Best Ever Nails of the Day Ever. Ever.

Does the title give it away? That I'm ridiculously in love with my current manicure. Maybe just a little? I can't believe I had all the ingredients for this little creation in my nail varnish stash for at least 3 weeks and I have waited so long to try this out. Oh wonderful amazingness, how can I describe why I love you so much? Is it the thick black? The gorgeous pink? The M A T T E N E S S of it all? Is it just a great way of mixing things that shouldn't go together? Is it because it dried in about 3 minutes and took 7 total???? Anyway, total heart.

The black is from Wet N Wild. So wonderful. One thick coat of creamy black goodness. I thought because of the whole 99c price tag that it would be more gray than black, but I was so so wrong.

The pink glitter is China Glaze Glam. I hate glitter. I love this.

The top coat is China Glaze Matte Magic. I've heard Essie Matte About You is better. This is good enough for now.

I'm already sad about the fact that this will be removed tomorrow night and replaced with something much more office appropriate.

Nails of the Week: China Glaze Nude

I am continuing my love affair with all things China Glaze and all things nude and neutral. I am by far the youngest person in my working environment, and frequently feel that way in my typically scatterbrained approach to things. Sometimes its nice to look down at my nails and they look pretty and sophisticated. China Glaze Nude does that for me. It is quite sheer, so this was 3 coats (and I believe 1 or 2 days wear when I took this picture).

On other nail related thoughts, I received a couple of colors from the China Glaze Poolside Neon collection this week along with a bunch of other colors from Transdesign this week - yay!! So excited to try them out. But I was disappointed to see that Essie polishes have jumped from $4 to $8. I really don't want to pay $8 for an Essie polish!! Can anyone recommend any reputable ebay sellers that sell at around the $4 mark?

NOTD: China Glaze Recyle & Matte About You

It is no secret that I love gray nail polish. At my last count, I have about 5 of them in my collection (one day, when I have good light and some free time, I'll do a comparison post, I promise!). The latest one came in a Transdesign haul a couple of weeks ago, and I just got around to using it this week. It applied very easily in just 2 coats, and then I topped it all off with Matte About You for an urban edgy look. As you can imagine, I'm pretty pleased with this look. I also can see that after 3 months of applying polish twice a week, I'm slowly getting better at not getting it all over myself and making a mess. Small victories :)

China Glaze Pink Varnish Comparisons

 Please excuse the terrible state of my cuticles and nail here - I have neglecting them! Anyway, I have been looking at my collection of varnishes and there are some very similar bottles and shades there, so I thought I would give them a chance to display their dupe-ness (or lack of, in this instance)

The top color is China Glaze Sugar High from the Up & Away collection. It is a creme shade, no shimmer at all, and for me a thick consistency that was not the easiest to work with. It is a clean, bright pink, with cool undertones.

The bottom color is China Glaze B Girlz from the Kicks collection last year. It applied much much sheerer, and has a cool, blue shimmer in the polish that gives the color some life. This is going to be a great color to wear in the summer sun.

Both are lots of fun and great for summer mani and pedis. Which is about the last thing I can think of since it is pouring as I type this in New York. :(

Nails of the Week: China Peachy Keen

 

China Glaze Peachy Keen from their recent Up & Away collection. This is after a few days of wear, so there's a little bit of wear and tear. Doesn't this one scream summer? Yum. 

Cool Blues: China Glaze Varnish Swatches

 

From top: Custom Kicks, Flyin' High

Ever get to that stage when you look at your collection and you realize you have 17 shades that are oh-so-similar? You know I have, especially when it comes peach eye shadows. I also have this situation when it comes to my nail varnish hauls. I buy all my nail varnish online as it's so much cheaper (thank you transdesign!), but does mean relying on swatches online, which are not always easy to compare. Here's the first in my collection of almost dupes which hopefully will help you decide if you need both!

China Glaze Custom Kicks came out last year as part of the Kicks collection. I personally adore this color. It is a beautiful teal with gorgeous gold shimmer through it. This makes the most heavenly fun pedicure. It would be fun as a mani I'm sure as well - I just have not gotten around to trying it like that.

