Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Warm and Fozzie

From OPI's Muppets collection, here is Warm and Fozzie-- a really gorgeous mix of bronze, olive, and rose shimmer.

OPI Warm and Fozzie



This is such a unique color with a great formula, though I did need three coats for full coverage.


Warm and Fozzie has a very "Fall" feel to it, and also reminds me of my kitty's beautiful fur.

Gemma and W&F


Thank you for looking!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Zoya's True collection has some really lovely and bright colors for Spring (as well as a couple of nudes, meh) one of which is Tru, a gorgeous red-based purple with golden pink shimmer running through it.

Zoya Tru


The shimmer is subtle yet visible, and the color itself is just beautiful.


Tru actually has a dupe in OPI's Holland collection, also for this Spring, Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?. There are a couple of other similar polishes in both collections as well, which was a little odd and disappointing. The PolishAholic did some wonderful comparisons here.


I wasn't super pleased with the application at the time; I felt like it was a little bit thick, but I'll have to just try it again and perhaps add a little thinner. The other polishes I picked up from "True" are Lotus and Skylar-- pictures to come!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Golden Rose 03 & 08, Cat Eyes & Peridot

After first seeing and loving Chanel's Peridot, I started noticing more and more beautiful metallic duochromes. The greens especially caught my eye, and once I saw the photos on Noelie's blog of Golden Rose Metallic 08, I just had to find this one!

Golden Rose Metallic 03 & 08


There were a couple of other duochromes in that line, and the other I had heard about was 03, which was supposedly very similar to Peridot. It reminded me very much of my beautiful kitty's eyes! So I searched the web and found a site in Poland (Golden Rose Styl) that distributes the metallics and said they could ship to the US.

Gemma when she was a kitten, posing with fruit.


Unfortunately I had a bit of trouble getting my order to go through on their site, and after e-mailing back and forth with their incredibly patient and helpful CS representative, Inga, she was so amazingly kind as to send me these two polishes for free. Thank you again very much Inga! I absolutely love these colors.

Golden Rose Metallic 03



The formula was excellent, very easy to work with and opaque in two coats. And the color is just gorgeous! Similar to Peridot, however I believe 03 has more gold than green. The duochrome is most visible indoors and at certain angles, but that lovely green shift is always just slightly apparent. I really hope these will someday become available on the US Golden Rose site.

Direct sun



I was really touched by the kindness showed to me when I sought a product from this company where we could barely communicate, yet they were so very helpful and patient with my requests. It is these kinds of gestures that I think help us remember that there are many good people out there, and that we can do more to be better ourselves.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Sasha

Sasha, March 15 2009 - February 15 2012


We are so thankful to have had you in our lives; we will miss you every day.



(Audio is from the TV)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Vant a Whimsical Valentine Mani?

I thought Whimsical would be the perfect Valentine's mani-- very sweet and a little girly. OPI I Vant to be a Lone Star is a pretty, light blue that matches the base, and I decided to alternate it with Zoya Kendal, a pale, dusty lavender.

Revlon Whimsical over Zoya Kendal and ring finger OPI I Vant to be a Lone Star


And the other hand was OPI Lone Star with Kendal as the accent; I really loved both!


I wanted to bring out the subtle green sparkles I spotted in Whimsical so I also added a layer of Pure Ice Heartbreaker, a beautiful green shimmer.



Whimsical seems like it's going to be part of Revlon's core line, but it hasn't been in every new Revlon display I've seen. I found mine floating on a shelf at Rite-Aid, and another at Ulta, so hopefully it will be part of their Revlons when they change out. Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Because life needs a little Whimsy, and Fantasy

A few weeks ago, Anna of Pretty Digits posted amaazing photos of a new polish by UK brand Max Factor, Fantasy Fire. It is basically unicorn pee (aka Clarins 230)-- a color changing topcoat with sparkles of "fire" that range from intense copper red to emerald green, in a cobalt blue base. Anna was kind enough to send me a bottle of this lovely treasure, so Fantasy Fire is my first truly international polish purchase!

Max Factor Fantasy Fire


I've done a few test swatches over various colors to see which will make this color really shine, and although it looks amazing over many shades, I think I will need a nice navy blue jelly (ala Revlon Royal) to best coax the flames.

Since I first heard about Whimsical, Revlon's dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air, I have been on the hunt. I've searched my local Bed Bath Beyond, K-Mart (only to find the two empty spots in the display), WalMart, Ulta (missed it again!) and every local drugstore. I was about to purchase it directly from Ulta.com, but decided to check one more Rite-Aid first. At last! Sitting beside the display of new colors with no place in the display itself, one last little bottle. And it is as perfect as I'd imagined.

Revlon Whimsical


It is so satisfying to find the thing you've been searching for (especially when the original retails for almost 4xs as much!). But it is really wonderful to have someone go out of their way for you to share something special-- thank you Anna!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Ring in the Bling

Essie's Winter collection, Cocktail Bling, had a stunning assembly of colors that complemented each other beautifully. I regret not buying a couple of the others, but the one I did make sure to get was Cocktail Bling-- a pale grey creme with a subtle blue quality.


I also recently found a couple of the new Finger Paints flakies, and decided to layer Flecked (greenish flakes) as well as China Glaze's White Cap (gold bling) over Cocktail Bling, to gild the lily so to speak. And love love love it.




This is a creme I don't think I'll tire of. It makes me think of delicate Lladro figurines and ladies in elegant 50's dresses. As it happened, I was watching 500 Days of Summer while doing this mani, and loved all of the dresses Zooey Deschanel wore in a similar shade. I feel like, in the movie, it acted as some kind of color cue for when they were happy and really connected. Very much enjoyed this combo, and the movie!