To China Glaze: A Special Message from Mazoo (and the rest of us!)

Hello China Glaze,

I hope you are well. I however, am not. I have a fever. And the only cure is more green nail polish.

You may remember the Bahama Blues Collection from Winter 2008. This is probably because you made it. I remember it too, because I bought the whole thing. You know what else I would buy? A green version. Serious.

I have taken the promotional picture for the Bahama Blues Collection and used my "mad photoshop skillz" to make it look a tad more "foresty". Yes, I know that isn't a word. I even posted the picture on the MakeUpAlley Nail Board to conduct a little market research. The reaction from all who posted seemed to indicate that ladies would "stabba bish" or "cut a ho" to get their hands on a set. If you aren't familiar with such colloquialisms, that means that these ladies would really, really like some more greens.

I also used the aforementioned photoshop skillz to make a purple version, and a yellow. These versions were also highly regarded by nail board ladies, but honestly, those bishes can wait. I want some greens.

I have come to the completely unbiased conclusion that green shades equals money in the bank. The frenzy over your own Emerald Sparkle? That was no accident. The crazy prices girls are paying on eBay for OPI Rainforest, Jasper Jade & Golf Course Green? That's because we LOVE the greens. Supply is not meeting demand. Suzi thinks that we all want more red. She is WRONG. Don't be like Suzi China Glaze, don't go there girlfriend.

In closing, I would just like to beg unashamedly for some green goodness.

pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.

Yours Sincerely,

Mazoo.


(Note from Scrangie: Thank you so very much for letting me post this, Mazoo! To everyone, please spread the word!! WE WANT GREENS!!!)

Reader Request: OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple Comparison

In all my time swatching and doing comparisons, I've almost never found a pair of polishes to be an exact match.... Until now! Extra-special-huge thanks to reader Gladys for requesting these polishes for comparison!

Index and ring finger: OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple
Middle and pinkie finger: Orly Midnight Star

If there's a difference between these two polishes, I sure as hell can't see one. In my opinion, this is an exact match. If I didn't write it down, I would have had a hard time remembering which finger was wearing which polish!

Now, despite the color match, these polishes do have a few formula differences. OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is quite sheer and needs three coats. Orly Midnight Star is fairly opaque and is perfect in two coats. OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is old formula OPI, which contains the lovely "Big Three" and is slightly thinner than your average polish. Orly Midnight Star is Big Three-Free, which means it is a little thick and goopy and takes quite a while to dry. Application issues with both polishes were minimal- just keep in mind what type of formula you are trying to apply and you will have no problems.

Finding an exact match of OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is truly awesome. Originally released in 1996 as part of the OPI Rocky Mountain collection, OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is extremely hard to find, and to the best of my knowledge was only released with that collection and never again produced. OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple is über-discontinued and quite ancient, you would have an extremely hard time trying to track down this "antique" polish. Orly Midnight Star just came out a few months ago and is readily available at numerous retailers and etailers - I've even seen the whole Orly Gems collection display at my local grocery stores and CVS Pharmacies!

So, to sum it all up: OPI Pike's Peek-A-Boo Purple = Orly Midnight Star.

Awesome.

Reader Request: Blues / Essie Mesmerize Comparison

Index: Essie Mesmerize
Middle: Nocti Flying Naked
Ring: OPI Dating A Royal
Pinkie: Misa Pour Me Something Tall And Strong

As you can tell from the picture, Essie Mesmerize is most similar to OPI Dating A Royal. The main differences are that Essie Mesmerize is lighter, a little less vibrant and much more opaque. OPI Dating a Royal needs at least two coats and looks best at three, while Essie Mesmerize is nearly perfect in one coat.

Nocti Flying Naked and Misa Pour Me Something Tall And Strong look more similar to Essie Mesmerize in the bottle than they do on the nail.

Essie Mesmerize is from the Spring 2009 collection, OPI Dating A Royal was released with the Mod About Brights collection in 2008, and Misa Pour Me Something Tall And Strong came out with the Misa Look On The Bright Side neon collection in 2008. I don't know when the Nocti polish was released, but all of these colors should be readily available and easy to find.

Reader Request: Yellow Comparison

I have a serious 'thing' for yellow nail polish. It seems to be a pretty rare color- most lines have only one or two shades of yellow, and sometimes none at all. I love all of them. As I've said before, yellow polish rocks. Seriously.

Anyway, an awesome reader sent in a request for a comparison between two of my most favorite shades of yellow: OPI Need Sunglasses? and OPI The "It" Color.

As you can see, my cuticles are in pain- sub-zero temperatures have taken their toll on my poor nails and cuticles... Please pretend that you can't see them :)


Index and middle: OPI The "It" Color
Ring and pinkie: OPI Need Sunglasses

And here's a shot indoors, the colors seem even brighter in dim indoor light:




There are two main differences between these polishes. OPI The "It" Color is much more opaque, only needing two coats to be completely so. OPI Need Sunglasses? requires three or more coats for total opacity- these pictures are three coats.

