wanted it, bought it, swatched it, hated it, returned it

Did you read the title of this post? It sums up my feelings on this polish.

Do you ever hear someone talking about a polish or see a swatch of it and want it really badly, but then hate it when you actually buy it?
It happened to me with Milani's Rad Purple from the neon line.
Kayla Shevonne mentioned it in a recent post and I figured now was the time to show you this polish so I could warn everyone about it. I swatched it ages ago but didn't post it because I hate it so much!

Bleh. Yuck.
As you can see, Rad Purple is not very rad and nor is it very purple. Nor is it neon.
It is sheer, burgundy, dark, and dries semi-matte. 4 coats.
There is not one thing I like about it.

Don't let the bottle fool you - the bottles have a wrap around them, hiding the true color. I will never understand why.

I hated it so much that I actually returned it to the store and exchanged it the same day that I swatched it.
Do you ladies have any experiences like this one? Let me know so I stay away from those polishes too!

Remember yesterday when I begged for some nail mail? I got some very exciting nail mail. :)

This was from the lovely Inge of PolishSis. Her blog was one of the first blogs I started reading! Long before I had my own!
So when she contacted me for a swap I was delighted. And even more delighted when I got the goodies!
I'll have a more detailed post when I swatch them. I plan on swatching them on Thursday!
Now... If only my other 15 packages would come... heh. (Don't worry, they aren't all polish.)

i wanna see your peacock!

Hi guys!
I should not have named that last peacock post after the Katy Perry song because the nails I am going to show you today are much more deserving of the name!

In fact, these nails were inspired by the outfit Katy wore when she performed Peacock!
No more rambling, here are the nails.

I think this could be my best gradient ever.
I did this look for the Monday Nail Art Challenge on Polish-aholics Anonymous.
The theme was sponging, and I knew I had to knock it out of the park considering I wrote the book tutorial on gradients! ;)

Here's a picture of Katy for reference.

My picture is really bad so it's hard to really see the colors, but it was all jewel-toned purple, blue, and green. So pretty.

I took off my accent nails from yesterday and repainted them in Orly - Frolic.
Using the method from my gradient tutorial I began sponging China Glaze - Shower Together down from the tip.
On top of that I sponged on Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Going Green. I love using a polish with a small amount of shimmer as the last color in a gradient, it really makes it prettier!

I stamped over it using an image from Bundle Monster BM-210, with Wet N Wild - Black Creme.
Thick coat of Seche Vite to even it all out, and there you have it!

I'm so pleased with these!
Know what would make me more pleased? Nail mail.
Please, mailman, bring me some nail mail today.

rebecca's new favorite manicure! featuring Orly - Frolic

Yes you read the title right! I have a new favorite manicure.
Sometimes you put a polish on your nails and you never want to take it off. That happened to me with Orly's Frolic.

Frolic is from the new Happy Go Lucky collection for the back to school season.
I wasn't planning on getting any colors from the collection because they seemed a bit too unoriginal, but when I saw this one in person I knew it was special.
However I hate the price! This was 5.99 even with the PRO discount at Sally's! All their prices have gone up! I used to get Orly for 3.99 with the pro card. Yuck.
But this polish ended up being so awesome that I don't care about the price.

1 coat. ONE! Such a great formula. Thick, but not hard to work with. Easy to apply. I did not need to clean up at all because it stays right where you want it!
Quite difficult to photograph but the above photo is dead-on on my screen. I'm holding my nails up to it to verify!
This has gone right up into my favorite polishes ever. Buy this polish. 

Inaccurate colors but this shows you that it is unlike any other purple I own. And if you know me, you know I own a lot of purple.
I originally thought it was going to be a lot like China Glaze Spontaneous after seeing promo pics, but Spontaneous is #3 on the wheel - totally different. (Keep in mind, neither of the colors are accurate in the photo, but it does show that they are very different shades.)

So then I started thinking of what I could do to jazz up this manicure. And I decided to grab some glitter.

I added OPI - Teenage Dream and I fell even more in love with these nails.
Teenage Dream did not alter the color of Frolic as it appears in the pictures.

I used my iPhone to try and get the right color and it is also pretty close - the nails with Teenage Dream are most representative of the true color.

So, this was quickly becoming so awesome that I had to add my favorite stamp image to make it even better.

Perfect.

Bow from Konad m59, stamped with Wet N Wild Black Creme. 3mm purple rhinestone added for extra bling. :)
I wish I could have a smaller version of this image so that it could fit on my other nails! The smaller bow image Konad has is just not as pleasing as this one.

iPhone pics just make it look so vibrant and awesome!

