A little while ago, one of the lovely girls on MUA RAOK’d me these great OPI Halloween decals (along with a my mega lemming OPI Boo-berry). I fell in love with the Jack-o-Lantern decal immediately and decided that I would use them for one of my Halloween manis this year. I’ve actually never used decals before so I was surprised to find that, counter-intuitively, decals are actually really stiff. So stiff that the plastic refused to mold with the curvature of my nail bed, causing the ends of the decal to pop up. It still looks okay, I guess, but the psycho perfectionist in me is probably going to use this flaw as an excuse to remove this manicure and break out the coveted OPI Ghostess with the Mostess for Halloween Night

It wasn’t just the stiffness of the decals that ruined this nail art attempt. No sir. Lots of factors contributed to this fail. OPI Osaka to Me Orange is a major PITA. It took me four coats to even get close to complete coverage. But I already knew that would happen, I’m just a glutton for punishment. (You can check out my comparisons of different oranges, including my previous battle with OtMO, here and here.)

I topped my creation with China Glaze Ghoulish Glow. Ghoulish Glow got a bit of a bad rap for not being glow-y enough but I like the effect. My picture doesn’t do it justice but it actually glows a lot. To get the best results I sugget the following: the glow-in-the-dark particles inside this polish settle very quickly so you have to shake the ever-living-day-lights out of it a few minutes before you use it to get the maximum glow effect. (Of course, let the bubbles settle before you put it on.) As for the coats, you have to build. 1 coat gave me a little glow, 3 coats gave me mega glow. The down side of this polish is that it dulls the color that you put it over, but that’s going to happen with an glow-in-the-dark polish that is meant to be used as a top coat.

Pama Liqueur, makers of pomegranate flavored liqueur (yum), have teamed up with Essie for November’s National Pomegranate Month to create a gorgeous deep pomegranate red polish. I’ll have swatches and a review of this color soon but you can get your own free bottle of the limited edition Essie Pama right now by signing up on Pama’s website.

As a side note, if you love pomegranate as I do, poke around on Pama’s website after you sign up for the free polish. In addition to a recipe for Pomegranate Mimosas, they have step by step instructions on how to open a pomegranate. I always knew I was doing it wrong.

CND Black Platinum and Zoya Freja are pretty close but not the same. Black Platinum is slightly more frosty and metallic. Freja has a slightly more bluish tinge. CND Hyde in the Dark has the best coverage of the bunch, it two coats where all the others (except for Dying Love) looked best with three. It’s my favorite from this bunch. Color Club After Hours gave me some cuticle drag issues. That didn’t happen to me before when I swatched this color so I’m going to blame my haste in painting. Finally, Misa Dying Love is the darkest from this set, close too black. It also had great coverage at two coats.

Some of you might not know this but I do take requests. If I have the color you want to see, I’ll get it up as soon as I can, even though I’m not as speedy as Scrangie is with her requests. Lippmann Nefertiti was recently requested by a woman looking for a good gold. Nefertiti is slightly lighter and less foil-like than OPI I Get a Kick Out of Gold. It’s very appropriately named. This shade of gold is reminiscent of ancient Egyptian sarcophagi. The texture is antique-ish, fairly unique. It’s not rough to the touch but it has a rough looking texture, almost matte. As far as application – I was impressed. Very easy to apply, perfect in two coats.

For this manicure I used one coat of Color Club Stuck on You, two coats of Lippmann Nefertiti, and one coat of Lippmann Addicted to Speed. Ever since Lippmann included a mini Addicted to Speed in the very popular Party Like a Rock Star mini set, everyone has been raving about it non-stop. All the hype made me decide to cheat on my Holy Grail, Seche Vite. Addicted to Speed dries *alot* faster, amazingly so. All the other common seche beefs were absent as well, no bubbles, no tip pull even with no tip wrapping. Addicted to Speed has a no fuss application that might be easier for people who have not yet mastered the application of Seche Vite. It’s not as glossy as Seche, which might actually appeal to some people. It’s worth the money though I admit that it’s a bit of a splurge. I’m going to hoard my bottle for as long as I can.

