New York Color's Fall 2011Collection: Backstage Brown

It's pretty clear that I wore New York Color's Backstage Brown for at least 3 days before I ended up taking a photo of it and as with Underground Purple, I'm again not really seeing where they're getting the idea that the colour they are seeing is "brown".  Out of the 3 polishes of the Fall 2011 collection, this one is my favourite but I would call it more of a honey colour than I would call it brown.  I guess if it were called "Backstage Honey" that could conjure up some seedy connotations (or if you just have a dirty mind).  The formula is a bit  streaky  but also provided good coverage in two coats and wore well for 3 days before signs of wear began to show.  I would call this an all year round colour and would definately go back to it during the summer months.  And speaking of years, Happy New Year everyone!  I hope than that the next 366 days (it's a leap year) brings you and those you love, a great many good things and good times!

Time to Shine by Sally Hansen

At first I thought that maybe Time to Shine from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Fall 2011 collection would be too flashy for work. As it turns out, despite the high amount of shine, this was actually a very workable polish colour.  Falling in between a champagne and a light gold, it's just the right tone to make it somewhat more of an everyday polish than if had been a more yellow gold.  Pictured here is two coats of polish but I think that it could use an application of three coats to really bring out the shimmer, especially when you can see some very nice red reflection in there.  A good choice for a small price.

Essie's Brand New Bag Collection for Fall 2011: The Minis - Part One

Fall is on its way!  Yay!  Summer is great but Autumn is my favourite season. No more sweating, smog alerts, really smelly garbage, rumbling air conditioners, mosquitoes, open toed shoes, dudes on the bus whose deodorant gave up hours ago, girls in short shorts who should not be wearing short shorts, road construction...Hmmm, now that I come to think of it, I don't like summer all that much after all.  Have any of you noticed how bug repellent completely ruins your mani/pedi by making the polish soften up and take the shine away?  I hate that!

I'm looking forward to cooler days and fantastic fall foliage to photograph (try saying that ten times fast) and of course, fall clothes and makeup.  I have to concede that my recent loss of forty pounds requires that I buy new clothes but somehow, I'm resistant to spending the money on things that I actually need.  I never need polish but I'll always want it!

Lady Like

First up is Lady Like and that's an apt description for a colour like this.  A pinkish beige creme, it's a subtle colour which, most likely, would go with any item in your wardrobe without giving you that mannequin hand look.  That being said, I love the look of mannequin hands!  The application was pretty good.  This is two coats and it didn't streak, nor are there any bald spots.  If this colour is the kind you like, you wouldn't be wasting your money by picking it up.

Carry On

I need another wine coloured nail polish like I need an additional hole in my head or a third nipple!  But I keep buying them anyway because nothing says "Fall" like a deep wine creme polish.  Carry On makes me think of how, once the sun starts to set early, I switch from fruity white wines to deep Merlots & Shirazes.  I like how it's not extremely dark and somehow has a muted tone to the colour but I wouldn't call it an exceptional colour.  There were also a few bald spots as well.  What was exceptional about this polish was that I wore it for four days without a single chip and stayed glossy as well.  So it's a keeper in terms of durability.

So now I'm off to the 2011 Fan Expo Canada with one of my favourite people in the world...

This Guy!

Essie's Brand New Bag Collection for Fall 2011: The Minis - Part Deux!

Sew Pysched By Essie

Well, it took a while for my local Trade Secrets to get the new Essie Fall 2010 line in stock but it finally showed up!  Sew Pysched is a cool green/grey with the slightness bit of shimmer in it.  So slight that it's barely detectable on the nail and to the camera that I might as well take it out of my shimmer section of my polish collection. As you can see, it dries to a darker colour than it is in the bottle but still has that green tint to it.  Application was pretty good, at two coats it's totally opaque and it doesn't bare any resemblance to any grey polish I already have.

I know that there's been a lot of grey polish in the last few years and I hope that they never go away.  I've always loved all types of grey in my wardrobe so for me, grey polish is a must.  Grey is a neutral and neutrals can go with just about anything.

Stash It/Pass It:  Stash It!

Ingrid By China Glaze and My Frankendupe

I finally got my hands on Ingrid by China Glaze. Since I don't buy anything online, I had some trouble tracking this colour down and had to wait a while until Trade Secrets had it in stock. In fact, I had to wait so long that I tried my hand at creating a Frankenpolish/Dupe out of OPIs You Don't Know Jacques and Curry Up, Don't Be Late. Actually, my mix didn't turn out that badly at all! Check it out:

Left: Ingrid, Right: My Frankendupe

I applied my Frankendupe to the pinkie of my right hand so that I could get a good comparison between it and Ingrid and it turned out to be slightly lighter than Ingrid but it's a pretty good try if I say so myself:

On My Pinkie: Frankendupe, On All Other Fingers: Ingrid

The colour on my pinkie is slightly lighter, more golden but all and all, a pretty good substitute if I wasn't able to find what I was looking for. All that being said, I do love Ingrid! It's just one of those great kind of Fall colours that I just can't resist. The application was much better than Classic Camel, also from the Vintage Vixen Fall collection, but I also had a problem with unexpected lint in the bottle that could have mucked up my manicure.

Ingrid: Stash It/Pass It: Stash It!

My Frankendupe: Stash It/Pass It: Stash It!

The Colour to Watch By OPI

If by chance I actually have any readers and you are from the US, you are probably thinking that I spelled the name of the polish wrong. Well, I'm Canadian and up here "color" is spelled "colour" and that is the way I like it. I finally got my hands on The Colour to Watch and I'd like to thank the staff at The Beauty Outlet at the corner of Yonge & Eglinton in T.O. for sending this polish from an out of town store to their location instead of having me run around town looking for it.

I love lavender but oddly enough, most of the lavender polishes I have are cremes so I was excited to see this lavender with a pretty blue shimmer in it. It's formula is consistent as it usually is when it comes to OPI and it took me three coats to get to this opacity but the dry time was fairly quick. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite because since I was travelling for Labour Day weekend and I didn't want to spend time doing my nails. It lasted 4 days without a chip with the added bonus of not chipping while I explored an abandoned building in Stratford, ON, which has got to be the cleanest city I have ever seen...

An Alley in Stratford, ON

I love this pretty colour and liked how well it wore and I'm glad the Beauty Outlet girls went the extra mile to keep my business!

Stash it or Pass it: Stash it!

Plum Burst By Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear

I picked up two of Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear limited edition colours at PharmaPlus the other day and Plum Burst was one that I picked up. I found myself back in the pharmacy two days later and this colour was gone! This line has a really low price point (under $4) so it doesn't surprise me it would sell but this was the only colour that was sold out. It's a medium purple creme that I can see going great with the majority of my fall clothes (but I wouldn't want it for a lipstick!). My only complaint about it is that it took a while to dry completely, even when used a quick dry top coat. I woke up up to with the impression of my bedsheets on the fingernails of my left hand (as you can see in the photo). Otherwise, the application was smooth and achieved full coverage in two coats.

Stash it/Pass it: Stash it!