Essie Ruby Slippers

There are a lot of "ruby slipper" themed polishes out there. China Glaze Ruby Pumps is a notorious and often copied one. Essie's Ruby Slippers is unlike all of the glittery red shades I've seen with the Wizard of Oz moniker. It's a discontinued and vintage-y polish, not sure what year it came out.

The glitter is red and maybe gold, it's hard to tell but there is a definite gold ember-like glow against the darkened red jelly base. There might be some pink sparkles buried in there as well. What I love most about this polish is that it is really easy to apply for a glitter, it wasn't lumpy and thick or anything. People commented on my mani asking if I got glitter gel nails, which I find a terrific compliment. I used one coat of Seche Vite to smooth it but it wasn't terribly bumpy either.

I think this is a real find and I'm lucky to have gotten a full size bottle in a swap. *swoon*

NARS Desperado

I don't have a lot of NARS nail polishes but I do enjoy the ones I do have. Desperado is the first one I've been excited about in a long time, well the first new one. We all remember the excitement when Zulu was re-released. This polish is an antique brass looking metallic. It says to me spicy mustard, if it was a metallic nail polish that is. It's almost caramel, with a bit more yellow to it.

The formula was typical for a watery metallic, I had a bit of cuticle pull but nothing that wasn't remedied easily. It wasn't streaky which was nice. I was pissed that my topcoat gave me tip pull, damn it. Seche Vite has been my top coat of choice for a while now, I haven't bought a bottle of it in a long time but for some reason I got one so I pretty much should use it yeah.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

man glaze

man glaze is a little polish company that has a BIG image. they make six products, matte is murder, fuggen ugly, mayonnaise, a matte topcoat named matte-astrophe, a glitter matte topcoat called hot mess (aka fish dicks), and bottles for frankening polishes called "franken juggs". the polish is technically for men, but c'mon like that's gonna stop us hot babes from wearing it?! plus the owner Marc Alexander Paez wouldn't dream of stopping us :) he's a great guy and is a blast to interact with. (check out his site and his twitter.)

mayonnaise is their newest addition, a shimmer filled matte white.  this is super sexy and really easy to wear!  most girls tend to stay away from white polish, but i really like the look on me.  and this polish is seriously gorgeous, the shimmer is understated and it being matte puts a new spin on it.  comparing it to the other white matte polish i have, opi alpine snow matte (seen here), it blows it out of the water.  this polish is not chalky, stark, or hard to control, it's the opposite! 

i also put hot mess, the matte glitter topcoat on top of mayonnaise (middle and pinky), along with a regular shiny topcoat (index and ring) to see what it would look like, and the results were awesome!  the sun kind of obliterates hot mess because it's so sparkly haha, it almost looks like salt and pepper huh.  and the shiny topcoat really brings out the subtle shimmer on mayo, doesn't it?!  (enlarge by clicking on pictures)

fuggen ugly has been around since the company started but this bottle is a reformulation, more matte and more shimmer.  grey and gorgeous, and probably the best named polish ever!  i think this has to be my favorite matte nail polish in existence, even more than the opi suedes, which i love.

when i put a shiny topcoat on, i was like, uhh, is this a flippen holo??! it almost seems like it because of how much shimmer is packed into fuggen ugly!  the flat concrete-like gray turns into a sparkly dream with a topcoat applied (index and ring)!  and hot mess on top (middle and pinky) made it even more bling bling, wow i could hardly stand how hawt my nails were!  i could've used their flat matte topcoat, matte-astrophe to make them even more matte, but i was enjoying the gorgeous sparkle too much to do so :)

and here is a photo of the entire bottle of hot mess, manglaze's bottles are epic-ly illustrated.  trust, these polishes are legit.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

these products were sent to me for an honest review. please see disclosure statement for more information.

locavore

glitter, glitz, glam! i'm a glitter girl alright, but not just any glitter. i like the finer things in life. a lot of the glitter polishes out there look cheap and tacky and wear for about two seconds before they chip. and ironically, wear like gritty iron siding when you try to take it off! so yeah, it has to be good glitter. and this, my friends, is a GOOD glitter.

rescue beauty lounge locavore was lent to me by my bestie bestest mickelle (who STILL hasn't started her blog, hrumph) and i wanted to treat this pretty lady right. so i didn't just wear it on a boring old tuesday during work or school or something mundane like that. i wore it on my 24th birthday celebration :D my friends took me out to dinner and we partied the night away a week before (because my actual birthday landed on father's day this year and peeps were mad busy). my girl courtney told everyone to wear gold, cuz i'm allll about the gold haha, and we went out to buca di bepo in salt lake city for dinner. they have a pope themed room to eat in, as it is an italian restaurant, but unfortunately we didn't get to eat in it because people make reservations for it like months in advance. boo! :( oh well, it was great time anyway haha. family style dining, cocktails, draft beer, and free tiramisu = amazing. i even got cutie bright gold ballet flats as a present! (and a bottle of arbor mist, haha!)

anydrunk, back to the matter at hand, literally HAHA. locavore blingtastic, being as it has gold, green, purple, blue and silver glitter particles in it! the gold and green take center stage, complimenting each other nicely. i topped three coats of this gritty gal with two coats of seche vite. who knew who's hair my hands would be running through that night?! don't want rough nails, now do we ;)

hope your saturday is shaping up well my loves ♥

china glaze pool party

china glaze pool party is the last polish i have to show you from the poolside collection. it is PINK baby! neon pink in all her glory! i wore this as a pedicure color for two straight weeks and got tons of compliments. it simply glows. la la loves!

this first picture shows the difference with a coat of white polish underneath on my INDEX and RING fingers, with one coat of pool party.

i had a helluva time getting these pictures in focus so sorry about the blurries! the rest of the swatches are three coats.

lamp light, no topcoat

lamp light, with seche vite topcoat

hope everyone's day is going marvelously! did everyone watch "glee" last night? i went gaga for it HAHA. also, the "biggest loser" finale was sooo good! i'm excited for the "american idol" finale tonight. i hope lee wins! but i like crystal too. i'd buy both of their albums. well...i'd download them ;)

Disclosure: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the public relations company or the manufacturer for consideration. Please see "Disclosure" tab for more information.

china glaze flip flop fantasy

this is the polish i was actually the most interested in when i first saw pictures for the china glaze poolside collection, but was probably the least impressed with. don't get me wrong, flip flop fantasy is pretty great, but i was expecting...idk more? coral is still my favorite shade so i can't totally discount this guy and the pictures don't really do it justice, so maybe i need to give it another try. also, i don't think the color in these pictures is true to it IRL but it's the best i could do. it's not hardly as orange. this one really really day-glows so that is pretty dope. this is three coats. i believe i used a coat of white under the INDEX and RING fingers, like on the previous swatches from this collection for opacity differences, tho this one didn't really need it.

lamp light, no topcoat

flash, no topcoat

lamp light, with seche vite topcoat

Disclosure: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the public relations company or the manufacturer for consideration. Please see "Disclosure" tab for more information.

china glaze kiwi cool-ada

this is polish #3 from the poolside collection from china glaze for summer 2010. it's a neon to put all other neons to shame that is for sure. bright, blinding, extreme green! kiwi cool-ada brings to mind a tropical drink or something, mmm yummy. that would be nice to have today considering it's flippen SNOWING!!! yep folks, it was blizzarding this morning when good ol' kellie woke up in northern utah. yuck! double yuck! seeing this polish so big and bright warms my cold little toes and makes me yearn for summer. this is three coats. i put one coat of white polish on my INDEX and RING fingers to show the difference it makes with opacity.

lamp light, no topcoat

 

flash, no topcoat

lamp light, with seche vite topcoat

Disclosure: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the public relations company or the manufacturer for consideration. Please see "Disclosure" tab for more information.

yellow polka dot bikini

the next swatch i have for you from the china glaze "poolside collection" is the neon yellow, yellow polka dot binkini. and yeah i now have that song stuck in my head. so thanks polish manufacturers, whenever you name a nail polish after a song, a million consumers end up with the song annoyingly stuck in their heads. gracias.

this polish was pretty streaky, notorious for yellows and neons alike so i wasn't surprised. this is four coats to even it out. i have white polish underneath on the MIDDLE and PINKY fingers so you can see the difference in opacity. it's more apparent in real life. i think you can skip that step for some of the other neons in this bunch, but for this guy i would definitely start with a white coat to make the color really pop and prevent visible nail line.



flash, no topcoat

lamp light

lamplight, with seche vite topcoat

there's plenty more swatches from this collection coming, but i took a bunch of pictures of them all...as evident by this post so i wanted to split them up :) so be prepared.

Disclosure: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the public relations company or the manufacturer for consideration. Please see "Disclosure" tab for more information.

towel boy toy

this is the first swatch i have for you all from the china glaze poolside collection. it is towel boy toy. clever name :) i like it. this is the only non straight neon of the collex, it has a bit of shimmer in it and it doesn't dry really matte like the other colors. it's a vivid shocking electric blue that would look awesome on your tootsies this summer lounging by the pool. i had a little bubbling on this one but i think it was one of the easier ones to apply so it was probably just me being hasty. this is three coats. i wore white polish under the color on my INDEX and RING fingers. this was more necessary for the other colors and not so much this one, but for continuity, i did it for them all.

flash, no topcoat

 lamp light, no topcoat

lamp light with seche vite topcoat

i just got back from a trip home for a late mother's day celebration so i'm beat. and i have a paper to write for class tomorrow. so i guess i better get on that! *phew* i can't believe i'm taking summer classes. how do people do this?! i feel like a viking ;) how was your weekend??

Disclosure: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the public relations company or the manufacturer for consideration. Please see "Disclosure" tab for more information.

lincoln park after dark suede

i was chomping at the bit to get the suede polishes that opi came out with back in winter of '09. i was over the moon for them! literally head over heels. uhh...what's another cliche i can throw in there...haha. seriously though, i needed them baaaad. i have them all now except suzi skis in the pyrenees. and i la la love them! you're probably getting sick of me saying that, but i don't like posting pictures of polishes that i don't like haha. makes sense huh? although it can be helpful so i do it on occasion.

anywhooo, this lovely gem is lincoln park after dark suede by opi. again i don't understand why they just renamed their suede collection polishes after their core line polishes. but whatev, what's in a name? LPADS is a gorgeous deep purple matte with that "trademarked" suede look. the new mac studded polish has the same look, and a few of the china glaze glass fleck polishes take on the effect if you mattify them IMHO. i love the suede collection as far as mattes go because they are super easy to apply, easier than most mattes because they don't dry immediately. but you do have to be more careful than with regular polish as brush strokes can and will happen if you aren't. this is two coats :)

lamp light

with a coat of shiny seche vite

shiny, under lamp light

 have a great monday! i have a sore throat *rasp, choke* i need a lozenge, yuck!