My Mattified Color Club in Feel the Beat & A Sparkly Green Color Club

Above & Below: Color Club's Feel the Beat applied with 2 coats. Below is the mattified version, using NailTek Foundation II for the finish. I like a matte look every now and then, as it's just something different.

Above & Below: Color Club's Green with Envy, indoors with a flash.

Below: Some of what's blooming in our backyard right now. As always, click on pictures for added size and detail.

First, I'd like to take a minute to wish Tuli over at Tuli's Nail Polish & Stuff a very Happy Birthday today! A few more of my Color Clubs for you...today I am showing your Feel the Beat, a shimmery shade of burnt sienna (remember that Crayon color?) and one of the sparkly ones, Object of Envy. Feel the Beat applied nicely in 2 coats, as is the case with most Color Clubs. I then decided to mattify it using NailTek Foundation II. Keep in mind that Foundation II was not designed for this purpose (it's a fantastic base coat though and also adds strength to thinner nails), and you may run into drying issues (as in it never really dries) by using it this way. I prefer to use an actual top coat that's made for matting the finish, but the NailTek was sitting on my desk, so I just tried it out to show you what this would look like with a matte finish. I was using NailTek as my base because when using glitters that tend to apply unevenly, as is the case with Green with Envy, a base coat like this gives a roughed-up finish to the nail and helps the glitter adhere better and apply more evenly. Green with envy is shown in 3 thinner coats and dried very well. As with most glitters, it is difficult to remove, but it's the price you must pay for such blingy goodness!

I updated my Mini Bar column on the right with some products I've been using recently, so check it out. One of the items is Nailtek Foundation II which as I said above, is a very good base coat/treatment.

Color Club Magic Attraction & Electronica

Above: Color Club Electronica, a lovely grape purple with shimmer. 2 coats, perfect application.

Above & Below: Color Club in Magic Attraction. This is an extremely cool polish! Click on pictures to experience what I'm talking about. The picture below is a blurred picture, but it shows the color a bit better this way.

Here are a couple of the colors I posted yesterday (in the bottle). Chloe asked to see Magic Attraction which I was curious about as well, so today we have that one along with Electronica. I'll be doing a couple of more posts this week using some of the Color Clubs I have, because most are untried and I'd like to at least be able to say that I've tried them! I actually think I have more than the ones I showed in the picture yesterday. I saw some on the shelf that weren't pictured, which tells me I really need to organize my stash again. Both of these are shown in 2 coats and they applied perfectly. They dried quickly and I'm very pleased with both of them. Magic Attraction is something very special, let me tell you. I have never seen anything quite like this! It's almost blinding to put it on, there are so many bright, beautiful colored sparkles. It's very difficult to photograph it's beauty, perhaps because it's on my right hand, which I seldom photograph and it was difficult for me to hold the camera still with my left hand. I thought it may work as a good layering polish, but it's so pigmented on it's own, I honestly don't know if you would be able to see the base coat through it. I'm not looking forward to removing it though, as it feels like it may be quite difficult. Very impressive polish, at any rate! I'll try and get to a few more of these tomorrow.

Today's OPI DS Winner & Some Other Ramblings

Above & Below: My Color Club collection, above. I'll be doing a couple of posts next week to show you some of the colors. Let me know which ones you'd like to see. Click on the picture for a better view. Below is my Hibiscus plant in bloom.

Today was the final drawing in the Body & Soul May Contest and I'm happy to announce that the winner is Robyn! She will be receiving OPI's Designer Series polish in Perfection. Robyn has a lovely blog and if you're not familiar with it, check her out! Her blog is call Robyn's Nest and she does some beautiful makeup looks along with many other interesting topics. Congratulations, Robyn! June's contest will be announced this coming Monday.

I was gazing at my polishes last night looking for some that I seldom use and I spied my Color Clubs. I think I'll do a couple of posts on them next week because I'm quite certain I haven't even tried 90% of them! I posted a picture of the ones I have, so if you see any you'd like me use, just tell me the location of it in the picture. I forgot to write the names down before I put them away and I'm too lazy to get them out again. My Hibiscus plant is blooming and I was so taken with the flower's beauty, that I wanted to share it with you. I should do a Konad using the colors in the bloom! Enjoy the weekend, ladies.

Old School Sinful's & Chanel's Newest Collection

Above: Bottom L-R: Soft Mink, Prom Night, Wisp, Australian Peach. Middle Row L-R: Ice Touch, Greenwich Girl, Colored Pearl, Sweetie Pie. Top: Street of NY.

