Lacquer Link Love 3/19/2010

Babbling Brook has her head in the clouds and to be quite honest, with all the sunshine around us right now I can't blame her.  Check out her cute mani using OPI's Suzi Feng Shui... I promise it'll bring a smile to your face.

And after you too get your head out of the clouds... take a trip with Konadomania down by the sea!

Tuli has been having fun finger painting thanks to Nicole... LITERALLY, and wants to share with you this week her handpainted masterpieces.  Pun intended!.  :)

Naive Nails has lost her marbles and they've landed on her fingertips, lol.... check out the wonderful marbled mani they created while hanging out there.

Euridice brings you a really nice color comparison between OPI's Hot & Spicy and you guessed it, the Essence Hot & Spicy.  See how they both stacked up.

The NEONs are coming, the NEONS are coming... and they're poolside with Pretty in Polish.

Cucumpear has a a little spring fever and a cute nail art tutorial to share with you that even the novices can follow.

Helen's Nice Things has a question about OPI's Dulce de Leche that only we fellow nail junkies can answer... or maybe not, lol!

And for all you green lovers out there prepare to foam at the mouth as new member Mon coin Moua brings you a sea of green spam swatches.

Now for some very special giveaways...

Bright Lights Big Color's "favorite things" giveaway ends today so make sure you've entered for your chance to win.

Polsh on Digital Paper is hosting a giveaway celebrating 125 followers... help her celebrate the ocassion by entering.

The Dutch Nail Blog is having a spring giveaway... be sure to check out her blog to see what you could win!

Did somebody say a 300 follower giveaway?!!! Yep, Konadomania is celebrating the big 3-0-0!

and Babbling Brooke is having a very special giveaway that you'll just have to click the link to find out about.

OPI Hot and Spicy

I haven't posted in a few days...I must confess something, actually. I've been a bit distracted by trying to decide on a possible handbag order! Yep. You can turn the handbag addict into a nail polish addict, but you can't take the handbag addict out of the nail polish addict! Er, or something to that effect.

It rained all weekend, but I still have much to post from my picture-taking last weekend when it was nice and sunny. The lovely rijaH of Polishing the Nails! voted for some OPI Hong Kong Collection, so I will start off with the intriguing "Hot and Spicy," a creamsicle red-orange color.

I first thought "creamsicle orange" when I saw this polish in the bottle, but it really is more of a creamsicle red-orange. The color is vibrant but still has a pale, muted quality to it. It is the color of Buffalo sauce, sort of. Well, even if muted it's definitely spicy! Let's start off indoors.

The latter picture shows that creamsicle muted quality, while the top picture shows it at its most vibrant. Moving outdoors into the sunlight, then! Onward!

And, in the shade:

I am fascinated with this interesting color! Just to demonstrate the pale red-orange quality, I tried on a vibrant straight orange "Get the Fever 09" from Essence. Below, indoors, you can see the difference between a true vivid orange and "Hot and Spicy."

My parting shot is the comparison between the Essence and Hot and Spicy in the direct sunlight. Sure, it's paler than straight orange, but there definitely is a spicy quality to Hot and Spicy. It definitely goes with the coral tones one is seeing this spring.

BB Couture Tortuga Island

I've decided it is high time I continued my exploration of the BB Couture Hands of Hope Collection, which paid part of the proceeds for aid to Haiti. This is the polish that captures that pretty, cool spring day after a few dreary days of rain and clouds....the sun is out, and the fresh green buds and leaves are showing. Ah, spring! New growth! 

I have been into the pale colors, recently. And I like it! Out of the six colors in this collection, Tortuga Island is the only shimmer (the others are cremes, such as Cap Haitien). I just love this fresh, pale green, and I am looking forward to wearing it soon! 

These are my first BB Couture, and I am very happy with these polishes. The formula is rather thin and slightly runny but otherwise easy enough to manage. So, let's get to swatching! 

In the sunlight, with slight VNL showing:

Taken in the shade:

Ooh, I just love this delicate green. Pale green is a color I am feeling for spring. I may have to go get a pretty pale green linen jacket or something. Or maybe I already have one? Yikes, time to dig out my spring clothes, especially before I do any shopping, ha ha!

I know tortuga means "turtle" in Spanish. I Googled "Tortuga Island" and found more than one possibility, but the one in Haiti is an island off Haiti's north coast. I think it has a lot of trees, so perhaps that is why it's the name for a green polish? At any rate, I love that these colors are named after places in Haiti, and while I am running late getting all of the colors posted, perhaps this post is a reminder not to forget what is going on there in Haiti. 

Color Club I Believe in Amour

I've written before about how I am not into pinks. Pinks and reds, both, I guess. They are the traditional colors for nail polish, and I guess I am much more interested in the less conventional, "fashion" nail colors. When I was playing with Color Club's "I Believe in Amour" I actually had to remind myself of this apathy toward pink! Yeah, I forgot for a moment that I am not supposed to like this polish, lol!

