Good morning, Dear Reader!

I woke up bright and early on this fine Sunday morning and finished swatching the last of the Precisions I have which I haven't yet shown to you.  There are four, and something was a little off with my application skills this morning - they're not quite as perfectly tidy as usual, and for some reason I was doing super thin coats for the first three swatches.  I normally do thin coats (making all OPIs three-coaters for me), but on these I was doing them even thinner than usual.  For all four of these, I did two coats over a base so they're consistent with my other swatches, but if any look a bit thin, attribute it to user error... Since the sun is still coming up and it's a cold cloudy day here, I used artificial light for all of the pictures.  I'll show them to you in the order that I swatched them so you know which three were thinner than usual.

Hey Baby Hey is a semi sheer carnation pink with a moderate shimmer.

Wizard of Oz-zie is a rich berry with a strong silver shimmer.

Harold + Muave is my favorite of this group, a purple-y mauve with a strong silver shimmer.

I Toed You So is a rich, deep red creme, and the only on I applied with my usual coats.  There was no VNL with this one, as there is with so many OPI reds, so it made me happy.

Those are all the Precisions I have that you haven't seen yet, but there are a few more on the way that I'll be able to show you soon.  I got them from sparkling*nails on ebay (that's a link to her Precisions listings), but if she's out of stock of anything you've seen here, if you email her at sparklingnails@verizon.net and tell her that you saw it on The Nailphile, she'll take good care of you and make sure you get what you want.

I may have more for you later, Dear Reader, as I'm going into Konad withdrawal.  I haven't done an all-out Konadicure since Tuesday, and am in the mood to do one now, so I might have more pictures for you this afternoon.  Until then, love and nail polish to you!

I bet you thought I'd abandoned you forever... Never!  I got sick last week and ended up in the hospital, and just got home this afternoon.  Right before I left, I got my magical package from Finland, which had three L'Oreal Star Magnets in it.  I used one right away, and it's been my mani for the last five days.

You know I'd never normally show you a five-day-old mani, but I made an exception for this one because I got so many compliments on it.  Here's L'Oreal's Star Magnets in Purple.

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last week I promised you that you'd see the rest of my Precisions Haul, and I have half of what remains to be seen here for you today.  Lots of pretty colors - I am very happy with them!  All pictures are of two coats over a base, and I'll just let the pictures do the talking today...

Here is Ruby Red Slippers, a rich deep red with a strong gold shimmer.

Next I have Lily of the Valley, a semi sheer purple shimmer.

Finally, I have Purple Posh, a slightly pink purple with a strong silver shimmer.

So there you have it, Dear Reader, Part II of my recent Precisions haul.  As always, I got them from sparkling*nails on ebay, and if she's out of stock of something you've seen here, just email her at sparklingnails@verizon.net and let her know what you'd like, and she'll take good care of you.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a really fun mani for you.  I started with a little pretty that just arrived recently, Nubar's Pasadena Purple.  For the record, I'm one of the least in-the-loop people about celebrity news there is, but even I knew this was Ginnifer Goodwin's polish in He's Just Not That Into You.  How did I know that?  I'm not sure, but since it's purple and it's really hot right now, I thought I'd give it a go.

I saw images from the movie with it and bottle pictures of it, even other blogs' pictures, of it.  I tell you: pictures don't so this one justice.  Mine don't either.  This is an instant Top 20 polish for me.  Here's Pasadena Purple.

It's so rich and pretty and glowy!  But more pretties came with it that I couldn't wait to dig into.  I have glitters!  I added two coats of Nubar Purple Fire to this one.  Here's the finished manicure.

So that's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  I was goingto give you a link to Pasadena Purple, but I just checked Nubar's site and it's out of stock for now.  I'm sure they'll make more!

Also, I haven't given you your reminder about this month's sale at Nubar for a few days.  Here it is:

I'm going to keep reminding you of this for the next month, Dear Reader, just so no one misses out.  Don't forget that Nubar loves you, too!  Until March 31st, they have a coupon code that's good for 20% off orders of $50 or more on www.bynubar.com, and they have free shipping over $75 (after the coupon).  The code is nlphle2050, and it's here just in time for the release of their Coral and Cleopatra Collections, which just recently became available.  Have a good haul and enjoy a good break on the price! 

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

One of the nice things about being Irish on March 17th is that I don't have to wear green if I don't feel like it - they're all Saint Patrick's Days to me!  So today, I didn't.  I continued going through my nifty glittery polishes instead.

Today's is Nubar Opulent Pearl.  I examined this one closely, and decided it would be best over a dark color, so I started with Navy Blue.  Here's two coats of Navy Blue on its own.

 

 

It's a nice starting point, a good basic blue-not-black, but check out what two coats of Opulent Pearl does to it!

Not half bad, huh?  

That's my not-so-traditional Happy Saint Patrick's Day mani for you, Dear Reader.  I hope you enjoy the day, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I just thought I'd drop in and show you a pic of my KOTD - it's my first attempt at double-stamping an all-over pattern, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was waffling on keeping my wacky inaugural mani, but think I've finally decided to do one that's a bit more refined.  Still red and blue with my hands providing the lily white, but anything's more refined that what I've got!

Since yesterday I showed you the directions on my decals (which, as you can see from the title, still have me giggling), I thought I'd show you that manicure today.  It's surprisingly subdued for me!

I started with two coats of Chanel's Tulipe Noire, using a Chanel base coat.  I've discovered that their base coat or SpaRitual's Color Lock Base Coat prevents the chippiness for which Chanels are known.  I found some Chanel base coat that was inexpensive on ebay, and I snatched it up to save my Chanels.  I topped it with one coat of SpaRitual Tout de Suite - I use that or Poshe to get Chanels to dry quickly and properly.  I then applied two of the decals, one on each ring finger, and ended up with the rare subdued manicure.  Here it is.

 

I really like this one.  For the decals, I was IM'ing with a reader who showed me a picture of a manicure with the same ones, and I bought some.  The next day, all over my message board was Heidi Montag's nightmare of a Chanel manicure, and I was afraid I'd get the gargantuan decals that she had on.  I was pleased when they arrived and were tiny - just what I wanted.  Then I got to read the instructions, and got a good laugh to boot!  Ain't life grand?

I might have more for you later, if my planned inaugural mani works out.  Today is a huge day for us in the US - groundbreaking!  Even though I want a woman president, I've been an Obama gal right from the start.  Hillary Clinton and I graduated from the same high school, and I really, really want to see a woman in the White House, but I've been hoping for Obama since he threw his hat into the ring.  One of the reasons I think this is so big is because of something my dad's taught me.  As a young man, his father faced the dreaded "NINA" (No Irish Need Apply) added to all the Help Wanted signs.  My dad has always told me that a people's way out of opression is education, then to become the police and government.  It's worked for the Irish (so well that Illinois government is now riddled with nepotism and general corruption, I write as my governor has been impeached...), and I believe Barack Obama will show that the same works for African Americans.  I certainly hope so, but even if not, we'll have the most gifted orator since JFK leading this country.  There.  I got all political on you!

Enough of that!  I'll have more for you later today if all goes well this morning.  Until then, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

I decided to go out and enjoy this spectacular day, and what did I run into?  The Sally Hansen collection that I've been stalking for weeks and weeks!  I also ran into a  Milani collection, but that's for another day...

I couldn't believe I finally came across these, and they are now mine!  Even better, the CVS had left an old "Buy One, Get One 50% Off" label on the display, and they honored it for me.  How can you beat that?  Happy Birthday to me...

There are too many that I love to rank them, so I'll just put them out in alphabetical order for you.

Having these in my hot little hands, I may be finished stalking drugstores for a while.  Yay!  

