Beach Please!

Dearest readers,

Lately I have been completely done with winter. As in, I am ready for the beach now. Because there is no hope of me being able to run off to the Caribbean anytime soon, I am having to content myself with the oh-so-terrible winter in Texas (it's all of 50 degrees outside right now). Here are some images of the Resort 2011 collections that I am currently in love with. Enjoy!

Dreamily yours, Faith

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

(my apologies for the poor clean-up)

Here, at last, is the other polish I bought from the OPI Swiss collection, Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous (can we please have a collective groan for that name?). Its punny name aside, LLM is a beautiful silvery dark gray shimmer/foil. I don't think it quite qualifies as a foil, as the shimmer isn't as overwhelming as a foil tends to be.

This color is both celebratory and quiet, and makes me think of downtown Christmas lights reflected in sidewalk puddles. I think it would work marvelously for occasions that need something sophisticated and yet it also works for something that you would wear holographic glitter eyeliner to.

LLM doesn't have super great wear, but it doesn't do terribly either. I believe I got around 2 or 3 days before any chipping, so it doesn't wear like a glitter or anything. All in all, I've been liking this quite a lot for winter, and want to pair it with black tights and sweaters. I'm also contemplating it for my New Year's manicure, although I think I might want something a bit more over-the-top.

I'm Back

(The Bradham Christmas tree)

My dear friends,

Hello.

I have finally gotten the blogging bug again! Let's hope it stays. :) As y'all probably guessed, I have been completely uninspired to blog for the past couple of months. However, I think I have gotten over that, and am ready to blog once more. I am going to shoot for once or twice a week, but please don't murder me if I renege occasionally.

Part of the reason that I took a little hiatus is that I'm a bit bored with straight-up polish blogging, especially because I am too poor to buy many new polishes anymore. So I'm thinking that I will mix traditional narcissistic blogging about me with my usual polish posts, plus whatever else I feel like, and we'll see how it goes from there. But don't hold me to any of this - I have a history of fickleness. ;)

It would seem that I did not blog for a full semester, meaning that y'all missed a bit of what was happening in my life. In these last three months, I...

1. Declared English! I am now officially an English major at Trinity, giving me the perfect excuse to do nothing but read. Happiness.

2. Joined the Trinity Review in an effort to become more involved. The Review is our campus' literary magazine, published yearly. I am on the PR team, meaning that I get to do fun things like chalk quotes all over campus to promote our events and/or the Review itself. Everyone on the magazine staff also votes on all of the submissions. I've got 202 submissions right now sitting in my Dropbox waiting for me....

3. Started work in Special Collections at the campus library. I worked in the Costume Studio last year making costumes for our mainstage productions, but while I loved the actual work, my boss was hell to work with. She just didn't like happy people. But I absolutely love Special Collections, and actually look forward to going to work instead of dreading it. It also helps that I generally have time to do some homework while I'm there.

4. Became the loving owner of 5 high-end nail polishes. (There's the polish reference you've been waiting for. ;) ) I now own 3 RBLs, 1 Lippmann, and 1 NARS. Photo evidence below.

(l-r, Across the Universe, Drifter, Sheer Red, Dead Calm, Zulu)

And yes. That is NARS Zulu. So gorgeous. I will have reviews of them up soon, I promise. :)

I'm leaving quite a lot out, but suffice it to say that I both kept my old friends and made new ones, maintained my grades, and had lots of fun. I hope college never ends...

I hope that y'all had a very merry Christmas indeed, and that your New Years are looking to be fantastical as well!

Love, Faith

OPI Ski Teal We Drop

Y'all. I bought new nail polish. Whoa.

It was extraordinarily exciting, but I was only able to purchase two polishes, sadly. The good thing is that my 2 new polishes are from the OPI Swiss collection, which I was originally not excited about at all. However, after seeing swatches, I got all hot and bothered and decided that I needed about half the collection. I came home with Ski Teal We Drop (which I keep wanting to call Ski Teal The Cows Come Home, oddly enough) and Lucerne-tainely Look Gorgeous.

Ski Teal We Drop is a dazzling teal (thus the name, obviously) creme that applies like butter. I only had to use 2 coats to get a perfect non-streaky finish, and I could not take my eyes off my nails. Even better, the lasting power is top-notch. I went to the beach the day after putting this on (smart move, eh?), and got absolutely no chipping or tip wear the entire day. In fact, STWD didn't wear at all until about 3 days after I applied it, and I was not using my nails gently.

Ski Teal We Drop is fabulous and that is all there is to it. The End.

