Lacquer Link Love 2/27/10

Phresh Mentality paints a few PHRESH mani's in an effort to raise funds to help Haiti

Helen's Nice Things has swatched a Ciate Paint Pot color, but you have to click the link to see which one. :)

Naive Nails has a little Lilly on her tips brought to you from Zoya, of course!

Konadomania is felling a little lot spring like and she is showing it off... on her nails!

The Swatchaholic brings out a lusted over discontinued color from her stash and rallies for the maker to bring the color back. Please be sure to take her poll located in her blogs sidebar and maybe our voices will be heard.

Oh how I love a pretty textured mani and Bright Lights Big Color is showing off just that!

Hot & Spicy are the words to describe Polish Freak's mani. Be sure to leave her a comment on how you feel about the color.

Dying to see some swatches of the new Diamond Cosmetics spring 2010 polishes?! Well, Nail'd & Polish'd has just what you need.

Magic Maid has brought you some beautiful swatches from a well known European brand polish.

Tuli's Nails has on polish that's "as pretty as a picture" thanks to our lovely polish blogger Nicole.

Travels with Euridice also has some Essence swatches. The more the merrier I always say.

Nail-Design is giving us a peek inside her stash and showing us how she stores her polish.

Perfect 10 Beauty has swatched a polish called FABULESS... see if you can guess the brand.

Metallics are deemed to be big for the upcoming season and Manicure Mommas has showed you how to make it look luxe.

polishSWATCHES brings you a closeup of Rihanna's "Pretty Kitty Manicure." What do you think of the design?

Now for the Network Giveaways...

Konadomania is celebrating 300 followers... click her name to see exactly how. It's so worth it!

Travels with Euridice is having a Holla for Holos giveaway to show her followers her appreciation.

Neglelakkmani is having a giveaway that's scheduled to end on Monday, so please enter if you haven't already done so.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Sale!!!!

48-Hour Sale!!!

RBL is discontinuing 7 of their polishes and they are selling all 7 together in a set for $50! (retail value $126) 

 

Snatch these up while you still have the chance, once they're gone, they're gone forever!!

http://www.rescuebeauty.com/product/7-nail-polishes-on-sale.html

OPI HONG KONG...Hot & Spicy!!!! OOOOWWWWWW!!!!!

So continuing on with the OPI Hong Kong Collection, this is Hot & Spicy...

 

  

 

I really like this orangey-coral color. It's bright but still kind of soft at the same time. Unlike with Essie's Tart Deco, another bright orangey-coral color, I was pleasantly surprised. You guys know how I felt about Tart Deco. It was just something about it that I couldn't quite put my finger on at the time. But I realize now, what I didn't like about it was the color was just too bright for my skin tone. In my opinion, brown skin looks great with warm toned colors. They can still be bright but it has to have a level of warmth to it. Hot & Spicy manages to hit both notes. It's bright and fun, yet still has a softness to it. LOVE...

OPI Hong Kong....Dim Sum Plum

Here's another from the OPI Hong Kong Collection, Dim Sum Plum...I wouldn't necessarily describe this as a plum, but it is a gorgeous shade of pink/magenta...

 

 

Remaining true to OPI's winning formula, this is a lovely creme that applied opaque in two coats...I really love this shade, after exploring other swatches on different skin tones, I feel that this color is a universal shade. In my opinion, it's one of those shades that compliments all skin tones.

