OPI Mad as a Hatter

OPI Mad as a Hatter from the Alice in Wonderland Collection

Although this polish is nearly impossible to find 'in the wild', and I thought my chances of ever owning it were nil, I am delighted to show this nail of the day.

Mad as a Hatter is a beautiful mix of purple, silver, pink, teal, gold, and orange fine glitters. I may have missed a color or two in that list, but I assure you, it is a party of hues on your nail. This glitter is delightfully dense, and with three coats you should find yourself with no bald spots on the nail. 

I do recommend a thicker top coat with this, as with many glitters it can have some 'texture'.

I can't begin to tell you how happy I am with this nail of the day, and thank you again secret admirer <3

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous is a dark, silver, almost gun metal foil with a wonderful splash of sparkle bits that create almost a rainbow like effect.

This polish starts out quite sheer, but is reasonably opaque in two to three coats. It was very easy to paint with, and being a foil, the dry time was quite quick. 

Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous is core color, so it should be quite easy to find where ever OPI is sold.

Enjoy!

Franken Blue Diamond

I really wanted a dark blue linear holo polish, but alas, I had none in my collection... However, I did have an extra bottle of Sally Hansen Diamond and Color Club Blue-topia.
A little mixing and shaking later, I had Blue Diamond. It's more denim and less royal blue than I hoped, but I was still quite pleased with it.

Funky French with OPI Onyx and Orly Rock It

As I was flipping through the pages of a recent Ulta catalog, there was a small ad that caught my attention... It was for the Orly French Fx Cosmetic set- it featured this ravishing black with these dramatic fuchsia foil tips coming into a V at the end of the nail. I had to have it on my nails!
I decided to recreate the look by using OPI Black Onyx and Orly Rock It. I think it turned out pretty good, and I got several compliments on it!

 

So, I got home today and there was an unassuming padded envelope in the mail. My initial thought was, "Did I order something and forget about it?" but curiosity got the better of me, I found my self tearing through the plastic before I even walked through the door.

In the package was nothing more than a small note card and two bottle wrapped polishes. 

The note card read

Shrouded by mystery, and bubble wrap, I opened the first polish...

Two things I just love- purple and foil finishes! So lovely and thoughtful! I was grinning ear to ear...

Then, as I pulled the tape from plastic, my literally dropped. My eyes, no joke, became moist- a small portion of my faith in the kindness of strangers was restored. 

Yes, it was MAD AS A HATTER!!! My biggest lemming in nail polish life was in my mail box!!!

So, Anonymous Goddess, who ever you are, thank you!!

Butter London Knackered

Butter London Knackered from the Spring/Summer 2012 collection

As you've probably noticed, it's not often that I spend more than $8 on any given polish, but darn it if every now and then I don't find someone that blows my mind that is way outside of that budget. Enter Butter London's Knackered...
At $14 MSRP, Butter London is on the pricier end of the polish spectrum. The packaging is quite charming though, the larger rectangular bottle giving a lovely little window into the polish contents. The squared top does come off the top, leaving a much easier to hold 'nub'. The brush was not anything unique, but got the job done without any issues.
Talking specifically about Knackered;This stunning glitter studded duochrome shifts between purple and green- just looking at it in the bottle made my heart sing! It is an extremely sheet polish, though I hear at four coats you can reach decent opacity. I chose to layer this over China Glaze Concrete Catwalk since I am not a fan of visible nail line... or having to do four coats of a color. The pay off on this polish was terrific! Even better, after four days of work including filing and reviewing paperwork and sooo much typing, I hardly even had any tip wear.
I love this polish and would be happy to pay $14 for it any day!

China Glaze Concrete Catwalk

China Glaze Concrete Catwalk from the 2011 Metro collection

I have decided that I really do like grey polish- it's dark but doesn't scream 'goth' or 'emo' the way black can.  One of my favorites is from last year's Metro collection by China Glaze. This deep grey with just the tiniest bit of blue is a wonderful creme to work with! The pictures are two effortless coats of this polish. The polish has great shine, and I think would be flattering a range of skin tones...

Zoya Myrta

Zoya Mytra from the Summer 2012 Surf collection

I am a big fan of foil finishes- I love how they add some sparkle to your manicure, but remove quite easily when you're done wearing them. The Surf collection is made up of six different foil polishes, and today I bring you Mytra. It is described on their website as a "Warm medium orange coral with red undertone, gold and silver metallic shimmer." In person, it mostly reads as a orange with a hint of coral.
This was such a wonderful to use! I only used two coats to real complete opacity, but if I would have gone a bit thicker, it may only required one. It was so easy to control too- my pictures have no clean up, and I think it's a pretty neat paint job. The only down side, which is no fault of Zoya's, is that it was not a flattering color on me at all.
I am looking forward to trying other colors from this line, but this one just wasn't for me.