Essie - Barbuda Banana

Happy Monday friends! I have a special polish to show you today, a vintage Essie polish. It's a pastel yellow called Barbuda Banana. It's a little hard to find but I managed to snag it on Evil-bay for around $15, which is a lot for an Essie, but it's one I've wanted practically since I got into polish. I've heard tell that the formula is hell-worthy, but honestly I didn't have trouble with it at all. This is four coats, as it is on the sheer side. It's got the tiniest most subtle bit of shimmer in it, barely detectable, but when you do catch a glimpse of it, it just melts your heart!

I don't know why but pastel yellows are one of my favorite colors of polish ever. Are there any types of colors you'll search the earth for no matter how hard they are to find?

Teal Marshmallow Sandwich

Hi friends :) I have a glitter sandwich to show you today! It's two coats of Essie Marshmallow, two coats of Milani Teal, and another two coats of Marshmallow. Teal has a clear base with small blue glitter and large hex emerald green, silver, and blue glitter. Marshmallow is a squishy pale white jelly. I love how this turned out! It was one of those "can't stop staring at my nails" mani's.

I picked up both these polishes at CVS. I can't believe I didn't have this Essie before, it's fab! Any other glitter sandwiches I need to do with it?

The Hungry Asian Glitter Spam

If you love glitter and you don't know about The Hungry Asian and her nail polish creations, you're missing out! My girl Kai creates mad glitter polish like a boss. I've longtime been a fan of her franken polishes and she's selling them on Etsy now, much to my and polish lovers everwhere's delight :) I ordered some from her store a while ago and I couldn't be happier with them!

First up is Twenty Ten. I LOVE dark glitters, they are so mysterious and uber sexy. This one has small square red glitter, microfine and small blue hex glitter in a sheer black base. I layered two coats onto Misa's A Sin Worth Committing. My mom was dying to put this on when I showed her my goodies! (P.S. she's been having me do her nails ever since I moved back in with her and she's dangerously close to becoming an addict haha)

Here is U Jelly?, a flippen adorable name for a polish btw. It's a cherry pink jelly with sparse fine red and light purple glitter. Uhh, Kai did you make this thing for me?! Cuz I'm head over heels for it! This is three coats.

Next is Mumbling, whoa glitter bomb!! It has large, medium and small holographic hexagon glitter in both silver and pale gold in a very subtle golden shimmering base. I freaking love this polish. I don't think Kai has made one that I don't love yet! This is three coats.

I Hate Pink is a polish of her's I've been wanting for a while and I'm so glad I finally have it! She's made of pink hexagon holographic glitter with smaller pink glitter and crimson micro glitter in a clear base. I think this looks so cool close up, I want to do a jelly/glitter sandwich with it soon. This is three coats.

Next is Sea Creature, uhh this is AMAZE-a-balls! It has medium holographic bright blue hexagon glitter, small black glitter with fuchsia and green superfine glitter in a lightly blackened base. I think all of these full glitters will look best layered over a solid color polish but for review sake, I did them on their own. This is three coats. You NEED THIS!!

And last is Vote for Purple, a pale lavender and small square and medium silver hex glitter in a subtle shimmering base. This is two coats over top of Essie's She's Picture Perfect. I don't think I've seen another glitter polish in this shade before and I adore it!

The full size bottles cost $9.25 and the mini bottles are $4.50 and you can get them at her Etsy store. I personally love mini bottles because I will probably never finish a whole bottle of any polish, haha, plus these heart bottles are so cute! The brush on them is fab too. I can't say enough about these, they're all amazing.

Some products pictured above were provided for consideration.

OPI The Amazing Spider-man Collection

Yay! New OPI collection, woot woot! This one is inspired by the new movie The Amazing Spider-man, which comes out this summer. The collection has six shades and a new color of "shatter" special effect topcoat.

 First up is My Boyfriend Scales Walls, a color OPI describes as "cityscape white". I guess that means dingy and slightly grey? Wa, wa, wa ;) I actually like this color, it's not a stark white and it's got a pretty decent formula for such a light cream. This is three coats.

 

The shatter topcoat is called Shatter the Scales, it's a dark slightly blueish forest green with silver shimmer. It dries matte but I put a shiny topcoat on to beef up the hawtness.

