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.

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.

CHANEL Moscou/Moscow Nail Russian Nights Collection Swatches

Hi everyone! 

I know you've been waiting for these so I am just posting these swatches quick. I will edit later with more commentary. Bottom line is, they are freaking gorgeous, all of them. These pictures DO NOT do them justice. 

**EDITED TO ADD BABBLING COMMENTARY**

When I say that these pictures do not do them justice, it is because these polishes have a lot of sparkle and fire in the sun that my camera just would not pick up. I almost feel like my pictures make these look a bit flat, and flat they are not. I photographed these in the late afternoon and typically my late morning/early afternoon sun is better. I am going to photograph these again later in the week, the next time the sun comes out. If I am able to get better pics I will share them. 

My favorite is Nuit De Russie, followed by Feu De Russie and Or De Russie, in that order. Click on the pics to enlarge the shimmery goodness. 

CHANEL Nuit De Russie:

Blackened base that is loaded with teal and green micro glitter. There are also sparsely placed pieces of burple micro glitter that really add extra fire and sparkle in the sun. 

CHANEL Feu De Russie:

Blackened base with burgundy, almost magenta shimmer. There are also some larger pieces of red and hot pink glitter.

CHANEL Or De Russie:

Blackened base with gold shimmer. There are also pieces of orange and green micro glitter. This color definitely has an olive look to it. 

Application on all of these was a bit on the thick side but nothing problematic. Sometimes I appreciate a polish that is a bit thicker because I feel like I have greater control over the application and less clean up to do.

So the main question everyone probably has - are these worth $30 bucks each? I think that can only be answered individually. For some people this might feel like a major splurge. Others might not think it is a big deal to plunk $30 bucks down for little luxuries like this. I am sure there are several people that simply can't bring themselves to spend the $30 on a bottle of nail polish. I say, if you like it, and have the money to spare, then get them. And I also cannot blame the people that won't drop the cash and think it's foolish. If I wasn't blogging, and didn't feel the need to show you the latest and greatest, I probably would have only sprung for one or two of these. But I am glad I have them and will definitely wear all of them. 

Well that is all for now. I am spent! LOL literally.

xoxo,

Katee

NOTD: Zoya Richelle

Good Morning!

Today my NOTD is from Zoya's Flourish collection for Holiday 2008: Zoya Richelle.

Zoya Richelle is what I will be wearing this evening to my boyfriend's company Christmas party. Application was flawless and this is the perfect nail color for a holiday or special occasion. I am usually not that into gold nail colors but this one has serious character. It is super shimmery in the sun and has a foil like finish. Just gorgeous! 

Wow! It is hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner. In just a few short weeks I'll be traveling home to Michigan to be with my family for the holiday. I am getting excited!! What is everyone else looking forward to this holiday season? What do you have on your wish list? I want to know!

That is all for now. Thank you for reading!

xoxo,

Katee

p.s. Have you entered my giveaway yet? I am taking entries until Sunday, December 7th, 11:59 p.m. pacific time :)

China Glaze Romantique Spring 2009 Swatches - Part 2 - Warm Colors

Hello, dear readers!

Today I am excited to share with you the warm colors from the China Glaze Romantique Spring 2009 Collection! As you will see, I photographed the swatches in a variety of lighting scenarios to give you accurate color depiction. 

(l-r, Poetic, Magical, Emotion, Admire, Delight, Passion)

China Glaze Poetic:

This nail color kind of looks like a mix between rose gold and copper.

Indoor, natural light:

Outdoor, full sun:

China Glaze Magical:

Brownish pink? Pinkish brown? Taupey? Sorry, my descriptive powers end here.

Indoor, natural light:

Outdoor, full sun:

China Glaze Emotion:

Bright pink, almost magenta base with silver shimmer.

Indoor, natural light:

Outdoor, full sun:

China Glaze Admire:

Light pink with a purplish hue. 

Indoor, natural light:

Outdoor, partial sun (the fog started to roll in big time at this point during the swatching):

China Glaze Delight:

Coppery brown - my favorite from the warm shades!

Indoor, artificial light:

Outdoor, full sun:

China Glaze Passion:

Dirty metallic gold - very unexpected for Spring!

Indoor, artificial light:

Outdoor, partial sun:

As with the cool colors from China Glaze Romantique that I posted the other day, all of these are almost completely opaque at one coat. Excellent coverage! All swatches here are 2 coats, no top coat. They also go on very smoothly, brush strokes are not a big issue.

Also, the finish is more metallic indoors and then shimmery outdoors. The colors in the Romantique collection are so chameleon like! The finish really gives these nail polishes different personalities under different lighting. 

I also noticed that the metallic finish of these polishes tend to emphasize any unevenness in the texture of my nails. I swatched a few of these with the China Glaze Ridge Filler Base Coat and that effectively camouflaged any ridges and gave a nice smooth base for these polishes. I really recommend it! 

I think that Delight is my hands down favorite from the warm colors. What are your favorites? Which ones are you going to get? Let me know in the comments! Again, these will be available January 2009.

That is all for today, hope to see you back soon. You know I always have more goodies to share with you :)

xoxo,

Katee

NOTD: China Glaze Wagon Trail Nail Polish

Good afternoon readers!

Today's NOTD is China Glaze Wagon Trail, from the Fall 2008 Rodeo Diva collection. I cannot believe how long it took me to try this one! From the instant I put it on, I was in love. First of all, the formula and application was top notch; not too thick and not too thin, with perfect coverage in two coats. And the color - totally unique and totally cool! Wagon Trail has a blackened or charcoal colored base and is packed with olive greenish gold shimmer. There are also scattered bits of multi color shimmer in there which really give this nail color a lot of

depth. I also like Wagon Trail because it looks noticeably olive green indoors, not just out in the sun.

Here are the swatches:

China Glaze Wagon Trail (indoors, artificial light):

China Glaze Wagon Trail (outdoors, sun):

If you don't have this nail color yet in your collection, I highly recommend it. Head 2 Toe Beauty and 8ty8 Beauty (links listed on the side of my page under the "where to haul" heading) have great prices on China Glaze nail polishes if you want to pick this one up.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day :)