Lacquer Link Love 2/19/10

The first article up I'd like to bring your attention to is nothing nail related, but is definitely worth a read, especially by all the bloggers! Helen's Nice Thing's wrote a wonderful article addressing the question, should bloggers be considered as media or press and I think she expressed her views quite remarkably.
Naive Nails wants to show off a mani she's titled "Love Be Hanged". A very cute and quirky design.
French Mani anyone?! Well, Babbling Brooke has you covered! Check out her Nailene French Mani Blog Giveaway. She's gifting three of readers with these fabulous sets... so you better make sure that you're one of them!
Bye, Bye old man winter, let's bring on the sun and the pool... as The Swatchaholic brings us wonderful swatches of China Glaze's Poolside Collection.
Have you been able to view swatches of almost the whole OPI Hong Kong collection? If not, the Nail-Design bring you 9 out of 12 of them.
Maigic Maid has snagged a duochrome drugstore brand polish and nope, I'm not telling you what it is! ;)
This week Tuli's Nails has a broken heart and she letting her mani tell the story as to why. Check it out!
polishSWATCHES gives you a sneek peek at Tracy Reese's Fall 2010 Sally Hansen Shades as well as a glimpse of the nail trends that were sported at her show.
You will NOT want to miss out on what Polishing the Nails is cooking up on her blog! Even I'm in the kitchen for this one!
It's safe to safe everyone loves a good konadicure right?! And even more so when your showing off a gorgeous polish! Cucumpear is donning some very pretty artwork on her tips as well as showing off the gorgeous color p2 Rich.
Looking for a interesting blue nail polish to add to your stash that you might not already have? Then Polish Freak and China Glaze have you covered, but shhh, she said the color is a secret!
Nail foiling and minx like applications are all the rage, but why not try using a nail polish for the same effect? Manicure Mommas swatches Orly Foil FX's and shows how you can turn your nails into precious metal.
Have you ever heard of Piggy Paints Nail Polish or even considered buying it but haven't? Well if so, Laquerholic has just given you the incentive to go ahead and plunge. She's secured a 10% off privelage coupon for all of her readers as well as written a full review
Nail-Design is having a special giveaway to celebrate the fact that she has received over 300, 000 Youtube views on her channel. Wow! Congrats on the great accomplishment!
Lambchop is having a really nice giveaway for readers, but she really needs for you to help her out... by ENTERING!
Today's you last chance to win some Milani Holos, so be sure to enter Naive Nails contest if you're one of the many who can't seem to find them and are lemming.

China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le...Shhhhhhhhhh

So I've been getting into blues lately...I think I have the winter blues, wishing it were summer already! Or it could be that they're in the same family as purples so naturally I would lean towards them...whatever the case, I'm falling for them and falling hard!! On my most recent Sally's run, I picked up a few China Glaze polishes and this blue baby was one of them...

 

  

Hellloooo Peri-wink-le!!!!! Oh right, it's a Secret! Ssssshhhhh! LOL, I know I'm corny, but I thought the name was really cute...anyway, as you can see it dries slightly darker than it is in the bottle, but nevertheless still a gorgeous shade of blue. Almost the shade of the sky, but slightly darker. This was opaque in two coats and applied like butter, a wonderful China Glaze creme...all these lovely, warm shades are making me long for summer!!

China Glaze Poolside

I know most of you have probably seen these already, but for those of you who haven't, here are the promo pics for China Glaze's Poolside Collection. A collection of six NEON shades that will release on April 1, 2010...you're gonna need your sunshades for these...

 

  

For swatches check out the lovely Swatchaholic's Blog. I'm definitely eyeing Pool Party, Sun Worshiper and Towel Boy Toy! What colors are you guys eyeing??  

OPI Hong KONG...Suzi Says Feng Shui

I'm beginning to fall in love with blues and this is why...

Suzi Says Feng Shui 

 

  

Ahhh! The most gorgeous shade of blue!! Opaque in two coats, typical OPI creme formula....I really can't wait til summer, I'm so sick of the cold weather. Plus I can't wait to rock this color on my toes this summer!!

Valentine's Mani...China Glaze Seduce Me

Ok I know I am a day late, but my camera died on me yesterday so I had to wait until today to get batteries and upload my pics from yesterdays swatch-fest...

So I wasn't even going to do a Valentine's Day Mani or even wear a polish that remotely paid homage to the day because its such a Hallmark Holiday created so that card, candy and flower retailers can make money...But I was going through my collection to find colors I hadn't swatched yet and my eyes fell on this baby...

