L'Oréal Drop Dead Gorgeous

Just one polish to show you today, a straggler from  L'Oréal's Diamond Collection.  I reviewed Sparklicious and The Bigger, The Better three weeks ago.  Since then, every time I'd walk past a Diamond Collection display, I'd pick up Drop Dead Gorgeous and inspect it.  Eventually I had a coupon while there was a sale, so I picked it up for a very good price...and I'm glad I did.

Drop Dead Gorgeous is black, packed with delicate blue and purple shimmer.

LED light

It's a much more subtle look than the glitters I'd reviewed from this collection, but it's got enough sparkle to still be darkly festive.  The formula was good, a little thick, but not difficult to apply.  I think I used two coats.  The shimmer doesn't vanish in lower light either!

florescent office lighting

It's great if you like variations on classic black...and I do!


I'll be honest here, I bought it partly to see how it compared to one of the Essence Breaking Dawn pt2 shades, but it wound up being quite different...and MUCH easier to apply.  Those shades are my next post.  See you then!

Revlon Sequins and Midnight Sparkle

Revlon's holiday collection, Just Add Sparkle, has four glitter polishes.  Revlon has been keeping up with nail trends lately and this collection has two on-trend offerings, hexagonal and bar glitter.  If you like bar glitter, Brilliant Bordeaux and Ruby Ribbon both have it. I passed on them and went for the two hexagonal glitters.


Sequins is a mix of tiny round and medium hexagonal gold glitter in a clear base.

over Revlon ColorStay Velvet Rope

The base is thick and the glitter needs to be dabbed on for the best result, but the gold tone is perfect.  I'm weird about glitter, I'll admit.  I get accused of being anti-glitter, but I'm just picky.  I like a more 'together' look than most glitters give...so I had to turn this combo into a jelly sandwich.

I loved this look and I stared at it all day. Velvet Rope is a must-have if you like jelly finishes.  It's part of the Color Stay core and it's terrific.  The combination of it and Sequins feels so xmasy!  Velvet Rope and Sequins even sound like xmas decorations.  If you're looking for polishes to pair for a gift, these would be awesome.


Midnight Sparkle is tiny round and medium hexagonal silver glitter in a dark blue base.  It's a dupe for Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings The Blues.

I hate to say it, but I don't really like Midnight Sparkle.  The base is nearly opaque, needing just 1-2 coats.  I used two.  Instead of being a jelly sandwich in a bottle, the base is so densely pigmented that covers the glitter either almost completely or barely at all.  The glitter also seems to have slightly raised edges, which stick out a little more than the rest of the piece.  I'm not crazy about the end result, but that's how Lady Sings The Blues looks too, so if you were hoping for a drugstore dupe this is perfect.

I'd recommend Sequins as a good basic gold glitter, but I'd only recommend Midnight Sparkle if you want a reasonably priced version of Lady Sings The Blues.


Can there possibly be more sparkling, glittering, shiny xmas goodness yet to come?  Oh yes!  So much more!

China Glaze Angel Wings, Glistening Snow, and Merry Berry

Over a week without a post from either of us! Eeek!  Holidays will do that...  Hope those who celebrated had a great Thanksgiving!

Jumping right back into the holiday polish swatches, I have three festive new shades from China Glaze to show you today.  China Glaze's Holiday Joy collection is one of the most glittering of the big brands' offerings this year.  Of twelve shades, seven are glitters!  I chose two of the glitters and a deep berry cream, but (and I feel like I say this a lot) I may go back for others.


Glistening Snow is a silver and holographic full-coverage microglitter in a clear base.

Glistening Snow's silver is very gray.  I think it would flatter cool-toned hands more than it does mine.  My partner glanced at it and said "oh...glitter cement!"  I do like it, but I know what he means.  It's not the most flattering silver for me, especially in normal indoor light when the holo doesn't sparkle as much.

