Recent NOTDs

Hi there!

Well I've had quite a long break, mostly because this winter has been exceptionally unkind to my cuticles. I even had a couple of fingers splitting and cracking with the dryness, and of course they looked absolutely hideous. I've posted pictures here where my cuticles weren't the best, especially in my camera's macro view, but there was no way I would have posted pictures of my nails in that condition. It was downright unappetizing, folks.

I turned to the wisdom of nail world for a solution. Word has it that Lanisoh lanolin is a sure fix for dry and painful cuticles, and it's absolutely true. I've been using a little bit each night before bed and sometimes during the day as well, and the improvement is remarkable. My hands still get dry right after a shower (hot water is not a friend to dry skin) and during the day, but I've had no more splitting and cracking. I just moisturize as usual and everything's much better.

If you want to use Lanisoh, there's no special trick to it, but be warned it is extremely thick and greasy until it is absorbed, so you won't want to handle anything for a while.

I thought I'd share some NOTD photos that I snapped with my iPhone over the last couple of weeks. They're not spectacular but they will mostly spare you from Cuticle Apocalypse 2012.

Laura Mercier Twilight

I bought this on impulse after Janice described it as an amped-up Paradoxal/Perplex. You can't see the subtleties in this Instagram photo, but it's much more lively than Paradoxal (I don't own Perplex), but it still has that smokiness.

OPI Fly

This is OPI Fly from the Nicki Minaj collection. It's greener in real life - again Instagram isn't spectacular for catching color accuracy. Formula on this was wonderful and I really enjoyed wearing it.

Essie School of Hard Rocks

I love colors like this lately...slightly dusty blues and greens...dark but not too dark. This was almost a one-coat wonder. Also contrary to what this picture might have you believe, I have not recently been jaundiced.

Revlon Whimsical over 10 Professional Pinky Promise

This was a huge favorite of mine; I hated taking it off. I had been half-heartedly looking for Revlon Whimsical but never saw it in any of the displays with the re-named Perplex and Facets of Fuchsia, so I kind of forgot about it until it turned up in a regular display at Rite Aid. Plus it was on sale for $3, so I caved. I LOVE IT, especially over Pinky Promise, which I'm now wishing I had a backup or even several backups of. It's the perfect perfect perfect pink sheer. So this is two coats of Pinky Promise alternated with two coats of Whimsical and topped with Seche Vite. I love it, it looked like a gel manicure.

Chanel Blue Rebel

Finally, my current NOTD. This is one of those colors I mentioned above, a dark dusty blue that's dark enough to be vampy but not so dark you can't tell it's blue. This is from the Les Jeans de Chanel collection, which I ended up really liking in spite of the furor that it's not unique enough to be special. Chanel knocked it out of the park with the formula on this and Blue Boy, though I can't speak to Coco Blue as I haven't used it yet.

Anyway, thanks for your patience with my sporadic "attendance"...with the help of Lanisoh I hope to be back in full action soon!

CVS sale, new summer colors

This past week has been a bit of a nail polish bonanza here at Nonsense HQ. For one thing, CVS is having a crazy sale on Revlon polishes, which are marked down to $4.99. If you have a CVS card you get $4 back, so essentially you're paying $.99 for the polish. If you have other coupons, you can actually make money on the deal. And you can buy up to six, which would give you $24 Extra Bucks!

Then, if you are like me and truly crazy, you can reinvest those free dollars into 1/2 price Essies and 75%-off Sally Hansens and Revlons (you won't get $4 back for the sale Revlons but...they come to $1.37 so you're still getting quite the deal).

I only bought two Revlons but I did grab the Essies that were half price. It's only the French Affair collection, but you really never see Essie discounted that deeply so I jumped at the opportunity to pick up two colors I've been wanting.

Anyway. I have some pictures for you!

Essie Absolutely Shore, from the summer collection. I love this polish...the formula was very nice for a pastel and the green is so, so, so subtle.

Absolutely Shore, Mint Candy Apple, Greenport. This picture is a good example of having "a lot of the same color" that are not at all the same color. U needz them all.

Sally Hansen Barracuda. Another great pastel with a nice formula. You still have that crazily wide CSM brush but, I don't have any problems with it.

