Nubar Peacock Feathers & Desire

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'd backed off on the smileys a bit, then I got an email from their creator telling me he made this one for me!

How cool is that??? I love it!

I have a couple more nail polishes to show you this morning, the first of which a camera simply can't capture with less than ten zillion pictures. Even though I have a ton of Nubars, I didn't have their absolute classic, Peacock Feathers, until now. Here she is, three coats, in different light.

In artificial light, the many colors show up reasonably well, but the purple dominates.

Then I went outside, and in direct-but-cloudy light, I can see the purple, blue, and green.

In the shade, the crazy glow of all the colors (as well as the reflection of my camera) show up clearly.

That's enough to give you the general idea. As you cross a room wearing this nail polish, the color changes. It's amazing! I put it on after swatching the Jessicas yesterday, when I wanted something that really wowed me, and it did the trick.

Then I woke up this morning to the email from the smiley guy, Mike at www.mazeguy.net, and I decided to make my Nails of the Day a great red to match the smiley he'd made . I picked another from the most recent order that I really wanted to try out, Nubar Desire. This is one great red - it's really glowy.

Now I just have to go put on red lipstick, a lot of mascara, and stand out in the sun for an hour and I'll look just like the smiley!

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

Jessica Botanicals Collection & RBL 50% Off Sale!

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Tonight I have the Jessica Botanicals Collection for you, which I bought based on Scrangie's review of them, as well as the fact that Jessica's Fall Goddess Collection really wowed me. Scrangie's pictures are, as always, spot-on, and as I went through mine I was more impressed with the colors than I was swatching them. It might just be the fact that I was swatching these on the heels of wearing really glowy nail polish that made them just as have the "umph!" that I'd been anticipating all these weeks that I've waited to get them. I'll have to give them another try, because even going through my pictures I see some winners.

They applied well, and all required three coats to be opaque and even. I found that presenting them in alphabetical order starts and ends with some of teh stronger colors, so I'll go with that.

First up is Butterfly Kisses, which is a very sparkly light blue.

Next in line is Birds of Paradise, which is definitely a solid purple shimmer nail polish.

Here's where things started getting weaker. Color Me Calla Lily is the only creme in this collection, a somewhat violet pink. Huh.

We move on to Coral Reef Daisies, which, being a frosty coral pink nail polish, reminds me of the early 1980's...

This is the one about which I was most excited, as well as the most let down: Loving the Lilacs. I expected a sparkly lilac, but got a somewhat muted and not-so-sparkly one.

We end a little stronger with Rosy Romance, which is a girly pink shimmer nail polish.

That's Jessica Cosmetics' Botanicals Collection for you.

To end on a happier note, I got an email from Rescue Beauty Lounge. Here's the part you probably care about:

"Tomorrow 12-2PM Lunch time First Ever and Maybe the Last Rescue Beauty Lounge Nail Polish Sale 50% off BUT MUST have at least one body product in (What's fair is fair...) There will be no e-mail blast please post your blogs and share with your readers.

Coupon Code Mea Culpa"

RBL is in New York, so I'm assuming Eastern time for this. Have at it!

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

Nubar California Dreamin' Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday, I also got my most recent Nubar order, and I have some really cool things to show you! The first is the California Dreamin' Collection from 2005. I'd taken a look at this one and passed quite a few times in the last couple of years, but then trying a some colors from it changed my mind. My concern was that the colors are shimmers, and usually orange, yellow, and green shimmers take eight zillion coats to not be opaque, but I found that's completely not the case here. And I have pics for you to prove it!

You've seen a few of these before by themselves, but I think this is one of the most overlooked collections in the history of nail polish, so I included all six shades. Seeing them all together shows what a great collection this is, and how it's flown under the radar since it came out in 2005 is beyond me... They absolutely glow (and as always, the only editing done to the pictures is adding text).

The pictures are all of two coats, and Pasadena Purple and Mali Blue have a a top coat (I used Pasadena Purple after swatching last night, and Mali Blue for today). I can't order them by preference, so I'll just show them to you in alphabetical order.

First in line is my beloved pink to end all pinks, Hollywood Pink.

I was beginning to think I was getting burned out on blue nail polish, then I saw Mali Blue and it's my NOTD. There's another I have to show you from this order that's really unbelievable, too.

