The Manicured Manatee

Ruby Kisses Nail Polish swatches part 1 of 3.

2011-09-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered this brand when I was skulking through some old school beauty salons 2 weekends ago. They were on sale for $1.25 and I saw quite a few promising looking colors so I loaded up by basket with 16 colors without a second thought.

Once in the car I started my super scientific ritual of setting up the passenger side dash board as a swatching station and began the shaky business of painting skittle swatches over my existing manicure in a moving vehicle. I am sure it's great entertainment for my fiance who is always driving plus passing cars and my stop light neighbors.

I quickly realized that the polises in this collection are almost all dupes to other popular colors BUT at a much more affordable price. All the "creme" type polishes turned out to be jellies that closely mirror the Nfu-oh jelly collection. The glitters are mostly all dupes of China Glazes and Sinfuls with a few original polishes thrown in the mix.

Here are the first 5 Ruby kisses swatches.

Gorgeous true blue Jelly. This is 3 coats and It's still sheer. This is gorgeous enough to warrant applying some underwear. Although it doesn't look like it here, this is very close to Nfu-oh 119 with an extra coat and underwear.

Ridiculous dark blue jelly. This is a dead ringer for my favorite Nfu-oh polish, 557 at 3 coats. Shown here at 2 coats. This one is pigmented about as well as a jelly can be and still be a jelly. So freakin' happy I got this! If you are fair skinned like me, there just isn't a nail color out there that makes your skin look better than this one does. Also, could the name be any more hardcore awesome? I would have totally made a deal with the man downstairs for this polish!

This pic is with the flash on to show the glitter. This is really close to China Glaze Ruby Pumps, one of my fav polishes of all time, AND the polish my bridesmaids will wear at my wedding. BUT it's about 1 to 2 shades darker and has some silver micro glitter. This is super well pigmented and 2 coats makes it perfect. LOVE THIS.

Here it is without flash in direct light to show the shine.

Oh. My. God. HATE! I almost didn't upload this photo this polish makes my hands look so filthy and gross. It's unique but poorly executed. This has quite a bit of frost and shows brush marks. VOMIT!!!

This charcoal grey with tons of silver micro glitter is really close to Sinful colors Secret Admirer. Secret Admirer covers better and dries faster so I would go with the sinful and skip this one. Shown at 2 coats.

I will have the next 5 swatches in a few days.

Love, MM

Crazy Crackle Combos! Part 1

2011-09-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize that at this point crackle polishes are totally played out, overdone, lame, and down right aggravating. I am doing this series anyway. Why? Because crackles are still new to me being behind the times and all. Also, I do whatever I feel like. K?

I admit, when I am shopping I cringe at the sight of YET ANOTHER brand releasing YET ANOTHER set of crackles. The thing that irks me the most about it is that all these polish companies don't even TRY to be inventive or original in any way. They just keep cranking out the same exact crackle colors that every other company has already done. I find it kind of insulting to tell you the truth. I realize we are all in the business of making money so why not actually MAKE MONEY by offering us some new freakin colors? The other day I was in Walgreens and saw the new Sinful Colors display of nothing but rows and rows of BLACK CRACKLE! It made me want to take a step back and round house kick the display off the shelf and send it crashing to the floor. NEWS FLASH- I ALREADY HAVE BLACK CRACKLE!!! I'M PRETTY SURE WE ALL DO! I am sorry that I am adding to the onslaught that is the crackle catastrophe, I just like crackles and I like how all the colors look layered over different stuff. Since I mess around with different combos all the time anyway I might as well take pictures and post them.

So, here we have the first installment of crackle pics. Enjoy, and try not to vom. :D

China Glaze Cracked Concrete over Finger Paints Vintage Velvet.

Cracked Concrete over Finger Paints Lavender Highlight.

China Glaze Fault Line over China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le.

China Glaze Platinum Pieces over Finger Paints Art of Theft. I REALLY don't like this silver crackle. I can't find anything it looks good over.

OPI Black Shatter over China Glaze City Siren. LOVE!

Fault Line over Icing Pretty as a Peacock. I love this combo! It was like having jewels on my nails.

This is most likely going to be my Halloween Mani. It's Black Shatter over Orly Fresh.

Mia Secret Gold Crackle over Ruby Kisses Deal With the Devil. I LOVE this Combo and also the Ruby Kisses polish and the name of the polish! I will have swatches and reviews of Ruby Kisses polishes in a few days.

Mia Secret Green over Ruby kisses Purplelicious.

Fault Line over Ruby Kisses Green Tomatoes.

Opi Red Shatter over Ruby Kisses Steel Magnolia.

I have found the best way to get crackles to work well and make a lot of cracks is to apply the polish very thin. It will look sheer when you apply it but as it shrinks and cracks it becomes opaque. Also it never works for me if I go over it more than once. I never bother to let my base color dry all the way either. I haven't found a crackle yet that looks good without a topcoat.

Love, MM

OUCH!

2011-09-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Somehow I have managed to injure my freakin neck in an epic way. I have been to the doc and to the ER and next is the ear nose and throat doc. I cannot stand going to the doctor!!! I somehow always manage to get an insanely HOT doctor to examine me as I scream in pain, cry and shoot snot out my nose. I am an UGLY crier you guys.

I have a load of swatches ready but I am super looped out on pain medication and have no business talking to more than one person at a time in my condition, much less the internet. I SWEAR I am not disappearing again and will begin posting as soon as I can form coherent sentences.

For now I will leave you with my favorite pet chicken. Fern. AKA Fern Gully the Last Rain Forest. (It's a joke about her beard ok)

Please people, do not under ANY circumstance mention her facial hair issues. She is very sensitive about her appearance! We are going to come up with some creative ways to help her appear a little more refined and feminine later, but for now she is seeing a good therapist and is working on accepting herself the way she is.

MM

Prehistoric Polish- Zoya Edition.

2011-09-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun and interesting and hopefully helpful to swatch some old polishes. I'll be adding installments to this topic every so often.

The thing with really old polish is that when you find it at beauty supply stores, salons or flea markets you really have no way to fact check it. What I mean by that is, there are usually no swatches or references online to compare your polish to in order to find out if it has been frankened, or what exactly has been done to it.

It's insanely common for nail salons to franken polish. They aren't being malicious or trying to decieve you, they simply want their polish area to look nice and they need to make room for more colors so they often pour mostly empty polishes into one bottle and stick it back on the shelf. This normally isn't a problem for everyday salon goers. They like a color on the rack, get a manicure with it and don't care what the polish name is or even think about whether it's a franken.

The problem arises when a salon has a nail polish sale and a nail fanatic finds a hidden gem of a rare or discontinued polish on the racks, takes it home and looks it up to find it is not what it is supposed to be. Even worse, a blogger buys a franken, and brings it home to find there are no swatches of it, so puts her own swatches online and the whole nail comunity ends up with an incorrect reference.

There are lots of things that can happen to your polish before you buy it. It can be thinned, frankened or even straight up replaced with something else. So, for this reason please keep in mind that I have NO IDEA if the polishes and polish names I am showing when I swatch old polish are correct.

My latest find at a lightly traveled beauty supply store was a hoard of old Zoyas! They had a crap ton of them but I only got three because it was extremely clear to me that they had been thinned half to death and I wasn't sure if I would even be able to use them. The store seriously thinned them to the consistency of WATER.

I was able to get them opaque enough for pictures (FIVE COATS EACH!!!) and I have got them all sitting out with the lids off to thicken them up. I'll be going back to get one of each color soon.

They only had very light colors like nudes and whites but it's still cool, I think. I photographed each polish outdoors in direct sunlight and in the shade. Here are the swatches. I wish I knew how old these babies are!

Shade.

Sun.

Shade.

Sun.

Shade.

Sun.

Even though these colors aren't my style or taste I still think they are neat. It really is a testament to the quality of Zoya nail polish that these old polishes that have been through god knows what still held up to the test of time. They dried FAST and weren't gummy or goopey. They also had fantastic luster in their shimmer and shine.

LOVE, MM

A few more Finger Paints.

2011-09-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I went back to Sally's to grab a few more Finger Paints. I am pretty sure I spotted another nail junkie while I was there. We're a mysterious and illusive species and you rarely see us in the light of day, but I feel like I have the knowledge to identify one of my own kind when I see one.

She was a 20 something woman with neon green nails filed to perfection. I noticed this from 20 feet away the second she walked through the door at Sally's. Yeah, I always obsessively STARE at strangers until I get a glimpse of their nails. So what? Anyways, she walked in, looking down at the ground, and made a straight B line to the polishes. A dead giveaway. Then she ninja grabbed the China Glaze Crackle Haunting 4 pack that I had JUST PUT DOWN!!! DAMN IT! She instantly bought it and I cursed under my breath for the rest of the night for putting it down.

So, fellow nail junkie who STRAIGHT UP STOLE the new China Glaze Halloween collection from me, I hope you like your new polish. PS- I licked the package. Enjoy your strep throat. I'm pretty sure I have a swollen lymph node.

When I checked out at the register the SA went out of her way to give me a free purse. I think that means I am spending too much money there. I ended up buying 3 new Finger Paints, a new Orly, Fresh, marked down to 1.99 and China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le. It's one of the only CG's in the core collection that I don't already have. So, I got it.

I'll go ahead and swatch all of my new ones even though the title of this post expressly says Finger Paints. Whatever. I do what I WANT!

First up, this gorgeous hidden gem from China Glaze that I have somehow managed to ignore until now. So weird because I absolutely LOVE this color and I am wearing it right now. It's a little sheer but worth it.

Pretty redish purple. I really like this one. I have found that all the Finger Paints I have purchased dry super duper shiny. Mama likey!

HOLY SHIT! Dark blue super pigmented jelly with loads of super tiny pink shimmer. I LOVE THIS! I am so glad I got this one, I put it down 3 or 4 times.

Here is another view of the polish above without flash to show the insane shine. Sooooo shiiiiiiiiiiiiinyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Wow. A perfect lavender that does not make my skin look red. Love it.

Last we have my clearance polish. I think they sold everything from this new collection but this one polish so they marked it down. I saw this last weekend and it was 6.99. It's a neon so it dries matte. Pictured here at 2 coats with no topcoat. I'm not crazy about this but I am fairly sure that for Halloween I'm wearing this with OPI Black Shatter on top because it looks CRAZY AWESOME.

Love, MM

Lessons From the Looney Bin- De-Pocket before you Paint!

2011-09-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

De-Pocket Before you PAINT!!!

It took me over a year to figure out this lesson. It's something that is SURE to happen about 5 seconds after the last brush stroke of your perfect mani. BAM! Your cellphone rings or a text comes in. WHERE is your cellphone? Of course it's deep in the pocket our your jeans or burried in the abyss of your purse. What happens next is a frantic attempt to fish out your phone withut ruining your nails which, let's be honest, is so impossible it's hilarious.

So... Before you paint your nails, remove your phone from your pocket or purse. Your mani ritual should go like this-

1- Choose polish.
2- Go Pee.
3- Locate cell phone and remove it from wherever it is WEDGED.
4- Paint nails.
5- Grin ear to ear over how brilliant you are.

HTH,
MM

My first Finger Paints.

2011-09-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

For some reason I have always resisted Finger paints polishes. No matter how much I have ever loved any of their colors I always told myself NO! I think I may have been scared to open the gates of collecting a whole new brand? Maybe it's because I don't have any space on my nail polish racks? I'm not sure, but that business has come to an end. This past weekend I bought my first 6 Finger Paints.

LOVE! This smokey light green creme reminds me a lot of something else but I can't put my finger on it. Is this an Essie Sew psyched dupe minus the shimmer? I am fairly sure that if I searched my stash long enough I would find a dupe of this. I don't really care though.

Drop dead gorgeous teal creme that leans blue. This one is a crowd pleaser for sure. It's my fiances fav out of all my polish purchases this fall and both of the girls went home wearing this last weekend.

OMG!!! I must be dreaming! Super dark green creme that isn't streaky, doesn't get gummy, covers well, and dries fast??? I will be needing another bottle of this no doubt!

This is my mani today. I adore this greenish bluish greyish creamy polish. This is a one coater.

