I didn't plan to do the comparison this quick, but last night in Zumba class, I somehow ruined the polish on my right index finger and had to remove it. So it was convenient that I grabbed a few similar colour and compared :)
Here are the colours I have in the taupe family. This first pic is just to show you the bottle colours and the order that they go on my nails, not too much of the colours themselves.
From L-R:
- Orly Prince Charming (on pinkie)
- Joe Fresh Storm (on ring finger)
- Rimmel Pro Steel Grey (on middle finger), and
- Sally Hansen Complete Salon Commander in Chic (on index finger).
What is your guess/ verdict just with this pic?
Below is the close-up on the nails. Ignore the uneven nail length, I'm still recovering from the split last time..JPG)
Obivously Prince Charming is darker than the other 3 and therefore out of this game.
Among the rest, I would say Commander in Chic is just a tiny bit darker, but quite unnoticeable IRL. I have to say the difference is very minimal even though they have different colour tints underneath the taupe. Once on the nails, maybe some of you nail experts can tell but I can't.
Application wise, the wide brush of Commander in Chic and Steel Grey certainly wins, but like I said, I don't have problems with the smaller brush, as I have had enough practice :) Opacity wise, Storm and Prince Charming win. Lol, this is a fun game where everybody wins, isn't it?
More pictures with different lightings.
If you notice the difference, which one is your favorite?
Exciting news: The Joe Fresh Fall nail polish has arrived this weekend, at least at my Superstore. Still the same deal 3 for CAD10 or CAD4 each. The bottles are tiny (6ml), which put them around the same price range as medium drugstore nail polish.
I have been waiting impatiently for the nail polish, after seeing the Fall eyeshadows in store a week or two ago.
Among the 8 shades, I got the 3 that I'm most interested in, from L-R: Storm, Fog and Jade.
There's a matte top coat that might be fun to test out too, but I have a pile of Claire's matte top coat already, don't think I need more.
Have you seen the new shades? Which one is your favorite?
Time to pick a colour to paint my nails for work, and it is Joe Fresh Storm.
Same concept of a mushroom colour that lots of brands have been introducing, but it doesn't stop me from getting Storm. And it doesn't disappoint.
Application is smooth, the colour is opaque in 2 coats, no streaking/ bubbling. I'm getting used to the small round cap, so maneuvering the brush isn't an issue either.
Storm isn't just another mushroom nail polish, as it has a hint of purple shining through, which is brought out a bit too much by the flash. It's a little darker taupe IRL, but lovely nonetheless.
I might do a comparison among the taupe/ brown shades I have (sans Chanel Particuliere and China Glaze Channelesque, lol), just out of curiosity. I might have too many of them in the same colour family already, but as fall comes around, colours like this would sure be in style.
Continue with my stash series - this is Orly, the later discovered brand (to me) but a favorite nonetheless.
These sets are what started me with the brand a while back. I was visitting the bf's parents during Christmas time and there was a Sally in town (at the time we didn't have Sally in Halifax yet).
So I walked in the store for the very first time and saw them near the door:
- Enchanted Duo on the left, with Prima Gloss and Enchanted Forest
- Sparkle Kit on the right, with Star Spangled and Tiara.
Perfect for Christmas, weren't they?
From the Sweet collection, I have 3 shades: Lemonade, Gumdrop and Pixi Stix. Later, I got Lollipop from a blog sale, but it didn't come with the little lipgloss on the side, so I didn't include it in the picture.
Have any of you tried the lipglosses yet? They look so cute, I couldn't bring myself to use them :)
I'm missing Cotton Candy and Snowcone, but that's ok. At the time the collection came out, pastel was so in, but I didn't want to haul the whole thing, lol.
And the rest of the stash:
On the left:
- First row, from L-R: Rage, Luxe (from Foil FX collection), Shining Star and Glitz.
- Second row, the mattes: Iron Butterfly, Glam Rock, Solid Gold, Matte Vinyl and Blue Suede.
On the right:
- First row: Fantasea, Alabaster Verve and Petit Four.
- Second row: Poison Apple, Merlot Mist, Charged Up and Prince Charming.
