OPI Just Spotted the Lizard - $8.50

OPI's new The Amazing Spiderman collection is about to be released in store and there has been a lot of noise about this polish. Not only because it's a pretty rad multi-chrome, but because it's a Chanel Peridot (see my Peridot review here) dupe. With Chanel polishes now fairly assaulting wallets at a price of $26, it's nice to see a less expensive alternative to a popular shade. I've got several photos of OPI JSTL, and then below I have a couple comparison photos.

As far as this polish, It's pretty much a dead-on dupe of Peridot. It's somewhat sheer, but with three thin coats you get full coverage. The color in most lights is pre-dominantly an amber gold with a seafoam green and light turquoise showing up from time to time. The wear was pretty average, I tested it for two days and didn't have any tip wear or chipping. It doesn't show stroke lines as much as Peridot, which really didn't have much in the way of stroke lines in the first place; it's just mainly more metallic whereas Peridot does have some foil-like flecks which scatter light a little more. JSTL doesn't really have that and so it has a more linear light  reflection.

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This manicure inspired by 10 Crosby Derek Lam SS12 RTW includes China Glaze Gaga for Green and Aquadelic and the colors are such a perfect match for the ensemble in the picture that it's scary. When I was perusing the Style.com app for inspiration, this is one of the photos that really called out to me. I love the graphic nature of the black and white with pops of geometric colors. I recreated it with those two China Glaze polishes with the addition of a white polish and a black striping polish. Also, in case you didn't notice, I filed my nails into ovals! Big change for me, as I have had sqaure nails just about all my life. They're still short yet, but I want Rihanna nails, and I will have them if it's the last thing I ever do! *Evil laugh*

Products used:

• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
• China Glaze White on White
• China Glaze Aquadelic
• China Glaze  Gaga for Green
• Black striping polish
• Seche Vite Topcoat

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Essie Armed & Ready - $8 at drugstores

I randomly found A&R at Target the other day, and I was super happy. I'd been looking forward to finding it. I'd also anticipated an army green, but what I got was a deep warm grey with bronze shimmer. Gorgeous nonetheless, but definitely a bit different than I was expecting. I asked my hubby what color he thought it was... He came up with "grey-greenish" while we were sitting in the car in traffic, so in indirect sunlight. Yeah in some lights it has a whisper, a mere suggestion, of green, but mostly it's grey. The bronze shimmer is hidden in most lights, but it does pop out nicely in bright light, so it's a nice bonus. In low light, the base is really nice and creamy and really looked nice next to my beigey skin. It applies VERY nicely, two coats is more than enough. You know what it really reminds me of as far as finish? Chanel Paradoxal! It's creamy, dark, dusky and has the hidden shimmer. It's a grey Paradoxal!

China Glaze's new Electro Pop collection is really inspiring. The colors are bright, beautiful and just beg to be used together. I paired up four of them, along with another China Glaze favorite to make this abstract springy floral design.

Electric Beat, a dusky periwinkle, was used as the base, then I used Sweet Hook and Dance Baby to make the flowers. With Gaga for Green and Electric Pineapple from the Island Escape collection for the leaves. Then I used a black striping polish to do really unstructured outlines to just suggest the form of the flowers and leaves. Without the black it literally just looks like blobs of color, and the black just made it pop.

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The China Glaze Electro Pop collection is popping up here and there, and I found that my local CosmoProf has them due to hit the shelves on January 1, when their B2G1F promo starts, but I was able to snag four of them today. These are the ones I was looking forward to most! I've got both swatches and comparisons for you in this post. All four shades reminded me of other shades that are high up on my list of favorites, so I was anxious to see how they compared.

