NAIL NEWS: MERMAID TO ORDER

There’s nothing like a fresh coat of nail polish on my fingers to make me feel instantly…well, polished! The right coat of varnish conveys my mood and pulls any ensemble together, even if it’s really casual. I like to try bolder, more vibrant colors in the summer (shocking, huh?) because the sun and sand tend to yellow paler hues into sickly-looking shades.

Speaking of the sun and sand, I’ve been trying to get to the beach as much as possible during my free time because I love, love, love the ocean.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to take too many day trips this summer because my weekends have been unusually busy. Undeterred, I decided to bring the beach vibe to me! Sephora by OPI’s “Mermaid to Order”  ($9.50 at Sephora) is the closest thing I can think of to having the beach in a bottle. The stunning metallic teal is aptly named and it’s so different from what I normally wear that I get happy every time I look at my fingers.

As such a bold and unique color, “Mermaid to Order” may not be one of my go-to nail polishes for a manicure, but I’ll definitely grab it here and there for a pedicure. The color lasts for about a week on my fingers (with a top coat) and two weeks on my toes with only minor tip wear, so I'm pretty pleased. My only real gripes with this shade are that it needs two coats for full opacity and I can see visible brush strokes when dry. Other than that, I adore this playful hue!

Natural light. With flash.

Natural light. No flash.

Sorry for the somewhat sloppy application. I distractedly painted my nails while watching “Firefly” on Netflix. It's Ed’s new TV obsession, even though we haven't finished the second season of "Game of Thrones" yet. (I don't know why considering it is intensely riveting!)

NAIL NEWS: MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY NAIL POLISHES

A list of some of my favorite holiday nail polishes from all price points. Also, check out my post about dupes for Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday polish and my review of Dior Merveille.

Polishes featured (the ** denotes an absolute must-have):
-Sephora by O.P.I. What's Your Point-settia? **
-Sephora by O.P.I. Sample Sale
-Dior Merveille
-E.L.F. Red Velvet
-O.P.I. Manicurist of Seville
-Sephora by O.P.I. Run With It!
-Sephora by O.P.I. Bling on the Snowflakes
-E.L.F. Metal Madness **
-Sephora by O.P.I. Already Famous
-Sally Hansen Jumpin' Jade **
-Confetti Tazmanian Devil **
-E.L.F. Golden Goddess **

What I'm wearing:
-Eyes: UDPP, Mac Nightlight pigment, Mac Navy Blue and Silver from the Surf the Ocean Pigment Stack, Urban Decay Uzi 24/7 Liner, Urban Decay 24/7 Mildew, Sephora Advanced Lash Booster Black Mascara
-Cheeks: Tarte Glisten Amazonian Clay Blush
-Lips: Josie Maran Optimism
-Face: Tarte Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Balancing Foundation in Light, Mac Select Cover-up in NW 20, Garnier Anti-Dark Circle Roller, Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Translucent
-Sweater: Evelyn Grace Cashmere

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NAIL NEWS: BATTLE OF THE GLITTERY NAIL POLISH (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUPES)

I have been waiting most of my young-adult life for glitter nail polish to come back into mainstream popularity. Now that it has, I couldn’t be happier. Each time I run to the mall to do some holiday shopping, I stop at my favorite beauty stores to swatch the glorious sparkly varnishes and see if I “need” any new ones.

Most recently, Deborah Lippmann’s confetti-esque Happy Birthday caught my eye. The bold mixture of green, orange, red, silver and gold certainly looked like a party in a bottle. Unsure of how it stacked up to other polishes I own, I applied two coats to one finger and left. Once at home, I dug through my stash to find Sephora by O.P.I. Spark-tacular! top coat and Confetti Tazmanian Devil. I applied two coats of each over bare nails.

For any of you nail polish connoisseurs, can you tell which is which before we begin? (You can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

No flash

With flash

Left: Clear base color with silver microglitter throughout. Large multicolored hex particles and medium round glitter. (This one is my favorite!)

Middle: Clear base color with multicolored large and medium hex particles. Also has very tiny multicolored round glitter.

Right: Clear base color with multicolored large hex particles as well as smaller square and round glitter.

**Cue Jeopardy music.**

Give up?

In the photos above, the polishes from left to right are as follows: Confetti Tazmanian Devil, Sephora by O.P.I Spark-tacular! top coat and Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday.

