Archive for November 2013
This is my Thanksgiving manicure this year.
This was my Thanksgiving manicure last year.
I am wearing all Quo by Orly which is the higher end of Orly nail polish. My beautiful, and I do mean beautiful friend Diane sent these 3 bottles of Quo to me, thanks so much Diane, you know I love them but mostly I love and so thankful you are my friend. Back to the polish. The red is a bright sparkle-y red in person, it’s almost like a red foil, so very pretty. It is called Wine and Dine.
The 2 browns compliment each other perfectly but I’ve always thrown the red in there with them.
The darker of the browns is called Coffe and Creamer and the lighter of the 2 is called Chestnuts Roastin’. Would you believe I have never, except in movies seen chestnuts roasting anywhere? I’ve often wondered what they tasted like but I’ll probably never know.
This is a first for our family this year, we are all going to the local hotel for Thanksgiving dinner. After everything with the wedding we are all pooped out and there were no volunteers to cook so for the first time ever I am eating Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant, a fancy one at that. We are going to dress up and as long as I’m with my family I don’t care where or what we eat.
The only down side is the day after Thanksgiving Ashley is moving to Tennesee. I will miss seeing her face, and that gorgeous smile of hers! Heck, I will miss everything about her but I am very proud of her for making this move and I think it will be good for her.
This last picture always cracks me up! Good Luck my beautiful girl and never forget, and always remember, you can come home. Even though I’m not your mother I couldn’t love you less or be more proud of you. Godspeed my little one, Godspeed. Oh, one more thing to always remember and never forget, if you need bail money, call your Dad!
💅 As always, thanks for stopping by and thanks for indulging me with a good bye to Ashley.
Navy by Barry M. It’s not often that the Nail Polish Lottery brand and the Polish of the Month brand are the same but it worked out that way this week. What better way to follow up Barry M Black than with Barry M Navy? I bought these together from Amazon, the price was $24.41, the bottles were $10 each. And it shipped from Germany. I thought that was odd?
You know me, I’m a total Barry M fan. I think his polish is 🎶🎼 awesome 🎼🎶 and the few pieces of make up I’ve tried I really liked as well. Barry M nail polish can be found in the UK for £2.99 in most drug stores. For us in the US it’s a bit trickier, you can purchase at Barry M direct they have a flat shipping rate to the US which used to be $25. When I placed my order I ordered quite a few bottles so with everything it was still less than $10 per bottle. And then there is Amazon which sells the bottle from $10-15 and of course shipping added. It’s not impossible to get your hands on, but wouldn’t it be nice to walk into a Walgreen’s and get what you wanted? That would be a dream come true for me!
I haven’t checked my Nail Polish Lottery Club pick yet for this week. Hopefully it won’t be Barry M. I don’t want you guys to get sick of seeing the swatches.
💅 As always, thanks for stopping by.
For more information on the Nail Polish Lottery Club please go to our Facebook page here.. We don’t have any rules but there are some guidelines, you will find those here
If you still have questions, just let me know in the comments below or on the FB page. It’s a lot of fun and I enjoy seeing everyone’s manicures for the week. Everyone is welcome to join, even if you can only post once in a while, we still welcome you!
Black from Barry M is my pick for this week’s #NPClub. Barry M is also my Polish of the Month, I didn’t think this would ever happen., but here we are! You guys will be sick of Barry M before the month is out.
I just bought this black Barry M from Amazon.com along with a navy bottle. I do like black nail polish, I think it looks good on short or long nails. I think I like it just a bit better on shorter nails. But I still think it is pretty.
I will keep you posted if it chips or has terrible tip wear.
I hope you check out the nail polish lottery club, the links are above, it’s a lot of fun.
💅 As Lways, thanks for stopping by!
Revlon Beauty of the Week
Posted on: November 23, 2013
In doing some research on a different article I’m writing,coming soon, I came across some interesting fats that I want to share with you. In 2012 the nail polish industry reported sales of $278,000,000 that’s 278 million dollars and this was a 32% increase from 2011.
