Nicole By OPI-Iceberg Lotus

Happy Sunday! I know I've been gone for quite a while. I'm sorry to leave y'all hanging but a lot has been going on. I turned 30 on May 20th and celebrated a lot for that. I was spoiled by all my friends and family, near and far. It was amazing. In addition, I had another biopsy related to my thyroid issues and I'm finding out the results tomorrow. I'm nervous, so send me pretty polished good vibes.

Tonight, I'd like to share a polish with you that has sentimental value. This is probably the only polish in my collection, aside from my recent Deborah Lippmann acquisition, that has that kind of value to me. And the reason why is because it was given to me for my birthday last year by one of my very, very good friends. He is a person that knows me very well, even though we've only known each other for a short time and he's been a great source of support and clear-headedness through a lot of my thyroid issues. And, half of my current favorite songs started as Spotify links or playlists from him. The best part, and the part I love the most, is that he picked the polish out without any peeks at my wishlist or collection. To date, my homie is the only guy that has given me nail polish for any occasion and that is a major reason why this polish is so special to me.

Let's look!

Will you just look at that gorgeous blue/purple around the edges?!

This is three coats of Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus...an emerald glass fleck in a green jelly base. The glass flecks flash blue, purple, and even pink in certain lights and it's just a stunner to look at in the sunshine. I wore this for one of my birthday manicures and got so many compliments on it. It's definitely in the top 5 of my stash and will probably stay there for a very very long time. And it's funny--I never would have picked this out on my own in the store but here it is, one of my favorites. 

I hope you enjoyed tonight's post! I've got a lot of good things coming up, including some mini-swatch fests of a local to Buffalo indie nail lacquer and I recently joined a challenge group that I've been following for a while and you'll see my maiden manis for this month's theme here, soon. Stay tuned!!

xo, ali

GOT(F?): BLUE!

Good evening, polished pretties!

I'm sharing another challenge mani with you from The Crumpet's Golden Oldie Thursday challenge. It's on Friday for me this week because I was on a really bad date last night. Oh, the woes of being single. I should really start a separate blog for my online dating horror stories.

Let's get on with it!

I was digging through my stash, looking for an old blue that I could use and I landed on something that I haven't used since I first got it, about two years ago.

Sadly, I only have one shot of it for you guys tonight because Picasa isn't syncing right :(

This is from Forever 21's Love and Beauty cosmetics line. Usually they're terrible at naming their polishes but this one was called Imperial Blue. And I think imperial is the right way to describe this. A gorgeous, deep royal blue jelly filled with a duochrome glass fleck that flashes purple and blue. Can you believe this polish cost a little under $3?!

However, it chipped the very next day :\

What do you think? What's your favorite cheap polish?

Be sure to check out what my fellow lacquer lovers did for their blue nails!!

xo, ali

Quick NOTD

Well, well, well! It's me, keeping my end of the bargain and keeping to my posting schedule.

I don't have much for you lovely people but I do have something that I'm quite proud of. I rarely do nail art. That's mostly because I get frustrated if it doesn't work out or I'm too tired, etc. A couple Saturdays ago, I was feeling ambitious and had the perfect polishes to go together. I also had a great tutorial from Globe & Nail in the back of my mind that I wanted to try. I love Emma's blog. She does such great nail art and has gorgeous swatches. The tutorial looked pretty easy and I don't bust out my striping tape nearly enough. Here's my final result!

For this manicure, I used:

Two coats Orly Nail Armor (base coat)

Two coats H&M Come Along With Me (base color)

One thick coat elf Sea Escape (accent color)

One coat Beauty Plus Salon (topcoat)

Come Along with Me is a really pretty, creamy teal with sparse teal shimmer that you really have to suss out. It went on really easy with no application problems that I can recall.

Then i laid down a square of scotch tape, at an angle,to create the half moon and a piece of striping tape down the middle. Next, I painted a thick coat of Sea Escape, which is from the Ursula portion of the elf Disney Villains nail polish cube. Sea escape is a black jelly-esque polish with teal, grean, and blue sparkles. I painted each finger, one at a time, and pulled the tapes up as soon as I painted. Top coat, and done!

The only thing I can really see wrong with this is that my lines could have been a little cleaner. Other than that, I was really happy with this. I got a lot of compliments on it when I went for my volunteer session at the satellite cat adoption center for the Erie County SPCA.

I get to hang out with these cool cats:

Corncob (top) and Paige (bottom)

My life is hard ;)

That's all for me...I'm off to watch some hockey (go Sabres!) and Parks and Rec.

[source]

Hmmm, maybe that's an idea for some nail art?

However, I, unlike April, happen to love Ann Perkins.

over and out!

xo, ali

PS-don't forget to follow me, via bloglovin'! Just click the bloglovin' banner to the right, above my pretty picture :)

Revlon Elusive

Hey lovelies!
Let's hear it for internet/Photobucket issues!

I'm back, a week later with a new fall polish for you that I found last weekend. Let's take a peek!

Revlon-Elusive

OPI Nail Envy Matte 

3 coats Elusive

Beauty Plus Salon top coat

Elusive is a black jelly full of different sizes teal hex glitters and filled with a blue/purple iridescent shimmer. This would be a great base polish for a galaxy manicure. It applied easily and dries to a matte finish. Elusive required two coats of top coat to get a smooth and shiny finish.

I have a few more shots of this gorgeous polish for your viewing pleasure, showing both the shiny finish and the matte finish. 

Full sun, so you can see how sparkly it is.

Elusive is from Revlon's Evening Opulence collection by Gucci Westman. Check your endcaps at Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Wal-Mart. I don't believe this is part of Revlon's core line.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments :)

Hope to chat soon!!

-ali