This photo is showing the polish about 2 shades lighter than it is in person. I really like this red jelly but it takes a good 3 coats to get it to the opacity pictured and I still had visible nail line.

I also picked up my first crackle ever! I have since gotten several more but I still really love this one.This is over To-Teally Chic. I am WAY behind on this whole crackle business.

Over all I really love Finger Paints. I think the name is so cute and the bottle is awesome. Good colors and formula. I am going back for more this weekend. I just wish they were cheaper.

Love, MM

China Glaze Metro Collection.

2011-09-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

I love this collection SO MUCH I just had to post it. This is one of the rare China Glaze collections where I love almost all of the colors. Normally I have to have no more than 6 of a 12 piece set but for this collection I had my heart set on 9 of them!

I was so obsessed with these that for the first time ever I went to Sally's and paid retail for them so I could get instant gratification. For someone as cheap as me that is really saying something.

This collection is so incredible but for some odd reason the promo pictures and advertising are really misleading. In the promo pic the polishes are arranged in such a way that the collection really looks STANK. It looks like burnt oranges and nothing but reds. YUCK! They really screwed up with that photo. I am willing to bet this collection would have been 50% more popular had they pulled the purple, grey and green polishes to the front of the display in the photo and let the red and pink polishes hide in the back.

The formula on these is amazing across the board. All the cremes except one are careful one coaters and 2 of the glitters cover in a mere 2 coats.

One of the reasons this collection is so mesmerizing to me is that the colors are super complimentary to one another. They look fantastic side by side making you feel like you need all of them.

Swatches!!! Please keep in mind I am re-learning to photograph nail polish since it's been FOREVER!

Purple and silver micro glitters of a few different shades in a clear base. This is 3 coats. This one is my least favorite of the 9 I bought but I still like it. It's sort of different.

I adore this dark grey creme with a hint of blue. This is my all time favorite grey creme. This is the only grey I own that doesn't make my skin look over the top red.

This is an eggplant base with duochrome micro glitter. The glitter flashes from orange to lime green. This is 2 coats. Amazing color!Even though I mostly stick to cremes these days I really love this one and I can't wait to wear it.

Another view.

Simply stunning dark blue, almost navy blue jelly with loads of silver micro glitter. This is only 2 coats!!! This is a must have.

Darkish pink creme. Nothing new but I really like this for a pink. It makes my skin look so creamy and fresh. I can actually see myself wearing this on purpose.

Mustard yellow with subtle shimmer. I bought this because it's so different. It makes my skin tone look horrible but this is probably the only yellow polish I will ever wear. 2 coats.

Really gorgeous red based purple creme. This is really pretty but not really unique. This one needs more coats than all the other cremes. It's a minimum 2 coater.

My favorite polish of the collection. Sort of an army or olive maybe a camo green creme. This dries at least 2 shades darker than the bottle. I adore this color! It looks incredible with Urban Night and Concrete Catwalk. MUST BUY!!!

I really LOVE this red. I am so into red polish lately, especially cremes, and even more especially "different" red cremes. This is kind of murky almost with a tint of grey. Dies super duper shiny and makes my skin tone look amazing. This is the best red to come out all year.

Some updates on yours truley. After an 8 year relationship I am finally ready to get married and I am currently deep in the trenches of wedding planning. Man, it's insane but a lot of fun. I have been on this crazy hardcore diet for the last 6 weeks and planning on staying on it until my wedding 16 months away. Wish me luck on that rediculous crap! Also, I got CHICKENS! Thats right, you heard me correctly. I have PET CHICKENS now. They are so entertaining and sweet! The super cool thing about my new chickens is that they should start laying eggs in about a month and I just figured out that the reason I have been so sick lately is that I am alergic to EGGS. AWESOME!

I am so excited to be posting after so long! It's nice to be back!

Love, MM

Fright Night Claw Polish Swatches and Review

2010-10-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

I found these little jewels in the Halloween section of Wal-mart.

I know it must be a HUGE surprise that I bought every color they had. I mean, the bottles ARE SHAPED LIKE COFFINS! Who in the world could pass that up? NOT ME that's who. Not to mention they say FRIGHT NIGHT on the stinkin' bottles!!! I had to have them. It was not a choice, it was a need. A deep, stabby, grabby, clingy, unrelenting NEED.

Did I mention the bottles are shaped like coffins? Because they are. My fiance likes to tell me that this form of marketing is called "the appeal to emotion" and that it was invented and created solely based on me. But I say it has nothing to do with freakin MARKETING!!! THE BOTTLES ARE SHAPED LIKE COFFINS! MUST ACQUIRE!!!!!

Coffin bottles aside I think my favorite thing about these polishes are the names. I was literally laughing my ass off while I was swatching them and reading the names. They have these very scary, halloweeny names like Sinister, Poison, and Toxic then they throw in Blue as a name just to spice things up a bit. I just kept running scenarios through my head as to how the same company can name one polish Bloodshed then the very next one Blk Orange. Did the polish naming dude get pissed off and walk out because they docked his overtime pay and the only employee left to name the polish was a one armed, imagination less chimpanzee with Sars? Did the label printer dude fail the 12 steps and crawl into a bottle of Jack during the printing process? It's things like this that are truly hilarious to me.

This is a really awesome topcoat. The base color is perfectly pigmented. It's just pigmented enough to be opaque on it's own in 3 coats and also work as a topcoat over other polishes without completely changing the base color. This ruby red sparkler seriously gives Ruby Pumps a run for its money people.

This is described on the packaging as "metallic" and I guess it sort of is. I'm not sure what else to really call it besides pretty.

A one coat satin black from a cheapy Halloween polish brand? Say it ain't so!

This one is black and orange string glitter in a clear base layered over Sinister. The name rules dudes! So freakin original!

This one is also a one coater if you're careful.

I think the name says it all on this one guys.

Another one described as "metallic". This is a 2 coat gorgeous purple shimmer.

Listen up dudes. This is the most neon polish I have ever seen in my life. I had to take the photo in the dark to keep it from over exposing or blurring out completely. It's a jelly base and takes a good 3 thick coats but it's totally worth it for the retina burning neon effect!

To my surprise these actually don't suck! They apply well and all of them are two coaters or less with the exception of the "topcoat" VooDoo and the orange one called Pumpkin. I was pretty shocked when the black flowed onto my nails and covered in one single coat! I was really expecting these to be nothing more than cute novelties in awesome bottles but they are actually wearable! Bonus!

Happy Halloween!

Love, MM

Hard Candy Halloween 2010

2010-10-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

This year Hard Candy released three limited edition polishes exclusive for Halloween. Hell yeah!

Halloween polishes are my THANG baby! Then go ahead and tell me they're limited edition and I might not be able to get them... DANG! Slow your roll Hard Candy! Nail Polish + Halloween + Limited Edition = I'll buy a bottle of stale date baby food if it's got a lid with a brush in it.

Limited edition Halloween is totally cool so it's too bad these colors are pretty much played out and overdone. I mean I guess they are ok. It's like, they ARE Halloween colors so how many options are there to actually be unique? At least one of them kinda breaks the mold on traditional Halloween colors.

Yet another brown/black base with orange glitter. HURRAY! As you can see by the state of this mani this polish is goop city. It was like trying to apply cottage cheese on my nails. It did cover nicely but good lord it was impossible to keep it from clumping up. Just check out the polish tumor on my pinky nail. This is three coats. It could be done in two if you would just take the time to add some thinner to keep it from clumping which I obviously did not do. Or just slap one coat over black.

Black with silver glitter. This one is possibly the most overdone out of the three. Not only is it a Halloween standard it's also a common color in regular collections. It was the easiest to apply though. This is two coats.

This one is the most unique and it's quite a different color as far as Halloween colors go. The problem with this one is that it has a clear base and the glitter is much too sparse for it to be worn alone. At three coats (shown) it's still transparent and at 4-5 coats, while opaque, it ends up clumpy and goopy and won't dry.

Happy Halloween!

Love, MM

Hard Candy- Beetle

2010-10-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

I about flipped my lid when I saw this in Wal-mart last night! I bought it as fast as I could, as if somebody was going to snatch it from me before I could pay for it. I admired it all the way home. I even called my BFF to tell her how amazing it was in the bottle!

Now, I will just flat out say this, "FUCK YOU FLORESCENT LIGHTING!!!" Once AGAIN I have been duped into buying a false profit under the disguise of florescent lights. I got home and slapped it on my nails immediately. At half a freakin coat on the first freakin nail I screamed out, "THIS IS ANOTHER DUPE FOR SPACE CADET! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!".

That's right folks. Instead of buying Orly's super new, totally exclusive, ground breaking FX technology in the form of Space Cadet you can now get it from not only Mac in the form of Mean & Green, but you can BUY IT AT WAL-MART. I mean how super exclusive is THAT?

While this is an exact dupe to Orly Space Cadet and therefore an exact dupe to Mac Mean & Green I like this one the best. I can only speak for Space Cadet and Beetle though, as those are the only two I have. Beetle is at least twice as pigmented as Space Cadet which makes it need way less coats and dry faster. I don't know if you guys have ever actually gotten Space Cadet opaque before but in my experience it takes SO MANY coats that it goops up and never dries. This photo of beetle is at three thin coats. It dried super fast and is totally opaque.

Here is the comparison of the two in the shade. Space Cadet is at 5 coats here.

And here they are in the sun.

Let's do a quick price breakdown folks-
Mac Mean & Green = $13
Orly Space Cadet = $10
Hard Candy Beetle = $5

See you at Wal-mart.

Love, MM

Maybelline New York Fashion Week 2010

2010-10-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

I had been eyeballing these for a few days and have had them in my basket at Walgreens twice, each time putting them back. Finally last night I went and bit the bullet and paid full price $4.49 each for Maybelline express finish nail polishes. It was like shock therapy when the cashier told me my total. WOAH PEOPLE! These things are SO overpriced! But keep in mind this is coming from someone that gets her Maybellines at dollar stores and big lots for $1-2 each.

In the store these polishes with the exception of Gray-T Glamour and Chic Chocolate looked like heavily pigmented, wondrous and rich jellies. The ONLY reason I got the 6 I did was because I thought 5 of them were jellies, my second favorite finish ever. You can imagine the disappointment when I got home to find only one of the 6 was actually a jelly. But I'm over it, it's all about sucking it up and posting swatches for you guys so I'm cool. I'm totally NOT enraged and overcome with anger at ALL. I swear.

I skipped Chic Chocolate and the black from this collection because they are just too overdone. I mean come on, no nail savvy shopper is going to pay almost $5 for a black polish when you can buy the best black polish on the freakin market for 99 cents! GRRRR!

Even though I was overall deeply disappointed in them, these shades are not all that bad and hopefully some of you out there will like them! Hell, even I like a few of them it's just that they are NOT what I thought I was buying!

Super duper DARK cobalt blue with blue shimmer. This one looks dead ass black on the nail indoors and pretty much every other time other than in glaring sunlight or under flash photography. I was most excited about this one in the bottle because it looked like the most beautiful dark blue jelly. SIKE!

This really is a gorgeous dark red jelly but it just irritates me to no end that the only jelly in the collection ends up being the red one! GAH! I have at least 50 red jellies people! This one is especially pretty though.

Very nice greyed out medium green toned creme with subtle shimmer. This one is also really dark on the nail when indoors.

I think this one ironically became my favorite of the bunch. It's a mid range grey creme with a nice sparkle shimmer.

Blech. This one, just like Charming Cobalt, looks black on the nail 95% of the time. In very bright light it reveals it is in fact purple with blue and purple shimmer. This one just flat out pisses me off.

My second favorite. Rich berry creme that leans a little bit towards purple. Pretty.

These were all two coaters except for Divine Wine which took 3. As promised on the label they do dry very fast but I had terrible problems with them bubbling terribly as they dried. Millions of tiny little bubbles. Also, all 6 brushes had the Maybelline curse crooked cut brushes and 2 had stray hairs that needed trimming before I could use them.

