Nails Inc, Icing, Orly & Etc Haul & Swatches & Bottle Pics

Very behind this week.  Lots going on IRL that I don't really want to get into, but I'm going to try & just get some catching up done tonight & tomorrow.  I'm going to admit I may drop out of sight again for a while, I'm just not sure how this is going to go so I'm going to post while I can.

I split the haul & the swatches each into their own vids again this time.  Here is the haul:

& here are the swatches:

& for the bottle pics I kind of broke everything up by brand, regardless of where or when I purchased ... these are all from quite a while ago, I think I recorded the haul vid like 2 weeks ago & the swatches one week ago LOL.  So here we go.

First up, from Sephora at the MoA, Nails Inc:

Top row are my 2 magnetic effect polishes:  Houses of Parliament (which I've worn - check out the post HERE), and Trafalgar Square.  Bottom row:  Electric Lane Holographic Top Coat,  Farringdon Crackle Top Coat, Fitzroy Square, Sloan Square, & Chelsea Square.

Icing ... I went overboard at 2 different Icing stores.  I got 4 different 5-packs of mini bottles - although Icing's minis are pretty decent size compared to for example OPI, at .4 fl oz - but then again, normal Icing bottles are bigger than many brands at .65 fl oz:

First row - Cancun Spring Break set:  Hot Date, Flamingo Dancer, Suntan Lotion, Lime Martini, Blue Caribbean.  Second row - Glow in the Dark set:  Gleam and Go, Lamplight, Twinkle Stars, Glowworm, Moonbeam.  Third row - New York Graffiti set:  Silver Spray Paint, Tag Me Pink, Midnight at Times Square, Black Shatter,  Fourth row - Paris Romance set:  Un Cafe s'ilvous Plait, Paris Romance, Bonjour, Printemps, French Lavender.

And the other single bottles:

Top row:  Glimmer, Gold Dust, At Dusk, Pumpkin, Tiger's Blood.  Middle row:  Rock Star From Mars, Witch's Brew, Vampire's Blood, Cherry Blossom, Orchid.  Bottom row:  Thunderstorm, Twilight, The Golden Age of Glitter, Irish Gold, All That Glitters is Green, Electric Emerald.

Orlys, mainly from Ulta but a couple from Sallys:

Top row:  Crush on You, Nite Owl, Sea Gurl, Fowl Play.  Bottom row:  Space Cadet, Rock-It, Rock Solid.

From Warpaint Beauty:

Dirty Pink, Purple Haze, Galaxy, White Noise.

LA Girls:

Erupt & Rupture.

Hot Topic:

No names on them, so they just go by color on my spreadsheet - Neon Yellow, Neon Fuchsia, Pink w/ Glitter.

Justice - and yes it took some serious courage to go into the kid store for my own purposes LOL!  The sales girl thought maybe I was buying a gift but I fessed up it was for me:

Also no names I could find - Black Crackle, Purple Crackle & Pink to Purple sun changing polish (pics after sun exposure at the end of the swatch vid)

And finally, my unexpected find at DSW, Anise:

Night Adventure, Midnight Electric, Ring My Bell, Pearls for the Devil, Crocodile Tears, Agent Glam.

So yeah, a pretty big haul.  I thought my no-buy following this would last longer - but I forgot how early holiday collections come out.  I spied the China Glaze Let it Snow collection when I hit Sallys today for cuticle oil, and ... well ... I'm sure you can guess.  Another haul post in my future =)  But not before I edit & post NOTDs for the past week!

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

TOTD: Hot Topic Silver

Stupid Hot Topic polishes without real names LOL.  & crappy bottles & brushes too, but I usually forgive them.  This Silver is no exception, it's so nice & metallic & chrome-y, a favorite pedi color for me:

 

These pics are like a week + old, but I do still have this on my toes.  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

Hauls From Last Week

I've got to get this up before I totally forget about it LOL!  I got all this when I went out last Thursday when I had the day off work.

 

First was a trip to Ulta, I picked up some makeup which I have every intention of wearing, but I haven't used since I got it.  And then there was some Orly on clearance that just happened to also be buy 2 get 1 free:

 

 

Left to right:  Prince Charming, Enchanted Forest, Mirror Mirror.

 

Then I stopped at Hot Topic - not sure how I never noticed they had a clearance section before now, but I found quite a bit of polish in there:

 

 

The only bad thing about Hot Topic polish is their lack of names!  Come on Hot Topic, you've got to realize that's not cool =(

 

Last stop was Claire's, looking for some of the new colors in mood polish & I did find a couple, and a couple of others.  Buy 1 get 1 50% off - I don't think I've ever been in Claire's when there's not a sale:

 

 

Left to right:  Mermaid, Homecoming Queen, Flirty/Shy, Bored/Excited (which you've already seen me wear HERE).

 

So, that's all that I got last week =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Hot Topic Iridescent Purple

This polish doesn't actually have a name on it, but is pretty well known around the blogosphere as Hot Topic Iridescent Purple.  Of course, purples are notoriously hard to capture in pics, but I gave it a try ... best pics I think are actually the overcast & shade shots - click to enlarge & get a really interesting look at the detail of the glitter:

I wore this last Friday & over most of the weekend.  Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

Nothing Says Holiday ...

... Quite like a semi-cheesy, borderline-tacky, holiday inspired manicure =D LOL Something about a holiday trips a little switch in my brain & suddenly it's perfectly fine to have various-sized star-shaped glitter on all my nails. Hot Topic Red Glitter was my base:


I had 2 small problems with the stars: the first, as expected, is that some of the corners are evil & sharp even after 2 layers of topcoat. The second is that some of the color seemed to kind of wash away when I put on that top coat ... I guess maybe that's the price I pay for using dollar store confetti on my nails in place of "real" nail decorations?... for a dollar, I still think I'm satisfied.

This is 4th of July Version 1, since I'll be doing another mani before the actual day. Not sure if that one will be as extremely holiday as this one =) Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Hot Topic

As many of you know, there's not really a polish name on the Hot Topic bottles. We'll call this Blue Glitter just to keep it basic:

Of course it's hard to capture the true beauty of glitter polish on camera. I wish I could get a shot in the sun, but if that happens it won't be for a few days - forecasting 4-7 inches by tomorrow night, it will be snowing all day long. ♥ Minnesota ... NOT.

The snow also means even if my computer comes in tomorrow I won't be going to pick it up. I don't mind driving in the snow, I just wish everyone else would stay home. Especially after a couple weeks of above-freezing temps & ice-free roads? This could be as bad as the first snow, not to mention it's looking like the biggest storm of the year. We've had plenty, but mostly 1-2" at a time.

I could go on ranting about the snow for a while, but I think I'd rather go to bed. Thanks for reading.

~Colette

2 Mini-Hauls

Yesterday, the top row, was 3 Hot Topic polishes: Purple Glitter, Red Glitter, Blue Glitter. Then Sinful Colors Purple Diamond & the Black & White Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens. Today, the bottom row, was Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl & Milani Totally Cool (which has got to be one of the best names ever, even though it has nothing to do with the color). My mom couldn't tell the difference between these two, but come on, just because they're both purple glitter doesn't mean they look ANYTHING alike. I also decided I should have the Gold and Silver Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens.

I decided on the Milani for my next mani. So those pics will be coming next - on my newly-short nails. I decided to bite the bullet & cut them down to match my short pinky. Because even though I'd like to think the short nail will eventually grow out to match the long ones, reality is working with uneven nails seems to lead to more breaks & they'd end up even shorter than I trimmed them to.

Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it though =( Thanks for reading.

~Colette