BB Couture Haul

Ooo. I went a little nutso. We know I am prone to do this. As much as I love OverallBeauty.com and as good as they are to me over there, I need to stay off that site. Maybe I need to stay off there BECAUSE they are so good to me and I love it...it's a vicious cycle. Regardless...I picked up both of the Eye Candy collections, plus a couple of the specials that were going on. It was a good time. The worst is, I have more coming. I love BB Couture....It may well be my favorite polish these days. I'm a fickle polish lover, but BBs are always fun, interesting and wear beautifully. So I was very very bad.

Here's the Eye Candy Men's Collection:

I'll give you the names in a sec because trying to view them through the labels is kinda tough.

OK, starting at the top left and going left to right we have: Heavenly Hunk, Playboy (LOVE), Silver Fox, Dirty Blonde, Rustic Romantic and Sexy Centerfold.

My personal favorite out of this lot is Playboy. It's gorgeous. It's shimmery teal and yum. As I sit here with nekkid nails, I'm thinking...Playboy....yeah....might have to go with that one. I was going to do an Illamasqua, just because I haven't in awhile, but...I don't know. I was also pondering Chanel Mimosa or Black Pearl, but...it might have to be Playboy.

The only one I'm not sure about for me is Rustic Romantic. That color would likely be problematic on my skintone. All I can do is try it...**bites lip thoughtfully**

Let's just do it. It's a caramel cream color and I like it better on me than I had anticipated. It's warm and more buttery than rust. Take a look:

It's kind of growing on me. I did a crap job on this because I had no intention to keep it...no base coat, no top coat. This was still wet when I snapped the swatch, but...I think I like it, actually. Sweet! Even better when the one color you're not sure about is one you turn out liking.


The ladies collection has some true stunners in it, as well. OOOO!

I didn't take a bottle back shot of this because you can see these really well. Gorgeous, right? I know.
Right to Left: Junk in the Trunk, Sweet Silicone, Busty Bombshell, Trim and Tassled, Feathered Vixen and Scorching Strawberry.
I actually accidentally re-ordered Scorching Strawberry because I couldn't find it, thought I'd thrown it out with the box by mistake, which was promptly burned, or hadn't received it or whatever. It was on my desk. Kim was nice enough at OverallBeauty.com to cancel it and give me a refund. She rocks. I'm tellin' ya.

Trim and Tassled, guys. Hello. Look at that bad boy. Oh yes.

What do you think? Will you pick any of these up? You will know that there will be full posts when I wear these! Some of them I can't wait to try.

Happy Talons!!

Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game, wicked indeed!!

I suffered a really bad nail break this week. I didn't feel it go, which is fortunate, and it wrecked my last manicure, which was wearing pretty well. It was a new OPI so I have no swatches of it. I don't remember the name of it, it was coral. It was from the Stems collection. That's really about all I can tell you. I had taken colors and then left them under my desk at work and wound up using one of BMWWU's colors. I told her I just wouldn't swatch it.

Here's the tear:

I know, right? How bad does that suck? I was really really lucky. I attempted a repair, which held for about an hour. Then I had to send an SOS to BMWWU to get her to fix it. She thinks my repair didn't hold because my glue was old. Very well may have been. So she fixed it and you can barely tell. I'm babying it as much as I can but I'm ambi and used to being able to use both hands and it's really hard for me. So far it's holding. The only problem being, she buffed the glue so smooth that when I tried to paint it to match my new manicure, the paint basically slid off. It was hilarious but not at 11:30pm with a 5:25am alarm the next morning. Ugh. It's been nekkid ever since. I'm going to try some Orly Nail Armor...it's not smooth basecoat, it's rough, it has fibers in it. Maybe that would stick. We'll see.

Here's how it looks now:

Isn't she amazing? If you hadn't seen the initial picture, which was right after I had discovered it, you would never know there was anything wrong. I will still need to be very careful of it. That's way up in the quick...My swatches will likely reflect much shorter nails and probably some darker colors for awhile, just because my nails will be shorter! We'll have to shorten them to protect this one. Ah well.

Anyways. I did a repair on this and then repainted all my nails. I chose Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game, which I have had for awhile. It's still widely available, though I think it's been out for awhile. It's a great polish.