Above and Below: Quick swatches, 2 coats each. Above: Thumb-Australian Peach, Index-Wisp, Middle-Prom Night, Ring-Soft Mink, Pinky-Sweetie Pie. Below: Thumb & Pinky-Street of NY, Index-Colored Pearl, Middle-Greenwich Girl, Ring-Ice Touch.

Below: Wisp. A neutral beige frost.

It may seem a bit odd to some that I list Sinful and Chanel in the same sentence. I'm not a makeup snob though, I like it all...high end, low end, as long as it's makeup and there's color involved, I'm pretty flexible! I'm not technologically savvy enough to be able to post the flash pictures of the new Chanel Collection, so I'll provide you with the link. Their Tokyo Happening collection offers us 4 Glossimers, an eye shadow quad and 4 polishes. There are 4 colors available in the polishes and Glossimers, and those same 4 shades are in the eye shadow quad. A baby blue, a silvery white, a baby pink and a pale gold. All are shimmery and they look beautiful. Click here for a look. I'm considering the pink and white in the polish and the Glossimers, but I really should restrain myself!

On to the Sinfuls! There's a local oriental beauty supply which carries these for .99 so that's where I've located them. They're not anything terribly wondrous quality-wise, but they're old and they're Sinfuls, so that makes them interesting to me. The pictures I'm sharing with you today are all 2 coats and as you can see, some of the shades could have used 3. Many of the colors are similar, but yet different in their own way. My favorite is the blackened forest green shimmer called Street of NY. Shouldn't that be 'streets' instead of 'street'? It applied very nicely in 2 coats and the color is a deep, shimmery green. You can actually see a bit of black in the polish during the application. Do you have any of the old Sinfuls in your collection?

Creative Nail Design's Blue Nirvana

Above & Below: Creative Nail Design's Blue Nirvana, with flash.

Above & Below: The color is a bit like Secret Periwinkle by China Glaze, in the same color range.

Above & Below: With no flash above, near the window. I love how 'milky' it looks in this picture. Below is again, with flash.

This is a polish I've wanted for a long time and finally remembered to order it. I don't know why I've wanted it, perhaps the name, or more likely just because of the color. It reminds my of my favorite crayon color when I was a child, Cornflower Blue. It looks to have a bit of aqua-colored shimmer in the bottle, which transfers to the nail, but it's quite subtle. It reminds me somewhat of China Glaze's Secret Periwinkle, another polish in that shade range that I love. There is no sun to be found anywhere today, so I don't know if the shimmer would show up more in sunlight or not. We received over an inch of rain last night and today is gloomy and humid. I'm happy I finally got this polish to add to my collection, and at first I thought it would be more shimmery once applied, so I was a little disappointed. But the more I look at it, the more I like it. I used three thin coats and it applied well. It dried in the usual amount of time, although I know many complain about CND's slow drying time, which I've never experienced. I wish this brand would come out with a new collection, as it seems like it's been quite a while for them.

NOTD: Maybelline Coral Radiance

Above and Below: Maybelline Coral Radiance in natural light, no flash, above. It appears much more coral than when shown with a flash (below), whereas it is more of a pink shade.

Above & Below: Above is again, with a flash. Below is a close-up to show you the tiny gold glitter.

Below: Hair salon necessities I got today (necessities makes it sound more like I needed these than that I wanted these!).

Maybelline Express Finish in Coral Radiance is a new LE available in a small, tabletop display at most drug stores. I picked this up a couple of weeks ago along with Summer n' Spice and Pot of Gold, the other 2 polishes in this little collection. Summer n' Spice is a bit more coppery than Coral Radiance and Pot of Gold is just over the top giant gold glitter chunks! I'm not sure how that one was intended to fit into this collection, as it seems totally different from the other two. Coral Radiance is a very pretty coral/pink shade with lovely gold glimmer. With a flash and in sunlight it shows as much more of a pink tone, while in indirect sunlight or without a flash, it is more coral. It's pretty either way, but I love when it looks more coral.

I had a hair appointment this morning, which is always enjoyable. She took my hair up another level (7 or 8, I think she said) with highlights and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. My natural hair color is one step away from being black, so the only way to lighten it effectively, is with highlighting. I picked up a few new Redken products and they have a punch card system where you get one punch each time you buy a product, and after 10 punches you can choose a free product. I completed my card today and I love the Pureology line, but not the price, so I got a bottle of their shampoo, a $26.00 product for free (I'm sure I've paid for it somewhere along the way!). I also picked up a couple of sample packs for my husband, who could care less about shampoo, or any product like that. Now if I'd brought him home a tool of some sort, he'd be more excited.