American Apparel Neon Red. I am bananas and coconuts for this polish. Just crazy in love with it. Highly recommend, A+, would do business with again.

I'm a little embarrassed to post this next one because the macro setting on the camera reveals the many many imperfections, but we're all friends here right? Anyway, I love a nice nontraditional French manicure and here is one I did with Essie Blushing Bride (essentially, a clear polish, though it builds nicely) and Chanel Black Satin.

I'll continue to work on my technique with this because I like the look.

That's all for now!

Essie Fall Collection preview, Chanel Paradoxal

Hello. I hope you had a happy 4th of July, if you're in the US. Otherwise I hope you had a delightful weekend.

My boyfriend and I went to IKEA over the weekend so I painted my nails a sheer shimmery pearl color. I figured when you're assembling a million parts into a single television stand you don't want something that shows chips easily. And I was right!

A while ago I ordered some things from Nordstrom's beauty preview sale, including the Essie fall minis. I've actually decided not to keep most of what I ordered, but I'll keep the Essies. They're quite compact for storage and this is a nice way to sample the fall collection.

Here are some quick pictures.

Limited Addiction, Sew Psyched, Merino Cool, Little Brown Dress. All are cremes except for Sew Psyched, which has a very pretty subtle shimmer.

When I swatched these, I used two coats on everything except Merino Cool, which required three. The formula was best on Limited Addiction, which could have been a one-coater; and Sew Psyched, which was nicely pigmented as well. Merino Cool and LBD were streaky with the first coat and had some pull at the cuticles, so next time I'll wait longer before applying additional coats.

I'm told Sew Psyched is not a dupe for Rescue Beauty Lounge's Diddy Mow, but I don't have that one to show you a comparison. However I did compare Merino Cool to a couple of other Essies.

Chinchilly, Merino Cool, Mink Muffs

And some quick swatches on the nail:

Chinchilly, Merino Cool, Mink Muffs. No duplicates here.

And here's my current manicure, to show you that my cuticles really aren't that awful looking.

I don't think this is the purple shimmer some people wanted it to be, but I really am developing a fondness for this weirdo. Kinda raisin-colored, kinda brown, kinda purple, it is indeed a paradox.

Also, you'd better believe that when we went to IKEA I brought home some friends.

Everything's so nice and organized now. Thanks for feeding my OCD, IKEA!

Oh wow I love this.

Yeah, I highly recommend this, though I did get it in a swap because the lovely lady I traded with said she didn't care for it with her skin tone. I'm pale and cool-toned so if that describes you or you just can't get enough green...pick it up.

Return of the mack

I undeleted my blog. Turn here for swatches and insightful commentary.

Since I last posted in February, about 8,000 new nail polish colors have been released. But you know all that already so here are some colors I've worn since we last spoke, along with comments where appropriate. I won't post every mani I've done since February all at once but it's still a lot of colors so let's get started shall we?

This was pretty and very fun to wear. You'll notice the color on the nail doesn't match the bottle and that's because the bottle is opaque. This bugs a lot of people in terms of being able to see the color accurately, but I kind of like the bottle. Lots of ladies bag on the Milani bottle because they look dated, but again it doesn't bother me very much.

Wasn't "wild" about this one, haha. The glitter is too sparse for me, and frankly the polish would be prettier without it.

I did a terrible job on this mani but I do like the color. I'd like to give it another chance. I think perhaps I'd use a sheer nude polish as my base coat.

That's all for now! I have a couple of ideas for theme posts that will catch us up, so stay tuned!

Yay for nail polish!

Color Update, New Polishes

Hi there, here are a few colors that I've worn recently along with (as ever) my thoughts on the important world issue of nail lacquer.

This polish was perfection, truly perfection. I wanted Greenport for a while, but by the time I decided I wanted it, the North Fork collection was nearly out of circulation. I found Sag Harbor, but still I hunted Greenport high and low -- it was even sold out at my favorite secret squirrel beauty supply store and online. So, as resourceful women do in these situations, I turned to the vast black market of eBay and found it for the retail price (and only slightly used, as I discovered somewhat to my dismay when I received it). I really love the color: A slightly gray, slightly dusty, hint-of-minty green that looks unusual and sophisticated all at once. I got several compliments on this one. The application was great (I used two coats) and I have to say, I am really developing a soft spot for Essie polishes. I don't know if I used one in the past that was problematic or if I just thought Essie was strictly pinks and sheers, but I had an irrational thing against them for some reason. It's true that I don't own one single "traditional" Essie -- all of mine are the oddball colors like Greenport, Sag Harbor, Mesmerize, Chinchilly, etc. Which leads me to say to Essie: Moar fun colors plz!

