't help but snatch up the spring colors....even the bubblegum pink. I also picked up a couple of intriguing darker Borgheses. I don't normally buy Sally Hansen, but I was so captivated by the neon metallics!! So, I grabbed a blue and a green. By the time I was through, I also picked out some Maybelline polish. I basically ended up with a lot of similar colors....the blues especially were beckoning.

Here is a parting shot taken outdoors to go with the shot indoors of my bouquet of  lovely colors. More posts to come!

VNS Haul, Y'all!!

I had a great time swatching today in the sun and 25 degrees F!! Ha ha. It was fun wading in the snow just far enough outside my backdoor to get some sunlight on my hands to take pictures of the nail polish swatches.

What a birthday! Gee, how generous to give me enough snow to call it the "Snowpocalypse!" Gee, you shouldn't have!! Well, I don't mind all the snow, and the storm was kind of exciting. I mean, thundersnow!

Since Friday was my birthday, I had to indulge in a Victoria Nail Supply haul.


Woo hoo!! I got some cool items that I have been totally wanting: The Color Club Glitter Vixen collection has been at the top of my list. Monochromatic glitter!! Yay!!

I also have been wanting to try the holos from Color Club, and rather than all the work clicking on individual polishes to try, I simply took the whole Wild At Heart collection. Looks gorgey!

Of course, the China Glaze Up and Away collection was a must. There is not a bad one in the bunch, so I binged!!

I threw in some Color Club Japanese Glitters based on Body and Soul's wonderful enabling, and finished up with all the China Glaze Kaleidoscope holos that were in stock. Burp!!

Oh! I forgot! I didn't find the OPI Alice in Wonderland glitters at ULTA a couple of weeks ago, so I helped myself from VNS. They are not to be missed, y'all!!

Wow, what gluttony. Okay, I gotta go now...gotta get to writing all these posts and editing all these pics!!

Monday Haulage!

Woo hoo, a triple delight was waiting for me when I got home last night. My new Chuck Taylors had arrived, along with my Zoya "Roxy" (shipped separately from the rest of my order) and my China Glaze glitters from Victoria Nail Supply.

Okay, I ripped into the Zoya Roxy padded envelope on top first, and WOWWWW! I liked to have swooned over this gorgeous glittery goodness!! I got a bit distracted from the overal haul. I popped it open and painted over the Zoya "Zara" on the index fingernail. Oh my, what a lovely dark pinky purpley glittery thang!!


I regained my composure and forged ahead. Yay! My China Glaze glitter polishes made it intact! Yay! Thank you Victoria Nail Supply!


I got a free bottle of Color Club's Loosen Up Cuticle treatment (boy do I need that! My pictures of my own nails are starting to freak me out!) and a free bottle of the fast drying topcoat.


Ooh! I see some glitter!!

I played around quite a bit with the glitters, and having these waiting for me when I return from vacation in a couple of weeks will be nice. I only opened up my shoes before going to bed; the Chucks are a dark gray and look awesome.

Yay!

China Glaze Atlantis and Sally Beauty Glitter Haul!!

The other evening, I found myself in the area of a shopping center that has a Sally Beauty Supply. Well, time to check out the China Glaze glitters I had been reading about!

The shop had a display of China Glaze glitters and chromes, and I just decided, in my new-found glitter frenzy, to just say yes---to all of them!! I also picked up China Glaze "All About Audrey" (a robin egg blue I was on the lookout for), "Watermelon Rind" (an intense dark teal green shimmer I fell for on the spot), and "Shower Together" (a turquoise creme).

The China Glaze glitters are:

Atlantis: a teal green base choked with multicolor glitter
Nova: shiny silver glitter reflecting in multicolors
Dreamsicle: A bright, orange creme containing some multicolor glitter
Cleopatra: fine yellow gold glitter reflecting mostly gold and some colors like green and blue
Medallion: a green-tone gold (I've also seen it called titanium) glitter reflecting flashes of multi colors
Glacier: liquid opal. A cloudy white base with some multicolor glitter

Chromes:

Twenty-four K: Yellow-gold metallic
In Awe of Amber: Coppery metallic

Atlantis is easily the stand-out of this subset of China Glaze glitters.