This is Just Spotted the Lizard is described as a "reptilian yellow-green". I see it as a Chanel Peridot dupe haha. It's metallic gold with green duochrome and a blue tinge on the edges. This is two coats.

This hot and spicy orange is Call Me Gwen-Ever. It's a muted less bright orange than we've been seeing trending lately. It has coral undertones, which is delightfully different. This is two coats.

Into the Night is a shimmery metallic midnight blue. It's not really a cobalt and not really a navy, it's like a combination of those two. I didn't love this one, it's pretty but nothing too exciting. The brushstrokes were present, but not really a problem. Two coats.

This is Number One Nemesis, another Chanel dupe (Graphite this time). Foily with glitter, green tinged nickel pewter. I like it as much as I do the other dupe I showed you the other day, Smoky Feather. This is two coats.

And the token pink, Your Web or Mine. This one I didn't expect to like, but I ended up enjoying a lot. It's a frosty rose pink. Brush strokes are gonna happen when you have a frost, it's just their nature. However, these are manageable. I feel a little "grandma" wearing this but like I said, I do like it. This is two coats.

I think this collection is a win, save the blue that just doesn't work for me. I am not really into comic books, or Spider-man in particular, (am I the only one who didn't know the name was hyphenated?) but that never stopped me from partaking in some awesome colors. You should be able to pick these up in stores around May for $8.50 each. What do you think of these pretties? Are you planning on seeing The Amazing Spider-man?

Products provided for review.

OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection

I can't think of a cuter character for a nail polish collection to be based on than Minnie Mouse! What a super cute idea, huh? OPI collaborated with Disney for this mini-collection of pinks and reds for summer.

First up is a If You Moust You Moust, a bright pink cream. I really don't care for the name of this, but oh well. The formula on this was nice, this is two coats.

Next is I'm All Ears, a vibrant magenta with a blueish-purple shimmer flash. I feel like I've seen this polish before, but sometimes it's not necessarily about the most unique color. I mean, not everyone has the crazy amount of polish I do, haha. This is three coats.

Here is The Color of Minnie, my favorite in the collection. It's a bing cherry color with bright pink/blue shimmer. I adore this polish and I don't think I have anything quite like it. Two coats for this girl.

And the last is Nothin’ Mousie ‘bout It, the crown jewel of the collection. It's a sheer topcoat polish with pink and gold glass shimmer and light pink confetti glitter pieces. This is two coats. It was hard to "polish" on the hearts, so I had to place them on.

This is two coats of Nothin' Mousie 'bout It over the other colors in the collection: over Minnie on the index, over Moust on the middle, over Ears on the ring, and with it alone on the pinky (four coats).

I do like these mini summer collections OPI puts out, they're fun and usually has something for everyone. You should be able to pick these up soon from OPI retailers for about $8.50 each.

Products provided for review.

China Glaze - Dripping Wet

Hiiiiii friends :) I finally got one of my all time biggest lemmings the other day, so I had to show it to you right away! China Glaze's Dripping Wet is a deliciously dark raspberry jelly that shines like crystallized sap on a tree! Ok that might be going a bit far, but it really is amazing and super shiny! I believe it came out in the Patent Leather collection circa 2003.

This is four coats, making it deep and intense. I adore jelly polishes! I can't even tell ya. You might be able to find this vintage polish on ebay like I did, otherwise not sure where you could pick it up. Are there any old-y polishes out there that you're lemming these days?

Nicole by OPI Wel-Kim to My World Collection

Helloooo :) Today I have the latest Kardashian Kolors collection from Nicole by OPI, Well-Kim to My World. These are inspired by Kim Kardashian in particular, showcasing her "flirty, feminine side". I don't think that anyone loathes the bottle shape of Nicole polishes more than I, they are ridiculously hard to position my hand around to take decent photos. *grumble, grumble*

First is Others Pale by Kim-Parison, a soft white cream. It's not super stark white so it's very wearable. This is three coats, and as you can see, it still looks patchy in some spots.

Next is Kim Konfidential, a honey beige cream. I have professed my love for nudes and this one is more on the camel side than the ones I usually get, but I do really like it. This is three coats.