Well, I do like this polish a lot! It is a really pretty medium shade of cool pink, maybe with a trace of lilac tones. Although, I think I see lilac and lavender in everything! But anyway, I don't know what else to say except that it is a very pretty cool-toned pink.

So, let's continue with this series on the Color Club Pardon My French collection, one of three spring collections, by looking at some pics of this pretty pink taken indoors and outdoors in the sun.

By the way, please ignore the dryness of my fingers and cuticles! I hate that things show up in my pictures that I don't totally notice in real life, ugh!

Okey-dokey, now it's time to examine "I Believe in Amour" with the glitter that I think it's supposed to be paired with, "Hot Couture." Interestingly, the colors don't seem to go together at all! The glitter is a wram-toned pink; I would describe it as strawberry-peach daiquiri. Well, I tried it anyway.

Voila! LOVE! I really love this glitter on top of the pink!! I left my pinky fingernail plain to show the comparison.

I think the glitter works beautifully with the pink. If I were a teenager who loved pink, I'd be all over this combination! I don't know if I am likely to wear this...or not. Maybe...well, yeah, I just might!

Holla for Holos Winners Announced

Hi, I've heard back from both winners of my very first giveaway so I think I can announce this now!! I did a random drawing, and here they are:

1st place: Skulda  yay! She will receive a China Glaze Kaleidoscope and a set of the Milani 3D Holos!! Congratulations!!

2st place: Rebecca yay!! She will receive some Milani 3D Holos as well!!! Congratulations!

I am just overwhelmed at the response and thrilled to have picked up so many new followers at the same time. Thanks to everyone for entering. I will be mailing the giveaways to the winners this Saturday.

Orly Sweet

I was a bit puzzled how Orly "Bloom" could be a spring collection, although I ended up really liking it a lot. Orly "Sweet" is, on the other hand, the quintessential spring collection with six pretty pastel colors. I purchased the set and played with four of the colors---I wasn't feeling the pinks, which are never my favorite, I'll get to those later.

First of all, above left to right: Pixie Stix, Cotton Candy, Lollipop, Snowcone, Gumdrop, and Lemonade.


Second of all, yes, those are miniature lip glosses with each one. So cute! And they all have a yummy smell to them. As has been reported on the nail blogs, the lip glosses that are yellow or green and so forth are rather sheer so you don't end up with yellow or green lips. So fun!! I loved the charms that came with fall's "Once Upon a Time" collection, and I am really adoring these spring lip glosses.

Some more bottle shots:

Gumdrop is kind of mint green/aqua-ish, while Lollipop is a pale pinkish lavender.

Snowcone is a cornflower blue, while Lemonade is pale lemon yellow.

And a quick skittles to check them out.

And in the bottles, again.

I really like these sweet colors. Oh, hey, that's why the collection is called Sweet, it's really appropos!! The two pinks have been sitting on my table, and they are growing on me, so I'll be delving into this collection in more depth including the pinks. In the meantime, I am really loving the pretty spring pastels, maybe as much as I'm digging the hot summer brights!! Both kinds of colors are cheering me up and lifting my winter doldrums and getting me excited for spring!!

Color Club Oh Naturale

 

This post continues my swatches and review of the Color Club Pardon My French collection, which is one of three 2010 spring collections from Color Club. "Oh Naturale" is an interesting milky orangey-peach. It's hard for me to put my finger on what exactly the color is. It's definitely peachy. But it has a bit of orange to it. It's not nude. I thought perhaps it was cantaloupe sherbet, a very pale cantaloupe-based hue. Now I am just going to go with milky orange-peach, leaving peach as the main color. 

Oh Naturale is more sheer than the super opaque Take Me To Your Chateau but builds to opaqueness. I used two coats. I'm seeing a bit of nail line in my pictures, so perhaps a third coat will be indicated for those who can't tolerate even the slightest "VNL." 

First we have a indoors shot, followed by sunlight shots I took hanging out my window during the aftermath of the double blizzards in February.

 

 

  

  

Now, let's do the layering thing! We have the rich apricot glitter "Turn the Other Chic." In this case, the color of the glitter is much brighter than the natural peach creme, as opposed to the pairing of the pale blue Take Me To Your Chateau and the icy glitter "Si Vous Please!" with its blue sparkles. 

  

 

The bottle on the left is "Si Vous Please!" while "Turn the Other Chic" is on the right.

 

Above and below, I have one layer of Turn the Other Chic glitter on my index finger, Oh Naturale with Turn the Other Chic on my middle and pinky fingernails, and just Oh Naturale on my ring finger.

  

  

While bright, the glitter is quite sheer, so having a base color to put it on top of makes a lot of sense. In this case, the natural creme makes a good base for the glitter, instead of being the main attraction being enhanced by the glitter. On top of the natural, "Turn the Other Chic" looks rich and gorgeous in just one coat!