The formula is thick, but it applies well and is opaque at 2-3 coats.  It dries gritty and almost matte and takes a lot of top coat to smooth out.  I used a coat of NYC Grand Central Station, a coat of Gelous, and another coat of Grand Central Station and it still wasn't completely smooth.  I like its pre-topcoat look enough to maybe wear it like that sometime.  I know some people dream of a matte holo.  This might be the closest thing possible.

Angel Wings is the gold sister to Glistening Snow.  I kept an accent nail of Glistening Snow for these photos.

The gold tone of Angel Wings is very warm, even brassy.  On me it almost looks a bit green in some light.  I think this is also probably better for cool tones.  The formula is identical to Glistening Snow.  This also took a lot of top coat to smooth out.  The holo glitter plays with the light prettily, but I like the effect more in Glistening Snow.


Merry Berry is a classic deep berry cream.

I saved the best for last.  It really is perfect.  The formula is amazing, beyond even China Glaze's usual great cream formulas.  It was a joy to apply.  It is a little on the sheer side.  At three coats I swore I could still see hints of my nail line...but maybe I'm just nuts.

In the glistening spirit of the holiday season, I had to add some sparkle to Merry Berry.  I love it on its own, but...

two coats of White Cap on index, one on others

I think White Cap (from Anchors Away) is a great festive touch. White Cap is a must-have shade if you love layering.


My thoughts on these three new shades?  I completely adore Merry Berry.  If you love berry shades, China Glaze creams, and especially if you have a skin-tone similar to mine, you NEED Merry Berry.  I like Glistening Snow.  It's 'thirsty' and not the best color for me, but it's very pretty and I can absolutely see myself using it for accent nails and nail art.  I'm really on the fence about Angel Wings.  In some lights it does very odd things when I wear it.  I don't think we get along too well.  Despite that (and the grittiness), I'll probably use it for nail art sometime.


I've still got a lot of sparkling holiday stuff on my swatchlist.  See you next time!

Color Club Port-Folio and First Looks

Super quick little Sunday post.  Sunday Post?  Ugh.  Whatever! : P  Also, if you haven't entered our giveaway yet...hurry!  You've only got a day and a half!

Today I have two stragglers from Fall.  Someone very nice knew I couldn't find Port-Folio locally and sent me a mini of it...and First Looks too!  They're from the In True Fashion collection.  I wanted Port-Folio soooooo bad and I love how it shifts!

The formula startled me.  It went on thick and then bubbled, which really upset me because the shift is so gorgeous.  Then it mostly flattened out after I applied a quick dry topcoat.  I've never seen that happen!  I know minis dry out quickly, so I'll probably thin this before I use it again.  It's just so gorgeous!!

First Looks is a shimmery dark dusty blue with just a bit of purple shimmer and shift.  First Looks did the same bubble thing, flattening out a lot as it dried.  So odd!  Is this normal with Color Club?  I've barely worn them.  I'll probably thin this too.

....and it doesn't look black under normal lighting! Yay!

I need to thank her again for sending these!  They're both awesome!  Thanks, lady! : D


I have one more pair of fall stragglers and some kind of Thanksgiving thing maybe, but otherwise the next few weeks are gonna be xmas and sparkles and Chanukah and more sparkles!

My Picks from Zoya Ornate

I didn't buy my first Zoyas until the end of this past summer, but I like the brand more and more with each shade I try.  Keeping my holiday polish streak going, today I have my picks from Ornate, Zoya's newest collection.  Their tagline for it is "turn nails into jewels," and the collection has three vibrant, sparkling finishes.  There are three scattered holos, two chunky metallic foils, and a bar glitter.  I picked up Aurora, Storm, and Logan with the Storm promo to reward myself for staying at work for 32 hours during hurricane Sandy.  ...if only more of that had been overtime, oh well.  I passed on Electra because I've only ever liked one bar glitter.  I was tempted to get Ziv, since I adore chunky foils, but I skipped it...for now.  I also passed on Blaze, the red holo, but might get it in one of their occasional BOGO sales.


