Nicole Iceberg Lotus & Bad Brushes

Couple things for you today, first off my current NOTD, which is Nicole Iceberg Lotus. I keep wanting to call this Iceberg Lettuce, which really amuses me.

Anyway...I forgot I bought this at Target a while back. I'd been interested in it for a while and kept picking it up and putting it down...as you do...until I finally decided to just get it. After all it's green and shimmery, making it a virtual lock in my book. (I also thought I had a $1 off Nicole coupon in my wallet, but when I got to the checkout it wasn't there...oops.)

I decided to wear it on Sunday because my Sacred Ground manicure was chipping badly. (I blame this entirely on my nails and specifically on the Nutra Nail Gel Perfect disaster. My nails are still recovering from the extreme dryness.) Iceberg Lettuce - er, Lotus - is a semi-sheer teal sparkle with a slight duochrome. As usual, the duochrome is stronger in the bottle, where it changes to a magnificent blue/purple. On the nail it shifts to blue but not as strongly as in the bottle.

Application was...well. Let's just say that I'm glad I recently saw the light regarding the acetone/concealer brush cleanup method because YIKES. I'm normally a pretty tidy polisher but this so-called "Perfect Stroke" brush was a disaster. How bad is this brush? As bad as a Borghese brush and that's saying a lot. (Yes I know a lot of people claim to love the Borghese brush but you...you are all getting different brushes than I am, I guess.)

In what world...nay, on what PLANET would this make a "perfect stroke"?

For comparison, here is a (terrible) Borghese brush. I only have two Borghese colors left in my collection, this one (Fantastico Lime) and Ecstasi Indigo. For Ecstasi Indigo at least, tt's worth the cleanup. But the brush...the brush is tragedy.

Ugh ugh ugh ugh. Look at how uneven and jagged that thing is! Awful.

Anyway, aside from the brush issues, the formula was jellyish and easy enough to control, but very sheer. I used two coats and probably could have used a third for some additional opacity. Next time I'll probably use an underwear polish...but I'll be dreading that brush.

Blog sale!

I've taken the blog sale down for the time being! Thanks for looking.

Birthday Bash

I recently celebrated a birthday and naturally I chose to treat myself to some nail polish. This sounds less newsworthy than it actually is - I haven't been much interested in purchasing a lot of polish lately. For one thing, I'm saving for a new laptop. So when I pick up a bottle of polish in the drugstore and hold it lovingly in my hand, I have to really, really want it. Because otherwise I just think of it as $4 or $6 or $8 dollars that I could be spending on sweet sweet MacBook goodness.

Also...there hasn't really been much in the way of the new collections that's been pushing my must-have button. I never got too excited about China Glaze Vintage Vixen. Barielle's recent collections didn't do much for me. I didn't even get very worked up about the OPI Swiss collection although there are some I wouldn't mind having. But, you know? With more than 400 polishes in my Helmers..."wouldn't mind having it" isn't a good enough reason to buy anymore. The only thing I've really been wild for are the Tudor wives polishes from Rescue Beauty Lounge, and I passed on the pre-order because I couldn't justify the expense at the time.

Chanel always gets me, however. As the saying goes on MUA "there's no regret like Chanel regret" and I have found that to be true. Initially I was tempted by the Soho Story colors but when I saw swatches and heard the initial reports I did not feel a burning desire to own them. I cannot however say the same for Khaki Vert, which is on its way to me as we speak. It was the first birthday nail polish I purchased for myself and I'm very excited for it to arrive.

Anyway...on to the other finds...

My boyfriend very kindly agreed to come with me to Rite Aid on my birthday and I had such good nail polish birthday karma going that I still can't really believe it. They had some Halloween displays (I passed), the new Borghese collection, new-ish Sally Hansen Xtreme line, the new Sally Hansen Insta-Dris and the new Revlon Suedes. What!! This never happens. The only downfall of Rite Aid, really, is that they don't carry Milani. Or at least the ones around here don't.

I chose Powder Puff and Emerald City from the Revlon Suedes. I really wish that "Emerald City" would be retired as a nail polish name, FOREVER. I get it...it's green and sparkly...I don't know, at this point I would accept "Peridot City" in lieu of "Emerald City." At least it would be something new.

I received Mystic Lilac and Concrete in a swap from an awesome MUAer, so I just picked one SH Xtreme: Fireberry Red. To be honest this looks a bit similar to other polishes I have (namely, China Glaze's Ruby Pumps), but it was so pretty that I caved. At about $2.70 each, SH Xtremes have great bang for your nail polish buck.

I almost didn't get anything from the new Insta-Dri line. I keep passing these up, and even the ones I've purchased I mostly end up swapping or giving away. For some reason the colors never really do it for me and the brush is...well... a nightmare. It's huge. Wide. Gargantuan. And...shaggy. But for some reason I felt compelled to buy Metallic Momentum, which someone on the nail board likened to Chanel Kaleidoscope, which, hm, maybe? I don't know. I DON'T HAVE THE CHANEL. Which is something I'm getting very used to saying. Haha.

I used MM to do a chevron manicure - the only form of "nail art" I can successfully execute - over OPI Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ.

I'm a big fan of the chevron look, I just often find myself much, much too lazy to actually do it. I feel like this would be a good holiday combination. MM is a very pretty polish, however, it cements my theory that I am just actually not all that fond of metallics on my nails. But perhaps if you despair of ever acquiring the Chanel, this will quench your thirst.

Finally, here is Borghese's Mediterraneo Sea, from the very sparkly Scintillaire collection.

Boy, Borghese. Talk about a brush I hate. It's like they are deliberately butchered to provide the worst application possible. They are literally terrible. This is why I don't own many Borgheses...it took me a long time to warm up to the $8 price tag, and then when I discovered that awful brush wasn't an anomaly but rather standard issue...well...sigh. But this is a pretty, unusual glitter/color combination.

I look forward to showing you more of these on the nail...as always, thanks for looking!