Here are some more photos, but they've been flipped. They are now the opposite from above.

No flash: Happy Birthday, Spark-tacular!, Tazmanian Devil

With flash: Happy Birthday, Spark-tacular!, Tazmanian Devil

As you can see, these nail polishes are quite similar, but I wouldn’t call them exact dupes. Happy Birthday has a lot less going on in the background, whereas Tazmanian Devil has an obvious microglitter throughout. Spark-tacular! kind of looks like Happy Birthday and Tazmanian Devil had a baby, don’t you think? Another big difference in these polishes is the price. Tazmanian Devil is $1.99 at CVS, Spark-tacular! is $9.50 at Sephora and Happy Birthday is $18.00 at Nordstrom.

Overall verdict: These three glitter polishes are similar, but definitely different. However, the effect is close enough that if you have one, I don’t think you need to run out and purchase one of the others. If I had to choose one as my must-have, it would be Confetti Tazmanian Devil. Wallet-friendly and cute always works for me!

WET N WILD/E.L.F. HAUL AND REVIEW

For those of you have seen my YouTube channel, this post may be redundant; however, I want to try something new and see how it works. I've stumbled across some bloggers who link their YouTube pages in posts and I like the idea. Despite the fact that most of my hits so far are from my YouTube subscribers, I've decided to link my most recent video and list my makeup, nails, hair, etc. underneath.  If this experiment is an epic fail, I'll definitely stop (lol)!

Many of my recent videos have been about designer makeup, which can be very expensive. My anorexic wallet would agree, especially after my most recent shopping endeavor. I know that shelling out $28.50 on a single eyeshadow (I'm looking at you, Chanel) is a lot, even if you aren't on a budget. And if you are, that seems like an absurd expense. Fortunately, there are some quality products out there that won't break the bank. Today, I'm going to focus on Wet n Wild and E.L.F.

Products shown:
-Wet n Wild Sweet as Candy
-Wet n Wild Cool as a Cucumber
-Wet n Wild Silent Treatment
-Wet n Wild I'm Feeling Retro
-E.L.F. Holiday Nail Polish Set with Golden Goddess, Royal Purple, Mod Mauve, Red Velvet and Metal Madness

What I'm wearing:
-Eyes: Wet n Wild Sweet as Candy trio, Urban Decay Uzi 24/7 liner, Sephora Advanced Lash Booster mascara
-Cheeks: E.L.F. Tickled Pink blush
-Lips: E.L.F. Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Pink Lemonade
-Face: Garnier Anti-dark-circle roller, Mac Select Cover-Up concealer and Mac Blot Powder
-Nails: Chanel Particuliere
-Sweater: from Target

NAIL NEWS: DIOR VERNIS MERVEILLE REVIEW (LES ROUGES OR 2011 HOLIDAY COLLECTION)

Red nail polish in a holiday collection? How original! Ok, maybe not, but there’s just something I can’t resist about shimmering red fingertips when the air is crisp and ripe with holiday cheer. I’m a sucker for any shade of red this time of year, but I fell especially captive to the nail polishes released in Dior’s 2011 Les Rouges Or holiday collection: Apparat and Merveille.  The former, a lovely ruby red, reminded me too much of Sephora by OPI’s What’s Your Pointsetta. I couldn't think of any dupes for the latter, so it came home with me.

In the bottle, Merveille ($22 for 0.33 fl. oz.) is a fire engine red with shimmery gold veining. I find the color to be much more multifaceted in the bottle than when worn. On the nails, there is a subtle shimmer only when the light strikes it. When not near a good light source, Merveille seems more like a cream with a slight metallic sheen– still pretty cool looking, though. The color is cherry red on me, but it might lean more orange on individuals with warmer skin tones.

All too often, I encounter nail polishes with thin consistencies that streak and require multiple layers, but Merveille was different. The formula was fluid and applied easily on the nails. The polish was opaque in one coat (yaaaay), but I prefer it with two. In terms of wear, I got a solid week with only minor tip wear – not uncommon for Dior. The polish chipped on the end of the 7^th day after I had been scrubbing some stubbornly dirty pans. Had I worn rubber gloves, I imagine I would have gotten a few extra days out of my manicure.

Overall verdict: This is a beautiful, well-performing polish. It’s not the most unique shade, so you may want to save your money and get a dupe. However, in terms of quality, it’s worth the price.