Love and nail polish to you, Dear Reader!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have one of the Chanel polishes I promised you'd see this week.  It's one I haven't seen online before, so I chose it over the others I could have used.  It is Chanel's Django for Spring (Spring!  The windchill here is 20 below...).

It's a slightly peachy nude with a subtle shimmer.  Here she is!

 

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until later, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm still taking a break from blues so that I can truly savor Wet Velvet when I wear it soon, so I dug into my $2.99 CNYs to select today's manicure.  I chose one I bought for the name, with which I was pleasantly surprised upon its arrival.  I feared it would be sheer, and I have enough sheers for how often I wear them, but when I rolled the bottle to evaluate the color, I was pleased to find I could barely see the ballz in it.

It is Catholic School Girls, and I had to get it because I come from the most Catholic family in the universe (although I'm of the fallen away variety these days).  It might be assumed from my Gaelic name that I have older parents because I'm the last in a long line of siblings, but that's not it - I only have one sister, and she's less than a year older than I am.  The truth is that my parents had two lives - my dad was a Jesuit priest for 25 years, and my mom was a nun for 18.  They both left religious life in the fallout of Vatican II in the late sixties, and met in a support group for people in the same circumstance.  Additionally, three of my dad's four brothers are priests (with the fourth being developmentally disabled and not eligible for the priesthood), and one of his five sisters is a nun.  We won't even discuss my generation, the cousins... You can just  imagine the productions that family funerals are!

My mom was a teacher, and had a downright uncanny ability to remember her students.  When she was in the nursing home before her death, one of her eighth grade students came to visit her - she taught him in 1955.  My mom wasn't able to tell you what she had for breakfast at the time, but sat there and went through the students' names, as they were seated in the class, one by one, with stories to go with each name.  I didn't inherit that gift for names, but certainly wish I did!  I got the skills of my father, the math teacher and accountant, which serve their own purpose, I suppose.

In any case, when I saw Catholic School Girls, I went for it, and as I mentioned was pleasantly surprised by its opacity.  It' so pale that it makes nails look shorter, and I think it has sort of a mod feel to it.  It took three coats to be completely even, but applied beautifully.

 

 

Certainly, I could have left this one alone.  It's simplicity is appealing to me, a super pale barely pink creme.  However, I woke up at 3:30 this morning, and I assure you that there's very little to do at that hour on a Sunday morning without extended cable channels.  If my knitting supplies were here, I'd have a new sweater started, but they're not, so I played with the Konad...

Since this color has a mod feel to it for me, I thought a wacky all-over pattern would suit it well.  I chose the many-circles pattern from Konad plate M65 for the pattern, which then left me with the color choice for stamping.  Since the manicure began with the notion of Catholicism, I decided to continue that theme by selecting Konad purple shimmer so I'd have the Advent pink and purple, which are two colors I've always liked together.  The end result pleases me almost as much as the golden leopard mani I did a while back - the double stamping isn't quite perfect, but if I do say so myself, it ain't half bad!

Hello, Dear Reader!

I actually have pictures for you today that are just plain nail polish - no Nfu-Oh over them, no Konad, just polish.  But what a polish it is!  It's one of Lippmann Collection's limited edition Fall offerings, Superstar.  The pictures show two coats with two coats of top coat, but I'll definitely need a couple more layers of top coat on the morning to get it smooth.

Isn't that something?  I like her!

That's all I've got for now, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

After four days, I finally changed my mani today.  Truthfully, it didn't need to - I still had no tip wear or chips, but I was just up for a change.  The fact that I've now tested Nubar's Diamont top coat for four days and still didn't have any tip wear makes me a confirmed convert.  Taking off the Purple Fire wasn't as bad as I feared, either.  It required felt, pure acetone, and some hand strength, but not a great deal of patience.  It was no Lippmann Superstar!

I have more Nubar for you today, for a few reasons.  I got some Nubar glitters this week - I showed you Purple Fire over Pasadena Purple, but there are many more.  Before I found Konad, I liked to layer glitters over other polishes quite a bit, and these have gotten me back to that.  Since Nubars are Big 3 Free, I'm using other Nubars as base colors for them, largely to be practical - in the past, I've found that the old-school chemicals often don't play well with Big 3 Free polishes, so I don't mix them anymore.  Odd things can happen, like big chips of polish coming off, and so to bypass that, I tend to just use one Big 3 Free brand together since I'm sure they'll all be friends.

Today, I decided to go for a pastel pink after days of wearing such a vibrant glittery purple mani. My base color happens to be my favorite pastel pink: Oh Baby Pink.  I like it because it's heavily pigmented, so it only takes two coats to be opaque and even, which is rare for a pastel creme.  It's also just the right color for me - not to bright, not too pale, just right for my taste.   I've shown you this one before, but took new pictures so you wouldn't have to hunt to see what it looked like on its own.

Then I got to use the glitter!  When I was choosing colors today, I started with the glitter and then picked the base for it.  The glitter I used is Pixie Dust, which is a subtle, fine glitter that gives Oh Baby Pink just the right sparkle and shine in two coats.  Yes, that's four coats total, but I put my faith in Diamont and have found it to be well placed - it's dry right now as I type, so I can live with four coats for this one.  Here's the finished mani.

That's today's mani and the tale of return to my roots with putting glitter on other polishes.  It's fun, it's simple, and it's the easiest way to make a custom mani.

On the topic of Nubar, I haven't given you a reminder of their coupon code running through the end of this month for a while, so here it is.  Regulars, just skip this paragraph!

I'm going to keep reminding you of this for the next month, Dear Reader, just so no one misses out.  Don't forget that Nubar loves you, too!  Until March 31st, they have a coupon code that's good for 20% off orders of $50 or more on www.bynubar.com, and they have free shipping over $75 (after the coupon).  The code is nlphle2050, and it's here just in time for the release of their Coral and Cleopatra Collections, which just recently became available.  Have a good haul and enjoy a good break on the price! 

You may notice a some changes I made yesterday with the format for comments and a little 5-star rating option for you at the end of the post.  If you like them, good!  If you dont, let me know.  I'm still deciding what I think- I'm not big on change, but the comments format seemed like a better way for me to reply to you, and the ratings seemed like a good way for you to tell me how I'm doing, so I made the changes for now.  We'll see what we think and go from there.

That's all for today, Dear Reader!  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have more of the Precisions haul to show you, and I promise you there are even more to come!  This was quite a haul...  Today I'll go with reverse alphabetical order, just to mix it up.  All are two coats over a base coat, with the exception of Aruba Ruby which is three, in sunlight.

First up is St Lucia Fuchia, a bold hot pink with a strong silver shimmer.

Next in line is Red Mad-rid, which is not just another red.  It has a somewhat jelly finish and a strong pink flash.

Third is another really special one, Orange Belize-ini, and I'll let the pictures do the talking for this one.

Now we're up to the gold version of Shiny Disco Ball, a spectacular molten metal gold.

And last in today's lineup is the amazing Aruba Ruby, a coral red jelly.

There are many more Precisions to come - I love these things!  The bottle's bigger than normal at 0.55 oz, they apply beautifully, and are shiny, shiny, shiny.  I get mine from sparkling*nails on ebay (that's another link to the listings, and if they're sold out now, I'm sure she'll have more soon).  If you decide you "need" some of these, mention to her that you saw them on The Nailphile.  She's always great, but is extra great to The Nailphile Readers.  She's also contacted me to let me know she has made special accomodations for our French friends, and if you're in France, just contact her via ebay to get any colors you'd like.  As always, I won't benefit from your purchase, other than knowing you have the fun stuff!

