Nfu-Oh #51 and OPI Jewel of India

Man, I love the Nfu-Ohs. But holy cow, they are next to impossible to remove. I did the whole soak a cotton pad in an acetone remover, hold it to the nail, and then remove. Works with most glittery polishes. The big hunks of glitter in my Nfu-Ohs stick to my nails through several swipes. It usually hangs around for a couple of manicures that follow.

OPI Samoan Sand and Color Club Nature Goddess with Konad m45

Another boring (to me) french style manicure. I am not very good at evenly applying this stripey french tip from m45. It's because I'm still dealing with broken & jagged nails from the moves.I knew the bosses were leaving, and was feeling a little free with the "natural, neutral" look. The gold double stripey looks like a flag or something. Me likey.

Essie Mademoiselle and ORLY It's Not Me, It's You with Konad m19

This is the most boring manicure I can think of. This is so not my bag. It's boring and it's so "bridesmaid in your college roommate's wedding". If this is your preference, more power to you. I don't mean to bag on your style. This is not my given style. But the bosses were in at work, and it was important to be as low-key with the nails as I could.

OPI It's Sheer Luck and Lincoln Park at Midnight

A damn near perfect combo of extremely pale and extremely dark. And both of these shimmer. I used two coats of It's Sheer Luck, and it lives up to its name. It is decidedly sheer. But these two seem to go quite nicely together.

Essie Greenport and China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

I was not expecting these to come out so similar. But both are extremely turquoise in reality. These came out lovely. I want to paint a wall in my living room the Greenport color, and get throw pillows in turquoise. Love it.

OPI Paint Your Moji-toes Red and China Glaze Frostbite with Konad m45 plate

I wasn't sure which red to use. Nor was I sure if I should use the silver special paint or the white. All in all, I'd say the red, white and blue with stars & stripes tips came out pretty cute.

OPI Can't-berra Without You and Essie Lacy, not Racy

The Can't-berra is utterly neutral. Lacy is so not. I wish it took less than three coats to get either of these opaque. I want a creamy, opaque pale color. I wonder if Rescue Beauty Lounge will have one?

OPI You're a Doll and Catherine the Grape

I like purple polish so much, I used another set of purple. Well, actually, you're a doll is more like a lavender with red glitter. It's from last year's holiday collection from OPI. Catherine is just lovely, with no excessively visible brush strokes. I like these two together. I also think that You're a Doll would look good with a red.

OPI Parlez Vous OPI and Suzi Says Da!

From the French 2008 and Russian 2007 collections, it's a vacation mani! Well, I was taking a vacation for the manis for a bit. I shredded two nails during the move, so please don't judge the condition of the digits. One of our big bosses is coming this week to do his quarterly visit, so I am experimenting with "natural or neutral colors", as per our employee manual. These are both neutral...right?

I'm sorry for my absence. I was moving. I only did my nails a couple of times while I was getting things together, because this is what happened:


I should've trimmed my talons beforehand. Now, I have eight nails that are the same length and two that are wicked short. You should read that in a Boston accent. Wicked shahwt.

I'll get some pics and updates together. Til then...

OPI Cha-Ching Cherry, Essie Mademoiselle and China Glaze Golden Enchantment

I closed my eyes, and reached into my disorganized box of beauty and grabbed two polishes. The Essie and the OPI. I chose the golden sparkles to make it spangly, so it would cheer me up. Who doesn't love spangly, sparkly nails?

OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue and China Glaze Pink Voltage

So neon. So navy. So much <3.

posts will probably be on the short side this week. I am moving. In two days. *gulp*

Lancome Blind Date and China Glaze Black Diamond with Konad m45

First up, I'd like to remind you that Kathleen at OC Nail Art is all kinds of awesome. Coupons. International shipping. All the Konad stuff you could ask for (I got a Coraline kit as a moving present for my about-to-be-former-roommate. Shh. Don't tell her). And after speaking with her on the phone, I discovered that not only is her online store awesome, but so is she. She's a fire captain, y'all, and was out saving people's houses last week in the California fires. Not only does she supply nail art, but she does all she can in a job that saves not just lives, but homes, too. Go buy something from her, would ya? Thanks.

So, when I was Ebaying around, looking for the Le Magnetique, I accidentally bought this pink. Not really my bag, per se, but I wanted to test it out, nonetheless. Good formula, good coverage...not awful at all. Were it a darker shade, I would probably adore it.

I used Blind Date on the ring finger with the Konad, rather than a special paint, just to see what would happen. It was barely visible in real life, and I can't really see at all in the picture.

OPI by Sephora Le Beau and Color Club French Tip

Happy Mother's Day, mom! I finally painted my nails a "normal color", just for you. These were also my high school colors. If I had a tiger Konad, I would have used it, too. Go Katy Tigers! Heh.

The dots and the bows with dots match each other nicely, but the Konad special polish red is more yellow than the Le Beau, so they don't really match that well, which is killing me. It's all just about making it as pretty as possible.