China Glaze Flyin' High is a blue toned teal creme, with absolutely no shimmer. This color is a little less va-va-voom than Custom Kicks, but still pretty. For some reason, I think I'm going to enjoy this more in Fall than right now, with that slightly cool tone. For me, it is less of a must-have than Custom Kicks.

Do you have them both? Which is your favorite?

Nails of the Week: China Glaze For Audrey

This week I am wearing one of the most cult nail varnishes of all time. It seems every other nail varnish blogger has worn this at some point, and comparison swatches are run on a regular basis to check for accuracy. I’m talking of course of China Glaze’s For Audrey, which is inspired by the iconic Tiffany Blue. I didn’t get my Tiffany boxes out for comparison, but I can say that I really loved wearing this polish. It went on easily with two coats, and lasted a really long time for me. Definitely worth the iconic status.

Nails of the Week: China Glaze Light As Air

This is Light As Air from the China Glaze Up & Away collection which went on sale a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised that when this arrived I actually was more drawn to this than the other pretty pastels. It is very pretty on, though it takes a little work to get right.

Here's a close up of the rest of my haul

The Essie polish is Eternal Optimist which looks like a gorgeous sophisticated shade. I'll definitely be wearing that soon.

Nails of the Week: China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic

In sunlight

This blue shimmery number is China Glazes Rodeo Fanatic after 2 coats and a speedy dry topcoat. I kind of rushed the application of this and that's why it is all over my cuticles. But do you know what? I don't love this baby, and that's strange because normally I'm a freak for blues. I think that it is just a hint on the green side for me. The shimmer does come out nicely though.  

Indoors, with flash

Nails of the Week: China Glaze Sneaker Head

Apologies for the less than perfect mani here. These pics were taken on Tuesday and I had done them on Friday, so that's a good couple of days of wear on them. The color is China Glaze's Sneaker Head, a bright corally pink. It came out much redder than the bottle led me to believe. I normally don't love this color, but it was fun to wear for a few days. First picture is in natural sunlight, the second with flash.

Nails of the Week: China Glaze Short and Sassy

For Christmas Day this year I ended up wearing China Glaze's Short and Sassy from their Retro Diva collection. It's a nice, slightly cool dark dark red with just a hint of shimmer. In the bottle, it looks similar to Thunderbird which I posted about a couple of weeks ago, but this is darker. I put this on on Christmas day with no base coat (I know! I promise, next nail varnish haul I do I'll put it in the shopping basket!), and China Glaze's quick dry coating. It has not lasted very well, and I have chips which you can actually see on yesterday's picture. Hmm, 3-4 days wear. Anyways, a pretty color, definitely one I'll be repeating.

I'm heading to West Palm Beach for New Year's, so a great chance to wear summer bright colors instead! :)

Nails of the Week: China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Who can resist something red and sparkly at this time of year? This gorgeous shiner is China Glaze's Ruby Pumps, and I reckon just about every girl needs this in her polish arsenal. The camera didn't capture just how pretty the glitter is in this polish. I don't even really like reds that much, and really don't like glitter, and yet this makes me smile. I am super lazy about polish, so there is no base coat and only China Glaze's quick drying top coat. I put it on on Saturday, and there is only minimal chipping at the top of the nail which is barely noticeable. Really pleased about the strength and staying power of this one, but most importantly, the lovely shiny glittery redness of it all!

Nails of the Week: China Glaze Thunderbird

  Normally I am a muted dark narnish girl, and for the last 3 months I've barely switched it up from vamp red, navy, or gray. But it's Christmas, and I wanted something with a red shimmer in it to put me in the holiday spirit. I got 12 or 13 colors from China Glaze earlier in the week, and Thunderbird from their Retro Diva collection really hit the mark for holiday color. I really love the deep color and the red shimmer which catches the light beautifully. I've had it on since Tuesday, so I don't think it's done too badly in terms of wear and tear (I am no lady when it comes to nail varnish, and my nails are never much longer than what you see in the photo). Tomorrow I'm going to switch it out and go into full holiday spirit with either Ruby Pumps or Emerald Sparkle.