After all of that swatching, I needed a mani, and broke into one of the Precisions I showed you yesterday.  Here she is with a little Konad fun.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

I have even worse light this morning than I did last night, and still have on my fun Purple Hooter, so I thought I'd give you a few older pictures of some favorites of mine that you haven't seen yet.

The first I love for the color, but also because it's an impossible to find treasure I got from a wonderful friend, Essie's Asian Amethyst.

Next up is easy to find, a great glowy red SpaRitual called Eternal Flame.

Last, something to combat the dreary day I have today - Chanel's LA Sunrise.

Yes, I'm a slacker for using old watermarked MUA pictures, but the originals were on my dead computer, so it's what I have to offer this morning and I didn't want to leave you a day without pretty pictures.  I hope you like the old-style pictures (place your vote either way!), and enjoy the colors, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

If all is well in my world, right now I'm driving down I-55 to go for a visit with my family and friends.  Before I left, I took a few pictures for posts while I'm away until Thursday, and I hope they keep you busy!

With all the Konading and now gradient manis I've done lately, I decided to do one recently that is simplicity itself: Elizabeth Arden Cannes White Sand S.  It's a great ivory white, with its only down side being that it took four coats.  However, since it's chock full o' chemically goodness, the dry time for a four-coat manicure was good.  Here she is!

 

 

This mani was a nice break from the more festive things I've been doing, but it was just a  little break.  I have much more festive things in store for you in the next couple of days!

That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader.  I'll be checking in as I can, so if your comments or emails go unanswered for a bit, rest assured that I will get to them as soon as I can.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

As I mentioned this morning, this week will be all pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I two have sets of pictures of swirly pink Konadicures for you which you haven't seen yet and incorporate pink.  One has a pink base, and the other has pink as the all-over Konad pattern.

When I looked at the pictures of these, I discovered they're really the same mani using different colors for the elements of each.  I decided to post them together despite that just to show how color choice can change the overall look of the Konadicure.

First up is the Swirly French Mani.  I used OPI Parlez-Vous OPI as the base, plate M65 and Konad pink pastel polish as the main pattern, and plate M56 and Konad white polish for the tips.  

The other is the Precociously Swirly Mani.  I used SpaRitual Precocious as the base, then added the same patterns as the mani above, this time using Konad's blue polish for both.  I think it gives a very different overall effect than the Swirly French Mani.

There will be more manis to come incorporating pink somewhere in them for the rest of the week, as we (the ladies on my favorite message board and I) wear pink to honor our sisters in the fight against breast cancer.

On a more upbeat note, today until midnight I'll be accepting entries for the random drawing to give away the OPI Music Hall Minis Set that sparkling*nails on ebay sent as a gift to you to thank you for your business.  The details and the entry form are at the bottom of this page, so if you haven't yet entered, please do!

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I was swatching away for upcoming posts, and had to do a post-swatching mani.  I chose a polish that I've wanted for several months, but have been unable to find until a friend surprised me with it: FingerPaints Bada Bing, Bada Blue.  It's a fabulous steely blue, and is just what I hope it would be!

 

That's all for today, Dear Reader!  Love and nail polish to you!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Guess what I just received?  The first and only distributed promo image of Zoya's new color called Paz from their Summer 2009 collection Ooh-La-La.   The kicker is, that I know they've exclusively released twelve images just now, but I only get any information about mine!  So Zoya has all of us us on a scavenger hunt for the other eleven colors and information about whether it's one big collection, two collections, or what they have up their sleeve!  Zoya has been lots of fun lately, keeping us on our toes.

Here's my promo image of Paz...

 

That's what I have for you for now, Dear Reader!  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

EDIT:

I'm doing some hunting for you, Dear Reader, and will  add links as I find them.

HaileyCosmic at CasualLavish has Pippa

Scrangie has Midori

Cincyfan at AllLacqueredUp has Tallulah

Brittany at ClumpsOfMascara has Goldie

Kelly at VampyVarnish has Emme

Hillary at The Crystal Files has Katy

Dami at Perfectly Polished Tips has Ali

Stephanie at The Polish Addict has Dita

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm pleased to tell you that I've found a new toy - Art Club Art Stripers.  I've played with two of them, and they're wonderful fun.  They were both easier to use than another brand of striper I tried because of the brush, which is very thin, long, and relatively rigid, making even striping easier.

My first attempt was, of course, using one of their glitters.  When I opened the box of them, the black hologram polish caught my eye immediately - it's opaque black polish with insanely dense holo glitter.  Take a look for yourself!

I was on my nail message board yesterday, and my dear friend Love8Brain posted a picture of a mani I had to try.  Since it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I decided to use All Pink, All the Time for the base.  Here was my result.  The right hand's not perfect, but given that it was a first try, I think I did alright.

My next attempt was another racing stripe mani, and that's when it was clear that the Art Club brush made a huge difference.  It turned out infinitely better than my last attempt.

So that's my new toy, and I'm quite pleased with it!  Love and nail polish to you, Dear Reader!

Now that it's the last week of the Nubar coupon and they're taking preorders for Pasadena Purple and the Cleopatras, I'm going to try to show you as many of the cool Nubars I have that you still haven't seen in case you're trying to plot an order.  If you need the details, I just click on the label "Coupon Code" at the bottom of this post - the last one I posted with that label has all the details.  

Speaking of labels, a little sidenote: wixbetty asked about hex glitters in a comment recently, and as I listed them for her, I noted I should have created a label for them as a category of their own.  There are still more to come, so I'm creating the label "Glitters - Hexagram" now and will go back and shift the older posts from "Glitter" into the more specific category this morning so they're easier to find.

So, on to showing you more pretties!  Today's mani was an effort to use another hexagram glitter, one I've had my eye on since I got them, called Goldy.  The trouble is I don't have a good Big 3 Free gold base to put it over, so today I decided to try it over a red, which looks good, I think, but does tend to give the overall effect of Christmas in March.  Ah, well, I suppose they're not all going to turn out as planned!  The mani shows you both polishes really well though, so I decided to post the pictures anyhow.

The red I selected to start with is Nubar's Sexy Red, and that it is.  This is three uber-thin coats over a base.

 

 

I could have left Sexy Red alone, yes, but when have I just left a polish alone lately?  I added two coats of Nubar Goldy to it, which made it nice and sparkly.  A little Christmas-y, but sparkly nonetheless!  I know five coats sounds daunting, and I would have balked at that a couple of weeks ago myself, but I'm telling you, this Diamont top coat is incredible - it's the only reason I've been up for as much layering as I have been lately.  Four to five coats are dry in less time than three with other top coats.  That sounds unbelievable, but I swear it's true.  Here's the Sexy Red, Goldy, and Diamont.

That's my Nails of the Day and my continued effort to show you more cool Nubars, Dear Reader!  I hope they help you if you're plotting a haul, and entertain you if you're not.

That's all for today.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have another China Glaze Romantique for you - Joy.

That's all for now.  Until later, love and nail polish to you!

Good evening, Dear Reader.

This won't be my most upbeat post ever, so feel free to skip straight to the pictures.

I made a big nick in my polish while chopping an apple earlier today, and decided to redo my mani.  I chose a color you've seen before, and will likely see again - Essie's Starry Starry Night.  I chose it because it's what I wore to my mom's funeral, and Tuesday will mark the six month anniversary of her death.  She's been on my mind this week because she was such a big celebrator, and my dad and I aren't, so the only thing that made this Christmas different than any other Thursday was that my dad got Happy Birthday calls from his remaining brothers and sister.  When my mom was alive, every minute of Christmas Eve through Christmas was a giant production - it could drive me nuts, but I'd give anything to have her drive me nuts just one more time.  The week of her death is one big blur in my head, but I do remember that I wore SpaRitual Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to her wake (her name was Lucille) and Starry Starry Night to her funeral.

