Misa Promotion Ends Tomorrow!

Just wanted to let you all know that the Misa polish promotion ends this Friday. So be sure to get your orders in before tomorrow, Friday January 30th, because they won't be accepting any more orders after that date.

If you've emailed them and haven't heard back, I would give them a call just to make sure they got your order.


And, to top it all off, I just found this super cool video some beautiful girl on YouTube made! I'm sitting here going, "Awwwweeeee!!!" I love it! I hope she doesn't mind me posting it!

OPI Valentine's Day Collection 2009 : 90210 By OPI

Edit: LOL sorry about the typo- I'm pretty sure that it's about Beverly Hills, not Chicago... Oops!

OPI's Valentine's Day release this year is a set of three polishes based on the new 90210 series. Another collection I have mixed feelings about.


Sweet As Annie-Thing! A light red with gold shimmer. Pretty, yes, but not the best red with gold shimmer I've ever seen.


Queen Of West Web-erly. Medium metallic red-purple shimmer. This is very sheer, it needs 3-4 coats to get rid of the "visible nail line". Not a bad color, but it doesn't stand out to me at all.


Pretty & Privileged. Rich red shimmer with pretty flakes. This is my favorite from the collection. I'm not really a red person, as anyone who's read this blog for five minutes can tell you, but this is sort of unique. The color is rather bland, but when you look up close at it, there are flakes in it! Little weird-shaped shimmer flakes. Like a very toned-down Nfu Oh Shiny Opal type of flake. I haven't seen that from OPI before, and I'm happy to see it make a debut. It's very, very subtle in this polish but it's definitely there.


Just like with South Beach, I'll admit that I know absolutely nothing about the new 90210 series. I've never seen a single episode, don't know a single character's name (but I'm guessing Annie is one of them!), I don't even know when it's on, and I don't really ever plan to. So, I have no idea how these colors relate to 90210. I'm assuming they each represent a character, but I could be wrong. How do the colors tie in to the show? Do they even? Like I said, I have no idea.

I'm not particularly wowed by any of these shades. I will say that they are all very appropriate for Valentine's Day, and will no doubt be popular with a lot of ladies. I have already heard stories of these selling out. So, if you love them, more power to you.


I'm really not all that excited about anything in this collection. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with any of the shades... Lots of people love red shimmers. It's just that we've seen these all before. Previous Valentine's Day releases from OPI have been much more unique. For example, the E-Romance Collection, which had two reds- one of which was a duochrome and one amazing glitter topcoat. Or, the Red Like Roses Collection which had an extremely unique metallic red, a romantic red and a beautiful shimmer topcoat. This collection needs a coordinating specialty topcoat!

Formula-wise, these were decent. Sweet As Annie-Thing! was the easiest to apply, perfect texture and everything. Pretty & Privileged gave me a little bit of trouble- it has Three-Free Syndrome: it's runny and thick at the same time. Not an issue if you're expecting it, but can give you a little difficulty if you're not. Queen Of West Web-Erly, however, was the problem child. It's both sheer and watery, which is a tricky combination. It needs 3 or 4 coats for opacity, but if you try to do too many coats too fast, it pools around the edges and near your cuticles. Other than the textural issues, there was no bubbling and the drying time was good.


Overall, nice for Valentine's Day or if you're a big 90210 fan but not as cool as OPI's previous Valentine's Day releases. It's missing the signature OPI coordinating glitter topcoat!

Random Zoya Swatches (Warning: Very Picture Heavy.)

These are for the lovely Phyrra, but since I know that a lot of you are planning on doing the Zoya Polish Exchange, I thought I'd post them on here :)

If I had to pick favorites, these are my favorite Zoya polishes (in the order they appear on the website, for handy browsing!):

Gaia
Sparkle Gloss
Snowsicle
Angella
Glimmer
Shimmer
Pasha
Vegas Freeze
Zara
Malia
Venus
Areetha
Kylie2
Manhattan Mixer
Creamy
OC Cooler
Gabrielle
Ginger
Lianne
Sienna
Annie
Elke
Soho Punch
Kiki
Whitney
Audrina
Jinx
Richelle
Colette
Shivon
Kaufda
Beyonnce
Anastasia
Pru
Kalista
Evangeline
Ivy
Jade
Delilah
Jacy
Colby
Mikka
Rihana
Blair
Sloane
Kierra
Rea
Lael
Roxy
Ki
Hope
Yasmeen
Tangy
Irene
Suvi
Southbeach Ice
Yummy
Jo
Kotori
Tart
Indigo
Trixie
Harley
Freja
Angelina
Casey
Raven

Most of those I've posted on here at some time or another, use the search function to find past swatches. Here are a bunch of swatches I'm pretty sure I haven't posted:

Beyonnce. Duochrome.

Blyss

Paris

Ginger

Eve

Evangeline

Delilah (View full size!)

Aria

Angella

Gabrielle

Harmonie

Ivy

Jade (View Full Size!)

