China Glaze "Lifesaver" (A.K.A. a flower from home on my nails)

Just to be clear, I hate orange nail polish. I actually hate the color orange. But I don’t feel like it’s fair to call lifesaver an orange nail polish, because it’s the EXACT SAME COLOR as a California poppy, a blast from my home state. I didn’t want to take it off for that reason. It’s muted but still beautiful. It’s a calm but bold color. Like a poppy.
In case you hadn’t picked up on it, poppies are my second favorite flower (next to sunflowers) and hopefully I’ll be posting a picture of my huge tattoo of a California poppy on my back.
The formula on this was delightful. After one coat it was opaque, but I’ve never really been a one coater. I enjoy two whole beautiful coats. And this one gives me two whole coats of beauty on this one. It’s a little thin, and I hate the China Glaze brush, but it’s worth it.


It’s not a very springy color shiny, but combined with a mattifying top coat it looks cheery and springy. And I feel like an idiot because I have lost my pictures of it, but I put “Lightning Bolt” on top of it, and it looked like a dreamsicle. I’ll have to do it again to post a picture.

And just an update about the crackles, they look SO AWESOME matte. Right now, as I’m typing my nails look like dinosaur eggs, because I have sea spray on under cracked concrete. And it’s matte. And beauteous. And I want to wear crackle all the time.
On a side note, I’m sorry that I haven’t been up on posts, my life is cacophonous.
I will figure it out.
Love,
Frida

China Glaze "Recycle" (A.K.A. dont-gotta-think-gray)

First of all, Cosmetic Cupcake is having a great big giveaway! here's the link! http://cosmeticcupcake.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-big-birthday-giveaway.html

So is Scandalously polished! at http://www.scandalouslypolished.com/2011/02/giveawayyyyy.html

these are two of my favorite blogs, you should check them out!

“Recycle” is one of my favorite grays in my collection. It is a great everyday gray, darker than most medium gray’s I’ve come across. It is definitely a neutral gray, not really leaning in any particular direction. But it lives up to the slightly industrial name of “Recycle.” It reminds me of the color of a trash bin, or a building. Sort of like light asphalt.
I really do love this color, I’m sorry if I can’t make anything sound positive this morning. I woke up angry at all the people who had wronged me in my dreams last night. Does that ever happen to you, readers? It’s weird, because you know that they didn’t do anything to you, but you can’t help feeling like they killed your puppy. (Or whatever else the dream was about)
Well, that’s about it, this is a pretty simple nail polish. It’s just GRAY, all the WAY.
Here are the pictures! Oh! And follow me on Google Friend Connect over there →
Once I get to 20 followers I’ll have a giveaway! And so on and so forth! And I don’t want to give it away, but it’s a very beautiful polish, that I’ve RAVED about in the past.
On to the pictures!



love, Frida

OPI "Cuckoo For This Color" (A.K.A. why do i like you?)

Sorry I’ve been gone for so long, I’ve had a really busy life recently, lots of topsy-turvy-ing (including SEVEN HOURS of math homework) but I’m back!
And I’m back with a much loved color that by all accountsI should hate. Because I hate shimmer. And I hate teal. And I hate shimmer. Did I already say that? A shimmer has to be ridiculously special for me to like it.
And this really isn’t that special.
But for some reason, I sorta like it.
Onto the color, “Cuckoo For This Color” is a dark green leaning teal base chock full of light blue leaning teal shimmer and the occasional gold or silver speck. The formula isn’t exactly my cup of tea, in fact it’s sorta goopy and sad, but the color is enchanting, oddly.
Here are them pretty pictures!

I also just went on a huge nail polish shopping binge, so I will be updating with a haul post, and lots of Anchors away and Texas fun!

love,

Frida

OPI Absolutely Alice (A.K.A. OMG AUGHmmmmhmmm yeah)

There is no getting around it, this nail polish is fantastically life changingly beautiful. I can’t even handle it! The thing that makes “Absolutely Alice” so wonderful is that it is not just glitter. Well, it is just glitter, but it’s so beautiful that it doesn’t seem like it. It seems like this beautiful top coat on top of beautifully shimmery nail polish. Lets get down into it. It’s bright but still wearable blue based blue and gold glitter. The gold glitter is interspersed with just enough rarity that it gives the impression of floating. It has a flatness (in a good way) so that it is not even handle-ably wearable and beautiful and amazing. It’s the kind of nail polish that causes you to get distracted in the middle of class, meetings, writing… of course it is gritty (though not as much as most glitters, a nice coat of Seche fixes that immediately) and chips quite easily (though it does not perform the surprise WHOLE FINGER DISSAPEARING thing that the burlesque polishes from OPI do.) but it’s so worth it. Enough! On to the pictures:



 

Love,

Frida

China Glaze "Calypso Blue" (A.K.A. the class-monster)

I got a huge Transdesign haul the other day, and the ration of blues to EVERYTHING ELSE evidences my exploration of my possible love for blues.

This polish affirmed my love, and will take me to the next level of my obsession.

This is China Glaze "Calypso Blue." Like Calypso (the nymph) in mythology, this polish brought me to it fairly innocently, but trapped me inside of it (not for seven years, but who's going to nitpick? not me!). It's so pretty. In the sunlight (which didn't exist in my life while I was taking these pictures) it's a dusty navy blue creme, that reminds me of these awesome corduroy pants that I had as a kid. The good thing about it, though, is that even in the lack of light, it doesn't turn completely black, it still has some light to it. I put in some flash photos so you can see the base color, even though it is never (AND I EMPHASIZE NEVER) that color. It's a beautiful polish. And I have to apologize for the chipping and tipwear, I've had this on for three days (GASP! I think that this is the longest I've worn one color of nail polish since the summer!!!!)

So here are the gorgy pictures!



love,

Frida

Happy New Years! (time to kill your eyes with glitter)

Happy New
Years! This has been a great year! so... to celebrate I
am going to deliver the death of all my readers eyes in glitter
form. Here it is: Eyeko "Chi Chi Polish" with China Glaze "Solar
Flare" (my new favorite nail polish, BY THE WAY) on top of it.
"Chi Chi Polish" is
tiny (but not micro, think the width of a pin) robust dusty pale pink
glitter in a slightly murky pinkish beige sheer base. I wanted so
badly to be overwhelmed with love for this polish, but found myself
liking a close dupe (Milani Disco Lights) which i got for my best
friend better. The description of the base as murky is not an
exaggeration, sadly. It makes it so that it's opaque, but I t also
makes it less sparkly and exciting. I also found myself suffering
from gaping bald spots, which aren't noticeable while doing the
polish (I have no idea why. maybe my eyes just don't work). So
wholly, I am underwhelmed and will swap this polish away at the
next possible chance. China Glaze "Solar Flare," on the other hand,
is right up my short and well lighted alley. It's HUGE HEXAGONAL
GOLDEN GLITTER. yes, let me repeat that. HUGE. HEXAGONAL. GOLDEN.
GLITTER. I will probably post a picture heavy post with pictures of
this topcoat on top of EVERY NAIL
POLISH IN EXISTENCE because that's what I've been putting
it on. It makes anything look classy and festive. not so much this
manicure, since its new years and therefore by definition not
classy (lets just say that my dress has less dress than sequins,
and less sequins than skin), but it's still fun and exciting,
without being overwhelming! it's my new love, and may be the second
polish in my collection that I need to buy a backup for. Because
honestly, these beautiful flakes of golden glitter are the loves of
my life. However, like most polishes of this sort, the glitters
drag towards the end of your nail, and require placement. They're
also hell if they hang off your nail or cuticle, even a widdle bit.
Also, when it comes to removal they become fortresses of unmovable
nail polish, acting like impenetrable hats for the nail polish that
you want to remove. (I just imagined all my nail polishes with
little golden party hats, BY THE WAY) But the positives so far
outweigh the negatives that its silly not to love it with all my
heart and soul. oh! and i have the best best friend on earth. Miss
amazingest amazing ever got me... PERPLEX! yes, Perplex. In in all
its glory (and it has a lot of glory, if I may say so myself). I
will post pictures soon, so that others can share in my "can't stop
staring at my nails because nothing else on earth could measure up"
joy. OH yeah! and she's the double best because she gave me Orly
"Space Cadet" as well, which makes me feel like Ke$ha. And who the
hell doesn't want to feel like Ke$ha every once in a while? I
mean... you get to wake up in the morning and feel like P-Diddy. I
secretly love Ke$ha so much. Happy New Year! Love, Frida