Storm is pretty, but subtle as holos go.  It really only gets going when very well-lit.

As you can see, when it goes, it *goes*.  The black base is a great contrast for the scattered holo effect.  It brings back memories of my grandmother turning the lights out and taking her glasses off to look at the lights on the xmas tree all blurry.  I used to unfocus my eyes so I could see it too.  Storm applied terrifically, but I'm learning to expect that from Zoya.  Just don't expect to be dazzled by it all of the time.  In most lighting, including what passes for sunlight here in the Philadelphia area (that show's title is sarcastic- it's rarely sunny here), the effect is a silver or soft gold fleck with hints of rainbow...only hints.

I liked it this way too, but I'm not as holo-mad as many lacquerheads.  I have a quick comparison at the bottom of the post, if you're interested.


I didn't expect it to be, but Logan is my favorite of the three I have.

Breathtaking.  Love it so much!  Some foils take up to four or five coats for opacity and are complete beasts for cleanup, but Logan was a dream for both.  Two coats and the quickest brushing with acetone whisked the 'bloopers' right off my skin and left my gaps so clear.  My jaw literally dropped!  I'm in awe of this formula!  And the color!  The gold flecks do a little sparkling of their own, but at some angles they switch the green from cool to warm in a mesmerizing way.  There's also a soft shift to a tealy blue at times...so beautiful!  Sometimes you can catch both changes at once!

Aurora has far more holographic oomph than Storm.

In bright light it bursts out like fireworks!  The base is much sheerer than Storm's, which helps the holo particles shine, but it still hid my nail line in three coats.  It's actually slightly more blue-toned than my camera wanted to show, but this isn't too far off.  Aurora calms down a bit in lower light, but doesn't play it nearly as coy as Storm.

I wore this on a tense day and it really helped pick me up a bit when I looked at it.



...and I do have one comparison before I go.  Someone on the Makeupalley Nail Board asked if they could dupe Storm by putting a scattered holo topcoat over black.

ring is Piggy Polish Glitter-azzi over Finger Paints Black Expressionism

The effect with the topcoat is similar, but far from identical.  You can tell that the holo particles are on top of the base and not in it.  They're also larger, more regular, and brighter.  The combination out-shines Storm, but feels like a combination.  It seems less special to me.

ring is Piggy Polish Glitter-azzi over Finger Paints Black Expressionism

That being said though, I think every polish fan should have a holo topcoat or two and I really do like Glitter-azzi.

I don't know that I'd call any of these shades completely xmasy.  I think they're more versatile than a lot of more traditional xmas shades, but with enough sparkle to be ideal for holiday events.  I'd recommend all three, but with the caution that Storm isn't as in-your-face as I know some people would like.

My Picks from Sinful Colors Holiday Shimmers

Sinful Colors is on such a hot streak with great new shades lately!  I bought the whole Hot Flash Metallics collection, all but one from Enchanted (or Muse), and Polar Opposites.  That's nine great new shades from them in just one month!  I passed on their Bewitched and Take A Bite collections for Halloween, since most shades were repromoted and I already owned the ones I wanted.  Holiday Shimmers has two repromoted core shades, Queen of Beauty and Frenzy, but the other six are new.  I bought four of them...that makes a whopping thirteen awesome new shades in just a couple of months!  Yay!  Holiday Shimmers has a great variety of textures *and* it's very on-trend and similar to some new polishes from salon brands.

I'll start things off with the biggest polish-related shock I've had in a while.  I wore bar glitter...and I liked it!  Shocking and appalling, I know...but before you stomp away in disgust, have a look at this...

over Sinful Colors Let's Talk

Faceted really surprised me!  It's a mix of iridescent bar glitter and tiny round royal blue glitter.  I picked it up on a whim, partly because of Chris from Impoverished by Polish.  I hated bar glitter for yeeeeeears, since my first bottle in high school.  I swore it would be my last.  It might also have been Sinful Colors, but it's long gone so I don't even know.  Bar glitter has a bad reputation for looking like hair...because it can.  I sponged this on for more of a confetti look.  Matte top coat brought out the iridescence even more.