This stash will grow a bit more with the release of the highly anticipated Cosmic FX collection in September. As they'd be $10 a bottle retail, I don't think I'll get them from Sally unless there is a crazy sale for the month. Words are Transdesign already has them for $5 each, so etailer will be the way to go. I'll have to pull resources in the US for shipping on this one, lol. Are you excited for fall collections?
It has been a while since I last post a brand in my stash. Let's talk Milani, shall we?
I love this brand for both makeup and nail polish, especially with their LE collections. Here in Canada we don't have the luxury of having this brand widely available at our fingertips. I am fortunate to be able to find them at Lawtons, but I know lots of you aren't. And at Lawtons, pricing isn't as great as that in the US. Anyway, here are what I have.
Milani 3D Holographic LE collection.
First row: Hi-Tech, Cyberspace and 3D.
Second row: HD, Hi-Res and Digital.
As you have heard me mention in a few NOTDs with these colours, the holo isn't in-your-face kind of effect but is enough to be gorgeous. The colour range satifies most people - you can always find a shade or two that you like among them.
They are awesome in the sun, and I even wore them to work a few times. Love!
First row: Milani Neon LE collection - Pink Hottie, Rad Purple and Totally 80's.
Second row: Milani Totally Cool (the best shade from the regular line, IMO), Juicy Glo, Pink Out Loud and Cool Vibe.
I missed out on their Black Magic collection for Halloween last year, as it never made it here. Cherry Culture shipping is expensive for just a few bottles, so I didn't buy from them. Do you think they'll have another cool collection for this Halloween?
Lawtons hasn't got any new collections in yet - Liquid Metal, in particular. A girl can only hope, but it's kinda late already! What is your favorite colour from Milani?
This is a scheduled post, as I am not around a computer much with this LA trip. I sure want to keep you posted with things going on in LA, but it all depends on my access to a computer and internet, which is slim.
Here are the Borghese I managed to own. It is a great brand, good quality polish, wide brush, good staying power and fun bottle shape and colours.
Though the brand is available at the drugstores, their price range isn't in that of a drugstore. I got these on sales (CAD4-5/ bottle) but regularly they are about CAD13-14.
First row, from L-R: Roma Scarlet C and Expresso Brown F.
Second row: Festive Fushsia, Magnifico Magenta, Ectasi Indigo and Gusto Gold Dust (from the holiday collection).
Borghese's shade selection isn't that great, we don't get many LE colours at all. I didn't even know about the holiday collection until it was on clearance. Don't think I saw a special display for this brand ever, everything is stacked away on the shelf.
And these are the kits I found at Winners on clearance, reg. CAD29.99.
The Luxury Pedicure Kit includes:
- Delicato Exfoliating cleanser
- Crema Divina Hydrating Leg & Foot cream
- Brilliante Base/ Top coat
- Santina Softening Callous remover
- Nail polish, and
- Deluxe Foot file.
The items fit tightly into the slots in the box, so I had a hard time taking the polish out to see what shade it is. Still have no idea, lol.
This one is the Luxury Manicure Kit, with:
- Delicanto Exfoliating cleanser
- Radiante Brightening Hand cream
- Maximo Nail Growth treament
- Rejuveneta Cuticle oil
- Finale Fast Set Nail spray, and
- Crystal Nail file with case.
So obviously our hands need more work than our feet, as there were more treatment in this kit than the other kit. No nail polish, for that reason :) Have you tried any treatment from Borghese?
Hope everyone has a good weekend. I'll be back soon.
Rimmel makes pretty decent polish. My stash of the brand grew a bit after a Kijiji haul, so I thought it's time to post it up.
First row, from L-R: Rimmel 60 Seconds (different packaging) in Fusion, Mania and Va Va Voom.
Second row: Rimmel 60 Seconds in Camouflage, Green with Envy, Pulsating, Night Before and Hard Edged.
I wasn't even aware what the old 60 Seconds looked like before the packaging with "new precision brush". I wasn't into the brand early enough to know whether this old packaging was a geographical difference, or a pre-revamp version. Love old polish hauls, they always spark questions like this, lol.
First row: Rimmel Sun Shimmer in Pearly White, Super Wear top coat and Stronger base coat.
Second row: Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Marine Blue and Steel Grey, Rimmel Play Fast in Night Before, Rimmel Lycra Wear 10 + Minerals in Posh Trash and Insolence.