Zoya- "Shawn" (a.k.a. the green queen)

Sorry I’ve been absent for a while, I was waiting for TEN hours in the Las Vegas airport, when I should have ha to wait at most 30 minutes. And since then I’ve been recovering. It was terrible, by the way. To break me out of my slump, here is one of my favorite nail polishes ever. I consider her to be the queen of green crèmes. I think that I can at least partially testify to this seeing as I have fairly considerable collection of green crèmes. This is she… Zoya “Shawn” A beautiful, slightly (not to the baby puke level at all, just to a some energy) yellow slightly dusty medium green. It reminds me of the color of this type of plant that is in Golden Gate Park near some pond that I used to visit with my parents. This nail polish is definitely classy but in no way subdue. It shines with a refinement and passion that must be experienced. This is one of the only two polishes of which I have backup bottle (though I may need another one soon, as Charla may join the ranks of Shawn and Kelly) Here are the beauties!







Love,
Frida

Mac - Jade Dragon

Happy Hanukkah all! I swapped away for this beauty on MUA, checked my mailbox anxiously awaiting its appearance. And I waited. And waited. AND THEN IT APPEARED!!!

Oh lord it’s a beauty.

A breathtaking decalibrating beauty.

Jade Dragon is a forest green with a tinge of blue, and blue shimmer inside of it. Sadly it was snowing while I wore it, so I couldn’t see as much of the shimmer as I would have liked. But it is quite a beauty anyways. I got no end of compliments on this!

I love it!

Here are the pictures for your visual stimulation ;)



the only problem was that EVEN WITH A BASECOAT it stained my nail beyond all understanding! so i hate to show you this, but...



gross, right? that's right after i removed it. I guess the polish was just so good that it stained not just my nails, but my soul. CHEESY!

Overall diagnosis? Probably one of my new favorite every day nail polishes!

Love,

Frida

Color Club "Vintage Couture" (A.K.A. 50's Barbie Pink)

I bought this nail polish on a whim, but I was surprised that I loved it so much! It's one of them from my haul yesterday! It’s the only pastel that I’ve found that is satisfactorily opaque! HOWEVER that isn’t really saying that much, seeing as pastels are RIDONCULOUSLY hard to work with! How does that happen? Oh well. Even with this amazingly opaque polish there were still little sheer spots (like you can see on my middle finger, near the cuticle).

But onto the color!

This color makes me feel like ballerina Barbie. It’s a pastel pink, without being out of control pale. It still has that glint of passionate pink in it! It’s not boring at all. It’s called “Vintage Couture” and I can feel the vintage vibe, but not so much the couture. When I wear this with my pink polka dot circle skirt I feel like a 15 year old in the fifties. Which I love. But it’s far more of a fun color than a classy color. It make me feel young, not experienced. Point is, I love it!

Here are the pictures:





 

Love, Frida

 

And last but not least... I HAVE A DISEASE!

I have 78 polishes not counting top or bottom coats. Nuff said. Sorry about the gross messy desk.

Goodnight and goodluck,

Love,

Frida

HULK LIKE GREEN NAIL POLISH TO MATCH SKIN

Two parts to this post:

First part is entitled “HAUL HAUL HAUL”

I got new polishes for ma fangles!



From left to right:

Essie – Smoking Hot

Essie – Going Incognito

OPI – Absolutely Alice (I CANT WAIT TO WEAR THIS!!!)

OPI – Here Today Aragon Tomorrow

OPI – Cuckoo for this Color

OPI – Glow Up Already!

SpaRitual – Yes, I Can

SpaRitual – Living In The Moment

Zoya – Crystal

Zoya – Edyta

Zoya – Envy

Color Club – Vintage Couture (I’m wearing this right now)

Color Club – Untamed Luxury

Orly – It’s Not Rocket Science

Orly – Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (accidental mini!)

So exciting! Aren’t they BOOTIFUL!

And then, because I got so many greens, I did a skittles manicure, with green crèmes on the left, and green glitters (which was an epic fail, that smudged all over me and did not include my new burlesque, because I want to wait to do a full manicure of it!)

So…

Without further ado…

MY GREEN SKITTLES:





From left to right

OPI – Here Today Aragon Tomorrow

Zoya – Envy

(These two are perfect dupes after two coats. I’m swapping away one of them.)