Mellow Yellow (it's Mellow Yellow on the label, and Yellow Mellow on the site) is one amazing two-coater yellow shimmer. As I swatched it this morning, I was thinking that it definitely trumps Chanel LA Sunrise for me.

Orange Crush was my runner-up for my NOTD today. This orange shimmer glows from within!

Ahhh, Pasadena Purple! I'll just tell you I'm halfway through my bottle of this nail polish already. It's the one that got me interested in this collection.

Here's a great one - it's like an OPI Bikini Envy that's actually opaque in two coats and glows. Reef Green is a stunner.

Why haven't I been wearing these for the last four years? I have no idea. I'll just start now!

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

BB Couture Green Goblin & Venom

Good evening, Dear Reader! We hit 3,000,000 on the nose today - thank you!

I have two more BB Couture nail polishes for you that just showed up on their site: Green Goblin and Venom.

I also have to correct myself on comething I told you this morning. Earlier, I told you that BB Couture didn't have phthalates, and I was wrong. On their site it specifies that they don't have dibutyl phthalate (DBP), so I assumed they were phthalate free. I checked the label to verify that after swatching these two for you, and found they do have both phthalic anhydride and phthalic acid.

Why do I care? Well, Wikipedia tells us that "high doses have been shown to change hormone levels and cause birth defects," that exposure to phthalates may be associated with "the obesity epidemic and endocrine disruption and metabolic interference," and they've also been linked to allergies. Geesh! I just want my nails to look nice.

Anyhow, I took one for the team and swatched these. If my nose falls off, I have only myself to blame...

They are pretty! This is two coats of Venom, a very frosty light green.

And here's three coats of Green Goblin, a dark green creme.

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

BB Couture Nail Polish

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I've been up and around early swatching for you ! I got the the BB Couture nail polishes that my friend L8B finally made me crack on, and I have a few of them here for you this morning. I have more colors to show you, but these are the sparkly ones and I was feeling sparkly this morning.

First up is Balboa Beach Bunny . It's an glittery purple nail polish that's opaque in two coats, and my only criticism is that the stringy bits of glitter stayed in the bottle rather than on my nails.

I forgot to take the first picture of this one...

Next up is Frosty Meadow, a green creme with lots of fine gold and green glitter . This one took three coats to be opaque.

Here's my NOTD, Midnight Malibu, a blurple creme nail polish with lots of fine green and gold glitter .

Moon over Manhattan is a blue creme base with very fine silver glitter . This was another three coater.

The last one for today is Sea of Cortez, which is a lighter and brighter blue base color with very fine but more pronounced gold and blue glitter , and it took two coats to be opaque.

On the bottles, it states that it's a "4-in-1 Formula," defined as a base coat, strengthener, color, and top coat. However, since my nails have stopped staining for the first time in 25 years and are now bulletproof , I still used Nubar Nu-Nails under my NOTD - I'm not taking any chances ! Also, since I don't have the patience for nail polish to dry , I also used Nubar Diamont over my NOTD. Since BB Couture makes a seperate base coat, strengthener, and top coat, and the site that sells them ( Overall Beauty) recommends using a b/c and t/c for a mani, I don't know if it's the best idea to use the polish alone . If you've done it with success, let me know - I'm just not willing to jeopardize my stronger and stain-free nails by being the test subject for it .

On the topic of Nu-Nails, I've had some questions about where to get it in the UK , and I got an answer to that this morning . You can find it at Beauty Shed, and it's well worth getting. My new nail shape is a result of it - normally, when my nails are this square, the corners break off right away, but they've been just fine . My typing's even worse than normal now, but my nails are finally a different shape !

That's what I have for you for now, Dear Reader. There are more BB Coutures, as well as the rest of my sparkling*nails haul, to come soon . How does the creepy Burger King apply to that sentence, you might ask yourself? He doesn't. I just had to work him in somewhere. Him, Mr. T , and Freddie Mercury .Obviously, I'm not over this smiley phase yet... Have that that I will be soon - it takes forever to get all these smileys!

Just a reminder, it looks like today or tomorrow will be the that the hit counter on the bottom right hits 3,000,000 . If you're the one who sees it, send me a screen shot and I'll send you a cool trinket to thank you for sticking with me for three million page views and just as many phases !

Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!