Lindsay
Lillith

Kiki

Kaufda



Juno. Slight duochrome.

Sienna. (Incredibly stunning.)

Pasha

Milla


Marry / Marry J (Bottle says Marry, website lists it is Marry J)

Roxy

Venus

Tama

Vegas Freeze

*whew* That's a lot of swatches!

Now go forth, be conquered.....

Misa Living On The Fast Lane Collection, Spring 2009

Ooh, I just got the latest collection from Misa, Living On The Fast Lane, and I am so excited! Check it out!



Dirty Sexy Money. Some sort of dusty green-turquoise creme. I have no idea how to describe this color other than freakin' sweet. Dirty Sexy Money is totally unique- I don't own a single color like this. I can't even think of a color to compare it to- maybe if you mixed some green and grey into China Glaze For Audrey? Who knows. I'm in love. Dirty Sexy Money also has a retro kind of look to it, and it really kinda does look like dirty money.


On The Edge. Stunning dark blue creme. Indoors, it's quite a bit darker and more subdued looking, but outside in the sunlight the color really pops. It's bold and dramatic. What's not to love?


Push Upon It. Rich, pigmented berry creme. This color breaks my camera! I can't seem to get a good picture of it. It's like the picture, but darker, deeper, more purple and not as glowy looking. It's close to Zoya Moxie, they have a similar 'feel' to them. I will try to figure out how to get a more accurate shot of this.


Right Here Now, No More Later. Bright sky-blue creme. WHOA. Bright! The picture speaks for itself- this color really stands out. It's cheerful.


Speed Of Life. Orange creme. Orange!! I love orange!! This is a lighter orange, not too deep like a true pumpkin orange would be, but it's not neon, either. It has a soft look to it, like Halloween candy or orange sherbet. Truly beautiful.



Stop Rewinding, Just Fast Forward. Bright coral-red creme. I've been seeing a lot of this color lately. It's like some of the other colors in this collection: Bright, but not neon. It dries shiny. Very rich, very punchy, great spring and summer pedicure color. I imagine that this color would look good on any skintone.

Overall, I'm super-excited about this collection. I have two new favorites, Dirty Sexy Money and Speed Of Life. The creme formula really makes these colors stand out. With all the shimmer I've been wearing lately, these are quite a refreshing change. There's just something about cremes in bright colors that makes your nails look perfect. I love them.

Sure, not all of the colors are completely unique- I could probably find a couple duplicates for On The Edge, Push Upon It and Stop Rewinding Just Fast Forward, but that doesn't make them any less beautiful. I really like how this spring collection is not your stereotypical spring collection. No pastels, no pink! I dig it. Spring collections are my least favorite, and this one is a sigh of relief for me. It was fun to swatch, unlike swatching 24857 shades of pastel pink and red.

The formula is perfect. No issues at all. Smooth like butter. These also, oddly enough, dried much faster than most of my other Misa polishes. I don't know if it's because of the pigment of these particular shades, or if it's the creme formula or what, but I like it. Fast drying polishes are an absolute must for me, I don't have the patience to deal with polishes that never dry even with quick-dry topcoat and drops *cough*CND*cough*.

If you are a fan of blue or green, you need to check out Dirty Sexy Money. You will either love it or hate it. I love it. Like I said, it's totally unique, one of a kind, can't think of a single polish to match it.

One final observation: These smooth, glassy, perfect creme finish nails are just screaming KONAD ME!!!! KONAD ME NOW!!!!!!!

Lippmann Collection Spring 2009

Lippmann Collection's new colors for spring, inspired by high-end designers and fashion photographers.



Purple Rain, designed for Zac Posen's spring collection at New York Fashion Week. A light, delicate metallic lilac/violet shade. This seems like a polish that would show strong brushstrokes, but they're really not bad at all. It looks very "stripey" when you apply it, but once it's fully dried, the brushstrokes are only barely there. Really nice shade, very spring-like. I wonder if this would work well with Konad...?


PYT: Pretty Young Thing. A soft pinky coral JELLY!! I love this! I almost want to call this peach, it seems too interesting to just call it pink, and too light to call it coral. You guys know that this is not my type of color at all, but I'm in love with this one. It's very sheer, but once you get to three coats (this picture is three coats) it has that squishy-shiny-translucent jelly finish. Awesome. The color is really flattering, surprisingly. Usually pinks make my hands look dirty, this one just looks fresh and pretty. And squishy.


The formula on these is perfect. I can't find anything wrong with it. It's smooth, it dries very quickly, it's not runny or gooey despite the three-free formulation. When your polish costs $15, your formula better be perfect, and Lippmann Collection doesn't disappoint.

Overall, very pretty, very springy, very feminine. Not my typical choice for polish, but they're just so pretty I can't not like them! Someone take my temperature.... I must be sick...