A few months ago, Dior Liquorice was *the* ‘it’ color. I fell victim to its charms after seeing a few pictures of it on other girls. It wasn’t exactly disappointing but I think this color was, sadly, the catalyst of my antipurpleitis. So, despite the fact that the color is a great tyrian purple (reddish plummy mega shimmer) and it wore like iron (three whole days, not one visible sign of wear), I just wasn’t wowed by it. Maybe it’s because the color is way more impressive before it dries? After it dried, even with a healthy slathering of Seche, it seemed a little duller.

Liquorice was supposedly a Nordstrom’s exclusive. Seeing as how I didn’t get mine from Nordies and the serial numbers were filed off the bottle, gangland firearms style – I think it’s safe to assume that the people who sold it to me were of the unscrupulous sort. (Picture a man in a trench coat meeting me in some dark alley. He opens the left side of his jacket pointing to several tiny pockets, each containing a bottle of some high end limited edition exclusive nail polish. He says, “Psst girl, whatchu neeeeeed”?) Ultimately, I think Liquorice is a keeper but I probably won’t be running to it very often.

OPI My Private Jet is definitely in the top half of my top 20 favorite polishes of all time. Released with the OPI Night Brights in 2007, My Private Jet has recently gone the way of the Dodo. Rather, OPI has made the baffling decision to discontinue this most beloved color. When we caught wind that this color was discontinued, most girls decided to pick up an extra bottle for posterity. It was around that time that the color discrepancy between the original batches of My Private Jet and the more recent batches became apparent.

The original MPJ is large bright dense prismatic holographic glitter suspended is semi-jelly-ish charcoal polish. The color is not exactly black, but pretty close. I’ve always preferred wearing it with 4 coats to build the opacity of the base color. Other girls circumvent the multiple coats but layering the original over black or charcoal. The new MPJ is more opaque, lighter colored, with finer less prismatic holographic glitter.

It’s hard to tell the difference in this photo but I assure you, they’re not very similar at all. This swatch is 4 coats of the original MPJ and 3 coats of the new MPJ. I could have easily gotten away with 2 coats on New MPJ but I’ve evolved into a habitual 3 coater, I can’t stop myself. I do like the new version, but the old version is always going to have a special place in my stash.

We’re still running the Color Club Franken Polish Contest. I decided to extend the entry date until Halloween. The people who entered so far have some amazing custom mixes, but we need more entries! I’m happy to announce that the judges for the contest will be myself, Scrangie, and Dami of Perfect Polish Tips.

We’re also still running the Give Us Zulu Campaign! If you haven’t signed it the petition yet, please do so! If you feel the way I do about Zulu, get the word out!

Since the consensus seems to be that dark chocolaty browns are much loved, here are the two dark browns that were recently released with the new fall colors by Adorée.

Adoree 247, a darkish milk chocolate creme, is the lighter of two dark browns. Excellent application. This is 2 coats.

Adoree 248¹ , my current NOTD, is a dark chocolate brown. 248 is as dark as Misa Passion for Fashion, the difference is that Passion for Fashion is a redder dark brown. For this mani, I used Barielle Camo as the base, 2 coats of color, and 1 coat of Seche Vite. I usually only use Camo for polishes with problematic application but this time I’m using it because I started a nail whitening treatment, Dr. G’s, recommended by Scrangie. It’s working, but now I’m afraid of wearing dark colors and setting my progress back. Camo is supposed to prevent yellowing so I’m using it in conjunction with the whitening treatment. I’ll post about Dr. G’s whitening product soon.

Adoree is available from Esther’s Nail Center in the U.S. and Pro Nail Store in Europe, specifically Sweden.

Misa Runway Collection was released several seasons ago but its awesomeness goes mostly unappreciated. I love collections that have themes that relate the colors to each other in some way. Runway is composed of chic dusty shades, very reminiscent of haute couture, that look as though they were meant to be together. Despite being an older collection, it’s surprisingly relevant as far as this fall’s newest trends. It’s almost as if Misa had some insight into the future with this one. All these colors have excellent application (except where noted.)

