China Glaze The Ten Man

This polish is from China Glaze's re-launched Wizard of Ooh Ahz Returns Collection. I apologize for the huge chip on my ring finger -- I took these pics wicked late. Oops!

China Glaze The Ten Man




I am wearing three coats here. The polish was a little sheer, so it took a little bit to build up. I really like the color because it is subtle, but packs a lot of glitter without being overbearing. I think this color would be perfect for a night out on the town, or maybe a special occasion, like wedding or prom :-) It's pretty, but not gaudy. WIN!

China Glaze Moulin Rouge

I just changed the look of my blog using one of Blogger's new templates. I hope you like it! :-) I kept the pink because I like it, but snazzed it up a little :-)

China Glaze Moulin Rouge




outdoors, direct sunlight:




You'll have to be patient with me as I slowly make my way through China Glaze's Specialty Collection. Today's polish is another glitter from that line. It's called Moulin Rouge and it's a bright red polish with densely-packed microglitter in there. I had a difficult time taking pictures, because my nails look incredibly grainy in all the pics, but I promise the polish is a lot nicer than what my pictures reflect. The application was pretty good though it didn't "wow" me. It was a tad grainy and took a healthy slathering of top coat to even it out. This one wasn't too bad to remove, but it wasn't exactly easy.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Yay for Fridays!!!

China Glaze Rapture

I found this polish and saw that it was red/orange with tons of rainbow microglitter. So of course, I had to try it next!

China Glaze Rapture




(direct sunlight)




The formula on this polish was surprisingly sheer. I thought it would be a little thicker, sort of like the polishes from China Glaze's Specialty Collection. But, alas, three coats later, this is what it looked like. The color leans a tad more toward orange in real life. It looks a little too red in these pictures. Also, unlike some of the glitters in the Specialty collection, this one wasn't a royal pain to remove. I got some compliments from co-workers on this polish, and I think it's different enough from others in my collection that I will hang onto this one for future use :-)

China Glaze Ginger

Here's another sparkler from China Glaze's Specialty Collection. I love this one <3

China Glaze Ginger




The formula on this one was surprisingly good. So far with most of the glitters I've seen, the formula was sheer but thick and goopy. This one was easy to work with and only required two coats. I think "Ginger" is the perfect name for this one! It is a hodge podge of colors -- orange, gold, and brown. There's also multi-colored microglitter and large hexagonal glitter in there. This baby's got it all!!

Also, just a quick reminder that today is the LAST day to enter my giveaway! I'll be picking a winner in exactly TWELVE hours so what are you waiting for?? :-)

China Glaze Carnival Lights

I got the majority of China Glaze's Glitters, Shimmers, and Cremes collection MONTHS ago when it first came out. So... why am I so slow with posting them? Well, pretty much pure laziness!! lol

China Glaze Carnival Lights




(outdoors, direct sunlight)




This polish was a little too sheer and goopy for my liking. It's a cotton-candy light pink with rainbow-colored microglitter as well as larger pieces of hexagonal glitter. I am wearing three coats here, and as you can see, it is still not completely opaque. I definitely think the color and glitter are super pretty, but the effort expended wasn't completely worth it. As I mentioned, the formula is think and incredibly hard to work with. As I was eyeing the rest of the glitters in this collection, I noticed that the majority of them are thick and goopy. That may be another factor deterring me from trying them all out right away. Oh, boo :-(

But, onto more positive things -- have y'all noticed my post from last night about my first giveaway?? I am now officially accepting entries, and you only have SIX more days to enter!! Please see my previous post for directions as well as pictures of the prizes :-) I didn't mention this yesterday, but obviously, the winner would get their choice of five polishes from the selection posted. I'm really excited and I can't wait to select a winner and ship out the gifts! I have a BE Foiled Eye kit of my own, and I'm wearing it today, and I must say, I love it! :-D

China Glaze Cowardly Lyin'

I've been itchin' for some glittery polishes lately, and this one fit the bill!

