Essie North Fork Collection

I just received news from Essie regarding the North Fork collection set to debut April 2009.

Essie Shelter Island: sky blue radiance

Essie Sag Harbor: cool silver slue

Essie Greenport: dreamy aquamarine paradise

Don't these colors look amazing? After Essie Mesmerize I didn't think we would be seeing any more blues from Essie from a while so this mini collection has me super excited. They will be available in April at www.essie.com. I am DYING to get my hands on these! 

Hello!

Hi everyone! 

I miss you! I've received a few concerned emails asking "where are you?". The answer is that I just started a new job back on March 2nd and so I no longer have all day to sit around and swatch nail polishes. I have a bunch of nail polish waiting to be swatched and I had NO SUN last weekend! My plan for the blog is to get a bunch of swatching done on the weekends and then to post for you during the week. So don't worry, I haven't abandoned you. Just a tad busy :)

xoxo,

Katee

Zoya Summer 2009 Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of the Summer 2009 collection from Zoya. Or rather 2 collections! Ohh-La-La is a collection of bright cremes and La-Di-Da is a collection of bright metallics. These will ship April 1st. 

More New Nail Polish Colors from Nicole by OPI

Happy Monday! Here are some more of the new colors from Nicole by OPI. 

Nicole by OPI Light a Candle:

Light a Candle is a silvery color with a lavender twist. It is a chrome and therefore has a much different appearance indoors vs. outdoors, hence the two pictures. It dries relatively brush stroke free which is a huge plus. Opaque coverage in two coats.

Nicole by OPI I've Got the Power:

I've got the power is a magenta/red metallic. I love the smooth and shiny metallic look indoors and then the fabulous shimmer in the sun. I think this shade is particularly flattering for women with pale skin but I am also sure it would look great on darker ladies as well. Opaque coverage in two coats. 

Nicole by OPI Imagine If...:

Imagine If... is a silver holographic glitter suspended in a clear base. This swatch is two coats. As you can see, two is not enough for opaque coverage. I think you would need 4 coats to make this one totally opaque. But I still think it looks great with two coats if you don't mind the sheer look. This would also make a great one coat 'topping' for a dark color. 

Nicole by OPI Positive Energy:

Positive Energy is a true silver chrome. Again, this chrome applied fabulously. When it dried I could hardly notice the brush strokes. This color is more silver than stainless steel but it still reminds me of stainless steel appliances. I love it! Super opaque, only two coats needed.

Nicole by OPI You're a Star:

You're a Star is a clear base that is super packed with fine white/iridescent glitter. It is relatively opaque with three coats. This is a really pretty and sparkly color. 

My favorite thing about these Nicole by OPI colors is that I really enjoy the formula, application and brush. There are some three coaters but they don't bother me. They all apply super smoothly. These new shades are available at select Target and Wal-Mart stores. I wish they were easier to find!

Shades by Barielle Summer 2009 Sugar Rush Collection

Eek! I am so excited about the new Shades by Barielle Sugar Rush collection for Summer 2009! This collection is aptly named because when I look at these colors they really do make me think of candy. The new Sugar Rush Collection has six pretty candy colored hues to satisfy your mani-pedi cravings with on-trend, fashionable nail color. I am so glad to see that companies like Barielle are taking risks and releasing fun and bright colors like this! This collection will definitely satisfy non-traditional polish consumers. 

Shades by Barielle Cotton Candy:

Barielle Cotton Candy is a medium toned pink with a subtle magenta shimmer. This color really reminds me of Zoya Barbie. This is the only one in the bunch that needed three coats. 

Shades by Barielle Swizzle Stix:

Barielle Swizzle Stix is hands down my favorite in this collection. It is a robin's egg blue that is slightly more vibrant than the real thing. I love love love this color!

Shades by Barielle Grape Escape:

Barielle Grape Escape is a gorgeous purple creme. I don't have many purple cremes so this is a welcome addition to my stash. Grape Escape reminds me of Sally Hansen Night Hydrangea (Spring 2009) minus the shimmer. Purple shades that actually look purple in all lights are hard to come by, so this is a must for you purple lovers. 