It's fantastical, isn't it? It's sort of mesmerizing. You can see where I had done acrylic powder to try to seal that break still around my cuticles. OOPS! This was before it broke again. This is one of those colors you want to keep looking at. It's hypnotic and so beautiful. There is something kind of wicked about it You feel a little like you're being pulled into Maleficent's mirror!

Here is another shot:

I don't really know what you could do to make it more perfect. I love this. It's multi-chrome goodness at it's best. I don't have a swatch that shows it but at times it flashes green. It has silver, purple, green, fuschia...every color of the rainbow, as BMWWU put it. She said it is every color for every woman, and who doesn't want that. I bet on a different skin tone you would have a different polish.

It has worn really well. I've had it on now for 4 days and I cleaned the kitchen top to bottom today. Because of that break, which BMWWU thinks could be a result of all the dishes I'm doing and the hot water doing some tricks on my nail beds I've been wearing rubber gloves. Now...I hate wearing rubber gloves. I seriously do .I invariably manage to get water in them anyway and then they become the glove equivalent of wet jeans. UGH **shudders** I think after making this pineapple cheesecake thing for my Dad (OMG, fabulous) and then Irish Cream Brownies and then deciding that I won't just clean the top of the cupboards and everything displayed there but also the ceiling fan and all it's globes. and washing every cooking pot and utensil in the house because I'd used them all...the rubber gloves took their toll. It still doesn't look bad but it's definitely got some wear on it. I don't know of a lacquer that wouldn't, honestly. It's passable, but I'll change it tomorrow and start the week off right.

The Mechanics:

1 coat Seche Base Coat
1 coat Nailtiques 2
2 coats Seche Rebuild
2 coats Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game
1 coat Seche Top Coat.

The top coat kind of did a number on this. It appeared to wrinkle the polish under it on some nails. It was very odd. Then it smoothed out. It wasn't anything you could have felt under the thickness of the Seche but you could see it. It also caused a couple tips to pucker. I'm wondering if it's getting old. It's not starting to apply thickly, but I've seen Seche do this to polish before. We'll see. Once it starts to gum up I'll probably go back to Poshe just because I think it behaves a little better and it's easier for me to get.

Wicked Game...wicked, indeed! It's one of those shiny things that lures you in and captures you. I love it. Hope you love it, too!

Happy Talons!

Deborah Lippmann Get This Party Started!!

I managed to score this set on the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. It was exclusive at that time, but it probably will not stay that way. It's pretty awesome if you don't already have Happy Birthday, which I don't. Didn't...I do now. Obviously. K, I'm clearly hitting the dork level of tired.

Check it out!

The Lippmann collections come in these fun boxes, this one with music on it. They are, from left to right: Happy Birthday, Candy Shop and Forget you. The concept is the Happy Birthday glitter arrangement in different bases.

Happy Birthday is a freaking icon of the polish world, it's all different colors, shapes and sizes of glitter in a clear base. The glitter is mucho dense in this but it makes a fun top coat for most everything. I did not already have this as I don't often wear glitters. As a part of a set and for a discount I was willing to take the plunge.

Candy Shop is in a Candy Pink base. I haven't played with these but that looks pretty opaque to me...hmmm. I wonder how that will play out on the nail. It doesn't look like it buries the glitter.

Forget you, which I just love the concept of, is the same glitter but in a black jelly base. How just perfect is that? The whole thing lays out a story for you. Girl loses guy and paints her nails in Forget You, a black jelly that matches her mood and compliments her somewhat dangerous outlook but is littered with multi-colored sparkly goodness saying "I'm having fun without YOU, bud." Good for you, girl! It just screams I don't need you!! and who among us hasn't felt like making that statement at least once? If you can say you haven't then you're twelve. Or a nun.

It's kismet, lads. The Ramones I Wanna Be Sedated just came on!!! ROFLMAO!!!! I love the Ramones.

Here's another shot:

Aren't those great? See all the great glitter in there, the different sizes and shapes? Deborah Lippmann does fantastic glitters and the new additions here are no exceptions. However, in this closer pic, you can see that Candy Shop isn't displaying the glitter as aggressively as the other two...interesting. I want to see this on the nail but not right now because it's too late to go fixing my whole manicure. Maybe this weekend or when this mani gives out.

I think I gotta go with Forget You as the fave here....I'd love to see that over a grey or a white....Interesting!  Mmm, possibly the Fall Lippmann Stormy Weather? Maybe that would be too dark....Hmmmm. I feel a polish play session coming on!