The second difference that I notice is that OPI The "It" Color is more of a yellow mustard shade, a touch darker than what I would consider to be "bright" yellow, and it almost has a hint of orange to it. It has a retro 60's-70's avocado-colored-appliances sort of vibe to it.

OPI Need Sunglasses? is about two steps down from neon- bright, but not retina-burning yellow highlighter bright. It's a cleaner looking yellow, and while it is bright and cheerful, seems to have a more mellow look to it compared to some of the other yellows I have.

Application-wise, they're both three-free (though I could have sworn I had a nice 'old' formula bottle of Need Sunglasses? somewhere...) but OPI The "It" Color applies a bit more smoothly than OPI Need Sunglasses?.

Both are amazing, I wouldn't give up either one. I feel that they're different enough to own both.

Finally, a review. Essie Spring 2009 Collection

Is it just me, or have the last few Essie collections not had any names?

Okay, maybe Essie seasonal collections never had names to begin with, but I clearly recall some Essie collections having names. Like, "The Cruise Collection", "Frozen Assets" or "Madison Avenue."

Hmmm... Puzzling!

Anyway, the sun was out yesterday so I snapped a few non-blurry pictures of this collection.



Eternal Optimist. It's described as "spiced tea rose." I think I would describe it as, "barf."
It's like a weird band-aid color with a pinkish fleshy look to it. Not flattering on me at all. I'm sure this was designed for someone with a different skintone than me, but I thought that their seasonal collections were supposed to be universally flattering and the core line was supposed to have the specialty skin-matchy colors. Either way, I'm not a fan of this color, and I consider this the dud of the collection.


Flawless. Essie describes it as "Cherry Blossom Pink". It's really not too far off. Most cherry blossoms I've seen are brighter than this or white, but this is nice and in-between. It's a delicate light pink cream. Reminds me more of bubblegum than cherry blossoms, but it's not a bad color at all. Very girly.



Lacquered up, "Red Hot Crimson". Red hot, indeed! This is a BRIGHT red. I have to say, I really like it. I don't normally like reds, I find them boring, but a red like this catches my attention. You could probably see it from a mile away.


One Of A Kind, "Poppy Red Kiss." To me, this leans more orange than red. Or is it an orange-red? It seems too orange for me to call it red, but that's how they describe it. Either way it's bright and punchy. Seems more summer than spring, but I'll never complain about bright colors!


Mesmerize, "Royal Va Va Blue" (There are so many dirty jokes about The Queen that are waiting to be made here, but I'm not gonna be the one to make them!) This color rocks. Plain and simple. It's blue, it's bright, it's awesome. Actually, this blue seems less bright to me than other blues- it seems more "muted", which I'm seeing a lot in the spring collections. I can see myself wearing this all the time. Total winner. Very unexpected from Essie!


Status Symbol, "Feisty Hot Pink". This is a nice hot pink, bright but not quite neon. It doesn't look totally pink, either- it seems almost a bit coral to me. Really pretty, but again, feels more summery than springy.


Overall, I like this collection. Someone take my temperature! Am I feeling okay?
Essie seems to be surprising me a lot lately. The Neons were particularly surprising and also astonishingly cool, and Sexy Divide from the winter collection is almost entering "backup bottle" territory. While I don't see Essie ever becoming "edgy", it is really nice of them to surprise us every now and then.

I will say this: None of the colors are really unique, and I'm sure you could find many duplicates even within Essie's line. That being said, most of these colors (I say most because of Eternal Optimist, ew) are really nice, bright, fresh and pretty. These types of colors appeal to a lot of people. Essie seems to make collections for color traditionalists and people who aren't willing to take risks with their nail color, so seeing Mezmerize in this collection was a big shocker and a welcome surprise! Maybe Essie had the hardcore nail junkies like us in mind when they created Mesmerize, and they decided to give use something for a change. I'm just as sick as the rest of you of seeing the same sheers, pinks and reds every year. But, these are nice. I like them.

The application was flawless. The formula on these is perfect. Smooth like butter. All of the colors are pretty opaque, and only Status Symbol seemed to need a third coat. Lacquered Up and One Of A Kind could even get away with only one coat. They all dried quickly and didn't bubble. No complaints here.


So... there you have it. My thoughts on Essie Spring 2009.

The Worst Manicure I've Ever Done

It started out innocently enough. I hadn't worn black polish in a while, and really wanted to do a shiny black mani.

I applied my favorite, Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers Black Pearl, which isn't pearl at all, but a perfect, smooth, shiny opaque black.

As I admired my shiny black nails, I just couldn't help but feel that they were a little too plain.

So, I got out my trusty Konad and decided on plate m65 with China Glaze Adore from the Romantique collection as my stamp color.

It was just what I needed! It looked awesome.