Withdrawal

arlings. I want new nail polish so very badly. I have had to be unbelievably good for the past few months and refrain completely from nail polish, seeing as I have to spend my money on boring practical things. It's awful! :( Thankfully, I will be able to spend about $50 on nail polish soon, and it will be glorious. I literally have not bought new nail polish since spring break. Horrible thought! In order to somewhat abate my withdrawal symptoms, I thought I would show some of the new collections/some of my lemmings.

'm sure y'all have seen swatches of the new RBL collection by now; isn't it lovely? I wish they had done all of Henry VIII's wives, but I know that RBL doesn't do collections larger than 4 polishes. Here are Scrangie's beautiful swatches, if you haven't seen them yet.

http://www.scrangie.com/2010/07/rescue-beauty-lounge-fall-2010.html

atherine H is calling to me. Such a beautiful soft blue! Catherine is gorgeous as well, and seems so very Spanish and regal! I have always felt terribly sorry for poor Catherine - her first husband died after less than 6 months of marriage, while we all know how abominably the second treated her.

PI is coming out with a Swiss Collection for Fall, which I was at first disappointed with, as it seemed very samey and boring. However, upon seeing All Lacquered Up's swatches, I have recanted. The non-red part of the collection is wonderful! I don't like The Color To Watch, but then I've never liked pearly colors like that. The rest are gorgeous and I need them in my life.

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2010/07/opi-swiss-collection-fall-2010-part-1-swatches-review.html#more-3342

As for the red half, Scrangie has pictures up of them. They look very pretty, but I doubt I'll be buying any.

http://www.scrangie.com/2010/07/opi-swiss-collection-fall-2010-swatches.html

ssie has also released a couple of fabulous shades for summer that I will most definitely be buying. I want want want the green, and the bright peach/coral is very nice as well. Yum yum, summer colors.

http://www.scrangie.com/2010/06/essie-summer-collection-2010.html

p In The Air by China Glaze is completely to-die-for as well. I want pretty much the entire collection, but I think I will settle for Grape Pop, Re-Fresh Mint, Peachy Keen, and possibly Four Leaf Clover and High Hopes.

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2009/12/china-glaze-swatches-review-comparisons-part-3.html

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2009/12/china-glaze-swatches-review-comparisons-part-1.html

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2009/12/china-glaze-swatches-review-comparisons-part-2.html

p.s. I might have gone a little overboard with the drop caps this post, eh? But they were so pretty, and this post was so boring with no pictures! Isn't the owl-ie O just the cutest thing ever though?

Top Coat Trials: The Legendary Poshe

Now for some more of the illustrious Top Coat Trials, in which I try to find a match for the Holy Grail of Top Coats, Seche Vite. Poshe is commonly known as the equal of Seche (some people even call it better), so I was excited to try it and see for myself. Would something finally measure up to Seche?

Upon buying Poshe, I was disappointed to find out that it costs about $7-8, which is only a couple of dollars below Seche. This meant that if the top coat was measurably inferior to Seche, it wouldn't be worth it to buy Poshe instead of Seche. So home I took my little bottle, happy for an excuse to change my nail polish immediately. Poshe applies quite smoothly and nicely, leaving no bubbles, and keeps the polish chip-free for a reasonable amount of time. However, it did not measure up to Seche's glass-like shine and length of wear. Seche will keep your polish on at least 4 days no problem, while Poshe is pushing it at 3.

Also, I was severely disappointed once I reached the bottom half of my bottle. It has all the same problems as Seche (heavy bubbling, extreme thickening, etc.), with even worse thickening! I felt like I was trying to put glue on my nails. :( I've gotten much better results from several of the drugstore top coats I've tried so far.

The verdict: Poshe is nice, but not worth it. Buy Sally Hansen Mega-Shine, and get the same results a whole lot cheaper, or cough up the $10 for Seche Vite.

I'm A Stupid Blogger

Darling Readers,

Let me recount to you a tale of my stupidity. I am such a bad blogger that yesterday I got onto blogger intending to write a new blog post, since, as I'm sure you're all aware, I haven't posted in over a month. Do you know what I did? I wrote a post on OPI Stars In My Eyes, which I already reviewed just a few posts ago. DURP. The worst part is that I didn't even realize it until my friend Libby wrote on my facebook to tell me how dumb I was. Ack! So, my apologies if a post appeared in your feed/blog list for a few hours and then abruptly disappeared. It was just my stupidity. If all goes well, I shall have an actual post for you tomorrow or somewhere abouts there.

Humbly Yours,

Faith