Official favorite nails of 2011 thus far!
What do you guys think?
:)

OPI swatch spam!

Good afternoon! I'm still totally screwed up from vacation - I keep sleeping past noon! It's really unlike me.
So even though I said "good afternoon" it feels like "good morning" for me... Haha!

During my last swatch-a-thon, I swatched almost all of the remainder of my OPI polishes, and I'm going to show you all but 4 of them today.

Let's start with my favorite OPI creme.

OPI - Dim Sum Plum. This is from the Hong Kong collection. 2 coats of awesome pink! It's unlike any other pink in my collection, it is deeper and richer, but still bright and fun!

OPI - Jade Is The New Black. Also from the Hong Kong collection, also a favorite of mine, also 2 coats, also a unique color in my collection. Love it!

OPI - Sti Teal We Drop. From the Swiss collection. 2 coats. Not very teal as the name suggests - more of a navy. Very pretty color! For some reason this is one of my go-to colors when I have short nails. I think it looks awesome on shorties!

OPI - You Don't Know Jacques! One of the best OPI names I think! Also one of their most popular colors. This is one of those things I bought because I felt my collection needed a shade like this. Since buying this I ended up with a bunch of similar ones and I really don't need them all, because this is not something I would wear often. (Actually, I don't think I've worn it yet.)
It is quite flattering and very work/interview appropriate, but right now I don't need that sort of color! I believe this is 3 coats.
Thankfully, I did get this on sale! I got this, and the next polish I'll show you, with a cosmetic bag, for $15! Good deal.

OPI - OPI Ink. Most people don't realize that this is actually called "OPI Ink." and not just Ink! I'm pretty sure it's a play on "inc" which is short for incorporated. OPI Inc. OPI Ink. Get it?
OPI classifies it as blue but I think it is more of a purple, however my first photo does not show that.
Very deep very shimmery purple/blue.
I wanted this color because I had heard it was a dupe for OPI - Nevermore - I received a mini bottle of Nevermore for Christmas and hated that I only had 3.5mL of it!

See? Dupes! Nevermore came out for Halloween last year. Three coats of each:

This shows the purple better. Can you see a difference? I honestly can't remember which is which.

That photo shows the sort of duo-chrome effect they have going on.
Gorgeous color but I don't really wear such dark colors anymore!

OPI - Conquistadorable Color. This is one of those I-bought-this-color-just-for-the-name polishes. The name is just too cute. I have a thing for Spanish even though I can't speak more than a few choice sentences. (And I can count to 100!)
I don't like red but I think this is a pretty flattering shade of red. A bit more orange-toned than others I have but still red. One coat!

There you have it! Almost all of my OPI's!
Interested in seeing my other ones? Here are the rest of them:
Absolutely Alice
Black Shatter
Bring On The Bling
DS Coronation
DS Original
Do You Think I'm Tex-y?
Extra-Va-Va-Ganza
Glow Up Already
Mad as a Hatter
Mermaid's Tears
No Spain No Gain
Planks a Lot (mini)
Show It and Glow It
Silver Shatter
Simmer and Shimmer
Skull and Glossbones (mini)
Sparkle-icious
Sparrow Me The Drama (mini)
Stranger Tides (mini)
Teenage Dream
What's With The Cattitude?
Yoga-ta Get This Blue

I have yet to show you DS Extravagance, and I got DS Signature in the mail from Tara yesterday!

Holoooooo. Excuse the crappy iPhone photo.
(Spot the cat! My mom likes tissue boxes with cats on them...)

Oh, and I forgot to do a proper swatch of Last Friday night and I recently got Turquoise Shatter.
So look out for my remaining OPI's soon!

1000 followers!

Hi guys! I just broke 1000 followers!
I'm so happy. Thank you everyone for following me!

I've been blogging for less than 6 months - I can't believe how fast my blog has grown!
I knew I could make a good contribution to the nail blog world, and I'm so happy to be spending a little bit of every day writing and polishing for you guys.
It has become such a big part of my life, and I have met so many amazing people. Starting this blog was one of the best things I ever did!
(But my bank account weeps! Haha!)

So thanks again, everyone! You all mean so much to me.
And to the people who read my blog without actually following, I love you too!

I plan on celebrating this milestone with a giveaway, but it won't be happening just yet. I need to figure out the details. But you will see something from me in the future!