I was meant to be swatching, but....

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I got a puppy instead!
Went out to do the grocery shop and run some errands with mum; one being to buy Charlie (mum's 2 yr old maltese) a better toothbrush. Instead after 3 visits in 2 hours we came home with an 8 week old maltese pup! He's gorgeous just like his big brother was.
Wish I had a photo of him to share but the afternoon's been filled up with introducing him to his new home etc and then watching him every second of the hour in case he has an accident on the carpet. BTW he did, but it was such a small spot I almost missed it. He's tucked up in his crate now so I can finally post something worthwhile.
He's a little no-name at the moment so if you have any suggestions for cute little white fluff balls, I welcome them. I want him to have a name that goes well with Charlie, so that I can write a book series about them being doggy superheroes or something and the title can be The Adventures of Charlie & Chase or something cool sounding. Mum already vetoed Chase :( To be fair I like it more as a title than an actual name for the little guy....

Getting on with it -
Braziliant will have to be pushed back till tomorrow, I just hope the sun goes along with my plans!

I have the Essie Carry On swatches here for you now. I couldn't be bothered swatching a whole hand and then do a comparison too so I  just did comparisons swatches with the closest colour in my collection, sorry.

Out of this World, Very Structured & Did Someone Say Party?

Essie Very Structured, index- OPI Out of this World, ring-OPI Did Someone say Party?

middle-pinky: VS, DSSP?, VS

I am in lust with Very Structured. Perfect in 2 coats, love the pigmentation, like the brush. I was worried it would be too close to my burnt orange/cinnamon cremes but it was so much darker - possibly 1 shade darker than these photos show - and really unique to me. I shouldn't have even bothered comparing Out of this World & Did Somebody Say Party? Even though it's not the colour one associates with chocolate, it made me think of melted milk chocolate a bit. Perfect for autumn anyway. Feels chic.

Essie Carry On vs OPI Lincoln Park After Dark (index & ring) -  indoor lighting

With Flash

 Hmmm... Carry On is very dark. Indoors it just looked dark brown to me. It is a dark plum creme so I guess that's why it looks brown. In sunlight it is a deep plum but if you aren't a lover of this type of shade I wouldn't bother. Lincoln Park After Dark was the closest I had - looking at it now I would say it has a similar base colour as I'm Fondue of You. But LPAD is one of those jelly/creme finish polishes so these were never going to look too similar & LPAD is much blacker in appearance and an eggplant purple under light. Perfect application though - 2 coats.

Essie Power Clutch & Sew Psyched (middle finger)

Second favourite of the Collection! It's like they started with Sew Psyched and added a ton of grey. I want to call it a sage charcoal - a charge or sarcoal - creme!   Flawless. It looks like there's some blue in it too (well duh from the grey!). Applied same as the others, 2 coats.

Demure Vixen, Lady Like

Essie Lady Like & Demure Vixen (middle finger)

2 coats Lady Like + 1 Demure Vixen vs 3 coats Demure Vixen (middle finger)

Lady Like is also awesome. It's pretty much Demure Vixen in a creme finish. A greyed out light pink. It is a bit darker than DV though as you can see. I really liked the layering because it fixes the VNL problem you get with DV but you get to enjoy the purple-y shimmer! Fabulous 2 coater like the rest of the collection. Mum Approved colour!

I was impressed with this mini cube, I only wish Essie would make .25 oz minis rather than measly 1/8 oz. Fantastic brushes though, I'm about 80% sure they're the same as the full size brushes - maybe slightly shorter? Does anyone know? I might have to buy the full sized bottle of Very Structured - I'll see how I go. I am kind of interested in how Glamour Purse & Case Study would look next to my skin, but I'm pretty happy with what came in the cube.

What do you think?

xxx NPA

Just a quick note

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Seems that people are looking at the Essie Brazilliant pictures lately and they are of such poor quality that I'm ashamed so I think I will reswatch them asap. They are 3 brilliant colours so they're worth it. I can't wait for Summer when I will be wearing them 24/7

Milani 3D Holographic Hi Res

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Had a shocker of a night with family drama, you know how it can be :(
But I sit down and watch the finale of the Geordie Shore (as silly as Charlotte is she is seriously a bit of a word-smith & a wee bit brighter than she appears methinks . I think she should be a comedian. She certainly brought a smile to my dial. The parsnip bit is the best!), look at my manicure and think, 'life isn't all bad is it? I mean, if I have this mad, kick ass Milani Holo on my nails, something is going good!' Yeah, what?!
Here she is, my new lil' nail celeb (new to me anyways).

Ouch, she's blindin' me!
I was wondering what the bloody hell this whole 3D thing was about. Then boom POW! When her holo gets a going the large chunks of holographic particle look like they are jumping off your nail! For what appears to be a scattered holo it gives a really great holo effect. I know it's not linear like the CG OMG's or Nubar Reclaim but it's A-MAZ-ING. I see a horizontal rainbow or like a rainbow shape the holos right across  - you can see what I mean in the last photo.

All I add is:
Boom Boom POW

Almost the most fun you can have with a polish.

