Polish Spamarama!!!

I've got almost enough nail polish right now I can almost wear a different colour everyday for 2 years.  And with that being said, here's some polish spam action...

The magnetic nail polish trend is still hanging in their and yet I still don't have the hang of it.  This one is Gold Nugget from Layla.  It's nice but I'm not seeing the colour gold in here. I still have to practice tons more to master this trend before it's all over!

I so badly wanted Essie's Sexy Divide to be totally awesome but instead it ended up being totally awful. Three coats couldn't stop the the bald spots and the thin formula lead to chips within less than 12 of wear.  beautiful in the bottle, disastrous on my nails.

I don't wear a lot of pink polish but when I do, Maybelline's Timely Rose is my go to polish.  It's not childish or bubble gummy in any way.  It's positively lady like!

It's pretty obvious by now that grey nail polish is never going to go away.  Good!  The more funky neutral colours the better and Essie's School of Hard Rocks is a pretty good one with a thick and even formula that went on with ease and had staying power and a strong shine.

I haven't even worn To Buy or Not to Buy from Essie yet so I had to rely on my sister to model this lavender shimmer for me.  It looks so much nicer on the nail than in the bottle doesn't it?

Someday, I'll pick up a bottle of gun metal nail polish and say that I've really bought enough of these types of colours and place it back on the display.  Since I didn't have that voice in my head telling me to "just put the polish down and back away" I bought L'oreal's VIP Status.  You can see a bit of balding at the top of my index finger but that's mainly the fault of an unbuffed nail base and not the polish.

Hey!  Did I hear someone say they wanted to see a picture of Tom Hiddleston, Michael Sheen and Queen Elizabeth?  No? Well too bad...here it is anyways:

Her Royal Highness Must Have Thought He Was Tony Blair!

Cool Couture by Maybelline

After the polish disaster that was Purple Trend, I'm glad to say that another polish from the same Fall 2011 Maybelline line is definitely not hideous.  Mind you, Cool Couture is a terrible polish name that almost makes me long for the terrible puns that OPI always seem to come up with.  A cool dark grey with a good amount of teal shimmer, Cool Couture has a great finish and decent durability, even though I needed 3 coats to make it look its best.  I can't really complain about that as it is a quick dry polish. The shimmer gives the colour some depth to it and was the main reason that I picked it up.  There's been plenty of deep, cool toned creme polishes this fall so I didn't really need to get me another one but I can't help but notice  in this photo that the polish is making my skin look a little pale.  I don't have an issue with that but I can't help but wonder if it would make someone with a much paler complexion look really washed out.

Natural Beauty by Maybelline

It may be called Natural Beauty but if you're got a paler skin tone, I'm not sure if this shade from Maybelline's Fall 2011 collection will be the one for you but I love it!  I was really glad to see this warm toffee-like colour on the Pharmaplus shelves and I snapped it up despite it not being on sale at the time.  I wasn't disappointed either as the formula was fast drying and lasted three days without a major nick or chip.  Since I've been working in an office environment, I've really grown to like neutral colours even more than I used to.  It makes the question "what am I going to wear to work a lot easier to answer" but nice neutrals will never make me wish I could sport a green or blue polish on the job.

Sultry Siren by Maybelline & Grace Kelly at TIFF

It is an extremely gloomy Sunday here in the GTA, so what better way to brighten things up than with a classic red polish.  Sultry Siren, from Maybelline's Fall 2011 collection, is just the kind of red tone that I always fall for: creme formula, deep, more on the blue side and with a good amount of shine to it.  I really like Maybelline's Express Finish line.  While they aren't  usually the longer wearing of quick dry polishes, I've found that they do dry a bit quicker than others and have a glossier finish.  The brushes are usually thin but spread across the nail well.

Despite the fact that I'm obsessed with nail polish, I have long admired a woman who, when she made public appearances, kept her hands hidden under gloves:  Grace Kelly!

The Apex of Class & Elegance!

Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess is exhibiting at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto until January 22, 2012 and I checked it out yesterday, which also happened to be her birthday.  The collection on display features her personal clothing and film memorabilia including:

• A letter from Yul Brenner asking her for a stamp to add to his collection
• A letter from a friend warning her that Jack Nicholson was looking to have an affair with her (what an d***!)
• Pre-production artwork from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

The show also includes things I'd never thought I'd ever see...

...This Dress & That Oscar!

I've met two Oscar winners in my life, the first being Patty Duke (Best Supporting Actress, 1962) and the second being Martin Landau (Best Supporting Actor, 1994) but I hadn't actually seen an Oscar statue, so that was fun.  But I have to admit that I had been captivated by Kelly's Oscar Gown since childhood and it was a thrill to see it right before my eyes.  That dress is why I actually like the colour Seafoam!  

You Wish This Was Your Bridesmaid Dress!