...I have no clue why I'm bright yellow here...

Let's Talk is a bit too close in color to the small glitter in Faceted to show it well, so I also wore it over Mint Apple.

That brought the little round glitter out more...but made the bar glitter less obvious.  Oh well!  I mattified this combo too.

...again with the bright yellow...sorry!

Dazzle was a bit of a surprise too, but not a shock.

You could call Dazzle dark pink...but I won't let you.  This is fuchsia!  I like fuchsia.  I like magenta.  I do not like pink!  I like Dazzle...a lot!  The formula is very thick, but it still applied well.  I used two coats.

It's a deep and lively fuchsia, packed densely with slightly lighter magenta flecks that hint at copper in the bottle.  You see it on the nail, but suddenly, in flashes.

...another apology...I took these photos of Dazzle during Hurricane Sandy.  I was at work, but not in the office I'm usually in (which is awesome for duochromes...I really should have waited!).  We didn't lose power, but the room I was in didn't have the best lighting for photos.  I thought about redoing it, but I have so much stuff I wanna post in the next few weeks.  Oh well.  I hope this gives you some idea of the copper flash that lights Dazzle up when the light catches it right.  It's really lovely....and it's not pink!  ...right?

I wouldn't call it a dupe by a long-shot, but it's along the same lines as OPI You Only Live Twice, a magenta packed with fleck shimmer with hints of copper.


Nova might be my favorite of the four I chose.

If you love deep, mysterious shimmers that play with the light (like e.l.f. George, Arthur, and Stanley), you'll love Nova.  The base is a navy blue, almost midnight blue, jelly that comes alive with blue-green beauty in bright light.

In lower light it's almost black, but the shimmer still glows when it catches the light.  I really love Nova!

Like Dazzle, Nova is also very thick.  Not too thick to be manageable though, and it applied nicely in 1-2 coats.  I was wearing it when I held a bottle of OPI Live And Let Die (before I bought mine).  They're cousins, slightly distant ones, but there is a similar feel to them.  Nova could also stand comfortably among the Essence Breaking Dawn pt2 polishes and might soothe you if you missed them.


There is one nearly dead-on OPI Skyfall collection dupe in the bunch....

Winter Wonder is almost an exact dupe of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which means it's also a dupe for Zoya FeiFei.  It's a sheer, thin gray-blue base with tons of little flecks, both golden-green and a blue that shifts to purple at some angles.  That gives it a ton of personality!  There might be ever so slightly less of a shift to the duochrome flecks, but you'd have to be paying unhealthy attention and staring too hard to notice it...and maybe I'm just seeing things.  Dunno.

It's fairly sheer at first, taking three coats for full opacity like most polishes with this finish.  I layered it over black, just to see the result...and it brings out some tones you don't notice as much when it's on its own.

Look at that indigo glimmer!  The golden-green flecks stand out a lot more this way too!  Oooh!

I'm really thrilled with Dazzle and Nova especially, but Faceted was a nice surprise and a bit of a challenge to my usual preferences...and it's great to see a $2 drugstore dupe for salon polishes, so I'm happy to have Winter Wonder!


There really is sooooo much more great new holiday polish to come...I'm in the midst of a swatching frenzy here!  Loving it!

Poor Nichole has a bad cold, so I'm not sure if she'll be posting this week.

Our First Giveaway!

I'm amazed by the reception our little blog has gotten since we started in June.  We're having a great time and I never expected that we'd get much attention at all...let alone pass the 43,000 hit mark today!  I've wanted to do a giveaway for a while now, to thank all of you wonderful people, but I couldn't think of a good prize.  It had to be something that I love and that 'represents' our blog in some way.  Then it came to me...

Who better than e.l.f. George, Stanley, and Arthur to go to one of our awesome fans?