China Glaze Cowardly Lyin'




This beauty is from The Wizard of Ooh Ahz Returns Collection. It is a re-release of the original collection from China Glaze. I already had Emerald Sparkle and Ruby Pumps, so I bought the remaining polishes from the collection so that I would own them all :-) This one applied pretty well -- I'm wearing three coats, and one coat of top coat to smooth it out. The polish is actually smoother than it looks in these pics. The color reminds me of Goldilocks or something -- a nice "blonde" yellow/gold with a hint of rainbow sparkle. Removal was also easier than most glitter polishes. I definitely recommend this polish! :-)

Color Club Object of Envy

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! OK, I am cheating a little bit on the Designer Series theme, but since it's St. Patrick's Day, I had to share my St. Paddy's manicure with you guys! :-)

Color Club Object of Envy




This mani literally just dried, and I'm already typing away! It dried super fast! Object of Envy is a clear polish packed with green microglitter. Like with the other CC glitters I've tried, the polish is a little thick, but not impossible to work with. The glitter is not quite as dense as it appears in the bottle, so I am wearing three coats here, with a top coat for added shine and to smooth out the grittiness. I probably could have used a fourth or fifth coat if I wanted it to be completely opaque, but I was satisfied enough after three coats.

I love this color and how much it sparkles! I can't wait to show it off tomorrow! Hope everyone is having a safe and happy St. Paddy's Day! I will be returning to my regular Designer Series posting tomorrow :-D

China Glaze Preppy Pink

I love China Glaze's Glitters, Shimmers, & Cremes collection. However, having a collection comprised of 50 polishes means that it will take me about a decade to get to them all!

China Glaze Preppy Pink




I am wearing two coats here. The consistency was jelly-like. This pink kinda reminds me of Hello Kitty or a baby girl's nursery. I dunno... I'm not a huge fan of anything sheer and any pink that is too light. I don't mind this color, but I don't love it. I can't really speak to how easily this was to remove because I ended up peeling it off with my nails... haha. I know, I know, it's a horrible habit, but I tend to do that with a lot of glitter polishes. I will slowly peel them off over the course of a day instead taking it off with polish remover. This polish will most definitely go into my "give away" pile.

Valentine's Day is less than a week away, and bless my boyfriend's heart for having all good intentions and trying to make me happy on a Hallmark holiday that I wouldn't otherwise celebrate. He was thinking of getting me some sort of spa-type package where I can be pampered for a day or something. Poor thing forgot that one of my biggest pet peeves is being touched/poked/prodded/etc. by strangers (I *hate* it), and that I do my own nails! You would think he'd notice by now that my nails are a different color every time he sees me, but he honestly didn't know that I did them myself (hello... cha-ching, can you image how expensive 4-5 manis a week would be??) Hehe... but, like I said, bless his heart for having good intentions. He said he's come up with something different that he thinks I'll like, but I don't really need or want anything. I already have the sweetest guy ever :-)

Color Club Strawberry Candle

Here is another polish from Color Club's Japanese Glitters collection.

Color Club Strawberry Candle




I am wearing two coats here. The polish was a little difficult to work with. It is almost TOO thick and TOO jellyish. I liked that I had pretty good coverage for two coats, but it was painful to apply each coat. This is a gorgeous sparkly sheer medium pink. I am not a huge fan of sheers, and this is the next most-opaque polish in the collection, right after Too Violet. I don't have too many Color Clubs in my collection, but I really like the ones that I do have. Hmm... maybe it's time to get some more! :-D

You'll all have to excuse the horrible condition my cuticles are in. Winter is always hell for me and my skin :-( I try to put Lush's Lemony Flutter on my cuticles when I can, but it's very difficult because I'm constantly using my hands and washing them too. Argh!

China Glaze DV8 + Nicole Winter Glitterland

Sometimes, I try out little experiments, and they seem to work. And, other times, they don't :-( I saw this glittery bottle of Nicole at Ulta, and I just had to buy it! I thought it would make an excellent glitter topcoat, and I decided to put it over a holographic polish, which probably wasn't the best idea in the world!

China Glaze DV8 + Nicole Winter Glitterland




Glitter on top of an already-shimmery holo is not the best idea I've ever had. Winter Glitterland is a clear polish with large rainbow hexagonal glitter in it as well as multi-colored small glitter. I put one coat of it over China Glaze's DV8 and decided I didn't really like how it looked, so I stopped after that. Even though it doesn't look all too great in this picture, I still think Winter Glitterland is beautiful, and will probably try it over a matte or suede polish next!