I was trying to find the actual number of nail polish companies in this country only to be sidelined by ads and sent on wild goose chases. But I will find the number, it seems has if everyone and their dog have started their own line of nail polish. I know some of the bigger companies, like Cover Girl maybe a bit late to the party. According to WWD, there is a new launch of at least 1 new nail polish line a week. I totally believe this as I have over 70 brands just in my collection. If one does the math suggested by WWD since 2008 there have been 294 new brands launched. I know in 2008 there were 664 brands of nail polish so at the minimum using the information from WWD there are 958 nail polish companies. For some reason to me that number seems on the low side. I don’t know if there ever will be an accurate figure for the actual number of nail polish brands.
I have read several articles suggesting now is the time time for Revlon to take back the reigns as the Queen of all that is nail polish? I happen to agree. That is why once a week I will be showcasing one of my Revlon polishes. Maybe you have this color and have forgotten about it? Or maybe this is a color you’ve seen at the drug store but didn’t buy because you haven’t seen swatches of it. It seems like nail bloggers, myself included, focus more on the new, but I say “Lets Remeber the Revlon Beauties!
370 Smoldering is this weeks Revlon Beauty. It is a pretty silver polish with a duo-chrome of pink and purple. It is one of the most interesting colors from Revlon I’ve tried.
I must say when I first tried 370 Smoldering I would get a bit frustrated, but that was my fault. 370 Smoldering is one of those fussy types that need to go on thin layers. These pictures are with 2 coats and no topcoat. I think they look really pretty.
370 Smoldering is in the regular line of Revlon and around my area the cost is $4.99 a bottle. The bottle is stable, the brush is small allowing you to paint your nails without getting polish all over your cuticles. The formula is classic Revlon formula: which is not too thick and not too thin.
As we watch nail polish companies come and go, Revlon is one brand you can certainly count on as sticking around since it has been around since before WWII.
💅 As always, thanks for stopping by!
This really isn’t a SMACKDOWN but more of a comparison of Revlon’s Mischievous and Sally Hansen’s CSM Commander in Chic.
Holding 2 bottles is hard especially when I want you to see the nails, not the bottles. So I though this would be easier.
I manicured my hands with both polishes using my half and half method that I still say I invented, but as you can see there is virtually no difference between the 2.
Revlon Mischievous has been around a long time. Mischievous was released in 2007. It may be the original Commander in Chic Color released by Revlon. I could not find a release date for CiC but the earliest review I found was 2011 so I’m assuming it was released in either late 2010 or early. 2011.
Sally Hansen’s Commamder in Chic and Revlon’s Mischievous has been one of those colors that I think every brand of polish has made. Lets see if I can remember some of them off the top of my head:
1. Essie Merino Cool
2. WnW Wet Cement
3. Rimmell Steel Grey
4. SOPI Metro Chic
5. American Apparel Mouse
6. Barry M Cappuccino
7. L’Oreal Greyt expectations
I’m sure there are more out there but these are the ones I own and know to be dupes for Michievous and Commander in Chic.
Revlon’s Mischievous is probably in the top 5 requests I get for swatches. It is in the regular line of Revlon and I do not believe it will discontinued any time soon. It is numbered 360. It may have been re-promoted with a different name and no number which Revlon is wont to do with their more popular colors. The formula was fine as were the brush and the bottle. Dry time was manageable,
Commander in Chic has the wide flat brush that I like so well because it fits my nail bed perfectly. I know some of you aren’t fans of the wide brush but if you dip the brush in the bottle then wipe on 4 sides you will get a regular size brush that works the same as the Revlon brush. I do like the wide flat brush, it makes polishing my nails go faster and again dry time was great with the CiC.
I’m trying not to use quick dry top coats and I did not use a quick dry top coat on this one, either brand.
I don’t know if its just me but it seems like when I use a top coat the nail polish will wrinkle. If I don’t use a top coat I don’t have that problem. Any one else having that issue? Let me know, if for no other reason then to let me know I’m not alone in that.
These were the first pictures I took of these 2 polishes so now you can see why I took them out. But they do show that the pointer and middle finger are wearing the Revlon Mischievous and the ring finger and pinky are wearing Sally Hansen’s CiC. Hopefully that makes sense to you.