I miss my mom a lot, no less than the day she died.  I will always remember her last words, too.  She suffered from dementia and had had two bad strokes, so she did not speak for the last several months of her life with one exception.  On my last visit, five weeks and one day before she died, I left with my usual words: "You're a great mom, and I love you."  Rather than blankly stare out the window as she had for this entire visit and my last two, she turned her head, looked me in the eye, and said, "You're a great daughter, and I love you."  Those were the only words she spoke for about five months, and then she promptly went back to staring blankly out the window.  That's the story of my mom's last words - the last of many from a great storyteller who never had a private thought before her ability to speak was taken from her.

So Starry Starry Night and Lucy in the Sky will always be colors for my mom to me.  She got some  good colors, and here's SSN.

 

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  If you can, tell your mom that you love her.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you.

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I decided that after my recent dark, girly, and silver manis, I was in the mood for a gold.  Then it occurred to me that I have a gold that's better than gold - a gold holo!  This one, H&M Creme de la Creme, came to me from Sweden, a surprise from a dear friend.  I just received it in the last week, and hadn't used it yet, so it seemed just perfect for today.

I used two very thin coats over a base coat and topped it with Seche Vite.  I must say that as I was applying it, I was grateful that these aren't available in the US, for they'd do some damage to my wallet if they were!   It applied just beautifully, and the need for a second coat was questionable.  I absolutely love it!  Here's Creme de la Creme on its own.

 

 

The light bright enough to show the true color of this polish washes out the holo effect to some degree - it's very sparkly.  I'd need lower light and poor focus to show that, and I decided not to hurt your eyes with such a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

I then decided to add a little Konad fun.  For the polish, I chose black to accent both the gold and the sparkle, and after much debate, selected a pattern from plate M32 that I've had my eye on for quite some time but have never had the nerve to use.  It's a little play on the racing stripe mani, but with a Valentine's Day feel to it.  My stamping job is imperfect - if I took the time to line up the patterns absolutely perfectly, the Konad polish would have dried too much to apply.  Imperfect as it is, I'm quite pleased with it.  Here's my final mani.

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Today's mail brought so many good things, I didn't even know where to begin!  I set aside something special for my Christmas mani, then had to pick from the rest.  I settled on Chanel's Nuit de Russie from the Russian Nights Collection, and I'm so thrilled with it that I had to take pictures and post them for you.

 

 

That's the first of a few great Chanels to come this week.  Love and nail polish to you, Dear Reader!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've just swatched the last of my Precisions haul for you, the last four colors I got.  I'll show them to you in order of preference, from least to greatest.  I can handle that with four colors!  They're all two coats over a base under artificial light.

Seal of Approval is a semi-sheer peachy shimmer.  Since I'm still in the process of warming up to sheers, this is lowest on my list.

Rock Steady is a hot fuchsia red shimmer, which I like quite a bit.

Peachtini is a frosty peach, bringing a little bit of Spring into a cold October day in Chicago.

Brownie Points is my favorite, partkly because of my recent brown kick and partkly because it's such a perfect shade for Autumn.

So that's the end of my most recent Precisions haul.  I hope you enjoyed them as much as I do!

Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm still weary, so all I have for you this morning is my Nails of the Day: Misa's Hot Couture with my Konad M56 pattern.  This is another of those weird colors that borders on ugly, yet I like it.  On its own, it was a little closer to ugly, but I think the addition of the black Konad tips helped it out.  Here she is!

Perhaps I'll perk up a bit and have more for you this afternoon.  Until then, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I resigned myself to the dark colors of winter the only way I could - with a Chanel LE.  I broke into my bottle of Chanel's Feu de Russie, and although it's wintery, it's beautiful.  If I have another three months of colors like this in front of me, I'll be alright!

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  I hope you enjoy the last day of your little Christmas break, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have Precision's new Spring 2009 Collection for you, Color FX.  I'm told these colos are replacing their Get Loud (neon) collection, so get the neons while you can!

These are all vibrant colors, but not quite neon, and five of the six are creme finishes.  Here they are, all three coats over a base.  They're in descending order that I like them.

Wait a Melon for Me is a slightly jelly cantaloupe colored creme and I swatched it after the yellow - please forgive my poor job of removing the yellow!).

 

 

Pink with a Wink is a bright pink with a very subtle shimmer.

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I did get my swatching done today, and it was Lippmann Collection's Spring 2009 offerings, plus a little red carpet Lippmann Collection bonus.

Lippmann's spring colors are very nice and springy, and one of them is my favorite Spring color so far this season.

The first, P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing) is a nice, even, almost-opaque light peach jelly.  This is three coats over a base.  Definitely a very flattering Spring color.

 

 

The second, Purple Rain, is my favorite Spring release this year.  It's a lavender frost, and I did a full mani with it.  This is three coats over a base about ten minutes after applying a top coat.  I found that the visible brush strokes inherent to frosty polishes diminished significantly as this one dried.

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've finally done swatches of some of the polishes I've been staring at this week, and I have pictures for you!  They are, of course, my most recent Precisions haul.  Today I have four of them, and tomorrow I'll show you the other four.

The first is a sheer called Champagne Supernova.  It's sheerer than I expected - I feel a little naked posting this picture!  But, I'm amongst friends, so what the heck...

Next up is a bright pinkish red jelly called Peek A Boo Pink.  Although lovely, I think I'll pass this one on to one of my girlfriends who loves jellies - she would wear and appreciate it more than I would.

I also have another red, this one a deep true red, called Miami Heat.  It's opaque in two coats, which makes it a keeper for me.

Finally, my favorite: Flamingo Pink.  This is a great opaque pink creme, and the name suits it perfectly.

That's the first half of my most recent Precisions haul.  I hope you enjoyed them!  They're easy to find - I got them from sparkling*nails on ebay (that's a link to the listings).  She's easy to buy from, and if something you've seen here is out of stock in her store, just email her at sparklingnails@verizon.net and she'll make sure you get what you're looking for.  She's always great, but we've found she's especially good to The Nailphile readers, so let her know you saw it here!

On to something hard to find... Moooooonpoooool!  I managed to get my hot little hands on a spare bottle of China Glaze's Moonpool, and I'm giving it to you, Dear Reader.  I'll randomly select the winner on December fourth, so there are only a few days left to enter to win.  If you haven't put your name in the hat yet, please do!  The drawing is open to all readers worldwide, your name will show as you enter it (so you don't need to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to notify you that you've won.  Good luck!

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!  I had a reader request that sounded like a great idea to me, so I thought I'd get about the business of doing it: a post about the nail products I use and why I like them.  I expect this post to get long, for I am not married to any one product - I find that many serve different purposes for me for different reasons.  We'll look at them in the order I'd use them doing a manicure.

1. Remover: I use two.  First, I use pure acetone to remove the polish using one cotton pad's worth per hand, then I use a third cotton pad with Studio 35 Salon Formula Nourishing acetone-based remover (blue) to go back over all ten nails.  The reason I do it this way is that although pure acetone is faster and more effective than remover, it also tends to deposit dissolved color on my skin and nails.  The remover does not, so I use that to clean up after the acetone.  I use Studio 35 from Walgreen's because it's the cheapest and most effective I've found.

2. Cuticles: Most of the time, I push my cuticles back using my thumbnail.  I never use metal tools on my cuticles, and the only time I use a cuticle nippers at all is if I have to trim anything around my cuticles (never the cuticles themselves).  Every week or two, I'll use a cuticle remover with a worn (thus not sharp) orange stick to clean my cuticles up a bit.  My preferred product is SpaRitual's Cuti-Clean, which doubles as a stain remover.  I like it best because it's quick, effective, and painless.  My second choice is Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover, which also works well but causes my cuticles to sting a bit.  I follow the directions on the bottle for both.