Zoya – Shawn (not new, but I wanted to compare to “Yes, I Can”)

SpaRitual – Yes, I Can

Essie – Going Incognito

Then the glitters!



From pinky

Zoya – Edyta

Orly – It’s Not Rocket Science

Orly – Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

Color Club – Untamed Luxury

I’m sorry these are so messy; they were ridiculous, and all over my hands! Too much to handle!

almost to the end of my polipology (see what i did there? mixed polish and apology? clever eh?)

love,

Frida

Sally Hansen "Gunmetal"

Sorry that I haven’t been posting, I’ve been on break for the past week. But today I will make it up to you! I’ll even save the best (and most terrifying) for last! But to save the best for last I have to start with the worst. Here’s one of the nail polishes I bought on a whim back home in SF, and then ended up being TOTALLY UNDERWHELME by. Side note: whenever I use the words overwhelmed or underwhelmed I think of that scene in “10 Things I Hate About You” where Chastity says: “I know you can be overwhelmed, and underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?” And Bianca replies: “I think you can in Europe!”   Oh lordy I love that movie.   Sorry for the tangent. Here’s the underwhelming nail polish.



Sorry for the terrible picture, I couldn't wait to get this off of me.

I am not even whelmed :(

this is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Gunmetal." enjoy

Zoya "Charla"

Oh, Zoya how I love thee! What follows here is my favorite Zoya polish, Charla.  I know, I know, it’s not unique, it is a dupe of Orly’s Haley’s Comet. But I’ve seen both of them, and maybe it’s just me, but I feel like Charla has a little bit more spirit and love to it than Haley’s Comet. I’m  a strong believer in the SOUL of a nail polish,  as odd as that sounds.  Charla has the soul of a mermaid disco dancer living un-anachronistically in 2010. It’s both classic and obscenely modern (in a good way). The multidimensionality of this polish doesn’t really transfer in pictures, and there is no possible way that I could get all of the different ways that this looks, because just about every time that I look down (especially now as I’m typing on an airplane. For some reason airplane light brings out an almost champagne like quality in Charla) Charla is something different. I love it. SO, enough crazy talk about the soul of this amazing polish. Let’s get to the nitty-gritty.

IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL!





It’s main colors are blue and teal. There are little electric blue sparkles. There is a dark blue base. Teal and silver foil bits are almost but not totally solid. These bits become greenish in some lights. Not green-green, but light, silver greeny teal. I’m staring at it on my fingers right now, and it’s just so beautiful.

Wow, I’m really gushing. Here’s a close-up.

Lastly, it’s beautiful matte too.



Like beautiful frosted glass. Multidimensional frosted glass.

Gaaaah, can you tell I’m in love?

Love,

Frida

 

Patience is a virtue (that i do not posses)

So, I was walking around the downtown of my hometown, thinking about green nail polish, and how strongly I feel about it. And then, what appear before me but a walgreens! (or maybe I walked two blocks out of my way to find it... Anyways! Haha) of course I found myself in the nail polish aisle, where what would be happening other than a sale of sinful colors! And what kind of nail polish addict would I be if I didn't snatch some up right there and then! And then of course pick up some sally Hansen just to round it out! And as this post from the comfort of my iPhone may suggest, I am impatient and swatches them right here on San Francisco public transportation! So here are the three beauties in my mini drug store haul! From left to right: sinful colors show me the way, sinful colors nail junkie, Sally hansen gunmetal.

Essie "Merino Cool"

Here, as a parting gift before I get on a flight and head HOOOOOOOOME for thanksgiving is one of my favorite nail polishes. This is such  perfect nail polish. It’s  great fall color, with such a great formula. This polish barely need explanation. It’s a greige purple that really takes my breath away! I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.





Love,

Frida

Franken "Royal Flush"

I have been on a Franken streak! This was really my first one, just a little bit off polish color changing, and then glitter. It makes me feel like a queen. In its natural state its matte, but with a topcoat, it’s pretty too. Sorry for the terrible picture with the topcoat, my boyfriend was knocking at the door, rushing me to go gorge myself on pizza.

Here’s some matte photos:





Here it is nice and shiny (and nice and blurry :(  )





My favorite thing about this polish is that the gold glitter layers so prettily!

 

Have a good weekend!

Love,

Frida