NOTD: Finger Paints Ripe Peach

Today's nail of the day is from the Finger Paints Sunburst Summer collection, a fairly new offering from FP which includes 6 shades. I found this recently at my Sally Beauty and picked up a couple of other polishes from this collection. It's a true peach, reminding me of the Orange Push Up ice cream treats we loved as kids. It dries a bit darker than that, but is still a very nice medium shade of peach. It looks to have the tiniest bit of shimmer when viewing the bottle or my pictures, but it is entirely a creme. This took 3 coats to cover completely, but it dried nicely and didn't cause me any grief! My nails are in desperate need of reshaping and intensive moisture repair after all of the gardening and planting we did over this long weekend, so I'm going to try and get to that tonight. But the plus side is, our yard is starting to look very nice and we're happy with how much we got accomplished.

Mini Haul From Head2Toe Beauty

L-R: Creative Nail Design Vitality (a coral creme, can't have too many corals!), Hotski to Tchotchke (I love turquoise polishes), Blue Nirvana (I've wanted this for a long time, a periwinkle-violet with subtle shimmer), Essie Huckle Buckle (similar to Blue Nirvana but more violet), Potato Fields (I just harvested my potato fields in the Farm Town Facebook application and that is the reason I chose this one, for the name!) and of course, Color Club's Revvolution.

Not too much to post today as I'm working in the yard and don't see the sense in doing my nails! My small order from Head2Toe Beauty arrived yesterday, so I do have that to share with you. My Essie choices are quite limited in my collection and I wanted to add a couple of that brand, and the same with my Creative polishes. And because everyone (Bring on the Bling and Clockwork...I blame them!) else shared their Revvolution by Color Club, I just couldn't hold out any longer in getting that one. My husband told me I should share his morning haul at Lowe's today (I'm sure he was kidding), so I included the only item I could fit in the picture, the tag off of his apple tree that he's already planted. I think he's a farmer at heart, because he now has 2 apple trees, a peach tree and a pear tree. I'm going to order him a Japanese Plum tree later today. He doesn't complain about my vices, I don't complain about his. Although his do seem a bit more viable than my fascination with nail polish and beauty products!

Orly Calypso Breeze & Sky Blue-Pink, Oops, Another Small Haul!

Above: I wanted to place these pictures side-by-side so you could see the duo chrome colors and the way it looks in different lighting. It can appear as a violet shade, a light blue and a gray blue. Click on pic for details. This is Orly's Sky Blue-Pink over Calypso Breeze.

Above & Below: Orly Calypso Breeze with flash above, no flash below. A royal blue that is bright, but still a bit muted. It applied perfectly in 2 coats.

Below: My small Sally's haul, polishes L-R: Boggi Brites in Punky Pink, Orly Calypso Breeze and Sol Cabana. Orly Sky Blue-Pink, Orly Golden Halo, Finger Paints Ripe Peach, Lilac Lagoon, Yellow Bikini, Turquoise Tile. Other products from L-R: California Mango Extreme Hand & Body Creme, Miracle 7 hair leave-in, California Mango Miracle Cuticle Remover and California Mango's Mango Mend.

I actually *had* to get some things at Sally Beauty yesterday because I had a gift card to use as well as my 15% discount which would have expired at the end of the month, and we can't allow that to happen! I picked up some of the California Mango products which work very well to keep your hands in shape, another bottle of the Miracle 7 hair leave-in (this compares and is even better than the product "It's a 10" and is less expensive) and of course, some nail polish. Today I used Orly Calypso Breeze from the Tiki Time collection and then layered Sky Blue-Pink over it just to see what that shade was like. It's a duo chrome, looking a bit grayish-blue in the bottle with pink and gold flash. Once applied, it shows up differently in various lighting, as you can see in the picture. I now realize that it is not as sheer as I thought it might be and is plenty pigmented to wear all by itself. It's a very nice color, and I notice the front of the bottle says 'French Manicure' although I don't see it as such. This one and the other Orly 'French Manicure' one I picked up, Golden Halo, had red price tags marked at $2.99, but the sale girl told me all red tagged items are 1/2 off this weekend, so that's only $1.50 each. I hope you're all enjoying the start of the long weekend! Our weather here is in the low 70's and sunny, so I'm not complaining!

Petites Passion Orange & NFU #44 and Today's Winner!

Today's winner of our May contest is The Asian Girl from the fabulous Gettin' Nailed blog! Congratulations!!! We still have one more drawing to do for May next Friday, so if you're interested and haven't entered, check out the information in the 'May Contest' box in the upper right corner. Today I used Petites creme polish in Passion Orange and then decided to layer Nfu #44 over it. I'm not really feeling this color combination, as I probably would have gotten more of a color payoff layering the #44 over a darker color. By using it over a similar color, it's as if the flakies almost got absorbed into the Petites shade and lost all of their flaky goodness. Not to worry, I'll remove it within 24 hours and try something else!