Up and Kim-ing Pink is a baby pink cream. I have heard it's a dupe for OPI's Pink Friday that came out in the Nicki Minaj collection. I also did three coats for this one, it's opaque in two but one more is needed to level it out.

Here is Nothing Kim-pares to Blue, a pale periwinkle blue with shimmery glass fleck glitter. I thought I would like it more than I actually did, I think the color doesn't look particularly fab on me. This is three coats.

Here Kim's the Sun is an opalescent glitter polish, the base looks slightly gold but it comes out clear when applied. I was kind of meh on this when I first saw it, but it is a nice fun top coat. My mom adores it and practically snatched it out of my hands when I showed her. This is three coats.

 
Here is the glitter layered over the blue. I like this combo better than the blue by itself. Two coats.

Next is Lights, Kim-era, Action!, a shimmery metallic opal shade that flashes green. I thought it was going to be hideous, and by itself, it kind of is, but layered on top of the other colors from this collection, it really pops! This is one coat over the others. The shimmer freaked out my camera, to the point of giving me a "tan" that Snooki would be envious of.

These look way better when applied on the nail than they do in the bottle, classic and elegant. I think I've voiced my opinion before on how I feel when people use the letter "K" in place of a "C" in words. However, the Kardashian's have got something going for them that works so I suppose they shouldn't change. It still makes me gag though. You can pick these up at CVS and Ulta for about $7.99.

Products provided for review.

Jessica Cosmetics - Smoky Feather

Hi everyone! Today I want to show you one of my favorite new polishes, Smoky Feather by Jessica Cosmetics. It is my first Jessica polish ever, crazy huh! I really like their bottle design, the handle is nice and grip-y and the logo is sleek. I got this polish mainly because it is a dupe for Chanel's Graphite, which I passed on when it came out but have been regretting ever since. In fact, this collection trio, Peacock Queen, are all dupes for Chanel's Fall 2011 polishes that caused such a big splash.

The polish is an olive green tinged pewter metallic shimmer with tons of microglitter that just glows! This swatch is two coats. It's really super beautiful in person.

I bought this on NinjaPolish.com for $6, which is a $20 price difference from the Chanel polishes. I've heard that it's slightly less sparkly than Graphite, but honestly at that price, it's hard to discriminate.

Products provided for review.

China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy

Hey folks, how the heck are ya? I have been overhauling my back yard with my family for the past few days and have been too tired to blog haha. We used to have horses and it's been a lot of work taking down fences and shoveling out hay and blah blah, not super interesting, but time consuming. I was wearing this shade for a few days this week, a neon from China Glaze's 2010 Poolside collection, Flip Flop Fantasy.

This is like four coats plus topcoat, it's got a terrible formula but it's a dope color. Very pinky coral orangey neon, bright as heck. Very hard to capture in a photo. I've been in a neon mood lately, gearing up for the summer I suppose. Also, if you're a fan of scary movies, or just crazy good movies, go see The Cabin in the Woods immediately. It's incredible.

A Sin Worthy Party

Hey luvahs :) How you doin? I can't believe I didn't own this polish until very recently. Misa's A Sin Worth Committing is arguably their most famous lacquer, a glowy navy blue with shimmer that won't quit. This is freaking beautiful. I showed it to you the other day with the new Cult Nail's flakie layered but here is it on it's own. This is two coats.

I had to layer one of my new Nabi glitter polishes over this guy, called Party Mania Glitter. This is a new brand to me, I really like their selection and the bottle design! This has different colored hex glitters in big and medium sizes in a dark blue jelly base. This is two coats.

I got this Misa polish from Transdesign for $3.75 and the Nabi polish at their Ebay store, 3 for $8.95. The Nabi store shipped incredibly fast and it's a great deal. Check them out if you haven't before! Have a great one my dolls :)

Claire's - Candy Shop

I suppose Deborah Lippmann could take it as a compliment that her polishes have been duplicated so often these days. Yesterday I showed you a Revlon take on one of her creations, and today it's a Claire's version of her pink glitter bomb. Candy Shop by Claire's is a dupe to Lippmann's Candy Shop. They really pulled out some creativity on this one huh? Haha. This is three coats.

You can get this at Claire's retail stores for about $5. They always have a BOGO 50% off sale on cosmetics, so be sure to take advantage of that.