Love, MM

Reader Request- Rescue Beauty Lounge Comps, Dupes, and Alternatives

2010-10-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tamika requested a comparison of Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow and Essie Sew Psyched to help her plan for the Rescue Beauty Lounge 50% off sale on Nov. 1st. So, I'm going to post her request along with some other RBL polishes and their dupes or close alternatives. Hopefully this will help you guys out when it comes time to pick your polishes for the sale. I admit I went a little nuts with the comparisons but I thought that ruling out possible dupes was just as important as posting actual dupes.

I'll start with Tamika's request.

Diddy Mow:

This polish is a dead on, exact duplicate to Essie's Sew Psyched.

Here is the bottle comparison. After sitting they even separate the exact same way.

Diddy Mow VS. Essie Sew Psyched.

As you can see by the photo it's impossible to tell these apart. The RBL applies a bit more opaque but even the formula is almost identical. If you can find the Essie on sale (less than $8) or already own it I would skip Diddy Mow for sure, but if not then I would Definitely pay the extra $1 and get the RBL at the sale!

Dead Calm:

*sigh*

I thought I nailed a dead on dupe for this one until I saw the pics, but I did find a few kinda close alternatives.

Here are the blues I had in my stash that I thought came close based on the bottle color.

Dead Calm VS. Sephora by OPI Blue Grotto.

This is in the same category and is pretty close but by no means can it replace DC. If you just want something close and close is good enough then this might be for you, BUT during the sale this polish is the exact same price as the RBL! So the RBL wins!

Dead Calm VS. Nina Ultra Pro Sailor.

In the bottle, holding it in my hands I thought I had found and exact dupe for DC and I literally jumped for joy! Even in dim lighting on my nails it looked exact! But alas my friends, no impostor can hide from the camera flash! But I'll say it again, if close is good enough you can get this polish at Sally Beauty Supply for under $4.

Dead Calm VS. China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway.

Another kinda close blue that falls in the same category in my opinion. Not a dupe but it is an alternative if you need to be ultra picky or are on a limited budget, you can get it for $3 at the etailers.

Dead Calm VS. Misa On the Edge.

This one is the furthest away out of the 3 I posted but I still wanted to post the comparison for those that can't compare them on their own and have to rely on online swatches.

In my honest opinion even if there were an exact dupe to Dead Calm I would still buy it at the sale. To me it is a MUST HAVE, NO EXCEPTIONS polish for any stash no matter how big or small.

Grunge:

I think this one is going to be "undupeable" because of it's subtle shimmer. I personally don't like the shimmer and I found a dupe for it minus the shimmer. So if you don't care for the shimmer either, listen up!

Grunge VS. Orly Country club Khaki.

An exact dupe of the base color of Grunge. EXACT. Another awesome tidbit is that CCK is a solid 2 coater just like Grunge.

Grunge VS. OPI Tickle my France-y.

Also close minus the shimmer.

Grunge VS. Essie Jazz.

A distant third runner up, but still good enough to pass on Grunge if neutrals are not your thing or if you have any of the above.

While all three of these are close enough in color for me personally to pass on Grunge keep in mind that Grunge is a two coater and Both the OPI and Essie are 3+ coaters.

Atame:

I had a pile of about 15 dark red jellies piled up anticipating finding SEVERAL alternatives to this polish but I only found 2 that I think are worth passing for.

Crappy bottle photo I know, and I'm sorry.

Atame VS. Avon Tweed.

Dudes, I would take the Avon over the RBL in this case no question. It applies better, is more opaque and the brush is heaven! Also it is cheap!

Atame VS. Essie Berry Hard

This is another almost exact dupe. If you have this already then pass on the RBL, if not it's worth the extra $1 to pick up the RBL instead of the Essie. These were the same amount of coats and opacity.

Orbis Non Sufficit:

I apologize for the terrible bottle photo! I took so many and somehow not even one came out well.

Blech. Both of these polishes are hideous in the bottle! They both separate so bad, it looks so icky!!!

Orbis Non Sufficit VS. Avon Olive Green.

Another exact duplicate! The Avon even applies just as well as the RBL in every way, plus the Avon brush is better. You can get Avons easily for about $5 and you can find them for $2-3 with a bit more effort at flea markets and swap meets.

Teal:

I took a bottle comp photo for this but it was so terrible I can't bear to post it even if it makes this the only polish in the post with no bottle photo. I don't care, it's just too horrible. Maybe I'll go back and take another one to add later. I had really stank luck with bottle pics today!

RBL Teal VS. OPI Ski Teal We Drop.

Honestly I kept hearing that these were exact dupes left and right but IMO the OPI is a tad lighter. As far as choosing one the RBL is a true one coat wonder and dries faster than the OPI. This one also comes down to a $1 difference for the RBL. I would go for Teal hands down.

Glamourpuss:

This one has 2 dupey polishes that are good alternatives if you can get them cheap.

They don't look all that close in the bottle but in this case it's all smoke n' mirrors man. Also, Let me go ahead pre-apologize for all the visible nail line I'm about to bombard you with! Red Jellies, 2 coat swatches, and flash photography don't mix man!

Glamourpuss VS. Misa Cherry Topping

CT is a tad lighter but is a close, much cheaper alternative.

Glamourpuss VS. Essie Bold and Beautiful.

These are almost too close to tell apart for me. Once again the RBL is only $1 more during the sale so if you don't have the Essie or the next dupe get the RBL!

Glamourpuss VS. China Glaze Ravishing, Dahling.

DUPES DUDES! This one is a no brainer for me since you can get this China Glaze for $3 at most etailers!

Recycle:

Ok, so I went a little nuts with the pics on this one. I just felt like unless you own all these greens and can see them personally you might mistake them as dupes for Recycle based on online swatch pics. So I wanted to basically rule most of them out as dupes more than actually find a dupe, which I might add seems like an impossible task for this polish!!!

Here is the line-up of all the greens I thought might be in the running based on online swatches. I went ahead and compared them all to Recycle even though there was not a possible dupe in sight.

Recycle VS. New York summer Amaranth.

Recycle VS. Orly Enchanted Forest.

This is sorta kinda a little bit close... maybe?

Recycle VS. American Apparel Hunter.

Recycle VS. Claire's Kelly Green.

Recycle VS. Orly Wandering Vine.

Recycle VS. Nubar Forest.

I think Recycle is another must have RBL polish. It's such a unique green! Hopefully these green comps can settle some questions some of you might have had about Recycle's dupeability, if not at least they're fun to look at. LOL!

So ladies don't forget the 50% off Rescue Beauty Lounge sale is on Nov. 1st. Happy shopping!!!

Love, MM

My NOTD

2010-10-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie today to show off whats on my nails while I'm waiting for my dear step daughters to arrive. I CANNOT WAIT for them to get here so we can decorate the house for Halloween!!! My favorite holiday! Then I cannot wait to take them shopping all over town scouring for Halloween themed cosmetics! Oh, how I love Halloween cosmetics! I need to start saving money year round just so I can buy out all the stores when Halloween rolls around!

Today I'm wearing one of my favorite polishes of all time.

China Glaze's Fairy dust over one coat of Sinful's Black on Black. I love how this polish changes depending on the lighting. In the shade it simply looks like silver micro glitter, but in the sunlight it explodes into a holo-fest of awesome.

Here's another picture of it doing it's thing in the sunlight.

Gorgeous!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Love, MM

Zoya Fire & Ice

2010-10-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hellz to da yeah!

This collection is so totally completely awesome. At first sight I was very underwhelmed to say the least, but as I started looking the colors over more closely and swatching them I began to fall in love with every color more and more.

These polishes are so unique and almost impossible to describe but I'm going with "micro glitter glass fleck metallic bad assness" as my official status on the type of finish they are. It's really all about the formula and finish with this set of polishes. The colors are pretty boring and played out until you take a closer look and realize how complex and multidimensional they really are. These are basically the sparkles collection on steroids people. Even the seemingly boring reds are fabulous!

You really have to see these up close and personal to appreciate how gorgeous they are, but I have done my very best to capture their fabulousness in photos.

Sun

Close-up of texture

Shade

Sun

Close-up of texture

Shade

Sun

Close-up of texture

Shade

Sun

Close-up of texture

Shade

Sun

Close-up of texture

Shade

Sun

Close-up of texture

Shade

The only flaw I found with these incredible polishes is that they are pretty sheer. These are all 4 coaters with the exception of Valerie which took only 2. They are totally worth sitting through a 4 coat manicure but I recommend using this tip instead.

Love, MM

A little bit of Essie spam

2010-10-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

Some are new, some old. Either way these are all polishes I really like. Most of these came out of the $1 bin at my local hole in the wall salon. SCORE!

Love, MM

NARS Midnight Express

2010-10-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Holy Carp!

This is my first NARS polish. While it took me 4 coats to get a nice even color, it dried to the most incredibly shiny finish EVER. This has got to be one of the best jelly formulas I have ever used. It is absolutely gorgeous! 4 coats is pretty standard to get a jelly polish opaque so it's really not a problem, but even if it were a problem this polish makes up for it big time with it's amazing shine and glorious jelly finish.

Super dark cobalt blue. OMG. This is so freakin beautiful!

Love, MM

American Apparel swatches part 2

2010-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Love, MM

American Apparel swatches part 1

2010-10-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

I recently found an American Apparel store near my house and of course I had to try their polishes. These are just wonderful. Very smooth application and very well pigmented across the board. Before I knew it one polish turned into 11, so I'll be showing the first 5 today.

These were all solid 2 coaters and I highly recommend you pick them up as soon as possible if you want them because it's rumored they wont be around much longer.

Love, MM

My first OPIs

2010-09-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

I posted a few days ago about the floodgates being opened on lots of new brands for me. Since OPI was one of them I thought it would be fun to post the ones I picked out from the hundreds available to add to my stash as my "first OPIs".

After sifting through thousands of swatches these are the ones I got in my first official OPI order. I probably should have divided this into a few posts but what the hell! Let the shiny new OPI spamage begin!

After swatching all these I can say 2 things without a doubt. One is that I am an official OPI convert, and second, OPI is the most all over the place, hit or miss formula out of any other polish brand I have tried. Some are 4 coats some are 2, some streak some are smooth. It's like playing the lottery. Overall I am really happy with the polishes I chose to break myself in to the brand.

What do you all think of the first OPIs I picked?

Love, MM

Orly Plastix Collection

2010-09-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

I am so super majorly pissed off at Orly after the crap they pulled with the Cosmic FX collection that it is hard for me to ignore my grudge and honestly post about their polishes. This is the main reason I waited so long to post the Sweet collection and now the Plastix collection. I'll get into all that when I review the Cosmic FX collection though, I'm just waiting for a sunny day to photograph them.

As for the Plastix collection, it's a group of 4 polishes that are designed to dry to a "plastic finish". Honestly they are just mattes that don't dry as matte as normal mattes. The colors are just ok. Orly launched this collection with a LOT of hype with not much follow through. Two of the colors are ok but adding a layer of glossy topcoat reveals they are both dupable with other easy to find polishes. The other 2 colors in the collection are just down right ugly, and yes, they are easily dupable as well.

The point of this collection totally escapes me. With all the matte top coats readily available these days, making a collection of matte cremes in basic colors makes no sense to me. There is nothing unique about the colors in the plastix collection whatsoever. A couple seconds with a few common cremes and a matte topcoat can recreate these colors with equal if not better results.

This is 3 coats. For a similar look try one coat of China Glaze Grape Pop plus a matte top coat.

Here it is with a glossy topcoat.

This one didn't dry very matte at all. Also a 3 coater. (these are ALL 3 coaters) This color is just awful, I really cant see it looking flattering on anyone.

Here it is glossy.

This polish was the worst of the bunch. It has a horrible orange cast in person that gives your hands a very grimy dirty look.

As you can see this polish isn't red at all. Any dark pink polish plus a matte topcoat will be a good dupe for this polish.

American Apparel Peacock plus a matte topcoat is a great alternative to this one.

And now for a photo of it with a glossy topcoat.

These polishes were really hard to work with. They were thick and very streaky but still had a really bad tendency to drip all over the place during application. They all needed 3 coats either to get full coverage or to smooth out the streakiness.