OPI South Beach Collection Spring/Summer 2009

OPI South Beach Collection - Spring/Summer 2009. Release date is February 4th.

Pics first, opinions second :)


Bronzed To Perfection. A warm reddish-bronze with awesome flaky shimmer. Very strange shade choice for spring, but I'm digging it. The shimmer in it is what makes it stand out to me- instead of tiny, round particles it has itty-bitty little irregular shaped shimmer.


Clubbing Til Sunrise. Shimmery, orangey gold. Reminds me of maybe a cross between OPI 18k Ginza Gold and OPI Live From NY... It's OPI!



Conga-Line Coral. Shimmery reddish coral. I like the shimmery finish, but I can't say I really like the shade. It's too in-between for me. I need something that stands out.



Done Out In Deco. Pale lilac that leans a little bit blue. I love this one. Very spring-appropriate, another "Easter Egg" type shade. It's a lot lighter than I had expected it to be, and it is somewhere in between lilac and periwinkle.


Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot! Bright pink creme. I know that a lot of people will really love this color, but it's just not for me. First of all, I hate the name- it instantly brings to mind that incredibly irritating song that drives me insane. Second, this could easily be mistaken for a dozen different OPI polishes... Elephantastic Pink comes to mind first. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the color itself, it is a very pretty hot pink. It's just that it feels done to death.



Miami Beet. Rich beet-purple creme. Whoa, this one was a surprise! it looked really uninteresting on the promotional shot, but I love this on the nail. Just goes to show me that I can't always judge my favorites based on the promo pics. This is a little more of a vibrant purple in real life, my camera couldn't pick up the richness of this shade.


OPI On Collins Ave. Very bright orange-red. Maybe more orange than red. This is a really cool color- for some reason it reminds me of shrimp. OPI Cajun Shrimp maybe? I want to do a pedicure in this color. I've really been drawn to near-neon orange-reds lately.


Overexposed In South Beach. Shimmery purple. My favorite out of the collection! Again, looks nothing like I thought it would from seeing the promotional pictures. It's saturated and shimmery and reminds me a lot of OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not.


Paint My Moji-Toes Red. Muted red creme. Very muted, actually. So much so that it looks almost mauve in the bottle. I know that the use of the word "mojito" in the name is just so they can make a toes pun, but I really think that this should have been green. Mojito says green to me! Again, this color will probably be really popular with the average salon client, but I can't see a whole lot of nail junkies being excited about another red polish.


Party In My Cabana. Bright pink creme. Wait, didn't I just see this color? Zzzzz, booooring. Okay, I'm being harsh. Again, nothing wrong with the color, but it's been done to death.


Sand In My Suit. Shimmery, sandy nude. This really does remind me of sand. This is not my type of color at ALL, but I have to admit, I actually like it. At first I thought it was ugly, but then I put it on and it really grew on me. I like the silvery shimmer.



Suzi & The Lifeguard. Shimmery light pink. The shimmer in this baby-pink shade is very fine, almost to the point of being a frost. Very cute, very sweet. It reminds me of seashells.


I have very mixed feelings about this collection. Nothing in this collection really excites me. On one hand, it's all very work-appropriate, conservative and feminine and will most likely be a well-loved collection by a lot of women. On the other hand, it's too safe and there's really not a unique shade in the whole collection.

I do really like a few of the shades- Overexposed In South Beach, Miami Beet, Bronzed To Perfection, Done Out In Deco, OPI On Collins Ave. Wait... that's almost half the collection, isn't it? Okay, I like half the collection. That's reasonable. I was just hoping to really love the entire thing, like I have with so many OPI collections in the past.

I will admit that I know absolutely nothing about South Beach. The only thing that comes to mind when I think of South Beach is the South Beach Diet. I can picture the cover of the book, a metallic shade of green and aqua. Sparkling sea water. And that's what I think is missing from the collection. Water! South Beach is still a beach, and beaches have water, right? This collection could have used a seafoam green, an ocean blue, even a turquoise or a mother-of-pearl seashell shade. When I think of beaches, I think of fun, lively colors- swimsuits, sparkling water, beach balls, tropical drinks, sunshine. The OPI South Beach seems like a sleepy, vacant beach next to a retirement home. The colors look weathered and washed out, like they need a new coat of paint.

I know, I'm probably in the minority here, but I feel like this collection is missing something.

That being said, I'll move on to application issues. There are none. These polishes apply amazingly well, they're silky smooth and most shades only need two coats for complete opacity. Even with one coat, these colors aren't streaky or uneven at all. OPI must have really been working on their three-free formula, because this is a huge improvement! No running, no globbing, no overly thick polish. Just perfect. Dreamy, even.

That's my take on it. I don't love it, but I don't hate it. It's just okay. I wish they would have been a little more 'risky' in the color choices, or at least had a little more variety within the collection. Red, red, pink, pink, pink, nude, brown, purple. Maybe OPI has something really super-exciting planned for us in upcoming seasons. What do you think?