See what I meant about different packaging versions? I have 2 Night Before, 2 bottle designs. Certainly like the one in this second picture better, but I never saw any bottle like this from Rimmel before. Very interesting. Their latest bottle look with the Lasting Finish line looks quite "pro", but not very unique.
How has your weekend gone? We had quite a long day yesterday shopping, spent a little more than I wanted. Sales were so good this time of year. If you get anything good, do share.
See, told ya, I only have 3 OPI colours and they are all DS. Like I said, they are normally way out of my price range. The only reason why I have them is they weren't at regular price.
The duo on the left is the "Designs of Spring" set with DS Reflection and the DS Top Coat. I haven't got to try them out yet, can't say whether the top coat works well on the DS.
And on the right are DS Vintage and DS Fantasy which I was lucky to find at a blog sale. I'm crazy about blog sales, so many gems to find.
As you probably heard, etailers will stop offering OPI on their sites (at good price) very soon. Not that I could afford international shipping very often, but I'd love having the option to buy when I can. Now I can only stare at nice swatches on blogs and find alternatives from other brands. It is hard to be a polish fanatic sometimes :)
With the Finger Paints haul I posted about yesterday, I thought it'd be the right time to retake pictures of my Finger Paints stash to show you. It is certainly a bit bigger than what it was 2 months ago when I first brought them out of the box to take pics, lol.
First, the red family. Sally had these on sale a while back, and some are back on sale now.
First row, from L-R: Magenta Mood, Pink Crayon and Signed by the Artist.
Second row: Mixed Media Maroon, Art Appreciation Apricot, Museum of Modern Mauve and Camarel Cape.
It's always surprising to see how many shades in the red family companies could come up with. The bf would say they look the same to him, lol, but we know better, don't we?
Second batch, first row: Evergreen Dream, Snowman's Scarft and Sparkling Snow (from the holiday collection last year).
Second row: Decked with Dazzle, Icy Iris and Cobalt Cardigan.
I bought the holiday bottles just for the holiday spirit at the time lol. It's not like I didn't already have enough green, red or silver to represent Xmas, but they were too pretty. To me, it is a lot harder to resist a good colour of nail polish than a shade of eyeshadow. Gasp, I know. I used to be an eyeshadow addict. Guess I changed, lol.
And the last batch: Hue Left a Message?, Hue Rang?, Easel-y Entertained and You Hue!. What's up with "Hue" in the names, lol?
Undeniable, they are too pretty to pass up. I could have grabbed a few more from the display if I didn't manage to control myself.
It took me a while to reach out to a new brand like Finger Paints, as I used to go to Sally just for China Glaze. And I'm glad I did. It is a good brand with good range of colours, good colour payoff and wear. Do you like Finger Paints?
On another note, I won tickets to the advance screening of SATC2 tonight, how exciting, lol. My girl friend isn't available, so the bf has to fill in the spot. For our time zone, it's at 9pm (I think they wanted the screening happens at the same time across the country), not the best time but I can't complain. It is not warm here at all since yesterday, so it's gonna be a chilly night :-)
To continue the stash series, here's my Carlo Di Roma.
You probably remember that the brand was cleared out at Lawtons and I tried to get all the shades that I think I would wear. I had given some away to friends, so here's what I have left.
First pic is for the shimmers. The shades don't have names, just numbers.
First row: 63, 61, 34 and 27.
Second row: 69, 70 and 71.
Love a good range of colours, from light to dark in the red family. Didn't see any blue/ green/ yellow, etc. Kinda wonder why.
The creams: 24, 21, 22, 33 and 03.
Same thing, red family colour again. I tried one of these creams before and it didn't apply very well. I might have to revisit it, maybe my application skill is better now. If I still have the same issue, then it's the polish, not me, lol.
All in all, I like the bottle shape - easy to store and fun enough. Just wish the brand had a wider range of colours - or if they did, I wish Lawtons could have got them in.
This collection won't grow any further, because there isn't anymore to buy :-) I do have to retake pics of a few brands, cause the stash has been continuously growing since last time I took pictures. Thanks for sticking around with me for this series, more exciting brands to come.
It was a horrid day for me yesterday, things kept going wrong. I planned to do some swatches for a review that night but it didn't happen, so I have a stash post for you instead.