Although there are interesting items from Kelly's film career, the exhibit is more of a treasure trove for fashion lovers and vintage enthusiasts.  If fashion is your thing, then get your butt down to the Lightbox because you will not want to miss all this:

This Dress By Her Paramore, Oleg Cassini

The Dress Kelly Wore to Her First Meeting With Her Prince

Her Royal Engagement Suit (In Which The Polka Dots Are Printed With Gold)

Royal Portrait Dress

And Not Just a Kelly Bag...THE KELLY BAG!

There's also stunning dresses by Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy.  I don't include her wedding dress on that list because:

• I admire her work as an actress, not that she married a prince
• I'm one of the few women on this earth who really doesn't give a crap about weddings
• The dress on display as part of the exhibit is a replica, not the original gown

So if weddings and being a "princess" is your thing, then not seeing the actual dress will be a disappointment for you.  I have to admit that I don't understand the current North American "Princess" culture and I don't want to attempt to delve into it right now except to say this:  Not every girl is going to become a princess but it's in every girl's realm of possibility to become a lady, which is what Kelly always was and always will be in my eyes.

Audrey Hepburn & Grace Kelly: A Master Class in Class.

A shout out & welcome to my new follower, Roy de Vos! I look forward to the music, no matter what your mood is!

Adventures In Layering With Let Me Go & Onyx Rush

With the Spring season comes Spring Cleaning, some of which involved 2 years of sorting stuff, putting it in  bags and then jamming them into my closet.  I recently updated my nail polish list (that I started at the beginning of the year) so that I could have a better grasp of how many polishes I have and to help me to do a little bit of weeding out as well.  By the time I was done with the sorting and swatching, I found that I am the obsessive owner of 379 nail polishes!  Boy was I surprised:

Why, It Made My Head Spin...

I remembered a promise I made to myself a few months ago that I would try some layering with Sinful Colors Let Me Go, a very sheer lavender.  I slapped it over Maybelline's Black Onyx (my go to black polish for layering).  You can imagine that I was surprised by the results, since I expected to still see some lavender or purple in the combination or something that looked milky and crappy.  There was a little bit of bubbling but check out the green & blue douchrome results:

At least it was a good surprise!  Here it is with flash:

Frankly, my ass is so broke that I expect that I'll be trying a few new combinations pretty soon,  especially since this one turned out so well. I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I'm planning on watching Ken Russell's 1988 horror cult crazy-fest, Lair of the White Worm,  which I don't think I've seen since I saw it in a theatre that same year.  It stars Adam Ant's ex-girlfriend, Amanda Donohoe & Hugh Grant and it's about the shenanigans that arise when an English Lady moves in next door to an English Lord, you know, British stuff...

Actually, Your Weekend Could Totally End Up Like This in the '80's!

Christmas Colours with Sally Hansen

Jumpin' Jade

I’ve got some Christmas inspired polishes today, mostly courtesy of Sally Hansen!  First up is SH’s Insta – Dri in Jumpin’ Jade.  Although not part of a holiday collection, this deep shimmery green made me think of Christmas when I first wore it, it reminded me of a Blue Spruce pine tree.  So much so, that I resigned only to wear it during the months of December!

See what a blue green that is?  As per all of the Insta – Dri line, the brush is super wide and flat which makes for much quicker application than a standard brush does and the wear was good, no chips or nicks for the few days  I wore it.

Second up is Emerald City, one of the permanent colours from SH’s Xtreme Wear line.  I think that I will start a tag for every polish I come across that’s called Emerald City!  It’s probably the most over used name in nail polishes and as much as I love The Wizard of Oz (I’ve got the movie playing in the background as I write this...) it’s time to retire it in the world of naming colours!

WTF! No "Wicked Witch of the West" polish?!?!

Don't Look at Us!  We Don't Name Them!

But I digress, this version of Emerald City is such a crisp and pretty green that naming it after emeralds is a pretty fair comparison.  It’s also well worth mentioning that my sister wore this polish all week and only got one little chip on her pinkie finger.  What’s really remarkable about that is the fact that she works in shipping & receiving which means she works with her hands, all day long, moving boxes and handling product.  That this polish hardly chipped is a Christmas Miracle!

Before

After

Finally, I have some layering that I really liked!  I started with Maybelline’s Express Finish in Onyx Rush and topped it off with two coats of Sally Hansen’s Xtreme Wear in Red Carpet, a red jelly finish with red glitter:

Yeah, my nails are a mess but that's what happens when you have one eye on your nails and the other on "The Sing Off"

This was a really great combination for two reasons: One, it looks hot!  My sister thought it looked like a glitter version of Sephora by OPI’s I’m With Brad.  Two: I’ve been temping with my sister so I’ve been doing the same work with my hands that she is and this combination of polish didn’t chip either!  We couldn’t ask for more in terms of wear!