My picks from the China Glaze Autumn Nights Collections

Hi everyone, long time no see!

Sorry I've been away so long - the usual combination of work and family drama have been added stress lately. I didn't realize how long I've been on the periphery of the nail polish world until I went to my supply store the other day... I didn't realize until then that I hadn't checked out the store since the end of April!

I managed to hold off the polish hoarder in me enough to spend a reasonable amount of polish. I avoided buying the whole collection and limited myself to only a few shades, which I managed to swatch (instead of leaving them on my swatching desk for later). Anyhow, enough of my chittering! Onto the polish! Please click read more after the cut to see my swatches of these polishes!

Left to right: Tongue & Chic, Queen B, Red-y & Willing, Rendezvous with You, Strike up a Cosmo, Goldie but Goodie, and Gossip over Gimlets.

Sephora by OPI - Mermaid to Order

Good evening (night?) all!

I figured I'll do a short post tonight, and hopefully another post later tomorrow. I'm stressing myself out by doing course planning.. and adding even more stress by trying to figure out when I want to graduate.

I won't bother you with details, but all of this stress seems to be taking a toll on my cuticles.. *sigh*

Anyhow, on a cheerier note, I have Sephora by OPI's Mermaid to Order to show y'all today. I got this polish as a gift before I was really into nail polish, and I don't really wear it too often since I have a crapload of untrieds in my stash.

This is an awesome frosty-metallic teal polish. It's really bright in the way that it glows, something about the way it shines makes it very eye-catching (at a loss of words, trying really hard to describe this one). The only downside is that its great finish also makes this one show lots of brushstrokes, and it doesn't dry particularly fast either.

Hmm, that's all for now, hopefully I'll be feeling a bit less stressed and more inspired later.. I have a bunch of photos I need to edit for later posts. :D

-Marisa

Mini Haul!

Howdy all,

Today I'd like to share with you my 'mini haul' over the past two days!
First up.. the polish!

Essie Going Incognito, OPI Steady as she rose, China Glaze Little Drummer Boy

Billie Cosmetics Jovile (maroon) and Anxiety (turquoise-blue)

Color Club Age of Aquarius, Zoya Gloria and Crystal

I found the Zoya polishes at a small place called Spa Boutique on W4th avenue near Alma. It's fairly small shop, but I thought the service was great, and it seems like they're fairly up to date with their collections. they currently have a few bottles left of the Zoya Fire and Ice collection (no Valerie, which made me sad) and I was told that they're expecting the Intimate collection sometime soon (no news on the Summertime/Sunshine collection yet).

I picked up the Color Club and the OPI while I was scoping out Secret Beauty Supply, which is on Kingsway and Knight street. They have a large collection of nail polish, including an up to date selection of OPI, an assortment of Color Club sets (including Starry Temptress, Wicked Sweet, Alter Ego which are $22.99/set), and a fair number of China Glaze polishes (including the newest Island Escape collection).

The Billie cosmetics nail polish were from a dollar store I stopped by on my way home from the Beauty Supply store.. at $1.25 each, how can you resist? Anxiety reminds me somewhat of China Glaze Atlantis, and Jovile's base colour kind of reminds me of OPI's DS Extravagance.

I also picked up a bunch of Avojuice lotion at the Beauty Supply store. The small sample sized lotions came in a pack of 6 and were $6.95 for the pack, and the full sized lotion was $5.50. The small sample sized bottles were also sold individually for $1.50 each. I haven't tried all of them yet, but I think the Winter Huckleberry smells delicious!

Now for the polish!
Today I have Zoya Gloria on my left hand, and Crystal on my right hand.

Zoya - Gloria (3 coats)

Zoya - Crystal (3 coats)

Sorry about the mark on the middle finger, it's from a chipped nail.
These are my first ever Zoya nail polishes, and I'm impressed! I can't wait for the Summertime/Sunshine collections.. I need to find some store that actually sell Zoya in Vancouver.. I wish I lived in the States.. I have so many empty/messed up bottles of nail polish I could have exchanged.. but oh well. I've already gone through the collection swatches that have been posted online and picked out some of the ones I want to get.. I'm tempted to get Mira, which is a purple creme, just because it's the name of my cousin's baby girl. :)

The Zoya polishes retail for $9 at Spa Boutique.

Secret Beauty Supply requires a membership to purchase items, which can be purchased for $10 and is valid for 10 months. If you do not wish to buy a membership, you can still buy products, but for a 30% price increase.

Note: the China Glaze crackle line (white, black, teal, pink, grey and purple) are sold out at Secret Beauty Supply and will not be available until June)

Well, that's all for today. Do you know of any stores in Vancouver that sell Zoya nail polish? What colours would you recommend?

Ciao for now,

-Marisa