Misa Runway Diva is a dusty rose. Excellent application, this is two coats. Love it.

Misa Fashionista is a dusty purplish mauve. Again, excellent application, this is two coats. *Love it.*

Misa High Waist Hue is a dusty pink. It’s actually a pinker version of OPI Ticke My France-y, which I passionately love. It also has really subtle, practically nonexistent blue shimmer. I only noticed it under my photography lighting. This is 3 coats but the application was good.

Misa Moody Model is a milk chocolate creme. Ah, this is that elusive and rare wearable brown. 2 coats. And again, great application.

Misa Passion 4 Fashion is a dark chocolate creme. Everyone has been wondering how this stacks up against Lippmann Maneater. Lippmann is a much darker ‘almost black’. Passion 4 Fashion is as dark as chocolate can get without looking ‘almost black’. This is 2 coats, also great application.

Misa Hot Couture is a dusty honey mustard creme. I wore this one was a mani earlier this week. I really *really* wanted to love this one because it’s so unique and chic looking in the bottle. Sadly, it didn’t flatter my skin tone at all. Maybe when I get a tan again? I’m sort of a pasty yellow color right now. : P This is 2 coats. My bottle was a little on the thick side so I used 3 drops of thinner and it was fine.

I *love* Color Club Fast Woman. Normally, I’d classify this color as a straight up vampy but it’s actually a really deep brilliant red. I suppose the distinction is irrelevant because this color is obviously well within the vampy realm. Colors like this can only be described as disgustingly gorgeous, period. For this mani, I used one coat of Color Club Stuck on You, 3 coats of Fast Woman, 1 coat of Seche Vite. It applied well, no complaints. Fast Woman is from the Color Club In the Fast Lane Collection which also includes another great vampy, Color Club Killer Curves. I plan to swatch the entire collection soon, so stay tuned.

I feel silly covering winter collections already when, in Florida, we’re still having 90 degree days. Honestly, the winter collections sort of crept up on me. In actuality, I haven’t even finished covering all the fall collections yet. In any case, here are swatches of the Essie Winter 2008 collection.  It’s a solid collection with several purchase worthy colors, but there’s nothing ultra extraordinary or ground breaking. Most of these colors dried fairly matte, and as always, my swatches don’t include a top coat. No major application issues with this collection but I had to use 3 coats with all of them in order to get full coverage.

Essie It’s Genius is a light tyrian purple with complex green to gold shimmer. Essie calls it a ‘violet quartz shimmer’. This color applies pretty sheer, so I used 3 coats for this swatch. I know I will love this one madly when I get over my purple discrimination phase. This image was taken with flash.

Essie Shift Power is a gold frost. It’s not what I would consider a true gold, to me it looks like there is a slight coppery tinge to it. Like It’s Genius, Shift Power also applied pretty sheer so I used 3 coats for this swatch. The name of this color is a little perplexing to me… is it supposed to evoke car imagery? or elicit the idea of a powerful business woman? I don’t get it. I don’t have Chanel Gold Fiction so I wonder how close these two are to one another? (Paging Scrangie.)

Essie Damsel in a Dress is a deep reddish purple (apparently the name for a reddish purple is currant – you learn something new everyday). Vampy lovers will dig this color. I probably could have gotten away with 2 coats on this one, but I used 3. This image was taken with flash.

Essie Sexy Divide is a dark purple with bright violet shimmer. We’ve had several similar colors released this season, all of which haven’t made any significant impression on me – Sexy Divide is different. It’s less flat than the others, definitely brighter. The shimmer gives this shade depth. My image doesn’t do it justice, it was taken with flash.

Essie Rock Star Skinny is a vampy brownish red with very subtle shimmer. I used 3 coats but I probably could have used two and still achieved the same depth of color. A lot of girls are not a fan of the name, but I don’t find it offensive.