The base color is sheer and is close in color to China Glaze "Watermelon Rind." The first coat is sheer and streaky, but looks great on the second coat. I needed to give my index finger a third coat.


Look at that glittery goodness!

The glitter seems to just sit on top of the nail surface and bling out like there's no tomorrow! The surface is fairly smooth but with just a little roughness from the glitter. The sparkle against the darker green background is just craziness!!!! It's fabulous. I'm considering whether, with the darker overall color, wearing it with matching clothing....even with the bling and the multicolor sparkle, can this be part of my envisioned neutral glitter polish with work-casual look?

When inside and not getting direct light, one doesn't see the sparkle, just the green with tiny speckles. My pictures do not begin to capture the bling of when light is hitting it, though!

I also found that outside out of the direct sunlight, you can see the sheerness of the base color, and the glitter is like raised speckles. A very interesting perspective on this blingy, colorful glitter!

Finally, I put a coat of Essie's Matte About You to see what the polish looks like when mattified. Basically, it was smoothed out and dark green with white speckles. I didn't think it was very interesting, since the sparkle and color were muted at this point.


So, it seems a dark sheer color can really rock its glitter, whereas thick, opaque colors can't? Case in point, the glitter not showing through on "Gaudy Yellow" Milani and the "Sparkling Blue" Milani (the sparkle did look good on the darker surface, though). I'm on the lookout for other China Glaze glitters that feature the darker, sheerer colors. I know I want to try "Ginger" as showcased by Body and Soul.

I have read of 50 glitters, although some accounts say 50 polishes, many of which are glitters, in this China Glaze collection. I can't find much comprehensive information on the Web, and the online stores don't seem to have a lot of description. I want a list of all of them with descriptions. Please feel free to point me to the general information! I would love to see some metallic brown glitter, or some more polishes in darker colors formulated just like Atlantis.

Nail Noob - - ULTA Haul, Y'all! September Edition

(Sunday, September 13, 2009) After a busy morning of trying to photograph my eye with HIP Duo eyeshadows for my upcoming magnum opus, I ran out for a bagel and to pick up a couple of things. I then was planning to make myself do some yardwork. It was warm and sunny, definitely not as cool as it had been but still pleasant enough. A fabulous day, in short. A nice day to go for a drive (or, rather, to take a shortcut through the country and get a bit off track, but who is monitoring these things?).

Well, I ended up at the plant nursery doing some unplanned research for possible fall perennial planting, then I got an inspiration!! Go to ULTA!! I was close by, and I wanted to pick up my Orly "Mirror Mirror" which I managed not to buy when I got the rest of the Orly fall collection.

Um, I am now announcing a haul, and, no, "Mirror Mirror" nail polish does not constitute a "haul." You see, ULTA did not have it. Argh! But, they did have an Essie buy 2 get 1 free. Well, naturally I NEEDED to take advantage of this opportunity. Because, well, there were plenty of gorgeous Essie polishes, and I ended up getting six---all shimmery and divine. I spotted a China Glaze that seemed to be a garnet version of "Ruby Pumps" as well as a turquoise, which I needed, natch.

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark was on my agenda, as was OPI "Russian Navy," and I brought them home. The China Glaze and Essie were completely unplanned buys. But essential building blocks in my color collection, nevertheless! Ahem.

From left to right:


Essie "Over the Top," a metallic dark pewter; "Sexy Divide," a shimmery deep purple; "It's Genius," a shimmery pinky purpley color (not sure how to describe it!); "After Sex," a shimmery pinky red color; "Wrapped in Rubies," a bronzey red color; and "Tea and Crumpets," a shimmery nude (my nod to the huge selection of pale pinks and nudes from Essie). Woo hoo!! They are all astoundingly pretty!! So irridescent, so shimmery, so gorgey!

In the back where you can't really see are the two aforementioned OPIs, China Glaze "Aqua Baby," which is not aqua but a deep turquoise, and "Stroll," the dark red glitter.

I also picked up some much-needed Almay eye-makeup remover, so it was a very responsible stop to make on my afternoon outing. But I had to come home afterwards since I didn't have money left for the stuff I originally intended to get. Oh well!! A Nail Newbie must make sacrifices to get to the top of her game. Um. Yeah.

I can't wait to try them and do a reveal right here on "Travels with Euridice." This is coming soon!!