OPI Ink Suede + China Glaze Glacier

Time to jazz up my last NOTD!

OPI Ink Suede + China Glaze Glacier




After about a day, my polish started to chip, so I threw a special coat of glitter polish on top to spice it up. I used China Glaze's Glacier, from their Specialty Collection. It is a milky-clear polish with rainbow glitter. As you can tell, it totally transformed my mani into something completely out of this world. Don't mind the chips -- I didn't bother to touch up my suede color prior to putting on Glacier. I am only wearing one coat of Glacier, and I really like the results! It's a super colorful and glittery dark blue color that is to-die-for! Loves it!! :-)

OPI Dazzled By Gold

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know Christmas is over now, but I have two more holiday polishes to show off :-) Both are OPI polishes that are exclusive to Ulta. There are actually three polishes total in this small collection, but I already have a ton of reds in my stash, so I only got the two non-reds. This is the first one!

OPI Dazzled By Gold




This is a super pretty gold color. Great coverage in just three coats. It wasn't too hard to work with either. Required a little bit of cleanup, but it wasn't too bad. It is a shimmery, almost foil-like finish packed with TONS of gold and a dabble of silver microglitter. This one is definitely a winner. It wasn't too bad to remove either. It is not gritty like some other glitter polishes. Bling bling!

Merry Christmas!!! OPI Merry Midnight

Now, drumroll please for my favorite polish from OPI's Holiday Wishes collection....

OPI Merry Midnight




This polish was pure LOVE. Not only did it apply like a dream, it was opaque in two coats, and is *completely* unique. The base is a bright medium purple, and it is packed with not only microglitter, but also big FLAKES of glitter. It reminded me a lot of Shim-Merry Chic, but the flakes in this one are much more pronounced and noticeable. A+ for this polish!

Also, I want to wish everyone out there a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I hope that everyone is able to share this day with their loved ones and that y'all have a safe and happy holiday season! It's hard to believe that 2009 is almost over... scary!!

Sephora by OPI Worth My Weight

Ahhhh -- more glitter for the holidays!!

This is one of the newest Sephora by OPI shades... the other I got was Absinthe Makes the Heart, which I will be showing off soon :-)

Sephora by OPI Worth My Weight




Oh my goodness, check out that glittery goodness!! I love love love this polish! It is a little gritty on the nail, but not a huge deal. I managed to get it mostly opaque in two coats, and the multi-sized, multi-colored glitter REALLY stands out. This is a gorgeous polish not just for the holidays, but any special occasion IMO. I *love* how the glitter stands out, and it's even more beautiful in person! ** Drool **

Color Club Too Violet + HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

First off, I want to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there who is celebrating on this glorious day. This is one of my favorite holidays of the year, because it is comprised of my two favorite things in the world -- 1) family and 2) food. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!

Today's polish is part of the Japanese Glitters collection for Color Club. This is probably the most opaque polish in the grouping, and it's a shimmery lavender/purple called Too Violet.

Color Club Too Violet




(outdoors, direct sunlight)




I am wearing two coats here, with one coat of topcoat. The consistency was still quite gritty after one coat of Seche Vite, so I probably could have used one or two more coats. This one is really quite glittery -- the second picture is blurred a bit, so you can see how it sparkles! The application wasn't too bad -- the polish is a jelly base, so it was a little thick, but it built up well and was pretty opaque by the second coat. The other three glitters in this collection are all sheer pinks, so I'm not as looking forward to trying them, but I have them, so I'm sure I'll get around to them eventually :-)

China Glaze Dynasty

I don't know what it is with me and glitters -- I just love them so much! So, you can imagine my giddiness when China Glaze released their Specialty Collection of 50 glitters, shimmers, and cremes. I already swatched most of the glitters on a nail wheel, but this is the first glitter from the collection that I am wearing as a full mani, and I must say, this is probably my favorite color from the collection.