Shades by Barielle Lemondrops:

Barielle Lemondrops is a vibrant yellow creme. There is nothing muted about it but it really isn't neon either. This color looks so good, I want to eat it! That is because it reminds me of my favorite candy - yellow Sprees! The only thing this manicure is missing is some smiley faces a la Rihanna style. 

Shades by Barielle Sweet Addiction:

Barielle Sweet Addiction is a minty green creme that reminds me of chewing gum. Another fabulous color!

Shades by Barielle Decadence:

Barielle Decadence is a shimmery blue/green/turquoise color. This color is so gorgeous! It really glows.

Application of all colors in this collection was fabulous. Some of them were a little on the thick side but none were problematic. All of the colors were extremely pigmented. The only one that I thought could have used three coats was Cotton Candy. The others were totally opaque with two coats. Most were opaque on even the first coat. Again, I applaud Barielle for this fabulous collection! Each color is unique and wonderful. 

The Shades by Barielle Sugar Rush collection for Summer 2009 is available now at Barielle.com. The nail polishes retail for $8.00 each. But right now they are offering free shipping for orders over $50 and if you buy 2 colors you get the 3rd one free! I'd buy these soon because I don't know how long the promo will last. 

New Colors from Nicole by OPI

This is the first of a few posts featuring new colors from Nicole by OPI. It has been a really long time since I have featured Nicole by OPI on my blog; probably because these polishes are not available at the online discount beauty supply stores that I frequently order from. These new colors from Nicole by OPI are available at select Target, Wal-Mart, and other retailers and are definitely worth hunting down. The application is perfect and I absolutely love the brushes. They are much better, in my opinion, than the regular OPI pro-wide brush. Application on all of these was really dreamy.

Nicole by OPI Do Good...Feel Good:

Perfect opaque light pink creme. This swatch is three coats. I love how non-streaky and non-chalky this one is. It dries super glossy. A lot of nail polishes that are similar in color to this are problematic when it comes to the application. This one was perfect!

Nicole by OPI Play Fair:

Gorgeous lavender shimmer. This swatch is three coats. It looks fine with two coats but I prefer the more opaque look of three coats. The shimmer in this color has a wonderful iridescent quaility.

Nicole by OPI Love Your Life over Play Fair:

More cute hearts! I love these pink hearts suspended in iridescent glitter. These hearts were much easier to fish out of the bottle than the Maybelline hearts because the bottle opening is much larger. I did not even need to use a toothpick, the brush worked just fine.

Nicole by OPI No Limits:

Super dark, blackened blue. Very similar to Lippmann Devil in a Blue Dress. This color is more opaque and only takes two coats to achieve bottle color. 

Nicole by OPI Dream Maker:

Sheer pink that is loaded with iridescent micro glitter. This color is great worn alone (this swatch is three coats) and would also make an excellent topping for another color, like a deep pink. 

Nicole by OPI Keep It Real:

Two photos of this color to show you the wonderful metallic finish it has indoors and then the amazing shimmery glow it has outdoors in the sun. This red really reminds me of the holidays! I can't wait to do a pedi with this color. This swatch is two coats. 

I will be featuring more fabulous new colors from Nicole by OPI soon. Check your local Target and Wal-Mart stores for these new colors! They are all all available now.

And the Winner Is...

...mom2anutball! I've contacted her by email to let her know that she has won the bottle of Maybelline Sweet Valentine. Thanks to everyone who entered! I'll have another giveaway soon. 

Quickie Giveaway!

When I posted my Valentine's Day NOTD, I got a lot of comments and e-mails from readers, mostly international, bummed that they could not find the heart nail polish.

So today I am doing a super quick giveaway of one bottle of Maybelline Sweet Valentine:

Enter by leaving a comment on this post with your e-mail address. If you don't leave me your e-mail address then I can't contact you to let you know you are the winner (duh). Open to all readers US and International. Winner to be announced sometime Sunday. So you have until sometime Sunday, until whenever I decide to pick a winner, to enter. How official of me. Good luck! 

