Essie Little Brown Dress (F/W 2010 Collection)

lighting: light box (true color)

I've had this gorgeous nail lacquer, Essie Little Brown Dress, for a while and I'm wearing it today because I purchased OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys and thought, "I must wear the old before I wear the new!"

lighting:  incandescent lamp

Color Description:  Little Brown Dress is a rich chocolate shade and has the perfect name because if it were any darker it would be called Little Black Dress. :)  This deep brown's application was awesome and to be so dark, I didn't have a problem with it flooding my cuticle area or being difficult to clean up.


Similar To:  Very similar, if not an exact match for Revlon's Hot For Chocolate and as mentioned above, close but not a dupe for OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys, which is a bit lighter than Little Brown Dress.

lighting:  halogen light

This Look:  Base coat is Color Club's Stuck On You, with two coats of Little Black Dress and a new top coat I'm trying out from a local beauty supply called Z Super Fast Dry.  It dried in seconds (yay!), is super shiny (yay!), but we'll see about longevity/lasting wear of this top coat in a few days. EDIT: This topcoat is not very long wearing and scratches easily - boooo!


Price Point/Availability: Essie Little Brown Dress can be found online and in some retailers for $8.00.


Well, it's getting late and I'm super tired so I'm going to say goodnight to all of you well-polished ladies.  Please let me know your thoughts. :)

Orly Pure Porcelain (Spring/Summer 2011 - Precious Collection)

lighting: Light Box
(true color)

lighting: Window

Color Description:  The fairest pink of them all, Pure Porcelain, is a very milky barely pink creme with a hint of lavender for added interest and appeal.  This is the exact same color of calamine lotion - no joke!  I actually opened up my bottle to verify my suspicions and wah-lah, you have Pure Porcelain.


Similar To:  Lately I've been striking out on comparisons but today I think I found a very similar color from Sally Hansen Hard As Nails - Lilac (the bottle pics tell the whole story).  I saw this color on a friend a while back and was in love!  However, whereas Pure Porcelain is a creme, Lilac has a slight iridescence to it and is less opaque.  Just gorgeous!


Price Point/Availability:  
Pure Porcelain from Orly's Precious Collection is now available at retailers in-store and online for $7.50.  Sally Hansen's Lilac retails for $2.50 and I purchased mine from CVS on clearance (75% off) last week.

This Look:  2 coats of Pure Porcelain (w/ no base) and one coat of Sherani Tufcoat Plus.

lighting: Incandescent Bulb
shows a bit more pink :)

Thanks for checking out the very delicate and beautiful Pure Porcelain and please let me know if you plan on picking this one up.  Would love to hear from a few of you well-polished peeps!

OPI Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em (Spring/Summer 2011)

OPI's Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em, is my second go around with OPI's Texas Collection and so far so good.  Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI's Executive VP and Artistic Director states that, "Wearing these colors on fingers and toes will accessorize the season's must-have pieces...".  Well, I love to accessorize and I really like this collection.


Color Description:  Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em is described as "a red-hot pink-red that deals a winning hand".  Notice how many times "red" is used in the description.  Well, on me, this color is a cherry red jelly (no pink in sight) that is very flattering and definitely gets compliments.


Similar To:  As this is a jelly, it's similar to nothing that I own.  Feel free to comment with other similar colors down below. :)


This Look:  Believe it or not, this is 4 coats of color for opacity with Barielle's Camouflage as a base and topping it with Shine and Hold from my local beauty supply.


Price Point/Availability:  The Texas Collection is in stores now, retailing for $8.50.  Just received my Ulta coupon in the mail for $3.50 of of $10 purchase.  I just may pick up a few more to help complete my collection.


Have and awesomely well-polished Monday - and if you have a day off like me that's even better!

Orly - Royal Velvet (Spring 2011 Collection)

Royal Velvet (RV) has just gone to the top of my favorite nail polish list and is so much more stunning in person than in these pics.  And more beautiful on the nail than in the bottle.  Onwards with the review!


Color Description:  I am personally describing Royal Velvet as the quintessential blurple - hands down!  How many facets of color can one lacquer have?  Well, with flashes of blue, purple and deep magenta, RV is a duo-chrome that must be purchased, owned and worn to truly appreciate.  I've included four pics and took many more to capture its essence and this is the best I could do ladies. :)


Similar To:  I've been told that Royal Velvet is very reminiscent of SpaRitual's Health Wealth and Happiness, as well as, China Glaze's Tempest.  If you own either of these, please let me know if they're dupes to RV.


