Other stuff I've been wearing

So I realize there was a huge gap in between blogs, and it was all due to a really bad break I had on my photographed hand. I still took pictures, but they're only with 2 fingers. I still like to show what I've been wearing, even if I didn't follow through with clean up and it's only half a hand!

RBL Coral was huge on my lemming list for the longest time, but after putting it on I was disappointed. Yes, it is the most true coral shade I've come across, but it's so freakin' bright on my fingers! I have a couple other shades in my stash (OPI My Chihuahua bites and something from Forever 21) that are close to dupes and only a fraction of the price, so this really isn't a must have. I kind of regret dropping the cash on such a not-unique color. And it didn't even hold up, I had chipping within 18 hours.

Much like Coral, Butter LONDON Artful Dodger was has been on my lemming list a long time. A looooong time! I put in an order as a belated b-day present for myself, along with a few other shades. Unlike Coral, however, this one far exceeded my hopes. I fell in love with this the instant I put it on. It's the most perfect turquoise cream ever. It applied beautifully and wore like iron for 4 days.

I took a quick bottle comparison picture just to show the color. Artful Dodger is bluer than China Glaze Flyin High but greener than Essie Shelter Island.

Butter LONDON Fash Pack was the only BL shade I waivered on. There weren't a lot of swatches around for me to check out, and I couldn't tell if it would look good or terrible on me. At the last second I added it too my order and I'm SO glad I did. As if the perfect greigy color wasn't enough, there's a hidden pure gold shimmer to it that adds amazing depth. This also applied perfectly and wore like iron for 4 entire days before I removed it.


The gold shimmer:

Butter LONDON doesn't seem to get a whole lot of love on the NP blogs, but it's really highly ranked for me. They put out amazingly unique shades with cute names and they recently changed their formula. The change includes a bigger bottle and change to the brush. You can now easily remove the top square cap to reveal a round top to grab.


Let's compare the new Tramp Stamp to the old bottle of Portabello Pink.

The new bottle has a sticker telling you that the top portion is removable, the old bottle is pretty much impossible to remove (unless you get all Hulk on it, which I was unable to do...)



Overall, I do think that Butter LONDON is worth the money, but I recommend ordering from beauty.com. I did so, and I received a free bottle of Portabello Pink, free shipping and $10 off my entire order. Even though the free NP isn't my type, I can use the bottle for a franken and I still got a much better deal compared to the Butter LONDON website.

I think I should apply for hazard pay...

So I've had a crazy couple of weeks. I started a new job, finals are going on until Monday, and I have stupid boy problems going on right now. On top of all that, I keep breaking my nails that are still weak from the winter. I filed them all down, which seems to help, but I keep chipping my NP at work. I think I need to apply for hazard pay, lol.

Really though, I love my new job. I'm working as a waitress at a restaurant that just opened, and with the tips I'm making, I just don't feel right complaining... but I'm gonna do it anyways! Chippy nail polish aside, company policy states that nails should be, "Well groomed, short, and no outrageous colors." I do believe that 95% of my collection could be labeled "outrageous" by company standards. I've been playing it safe the last few weeks, and my heart actually broke when I received my new RBL's in the mail. Diddy Mow and 360 are still in their boxes, I can't even pull them out to admire because I really don't know when I'll get a chance to wear and appreciate them.

Back to the hazard pay. Last week I wore OPI You Don't Know Jacques. I tried to take a picture earlier on in the mani but I just couldn't get the light to work. By the time I took the picture, there was damage to my nail. If you look at my middle finger, you can see a crack running through the nail polish. I don't do silk wraps so I took a clipper to it (this is starting to sound like a horror story, lol!) Other than my unfortunate break, I adored this mani., Since I can't wear "outrageous" colors, I need to find a way to by edgy, individualistic and fashionable without being just plain boring with my mani's (more on that later), and this color fits the bill. It's so work appropriate yet unexpected.

The mani I wore this week was OPI Baguette Me Not. This one I absolutely hated. While application was up to OPI standard, the color pulled really orange on me, and not in a good way. Cool toned gals might want to stay away from this one. Sadly I'm still wearing it now, and since I have to work the morning shift I have no time to change it!
This week I hauled from Strangebeautiful and Butter London. Butter London haters do not read any further, because I love them, and you can't bring me down! I adore the little square bottles and I don't think the application or wear time on them sucks. But what I love most is that I can get awesome neutrals that are still edgy and have a fashionable feel to them. The best part of that is the names. How can you not feel awesome wearing a color called Aston? I hauled 4 neutral colors and one bright lemming. Also coming up, whenever I actually get it, is the new Volume 4 from Strangebeautiful. I've been on the fence with ordering from them for so long, just because I would adore 5 shades and be iffy on 3 from a volume, but I loved the look of all 8 from volume 4 so I went for it.