China Glaze SEDUCE ME

 

 

The camera doesn't even capture the depth of this color. It is a VERY pigmented RASPBERRY red creme. Meaning, it's a red with strong pink undertones to it. It was love at first sight. The formula was great, opaque in two coats. 

I'm actually kind of mad that my camera didn't really capture this color because it's not this red in real life. The pink undertones are very visible...oh well *shrugs* I'm saving up for a new camera now, any suggestions??

Love & Beauty...Forever 21 Nail Polish

It seems like a lot of clothing retailers are stepping into the cosmetics arena, and that's fine with me! Forever 21 has a line of nail polishes now also. These polishes retail for $2.50 and I must say the formula on them was great!! After my trial of Urban Outfitter polishes, I was pleasantly surprised by this brand, entitled Love & Beauty...

Love & Beauty "Orchid"

 

  

A beautiful Lavender Shimmer. I wanna call this a shimmer-creme-metallic, LOL, I don't know...It consists of really fine lavender and silver glitters; but the application was so great, it went on like a creme. It applies on the nail like the China Glaze Khrome polishes....It was really sunny when I swatched these so the sun really picked up on the silver micro glitter, but its actually more of a lavender color indoors and in a softer light. This was opaque in two coats...it kind of reminds me of China Glaze Sci-Fi a little bit, especially in the sunlight.

Love & Beauty "Jade"

 

I really love this color!! It's really close to OPI's Jade is the New Black, but not quite as dark and it has more of a yellow undertone to it while Jade is the New Black has more of a blue undertone. For the price, it has a pretty good creme formula. It was opaque in two coats, but I added a third because I have become a chronic three coater!! LOL...Overall, great job Forever21...there's nothing better than cheap, good quality nail polish! Forever21 Nail Polishes can be found on their website or in stores. Though the website seems to have more color selection than the actual stores, however it may be different at your local Forever21 store.

I also discovered, while working on this post, in honor of Valentine's Day Forever21 has released the Romantic Lingerie Collection...go head Forever21, already releasing collections!! :)  ....My eye is on the Grey, Mauve and Baby Pink, what about you?

Grey

 

 Pink

 

Mauve

Purple (which isn't so purple...)

  

Teal

Baby Pink

And the winner is.....

Amanda Richardson!!! You have won three China Glaze Polishes from the Up & Away Collection. Four Leaf Clover, Peachykeen and Lemon Fizz are all yours! Congrats!

Thanks to all who entered and all who follow my blog, I truly appreciate it! Stay tuned for more chances to win...

Urban Outfitters Polish

I've bought about four polishes from urban outfitters and I was so excited to swatch these only to be disappointed by how bad the formula was on these. To make matters worse the formula was inconsistent from polish to polish. The darker more pigmented colors seem to have a slightly better quality formula than the pastel or bright colors. The names are very simple but I thought the little square bottles were cute. I won't be buying anymore of these though, I'll stick to my American Apparels! You guys know I loved those!! Urban Outfitters, I'm sorry, but you get an F in the nail polish dept, if you're not gonna do it right don't do it at all. I mean truly they were worse then most drugstore brands I've tried...OK I'm done venting now...

 Green 4

A dark green...this was about 6-7 coats! This one was really watery and streaky. So it took about 6-7 coats to get it to the color I wanted it to be...a pretty dark green though when it finally got there...

Purple 1

 

Out of the four polishes I tried from U.O., this was my favorite. The formula on this one was the best out of the four. It was opaque in about four coats...I'm really in love with this color, a very pigmented magenta color, not at all purple. Maybe in the purple family??...Even though I liked this color, I'm still not buying anymore...I didn't even swatch the other two colors I got from U.O., Blue 6 and Matte Grey. The Blue color was just embarrassing, pretty in the bottle but it was a mess on the nail and the Matte Grey wasn't so matte at all!!

GIVEAWAY UPDATE...