I was a bit afraid of this one, to be honest. I'd wanted it for a long time and then somewhere along the line developed an intense dislike of China Glaze. Actually I've been sitting on the edge of a big ball of blah regarding China Glaze for some time now and I can be silent no longer.

I have been picked on (albeit gently) on the nail board for defending Butter London polishes -- a brand that is generally disliked on the nail board. But sometimes someone will ask about it and I'll pipe up that I really do like my Butter London polishes. And then I will sort of get prodded for it, which I think sort of sucks. Because here's the thing: I never talk about how crappy I think China Glaze's typical quality is, even when everyone else is raving about it. I just don't think it's all that great, consistently. (That being said I may or may not have ordered a couple recently. I'll put up with a lot of quality issues for a good color.)

Anyway, that's the most recent news -- I'll share my thoughts on my new China Glazes at some point soon, I'm sure.

Minty Fresh

I love this.

It's Claire's Dream Catcher, supposedly a dupe or at least a very close relative of the sought-after Chanel Jade. But $4, instead of whatever godawful amount of money somebody wants on eBay.

Here are some other tasty minty greens, too.

L-R: Essie Greenport; Essie Mint Candy Apple; Dream Catcher; Sally Hansen Mint Sprint.

Mint Sprint! I love it!

Nail Party, Christmas Edition

So I don't really condone Christmas sweaters or candy cane-shaped earrings, but I do like decorating myself for the holidays. Nail polish is ideal for this because of the variety of colors and the extent of the "bling" factor -- and since the glitter/color is confined to a very small area, you can really go all out. (By the way Bridget Callahan, I am waiting to hear how those fancy Zoya glitters worked out for you.)

Below are some Christmasy polishes I have in my vast stash. I'll post more as I change my own nail polish over the next couple of weeks. What colors are you wearing for the holidays?

A deep, dark holiday green reminiscent of evergreen. Slight shimmer. You can buy Butter London at Beauty.com. If you use Drugstore.com or VisionDirect.com, you can earn discounts and rebates that are applicable on Beauty.com. This is good if spending $14 on nail polish -- plus shipping -- is not appealing.

Known on MUA as "The Jesus," Illamasqua Rampage is truly one of the most stunningly beautiful polishes I own. It looks like green glass on the nail. You can get Illamasqua at Sephora or direct from Illamasqua. This is another pricey polish, but WORTH IT. Practically applies itself.

This gal is harder to lay hands on because it is a Sally Hansen product exclusive to Canada (at this time, anyway). But very festive and Christmasy with the dark green jelly and twinkly gold glitter.

Here's one that's inexpensive and easy to find: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, available at Sally Beauty stores and many, many e-tailers.

Mattified, this polish looks even more exceptional with a matte topcoat from Essie. There are other matte top coats from Orly, China Glaze and other companies; I like Essie and it's widely available. Try Ulta if you must have it.

So far as I know, Zip is still available, though it is part of a limited edition fall release from the ever-elusive Sally Hansen. Anyway, it's a great, glistening holiday red, with that molten glass look I like so much.

Applies beautifully, does Misa. These are great, great polishes -- high quality, fashionable colors, fantastic application, and typically less than $3. This is a beautiful and sexy bright red, perfect for a holiday date, if you do such things.

If you like a more retro, Joan Holloway-type red, this Dior fits the bill. May be hard to find at this point, but you can find a similar one in almost any polish range.

This is a holiday OPI exclusive to Ulta stores. Just a very pretty, sparkly purple. It would probably look killer with a matte topcoat, so maybe I'll try this color again before the end of the year and mattify it.

Another holiday OPI, but this one should be available anywhere OPI is sold, including e-tailers. This is a purple jelly, so it looks better over a red, purple or black creme base coat. In my opinion, anyway.

More to come, I'm sure...ho ho ho.