Essie Bold and Beautiful is a gorgeous vampy dark red crème with a jelly-like quality. This, too, was a three coater.

This collection hasn’t hit the e-tailers yet but it’s been spotted in brick & mortars all over the U.S.

This isn’t nail polish related but anything BCA related is kosher with me, so check out Casual Lavish for the details on how to enter and win. : )

Nubar is quickly becoming my go-to brand for duo/multi-chrome polishes. Nubar Peacock Feathers is a particularly popular multi-chrome among polish addicts, with good reason. It’s a pretty impressive shade. A lot of duo-chromes are duds, very flashy in the bottle but they lack the same intensity and variation of color on the nail. Peacock Feathers is the exact opposite of a dud. I actually got flashes of frosty purple, blue, and green, constantly. It’s purple in most lighting. When it’s not purple, it’s green – the blue comes out mostly in-doors but it is there. Sometimes between the blue and purple flash I got a very pretty greenish, gray ashy shade. My picture doesn’t do this color justice but you can see some of the variation of color reflected in the bottle. The only downside is that I’m currently going through an evil weird “ugh purple” phase that just came out of no where. Purples are the roots of my addiction. I *love* purple but lately I just can’t stand the sight of the color. I hope I get back to my purple loving self soon because it seriously comprises 35% of my collection. As an aside, my bottle of Seche is reaching the dead zone, the stage at which even an ocean thinner cannot revive it – that’s why the gap area looks so weird.

(And since I know girls are going to ask… Nubar is available from www.bynubar.com.)

I guess it’s somewhat ironic that I’m posting the OPI Holiday in Toyland collection reds during the Presidential debate. Don’t take it the wrong way – this blog is *all* blue for Barack. In any case, here are the swatches, 3 shimmery reds and 3 red cremes. You guys know I’m not a huge fan of shimmery reds so in recognition of the fact that I am in the vast minority, I’m going to keep most of my comments restricted to descriptions and observations.

OPI Rosy Mistletoe-sies is a frosty, shimmery magenta toned red. My image does not reflect the true shimmeriness of this polish.

OPI A Ruby For Rudolph is a very *very* shimmery, dare I say… sparkly red. The shimmer in this color is actually fairly unique in the sense that it has a strange chunky quality.

OPI Don’t Toy With Me, a burgundy with magenta toned shimmer, is definitely my favorite from the shimmery red set. I needed 3 coats for this color, all the other colors in this collection looked very good with two coats.

OPI Girls Just Want To Play is the lightest red in the bunch. It’s a coral red that in my opinion leans towards an orange tone but I wouldn’t call it orange-y. The cremes in this collection did not have the high gloss finish that usually pretty standard for OPI cremes.

OPI Little Red Wagon is the darkest (and bluest) red creme in the set. This is a traditional red – very pretty.

OPI Red Hot Gift is the medium toned red in the creme set. There are some very subtle blue undertones. I’d say this color is a shade or so darker than OPI Thrill of Brazil.

Holy &*%^. Zoya Casey is by the far the prettiest vampy I’ve ever seen, ever. It’s a deep deep deep deep jelly-like ultra glossy plum with a red base. The color is an ‘almost black’ which normally would irritate me to no end but there is just something alluring about this color, dramatic and intense. My ultimate test for nail polish is whether a color makes me continuously stare down at my nails. Casey definitely caused some major mani rubbernecking. Despite my nail polish ADD, I didn’t want to remove Casey. This is one for the top 20 list for sure. For this manicure, I used Zoya Anchor for the base, 3 coasts of Casey, and Seche Vite as the top coat.

Casey is a rediscovered color. I’ve had it in my stash forever. The downside to having so much nail polish is that good colors tend to get lost in the mess. So I have a new system. I have all my untried polishes listed in an excel spreadsheet. Then I use this website (http://random.org/integers/) to randomly select a number. I wear whatever color corresponds to the randomly selected number – Casey was the first manicure I selected in that fashion.