Love, MM

Orly sweet

2010-09-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

Way behind posting these. I only got three of the 6 because I had dupes for 2 and the other just didn't appeal to me. I'm going to make this short and sweet since I'm still recovering from this weekend.

Three coats.

2 Coats

2 coats.

These are a little thick but not too hard to apply. Overall they were pretty good.

Love, MM

Bloggin' From the Beach.

2010-09-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

It's story time ladies, and the polish I'm posting today could not be more fitting. You shall see what I mean in a jiffy. I have a glorious tale to tell you, it's filled with tidbits all over the emotional map. I'm talkin' pregnancy voodoo hexing infants, boob relief, and weekend beachfront getaways people.

Yesterday my fiance Eric, you know that one guy? The sole supporter of my polish habit and the single source of income that allows my blog to be possible? Him. He surprised me by taking today off and whisking me away to a beach front hotel for the weekend. He did give me a choice of course, because he is a keeper, if I wanted a romantic mini vacation weekend or if I wanted to blow the cash on shopping. I chose the mini vacay. Somebody check my temperature. Bad jokes aside it really was an easy choice since the collections this fall/holiday have honestly been less than lemm worthy.

Our hotel is directly on the beachfront with nothing between my balcony and the breaking waves except the hotels parking lot. Amazing. I personally have never lived further than 4 hours from a beach in my life but never have I enjoyed one from a hotel bed while lounging out, or from a hotel balcony.

While we were packing up I decided at the last minute to unpack my "boob shirt" I was saving for the beach tomorrow but opted to wear it today. Before I can go any further I need to explain a little known fact about me. I have this powerfully dominant feminist side to my personality that does not allow me to partake in the whole women on women appearance challenge face off crap that happens pretty much anytime women come in contact with each other. I just can't do it. So, I always, SERIOUSLY ALWAYS dress incredibly modestly when I know I will be in the company of a fellow female. It knocks that competition shit out, right in its tracks. Going clubbing with girlfriends is one thing and a totally different story but meeting up with married/engaged/committed women or women I don't know too well is always a "no boob situation". It is just the way I feel that women should conduct themselves out of respect for other ladies. I mean I don't like it when women do that crap to me, so I don't do it to them. It's not a confidence thing by any means. I feel like it's a respect thing. If a woman walks into my home with her cans popping out I would not feel threatened by her appearance, but I would feel disrespected by her need to physically compete with me. So, you can be sure you won't ever catch me walking my scantly clad boobie poppin self into another womans home, ever.

Now that another weird little tidbit about me has been exposed I can continue by exclaiming how DISTRESSED I was when My fiance got a call from a friend asking us to drop by his house on our way to the hotel. This "friend" has a pregnant wife and a 6 month old baby. And HERE I AM already in the car with no way to change clothes with my ta tas literally EXPLODING from my "shirt". To tell you the truth this particular "shirt" is so skanky I don't think I have ever worn it out, and forget wearing it in the presence of others...but this situation wasn't just "others" it was PREGNANT WOMAN WITH INFANT, IN HER HOME, WHOM I HAVE NEVER MET. On top of my hoochie-fied shirt I had another little cherry on top in the form of a necklace with a pendant that hangs right in between lefty and her wing man. Scratch that, it doesn't "hang" it is STUCK there. AWESOME.

I honestly tried everything I could to un-hookerize myself as we approached their house but it was no use. Once we arrived I timidly walked up the drive following my fiance feeling incredibly guilty and LAME until the front door opened and the most gorgeous half naked woman stood before us. Her shorts could have passed for panties and her bra-less boobs were about 85% exposed in her A-line scoop neck spaghetti strap top. I have never felt such overwhelming boob relief in my entire life people. It rushed through me like ice cold coca-cola up a Mcdonalds straw. It was like seeing the angel of feminism waving a "OK to boob it" flag.

Despite the boob panic and ocean view hotel, oddly the most noteworthy part of my day was the "gorgeous woman's" child. I'm calling her "gorgeous woman" because in my panic over boob disrespect I missed her name. This... infant? Toddler? I don't know the proper term for a 6 month old, locked eyes with me as I walked in the door. He was the equivalent of a leprechaun's cuff links in terms of rarity. I'm talking a CUTE baby people, as a purposefully childless adult it's pretty damn hard for a baby to be THAT cute to me. We are talkin' a baby capable of turning life commitment non-breeders to the dark side with a single spit burp bubble.

This baby fixated on me and stared directly at me for the entire length of my stay. From his bouncy walkey thingy he was in, he stared me DOWN. Each and every time I looked over at him he was focused on me... grinning. Gorgeous Woman said, "he takes people in" after she noticed how much he was concentrating on me. After about 10 solid minutes I got a little freaked out. I mean this is a baby that can barely control it's neck muscles yet it's got the attention span to STARE ME DOWN? So I was like "oh it must be my dangley beaded earrings" and shook them a little with absolutely no response from the baby. He remained locked in a Steven Segal pre-fight sequence eye contact battle with me .Everyone in the room noticed. Through a few trips outside with his mother and I this child literally did not loose his focus on starring at me ONCE. It was hands down one of the weirdest experiences of my life.

Now that I am out of king cute baby's eyeball death grip, I can safely say I feel OVERLY FERTILE. This cute little baby put a Haitian fertility voodoo hex on me people. I am certain of it. My whole body feels like it's put together in a different and strange new way. I have been officially baby stricken. Short of showing up in my bedroom at 11:30 on a friday night this baby could NOT HAVE PICKED A WORSE TIME to cast a spell on my ovaries. I mean come on! A romantic weekend beachfront getaway? And now I have a fresh freakin' pregnancy curse upon my head? Sweet.

Reality check. Here is the view from where I am sitting at this very moment-

This is from the 3rd floor, but tomorrow we are switching rooms to the first floor and sacrificing our view because well... THERE IS A JACUZZI IN THE SUITE!!! And what is on my nails today you ask?

Mac Beyond Jealous. Voodoo hex aside, you know you totally are. This polish is a heart stopping, nearly black, army green creme. It covers in one coat but I would not recommend leaving it at one because when I did it was chip city. At 2 coats it has good staying power, and sheesh it dries LIGHTING fast!

I found an outlet store in my town a few weeks ago that gets unsold MAC over stock, so I was able to pick up a few colors for $8.50 instead of the ridiculous $13 a pop. Yeah, $8.50 is still not cheap but remember folks...knowledge is power, unless what? UNLESS THERE IS A SALE.

Love, The respectfully boobalicous MM

OPI Swiss... Kinda

2010-09-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

It's kinda lying to call this post "OPI Swiss" since I only got 4 of the 12 colors in the collection but in my defense I have this new rule. I am trying my very hardest to stick to it but it's nearly impossible. My new rule is this- ONLY BUY THE COLORS YOU LIKE, YOU FREAKY OBSESSED POLISH HOARDER!

Normally if a collection has more than 3 colors I like I just buy the whole thing so I can review it on my blog but I have found that this leaves me wishing I had spent my money on other things and regretting buying butt loads of fugly polish just for my blog.

So meet the new me! I only buy shit I actually like. Pretty sweet 'eh? So, unless I hit the lottery go ahead and get used to me posting partial collections. But that is a sort of dumb thing to say because if I won the lottery ya'll would never hear from my ass again! Well that might not be entirely true, I would probably post one last thing like, "See ya, ya'll broke ass fools! MM OUT!"

Let's get this hypocrite train a'rollin'. I used to hate OPI, like REALLY loathe it with every fiber of my body. But then OPI Swiss came out and this little number showed up-

Feast your eyes on the single OPI polish that broke down my walls of hatred and took me into the gentle embrace of hypocrisy. After buying this one OPI the floodgates opened and I began to collect them just like any of the other brands I love. It was about a week later that I realized that this polish is an exact dupe to Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal. I am trying not to be bitter though.

This is a gorgeous dark maroon with a slight purple cast. It definitely applied well and was a solid 2 coater. This color is very pretty but it does have a tendency to look black in most lighting.

Lightened red that leans toward dark pink. I honestly bought this one just for the name. A certain South Park episode inspired me. This one is also a two coater. Impressive...

Slammin' brick red. This really looks nothing like chocolate. I'm assuming they just named the polish that because they were desperate to put the name "suzi" onto yet another bottle, lame. It has just enough brown in it to be a brick color but it's nowhere near a true brown.

Overall I am really impressed with these formula wise. They were all 2 coaters and applied nice and smooth. Touche OPI.

Love, MM

Attention Florida Residents!

2010-09-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

BRIAN REGAN LIVE AT THE FLORIDA THEATER OCTOBER 1ST!!!

Brian Regan is my favorite stand up comedian ever. FAVORITE. EVER. I'm totally going! So for those of you that are also going, look for me!!! I'll be the one huddled in the corner popping xanax with the slammin' nails and amish hair. No doubt you will be too star struck to come and talk to me but hopefully you can get over it and help me out of the corner and escort me to a bar of some sort to help calm my nerves. I have a "thing" with crowds. I am counting on you to freakin' save me and drag me to my seat because I will be there all by my little self. Look, I was totally kidding about the star struck thing ok, please don't be mad because I seriously will need help finding my seat during the heart stopping panic attack I am sure to be in the middle of when you see me.

Last year my best friend and I were planning on going to see Brian Regan together but I am an asshole and I totally flaked out on her at the last minute because I do NOT do well in crowded situations. But this year is different. This year I have xanax.

So, because I flaked out on her last year my BFF has refused to accompany me to the "concert" this year. Understandably so. But I have a feeling she will be even MORE pissed at me if I go without her than if I flaked on her again. So this is me BEGGING my BFF to go to Brian Regan Live with me PUBLICLY ON MY LAME LITTLE BLOG.

If this method works and she does agree to go with me then you can look for us both! We both have super long hair to our butts but mine looks amish while hers looks all Pantene Pro V commercialy. We will probably be dressed in black but I will look like a deranged misguided teenager and she will look graceful and victorian. We will also probably both be plastered in bright colored eye shadows, I will look like I just left a face painting booth and she will look like she just left a vogue magazine photo shoot. If none of these tips help you to spot us then try this one- I will be the fat stupid one crouched down and walking like a terrified crab following closely behind a blindingly gorgeous amazonian super model. You can't miss us! (my best friend is gorgeous so she wont be hard to spot and I'm not just saying that so she will go with me, also all of those compliments were sincere)

Anyhoo, since this post is totally off topic and all over the place I guess I'll duel purpose this post and use it to unload all my random photos that don't have matches or any other logical place to be posted.

My first BB Couture. Gorgeous 3 coater.

This one is actually really close to Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle even though it doesn't look quite like it in the pics. 2 coats.

2 coats.

Blackened red awesomeness!

Amazing quality for a $2 polish! This is 2 coats.

My first Jessica polish! I'm impressed by the brand but they are a little pricey for me.

Amazing holo! This was 4 coats

Love, MM

Rampage

2010-09-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

My BFF sent me a little present this weekend.

I opened up the bubble mailer and I was like, "OH YEAH! GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!"

The gorgeous Illamasqua Rampage is finally MINE!

I have wanted this polish for so long! It's pictured at 3 coats. Totally worth it.

Thanks dude.

Love, MM

Essie Fall 2010

2010-09-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

This has got to be one of the best Essie collections ever. I love every color except one, which is pretty rare for an Essie collection. Out of the 6 colors released I purchased 5 of them, and I am very glad that I did! I skipped "little brown dress" from this collection because frankly it just looks "meh" to me and I am positive I will never ever wear it.

For some reason the Essie promo pictures as well as the pictures on the e-tailers websites of this collection are extremely inaccurate. I was a little shocked at how different the colors were compared to the promo pictures when I received them, but at least it was a pleasant surprise.

A lovely soft mauvish pink. Very nice.

Muted grey with a hint of purple.

Smokey fern green with subtle shimmer. Dupe alert for Rescue beauty lounge Diddy Mow. I personally think the shimmer is a little less subtle in Sew Psyched than it is in Diddy Mow, but I haven't compared them side by side yet.

WHAM! A Bad ass red that blows my MIND. This is by FAR my favorite from this collection and also my favorite red to come along in ages!

Deep purple with very strong red undertones.