These are the NYC bottles, old design, except for the very last one. I got them when Lawtons put them on clearance for CAD.89 before putting out the new bottle design. These are what started my journey with nail polish, lol.
First row, from L-R: Plush Platinum, White Lights Glitter, Paparazzi Pink Glitter, Broadway Burgundy, Starry Silver Glitter and Big Money.
Second row: Mod Mauve, Purple Pizzazz, Charming Rose, Love Me Red, Taxi Yellow and Broadway (new packaging).
Quality isn't the same with these polish, some are with great opacity, and some are sheer. For the price, I wouldn't complain, but wish that there's more of a consistency across the line.
These Wet n Wild polish also deserve a big mention in this post, as they were kind of the very first collection I was hunting all over for - the Craze collection.
From L-R: Rustic, Shield, Morbid, Inferno and Goldmine, plus the Wild Shine in Sparked.
I was so happy when I got my hands on them, and still like them like I did at the time. Gorgeous colours, great application and cute bottle design with patterns on the caps. And very soon, the new Color Craze collection will drive me insanse again. Brighter colours and vibrant patterns, I'm so there. I was told they are going to be on Walmart's shelves soon, but no specific date. It might still be a few weeks though, considering how late the first Craze collection was to make it here. Either way, I'll be waiting.
I'm back home from Toronto and back on the blog too. Sorry for not posting during the last 4 days. I was without internet at the hotel room, and then was out and about most of the weekend. But I have some fun things to post today :-)
As you might have known, Rexall Pharma Plus is having 50% off sale on all nail polish and nail treatments starting last Saturday, I certainly couldn't miss it. The items in the pic were accumulated from a few different Rexall's during my "treasure hunt" with some lovely friends.
First row, from L-R: Del Sol Ruby Slipper (from a small display of about 5-6 shades, wish they had more, CAD5.49 after discount), Sally Hansen Complete Salon in Commander in Chic, Gray by Gray, Fairy Teal, Purple Pulse (CAD3.99) and Del Sol Pretty in Pink.
Second row: Revlon Grape Icy, Peach Smoothie (Scent of Summer collection) and No Shrinking Violet (CAD2.75 each), Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Steel Grey and Marine Blue (CAD2.49).
These are basic popular shades from each brand, I always wanted to get them but couldn't bring myself to pay full price. Half price? I could do, lol. There wasn't any great deal on makeup, so I didn't get any.
My free time in Toronto wasn't all about shopping though. I was very lucky to meet up with a few Toronto bloggers, and my best friend from uni. We talked, we ate (Indian, Korean, Vietnamese food, sushi, dim sum, omg), we drank (bubble tea, milkshakes, Frappucino, martinis, etc.) and we talked some more. We even had a haircut together, lol. Time seemed to pass by too quickly when I was with them. Love you, my dear friends!
And look what they gifted me, out of kindness. I was so touched, didn't know what to say except thanking them.
First row: Etude House Mini Heel Pedicure 02, Borghese Rome Scarlet C, NYC Frightful Fingers in Phant-asmic and OPI Jade is the New Black.
Second row: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Admiral Blue and Emerald Green, Sally Hansen No Chip in Endless Claret, Sally Hansen Star Opal in Crystal Opal and a pink Sally Hansen Nail Prisms.
I am over the moon with this stash, as I either never own anything like it (expect lots of "My very first..." posts soon), or they are hard to find/ discontinued shades. I feel so blessed.
Toronto is a great place to hang out, with great company from you, ladies, plus good selections of food and entertainment, and public transportation makes it a little easier to get around. I had a lot of fun and hope to be back in November for IMATS. Can't wait to see you all again.
These little babies are Goldie. I called it a mystery brand when doing some research for the New-to-me polish brands post. Check back to that post for a bit of history on the brand.
In Canada, I found Goldies at Winners, sold as sets. The first batch that appeared at Winners way back last October are the trios, sold for CAD5.99/set. Then, in January, came the 8-pc sets (in the picture) at CAD9.99 each. Price point was certainly better, but some bottles didn't have the cute little bows. The lids were still sealed, so it wasn't somebody's act that made them disappeared, lol, still I couldn't understand why they didn't put bows on all bottles.