3. Base Coat: Here, there's much more variety.  Depending upon what I'm doing, I use a different base coat.  My everyday product is Sally Hansen Age Correct Growth Treatment, but I believe that's being discontinued, so I'll have to find another everyday base coat.  It allows the polish to go on smoothly and does a great job of preventing staining.  If I'm swatching, I use Precision Base Coat because it dries the fastest and provides a smooth base - by the time I've painted the fifth nail on my left hand, the first is dry and ready for polish.  Also, I've found certain brands of polish to be chippy unless I use the same manufacturer's base coat.  That applies to Chanel, Essie, and Zoya, and I use those for those brands.  For a long lasting manicure, my favorite is SpaRitual Lacquer Lock Colorstay Basecoat, followed by Zoya Anchor.

4. Color: My overall favorite brands of polish for application and wear are Rescue Beauty Lounge and SpaRitual.  Since RBL costs exactly twice what SpaRitual does, SpaRitual gets the number one spot.  I like both because my nails are quite curved over the nail bed and they flatten out a bit when wet, which can lead to chipping with many other brands.  These two seem to have an elastic quality to their wear that allows them to stay on my nails for days - when travelling, I've gotten up to five days without a chip out of both, and only changed polish because I felt like it when I got home.  For color, though, I'll use any brand that has colors I like, since I generally change my polish daily - I can love a $0.99 Wet N Wild as much as a Chanel.  Color Club, Misa, OPI, Sally Hansen, CHI, Precision and Zoya are other favorites for color selection (in no particular order).

5. Top Coat: My very favorite top coat is SpaRitual Tout de Suite Quick Dry Topcoat.  It dries polish faster than any other, has an unbeatable shine, doesn't cause "shrinkage" at the tips, and it prevents tip wear.  My second favorite is Precision Quick Dry Top Coat because it also leaves a great shine and does the job well without shrinking the polish beneath, also preventing tip wear.  The down side to both is that they cost a little  more than others and are less available.  I also use Seche Vite, avoiding its shrinkage issue by applying it around the edge of my tips.  SV has a great shine and works well, but I get tip wear quickly with it.  Poshe is another good one that I have on hand, which works faster than SV (especially on harder to dry colors, like some from Chanel), but doesn't shine as well as SV.  I apply Poshe in the same manner as I do SV, but the tip wear isn't as bad with it as with SV.

6. Konad!  I've been using the Konad for every mani lately, and am just beginning to try polishes other then the Konad Special Polish with it.  For a list of those that will work with the Konad, I defer to the MUA nailboard's wisdom with a link to sassepiano's notepad.  She's been good enough to keep up a list of polishes that work with it.

7. Post Konad Top Coat: If I worked quickly and my base polish isn't totally dry, I've found a thick coat of Seche Vite will not smudge the design.  The other options, if the base polish is dry, are Color Club Art Club Sealer (first choice, less likely to smudge) or Sally Hansen Megashine (second choice).  Whichever I use, I use a thick coat to ensure that I don't smudge the stamped design.  When I use something other than SV, I follow it with SpaRitual's Andale Dry & Shine Drops, which are magical.  They really do work, and the polish is smooth, shiny, and dries quickly.

Then I'm done with products!  I'm sure you see a theme here - I'm a huge fan of SpaRitual products.  I love them.  But since I change polish most days, I don't use them every time because they're a bit pricier so I have the others on hand.  If you're a once-a-week gal like I used to be, they're well worth the extra money.

I'd love to hear additional product recommendations and experience from you, Dear Reader, so please feel free to chime in with a comment.  While you're at it, why not enter the Get In-Spider-ed Giveaway?  It's open to readers worldwide through the sixth.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I actually have a picture of just a polish - no glitter over it, no Konad, just the polish.  It's Lippmann Collection's Hit Me with Your Best Shot.  When I put it on, I didn't have it in me to interfere with the subtle complexity of it - it is quietly sparkly grey goodness.

However, I also have some pics of polishes I had a little more fun with.  First is Lippmann's Dark Side of the moon, to which I added a silver plant and a pink fairy.

I also bought a polish this week strictly for its bottle.  It's a basic black that needed some Konad fun, but the bottle is cool as heck.

That's all I have for now, Dear Reader.  If you haven't yet entered this week's giveaway, please do!  It's an OPI Music Hall Minis Set that sparkling*nails sent me to give you, from Holiday 2006.  Your name will show as you enter it (so you don't have to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to notify you if you're the winner.  Good luck!

Love and nail polish to you, Dear Reader!

EDIT:

I'm back again a few hours later - HaileyCosmic let me know that on her blog, Casual Lavish, she's doing a one-day giveaway (today) for breast cancer awareness.  Here is a link to to post with the entry form - be sure to check it out!

Until later, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have one more Konadicure and some good news for international folks.  I'll starts with the Konadicure and go from there.

Yesterday, I realized I'd never used China Glaze Cherish (from the Romantiques Collection) as the base for a mani, I'd only used it for the stamping.  I decided to correct that and used two coats of it.  Although the Romantiques go on with brush strokes, once they dry the brush strokes significantly diminish.  I then pulled out China Glaze Adore, from the same collection, and used it with plate S6 then plate M19 (to cover the gap at my tips), and I had my KOTD.  Here she is.

 

 

Now for the good news!  I got my Romantiques, and my China Glaze Summer Days (which I'm waiting for), from Trans Design (www.transdesign.com, linked on the right).  I was communication with them about their international shipping in recent days just as they were redesigning their site to offer First Class shipping for international orders, which costs way less than Priority.  It has some down sides, like no tracking and it's slower, but when I ship polish to my friends in other countries, I always use First Class and it's always gotten there safely.  I wanted to pass this on to our international friends since I know that sometimes the shipping of polish costs at least as much as the polish itself, but that's no longer true at Trans Design.

One last thing - don't forget that Nubar loves you, too!  Until March 31st, they have a coupon code that's good for 20% off orders of $50 or more on www.bynubar.com, and they have free shipping over $75 (after the coupon).  The code is nlphle2050, and it's here just in time for the release of their Coral and Cleopatra Collections, which became available over the weekend.  Have a good haul and enjoy a good break on the price! 

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!  I've been swatching away for you already today!  

The big surprise is that most of the Essies were winners for me, with the exception of two.  I think both would have been improved with a third coat, but I only swatched two coats to be consistent.  Let's get right to them!

I'll start with the two I didn't love, Shift Power and Bold and Beautiful.  

Shift Power left me with lots o' VNL, but otherwise is good.

Bold and Beautiful was simply uneven in two coats due to its jelly texture.  I like it, and Shift Power, otherwise, so I'll likely give them both another shot using three coats,

That brings us to the winners!  I don't usually love Essie, but I'm really impressed with the other four shades.  I'll show them to you in reverse alphabetical order so my favorite is last,

Sexy Divide is probably the most favored by many, but it came in second place for me.  It's a gorgeous purple shimmer.

Rock Star Skinny is a great color despite its name, and one that I'll get plenty of use from.

It's Genius really is, and it's a lovely mulberry shimmer.

That brings us to my very favorite, Damsel in a Dress.  I like how dramatic this color is, and although I expected to love Sexy Divide the most, this is my favorite of the collection.

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Until later, love and nail polish to you!

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!  From the title of this post, you might think I'm giving you some last words of advice before you go out on this weekend.  No, that's not it at all.  The first half is my epic failure of a manicure, and the second is my NOTD.