Since I have reached 200 followers I will be announcing the winner of my contest tomorrow (2/9/10) at 8pm ET. If you haven't entered but would still like to do so you have until tomorrow at the aforementioned time to enter. Just email your name and email address to PolishFreak1@gmail.com. Title subject line: China Glaze Polishes. The winner will receive three China Glaze polishes from the Up & Away Collection; which are Peachy Keen, Four Leaf Clover and Lemon Fizz....Thank you all for following my blog and entering the contest!

Who DAT!!?? Saints Black and Gold Mani

My Saints black and gold mani! No fleur de lis here, just wanted something simple...This was my first time doing any kind of design or anything but I think it looks pretty good. I'm a 'less is more' kind of girl so this definitely works for me...what do you think?? GO SAINTS!!!!! (Excuse the lighting, I'm snowed in so this was the best pic I could manage)

Does anybody know who's singing the national anthem or performing during halftime, I haven't heard anything yet...

Beat Winter Dryness

I decided to repost a post that I did several weeks ago. I posted it right before I joined the Polish Bloggers Network and my site traffic increased. So, I don't think many of you saw this anyway, LOL....

SO, I have some natural nail care tips for all my natural ladies.......We all know that our skin can become really dry during the winter, so I have a few tips and products that can help you beat the winter skin blues.

Because there is less moisture in the air during the winter, our skin can become really dry and our hands and feet tend to suffer the most. Our cuticles can become especially dry and they need to be cared for between manicures during the winter. Here are some cuticle care tips that you can do at home:

 
1.) Once a week, soak your cuticles in warm water with a couple drops of cuticle oil (I LOVE Sally Hansen's cuticle oil with vitamin E) AND apply directly to the cuticle. (DO NOT USE SOAP, it dries your cuticles out) After soaking your nails, use a cuticle pusher to push those bad boys BACK!!

 2.) Once a week, exfoliate your hands (True Blue Spa "Just a Minute 60-sec Manicure Scrub from Bath&Body Works will do the job), this removes the dead skin cells from your hands and allows you to apply the moisturizer directly on your fresh clean skin, instead of on dry, dead skin cells.

3.) Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize!! I love True Blue Spa's "Look Ma New Hands" from Bath&Body Works. Its ingredients feature paraffin oil, which helps keep hands/skin super moisturized and protected.

4.) Lastly, we can't forget our feet!  Like most, I tend to slack off of my salon pedicure regimen during the winter because my feet aren't exposed. But this doesn't mean that you can't keep up with grooming them at home. Even if you don't give yourself a full pedicure at home the least you can do is exfoliate and moisturize! Try True Blue Spa "Toe the Line" for your scrub and "Shea it Isn't So" as a moisturizer...they work wonders together! Scrub weekly or bi-weekly; moisturize daily!!

As you can see I live by Bath & Body Works True Blue Spa products. They work great and are inexpensive. I quickly learned that there is no point in spending a fortune on exfoliants and moisturizers when these products do the same thing, and in my opinion, do it better!

Link Love Roundup 2/5/10

Polishing the Nails showcases 3 new nail polishes in the cutest little bottles, in shades that are perfect for Spring.

Naive Nails shows off her Mannequin Hands using OPI's gorgeous shade Dulce de Leche. Trust me, these are not your typical mannequin hands!

Check out swatches of OPI Hong Kong's Meet Me On A Star Ferry from polishSWATCHES and dare to fall in love with this shade.

Is Taupe Polish a Hit or Miss? Polished Beauty Blog weighs in on this whole "nude nail" obsession by giving her two-cents and asking for yours as well.

Travels with Euridice gives us a wonderful BB Couture comparison between Cap Haitian and OPI's Do You Lilac it. I think that she may have found a dupe ladies, what do you think?!

Polish Freak is glad she changed her mind and went back to grab Essie's Lilacism and now she's sharing it with the world! Beautiful color.

Cucumpear gives a go at a Gradient Glitter Mannicure and it leaves me thinking of the cosmic and stars. You definitely have to check out this glittery manicure that will remind of the twinkling stars.

Mannicure Mammas has found a new love and it just so happens to be OPI's Shim-Merry Chic. Have you seen it?