I own 2 sets of these, a wide range of colours with different finishes (cream, foil, shimmer, glitters, etc). I haven't tried any of the shades, as I feel bad breaking them up, lol. They look lovely together, in the box.
I don't think there are individual names for these colours which would be a pain if I found a favorite or two among them and wanted to remember them.
The second picture is just the flip side of the first picture, to show you all 8 shades from each box. The boxes are quite lovely with patterns, and sturdy cardboard top and bottom. Don't you feel like to put them up on display instead of using them, lol. I know I'm silly.
I saw Goldie sometimes on nail blogs, some good and some not-so-good shades, but I'm still happy I found these. Winners seems to be a happy place most of the time I come in. Maybe too happy, as a matter of fact :-)
Hope everyone has been having a good week. It was raining yesterday but it was sunny and warm late afternoon. I opened my window for the first time this year. It looks like a nice day today too.
Also, thank you to those of you who participated in my GOSH giveaway. Hope you guys could help me spread the words. If it goes well, there'll be more giveaways to come, promise!
How's everyone today? I'm coming down with a cold, not a very exciting weekend, is it? :-)
This is my little stash of Gosh nail polish. I didn't start hauling their polish until I realized they were only CAD6 a bottle. They used to be a round CAD13, so I didn't come anywhere near them before. Then some old collections were cleared out at half price (CAD3), so here's what I have been collection.
From L-R: Bright Passion, Black Passion, Purple Heart, Gasoline, Ocean, Golden Dragon and Blue Monday.
I'm so sad to miss out on Gosh Rainbow and Holographic, as they were around before I noticed the brand. Don't understand why they don't make them part of permanent line, as they are among the most awesome Gosh polish colours. Can't wait for another 40% off sale on Gosh products at Shoppers, so I can get a few more products.
Talking about Gosh, I am contemplating a giveaway with some fun products from the brand. Are you ladies interested?
Sad that the weather is back to grey/ not sunny today. I'm off to take some meds, see you all later.
Nicole by OPI is a fun brand for its bottle shape. It does make holding the bottle for NOTD pictures a little awkward, but I don't mind. They do take up a bit more space in storage and don't stand up as well as other bottle designs.
I don't own many Nicole bottles, mostly because of the price (CAD10 a pop, more or less). All bottles you see here were bought in clearance for around CAD4 each.
From L-R: Faux Fur (Holiday 2009 collection), It's Gold Outside, Winter Glitterland (Holiday 2009 collection) and Let's Get Star-ted (Winter 2009 collection).
I am still eyeing some more bottles of glitters and multi-coloured hearts from this brand, but might just look for cheaper alternatives - NYX Girls or something.
And here are the darks, collected from different stores during my craving for blackened colours.
From L-R: Turn Out the Light, Blues in the Night, Shimmy Shimmer, Black to the Future, Black Cat-cha Later and Party at 3am.
I still haven't had a chance to swatch these shades yet, so can't have a verdict whether the coloured-glitters would show through the black base or not.
Hope you enjoy this stash post. It was snowing around here yesterday way into early this morning. People said we can't tell winter is over until we see April snow, lol. So we did.
Have a lovely day, everyone!
We are on to L'Oreal today. I don't normally turn to L'Oreal for their nail polish, only get a bottle or two here and there. As you can see in the pictures, I don't have many bottles from the brand.
From L-R: L'Oreal Hopeful Plum (Color of Hope Collection), Safari Sunset and Dessert Dawn (Summer of Safari Collection).
These are all LE shades, I'm afraid. The permanent line doesn't interest me much, so I tend to check out the special displays for interesting colours. These were on clearance at the end of the season (50% off), around CAD3 each.
Can't comment much about application of these babies unfortunately, as they are from my untried pile :-)
And these are L'Oreal Resist & Shine Tatanium in Black Gold, Black Red and Black Turquoise.
As you see in my NOTDS with 2 of the bottles, the black overpowers the colours which make them appear black on my nails. Only under direct flash that you can see the glare of colours.
The interesting thing about this collection is that it seems not to make it to the US yet, so we Canadians could have the privilege of trying them out first, together with the UK and Australia :-)
I got these on sale for CAD4 a pop, not too bad. Regular price is somewhere around CAD10 which I don't think is worth it. I still have the burning question: if I add more pigments to the polish, do you think it'd show up better, or the black is just going to "swallow" any other colour trying to take its part?