I posted about them way back in August, but Google searches for them are still bringing people to our blog.  They're gorgeous and I know a lot of people had trouble finding them at their local Target.  Outside the US you couldn't get them at all.  I stumbled upon all three and had to pass my luck along.  Now's your chance!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck and thanks again, all of you!

L'Oréal Sparklicious

L'Oréal Sparklicious is my second pick from the new Diamond Collection.  It would have been part of yesterday's post, but The Bigger, The Better stole the show.  It would be unfair to hide such a sparkling beauty under six photos of another polish.

Sparklicious deserves a spotlight of its own!

over L'Oréal Rainy Piccadilly

Sparklicious is a real rival for the title of my new favorite glitter!  This is just one coat.  I've seen it worn on its own, it's that packed with glitter.  Despite all of the glitter, it was still pretty easy to apply and smoothed completely with a coat of Gelous and my usual top coat.

It's just so vibrant!  It's somewhere between silver and white gold and ideal for xmas.  It's like a metallic blizzard!

The glitter has such an incredible shine to it that it dazzled my camera at some angles.

It looks nice mattified too...

It's also multiculturally versatile, as perfect for Chanukah as for xmas!

over Wet n Wild Root of All Evil

I might wear this combination for latke night with my family.  I can't wait for Mom's latkes and sour cream!  Mmmm!  ...and I will almost definitely be using Sparklicious in some of my xmas manis.  It's too perfect.  L'Oréal is really wowing me lately!

More shimmers and glitters to come!  A bar glitter even snuck in...

L'Oréal The Bigger, The Better

I'm one of those people who grumps about xmas stuff starting too early...unless it's cosmetics.  When I saw this on September 22nd, I wasn't complaining!  I love all of the glitter, jewel-tones, and RED that xmas brings to...well...everything!  L'Oréal's Diamond Collection was my first holiday sighting this year, and so early.

I literally did a double-take when I saw this though...

The Bigger, The Better instantly reminded me of The Queen's Ambition.  "Reminded" is too soft a word...they looked almost the same at first.

They're *completely* different on the nail.  The Bigger, The Better is a bold mix of black and silver glitter and microglitter.

I wore it over L'Oréal Notting Hill Blues, a gorgeous blue with a soft shimmer.  This is just one thin coat of The Bigger, The Better!!  Wow!  It's dense enough that you could wear it on its own in a few coats, I'm sure!  It applied really evenly too, impressive for such a dense glitter mix.  It dries a little gritty, but a coat of Gelous and my usual topcoat were enough to completely smooth it out.

They're both just so stunning!  I'd tested The Bigger, The Better over a few other polishes, but it stands out best over this bold, bright blue.  The tiny black microglitter is so cool, and the less-dense silver keeps it from looking flat.  I adore the contrast!

...and then...*swoon*....I mattified it!

The matte top coat turns the tables, bringing the silver out over the black.

It's a completely different look this way, silver glitter with a smoky backbeat...so versatile!

...ok...I gushed a bit here.  Sparklicious was going to be part of this post too...oh well...next time!

Oldie but Goodie?

This is actually the very first bit of "nail art" I tried a million years ago. I thought I was so daring with my one glittered finger. Ahh..the naivete of youth. Anyway, I figured I should try it again. Sometimes revisiting things you haven't done in forever makes them brand new. This was not one of those times. 

The first time I did this, my nails weren't yellow. (I had just had a baby maybe 3 months prior, and I didn't wear polish while pregnant. My nails grew way too fast, and it was just too much of a hassle ) Now, my nails are waaaay to yellow for a sheer color. And I think this color is way too streaky now. My tastes have certainly changed. That thought makes me a little sad, because I remember LOVING the hell out of this manicure. Maybe I should try it again, but with a different color?

Colors Used:

Sally Hansen CSM Cafe au Lait

Milani One Coat Glitter in gold

ELF for Target gold glitter. (it's the holo & microglitter. Very pretty but very stinky)

See the short, crooked index finger? Now you all know my secret: I make posts waaaaay out of chronological order.