China Glaze Platinum Silver and Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle

Yes, again. Because here's why: Not too long ago, Chanel nail polishes and I broke up. See, for the longest time, Vamp was my most beloved, my most favoritest of all time polish. I started wearing it in 1995, when I was a young lass who still got acrylic nails. It was expensive nail polish, but so worth it to me. Because that beautiful blackish purple was just right up my alley. I loved it, and I bought many a bottle. This was back in my nascent nail obsessed days, so I didn't know about base coats or top coats or not to smother my own sad little nails with noxious chemicals. I've always wanted pretty hands and nails. My grandmother's hands were feminine, and never without polish (almost always red). My mom's nails are long, strong and lovely. My own hands? I could palm a basketball, and until I started painting my nails daily, never once had all ten nails long at the same time.

I'm not sure when Chanel changed their formula, but it was after I'd moved to Dallas. Because I stopped buying Vamp. I still got my nails done, but I'd always choose an OPI or occasionally, an Essie.

And then, in 2006, Chanel released a polish that seemed to finally make it okay to adore and proudly rock very dark nails: Black Satin. I had to drive over to Fort Worth to get mine because it was all sold out everywhere in Dallas. And then, after getting not one, but two bottles of Black Satin, it occurred to me why I'd left Vamp by the wayside. Chanel's formula sucks. The polish chips, oftentimes right away. I use strong, shiny topcoats, and still the Chanel always chips. And I figure, if you're going to charge me $18 per bottle, then your polish ought to have a decent formula.

It was on Beauty Addict, I think, where I first read about Rescue Beauty Lounge. It was a picture of Recycle, and I thought "holy cow, that's gorgeous! I don't mind spending good money for good products, so I thought "I'll buy a bottle of that, and if I love it, I will wear it all the time." So, the Recycle came. And the formula is amazing, it's fairly opaque in the first coat, and completely by the second coat. They are also big three free. Very soon after getting Recycle, I ordered Concrete Jungle, which is a matte soft grey. I absolutely adore my RBL.

The point of all this is that Chanel and Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polishes are the same price. I would not hesitate to recommend buying an RBL polish. In fact, I have. Repeatedly. I currently have only five of them: Recycle, Concrete Jungle, Starfish Patrick, Bruise and Teal. But I use them often, and love them deeply. And Recycle remains my favorite all time polish.

That was a lot of jabber to justify today's Dallas Mavs mani, with green & silver toes to match.

OPI Purple With a Purpose and China Glaze Entoruage

Wow, I love how bright Entourage is. I just love the beautiful shimmer and opaque brilliance of it. And these two seem bright enough and shimmery enough to be a nice match.





I have outgrown my nail polish storage unit. It's an old train case, and I have so many polishes, there are two layers going on in there. It makes it hard to get organized, as they're all jumbled up. It also upsets my slight OCD streak. I need to get something so that I can get them all together by brand, color, and/or name.

OPI I'm Fondue of You and Just Groovy with China Glaze Golden Enchantment

I like powder blue with brown, but the Just Groovy is a little too bright and matte to go with the golden undertones in the Fondue, which is just a lovely brown. So, I added the golden glittery goodness of Golden Enchantment.

I'm considering Konad options.

But then again, maybe I won't.

OPI Yellin' For Watermelon and Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle with Konad m44

Yes, I *did* just use this green yesterday. It's definitely one of the top five polishes I use. I could search to see just how often I have used it since I started this experiment, but I'm lazy.

I wish I had a more teardrop shape for the seeds, because I was obviously going for a watermelon with this one. I mean, the OPI has watermelon in its name, fer cryin' out loud.

OPI Kennebunk-port and Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle with Konad m28 and m45

I wanted to the colors of the Mexican flag to celebrate the Mexican Independence holiday o'Corona. It's also christmas colors, so whaddya gonna do. I used the eagle from m38, since there's an eagle on Meh-hee-coe's flag, oh so topical.

There is also a coat of China Glaze's Golden Enchantment on the pigs, and also on the ring fingernails.

China Glaze Frostbite and Color Club It's My Soiree with Konad m44 and m7

Black and blue. I don't know what to call the ring finger design. Curlie cues with a buttonesque center.

China Glaze Bahamian Escape and Rescue Beauty Lounge Concrete Jungle with Konad m44 tips

I'm on a blue kick this week. Yes, I am counting RBL's Teal as a blue.

I used the UPC-esque stripey tips on this one. I wanted to try silver, but I was afraid it wouldn't show up on the perfectly matte and creamy grey that is Concrete Jungle. That bottle is starting to get a little low. I may have to make a RBL order soon.

Essie Lacy, Not Racy and Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal, with Konad plate M7

once again, there is nothing new about these two polishes. But that is not to say they're not very pretty. I love the creamy, dark polishes. These are my classics. My no matter the season or the reason polishes. I picked some swirly design from the Konad M7 plate. I will wear some swirly, silver earrings tonight to match.

OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue and Finger Paints Blank Canvas with China Glaze Golden Enchantment holo

Mmm, navy and nude. I don't care about seasons or what's hip. Only because I cannot afford to buy every single collection. Were I wealthy, I would own all the newest collections from all my faves. I would have so many neons from China Glaze and glitters from RBL and all the Konads.

These are 2.5 oldies but goodies. The glitter on the nude makes it seem very bright IRL, which I like.