New Zoya Deal for Twitter Followers

New Zoya Tweet Buy - With any purchase at Qtica.com or Zoya.com get 3 FREE Zoya Hot Lips (Limo, Trendy, Smoochie). Code: MB3. Today only.

Make sure you follow Zoya on Twitter so that you don't miss out on any more great deals!

You can follow me on Twitter too :)

China Glaze Summer Days

Just a quickie note to let you know that China Glaze Summer Days is now available at Transdesign! The polishes are only $2.60 each or $15.60 for the 6 pack. You can check out my swatches again here. What are you getting??

A Match Made in Heaven

This year for Valentine's Day, Seche and China Glaze released an adorable gift set called "A Match Made in Heaven":

The set contains:

Seche Clear crystal clear base coat

Seche Vite fast dry top coat (the best top coat ever)

Nail decals:

I did a really cute Valentine's Day manicure with these decals but I can't seem to find the pictures anywhere. Decals are much easier to use than those pesky heart nail polishes.

China Glaze nail polish in Innocence:

China Glaze Innocence is my new go-to sheer pink. This sheer, almost jellyish light pink is one of the few I have ever used that looks OK with two coats. This swatch is three coats, but it is more than wearable at two coats if you are in a hurry. For a sheer pink it is exceptionally non streaky. 

This limited edition set is available for a limited time in select salons and spas.

AWESOME DEAL from Zoya

Zoya just posted this to Twitter:

Zoya Tweet Buy: Valid until 1 PM (EST) - Pick any 3 shades, add to cart, use code MBFW, get the polish free (you pay shipping) www.zoya.com

HURRY you only have about 20 minutes left!

p.s. make sure to follow Zoya on Twitter so you don't miss out on future deals!

I am on Twitter too - follow me here. 

Dashing Diva Nail Polish

Sorry that I missed posting yesterday! It was President's Day and my boyfriend had the day off.

Today I have two really fun polishes from Dashing Diva to share with you. These are by far some of the coolest metallic nail polishes I have ever used! They are both made of different sized flecks of glitter, from small pieces to huge pieces. They start out sheer at one coat but with two to three coats they are pretty much opaque. I layered Silver Lining over black on one of my fingers to show you the different sized flecks of glitter. Even with the chunky sized glitter these are still relatively smooth on the nail. They also dry super fast and wear like iron.  I wore Golden Opportunity for 4 days with little to no tip wear and no chipping. Dashing Diva released these colors for Holiday 2008 but I think you can really wear them year round, especially since metallics are really in right now. I love wearing gold in the summer when I have a tan!

Dashing Diva Golden Opportunity:

This is one of the most perfect shades of gold that I own. It compliments my skin tone perfectly! The flecks of glitter really give this a unique look.

Dashing Diva Silver Lining:

Like I mentioned earlier, I layered this over black on one finger just to show you the different sized flakey glitter. No I am not making a fashion statement! Click on the pictures to enlarge them, this will really help to show the cool texture these polishes have.

Both nail colors are available online at Dashing Diva and retail for $8.00.

Happy Valentines Day!

I am usually not into nail art, decals, etc., but for holidays I definitely like to do a themed manicure. So for this Valentine's Day, I used L'Oreal Satin Starlit topped with Maybelline Deeply In Love. You'll have to excuse the quality of these pictures. We've been having rain and clouds and so I had to take these indoors by a window. 

These little hearts were a real pain to fish out of the bottle! Scrangie just posted though that you can use a toothpick or orange wood stick to fish them out and then place them on your nails. I wish I would have thought of that! It would have made my Valentine's Day manicure much easier. Did any of you do a themed manicure for today?

I hope that all of you have a lovely day and weekend!