The formula on these was fabulous. They are all 2 coaters with the exception of "limited addiction" which needs 3 to be totally opaque, although I pictured it at 2 coats. They all went on very smooth and weren't runny or drippy. Dry time was also decent for Essie.

Love, MM

Claire's Mood Changing Polish Flirty/Shy

2010-09-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

Claire's makes the best mood changing polishes hands down. They are awesome, especially on longer nails because it's basically a quick way to get the look of a french manicure with zero effort. Zero effort is always a good thing my friends.

This is my new favorite of the Claire's mood polishes. It's such a gorgeous deep cobalt blue when applied then as it dries the "mood" effect kicks in and the area over your nail bed changes to a very pretty and vibrant medium blue.

These DO dry matte. (as shown) but a quick application of a shiny topcoat will fix that and it won't ruin the color change effect.

Here is a link to some of the other mood polishes I've swatched.

Out of all the mood polishes by Claire's this one, Flirty/Shy applied the best. It did take 3 coats but it wasn't as thick and gloppy as the rest were. There is a down side to these polishes however. You have to step foot inside CLAIRE'S to purchase them. Unless you are 11 years old being inside Claire's is NOT pleasant people. NOT PLEASANT.

Love, MM

M.A.C. Jade Dragon & Ming Blue

2010-09-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

Over the past month I have unlocked and opened the floodgates on MANY new polish brands I had never previously allowed myself to acquire. Well, that's a little more pleasant sounding than it actually was. I guess it was more like I BLEW the floodgates OFF THEIR HINGES going 90MPH in an 18 wheeler that may or may not have had a giant scull with flames shooting out it's eye sockets painted on the side. I also may or may not have been laughing maniacally with my head tilted back like Cruella Devil, gripping the steering wheel like a madwoman, while Billy Idol "Rebel Yell" blared out the windows.

You see, before the whole ramming of floodgates with a vehicular weapon thing, I had rules. Rules that kept me from going over the edge and accumulating mountains of polishes in mere DAYS. I had a few carefully chosen brands I stuck to. It made things simple and made it harder for me to go completely insane with the freakin polish collecting. But as you will see, THAT is all over now.

One of the brands that I unlocked was M.A.C. The second a swatch of Jade Dragon began to load on my laptop screen I was simultaneously opening a new window to M.A.C. online to buy the polish. I honestly don't even think the swatch picture finished loading before I hit the "send order" button. Ming Blue came along for the ride as well, because, well, IT'S BLUE! Not to mention, what am I supposed to do here? Have ONE bottle of M.A.C. sitting on my shelf looking all out of place and stupid? Um, NO. I am way too OCD for that crap.

Do you have a tissue handy?

*dabs tear* Are you seeing this? This polish is UN-FREAKIN-BELIEVABLE. It's my new favorite green. I love it so very much. It's super pigmented and is what I like to call a "careful one coater" as in, be CAREFUL and it will take one coat dude.

Hello! Wow, was I ever pleasantly surprised by this color! I mean I knew I would love it because it's blue but COME ON. I had no idea it would be this rich almost smokey yet vibrant, intensely AWESOME blue! This was a "careful 2 coater".

Before I go for the day I have a heinous confession to make. You know that whole floodgate business? Well... one of the brands that snuck in was... um... *wispers* oh pee eye. I KNOW! I remember THIS too!!! What can I say? I LIED! It was that damn Ski teal we drop that did me in! Then the little effers just started multiplying like mad! I think it all happened sometime in the midnight hour. I'm not entirely sure...

Love, MM

China Glaze Up & Away

2010-09-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I realize I'm super late posting this! So what? Wanna fight about it?

When these originally came out I decided the only one I needed was Grape pop, so I got it and went about my merry way. But the strangest thing kept happening. In just about every polish order I've made in the past month or so at least one or two polishes from the Up & Away collecting kept sneaking into my shopping cart... I have no clue why I keep buying them. I don't even like pastels.

Out of the 12 that were released I have somehow ended up with 7 of them. Whoops! Oh yeah and please excuse my talons, I'm growing out my nails for Halloween! I'm going as a robotic eagle humanoid. Just kidding, I have just been too ~~lazy~~ busy to file them down.

This has been my mani for the last 3 days! No tipwear or chips! This was a 2 coater but a little hard to control though.

I kinda like this one, a little bit. Another 2 coater.

As you can see by the slight drips forming on my ring and pinkie nails this one was a runny butt hole! This is 3 coats, but it could have used 4, that is if you can keep it from running and dripping all over the place.

This one is just ok, I'm not really a huge pink fan though. This one was thick enough to be a 2 coater but somehow still a bit runny.

I would totally rock this out if it didn't make the pigment of the skin on my fingers change to a fierce neon RED. Oh and if I liked pastels. This was a thick 2 coater, not runny thank goodness.

Love this one! This is one coat but I clearly could have done a better job applying it! This polish has SEVEN dupes that I know of. Off the top of my head some of them are- OPI funkey dunky, Orly Charged up, Ulta Celebutante, Nina ultra pro Mambo, Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas, plus Spa Ritual and somebody else also make one.

I really like this dark cherry pink. It's a little runny but still a 2 coater.

The formula on these is all over the place. Some are highly pigmented one coaters (grape pop), some are runny 3 coaters, and some are thick and streaky 2 coaters. It's really a hit or miss situation. Luckily none of them are so bad application wise that you should refrain from buying them if you really like the color. Dry time was good on all of the ones I got.

Love, MM

Excuses Explosion!

2010-09-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

Well hello there strangers!

Let's skip the small talk and get right into my list of lame excuse for not blogging in over a month!

I got DIAL UP! I tolerated posting with it for about 4 weeks before it honestly turned uploading pictures into an hour long chore per post and I couldn't stand it ANYMORE.
I ran out of batteries for my camera and have been too lazy to buy more! Seriously. (until today that is!)
My "natural light" lamp that I use for photos exploded and I busted 3 new VERY expensive 6500k bulbs trying to use it before I realized it was toast.
After my photo lamp exploded I felt like my picture quality and color accuracy wasn't up to my standards and refused to settle.
I started to feel like I was not "enjoying" my polishes but instead only slapping them on for 30 seconds at a time to snap pics then tossing them aside.
I realized I had not left the house with all 10 fingers painted the same color in over 3 months.
I started feeling like I wasn't funny anymore and I was scared the quality of writing on my blog would suffer and decided it was best to keep my mouth SHUT until I felt funny again.
I got a hangnail.
My fiance's baby mama said my step chitlins could not read my blog anymore unless I stopped cussing which seemed like an impossible feat to achieve! (just kidding Misty).
After a few days of 10 finger manis and really enjoying my polishes I kinda got addicted and swatching seemed annoying.
My dog ate my laptop?

Anyhoo, I REALLY appreciate all the awesome, amazingly sweet emails and comments I have gotten these last few weeks asking me to come back! It feels so great to know people miss me! But it also feels crappy knowing people are waiting to read about my crazies and each day find nothing new on my blog. Sorry about that guys!

My plan as of now is to just slowly ease back into blogging to try to keep myself from flaking out again. I'm going to be starting cosmetology school soon and I really want to be back into the swing of blogging before that starts so I can add some more "lessons from the looney bin" I learn at school!

I think the best way to kick off my new start of adventures in blogging is with a few mouth watering holos, wouldn't you agree?

Nfu-oh holos really are the prime specimens of the holo world. They are truly in a league of their own. Nail polish companies should all have the Nfu-oh holo line on a shelf somewhere in their testing departments with a big RED, FLASHING sign that says "NOTHING LESS WILL BE TOLERATED!" I just wish they offered them in darker colors.

BA-ZINGA! This is my favorite of the nfu-oh holos! It has just enough blue in it for me and I feel like the rainbow effect is even more concentrated in this one than it is in 61. But it could just be that I am incredibly partial to blue.

It's nice to be back. I have been hauling just as much as always so I have all kinds of goodies just hangin' out waiting to get swatched. Also, feel free to email me with requests and such if you feel like it.

Love, MM

PS- How did everyone that bought vintage vixen feel about the polishes once you had 'em in your hands/on your nails? I myself feel almost sheepish over how overly excited I was about them pre-release.

Holy Rainbow Rhinestones Batman!

2010-07-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

I think this just might be my favorite manicure ever. It's my NOTD and I am in freakin LOVE with it.

This took quite a while! WnW black creme dries super fast so I had to apply the rhinestones at the speed of light to get them to stick. This was the whole reason I got rhinestones in the first place, so I could do a rainbow over black. Just as I suspected, it's AWESOME. I think I might set a record with wear time on this mani. I just might rock this out through the weekend!

I know you want to copy me. Go ahead, I give you permission.

Love, MM

Drugstore Deals- Confetti Swatches!

2010-07-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

I love a great bargain and these new Confetti nail polishes certainly fit the bill. At $1.99 I can already tell these will be my new "go to" drugstore polishes, sorry sinful!

This is my favorite of the bunch I got. Such a unique green color! This is a yellow green jelly packed with what seems like green micro glass fleck glitter. It took 3 coats but it was totally worth it. Awesome name also.

Gorgeous mauve creme. Yum! 2 coats.

I love this one. It's a dark pinkish purple creme. Also 2 coats. (all the cremes were 2 coaters!) This polish is almost a dupe for Nfu-oh 552, it's just a hair too purple.

Super vibrant dark cherry pink creme. LOVE. This sets off light skin tones like CRAZY.

I think this one is my second favorite. I just adore these kinds of grey leaning purple polishes. This one was the most watery of all the cremes but it was still a 2 coater.

OMG! This is a really complex polish for $1.99! It's a dark purple/blue jelly jam packed with 3 different colors of shimmer. Bright blue, purple and pink. This one was 3 coats.

Overall these polishes are freaking amazing for the money. The cremes are all smooth 2 coaters that are super easy to control. The glitters are complex and unique, and the brand has an awesome color selection for a drugstore polish. This particular brand is carried by CVS stores.

The only problem I had with these was that out of the 6 I bought, 2 of them had messed up brushes. That is REALLY bad odds. Especially bad odds when you consider that out of the 125 or so China Glazes I own, I have never come across one with a messed up brush. Certainly not a deal breaker but it's something to consider.

Love, MM

Sparkly

2010-07-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

This was my "cheer me up" NOTD today. It kinda worked...I was a good girl and left it on all day long which is about impossible for me to do. I usually have 5 or 6 NOTDs before bedtime rolls around.

This is China Glaze Heli-yum with lots of tiny little rhinestones I just got in the mail yesterday. I ordered a shit ton of them off ebay last week. I can't wait to try these on black. I love this polish BTW, this is one single coat.

I just got back from CVS where I returned SH HD LASER. The checkout lady asked me what was wrong with it and I said, "It sucks ass". She then opened the polish and tested the brush out by swiping it on the rim of the bottle about 15 times. Then she started to peer into the bottle opening to see if it was all used up...So I was like, "the bottle is clear". She continued to strain her eyes looking down into the tiny bottle opening as if she hadn't heard me at all. I let her go about her investigation for at least 5 whole minutes before I lost my cool.

Loosing my cool consisted of shifting my weight from side to side, making a very mean face, and huffing and puffing REALLY LOUDLY. She eventually gave me back my 6 dollars but She left me with so many questions. Do I really look like some sort of nail polish criminal? Does she think I skulk from CVS to CVS using up nail polishes and returning empty bottles for full refunds? Do I look like the kind of person that runs a nail polish smuggling ring out of my apartment, victimizing drug stores all over the east coast? Was she really too stupid to realize that nail polish bottles are CLEAR?

While I was at CVS I got 6 of the new confetti polishes that look very promising. I also hit Walgreens while I was out and got some Sinfuls. So, I'll have swatches of those soon.

Love, MM

The Great Misa haul 2010 - part 3

2010-07-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

Click here for part two.

So here's the deal. I am becoming more hostile toward my new Misas by the day. Last night I sat and scowled at them while surfing the net for over an hour. I want to punch them in the face. I should have let it go by now but all I keep thinking about is what I could have gotten instead of these crappy Misas. With all the new collections coming out containing polishes I HAVE TO HAVE it's easy to get overwhelmingly bitter about this bad purchase.