This Look:  I'm wearing one coat of Barielle's Camouflage underneath becuase it was a bit sheer; two coats of RV and one coat of Shine and Hold.


Price Point/Availability:  Royal Velvet is from Orly's Precious Collection for Spring and will be available starting March 2011 for $7.50 each.  Looks like a few smaller beauty supply chains are putting them out a little early - yay for me!


Thanks for checking in and please have a wonderfully well-polished week!

My Blog is called AllThingsNails! (and handbags, and shoes, etc.), right?

Can you dig it?!?  Christian Siriano has outdone himself this time!  Just thought I'd share my latest, crazy-beautiful find:

"This caged shootie from Christian Siriano is exactly what you need (if you're feeling fierce)!"

"Lightly padded insole, and 4.5" wrapped stiletto with 1" wrapped platform."

"Strappy, exotic patent upper with a trendy gold-tone zipper up the back for easy on/off."

OPI - San Tan-Tonio

 

The Texas Collection has landed and I've gotten my hands on 7 of them...  Yeah, I went a little ballistic!!!  But anywhooo, today I am showcasing San Tan-Tonio.  


When I first saw this collection I knew this baby would be coming home with me and then I saw the OPI "Sorbet" aka Jelly video I thought, oh man, I NEED the entire collection, well almost.


Color Description:  Described as a Honey Brown, San Tan-Tonio, is a great color for Women of Color, those of us who are naturally brown/tan, or tanned otherwise - lol.  On me, this is as close to "mannequin hands" as I've seen.  It's a true tan with no pink undertones. A nice neutral, easy color.

Similar To: Nothing...  from my OPI collex, that is.  You may think you have a dupe but think again!  For your reference, I've included a bottle comp pic, you will find (l to r) San Tan-Tonio, Barefoot in Barcelona, Dulce de Leche, and Tickle My France-y.  


I thought these had similarities, but to my surprise, all but San Tan-Tonio have different levels of pink undertones.  We have a stand-alone color here, ladies! 

This Look:  I'm in a rush this morning but I didn't want to go another day with nekkid nails, so I didn't apply a base coat.  This is two coats of San Tan-Tonio and my fastest top coat of them all, Shine and Hold.


Price Point/Availabilty:  This retails for $8.50 and if you decide to shell out the ducats (i.e. cash money) for this color, you will not be disappointed.  Readily availabe online and popping up in various "brick and mortars" starting last week (2/2/2011) so keep your eye out for them.


Gotta go but have a great one and can't wait to talk to you, well-polished peeps, soon. :)

Super Professional #189 "Purple Glitter" over Maybelline Black Out (2/3/2011)

Ask me why I'm a week behind in my posts and I'll say, "it's been a busy week!"  But who's counting days, eh?  This is supposed to be fun and this mani was just that, FUN!!!


Color Description:  ♫♪"Do you see what I see?"♫♪  This is the kind of nail lacquer that makes you break out in song!  It's an extremely sheer purple base with multi-dimensional and multi-colored fine glitter.  It made my Maybelline Black Out look like shimmering green glass.  Just fantastic!  My pictures do no justice to this beauty.


Similar To:  Absolutely nothing!


This Look:  One coat of Starting Over After Artificials (base coat) , two coats of Maybelline Black Out, two coats of #189 and one coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine.


Price Point/Availability: Maybelline Black Out is discontinued and was recently found at my local Dollar Tree in a pack of two.  #189 was discovered via Chloe's Nails and should still be available for purchase on Ebay.  I searched #189 Purple Glitter and this is what I found.  The cost (including shipping to the U.S.) was just under $5.00 - not bad for a truly "out of this world" color!


Well, what to wear next?  I will, more than likely, showcase some of the new OPI Texas collection for you well-polished beauties, but until then, whenever that will be, have a great and awesome rest of the week. :)

"Extend-A-Mani" Maybelline Pink Pinata over Milani Silver Dazzle (2/2/2011)

I was just having fun and actually wore this look for a day or two.  I came across the Maybelline Colorama's at my (not so local) DollarTree and picked up Pink Pinata.  It's layered over my previous mani Silver Dazzle.


So the moral of the story is, don't give up hope on the Maybelline Colorama's coming to your local DollarTree - miracles really do come true!


Alright then, my real mani: Maybelline Black Out under this crazy Ebay Purple Glitter recommended by Chloe is coming up later today. :)