What colors are you looking forward to? Anyone interested in the new Vintage Vixen collection from China Glaze? I'm a little wary since they described so many as frost!

Catching up on NOTD's

I know I've totally been slacking with posting the NOTD's, but I'm still (mostly) keeping up with them between homework. So here's what I was wearing this past week:

The Summer Days collection continues to impress me! I totally love Raspberry Festival. At first I thought it was too red, but it's a perfect raspberry color so I really can't complain. I loved the shimmer in it! This was with 2 coats though I probably should have done 3.



For my birthday last Wednesday I pulled out Essie Greenport, which I was saving in my untrieds for a special occasion. And it made me feel so awesome on by birthday! The color completely lived up to all the hype that surrounded it and totally lived up to how awesome I had built it up in my head. I'm really glad I was able to get the Essie, but I've heard L'oreal came out with a collection of 3 exact dupes for the North Fork collection. I'm still hunting them down to have back ups! This was with 3 curse-filled coats (how much do you hate that teeny tiny F^%@ing brush?!) to cover the initial streakiness. I didn't like the overall look of 3 coats, it always looks to thick on my nails.



And finally the NOTD that I'm on day #4 of, OPI Lunch at the Delhi. I adore this. On my super pale cool toned skin, depending on the light I see red to sometimes orange, but most of the day in normal light It's a perfect dusty warm toned coral. This was 2 coats but I probably should have done 3 here also. I hate how white my nail line is!


Also don't forget to enter my Great Barrier Reef giveaway! You can come back every day for an extra chance to win :D

$OPI Special Request

This hasn't been in my untrieds very long, but I'm still sorry I waited! I really liked the color in the store, it's a super bright coral. It's actually really close to High Hopes except, to my excitement, applied jelly! Mmm, jelly goodness.... I'm loving it! It took 3 coats to get a nice jelly finish, which I've already massacred with a knife while cutting a bell pepper. Ugh!

OPI Hot & Spicy Kung Pao Chicken

When OPI's Hong Kong collection came out I decided to just get 3 of them to start with. Jade and Suzi were a given, but I debated between Dim Sum Plum and Hot & Spicy for hours, days even! Though I new DSP would look good with my cool-toned skin, in the end Hot & Spicy won out for being a bit more original and for the forecast of coral being very in for Spring. And while I like the shrimpy-orangey-coraly color, I really struggled with the application on this. It was streaky and I got some cuticle drag, but with 3 carefully applied coats it became even. If you were on the fence with this one, I'd recommend searching for a different coral, especially since this color looks really bad with warm toned people (my mom swatched it and HATED it).



While my quest for coral will continue, I'll put it aside for tonight to show you the real reason why I tried this polish today. I'm in charge of stir fry night and picked up this seasoning packet at the store. I lol'ed when I put it in the cart. Only you guys would understand why :D

China Glaze High Hopes

There's some quality about the coral family that's so elusive to me. I can see pictures and pictures of coral NOTD's and I always think, "hm, that's pretty," and move to the next picture. But when I actually get a coral on my nails, I immediately want another 10 shades in the same family. I don't know what it is! I've had High Hopes on my desk with the rest of the Up & Away family, but what I REALLY wanted to wear today was Jade is the New Black. But I'm saving my greens for March and St. Patty's day. So I grabbed High Hopes instead. It is the most delicious shade of papaya ever! It's vivid and striking but not in-your-face like a neon. I put this on and it just feels like one of those "drinkable" colors. I immediately wanted a tropical cocktail or a smoothie. This is with 2 coats. I had to thin this one out a bit, the first nail I did got bubbles from being too thick, but after that it applied well. I couldn't get a completely accurate picture, this was the closest, but it's a little more pink in person.

I only have one other coral, Sally Hansen Nasturtium, and it's more orange based than this one. What are some other awesome colors in the coral family I could pick up?

Don't forget to enter my Who Loves Purple? giveaway!