Fast forward to the next day.

I had been cleaning with my hands in water all day, and by the time I was done I had serious tipwear. I didn't have time to re-do my manicure completely, so I resorted to my old lazy manicure trick: Cover up the tipwear with a french tip!

And so, a horrible monstrosity of a manicure was born.

Small children and those with weak stomachs, look away now.


I present to you, The Abomination:


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! MY EYES!!!!!!!!!! OH, THE CHUNKINESS, THE HUMANITY!!!!!!!!

Lancome Pink Irreverence Collection : Questions

I just got an email about this pretty sweet looking new collection from Lancome: Pink Irreverence.

There is a nail polish called Piha Black (also the same name as the really cool black lipgloss!). It looks really cool, like a super sparkly black. My questions are, has anyone seen this? And if so, is it a twin to Dior Black Sequins?

I have sworn off buying sparkly black polish, but this looks really awesome. Hmm.

Don't forget about the free polish from Misa!

I just wanted to remind you that the Misa promotion is still valid for a while longer!

Free Misa Polish: A Gift To My Readers.

And here's an update on all of the questions regarding this promotion:

Update On Misa Promotion.

And just for fun, here are a few more Misa swatches :) I'm working on a ton more, and I'll post them as soon as I can.

Burnished Bronze

Blue Over A Boy


A Sunny Smile Makes Me Go Wild

Amethyst Anemone

A Sin Worth Committing

Disco Queen


Dance Fever

Confection Section


Chocolate Icing

Candy Girl

Moody Model

Sweet Pleasure

Sepia Stained Cotton


Ghetto Fabulous

Toxic Seduction

Quick Preview: Essie Spring 2009 Collection Swatches

Since there hasn't been any sunlight at all, I haven't been able to get decent swatches done. I really want to post these colors, so I did some quick, messy, indoor swatches.

Please excuse the blurriness and the dry cuticles. I'll do "real" pictures and a "real" review of these as soon as the weather permits me to do so :)

Here it is, Essie Spring 2009!


Eternal Optimist: Spiced Tea Rose


Flawless: Cherry Blossom Pink


Lacquered Up: Red Hot Crimson


Mesmerize: Royal Va-Va Blue (that sounds dirty)


One Of A Kind: Poppy Red Kiss


Status Symbol: Feisty Hot Pink.


So far I'm really digging Mesmerize (of course) and One Of A Kind. I'll do a proper review as soon as I get better shots of these.


What do you think? Like it? No?

China Glaze OMG Collection

You know, I meant to post this yesterday but after I got back from the doctor the rest of the day kinda got away from me... But I'm posting it now and that's all that matters, right? Right? *crickets chirp*

From the top!


2NITE. Bright medium blue holo.



BFF. Medium pink holo.



DV8. Fabulous bright teal blue holo.


FYI. Neutral tan/beige holo.



GR8. Gold holo.


IDK. Light dusty purple holo.


L8R G8R. Bright spring green holo.


LOL. Purple holo.


OMG. Stunning silver holo.


QT. Hot plum-pink holo.


TMI. Warm coral/salmon holo.


TTYL. Warm peach holo.


Okay... I think that's all of them!

As you can see, the holographic effect in these is quite different from the holo in the Kaleidoscope collection. These are very smooth and straight, the particles appear more organized and linear. The holographic effect in these is barely visible under low light and indoor lighting, and they actually appear pretty flat and uninteresting unless you're in bright light or outdoors. The Kaleidoscopes, however, still appear sparkly in low light.

The formula on these is a little more tricky. These are best applied without a basecoat, as weird streaking and bald spots occur when applied over basecoat. These do not stain, so don't worry too much about not using a basecoat. The formula is also a little drippy and tricky to apply, but these colors are well worth the extra effort.

They only need two coats for total opacity and they dry lightning fast. They also look best without a topcoat. For some reason topcoat seems to dull the holographic effect.

Another downside is the wear time on these. Even with basecoat and topcoat, every single time I wear these they chip the same day... Sometimes even the same hour. But, touchups are a small price to pay for such an incredible polish.

And a little tip: These polishes work incredibly well with the Konad nail art stamp!
The first time I tried this with Konad (inspired by Misa Masa!) I was blown away- totally freakin' amazing. Look!


With flash. Can you see all that holo goodness? Oh yeah!



Why is it that the blurry pictures show the holo more?


Ths is what it looks like in very dim indoor lighting. You can still see the holo, but nowhere near as much as outdoors or under bright light.


So, Konad-lovers, go get out your OMGs and stamp amazing designs! (Sidenote: I am working on a Konad tutorial. In the meantime, you should check out the Konad Queen, Siobhan.)

I don't think this collection has been discontinued yet, so no rush to buy them before they disappear. However, I wouldn't wait too long, because the best stuff always seems to get discontinued first.

China Glaze OMG. Exactly. I couldn't think of a better name myself.