This doesn't make much sense. I love it.  But in all seriousness here are the facts:

Hi Res is the lavender colourof an actual lavender flower more or less (maybe a touch bluer, whatevs)
She's pretty sheer, I did 3 coats for these photos. Then I saw it in sunlight and saw the dreaded VNL - shock, horror, had to add a 4th!!!!!!
But she dries super fast and is definitely worth it.
The photos were all taken indoors with flash but do reflect the way it really appears in sunlight/ indoor lighting.
I'm getting some of the other colours in the collection as soon as humanly possible!!!!!!!!!!!!

Promise to make more sense tomorrow
xxx NPA

Is it Haul time again?!

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Yes! My trans design package arrived today - thank god for Priority Shipment; only 2 weeks of waiting. And a Milani Holo showed up from ebay as well hooray!

Here are the goodies:

Essie Carry On Collection for Fall 2011 Mini Cube L-R: Power Clutch, Very Structured, Carry On, Lady Like

L-R: CND Perfectly Bare Duo (Colour & Effect), Essie Your Hut or Mine, Milani 3D Holographic Hi-Res

Misa Hip To My Jive Fall Collection 2011 L-R: Pop the Clutch, Bop til you Drop, Catch a Flick

The pics were taken in a poorly lit room & were more colour accurate without the flash (except for the Milani shot) so sorry if they aren't tip top clarity wise. I'm pretty excited to swatch these guys and do some comparisons because I have a feeling there is a dead on dupe or two in this bunch. I'm praying that when my OPI Touring America polishes turn up that Bop til you Drop isn't the same as I Eat Mainely Lobster - that would make me very sad!!!! BTYD has a gorgeous subtle coral/gold sparkly shimmer in it that you can't really see in these photos. I'm such a sucker for corals!!!!
My only regret is how little product you get in the Essie minis. Seriously, an eighth of an ounce?! I'm sure they'd still make a killing if they put .25 oz in them :( Still, the brush seems to be the same (or very close to) as a full size bottle so application is better than Orly minis (which I kind of loathe - then again the only minis I have are the pastels Lemonade & Go-go; so perhaps it's the formula not the brush).

I needed a palate cleansing nude/sheer manicure after the bright/dark colours I've been wearing lately - and a mani I left on for at least 2 days! This was exacerbated by the fact that my right index finger nail broke leaving a lonely & tres tres ugly stub in its place. I decided that camouflage was my only option. What colour would draw the least amount of attention to my sad, oddly shaped nubbin? Enter OPI Hawaiian Orchid... A perfectly nice colour & therefore it is on the end of my POLISH OR PERISH list (FYI POP is actually the name of a nail blog if you want to check it out - think it's in my blog roll :) ) So here's what's on my nails right now... (not for long ahahahaha, witch cackle, witch cackle :) ) - Oooohhh that made me think of Roald Dahl's The Witches. That movie adaptation was the most terrifying film I ever saw... until I watched The Shining as an 11 year old. I never will forgive Victoria Taylor for convincing me I'd like it. NEVER. I had nightmares for months & I didn't even watch the whole thing, I freaked out way before the "Here's Johnny" part. I might have only made it to the twins scene. Woops getting on with it...

OPI Hawaiian Orchid + White SP BM 222 - artificial light, no flash

OPI Hawaiian Orchid + White SP BM 222 - with flash (and my poor NUBBIN nail!!!)

 This is actually the nail polish my mum bought to match her MOB dress for my sister's wedding in January. But she lets it live with my stash!!! Isn't she lovely? Plus, I'm convinced "she'll" get lonely away from her polish family :) It is a sheer pink with a kind of purple-pink flash in it. I think it's meant to be a 2 coater but it was too uneven looking for my liking so I added 1 more for vanity's sake! Next time I'll just use ridge filler first. It kind of has a dirty leaning to it (which is most obvious under standard indoor lighting - ie yellow light) which you can see in the first photo. But most of the time it leans cool. Really wearable. I added the stamping because I felt too conservative/ just couldn't leave my nails alone for more than 24 hours. I wanted to stamp the whole lot with a french tip design from my monster plates but they're really thick & my nails just aren't long enough - especially the nubbin!!!! So I settled for accent nails with a full design. Cute pattern but I really need to practise the stamping technique - so much doesn't transfer from the stamp to the nail!!!!! I don't think I'm rolling it properly. Ho hum pig's bum, she'll be right.

Look out for swatches of my haul over the next week or so. I'll try to do the new collection polishes ASAP.

xxxx NPA

Orly Space Cadet

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Just a quick swatch before I go to bed

Isn't she pretty? From the Cosmic FX Collection. I can't remember if this was 2 or 3 coats. My brain is saying 3 so I'll go with it. The photo was taken indoors with flash - shows the duochrome really well. I love this little cosmonaut. Dark pinky purple & olive/gold green flashes + its foil like?! Sick. Just sick. Can't wait for the Mineral FX to come out from Orly, praying there's a duochrome in there too.

Beddy Byes time for me. Hope you had lovely weekends
xxx NPA