A few weekends ago, I started to take pictures of my polish stash, as some of you requested to see it. Thought it's about time to post it up, when I'm done procastinating, lol.
As I just posted a Revlon NOTD yesterday, thought I should start the stash with Revlon.
First off are the Glimmer Glosses. These date way back when I first started with nail polish, thought they were so pretty in the bottles. Little did I know that the glitters don't really show up well on the nails. A little disappointing. I'm actually thinking about adding more glitters in, do you think it's a good idea?
Here they are, from L-R: Cherry Fizz, Pina Colada Pop, Blueberry Burst and Banana Blaze.
Nice names, Revlon, but you gotta give me something else to love them with :-)
The love I gave to Revlon is the Fruit Temptations "Scented when Dry" collection. Yes, I got the whole collection (plus a few backup bottles, lol). They are fun, both colour and scent wise. Some shades really stood out. The wear is great (normally about 3 days for me).
First row: Raspberry Rapture, Sublime Strawberry, Mon Cherry and Pretty in Papaya. Second row: Passionate Fruit, Not So Blue-berry, Coconut Crush and Mad About Mango.
I always look at this collection and wish Revlon comes out with more scented colours. And it looks like they are. Haven't seen the new shades in Canada yet, but I saw a green, blue and a few more on nail blogs. Can't wait.
A few more bottles from the regular line, from L-R: Gold Get' Em, Silver Screen, Blackberry, Plum Attraction, Iced Spice and Midnight Affair.
I know some of you might ask why I don't have any of the new highly sought-after pastel shades from Revlon, especially Minted. Well, I'm holding off on them. If they go on sale, I might buy a bottle or two. Otherwise, I'm probably fine without them. Or am I? :-)
I hope the stash series will be fun to read for you guys. It takes lots of time to take pictures, but it's a good way for me to do inventory check. If you like it, more stash posts to come.
It's raining here today, and the temp dropped to around 12. No more warm sunny days for a while.
If my addiction to nail polish has not been bad enough, I have some more lemmings now. There are just so many great brands out there that people blog about, and when I hear the word "flakies", it means "wishlist" for me :-)
You all know the all time ultimate flakie queen Nfu Oh which is available through Fabulous Street and some distributors in the UK. I don't think there's a polish fanatic that does not want a Nfu-Oh - colour, bottle design and quality wise.
Price wise, they aren't the queen. $12.50 a pop, to me personally, is not an ideal price point. At least US ladies could have free shipping, but us Canadians have to pay for that. So yeah, they remain a flakie queen in my wish list, not in my stash :-)
Photo credit: The Edge of Sanity.
So I kept looking. First hit was Inglot. This brand used to be available in Canadian big cities, but now only Quebec. Ladies in the UK (and a few more countries) also have some stores near by, and New York has one. Inglot makeup deserves its own post (if it is as good as I read in blog reviews), but until recently that I know they have flakies, and they are now on my wish list.
This picture is from Lipglossiping - used with her persmission. They are #204 and #205 from the flakies group. Inglot website only lists the colours without descriptions, so I can't tell how many flakies there are. The website was just updated recently, so I guess it's an ongoing process.
Regardless, how beautiful are the flakes in the bottles? I googled "Inglot flakies" and saw more pretty swatches. My curious mind wants to see them on my nails one day.
Don't I want to make a trip to Montreal now?
Another brand on my list is Golden Rose, a Turkish brand.
As the brand is so new to me, I have to dig around to find out whether I can get my hands on these.
My findings:
- Golden Rose South Africa has the most extensive info about the Nail polish but no online shopping, no price info either.
- Golden Rose US has online shopping with reasonable prices, but doesn't ship international. The only US location that the brand has is at Chicago Ridge Mall, IL. Go check this brand out, my US readers, and come back to tell me what you think, please? :-)
- According to Mon Coin a Moua, the brand is available widely in Europe, except France. Another location that has Golden Rose is Beauty Cosmos in Malta. They don't seem to offer online shopping but an ebay store in on the way, and Jacqueline who works there can help.
My stash has grown tremendously in the last year and I am trying to control its size at the moment. I know I want these beauties in my life, but I should pace myself. Not that I can just reach out and get them off the shelf at the moment, so they remain on my wish list until I can.