Thoughts?

Happy Polishing!

Sorry for the pointe shoe battered toes

Ruby Pumps and I get regular pedis together. While I confess it is NOTHING compared to the amazingness of BMWWU's pedicure, which is work for us as customers because you are helping hold that foot up there, or at least I do, and she does the razor blade thing, which honestly scares the bejeezus out of me. We just go to the sweatshop. It's clean, it's cheap, there are massage chairs and we've never not been able to get in there. They do OK. I prefer BMWWU...but the salon I go to has but one chair in an alcove sort of thing and it's not conducive to work gossip. Plus...those massage chairs. Yes, please. I am not a fan of a regular massage with a live person. In fact, I hate it. But the chair? I dig it.

I had chosen Illamasqua Propaganda. It's a gorgeous dark navy that veers towards the dark purple but with no hint of amethyst. It's blackened blue. It's a really dark blue (with some red thrown in) creme. It's really gorgeous. In the words of another nail hound and buddy at work: Awwww sookie sookie, now! Yeah, we're that cheesy. We also say "AWW SNAP!" We crack each other up.

Now, I am not a huge fan of nail art. I think it's just a distraction. I like a nice clean playing field. I'd do an Illamasqua tip if I had the talent and I love the half moon. I liked ruffians on other people, though they never really hit this area big. I live in the land where the 90's strip mall French tip acrylic is still the standard. Nothing wrong with that...it's just dated. I saw an article...In Style? Oh man, I forget. I read a lot of stuff....the French could make a come back updated with a pale pink tip rather than white...I might do. I might. So anyways...clearly I got distracted again. I'm a little tired. I don't mind nail art on my toes. I actually think it's fun. The sweatshop does them for $5 extra and if you're in the mood, it can be really fun. I was in the mood and frankly, Propaganda was screaming for it....


Before I pop the swatch in here, I want to warn you. I danced en pointe for many many years. I taught. I danced on scholarship. We're talking about some beat up feet here. Any other dancers reading this are probably nodding their heads in understanding and agreement here. The callouses do not go away. The wrinkles in my toenails are finally not so obvious, but....I don't have pretty feet and I wouldn't have given up one single performance in trade, either. I danced. Get over it. I rarely wear sandals, that's my concession to societal aesthetics. On the up side? I can wear heels of any height and the muscles in your feet also do not fade so those heels do look good. Just not strappy stiletto sandals...no.

You were warned.

Isn't that great? Do you see what I mean about the hint of purple? I love this. I think the flowers are cute, too! She let me choose the pink jewels. I think it's fun for Summer to do some flowers. I would hate that on my hands...I don't know why.

Here is another pic that is clearer. I cropped out most of my paw but the color is really clear in this pic:

Pssht. Check the cuticle on the fourth toe. That's exactly what I'm talkin' 'bout. Those callouses just never fade...I guess it's good. I rarely get blisters.

Pretty awesome color, huh? This pedi was....oh my...5 days old? I think? Wearing like iron. My pedis usually don't. I am barefoot as much as I can get away with. This looks really pretty royal here, but it's a tad darker than royal. It's really striking. This is two coats and they do a Seche top coat.

Hope you like it and don't mind my toes! I promise, you won't see them but rarely.

Happy polishing!!

So...

BMWWU may do a guest post! She asked if I only ever talk about color or if I cover other things. She has read this meandering blather I put out here in the world but I don't think she reads it consistently. I said I mostly talk about color, yes. I stick to what I know and what I am passionate about. She said "not shape or care or anything like that?" Hm. I said "If you would like to write a post and guest appear, I'd love to have you!" I think she might! She's truly talented and she loves what she does. It's fun to watch her because she will actually hold your hand out away from her and admire it at arm's length. My great nails are completely owing to her, I take no credit. I might experiment with other products and use things at home that she doesn't just because for my drunken monkey fumbling it's easier for me to work with. My favorite Seche Rebuild is a good example. I've never known her to use it and she likes Poshe better than Seche. Which, honestly, I do too...Seche is great but it's problematic, as I think most nail hounds will agree. It's not a good touch up top coat because it shrinks the polish up at the tips and curls it up at the cuticles, plus it tends to goop about a third to a half way through. They have a renew formula for their stuff but I haven't tried it. It's $10 locally while I can usually score a free base coat with a top coat purchase at Sally, making the renew stuff kind of....well, expensive.