I'll start with the epic failure.  I got the white Crackle nail polish, and decided to use it over a classic red.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the result looks like severely bloodshot eyes.  I won't make these pictures clickable lest you burn your retinas out.  The lesson here: never use the white crackle over red.

I repaired the damage this afternoon, replacing it with Revlon's Talk Dirty.  Much better!

Hello again, Dear Reader!

I told you I had more in store for you!  That "more" is Precision's Sprinkles Collection, a fun collection of glitters.  In the pictures, I used three coats and most are not totally opaque, but surprisingly, they're opaque enough for me.  These glitters are unique from others I have in that they're fine glitter (making for easier removal) in a jelly base rather than clear or matching opaque polish, and the delicacy of the fine glitter and jelly texture somehow make the VNL I have with some of them okay with me.  The pictures show the three coats over Precision base coat (because it's the fastest drying for swatching), with the bottle pictures being in direct sunlight and the hand-only being in less direct light.  I absolutely love these - I love all things sparkly, and these are very sparkly!  Here they are, in alphabetical order.

First is 18 Carat Cake (yes, I know it should be Karat - talk to the manufacturer about that, not me!), which is a sparkly 18 Karat gold.

Next up we have After Dinner Mints, a stunning pale blue-green glitter.

Now we're to my second favorite, Hazel & Gretel, which is a pumpkin colored jelly with silver and pumpkin glitter.  I don't know what they were thinking when they made this polish, but I'm glad they were thinking it!

That brings us to my favorite of the bunch, Red Velvet Cupcake, a deep pink jelly with pink and silver glitter.  Again, how they thought this up, I will never know, but Precision has my gratitude for this one!

That brings us to the last in the collection, Taupe It Off with Sprinkles, which is a taupe jelly with taupe and silver glitter.

Pretty cool, aren't they?  And you know what?  I have more Precisions on the way - I am in love with the application, dry time, and shine of these polishes.  These are also available from sparkling*nails (that's a link to her listings of them), who's my favorite seller on ebay.  She combines shipping, and orders over $100 to the US and Canada (so very easy to do in her store...) ship for free.  I'll give the ol' disclaimer: I don't benefit at all if you buy from her, I just get to be happy that you, Dear Reader, are getting the good stuff first.

This time, I think that's all I've got for today.  Love and nail polish to you, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I received some of the new Lippmann Collection polishes, and broke into Maneater last night.  It's a rich deep brown, almost black in three coats, with an amazing shine.  I used my Lippmann Addicted to Speed over it, despite my vow to save that tiny mini for travel, simply because it so good I could not resist.  Check out the shine in the pictures, which were taken under a halogen light that's made to emulate natural light...

In this picture, you can see that in the bottle, Maneater is a lighter brown than three dry coats on the nail.

So that was Maneater, with which I'm quite pleased.  However, it's a little plain for my taste as of late, and yesterday I also received some new Konad plates I'd ordered... You see where I'm going with this, don't you, Dear Reader?  I chose my favorite new tip pattern, which is from plate m62, and used the gold Konad polish to make this mani a little more interesting, still keeping it somewhat understated and very Fall.

And despite my Number Two Fan's objections, I'm posting a close up picture of one nail to show the detail of the Konad pattern, although I made it a bit smaller.  Keeping or losing this picture with future Konad posts will be a poll for us to do, so I can find out if this is a useful picture to readers other than my Number Two Fan.

The application of Maneater was the same as the other Lippmann Collection polishes I've tried - as smooth as can be, but requiring a third coat.  The amazing shine it has made it well worth the extra  effort, and with Lippmann's Addicted to Speed, there was no additional wait time for drying due to the third coat, so overall it's a huge hit with me.

I have a few more Lippmann Collection polishes to show you, Dear Reader, but they can wait for another day.  Until then, love and nail polish to you!

Oops!  One more thing...  If you haven't yet entered to win the Color Club Glitter Vixen Collection (pictured here), please do!  The giveaway is open to all readers world wide, and your email address will only be used to notify you if you're the lucky winner.  Your name as you enter it will be displayed, so you don't have to enter your full name.  I'm rooting for our international friends on this one, as it should only cost me about $5 more to send them out internationally with no duties due upon receipt, and polish is so expensive outside of the US...  Here's hoping, but I'll be happy for whoever our winner is!

That's really all this time, Dear Reader.  Again, I wish you love and nail polish!

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Nubar just contacted me with good news!  They're offering you 20% off orders of $50 or more at www.bynubar.com just in time for the release of the Cleopatra and Corals Collections, which are now up!

The code is nlphle2050 , and it's good through March 31.  Use it in good health, and until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

I have my last round of Nubar nail polish swatches for you - not the last time you'll see me in Nubar, but the last ones I got done to help you plot an order to use the 20% off $50+ coupon code.

Here we go!

This, Dear Reader, is the only yellow shimmer I've found to be opaque on its own in two coats, Yellow Mellow.  

 

 

Next up is a natural shade, but it ain't no Essie!  This is J'Taime. 

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been so busy showing you collections lately, today I thought I'd catch you up on some of the manicures I did after swatching those collection.

Since I'm still early in the process of unpacking after my move last weekend  I've been keeping it simple some days, but the fun thing is that in upacking my nail polish I'm finding some old true loves I hadn't run into in a while.  That's what all of the manis I have to show you today are - nothing new, just newfound oldies but goodies.

First is China Glaze's Seduce Me, a rich berry creme.

Next is one from a brand that does not receive nearly enough love, Carloyn New York.  My experience with CNY has been extremely positive, and I love Carolyn's colors.  This is one of my all time favorites, Greenwich Ave.

I also had to go do something this week for which I wanted to feel very confident, and you know what that means - its time to break out Dior's Poppy!  The only thing that could make my Poppy a little more eye catching was a simple tip pattern from Konad plate M62.  It worked - I felt like one indesctructible chick wearing this one!

Last is today's Nails of the Day, SpaRitual's Can You Dig It?.  It's a rich golden brown with a strong shimmer, but I was going into a bit of Konad withdrawal, so I did a delicate pattern from plate M4 just on my tips.  The temptation was to Konad the heck out of the whole thing, but I resisted - this polish is too good on its own to allow for much more than a subtle accent without detracting from it.

So those are some of the NOTD's you've missed this week, Dear Reader.  I have some swatching to do, and hope to get that done for you today, so you may hear from me again before the sun goes down.  Until then, love and nail polish to you!

Good evening, Dear Reader!

First, I need to announce the winner of the Moonpool - it was haloinreverse.

Next, I'll show you my NOTD, one of China Glaze's new Romantiques Collection.  Rather than show you all 12 at once, I thought I'd show them to you one at a time.  This is Cherish.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!y

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Today I got my hands on a set of the Color Club Femme Fatale collection for Spring 2009, and I have swtaches for you tonight.  All are two coats over a base, with the exception of Where's the Soiree, a black creme, which is opaque in one coat (an will be my new black for layering).

First is Oooooo La La, a white shimmer.

 

Next is Worth the Risque, a simply spectacular silver holo.

Hello again, Dear Reader!

My perfectionism got the best of me in the wee hours of the morning today, and I couldn't stand my imperfectly centered stamping on my gold mani any longer and decided to change it.

As I was considering what to change it to, I saw a green Stargazer mani that really caught my eye (the only people up and posting on my message boards at 5 a.m. are overseas).  That made me think of one of my most fabulous untrieds, Nfu-Oh #123.  I promptly went about the business of changing to it.  This is three coats of Nfu-Oh #123 over a base topped with Seche Vite.

