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!

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!

Addicted to Holos

I was a little late to the holo party and only got into them recently, and sadly it seems like many were limited collections and are now pretty hard to find. But fortunately this gem is gorgeous and still easy to get your hands on. Meet the magnificent lavender linear holographic, Fashion Addict.

Color Club Fashion Addict

Isn't she shiny? Makes it difficult to focus on other tasks, like not staring at all the awesome colors! It's available at a few different e-tailers online, I ordered mine at Nailsupplies.us for $3 (they also carry Misa, Orly, CG, Essie, and Barielle). And yes, it's this amazing in person, too.

Diamond Mine

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm, a wonderful charcoal linear holo. And you know what they say-- if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls! Okay only Effie says that. But yes, this polish is simply beauteous. Excellent formula, and (in my opinion) comparable to the HTF My Private Jet, and for a fraction of the price. Also I've been trying out a more vintage-y look to my photos, you know, to give them character and stuff. Charming? Annoyingly hipster? Let's look:

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm (Artificial light)

(Sunlight)

(Indoors)

Unless you are outdoors, where this color is absolutely stunning, it has the appearance of a relatively plain sparkly grey polish, with the occasional flash of holo. It's available for purchase online at Diamond Cosmetics and for only $2.50 is well worth it. They have a great selection of other colors as well, a few of which I'll be posting sometime in the future.