NOTD: L'Oreal Blue Marine

This is from L'Oreal's Summer Siren collection - Blue Marine on first glance reminded me a lot of Zoya Charla, but next to each other they are different enough that I didn't even end up taking any comparison pics, Charla is darker & has gold sparkle to it, while Blue Marine is slightly greener & has a flash of like, glowy lavender duo-chrome that did not want to cooperate very well with my camera:

Only a few more manis until the chop!  I'm almost looking forward to it in a weird way LOL.  Just to see if it will feel as odd as I anticipate to have shorter nails again.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Nubar Moon Shadow ... and My Worst Break Ever

Pretty, happy things first.  With plans for a big chop, I've been enjoying lovely things on my long nails, and a purple duo-chrome seemed a good choice.  Nubar Moon Shadow is a classic, and it was beautiful on, going from deep purple in most lights to almost bronze at certain angles:

 

Now, I think you guys know I'm pretty good being careful in situations that I consider dangerous to my nails ... and so my breaks end up happening in the dumbest circumstances.  Remember the bag of cheese break?  The pinky I snapped against my own other fingers somehow?  This takes the cake.

 

I'd successfully navigated 3 cases of soda & several grocery bags into the car.  A breeze sprang up & I grabbed for the skirt of my dress - purple like my nails might I add.  And somehow my thumb knocked against the idle shopping cart.

 

I'm warning you, this is not for the faint of heart ....

 

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... if you have a weak stomach turn back now ...

 

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I warned you!  I did!

 

 

Arrrrrggggghhhh!!!!!!!  OOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!  OUCH!  OUCH!  OUCH!  OUCHOUCHOUCHOUCHOUCH!  Shitmotherfuckergoddamnsonofabitch!

 

I put a band-aid on it, and managed to get myself & my throbbing finger home.  And then I painstakingly - and painfully, very very painfully - took off the polish  & saw the true extent of the damage:

 

Scary part?  It's still attached on the side.  Meaning even if I wanted to leave my vulnerable finger flesh exposed, I'd have to sever it's fleshy anchor.  Mom really hated when I kept saying that by the way.  I cut it down ... I glued the flap ... I added a patch ... & things are mostly OK now:

 

 

Good lord only knows how long that will take to grow out past the quick.  Thanks for the sympathy pains =)  & of course thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

It's My ***30th*** Birthday!

Just thought I'd toss up this post since it's after midnight ... I have to be up at like 5am so I should be in bed, and I'm about to, BUT since I'm up - I hereby give you all permission to celebrate with me =)  In fact, I started celebrating today with homemade ice cream cake that a co-worker made me:

 

 

I'm going back & forth between being OK & being freaked out about being 30, but I'm determined to put a positive face on it, so bring on the gifts & spoiling.  Tomorrow ... uh, later today ... is the 25th anniversary celebration at work - I will be enjoying it like it's my party LOL.  Since I have the blog I am one of the photographers for the event & I also think that will be fun.

 

Later on ... well, we'll just see what develops =)  What did you do for your last birthday?

 

Then I will be off Friday & Monday & Tuesday.  I plan to sleep & to get caught up with everything I possibly can - and everything else I'm sad to say is going to get chucked.  If I can't get on top of it with 3 full extra days off my job, I'm never going to get on top of it.  I need a clean slate, whether that slate is carefully polished clean or side-swept with an extended arm ;)

 

I wore Nubar Moon Shadow the other day, so I have pics of that to edit ... and pics too of the worst break I ever had that I suffered wearing it.  I also recently did my first collaboration on YouTube & that will be going up Friday, so stay tuned!  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Zoya Gemma

So, with only a few days until I chop my nails, I've been trying to make the most of the long nails while they're around.  I've been looking forward to wearing Zoya Gemma from the Intimate collection since I got it ... and sadly I'm a bit disappointed.  In the bottle there's such a strong purple/periwinkle flash, but it all but disappears on the nail:

It nagged at me for a while, what it reminded me of, until I figured out that it's very close to Essie Sew Psyched.  Sew Psyched is a bit more grey, but they're definitely in the same family.

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

China Glaze Crackle Metals & Ulta OPI Exclusives

It took me 4 Sallys to track down all 6 from the Crackle Metal collection, but it was worth it =)

 

 

Left to right China Glaze Tarnished Gold, Cracked Medallion, Platinum Pieces, Latticed Lilac, Haute Metal, Oxidized Aqua.  I didn't notice until I was taking pics for this post, that the bottles are 2 different styles!  Most have the "Crackle Glaze" bottle, but the silver & teal just have "Crackle" off to the side of the normal China Glaze. Weird.

 

I also picked up this on clearance at one of the Sallys - I don't even remember which one LOL, and I forgot to include it in the vid:

 

 

Finger Paints Amethyst Atelier.

 

Next OPIs from Ulta - as I mention in the vid, if you want more than one free bottle with their current promotion, talk with your sales rep because it is one free over $15.00, rather than buy 2 get 1 free ... it equals out to the same amount by with the dollar requirement it took 2 transactions for me to get my 2 free bottles:

 

Top:  Ulta Exclusive Shimmer into Summer collection - Glitter-ally The Best Silver Ever, Sparkle Teal Sunrise, I'm an Aqua-Holic, How You Blue-In?  Bottom:  from the Nice Stems collection - Be a Dahlia Won't You & I Lily Love You.

 

And from the Born Pretty Store:

 

 

I received this Violet Crackle from Laushine to review.  You can save 10% there using the coupon code "CWJ691" through the end of the year on any nail art or nail polish products from their site.

 

Here's the vid with some swatches & comparisons:

 

 

 

After the fact, I decided I really wanted to see if I could get I Lily Love You & Sparkle Teal Sunrise to look like they do in the bottle with some layering.  And with a colored base rather than plain, or over black or white, I was really quite pleased.

 

Right is I Lily Love You over Sally Hansen Digital, left over Be a Dahlia Won't You:

 

 

I like I Lily Love You over Be a Dahlia Won't You - maybe they were meant together since they're from the same collection.

 

For Sparkle Teal Sunrise I tried 4 different base colors - left to right layered over:  I'm an Aqua-Holic, How You Blue-In?, Zoya Charla & China Glaze Watermelon Rind:

 

 

I think it is closest to bottle color over Watermelon Rind, but I also really like it over How You Blue-In?  Which do you prefer?

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

 

(Some products were sent to me for review)