 

 

I wanted to find a way to make this mani consistent with my recent Valentine's Day theme (I'm going to try to keep that theme up all the way 'til the 14th), and so I went through the Konad and Fauxnad plates as I waited for the Nfu-Oh to dry enough to stamp.  I found just the right one on Fauxnad plate C01, but I swear I have at least one other C01 that's different.  In any case, I selected Konad White for the stamping.  I thinned it significantly (18 drops of Poshe thinner to a half full bottle) until it was the consistency of a thick regular polish.  Then I stamped away!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm up and about early with a fresh mani today because of the time change.  Whenever we change the clocks, my sleep schedule gets a little out of whack for a few days.  The good news about that is that it gave me time this morning to relax, watch the news, and do my nails.  The bad news is that it also gave me time to load up on a whole bunch of coffee for the first time in a long time, so this might be the worst application you've ever seen from me!  It's still a pretty color worth showing that you haven't seen in a while, and I wanted to tell you about my conversion, so I'm posting anyhow.

After wearing greens this week, Bloom Bianca for several days then Orgasm Easy But Not Cheap yesterday, I decided I was due for a nice red manicure.  I wanted the most deep, shimmery, anti-green red I could dig up, and that was Nubar's Ruby Velvet.  It was opaque and even in two coats, but I tested on my left thumb and found that a third coat added a real richness to the depth of color, so I went with three coats.  Here she is.

 

That's the Ruby Velvet.  Now on to I'm A Convert: that's about the top coat.  I mentioned yesterday that I tried Nubar's Diamont Seal & Shine for the first time, was impressed, but not convinced.  Today I'm convinced.

The thing is, the Diamont bottle is not labeled quick dry, and I don't have the patience for anything but quick dry top coats, so I was reluctant to try it.  Yesterday when I tried it, I found it really is a quick dry that worked quite well, but honestly it wasn't a great test for it - coats two and three of yesterday's Orgasm color were very thick relative to what's normal for me in an attempt to make the polish opaque.  Today, I did three of my normal thin coats.  Usually, when I post right after applying a color, my nails are still drying while I type the post.  Today, my nails were literally dry by the time I was uploading pictures from my camera to the computer.  I checked them by trying to mess up my left thumb.  I won't tell you how I know they're dry enough to do that safely, but I have a way!  I don't recall that they have ever been that dry that fast before.  

I found the Diamont went on like a cross between Seche Vite and Lippmann Collection Addicted to Speed - a heavy drop spread thickly does the trick, and although the window of time to work with it is shorter than Seche Vite, it's much more reasonable than the Lippmann.  With SV, there's no risk of it freezing up, with the Lippmann, if you don't work at warp speed it freezes up mid brush stroke, and Diamont allowed time to apply to the surface of the nail and wrap the tip before showing any potential to start freezing.  The brush did not pick up color while I allowed zero time between the third coat of color and applying the top coat, even though I "wrap the tips" (run the brush along the free edge after applying to the surface of the nail), and I had no shrinkage (slight pulling back of the color from the tip of the nail that looks like tipwear, most typical of Seche Vite for me) when I used it yesterday.   Previously, the top coat that has dried my manis the absolute quickest without shrinkage was Lippmann Collection's Addicted to Speed, which I saved for special occasions because of the cost, $20 for a full size bottle.

Until now, my top choice overall for the combination of quality, performance, and cost has been the refill bottles of SpaRitual Tout de Suite, but my beloved Tout de Suite just got bumped to the number two slot.  It requires between eight and ten minutes to dry three thin coats and a base, still entirely repectable, but the two to three minutes Nubar Diamont took just blew me away.  I know for many, six to seven minutes wait time is no big deal, but I mentioned patience above: I have none.  Particularly between the time I apply top coat and I wait to Konad, the waiting just kills me, so reducing that time to 1/3 of what it otherwise would be matters to me.  Ten minutes is annoying, three, I can handle.  When I'm on a mission, I just want to get on with it!

So that's the story of Ruby Velvet with lots of coffee and my top coat conversion, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

This afternoon I'm all about SpaRitual (with a little Konad thrown in for good measure, of course...).  I tried a  few new products today, and like 'em so far.  One that will require time to tell is SpaRitual's Lacquer Lock Colorstay Basecoat - I was really pleased with how it went on and grabbed the polish, so that was good, and it says it can keep polish on for up to two weeks, but since we all know that I can't the real test for any basecoat with me is staining.  If it can prevent staining, it's a basecoat for me!

I wanted to give the Colorstay a run for its money, which meant I should use it with either a blue or a true red (my biggest problem colors for stains).  Since I just used Surreal, the navy blue, just the other day, I decided to try it with Impression, the red that I loved from the Inspired Collection.  I swatched that for you a few weeks ago, but haven't actually worn it yet.  This is the red that is second only to my precious Dior Poppy, and it's half the price.  It's opaque in three thin coats, which most reds are not - I almost always have issues with VNL with reds, but not Impression, which is one of the reasons I love it.  Another is the color itself - it's a really true red, and SpaRitual is my favorite overall brand of polish, especially for its smooth application.

Once I'd applied that, I tried another new-to-me product: SpaRitual's Tout de Suite Quick Dry Top Coat.  The only problem with it is that I love it very, very, much and it's pricier than Poshe or Seche Vite (uless it's also sold in a giant bottle like those two are...).  Why do I love it, you ask?  It dried my nails in about half the time that Poshe does, otherwise the quickest for me, and it shines like Seche Vite does.  I was stamping away on three coats of Impression five minutes after applying the top coat.  The down side is that it stinks to high heaven for about one minute, but it's worth that to me for it to work so quickly and have a great shine.  I'm going to try to save it for when I'm in a big hurry, but waiting for anything is a very weak area for me, so it's more likely that I'll give in and use it up.

Stamping away, I said!  That brings us to the Konad...  I tried to do white French tips over the red, but either I've lost my Konad skills, my white Konad polish is too thick, or the pattern is just jacked, but I couldn't get a decent impression of it.  Granted, I only tried once...  Did I mention patience isn't my strong suit?  I moved on to another cool tip pattern from plate m56, and decided that I'd use a color I hadn't used much, which is the blue.  I topped it with one coat of SV (since I know that won't smear the Konad polish), and after taking pictures, added SpaRitual's Andale Dry & Shine Drops to speed up my dry time, as I have some work to do in a bit.  Here's what I ended up with (pre-drops)...

Isn't she pretty?  Sort of All-American next to lily white skin...  It's not a perfect Konad job - I discovered that placement is challenging with the tip patterns, but I love them and am willing to have a few not-the-bests until I get them down perfectly.

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

I'm hiding out in the spare bedroom, ignoring the moving going on all around me.  I finished the work I had to do early, which left me time to take advantage of a perfectly clear sky and swatch Milani's Art of Color Collection.  That's right - another day, another collection!  These are the ones I found at CVS on Tuesday when I scored the Sally Hansen Runways.

Here they are, each two coats, in the order of the rainbow...

This is one spectacular red...

Check out the amazing sparkle this one has in the sun!

This is really a three coater as I have a bit of VNL with two, but what a great yellow!

Another three coater, maybe even four, but a green unlike any of my others.

Blue!  What a bright, vibrant blue!

And a fabulous purple to end the rainbow...

There you have it, Dear Reader.  Be on the lookout for the display at your CVS!  Love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a special pretty for you that travelled all the way from the UK to me.  My friend Lina-Elvira from Pretty Perfect Beauty  recently wore Bloom's Bianca, and after I heartily admired it, offered to send me one.  Thank you, Lina-Elvira!  It turns out that it's even prettier in person than in person than it is in pictures, but I did my best for you.  Here it is, two coats.