It's not like I can sell them now. I already told the world how much they suck ass. So what am I supposed to do, try and peddle them off on you guys for a dollar a pop and ruin my ability to sleep at night? Yeah right. I can't make up my mind what to do with them. They certainly can't stay sitting here on my new desk rack starring at me and ruining my day each time I glance over at them. I have thought of emptying them and saving the bottles for frankens and such but that idea pisses me off because it just emphasizes what a waste of money this was. I am not sure what to do on this one guys. I also thought about pouring them out and pouring in other polishes I love but hate the bottles, like Milanis. I can't freakin STAND gold handles! I hate gold so much I want to buy it all up and throw it in the ocean never to be seen again. But then some jerk would just find it all and get rich selling it back to everyone all around me and I would be stuck looking at it again.

I wish Misa did a polish exchange...

Extreme frost and brush stroke alert. This was 2 coats. This is just so ugly, so very ugly. I have renamed it "wet hairball".

Super brush strokey pinkish coral shimmer. 3 coats.

Medium tone berry red with loads of gold shimmer. Why does this have to be so PRETTY in the bottle? This was 3 coats.

Check out this masterpiece. Misa really did a great job on this gem. WTF? This is a yellowish clear base with pink shimmer. Seriously? This is FOUR coats of polish.

Okay. I actually kinda like this one. It was a 2 coater and even though it's frosty it isn't too brush strokey. I might actually wear this. MIGHT.

WHY? What is the purpose of these super sheer polishes Misa? This is FOUR coats once again...Is it just me or does the name tick you off? Because guess what, when my nails look like this I am not going to be LOUNGING anywhere. I am going to be working feverishly on a new freakin manicure! "lounging by the pool" sounds care free and dreamy. What the hell is carefree about a polish that is still sheer after 4 coats? This should be called "lounging in the salon" while I get a new freakin polish put on, or maybe "lounging in a dark corner" because I don't want anyone to see my hideous nails. God I wanted to like this one SO BAD.

I absolutely adore this. This is a creamy coral that borders being a jelly. This was 2 coats. So glad I got this one.

Another good one. It's still not as pretty on the nail as it is in the bottle but guess what chickas? This is one single coat! HURRAY!

Love, MM

Speechless

2010-07-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

There are no words...

This photo was taken indoors, in a semi well lit room. No sun. I'm afraid to take it in the sun. I think it might jump off my nails and steel my car or something crazy.

Love, MM

Messing around: kinda sorta rainbow tips, and another stamping attempt

2010-07-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a super cute look. Not for ME personally but I will definitely try this out on my step daughters! I was only messing around, it's not like I am going to wear this out or anything...I am way too hardcore for rainbow tips ok. Srsly.

I am lying. I will so totally rock this out!

Stamping attempt number 4...Zoya Blair with screwed up, cut off, mangled stars in Orly Dazzle. This is the best one yet. Perhaps there is hope for me and stamping? Maybe a smidgen? I'm going to keep trying dang it!

Love, MM

Thanks for the free swatches Sally.

2010-07-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

GAH!

Why can't I learn my lesson about Sally Hansen? I saw the new HD polishes at CVS last night for the first time and about DIED over Laser. I mean it's about the most beautiful thing ever in the bottle under the florescents at CVS. Then the advertisement photo really did me in. I stood there with Laser in my hand looking at the picture above the display, marveling at the blue and purple rainbow effect, literally WHINING. I was whining like a 6 year old in the candy isle, for REAL. I ended up leaving without it, then begging my fiance in the safety of the car to buy it for me. I then took his $6.50 and went BACK in CVS to buy it.

Laser will officially be the first nail polish I TAKE BACK. WTF Sally? Why did I have to actually loose count of the amount of coats this polish took to even get CLOSE to bottle color? Was it 4 coats? Was it 5? I DON'T EVEN KNOW. Not to mention WHERE IS THE PURPLE???? Seriously, the purple that shows up in the display picture and even in the bottle is NOWHERE to be seen on the nail. NOWHERE!

I NEVER spend more than $2 on drug store polish as a rule. And now I have learned my lesson for breaking that rule. I mean COME ON. $5.99 for this sheer, false advertising, waste of time? That is enough for 2 China Glazes or 3 sinful colors people. That is half the cost of an Nfu-oh for god sakes!

Observe:

Here it is in the shade. Don't be fooled dudes. It only SEEMS opaque in the shade. I kinda see the purple in the bottle...but none on the nail. OK lets try some sunshine.

Okay now I really see the purple in the sides of the bottle...and guess what else I really see? I really see RIGHT THROUGH THE POLISH.

Lets try some flash action... Still no purple.

How about some REALLY bright sunlight. Nope. No purple. See how SHEER this stupid thing is? This is 4-5 coats! The only reason you can't see through the polish on all my nails is because the bottle is behind them.

I am seriously going to drive the 20 mins back to CVS and return this ONE polish, but thanks for the free swatches Sally!

Love, MM

The Great Misa haul 2010 - part 2

2010-07-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

Click here for part one.

In light of how incredibly negative and disappointing yesterdays swatches were I decided to go ahead and swatch some of the better Misas today. Of course this leaves me with basically nothing but crap to swatch for the next two posts, but whatever. I'm going against my better judgment by not saving these to mix in with all the stank swatches, but I'm in a good mood today and I don't feel like complaining so here are most of the "good ones" from my haul.

I'm totally in love with this. It's a well pigmented berry colored jelly. It looked AWESOME on my very pale skin. This isn't just a boring berry polish, there is something about it, something unique I can't quite describe. This was 2 coats.

Aqua shimmer that has a greenish flash. This was 3 coats. It's a super sheer and overdone color but still a pretty polish.

This is a horrible photo. This polish is actually a true orange with redish shimmer but my camera just wanted to pick up the red in the shimmer and ignore the orange. This is a pretty unique color IMO and one of the only oranges I own because I freakin hate orange.

Gorgeous medium purple shimmer. But guess what cowgirls, it took 4 coats to get my nails to bottle color, FAIL.

This is a dark nude shimmer. I like it. It's a little brush strokey but manageable. This was a 2 coater, but aren't koalas GREY?

I have posted this before but it deserves a repost. Listen up! If you are pale like me and cannot wear light purples and lavenders because they make your hands look red and disgusting THIS IS YOUR PURPLE. This color complimented my light skin tone and is absolutely gorgeous.

I want to call this a dark coral creme but it leans more towards a berry tone. This one is also very pigmented and required only 2 coats. Love.

Your basic metallic silver. This is a 3 coater. It was brush strokey when wet but they seemed to settle out as it dried. I'm glad I got this one.

I hope you enjoyed these swatches because it's gonna be rough waters from here on out people.

Love, MM

NOTD

2010-07-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

I have this new obssesion with wearing polish only on the tips of my nails ever since I FINALLY got my stains out. I have been wearing nothing but naked nails and colored tips for like a week and a half now. I absolutely love how it looks for some reason. I also love applying seche vite over my bare nails. For some odd reason it makes me feel cool.

Today I decided to wear a glitter over my naked nails before painting the tips and I think it looks pretty neat.

This is my beloved Orly Royal Navy and a base coat of China Glaze fairy dust. Before Royal navy came out there was only ONE blue that could come this close to my heart and that was Nfu-oh 557, Royal navy and 557 have the same exact base color except the nfu-oh is a jelly and lacks the AWESOME turquoise shimmer. The Nfu-oh is still my favorite polish of all time though. Please excuse my STAINED ring finger. If you would like to know it was China Glaze paper chasing that stained my nail like that. I had it on for about an hour while I was comparing greens... Oh yeah, that is my seche vite in that extreme wear bottle. I always keep it in that type of bottle because I love the brush, you should try it.

It feels so odd to have any part of my nail exposed because I'm so used to hiding my stains. Wearing them naked is so addicting! I can't get myself to paint my whole nail anymore now that I have gone naked and felt the breeze on mah fingas! FYI My favorite so far has been black tips. If you are wondering how I got my stains out I tried everything man! Finally the solution was 10 denture whitening tablets in about 1/2 cup of warm water and soaking my nails in it for over an hour.

Love, MM

The Great Misa haul 2010 - part 1

2010-07-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Actually there really isn't anything all that great about the huge freakin' Misa spree I went on last week. Since I ordered online and my mission was to haul ALL the older Misas I have been eyeballing for months, I basically had nothing to go by but those USELESS color dots. I did my homework and googled each and every polish I bought but there aren't really any swatches out there of round label Misas...I looked at this as sort of a good thing because, " hey, I'm going to swatch them, so maybe I can be a resource and help out some people looking to haul old Misas as well". All I can say about that ridiculously STUPID idea is YOUR WELCOME. I once again have taken one for the team.

I basically ended up with a huge pile of polishes that looked 100% NOTHING like what I *thought* I had ordered. I was almost in shock as I sat and looked at the wreckage that was and is my saddest haul to date. Somehow my order consisted mainly, like 80%, of two colors, dark redish brown and light brown.

I had no idea Misa had so many liquidy, sheer ass, light freakin brown polishes, but somehow I bought them ALL.

Don't even get me started on the pile of nearly identical dark reds I ended up with...

I am trying to stay positive as I swatch all these disappointing polishes but it's very hard. I think Misa must have gotten a new quality control department since these older polishes came out. I adore current Misa polish but these older ones are SUPER SUCKY batman. OMG some of them are so sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer I could barely swatch them.

I hauled some newer Misa as well so I am going to mix them in randomly to try to keep the SUCK at a minimum as I post all these older pieces of junk. I'm just a little bitter. Can you tell? It might be hard to pick up on. I even bought a special acrylic table rack JUST for all my pretty new Misas..Awww how sweet of me. I have to admit there were a few diamonds amongst the rough, just not enough of them to outweigh all the crap.

I know what you're thinking. I am being totally over dramatic about this. You're right by the way. It's not all that bad and overall I'm glad I got what I got... kinda. I just can't help myself from blowing things way out of proportion, it's my nature.

Gah, this is so pretty in the bottle and in swatches I've seen of it. Just check out how freakin sheer this is at THREE COATS. So annoying.

Again, super gorgeous in the bottle but at three coats it's just "ok".

I kinda like this. It was sheer and took three coats though.

What about this polish says "chocolate"? Oh yeah, NOTHING. This "gorgeous in the bottle but boring on the nail" crap is about to drive me nuts. I swear these aren't all the SAME polish just pictured under different lighting, even though that's what it looks like.

I like this one despite it's misleading name. I think this one was a 2 coater.

This was one of the "diamonds" I ended up loving. It's a watermelon colored jelly. This is three freakin coats.

At least this one is named properly. It's a pinkish nude with blue and pink shimmer. A 2 coater, FINALLY.

What a piece of crap this is. Three coats of this polish and I can barely tell I'm wearing anything at all. Super disappointing as I was really looking forward to this one based on the color dot. Lesson learned.

What do you all think about these 8 Misas? Am I crazy or Amirite?

Love, MM

Summer nails and FAILS

2010-07-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling a bit off lately so naturally my nail painting patterns have followed suit. This has resulted in me painting my nails all sorts of summery pastels and impulse buying all kinds of super girly rhinestones and nail art thingies on ebay. One of the things I got is a nail art stamping kit. Yeah, I've had konad before and gave up after 3 tries but I bought it AGAIN to give it another go. Before we get into the horrific FAILS I have captured on film let me get all these cutesy summer pictures out of the way.

It all started out innocently enough as seen above. I actually really love Jasmine. But sooner or later things always seem to take a turn for the worse when it comes to pastels and me.

This is Misa Push up bra with craptastic chevron tips in Misa's shake it to the samba.

Here we have Misa Jester ate the king cake with Misa Blame it on fat tuesday. Borderline fail.

Okay. Now let's see what happens when Manatee Mama feels a little under the weather and is high on dayquil for a week.

Sweet lord. This is my first attempt at stamping. Feast your eyes on the fail people.

If you can see past the neon yellow ring fingernail check out the horrid color combo and terrible stamping application...This was attempt number 2.

