Japan

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that one of our bloggers, Renee, who is currently living in Japan right now, is safe and okay, as well as her husband and kitty Aqua. It would be great if you could give her a nice shout out! Thanks guys you're the best:)

Who remembers Street Wear?

Good morning everyone!

Sorry to be late in posting my latest mani, everything has been a bit hectic here. In addition to Thursday being one month since surgery and me having stress that I still can't bend my toe whatsoever, I just got news the other day that we have to move to Osaka. Yes, we have to move YET again, despite that I can't walk. Awesome huh?

Well, here's the belated manicure in question!

I LOVE Street Wear. Remember how it was promoted in Josie's hotel room in Josie and the Pussycats? Can't get enough of it! Erika gave me this one, the color's name is Slip and it's such a pretty color. To give this mani a rustic, antique-y, burgundy look, I applied base coat, then a coat of red nail polish, three coats of Slip, then clear coat on top to finish it off. It looks great, and would actually be an awesome autumn manicure.

Clarins 230 - Unicorn Pee Swatched!

I finally got to swatching this in good lighting, and this post will need little words - here is the gorgeous RAOK present Clarins 230. :) (i have oil on my cuticles so they look a little funky) It's also pretty apparent that I smooshed my ringfinger a little - whoops! But I don't think it averts the attention away from the beauty!

This is layered over 2 coats of Zoya Zara.

In direct sunlight:

I Was RAOK'd With Clarins 230 - THANK YOU!!!!!

I have no clue what I ever did to deserve such an awesome and generous gift, and from somebody who wishes to remain anonymous! I knew I was being RAOK'd through a wonderful group of people over at a nail forum I frequent. I was thinking "hmm...maybe Barielle Elle's Spell?" Because I often said I wanted it. Then I thought maybe it could be a Nfu Oh of some sort. I never in my life expected it to be what it was though.....I will let the photos do the talking here.....and also give a huge gigantic and probably not nearly as thankful as I'd like to portray - I am elated and thrilled and SO grateful because I thought I'd never in my life own this polish. - THANK-YOU to the wonderful person who shared this with me. You are an angel! Whoever you are, you have managed to turn my awful week around completely.

I am definitely going to be paying it forward in a major way. I haven't thought about what I'm going to do yet, but expect a fantastic giveaway very soon. Just give me some time to prepare it :)

If anybody is dying for Clarins 230, I did find a seller has a ton on eBay now and they only want $60 a bottle and free shipping. I know it's still an insane amount to pay for nail polish, but it might be the cheapest price I've ever seen on eBay. So check it out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Clarins-230-Glitter-Nail-Color-4-oz-RARE-HTF-New-/250783962078?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a63e393de


Here goes...(I promise to do a good swatch when my cuticles get better! Every picture I took just looked awful because of my flaky cuticles so I only used 1)

 

Umm no

Could that be? .....

 

OMG IT IS!!!

Clarins 230!!!!!!!!

I had to try a swipe when I got home so I swiped it right over my prior mani and it looked great!

It's A Party On My Hands

Yeah that was super cheesy. Anyway, I haven't quite been able to bring myself to buy Happy Birthday by Deborah Lippmann because I wasn't sure I'd like it. Then I received Wet & Wild fastdry Party Of Five Glitters last month for V-day. I finally got around to swatching it today (what was that I was saying about taking a few days off from swatching? Right.) over a really interesting color by Sinful Colors. I really love the combo. Very electric and just about as bling-tastic as they can get. The sinful swatch underneath is called Dream On. I'm really disappointed, as I had no idea it was a matte polish, and I really don't like matte polishes. But it shined up really nice with PO5G's and Seche Vite on top. I'm really digging this! Too bad I have nowhere to go with my party fingers. Ewh. That sounds kinda dirty...

New Polishes ☠Warning naked nails and crap cuticules!☠

But before I show you the new polishes that I got, avert your eyes if you have to...

 

I decided to give my nails(following Julie's example) a breather. I have to say it did feel nice, but by Thursday I was ready to get to polishing again!

Luckily the very same day, I received a package from ebay(coughevilbay) from a seller in NY. I purchased a few polishes( but had to stop myself!) I also wanted to use my ebay bucks before they expired! I got three colors that really caught my eyes!

I remember seeing these in Ulta a few years ago and for some reason I didn't get them. I think I may have been Christmas shopping and had the "Nothing for you, Erika.."mantra You know that little voice in the back of your head that never shuts up during the Christmas season? But now that I found it on ebay, I had to get it! It is so pretty in real life.

I had never heard of these polishes before.. I googled them, and holy rollers, these are amazing halo's! I got mystical mandarin. I am on the look out of the blue version (which names escapes me at the moment..)Blech those cuticles. I swear.

I am Under Elle's Spell!

This is a long-time want of mine, and I was able to trade with a wonderful lady over at makeupalley.

Now I know I said I wouldn't be swatching all that much for the next few days, but I already had red nail polish on, so i thought it wouldn't be cheating if I just throw a layer of Elle's Spell on top to see if it's worth all the fuss. News flash...it IS! It's so pretty and lights up in the sun. It's what I'd call the perfect swatch. No doubt, Erika you are going to LOVE this!

Does anybody else love Elle's Spell? Oh, and did you notice our new March banner?? We are going to change our banner every month because well, we feel like it lol. And it's fun!

This is swatched with just 1 layer of Elle's Spell over a candy apple red polish. I bet 2 or 3 would make this even neater.

You know you want to click me! Look at the close up!