Kinda went off on a tangent there. Sorry! I get easily distracted. Short attention span...

SQUIRRELL!!!

:D

I will keep you posted on BMWWU's plans! I'd love it if she wrote a post or few. She's very knowledgeable and has fixed a lot of my problems. She's so good I am often asked if I am wearing acrylics or if I need a fill. Yep. She's that good.

And the winner is....

Rescue Beauty Lounge Iconoclast.

Ooooo. This is a charcoal almost-black grey with definite micro-shimmer in it. The shimmer is subtle and I could see it lots better in the bottle than on my nails. You can see hints of it in this pic.

Here is another shot of it:

OK, why does my ring finger look black? Whatevsies. You can see that micro-shimmer there on the pinky nail and on the ring finger a little. These might be good pics to click on and check out full size. The preview pane isn't letting me do that to see if it shows up better.

Awhile ago I had picked up the care kit from RBL. It's called the Nail Treatment set and...it's currently unavailable, but no worries because you can buy the pieces separately. It contains the nail prep treatment, a rather lovely base coat and a top coat. I wanted to see how all this performed together. The answer is hells yeah. For the 4 days I wore this I think I had one teeny chip. Granted it really only got work abuse. The most I think it did was cook one meal and the dishes thereinvolved, but I was impressed. No real tip wear, which given that I put in 3 very long days off before the end of my vacation time, was pretty great.

I kept looking at the color and thinking...where is all that glorious microglitter in the silver and other colors? Then I went to meet Ruby Pumps and checked it out in the sun. Ahhh. There it was. Unfortunately, I never had an opportunity to snap a pic. You see, I don't really advertise that I write this. I am terrible at self-promotion and in fact, today was told that my self-deprecation was bordering on the pathological and it needed to stop because it was more self-flagellation than deprecation. I told him to come back when he was in the mood to watch me emotionally cut again. I am harder on myself than any other 50 people would be, I think. So, I tend to think that I write this thing for myself, which is where all the babbling comes from. No one's really reading it, right? Right! So...it's all good.

I had a point...oh yes. That Ruby Pumps doesn't know that I write this. I am not sure how she would feel about being called Ruby Pumps, actually, though it IS her favorite polish and her go to when she's feeling like sparkling but not pushing the envelope. She's not a polish risk taker but I think there is one in there. She is pushing herself which is awesome. I think most times it pays off for her and I hope my complete lack of traditionalism in all things polish gives her courage. After all, how daring is her China Glaze Dear Audrey next to my RBL Iconoclast? Yeah, not so scary, right? Relatively speaking, we are still outside her comfort zone but not THAT far out.
I don't have a comfort zone. I'll wear anything.
My point again...OH! That I couldn't just stop there in the parking lot and find a pose and shoot swatches. Not without explaining myself and I just didn't want to do that.  She didn't like this, not "for Summer". I don't really buy into the seasonal color scheme idea. Sometimes I feel like wearing a Summer kind of color but it might be January and I'm not going to let that stop me. Color is a very mood powerful element to me. If I feel like busting out a neon in February, I'm bloody well going to do it.

So anyways. I entrusted my tips to RBL nail treatment system and it was a raging success. I recommend whole heartedly. I confess I was a bit skeptical on the whole base coat prep idea but it did clean the nails and leave them almost matte? It wasn't a polish, I think it simply whisks away anything that might keep your polish from sticking.

Then the base coat goes on nicely but not so opaque that you couldn't do a nice sheer over it if you wanted. RBL has some nice sheers so maybe that was the idea. I was a little worried, it was like giving up my rebuild security blanket. I felt like Linus after Snoopy runs off with the blanket? You know how his hair goes all haywire and he can't function until he steals it back? Yep. But they survived, quite nicely, I might add. And the polish stuck to it like glue. Awesome. The top coat went on nicely. It seemed a bit thin at first but it was really lovely, actually. It made it easy to apply and I think I might have just been Seche conditioned to think all top coat needs to be like automotive clear coat. (Incidentally, my father the car nut informs me he can get me automotive clear coat for my nails a LOT cheaper than Seche. He thinks he's hilarious. I love him, but he doesn't get it. He does like to see what I've done, though.) The top coat dried reasonably fast, but I did manage to bungle one nail afterwards. I thought they were dry enough but they were dentable. It fixed right up easily, I'm happy to report. No probs after that.