HOLY CRAP. This is what happens when you get fed up with failing at stamping and try some free hand nail art instead. Notice the smeared ring finger and tacky 3-D flower. Yes, I bought those flowers on PURPOSE in 4 different colors. I guess four different pastels painted with mix matched chevrons just wasn't QUITE summery enough for me, OH NO. I need a 3-D flower with a little jewel in the center to REALLY say summer with my nails. Sad.

I hope you all learn something from this. Cheers to summertime nails applied using a healthy amount of RESTRAINT.

Love, MM

Some China Glaze Love

2010-07-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

Some old and some newer. I hope you enjoy the swatches!

Love, MM

Misa Embroidered Emerald

2010-07-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

What a gorgeous gem this is. I am in love with the unique formula of this polish. It's a purple jelly loaded with emerald green shimmer. So awesome.

This is what it looks like in the shade.

Here it is in the sun. Check out how the green shimmer shines through the jelly base making it look like a duochrome. I freakin' love this polish so much.

The faces of the polish are so incredibly different depending on what lighting your fingers are under, it's amazing. The amount of green flash is blinding in the sun, yet it somehow still shows it's purple base color. I wish their were more polishes like this available. Urban Decay actually has an exact dupe to this polish but I can't remember the name of it and I'm not sure which is easier to get a hold of.

Love, MM

Vintage Vixen Swatches

2010-07-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

Here are swatches of the 10 polishes I got from the Vintage Vixen Collection. I skipped classic camel and goin' my way, but I'm sure I'll buy them at some point.

I think I hyped myself up WAY too much over these because now that I have them I'm kind of disappointed. I just feel "meh" about the whole collection. I think I definitely built it up too much in my head while waiting so honestly nothing really would have been good enough. I mean I like them and everything they just aren't what I was expecting. Oh well.

Love, MM

Delicious

2010-07-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

For this I used China Glaze Seduce me for the base coat, then China Glaze Solar Power for the dots and a green nail art striper for the leaves. So cute!

Love, MM

Surprise! More Zoya!

2010-07-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

I don't think I ever posted about the Zoya polish exchange on here but let me let you, I cleaned them OUT people. I cannot say how many I got ok. It's just too greedy and horrible to admit. On the bright side of the exchange I have a DESK full of Zoyas and I've managed to swatch about half of them already. So, here is another sampling of my hoard.

I feel like all I ever post anymore is Zoya swatches and it's annoying me. So I'm going to try to stagger my Zoya posts a little further apart from now on, lol. It could be just me though, because I feel like I'm surrounded by Zoya bottles while I sit at my desk. I seriously see them when I close my eyes. I've gotta get a new rack or something to remedy this situation stat!

Love, MM

OMG NEW MISA!!! Somebody HOLD ME!

2010-07-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late posting this but here is yet another collection to look forward to for fall ladies! I want these so badly I am feeling a little faint. I have been waiting a long time for some new Misas and here they are!

OMG!

These look like they are going to be freakin sweet! You see that purple one over there on the left? IT WILL BE MINE, oh yes. It will be mine. Actually I'm sure I will buy them all no doubt, ooops!

I am not going to paste the press release here because I find it somewhat lame, so just enjoy da pictcha!

Love, MM

Zoya Wonderful Fall 2010

2010-07-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

I want to start this post by saying, I love you Zoya. When I first saw swatches of the Zoya Wicked and Wonderful Collections there was no doubt in my mind that Wicked would be my favorite. But now that I have them in my possession, the incredible Hulk could not RIP the wonderful collection from my cold, dead, perfectly manicured hands.

I love every single aspect of the wonderful collection except one. So, let's get that ONE thing out of the way. I don't WANT TO MENTION IT, but I have to. I think it is so incredibly STUPID, among other adjectives, that they named all 12 new wicked and wonderful polishes after the Dancing with the stars "characters" that it makes me ill. I would almost rather ignore it and act as though it had never happened, pretend that Zoya, my beloved, had never done something so incredibly gay and then stab anyone that reminds me about it as I go along my merry way. But I can't, it's just too dumb to ignore.

Anyhoo, I adore the Wonderful Collection. It's WONDERFUL people! I love every single color, even the "pinks"! Check THIS out; I love them so much that I am not going to do my normal habit of blanketing anything with a red tone in it as "pink" and dismissing it. I know right, It's incredible. Instead I'm going to call them by the names they actually are, like "Berry" and "Vibrant red". Amazing! Isn't it funny how something even semi unique can break bad habits like that?

Holy Mackerel the formula on these is fantastic. Not too thick, not too runny. No streaks. No cute drag... no problems whatsoever. They dried quick too! These are not one coat wonders though, the swatches shown are all at 2 quick coats. Not freakin' bad huh? I will admit some of the colors seemed a little run of the mill until I started painting my nails with them, but then with each color I fell in love more and more. I will wear every single one of these, for more than 5 seconds, seriously! I don't think this has ever happened with a collection before... *swoon*

On to da pictchas.

A very wearable medium grey creme. I love this. Do I need to repeat "I love this" after each photo? Can I just tell you that I love them all and have that be that? No? Fine then.

A beautiful, deep and rich berry red. I LOVE THIS.

This is a very unique looking pink to me. It almost pissed me off then I realized it's almost impossible to describe. It's not Hot pink, not a berry pink, not really a rosey pink, it's different, and I dig different. In other words, love it!

Holy bright RED batman. I am *so glad* Zoya made this color. They were seriously lacking on true reds. This particular red might as well be neon it's so bright and vibrant. I lubs it.

Another unique color that's hard to pin down. Maybe if you took a milk chocolate covered cherry and tossed it in a blender it would be this color? I also really love this one because it's one of the only brownish type colors I've worn that didn't turn my hands bright red. Bonus.

Oh Zoya. I love you so much. You just go ahead and keep making hundreds of pinks if it makes you happy, as long as you keep giving us colors like this once and a while. Zoya could seriously make nothing but "pink" from now on and I would still love them JUST because they gave us Ibiza and Envy and now I can add this to the list...Shawn. OMG This green is AWESOME and I LOVE IT.

Love, MM

Zoya Wicked Fall 2010

2010-07-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have so much praise for this collection I'm not sure where to begin. So, I'll begin with my complaints instead. WHY do weed need 3 more red/pink shimmery glittery look alike polishes Zoya? The answer is WE DON'T. The first three polishes in the Wicked collection are gorgeous don't get me wrong, but just one magenta or pink would have done the trick considering the name of the collection is WICKED!!! Where is the black or dark blue? Heck, I would even have been happy with a blood red instead of more pinks. The need for three more pinks seems even tinier when you consider the fact that there are 3 more reds/pinks in the Wonderful collection. In my oppinion Zoya missed their chance to do a jaw dropping, dark, and mysterious group of edgy polishes with the Wicked Collection. What we got instead is a collection of HALF jaw dropping awesome, and HALF pink.

So let's start with the pinks, shall we?

This is a dark pink with dark pink shimmer/micro glitter that almost looks blackened in the bottle, sadly that doesn't translate onto the nail. On the nail it looks more like a plain dark pink foil. Well maybe not quite a foil, more like a regular ass pink glitter. Ok, ok, maybe it's a regular ass pink glitter with a hint of gold sparkle.

This was virtually impossible to tell apart from Kym in 99% of my pictures. In the bottle no problem, but on the nail they look nearly identical. I had to purposefully take photos of each color under different lighting in order to get pics that look like 2 separate polishes. Even then I was second guessing myself while watermarking the photos. So, Carrie Ann is a Slightly lighter regular ass pink glitter with gold sparkle.

Karina is at least a totally different shade of pink than I'm used to seeing from Zoya. It's a gorgeous hot magenta micro glitter/shimmer that almost looks like it has some silver in it. Again this is almost a foil but doesn't quite translate on the nail. This one is pretty but it certainly isn't wicked.

Now we can get to the awesome, finally. It is almost like 2 seperate marketing teams each did half of this collection then they just shoved them all in one box. These next three colors are freakin' KILLER and deffinately are deserving of their title of Wicked. I seriously want to make out with who ever mixed up these three beauties.

First up on team bad ass is Cheryl. Stupid name for this incredible polish, but whatever. This color reminds me of cigars, tobacco and smoky rooms filled with mysterious men playing poker under dim lighting. The color is a redish, brownish, burgundy loaded with brown and very dark gold micro glitter.. I adore this.

JULIEANNE!!! OMFG. This blue based dark purple is jam packed with so much wicked awesome that I honestly don't know how they fit all the silver and purple micro glitter in there. This polish flashes like a foil but in most lights appears to be a jelly base, LOVE. It is basically Milani's Totally cool on a serious dose of steriods. This is my favorite polish from this collection.

Lastly, we have the shining star of this collection with its baffling duochrome, glitter, metallic, shimmer CRAZINESS. Good god is this gorgeous! Honestly I think this polish follows in the footsteps of China Glaze's Wagon trail as it isn't really a duochrome. I think it's actually a black base with charcoal/silver and gold micro glitter and glass flecks, making it appear to flash olive green to charcoal to black. Except this polish is a foil, which makes it blindingly beautiful as it changes colors. Whatever it is, this polish is totally unique and amazing. AMAZING.

I love so much about this collection I feel like I am going to bust at the seams! First off I love the NAME. Wicked. It's awesome, ok. I know I'm suppost to be saying what I love at this point but the names of these polishes really piss me off. This is the WICKED collection... where are Elvira and Morticia...and other wicked female names I cannot come up with at the moment???

Back on track, I love the finish they have created that is impossible to describe on a lot of the colors. Glass flecky, metallic, foil, micro glitter, bad ass-ness. But, what I loved most about it was the formula.

All 6 of these applied amazing. The formula was 100% consistant from polish to polish. Each and every swatch above is an even two coats, this itself is a gigantic compliment to zoya's formula. These are highly pigmented for glitters, more like EXTREMELY pigmented for glitters. They glide on smooth and I saw no need to use a topcoat on any of them due to graininess which was non existent. Another unexpected perk to these was they weren't all that hard to remove, actually they were very easy to remove in terms of any kind of glitter polish. Zoya did a top notch job on the formula of these babies, I mean WOW. Just WOW Zoya.

Love, MM

I love me some Misa!

2010-07-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

They have my very most favorite bottle for a few reasons. The thing I love most about the bottle is the sound it makes when the handle taps against the glass when you reload the brush. It sounds like crystal wine glasses clinging together. When you hear that sound each time you dip the brush into the polish bottle it just screams quality. The bottle design is also spectacular. It has clean lines but still a subtle detailing around the bottom of the base. Pair this with the long tapered handle and it makes the design look ever so elegant, while also adding the benefit of control during use. I also love that the handle has has weight to it, as does the bottle itself. Misa did it right when they designed their bottles right down to the font they used for the lettering on the front. I am down right smitten with them.

As if the bottle was the only thing to love about Misa. Have you ever applied a Misa creme? I can't even explain it to you if you haven't. I wont do it justice. I love Misa polishes overall but their CREMES! OMG their cremes...Did I mention their cremes??? They are almost never two coaters. One coat almost always does it and the finish and dry time rival and IMO beat out the big dawgs such as RBL. let's just say they are a severely underrated brand to say the VERY FREAKING LEAST.

Here are a few samplings of gorgeous Misa cremes. These are all one coat and as always the long handle made the application effortless.

The whole point of this post wasn't to butter up Misa, it just kinda ended up that way by mistake. My original point was to tell you guys that I hauled Misa yesterday. Oh good lawd, did I ever haul. That is all.

Love, MM

Review: Sally Hansen Color Quick Pens

2010-07-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

*sigh*

I normally wouldn't even try a polish pen like this. Mostly because they are all expensive, with FAIL damn near written on the box. But yesterday, I spotted one lone Sally Hansen brand color pen at my neighborhood Dollar Tree so I HAD to give it a try.

I got the blue one, number 07. It had a pretty cobalt blue box and a picture of a perfect nail with COBALT blue polish being applied to it so I was pretty excited. You guys know how I obsess over dark blues...

This is what it looks like when you open it up. Pretty funky huh. When I saw and felt the brush I literally said out loud, "OMG FAIL". Surprisingly it doesn't suck quite as bad as it looks like it would. Anyway I am showing this picture because I always wondered what they looked like opened up.