I'm still working on what I'll do for the June contest, but am hopeful that my July contest will have some MAC polishes from the CCO in it! A friend of mine asked if I wanted to go back to the CCO I went to on Monday with her on June 8. She told me that they had a Banana Republic outlet at that same outlet center, which I obviously missed when I was there earlier this week. I ♥ BR, so I would've been all over that. She had never heard of a CCO and loves MAC, so our plan was hatched! I can't wait to go again and am hopeful that the CCO will have received another shipment of goodies by then.

Today or tomorrow I'm expecting a relatively small order from Head 2 Toe, so I'm looking forward to that. I also wanted to let you know that Kathleen at OC Nail Art was kind enough to offer me a code for her great 20% off and free shipping deal that she so generously has offered to several bloggers, so if you're interested in Konad, she is a lovely lady and will take care of your Konad needs. You can see the details in the 'Tip Jar' column on your right.

Lastly, I noticed that Nail Juice posted on her blog that the OPI Mattes we talked about yesterday include the following: dark purple, taupe, indigo, hot pink, neon green and white. They are scheduled for a July release. She is a nail tech student and I would imagine she has very reliable sources. Check out her blog if you're not familiar with it, as she is a very talented and well-informed nail blogger.

NOTD: MAC Vin Goth. Also, OPI Matte 2009?!!!

Good morning, I hope everyone's looking forward to the upcoming 3 day weekend, at least here in the U.S.A.! Today is my busy day when I'm out of the house most of the day, so I'll try and catch up on everyone's blogs this evening. My NOTD is another of the MAC's I got earlier this week at the CCO. I usually get a bunch of new polishes, try one out and then they go into the drawer of untried's never to be seen again for a long time. So in an attempt to use them and show them to you in more than just a haul/bottle picture, here's my second one of the three I got, Vin Goth. I like the name, a little play on words. It's a very dark purple, reminding me a bit of grape juice, even slightly darker. It has quite a bit of sparkle and shimmer in the bottle, but that doesn't seem to transfer to the nail quite as vividly as it looks in the bottle. It's a pretty color though, and was opaque in 2 coats with an easy application. I did call the CCO yesterday to see if they had any more of Toast of the Town (my post yesterday), but they didn't. I thought it would be fun to use them as prizes in a contest, but it was not to be.

With matte polishes being all the rage, according to the fashion industry and many of the blogs I read, I was Google searching mattes and came across this brief article about OPI Matte 2009, which is said to have 6 "in demand" colors and I assume, be released for Fall 2009. I adore mattes and will be doing some more posting on them next week. I can't find any other information to support this supposed new collection, but if it's true, I'm quite anxious to get a look at it. I already have an idea of 6 shades I would love to see them release in a matte finish, but with OPI being somewhat on the conservative side, in my opinion, I doubt they'll be thinking the same shades as me. What colors would you like them to release in this collection? A dark forest green would be my first choice, a dark teal would be wonderful, and of course a burgundy is always nice for Fall. Here's what the article (from beautypackaging.com) says:

OPI Goes Matte for 2009 Posted on May 15, 2009 @ 07:23 am OPI unveiled a new look in nail color – an edgy new matte finish that is daring, trend-setting, head-turning!New OPI Matte features six of OPI’s most in-demand shades in this must-have new look.“OPI Matte is cutting edge for nails in terms of sophistication and style,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI executive vice president and artistic director. “An all-matte nail is fresh, confident, and very fashion runway, and OPI Matte is meant for those moments when you want to make a major fashion statement.OPI Matte does not wear as long as original OPI Nail Lacquer – but its impact is long remembered!”

The Many Faces of MAC's Toast of the Town

I hope that these pictures come across the internet to you as well as this polish does to me in real life...it is so smokin' hot and cool at the same time! This is one that I picked up earlier in the week at the Cosmetics Company Outlet in Michigan City, IN. It is the one that stood out to me more than the others and once I had it applied, it did not let me down. The pictures don't have any description, simply because I think they speak for themselves. Inside, outside, sun, shade, flash, no flash...it looks different in every one. Clicking on the pictures is highly recommended so you can see the many colors of this shade! I would describe the color as being a duo chrome, sometimes a bronze color, sometimes more burgundy and at times flashing an antiqued patina green shade. It's just lovely and I photographed it way too many times, but I wanted to try and capture all of it's beauty. I also used the other 2 MAC polishes I got and was happy with them, but I'll share those a little later with you. Toast of the Town needed a post of it's very own. I raise my glass to MAC on this one, it's truly unique.