So to sum up, this was:

1 application of Rescue Beauty Lounge Nail Prep
2 coats Rescue Beauty Lounge Base Coat
2 coats Rescue Beauty Lounge Iconoclast
1 coat Rescue Beauty Lounge Top Coat

What do you think?

OO you can see some of that lovely micro shimmer there...nice.

Ji Baek, the owner and founder of Rescue Beauty Lounge calls her followers ReBeLs...how cute is that? I'm one. Obviously. If you ever try her polish, I bet you will be one, too!

Happy Polishing!

Do you ever wonder...

...how a polish addicted and or addled blogger chooses her next polish?

I thought I'd share my sometime process, which will also allow me to do picture spam! Because...honestly, it was kinda fun.

First things first...you have to raid the stash unless you've got something you absolutely MUST wear right now, which is hardly ever the case for me. I usually have about 9 colors in mind, orrrrrrrrr I am in the mood for something, maybe a feeling, and I go searching for it. I was coming out of LCN Green Temptation, and I didn't bother taking it off to try other stuff. You can get an idea by just slapping it over the old stuff.

It seems I was in the mood for dark:

These are, from Left to Right: Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle, MAC Biker Blue, and Rescue Beauty Lounge Under the Stars and Iconoclast. Hmm....Biker Blue didn't really cover well. You can see in the bottles it's quite a bit darker than Under the Stars and not really opaque.

Razzle Dazzle...that's truly sparkly!

Hmmm....Let's look at that again.

Rescue Beauty Iconoclast and Under the Stars, MAC Biker Blue (which is not faring well over Green Temptation. Nope.) and Lippmann Razzle Dazzle. Under the Stars is dazzlin'....Razzle Dazzle is too fun...Hmmmm. I've really been wanting to try to Iconoclast and I'm thinking that fighting with an opaque base coat to work with Biker Blue is not what I want to deal with right now. It's very pretty, though. Plus, my promise to you readers to not show stuff you can't get...it was in the "soon to retire" section on the MAC website. **Rant: that is what I hate about MAC. They put out these great colors and they have like 9 of them. I swear they must sit back and laugh at us addicts. It's sadistic. Truly. And yet...what am I showing you? A MAC. Yep. I'm a sucker, too. End Rant**

What else have we got in the drawers? *Yes. Drawers. There is furniture.) Oooooo! While we're playing here, let's check out that A England Lancelot....Can you see the red in it when it hits the nails?

Hells yeah, you can. It's a dried blood kind of red...it's blackened red. It's...wow. I put that on and went OOOOOOOO! **Happy polish dance!**

But I don't think I'm in the mood for that.

What else have we got? A couple I've been dying to wear but can't seem to find the right moment:

S'pose those are BB Coutures? Only one of my fave polishes? Yep. Ashes and Glampyre, respectively. I like this pic of Glampyre...it really shows it's a lovely blackened gold. It's dazzlin'. (That is my happy word these days. I dunno why.)
Love them. BUT....what else have we got?

OOOO! Sparkly! That Lippmann Razzle Dazzle...What all can we do with that?

How about Rescue Beauty Lounge Moulin Rouge under Razzle Dazzle...

Errr...Moulin Rouge is showing WAY more purple than it is in real life. I would describe it as a plummy red, actually. Well, regardless, it works well with Razzle Dazzle, makes a nice solid foundation for the more jelly base of Razzle. Pretty. I thought I might have a winner but...Iconoclast was still speaking to me.

However...now I'm intrigued by Razzle Dazzle. (Oh lord. The Beatles Pigges just came on. "With their piggy wives")

What else can I do with this lovely thing?

***think, think, thinkthink**

Bright pink! Who does a great BRIGHT PINK? Illamasqua!

OOOFA. I rememeber putting Illamasqua Collide on (and it nicely covering that green, incidentally) and thinking "WOW. Now THAT is neon.) And look what Razzle Dazzle does. It's a whole other look. Fascinating. Hmmm...I still have that A England Lancelot on...

Coooool. It's like a midnight party...Good to know, good to know!

Yes. I can spend hours doing this. I can't help it. I love the colors. Obviously the whole taking the polish thing off is a bit of a nuisance to me, but then again, painting over the old mani can let you see what you're going to be dealing with.

Which one do you think I chose?

Stay tuned!

Happy Polishing!