Here it is at 3 coats. Its SUPER sheer dude. Don't you love how this is a Caribbean island blue green shimmer polish? Check out how FAR off it is from the swatch on the pen itself...Ok maybe it's not THAT far but it is NOT the same color and it is NOT the cobalt blue I ordered!

Here it is next to the box...(sorry about the flash) Seriously could they not just put the correct polish color in the pen? How hard must that be? PRETTY FREAKIN HARD APPARENTLY.

As far as application goes it wasn't a total nightmare like I had anticipated. Granted, it was pretty difficult to get the hang of it and of course I didn't read the directions and clicked the pen about 15 times trying to get the polish to come out and ended up with it all over myself and my desk.

The box says "Manicure in minutes! Just click to dispense color, brush on and go!" For the most part this is true. Once you have painted your nails with it and removed it several times like I did, you really get the hang of it! I can see how these pens could come in handy as long as you don't care what color you are actually buying. The dry time was really fast so that's a plus and the whole idea is pretty cool, so by no means is this a down right negative review. Basically for a regular girl that isn't a freaky polish obsessed person, blue is blue and this pen works just fine.

Love, MM

Lessons From the Looney Bin- Lesson Six.

2010-07-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Lesson Six: Hand and nail care.

WARNING: The naked nails you are about to see are terribly stained and may cause dizziness or vomiting.

This is by no means a "by the book" manicure, but it is how I do my nails and care for my hands and cuticles. I have tried a lot of different products and procedures and this is the one that has held up and become my go to routine.

To start out I want to stress the importance of DRY nails. I have done the whole "soak your nails" thing and it basically does nothing but weaken your nails and hinder their ability to absorb the products we are going to put on them. We want our nails to be dry and at their full strength through the filing and buffing process to prevent breaks. We also want them to be nice and dry so they can suck up all the lotiony goodness we will be slathering them in.

To start my routine I like to set up a nice area to do my nails at. It makes me feel professional and cool. When I feel that way I tend to do a more thorough and better job. So, set up a cute little station and let's get rolling.

I use these particular products.-

A THICK lotion meant specifically for nails/manicures
A bright light
A buffer block
non acetone polish remover, usually one that says either "strengthening" or "protein enriched".
A nail file (not pictured)
a terry cloth rag or towel
normal hand lotion.

The first thing I do is buff my nails. I use a 3 way buffer block but almost never use all 3 sides. I just use the roughest side and give my nails a quick buff, don't worry about accidentally buffing your cuticles it wont hurt them. I like to leave my nails just barely buffed like this because I find they break a lot less if I leave slight ridges in them. Also, buffing your nails until super shiny by using all 3 sides of the buffer block makes polish chip easier and IMO lets your nails become stained easier. If you really hate ridges I recommend a ridge filling base coat.

Time to file! I only file my nails about once a month or when I feel a snag or get a break. An important rule to filing is to NEVER file the sides of your nails. Filing the sides will weaken your nails and allow them to bend and break easier. Not to mention if you never file anything but the tips of your nails your nail shape will always stay uniform as your nails grow. The only exception to this is if you have a snag on the sidewall of your nail, in this case only file the bare minimum amount to smooth the snag.

Once my nails are all buffed and filed I slather my cuticles in my thick manicure lotion. Make sure you fill your entire "cuticle gap" so it looks like your nails are outlined in lotion. I let this sit about 5 mins.

This is BY FAR the most important step of my routine. Instead of pushing my cuticles back with a tool I push them back as I remove my lotion. What I do is use a terry cloth rag and using a good amount of pressure rub off all the lotion, pushing back toward my cuticles as well as in a side to side motion. Really get in there and rub the lotion into your cuticles with the cloth. This will push them back and remove any dead skin that might be there, as well as make them super soft.

Once you have finished removing your lotion/pushing your cuticles it's time to prep for polish. I just use the same terry cloth rag and swipe my nails with non acetone remover. Just a quick swipe on each nail to remove any residue.

Next, I apply a base coat. In this case I'm using "yellow out" base coat, because my nails are terribly stained. Take care when applying any type of polish to avoid getting any on your cuticles.

Time to paint! Do your best to avoid contact between the polish and your newly soft and manicured cuticles. Once your polish is dry apply a small amount of regular hand lotion and you're done!

Love, MM

Reader Request- Pinks!

2010-07-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here ya go dude.

Love, MM

Mmmmm... Misa Spam for breakfast

2010-07-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Oh Misa, how I love thee.

Come & get it.

Love, MM

Friday night EOTD/NOTD

2010-07-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

I recently got a bunch of cheap eyeliners from Wal-mart just to try them out. I mean doesn't everyone just assume the "love my eyes" liners that are in that big plastic bin on the make-up isle are total crap? Well, I decided not to assume and holy moly was I wrong... Ok, I DID assume they sucked but I was still wrong. Don't get ME wrong the NYC liners in the bin NEXT to the "love my eyes" liners ARE total crap. You might as well try to line your eye with a crayola colored pencil, so be careful which ones you are grabbing..

Shown here is "love my eyes" liner in "blue" which looks royal purple on my skin. This one dollar gem (YES love my eyes brand is ONE DOLLAR per pencil) glided on smooth and covered in a solid one coat. The pencil did not crumble or give me problems of any kind. I got 6 colors and all 6 were equally effortless to apply. Freaking amazing.

Now let's not get crazy here but... BAM, here is my other eye...

How you doooin'?

For this look I used the blue LME pencil on top and bottom and a bright yellow shimmer shadow on my lids, above that a blueish emerald followed by a rose shadow on my brow bone. All shadows are from my Giovi palatte. I finished this with maybelline great lash mascara, my favorite mascara that have used since my momma got me my first tube at 15.

And here is my NOTD which was meant to match my blue eyeliner but that didn't work out so well. However, this polish is one of the most gorgeous polishes I have ever laid eyes on. It's a solid 2 coat, medium to dark, straight up BLUE with tiny particles of turquise shimmer... LOVE THIS POLISH. This polish reminds me of how much I love Orly, they really do make some good nail paint people!

While my matching EOTD/NOTD was a fail I am still rocking it out this friday evening, I might be a little over dressed for food shopping at wal-mart later this evening though...since that is the only plan I actually have, lol.

Love, MM

Zoya Mattes

2010-07-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

When it comes to matte nail polish there is one company that stands above the rest. Zoya matte's apply smoother, are more opaque and LAST LONGER than any other matte I've tried. Normally with other brands of mattes you can expect chipping within a few hours. Not Zoya. I have worn them for over 48 hours with only the slightest of tipwear and no chipping. This is all without base or topcoats. Zoya's mattes are just simply the best, people.

Here are swatches of the four colors pictured above, all pictures are 2 quick, no fuss, coats.

A quick tip for matte polish: apply a coat of matte followed by a coat of clear, then another coat of matte. This tends to help chippy brands of matte polish not chip so easily!

Love, MM

Zoya Sparkles, the remainder.

2010-07-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

When I first bought the Sparkles Collection from Zoya I decided on only getting 3 of them and passing on the reds/pinks. Now that I have the 3 reds from the Sparkles collection I realize the mistake I made when first purchasing! These are gorgeous, people!

Nihdi is the most unique color of the bunch in my opinion. It's a red jelly/cream hybrid loaded with shimmer and micro sparkles. I absolutely LOVE it, not to mention I own nothing else remotely close to it which is a good and RARE thing.

HOT. I adore this medium to hot pink jelly! It's so 80's yet so now at the same time. It's jam packed with pink glitter and shimmer and basically comes alive in the sunlight.

Alegra...Wowza! This one is my favorite from the entire Sparkles collection now that I see it in person. A truly gorgeous magenta like dark pink that sings when applied. It was the most pigmented of all the sparkles polishes IMO and only needed 2 coats to reach it's perfectly sparkly goodness.

Overall, the Sparkles Collection is my favorite collection from zoya ever. These polishes are unique in color as well as finish, they are attention getting, and they have a superior application to any other glitters I own while not needing a topcoat. SO, if you haven't gotten the sparkles collection yet...HINT HINT. To see the other colors from Zoya Sparkle click here.

While Zoya used to be near the bottom of my top 5 polish brands they are trudging up the totem pole with these new wonderful and inventive collections. I have found myself with a desk FULL of zoya bottles with nowhere to store them, and they are quickly catching up in numbers to my previous favorite brands like China Glaze and Orly. Keep it up Zoya!

Love, MM

Wanna see my eyeballs? EOTD pictchas.

2010-07-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been getting more and more into makeup. Mainly eye shadows and eyeliners. I'm getting obsessed at an incredible rate...

So since A horsefly bit my swatchin' hand and it's been swollen up like a latex glove balloon, here are my first EOTD pictures!

This was my first EOTD and man oh man did it scare the crap outta me to see my face so close up on the computer screen. I got over it though and I am now addicted to taking photos of my eyes and bombarding my bff's email with them.

For the look above I used Sephora eyeliner in silver green, Sephora brand mascara, and from my Giovi eyeshadow pallete I used a rose/gold on my lid and under my brow and army green/brown in the crease. After this I trimmed up my brows, heh.

This is from yesterday. I used a black Incolor Fabu liner liquid pen on my top lash line and sephora silver green on my bottom lash line, sephora mascara, and 3 colors from my Giovi pallate, a pale green on my lid, a cobalt blue in the crease and a medium purple under my brow line.

It's a rainbow!

This is the look I'm sporting today. I love this so much. I used NYC liner in "through the storm" a medium purple, sephora mascara, and 3 colors from my Giovi pallate- Bright yellow gold on my lid, emerald green in the crease and bright pea green shimmer under my brow.

Please ignore my mascara mistakes ruining my eyeliner...I fixed it after this was taken I swear!!!

The Giovi pallate I keep referring to I purchased at Ross. It has over 80 colors and it's by far the best shadow I have ever used. (I haven't used many) This stuff never makes a "crease line" and lasts all day without primer. The colors are fabulous and very pigmented and guess what? It was $4.99. FOR SERIOUS.

Love, MM

The Nfu-Oh pro is...

2010-07-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

Katie!

Katie swooped in at the last second and with total confidence guessed all 3 polishes correctly on her first try! She truly is an nfu-oh pro!

Congrats Katie! Email me @ manateemama@live.com to claim your prize!

Love, MM

Nfu-pro

2010-07-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Contest time!

To win you need to name all three Nfu-Oh polishes pictured.

I will be adding photos as needed or as I feel like it to help out or as hints. But let's start with just one photo to make it SOMEWHAT of a challenge.

Ok, here is the next pictcha.

HINT #1- None of the polishes shown are swatched on my blog.

Next pictcha-

Can you name this hot magenta jelly that just screams 80's. One might even call this a dark pink bordering on purple. It was a solid 3 coats and dried moderately fast.

Here are the last 2 pics people-

A gorgeous medium blue creme. A 2 coater that dried almost instantly.

Vibrant green creme, almost a true green if it weren't for the slightest blue tint.

HINT #2- All three polishes are in the 500's.

The FIRST person to name all three polishes wins a brand spankin' new bottle of Nfu-Oh 51.

Yeah, just one bottle! I am not MADE of Nfu-Ohs people.

Contest ends when someone wins, or I get sick of giving hints and award it to the closest person. heh. This contest is kind of silly I admit because most likely if you can guess all three of these nfu-ohs then you probably already own 51. So if you already OWN 51 maybe you should make the decision not to guess. I'm just sayin'.

Love, MM

Introducing... Donavin!

2010-06-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

It just wasn't cool that Zoya had a polish named after one step child but not the other. Sooooo...

Here is my latest franken, Donavin. A deep grass green creme base with loads of golden shimmer and gold micro glitter. I freakin LOVE this green! *iz proud*

You can click these to try and see the shimmer a little better.

Here it is with flash.

I even made a custom label for the bottle. It doesn't get ANY more Irish than this folks! A dark leaf green with gold glitter and shimmer named Donavin? It might as well be named "the luck of the Irish" or something. Hopefully she will love it!

So, whatchoo thank?

Love, MM