China Glaze Dynasty






The polish appears more red in the pics than it is in real life. It is a *tad* more orange than it appears. I blurred the last picture a little bit so that you can see how much this SPARKLES! I am only wearing two coats here -- very good opacity on this polish (most of the other glitters required three coats). The texture is very gritty on this one. I am wearing one coat of Seche Vite, but probably could have used one or two more coats if I wanted to even out the polish. But, I am so in love with this one that I didn't even bother with additional top coats :-)

I may need a backup bottle for this one -- I want to wear it all the time!!

China Glaze Crystal Ball

Um.... LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! That's all.

China Glaze Crystal Ball




This polish just cracked my Top 20 -- and maybe even my Top 10. This is what I was hoping Eyes Like Sapphires would be like, but that was total fail whale. This, on the other hand, is utterly gorgeousness. Beautiful maroon/wine colored polish with multi-color microglitter?? YESSSSS! It applied like a dream and only took two coats to be fully opaque. Truly gorgeous! I love it!! <3

Zoya Astra

I just put this polish on last night, and I love it SO much that I feel compelled to show it off today :-D

Zoya Astra




(no flash)


This is probably one of the most beautiful glitters I've ever seen! For Winter 2009, Zoya released three UltraGlitters. Astra is a gorgeous Barbie-pink color. At first glance, I thought it was a clear base with pink glitter, but it is actually a pink base with a crapload of pink glitter loaded in there. The pink base makes it build up rather quickly -- I am wearing three coats here with one coat of top coat that helped smooth it out rather nicely. I love how densely packed the glitter is, and it REALLY makes your nails POP! What a super gorgeous color! I can't wait to try out the other UltraGlitters :-)

These retail for $7 each and are available through Zoya's website.

OPI Thrills in Beverly Hills + China Glaze Polar Ice

Rather than post from my backlog of pics, I am fast-forwarding a bit and showing you guys my nails from this past weekend :-) I did my nails to match my Halloween costume. I was a goddess and my dress had gold trim and was super pretty, so I wanted divine-looking nails to match!

OPI Thrills in Beverly Hills + China Glaze Polar Ice




The tips are four coats of OPI's Thrills in Beverly Hills. This is a gold glitter top coat. I used FOUR coats of it to get it to be dense enough on my tips. Then, I put one coat of China Glaze's Polar Ice on top of it and a coat of Seche Vite to finish it off. Polar Ice is a cloudy-clear base with multi-color glitter in it. It is from ChG's new Specialty Collection. I probably wouldn't wear it by itself, but it is awesome for layering! I don't do Frenches very often, because I don't really like my nails to be super long (I type a lot, so I prefer them short), but I was growing them longer for Halloween so that I could do my tips :-) I am bummed because I've noticed my nails are starting to yellow :-( I may have to take a break from polish for a while to give my nails a break. If anyone knows how to get rid of the yellowing, please tell me :-( I will love you forever! :-D

China Glaze Specialty Collection -- GLITTERS!

I am taking a break from our regularly scheduled Halloween polishes to show you some of the glitter polishes that China Glaze came out with recently. They released a "specialty" collection that contains 50 glitters, shimmers, and cremes. I don't have all of them, but I have most of them, and I absolutely *love* glitter polishes. Since it will take me forever and a half to actually get around to wearing them, I decided to do a nail wheel of most of the glitter polishes to show you guys :-)

China Glaze Specialty Collection -- Glitters


You will probably want to click on the picture to enlarge it so that you can bask in its glittery glory. Okay, I am going to try and list the colors from memory -- starting at the 12 o'clock position, these are the colors: Medallion, Cleopatra, Moulin Rouge, Dreamsicle, Luna, Blue Hawaiian, Atlantis, Green Apple, Bad Kitty, Ginger, Preppy Pink, Carnival Lights, Meteor Shower, Cosmic, Mahoganie, Electric Lilac, Pom Pom, Nova. Whew!!!

Almost all of those swatches are three coats. As you can see, some of the polishes are more opaque than others. I have other polishes in the Specialty collection, but I wanted to feature mostly glitters, and these are the ones that really jumped out at me.

The polishes are available right now at your favorite e-tailers, so pick 'em up while you can! :-)