To see the swatches and comparisons, read on!

it's been a busy few weeks, and there hasn't been much time for nail art on myself, but I took off my Shellac Purple Purple (which was still looking mighty fine.) yesterday and was in the mood for a Halloween nail action. Even after a couple weeks of not doing my own nails, I feel out of practice so I opted for a simple Frankenstein and his Bride inspired nails. I used SinfulColors Innocent and a black nail art striper to do the "stitches" on all fingers except the ring which is China Glaze Haunting with a white striper used to resemble Frankenstein's Bride's awesome hair. Nothing too crazy, but a little something to get into the spirit of Halloween. I hopefully will get some time to do at least three or four more Halloween designs before it's too late.

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From the China Glaze Halloween 2011 Haunting set comes It's Alive, a gorgeous glittery deep mossy green. I was afraid at first when I saw promo photos for this set that maybe it would be a rehash of Zombie Zest from last year, but as usual China Glaze has delivered big time and brought us something even better. The base color on this is a jelly, so the glitter shines through beautifully, but it's very pigmented and even so it only takes two coats for full coverage. The glitter is half small, half large and they all appear to be round and all the glitter is silver. It's just gorgeous, in this girl's opinion. The only thing that could make Halloween better this year is if China Glaze had re-released Spellbound, as I totally could not find it ANYWHERE last year. I am sobbing... Anyway, make sure to click the photos for full-size!

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Well my first week of Nail Tech school is over, hence the lack of posting this week, and I'm pooped. I'm off on Sundays and Mondays so I'm looking forward to resting the next day or so. It's been incredibly fun so far, but I'm still tired. I'm looking forward to really getting used to my new schedule.

Because I'm now a beauty student, I can officially go into CosmoProf and I just feel like jumping for joy because of that. I've never even been in one, and for the last few years, every time I saw a CosmoProf I'd look at the door as if it were my nemesis and knew somewhere in my mind that one day I'd be walking through it, legit, with my own license. Well, right now it's just my student permit, but it's no less exciting. I went in today and got a ton of China Glaze polishes I'd been wanting including some Halloween ones! (!!!) and OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle which I wanted for the name but it's actually really pretty, too. I also got some hair stuff and I seriously want to go back ASAP for more. I could have stayed there all day... le sigh.

Anyway, this is my manicure right now. I used Essie Knockout Pout, Color Club Twiggie and Wet n Wild White On to colorblock the nails and then applied dots of contrasting color on each block and then made it into leopard with a Migi Nail Art Pen. It's topped with a coat of Seche Vite.

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OPI collections are completely off my radar anymore. My local Trade Secret shut down and you can't get them at transdesign.com or 8ty8beauty.com anymore, so I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to OPI because they're hard to find for me now. If there is a particularly special color, which seems to be rare anymore, I do make a point of searching for it or getting it on eBay. I ran into this one by accident at a salon, and they had several along with Steady as She Rose, which I should go back and get now that I think about it. I was very excited about finding it randomly after almost forgetting about it because it was the only one that really interested me. It's a washed out herby green with a touch of a clay grey to it. It's so unusual and pretty, so I'm happy I grabbed it. I don't have Essie Da Bush to compare it to, but I know that they're very similar. The application was alright; I needed three thin coats to cover to my satisfaction and I really enjoyed wearing it. It wore well for the whole two days I actually kept it on, but I can't vouch for it past that.

On a side note; looking at this picture I realize that I think it's finally time to take down my nail length a bit. They're starting to look a little scary, are they not? I always loved having short nails, but over the last couple months I've let them grow for two reasons: I don't keep my nails long very often and it's a fun change, and also I thought it would be cool to have them long for nail art reasons, but I think I may file them down soon. Just thinking out loud here.

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Zoya Yara - from the Smoke & Mirrors collection - $8 at zoya.com

Here's another Zoya beauty I got in my latest order. I often forget what beautiful polishes Zoya can make. I go a few months without paying much attention to anything but China Glaze and Color Club, sometimes Essie and OPI, but I have to remind myself to check out what's going on at Zoya. I have been missing out because so many gorgeous shades have been released since my last order. Yara is from one of the most recent collections and it's amazing. It's a fatigues green creme with some golden shards of large shimmer floating on the surface. It applies perfectly in two coats and the finish is just unbelievable. I love it!

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