(Click for enlarged picture)

I originally had this listed for sale, but the NBers over on Makeup Alley told me to hang on to it since it’s HTF.  I’m glad I decided to!  Believe it or not, I’ve had this polish for at least a year or more, and this is the first time I ever wore it!  It’s a nice, deep and rich chocolate that seems to have gold micro-shimmer to it.  Definitely a keeper, and I’m glad it works well with my skintone!  If you don’t have it and can find it for a good price, grab it!

Now, I know my pics don’t do this polish justice at all!  One shows more of the purple, but the blurred pic shows the grey… Love it… And it’s my first Chanel polish too!  I don’t regret it one bit

(Click on the links to see the enlarged picture)

I had the biggest lemming for OPI My Throne for a Cranberry Scone, and I finally snagged one from a sale… Talk about a happy woman!  It’s the perfect berry cream that can be worn year round and fit every season.  It applied perfectly in just two coats, and if you’re good about it, you might be able to get away with one thick coat.  I love it, and I think it’s time to invest in my first back-up!

And, as a special bonus, you get to see my 5 year old daughter’s NOTD!  She did her nails herself, and immediately asked me to “take a picture to put on the internet.”  LOL!  How cute is that?!  She used LA Colors Color Craze in BCC, and wanted to layer Maybelline Silver Spells over it (chunky glitter), but I didn’t let her.  Next time!  I should start getting OPI minis for her!

So, I like this… But I’m not sure how much.  Swept Off My Feet is from Essie’s 2009 Fall Collection.  I’d describe it as a dusty rose/mauve color.  It took three coats to get this as opaque as it is.  Essie seems so hit and miss with  how opaque a color is in just two coats.  However, so I love the brand and I can’t wait to get my Fall 2010 colors!  Yay!

Okay, I was very happy to have found this!  This is a color from Maybelline’s Fall collection for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week 2010.  The collection has a dark green, navy blue, deep shimmery purple, darkened berry cream, and this lovely beauty.  I also got the dark purple, Pretty in Purple.  I wish my picture picked up the shimmer, but of course it doesn’t.  However, you can mosey on over to Steph’s Closet for pics of this lovely as well as pictures of the collection display (here and here).

I have GOT to find my lightbox!  I have no idea where I put it, so I might have to make a new one.  That’s okay too though!  It’s been rainy the last few days here in NY, so I haven’t had sunshine to try to take my pics with.  I think the sun’s supposed to come out to play tomorrow though

08/24/2010 – Essie Lacquered Up

A nice vibrant red.  It’s a true red that didn’t seem to lean more orange or more blue.  I like it!  I had slight VNL with two coats, but nothing horribly noticeable.

08/25/2010 – OPI Baguette Me Not

A muted salmon… Soft, but not as coral or pink as my pic might make it look.  Slight VNL with two coats.  Definitely a fall color IMHO, which is okay because I’m ready for fall!

(Gah!  The spacing on this theme is killing me!  I either need to fix it, or make a new one!)

So, I recently dipped my toes back into the pool of Nail Polish Madness and bought a few new polishes.  I bought Confetti Moonstruck thinking it looks a lot like ChG Channelesque.  I had also bought Petites Color Fever in Periwinkle, and it looks a bit like Maybelline Hip Huggers.  And, Petites Vintage Gray looks quite a bit like Color Club High Society.  Let’s compare them, shall we?

Confetti Moonstruck vs ChG Channelesque

Okay, in the bottle, they look almost identical.  However, when applied Confetti pulls more brown than Channelesque, and you need at least two thick coats or maybe four thin coats to equal Channelesque.  However, I’d recommend it as a close dupe.

Petites Periwinkle vs Maybelline Hip Huggers

Maybelline Hip Huggers tends to have a bit more blue to it and is darker.  I think if you added a smidgen of dark blue to Periwinkle, you’d have a good dupe!

Petites Vintage Gray vs Color Club High Society

Color Club High Society has more of a brown/taupe look to it, where as Petites Vintage Gray is definitely grey.  Not the best of dupes… And I tested Petites against CC Who Are You Wearing, and it’s darker.

Granted, they’re not the best pictures, but I have no idea where I put my lightbox!  I might just have to make a new one…

There’s a reason I always ask my DH to rate things on a scale of 1 to 10… Because I can’t make up my mind!  It’s a good thing I’m a woman, so I use that as my excuse with him LOL!

I recently got a sample of pureDKNY, the latest scent from DKNY.  It’s sweet enough for summer, but all I can think about is apple picking and pumpkin pie when I wear it!  For some reason, instead of getting a perfume I’ve grown to like over the last few days, I got Dior J’adore.  It seemed to sit okay with me last night, so I thought I would be okay with it… Sadly, this was not the case.

I was fine last night when I tested it out, and again this morning when I used it.  It wasn’t until this afternoon when I went out to lunch.  By the time I came back, my head was pounding!  I’m not sure if the mix of the summer heat and my skin warming up is what did it, but something about the scent induced a sinus headache like no other!  I called Macy’s to be sure they’d take it back since I opened it, and luckily they said yes.

Of course I almost made a silly choice in purchasing Burberry Brit Sheer since I know I like it from when it was first released over a year ago, but I decided to go with my gut and get pureDKNY.  I tell you what – I’m glad I did!  The sales associate was even nice enough to let me have the free bag and mini body butter you’re supposed to get for purchasing a 3.4 fl. oz. even though I only got a 1.7 fl. oz. bottle.

Goodness knows why I didn’t just bother getting this to begin with last night… I could’ve saved myself from a headache, the torture of making a bad decision, and I could’ve saved some gas!  But, I did end up spending $20 less for the same size as the J’adore and still got a free gift!  I’m now a happy and lovely smelling woman!  I’ll have to write a more formal review on this later, but you’ll have to be gentle on me since I’m definitely not a perfumista!

I know I said I wouldn’t be gone, and I didn’t mean to be.  I just haven’t been on top of things like I should have been.  Life has been a roller coaster for me lately, to say the least, and I kinda of neglected my site without meaning to.  I haven’t been posting on the Nail Board or Twitter either.

Anywho!  Crazy Daisy is a gorgeous bright orange with super fine gold shimmer… Strangely enough, I actually like it on me, and I normally don’t get along well with oranges (or yellows).  It was smooth as silk to apply, and though I still have a tad of VNL with two coats, I don’t think I would’ve used three.  From what I could tell, it dried pretty fast too.  I’ll give it two thumbs up

And as a bonus, here’s my NOTD from last Monday that I never got to upload: Lippmann Collection Bitches Brew!  Love that name, and love the color!  Oh, I definitely need more Lippmann too since it applied like a dream!

I skipped posting yesterday since I didn’t have time, so you’re getting a slight two-for-one today!

WnW Rain Check
Very sheer blurple, and this is with three coats.  I wish it was only a two-coater, but what are you gonna do!  It would be a good worksafe color IMHO.  I was mani twins with my friend D (Short and Sweet Nails).  She only used two coats, and I think it’s much better than my three!  Excuse the shadowing, but this was the best true-to-life color pic I could get.

OPI Confucius Says “Coral”
I hadn’t heard of this color until I received it in a swap.  At the time there was only one on Evil bay, and it was almost $30!  It’s a gorgeous creme coral, though it tends to pull some sense of hot pink in pics… My husband thought it was pink instead of orange as I assumed he would.  Sadly, I still have VNL with three-coats.  Again, excuse any shadowing!