China Glaze Summer Days for Summer 2009

They are here! THE summer collection of the year - China Glaze Summer Days. These polishes are spectacularly beautiful. This is only collection that I have seen in a while where all of the colors are truly must haves. On to the swatches! Oh, one small disclaimer before these swatches. I have yet to see any photographs of these polishes that accurately capture the amazing FIRE that these babies put out. My photographs are no exception. While they are color accurate, you just will not understand how truly amazing they are until you try them. The shimmer and fire from the glass fleck like glitter is just amazing. Now, on to the swatches, really!

China Glaze Raspberry Festival:

Raspberry Fields is a pinkish red with magenta and silver glitter. It really does not remind me of raspberries, which incidentally are my favorite fruit. But who really cares about the name when it is this gorgeous?

China Glaze Watermelon Rind:

Watermelon Rind has a green/teal base with silver, green and blue glitter. This is freaking stunning. 

China Glaze Cherry Pie:

Cherry Pie is a slightly orange toned red with magenta and silver glitter. This shade reminds me of candy for some reason.

China Glaze Grape Juice:

Grape Juice is a purple with silver and purple glitter. The glitter in this one has a very iridescent feel outside in the sun. It certainly is juicy! This is tied with Watermelon Rind for my favorite shade in the collection. 

China Glaze Strawberry Fields:

Strawberry Fields is a deep pink with gold shimmer. This one is particularly glossy looking!

China Glaze Orange Marmalade:

Last but not least, Orange Marmalade. You guys know how I feel about orange nail polish. I think it is really pretty but just not on me. It just does nothing for my skin tone! But this shade is still super gorgeous. Orange with gold and orange shimmer. If you are an orange lover, you won't be disappointed with this one.

Wow! Aren't these amazingly gorgeous? They are all so juicy looking. Like I said earlier though, the brilliance of fire of these in real life is so much more amazing than my pictures. Application was top notch, smooth, and quick drying. All swatches were three coats. Two coats is nice but three coats make these look spectacular!

China Glaze Summer Days for Summer 2009 officially launches in March but sometimes the etailers get these early, so keep your eyes peeled! These will *fly* off of the shelves.

News on Sparitual's Spring 2009 Cherish Collection

Bottle pictures from SpaRitual's Spring 2009 collection dubbed Cherish.

From Left to Right: Delight (aqua blue creme), Treasure (bright orange shimmer), Love (bright pink creme), Adore (light pink shimmer), Marvel (lavender pink shimmer) and Revere (orange and gold shimmer).

From these pictures, the only ones I feel are *must haves* for me are Delight and Marvel, which I already have. The oranges look gorgeous but unfortunately they usually don't work for my skin tone. I think it is the pink undertones that I have on my hands and fingers that just clash. 

For those of you that might have missed the post, I swatched Delight and Marvel for you the other day. Here is a link to the swatches.

Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen Spring 2009

It's that time again! Time for another fabulous collaboration between designer Tracy Reese and Sally Hansen. These nail polishes in the Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen Spring 2009 collection are so hot! I love each and every one of them. They are super pigmented and a joy to apply. Enough babble, on to the swatches!

Sally Hansen Azalea:

Azalea is a gorgeous pink creme. This swatch is two coats. For me, this is definitely a fabulous summer pedicure color.

Sally Hansen Forsythia:

Forsythia is a yellow shimmer. This is so pretty! There is something very oddball about this color but I am so in love with it. It reminds me of lemons. This is one of those colors that I want to eat! I don't know how well this color suits my skin tone, but it is so cool that I don't care. I will totally wear this all summer long!

Sally Hansen Nasturtium:

Nasturtium is a fabulous orange creme. I have heard this color called coral. I don't think there is anything coral about it personally. It is orange. I don't really think this color suits me but I still think it is really pretty. I'll also say that most oranges are a streaky hot mess to apply but this one applied perfectly, like butter.

Sally Hansen Honeydew:

Honeydew is a green/teal shimmer. It is nice to finally see that nail polish companies are recognizing the need for some funkier colors in their seasonal collections. I personally love to wear anything blue or green. So this is right up my alley! This color is 100 times prettier in person than in this picture.