 

 

I love it!  You may have noticed my pinky and index nails are shorter - there was an "incident," and I have not had time to even them out yet.  I will.

On to your daily reminder about Nubar!  Regulars, just skip to your goodbye...

I'm going to keep reminding you of this for the next month, Dear Reader, just so no one misses out.  Don't forget that Nubar loves you, too!  Until March 31st, they have a coupon code that's good for 20% off orders of $50 or more on www.bynubar.com, and they have free shipping over $75 (after the coupon).  The code is nlphle2050, and it's here just in time for the release of their Coral and Cleopatra Collections, which just recently became available.  Have a good haul and enjoy a good break on the price! 

Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've done some early morning swatching for you, and have pictures of Color Club's Catwalk Queen Collection, the second of their two Spring 2009 collections.

Before I get to the pictures, I'd like to tell you a few things about both collections in general.  First, all took no more than two coats to be opaque and even on me, which is a rarity - I do thin coats and most polishes are three-coaters for me.  Second, the application of these was flawless - the texture is just right, and the brush is good, which makes for an easy well-applied mani.  Finally, I was determined to look at these collections with a very critical eye, and to be honest, the only criticism I have is that there aren't more holos.  Given the quality of the three Color Club had given us in these two collections, I wish there were more - maybe they were just afraid of showing off!

That said, I'll get to the pictures.  Each of these is two coats over a base under artificial light.

First up is Front Row Diva, a pale grey/taupe color.  What's new and interesting about this one is that's it's paler than similar colors, and has the little twist of being a shimmer.

 

 

Next is Runway Muse, a very sparkly sheer, which I'll probably be using to add a little sparkle to other manis.

Good evening, Dear Reader.

As I'd hoped, the USPS came through for me, and I had the best mail day ever.  AuntEmmy sent me China Glaze's Wet Velvet, and Hillary from The Crystal Files sent China Glaze's Dorothy Who?.  I never imagined I'd have the happy problem of tossing a coin to choose which of these to use first, but that's just what I did, and Dorothy Who? won the toss.

This is three coats of its chemically goodness over a base coat, topped with Seche Vite.

 

I'm going to go enjoy Dorothy Who? and the rest of my evening, and I hope hope you enjoy the rest of yours.  Until tomorrow, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Good evening, Dear Reader!

I have more swatches for you, this time from a little swatching frenzy I had earlier in the week.  They're the polishes from Revlon's Enchanted display - I'm sure you've seen it in drug stores by now (even my crappy Walgreen's has it in!).  I got them on my trip downstate where the prices and taxes are lower at a store where they were on sale, making them irresistible to me!

They're all two coats over a base under artificial light.  They applied well and all were opaque and even in two coats, so I have no complaints.  I'm quite pleased with all of them, and am torn between two very different ones as to which is my favorite.  I'll present them in order of preference as of this minute, as the order of the third and fourth switch back and forth each time I look at them.

First up is Opulent Pink, a really great pale pink with an understated shimmer, but not one I'll wear too much on my hands until Spring and summer.

Next is Crushed Crimson, a deep brownish red with a subtle shimmer.

This is where is gets difficult to pick.  As of this second, Bewitching Bordeaux, a vampy creme, is my second favorite.

Finally, the one that had me stalking this display in the first place: Steel-her Heart, a fantastic gunmetal grey shimmer.  I think it's my favorite because I'm just a sucker for greys...

There you have it, Dear Reader - the polishes from Revlon's Enchanted display.  If you can find them, snatch them up while you can!

Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Today's mani is one inspired to be cheerful and chipper.  If you found the part of the post where I talked about my mom yesterday depressing, I suggest you skip everything after this paragraph and go to the pictures, because I'm going to let you into my life a little more today, Dear Reader.  When you look at the pictures, please notice the new watermark - the domain "thenailphile.com" was the funnest birthday gift I received yesterday, and it was from a reader.  The old one will still work, but the new one is short and sweet and much cooler.  Many thanks again to the giver of this wonderful gift!

Back to the mani - I had a hankering for a real dark blue after the blackish disappointment that was Devil in a Blue Dress, and the one with the most appropriate name for today was SpaRitual's Surreal.  That's because today is the last day my husband's going to be living here - he's moving out tomorrow, after asking me for a divorce a few weeks ago.  It's a bit surreal.  I'm determined to be positive and make this a launching pad for a new and exciting chapter in my life, so it seemed appropriate to stamp Surreal with pink butterflies.  I couldn't have the butterflies just floating around with nowhere to land, so I gave them a green vine to land on (both stamps being from plate m6).  I don't think that's depressing - I think it's cheerful and hopeful, but I know I thought the same yesterday about The Diversionary Mani and some found it depressing...

Here she is!

It's a good mani for the day - upbeat, hopeful, and pretty.  It will give me something to look at to remind me that today's not the end of anything, it's the beginning of a whole lot of new things I can't even imagine yet.  I love nail polish - what else could give me ten little reminders of happy thoughts?

On to some business:  if you haven't yet entered to win the Color Club Glitter Vixen Collection  (all seven, pictured here), please do, as I'm looking forward to sending it out to the winner.  I'm rooting for the Europeans on this, since they can't get them for $2 a pop like we in the US can, but I'll be happy for whoever wins!  Also, if you haven't yet voted on picture format and you have an opinion, please place your vote in the upper right corner of the page.

That's all for now, Dear Reader.  Love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I hope you're not growing weary of my tales of my fantastic friends, because I have one more for you today.  I went and checked the mail yesterday, and I had another gift from my dear friend Love8Brain, who I've mentioned to you before.  This is one of the coolest packages ever!  I say that a lot, but then the next one comes in and tops the last...

Love8Brain is a master dusty hunter - she finds amazing things.  Recently, she found what she was told were Color Club polishes for an upcoming collection.  This hasn't been confirmed, although I have an email out to Color Club asking them about these.  So we don't know precisely what she found (as they're unlabeled, unmarked bottles), we just knowthat  they're spectacular glitter polishes, and when I opened the box she sent yesterday, it was full of one of each of the colors she'd come across.  Here's the picture I took to thank her on our message board, which gives you a look at the glittery goodness that was inside.

 

Isn't she unbelievable???  I couldn't begin to pick which I'd use first, so I just put the bottles on my dresser, and as I passed it this morning in the dark, picked up a bottle to use today.  The color I got was the silver holographic glitter.  The holo bits are very smooth, and the silver is not so metallic that it overtakes the holo bits.  The pictures don't do this polish justice - on the nail, it looks like it does in the bottle, and the holo bits throw off multicolored light.  This is three coats of the mystery polish.

 

 

It's just perfect, and I'm so blessed to have a friend like Love8Brain!

On the topic of gifts, Dear Reader, I have one for you: a brand spankin' new bottle of OPI's Black Tie Optional.  When you enter below, your name will show on the list as you enter it (so no need to enter your full name), and your email address will only be used to notify you that you've won.  The random drawing is open to all readers until next Friday, so please put your name in the hat if you have not already!

 

That's all for today, Dear Reader.  Until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I took some pictures over the weekend that I haven't shown to you yet, and that's what I have for you today.

I tried out Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri in Lightening, and liked it quite a bit.  It took two coats to be opaque and even, but the result was nice. 

 

When I was done, I thought it needed something a little more fun, so I used Konad plate S6 with Insta-Dri in Blazing blue to add a little more to it.  The Blazing Blue worked alright, but not well enough to add it to the list of polishes that work with Konad, in my opinion.

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have more Nubar duochrome swatches, this time two of my favorites.  They're opaque and very unique, and must-haves for me.

Indigo Illusion is a true indigo blue with a purple flash.

 

Purple Beach is purple with a multi-colored flash.