And now for the Network Giveaways....

Look who's having a celebration party!!! Join in on all the fun by participating in 52 Flavors Blogaversary Giveaway.

Tuli's Nails is hosting a romantic Valentine's Day Giveaway on her site and if you haven't had the chance to enter you really must do so. The goodies are extra sweet without the calories.

Can you name a dupe for this polish?! If so, leave your answer for your chance to win your choice of color from OPI's Hong Kong collection.

and Polish Freak is having another China Glaze Up & Away giveaway in lieu of her reaching 200 followers.

Essie Lilacism

I'm in love...

 

A soft, gorgeous lavender...their typical creme formula, opaque in two coats...definitely the front runner of the Art of Spring Collection. When I ran into Ulta today to pick up some of OPI's Hong Kong Collection, I glanced over at the Essie section and this one was sold out. All the rest from the collection were there...what more can I say...

OPI HONG KONG OFFICIALLY RELEASES TODAY!!!

 

Can't wait to snatch up my favs and do some swatching this weekend, hopefully!!

And the Award goes to...

ME!! LOL! The lovely Euridice of the blog Travels With Euridice has tagged me for the Best Blog Award! Thanks girl!!

So in order to fully accept my award, I must pass on the love...the rules are as follows:

1. To accept the award, you must post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted you the award, and a link to their blog.
2. Pass the award on to approximately 10-15 other blogs that you recently discovered, and think are great!
3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

*This was definitely a tough choice for me because I have recently discovered a ton of blogs that I frequent often...So I must narrow it down...here goes...

Polish Swatches 
Also Known As 
Polish Galore 
Bachman's Sparrow 
Fabulously Chic and Cheap 
Polish Pig 
Pretty in Polish 
Project Polish 
The Swatchaholic 
Bright Lights Big Color
Deez Nails 
Coffee & Dreams

Essie Tart Deco

I LOVE you Essie!! But I'm NOT in love with this color...I thought I was going to love it but it's a little too bright and orangey for me. I usually love corals but for some reason I didn't really like this one against my skin tone. Maybe it's just me...maybe I'm just being weird. I do think its a pretty color, but I don't think it looks right on me. I think I will like Van D'Go more since it's a softer, more subtle coral. Maybe it will grow on me and I'll like it more in the late spring early summer...but for right now, its too happy for me...today I'm wearing RBL Stormy because that's the mood I'm in...so I'm definitely not there yet, LOL.

 

 

 The formula was pretty good...this was three coats, it was a little streaky at two....I'll post Lilacism tomorrow, I'm definitely in love with that color!

I'm BAAAAAACCCKKKKK!!! Zoya Adina and Reece

Hey guys! I missed you! I'm back from my vacay to New Orleans...I went to celebrate and bring in one of my best friends' 25th B-day. We definitely had a blast!! And I have a few N.O. and Saints inspired posts I'm going to do later this week, when I can get some time to swatch. But for now here are two of my favs from the Zoya Reverie Collection, Adina and Reece...

Adina

 

 

This is the star of the Reverie collection and I definitely know why! A beautiful duochrome of lavender, green, pink and silver. Its one of those colors where it looks different depending on how the light hits it. Y'all know I'm a purple girl, so I LOVE this color and love how it looks against my skintone. I also love it because it isn't like any other color in my collection! Thanks Zoya!

Reece

A duochrome of pink, green, silver and orange...I'm turning into a Pink girl!! I hated pinks at first, but as my love for polish has grown and my collection has expanded, I have begun to fall in love with them. I think they look nice on my skintone. This is a very warm shade of pink and duochromeness (yes I just created my own word...who gon' check me boo?! lol)...I love the way the light reflects off of it...gorgeous!

The formula on these was really good, thick and creamy, not watery at all. Both were opaque in two coats and the drying time was actually kind of fast, I thought...Question to all my fellow polish freaks...I'm still trying to decide between Lana or Gwin from the Reverie Collection...suggestions?? I'll probably just end up getting both, LOL!