An honour mention is well deserved for Gosh Rainbow, with one of the best swatches seen on Lacquerized. I have never seen this shade in Canada, and don't know whether we ever had it at all. Cetainly another wish list item.
I will leave you with 2 of the beautiful swatches from Mon Coin a Moua, over a black. If I'm lucky to have some readers that have tried the 2 brands I found, please leave a comment on what you think about their flakies. Thank you.
I was on a mission trying to hunt down Annabelle fall shadow colours, so I went to 2 more Shoppers. Didn't find what I came for, but found something unexpected - discounted nail polishes :-)
First Shoppers, these polishes were on clearance for CAD3.99 each. There were quite a few in the bin, assorted brands, I tried my best to restrain myself and got 6 :-)
First row, from L-R: Nicole by OPI It's Up to You, It's Gold Outside and Let's Get Star-ted.
Second row: Borghese Magnifico Magenta and Gusto Gold Dust (from Holiday collection) and Sally Hansen Salon Mulberry.
These brands normally sell in the CAD8-10 range, so this was a steal. I tried to find swatches to justify my purchase but couldn't, except for Let's Get Star-ted and Gusto Gold Dust. The brands aren't very popular I guess. Please let me know if you have these colours and how you like them.
Second Shoppers (not on the same day, mind you, lol), these polishes were on sale too.
First row: Nicole by OPI Winter Glitterland and Faux Fir (from Holiday collection), CAD4 each.
Second row: Gosh Black Passion and Blue Monday (yes, it's a backup), CAD3 each.
Back at the beginning of the year, I saw Gosh polishes for CAD6, thought it was reduced price and hauled (obviously). Now they cost half of that, lol. Somehow I never saw Holographic though, it's like the most pretty shade from Gosh.
I'm so happy to have these new babies in my polish stash. New brands, new shades, sale, good combination :-)
The bf and I are invited to the Lunar New Year potluck party at a friend's tonight (so I will have to cook) while Squirt has a sleepover at her afterschool centre. It's gonna be busy. Have a fun weekend, ladies!
Have you ever heard of a Canada-exclusive Project Runway polish collection from Sally Hansen? I was so surprised reading about from a few polish blogs. Do we ever get anything for ourselves (sounds so selfish, but really?), and I didn't know about it???
Anyway, I am now officially on the hunt for these little bottles. The words are they are available at Shoppers. See for yourself and tell me you don't want them :-)
From L-R: American Beauty, Fashion Forward, Valentino, Project Runway, Purple Heart, and Burnt Sienna.
Photo credit: Lindsay117 on Makeup Alley. She posted close-up bottle pics as well, so indulge yourself!
After I saw the swatches from Jade at Enamored Enamel, I could hardly wait. Are you excited?
Thank you Sally for giving Canada a little something to play with (and maybe to brag about, lol). I believe all these shades are great for fall, just in time, isn't it?
Also while we're on the topic of nail polish wishlist, just like anybody else, I am dreaming of the day I could own China Glaze OMG and Kaleidoscope collections, and the OPI DS series. If you have got these bottles before, can you please point me to the right direction: what website/store, price point, shipping cost, customer service quality, etc. I do know the popular nail polish e-retailers, but haven't shopped there and don't know which one is great. Thanks so much!
You probably remember Zoya's Polish Exchange where people could send in their old polishes to exchange for Zoya polishes and only had to pay S&H. I was disappointed to see that it was only available to US residents. Zoya told me on twitter a while ago that they were considering offering the Exchange to Canada but had to work out the custom procedure and stuff. Well, until then!!!
A few days ago, I came across a fun Christmas Nail Polish Bloggers Exchange initiated by Nicole at Magic Maid. The exchange is hosted on elfster with the concept: people register in the group, draw name and exchange gifts. The exchange could be 2 bottles or USD20.
I think it is such a great idea, giving us a chance to try out some of the polish brands or shades that we otherwise can't get our hands on. I'm just looking through the brands I discovered in the New-to-me Nail Polish Brands and start dreaming about exchanging for a bottle or two. Christmas seems a lot closer, don't you think?
If you are interested, register at 2009 Polish Bloggers Exchange on elfster before Monday, September 14.
Photo credit: artofbeauty.com