Sally Hansen Night Hydrangea:

Night Hydrangea is another color that is 100 times prettier in person. This is the perfect purple shimmer. I don't mind blackened shades. I actually quite like them. But sometimes you just want a purple that looks purple. This is it! The purple that looks purple in all lighting situations.

Sally Hansen Tassel:

Tassel is a metallic gold. This was the only one of the bunch that required three coats. I love that Tracy threw a metallic in the mix for spring. It is fun and unexpected!

There is one more color in this collection - Beet Stain. I have no idea where it is... It's very similar to OPI Miami Beet and Zoya Moxie.

Did you guys notice my short nails in these pictures? I broke the corner off of my index finger so they got filed down. In the winter it is so hard to keep them in good shape! The air is just so dry. Oh well, they have been growing like weeds lately.

Back to the nail polish banter now. Like I said, application on all of these colors was superb. Tassel was the only three coater of the bunch. The others were perfectly opaque with two coats. My only complaint, if you can even call it that, is about the brushes. There is nothing wrong with them per se, but they are a bit long in my opinion. It is really just a matter of my personal preference. My preference is for a shorter brush. I just find it easier to control the polish with a shorter brush. Other than that, these babies are perfect!

The Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen Spring 2009 collection is set to hit stores late February/early March. Distribution of these special collections is notoriously bad; so keep your eyes WIDE OPEN for them and snatch them up as soon as you see them! They'll be gone before you know it.

I Love Social Bookmarking!

I promise that I won't bore you with non nail polish related posts too often, but this is important stuff! I don't know if you guys have noticed or not, but see the new "Tell A Friend" button at the bottom of my posts?

Well today I want to tell you about it. When you move your mouse pointer over the button, a little menu will pop up like so:

This little button is a one stop shop for all of you that use Delicious, Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc. This allows you to quickly add e-polishblog to your Delicious bookmarks, Stumble it, Digg it, share a post with your Twitter friends, and more, all without having to copy and paste URL's. 

Are there any readers out there that use this stuff? If you do, I'd love a Digg or a Stumble (hint hint wink wink). I am curious to know how many readers are familiar with and use these services. If you do, let me know! 

More from BB Couture for Nails

Today I have more from BB Couture for Nails to share with you. I have one brand new shade, one that is new to me, two that you've seen here before but I tried to get better pictures of and a few old favorites.

First, the brand new shade, BB Couture for Nails Midnight Desire:

Super dark blue/purple shimmer. This is one of those shades that looks nearly black indoors but then outdoors it is super gorgeous. At first I thought this might be dupeish to Chanel Vendetta but it is not. This is more noticeably blue than Vendetta, which is way more purple. I would have done a comparison swatch if I thought it was warranted, but it isn't. I am wearing Midnight Desire right now and I absolutely love it! I never get tired of shades like this. Midnight desire is extremely opaque with one coat but I used two for good measure.

Next, the shade that is new to me, BB Couture for Nails Dragon's Breath:

Purple/plum jelly with glitter. LOVE this color! This swatch is three coats. I love jelly based glitters like this because they have amazing depth. I love how the glitter looks almost like it is trapped deep under the layers of polish, almost like it is suspended in jello or something. Am I making sense at all?

Finally, the shades you have seen here before but that I tried to get better pictures of.

BB Couture for Nails Sea of Cortez:

BB Couture for Nails Frosty Meadow:

I tried to get better pictures of these jelly based stunners. Hopefully it worked! For you girls out there that appreciate the funkier colors, both of these are *must* haves. I think these blue an green shades are absolutely perfect. Just stunning.

Since we are on the subject of BB Couture for Nails, I thought I'd also show you a few of my old favorites.

BB Couture for Nails Poison Ivy:

BB Couture for Nails Maleficent Magenta:

BB Couture for Nails nail polishes can be purchased at Overall Beauty. Also, if there are any shades that you see on my blog but that you can't find at Overall Beauty, you can also contact BB Couture for Nails directly via phone or email (info on their website) and they will sell them to you directly.