I’ve had my nails painted this way for a couple of days now and not one person has made a comment about 2 different colored nails, which usually always happens when I use more contrasting colors.
There is no winner here and there is no loserhere. These are both great nail polishes. The only difference is the price Revlon sells around here for $4.99 and the CiC sells for $7.49. But you can always find coupons for both brands. (As a side note: Revlon in the regular line sells for $4.99, the Top Speed line is between $5-6.99 and the Revlon Colorstay are $8.99. )
As you all know Commander in Chic is my favorite polish of them all and thanks to my friend Coco I now have a life time supply of CiC. Thanks again Coco, you little nut!
💅 As always, thanks for stopping by!
NOTD: Formidable by MAC
Posted on: November 20, 2013
Formidable by MAC is a purple to green duo-chrome nail polish that I really like. As most of you know the only MAC nail polish I own is Russian Red thank you Indie for that one, and Archie’s girls Betty for obvious reasons. It’s not that I dis-like MAC I just have an issue with availability in my tiny town in Idaho. The formula for Formidable was a bit on the thin side. It’s also one of those polishes that the first coat looks like crap. But be patient, the second coat is when it all comes together.
I actually wore this a few days because I love a good duo-chrome. The perfect polish for me would be a lovely lavender that has a pink and bright, almost lime green duo-chrome. Just picture it, wouldn’t That be beautiful? I think it would. Anyway, I digress, the formula, the bottle the brush everything was perfect. I bought mine at Nordstrom and I think I paid $17. But I like it and plan on wearing all this fall and winter.
If you are sick of wedding pics, sorry here’s a couple more. I believe they were taken by the photographer but not entirely sure.
Photo by Alejandra Marie Photography. Photo used by permission, please check out her website, linked with her name)
I’m so proud of my kids I could burst, and oh by the way no tears from me on the big day, so yay for that. I’m digressing again, I’m very proud of Drew, Jilly and of course my girl Ashley but I’m also very proud of their friends they’ve chosen to be parts of their lives. My kids have the best people as friends and I could not be more proud of them all.
💅 As always, thanks for stopping by!
Chocolate Brown by Barry M is exactly as the color suggests, it is a chocolate brown. This polish was sent to me by my friend Carla a few months ago and I’m just now getting around to wearing it, but I know it will be a favorite from now on. This is with 1 coat of polish, I ususally always use 2, but 1 coat was more than enough. I did add a quick dry top coat. This is day 2 of wearing and I’m so pleased with the wear and the shine. Normally with a dark color there will be tip wear but not so with this one. I haven’t done much housework these past 2 days but I’m going to do laundry and dishes so I will update if Chocolate Brown chips or has tip wear.
You all know what a fan I am of Barry M Nail Paints and I want to thank my friend Carla for sending to me. I cannot have enough of Barry M! What’s so funny about that is my friend who lives in London is a total fan of Revlon brand and not as enthusiastic as I am about Barry M. We should switch countries! he he
The formula on this one was a bit thick, I think that is part of why I had complete coverage with only 1 coat. Barry M has a complete line of cosmetics and is sold in drugstores in the UK for £2.99 which would be about $5 with the currency exchange, if I did my math right. I have ordered from the Barry M websitewebsite direct and I have ordered from Amazon.com. I was extremely happy with my purchase from Barry M. My package arrived in 4 days and even with the higher shipping rate to the US I still paid less than $10 per bottle. But if you just want a bottle or 2 I would recommend the Amazon site. I just recently ordered 2 bottles, black and navy, and it cost me $24.41 for the 2 bottles. The best way to keep the cost per bottle down would be to get with a friend and place a large order with Barry M direct and split the shipping costs. I just want my American readers to know that it is possible to get your hands on a bottle of Barry M.
(This photo was taken by my niece Charli, who I hope is okay with me using this photo here. I did not ask her permission because I obviously thought it was taken by the photographer, sorry Charli. It is a beautiful photo, like all your photos. You are a great photographer as well.)
Another wedding photo. This is just as they are getting ready for the kiss. It was such a fun day!
💄 As always, thanks for stopping by!
