NOTD: OPI Dreaming of Red

Short & sweet post here - this was Monday's NOTD.  From the Ulta exclusive 2009 Christmas colors, I'd used this for accents with nail art, but never a full manicure.  OPI Dreaming of Red:

Oh, one other thing - please take a quick second to vote in my poll =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure + Thinking of Blue

I put this on Thursday night, and it's still on my nails, although I'm getting ready to take it off.  I saw this color combination over at Steph's Closet.  Thinking of Blue is from the Complete Salon Manicure core line:

And I'm sure most of you know by now that Hidden Treasure is a limited edition, part of  the Tracy Reese spring 2010 collection.  I am so, so glad I got a backup bottle of this because I am in love with this - one thick coat over ToB:

Have a look at it in motion:

Have you laid hands on your own bottle?  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Pure Ice Funky French - Celestial + Heart Breaker

This is from last Thursday.  Turned out just as I imagined, although I was a little frustrated with the little sequins (some came off, some just lost their color).  

 

I started out with one coat of Pure Ice Heart Breaker, then I did a chevron or v-shaped  french with  Pure Ice Celestial.  I didn't got all the way to the tip, since the next step was a chevron tip with Color Club French Tip, leaving just a stripe of the Celestial.  One more layer of Heart Breaker, apply sequins, topcoat & done.  I'm quite pleased with how my freehand skills are coming along, these came out really straight & even =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

The Hauls

So, I know I said I'd get this up yesterday, but ... well, I fell asleep LOL.  Usually if I do that when I wake up I'll stay up a few more hours but last night I just put on pajamas & went back to sleep.  Here's everything all laid out, with Frisky surveying the bounty:

The first few were from Sally's, buy 2 get 1 free plus one of the Sallys near me moved & sent out a $10.00 coupon for the new location:

Left to right:  China Glaze Solar Power (which I already used, in the Lava Lamp mani), Turned Up Turquoise (Neon) & Secret Peri-wink-le.

Next is Ulta, I had a coupon here too but I don't remember how much it was for:

Left to right:  from the Passport to Paradise collection, L'Oreal High Tide, Ocean Breeze & Waters Edge.  From the Salsa Sun collection, Maybelline La La Lime ... which is very close color-wise to Icing Jens Pick:

LLL has a hint of silvery shimmer that JP does not, but the base color looks almost identical in the bottle.  Sorry I don't have time to do a real comparison swatch, but if you can't find the secondary Salsa Sun display that LLL is part of, JP may be an acceptable solution.

In my search for Hidden Treasure, I ended up bringing a few other polishes home with me - this batch was from a Walgreens, Sinful Colors were buy 1 get 1 half off:

Left to right:  Revlon Minted, Sinful Colors Mint Apple, HD Nails, Let's Talk & Let Me Go.

A quick stop at a CVS:

Wet 'n' Wild Night Prowl (which I've been hunting for a couple months) & Rain Check.

An equally quick stop at Walgreens:

Sinful What's Your Name & Wet 'n' Wild Blackmail.  Both of these are much more interesting that the pics show, the sinful has this really pretty duo-chrome glitter in the black base, shifting between turquoise & purple.

And finally, FINALLY, my hard work & persistence paid off, at a Walgreens I normally have crap luck at.  Sally was buy 1 get 1 half off & this display also had some $1.00 off coupons:

From the Tracy Reese Spring 2010 display, Sally Hansen Silver Lining, Dive Depper, and Hidden Treasure x2.  From the core line, Thinking of Blue & Midnight in NY.

Happy as I was to finally track down Hidden Treasure, that display was missing Sea & Be Seen ... so my search continued.  The Walgreens near work was a miss, but as I was getting into my car I noticed this nail salon next door.  Hmmm ... I wandered in, & came out with 3 old black label OPIs:

I'd never heard of any of these so I have no idea if they're HTF?  Right to left:  My Fave Wave, Ocean Love Potion & Sun Streaked.

Finally, tracked down the last color I was really lemming for, at a Walgreens near my grandparent's house:

Sea And Be Seen & Ring My Shell.  One of the reasons I wanted S&BS was because from pics I thought it looked a lot like one of my favorite blues, Sephora by OPI Underwater Fantasy.  Turns out it's a bit darker but they are very close cousins:

Again, sorry I don't have time for an actual swatch comparison!  But I hope you all  enjoyed seeing my hauls. I think a no-buy may be in order now LOL.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Where to Find Hidden Treasure in Minneapolis, MN

Just a quick post.  I have at least 3 other things I'd like to post today, but my room is a disaster area so I need to take care of that first.  But I wanted to get this up while it may do some good for some people.  I really don't know how many readers I have who are actually in my area?  But I know I have at least a few so this post is for you.

Last night I continued my search for Sea & Be Seen.  I was successful, and in the process I saw a few bottles of Hidden Treasure that I refrained from buying as backups for myself =)  As of last night shortly before 10 pm, this was the display at the Walgreens in St. Louis Park on Cedar Lake Road & Louisiana:

Almost completely full, including 2 bottles of HT =)  Go!  Now!

I actually stopped at that location purely out of curiosity.  I ended up picking up S&BS at the Walgreens in Hopkins at Hwy 7 & 17th, across the street from Perkins.  That display was also mostly full, including 1 bottle of HT.

Prior to yesterday's hunt & Thursday when I actually found my own bottle, I had stopped at just about every Walgreens & CVS that I went by, and been unable to even find a display.  Except over Northeast (difficult to get to I'm sure everyone local knows with all the construction going on) where I know there are at least 3 stores that I have had good luck finding LE collections in the past.  But persistence definitely does pay off, so if you want this color, don't give up!

On my list of things that need to be posted:

• Hauls ... at least like 5 or maybe more small ones that taken together are quite a bit of polish
• Another Icing Funky French
• My awesome NOTD Hidden Treasure layered over Thinking of Blue
• Books .... very very behind, I don't think I posted any during March
• Resolutions accountability since it's May now ... not sure if I'm actually going to do this, I may skip a month because I really did not make much progress in April.

But, as I said, I need to make my space livable again before I do that.  Also going to attempt to catch up on some comments - because I suck pretty bad at that at the moment LOL.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette