Culling Continues with Corals

These are, according to my notes, the Light Corals. The players are, in order of appearance from left to right: Zoya Calypso, Essie Shindig and Zoya Cassi.

In natural light, no flash pic this time. and below on my nails in the same order, left to right in shade...a little too much shade for Cassi, but still you can see her color.

One more shady pic to try to let Cassi show her shady side...(I really dislike the uneven length of my nails here.)

And below in the sun: Ka-POW says Calypso!

All were 3 coats to this coverage.

The Zoyas were both a bit thin and watery but easy to control while the Essie formula was buttery and it also had a fuller brush.

Zoya Calypso is a very pretty orange/coral base with multi colored shimmer. This one is VERY pretty and I am fond of Orange so it's a favorite. Lizard Rating: Toasty!
Essie Shindig is soooo pretty in the bottle. I love just looking at the bottle and swirling it around. It also has a multi colored shimmer but the base has more pink (truer coral) and not as much shimmer as Calypso. Lizard rating: Balmy
Zoya Cassi is a soft coral with a gold shimmer, nice but it loses to Calypso for me. Lizard rating: Tepid

I think all three are still in my stash, but after taking a second look and doing this comparison, I'm thinking I can let go of Cassi.
What do you think? Which one or two would you keep...or would you keep all three? And if so, why?

Happy Birthday Ange-Marie!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Scandalously Polished!
Happy Birthday to you!

Hope you have a fantastic day filled with holo polish and debauchery! ;)

~The Lizard

Some More Reds compared

These are bit deeper and richer than the last set. I like a true red, and a blue-red sets my heart afire. I find them very hard to resist. Here are a couple of each...(and, Yes I do have the Nubar Reds!)

The contenders:

Essie Fishnet Stockings, Miss Marion Mamey, Essie A-List and OPI Xmas 2009 red with no name. Help is welcome. Natural daylight (but indoors). And below is with flash.

As you can see even with the flash, Essie Fishnet Stockings is the bluest-red and I think I love it. Did I mention it's also a jelly?

In the same order on my nails: Fishnet Stockings, Mamey, A-List and OPI in the shade and below is in sunlight.

HAHAHAH! I just found my notebook and I have ZERO notes on these except what I've already noted above. I checked and they are ALL still in my stash...I guess I love them all and can't let them go. I do love a red jelly. Still, I have to let a couple go...I think it's going to be A-list and the OPI. I love Fishnet Stockings and Miss Marion holds a special place in my heart...

The Lizard Rates these like so:
Fishnet Stockings: Toasty
Mamey: Toasty
A-List: Toasty
OPI: Tepid

Which ones did you like best?

Stay tuned, next up I think will be the corals.

EDIT Gosh Nubar! Metallic Blue Absolute Prism

Yes, it IS Monday and my son's first day at his new, exciting job! I can't wait to hear how it went. My son is a very talented artist, maybe I'll share some of his art here one day. I know I'm his biggest fan, but he really does some awesome work. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to afford to send him to school to persue a degree, but  now he's landed a job working for a graphics company and he'll get to travel and use his art in cool ways. I'm excited for him and think he may just have found the path to his dream. Of course, I reserve some of my excitement for after I hear from him tonight. I'm truly thrilled for him and hope he enjoys what he's doing. Perseverance trumps talent, but when you have both, LOOK OUT!

Ahem, please excuse the proud mother gushing above...on to the polish:

Ok let me explain the title: I give you Gosh Metallic Blue with Nubar Absolute for a funky french.
This is evening fogged out sun with phone flash

Evening shade with phone flash...

And here I finally got some of the Holo to show up:

I've been reluctant to post lately because, since my SD card died I have no macro photo option. All I have is my phone and while it does a decent job, I cannot capture photos I'd like to capture. I'm posting these because I'd rather post something than nothing at all and they aren't bad. (I hope!)

I finally ordered some SD cards for my camera...jeez there are so many TYPES now for faster cameras, slow cameras, average cameras...a girl has to do a TON of research before ordering one little card, (I ordered 2!) So in a week or so, I'll be back to better photos. In the meantime, I do hope these will be useful.

As for the Polishes: Gosh Metallic Blue is a beautiful chrome metallic in the same family as Nubar Absolute (from the Prisms collection) and I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I started the mani, I was trying for a chevron but it's a bit sloppy. The application of Metallic Blue was easy, second coat didn't drag or rumple the first, and it dried super fast. 1 coat was truly sufficient (as is normal with these kinds of nail polish) but I did 2 because some of my lines weren't as clean as I like them. I suppose a ridge filling base coat would have looked nicer, but I haven't found one I like yet.

Nubar Absolute is a gorgeous prismatic blue that I will have to wear on it's own sometime soon to view it in all it's prism-y glory. 2 coats on the tips dried quickly with the help of quick drying top coat.

Both polishes applied nicely, I find it hard to complain about Nubar. The Gosh was a bit runny and took some getting used to, but I got the hang of it!

I used Nubar Foundation Base Coat and Nubar Diamont Top Coat as I'm enjoying that combination and trying it out to see if it helps some of the peeling issues I have with the nails I have some problems with. Seems my right thumb wants to be a shorty most of the time and so far, the only thing that has helped is to coat the free edge with Orly Nail Rescue. I want to find something healthier and nourishing, suggestions welcome!

I do still have the comparisons...just need to find my notebook! They're next!

Nubar Spark - the Office appropriate Prismatic/Holo

Like Ange-Marie (happy early Birthday woman!), I am a holo-whore. So I had to get the entire Nubar Prisms set when I got a killer discount and could afford to order it along with the Nubar Reds (which are also absolutely divine!)

I chose Nubar Spark to wear first because I had a big business event I had to attend and I was the person doing the checking in of all the business women. I thought this was a nice color to use for the event, understated but with some bling in the right light. It wasn't really noticed and that's pretty much what I was going for. Yeah, I saw a few eyes diverting to my nails, but no one said anything. Success!
Here is Nubar Spark in evening sunlight: (you can always click the pics for a bigger view)

In the shade with the flash from my cell phone:

Again in the evening sun/shade...almost my prism mannequin hand?

One more time!

For this mani, I used all Nubar products: 2 coats Foundation Base Coat, 2 coats polish and 1 coat Diamont Top Coat. This manicure wore so well, I was truly impressed. The Nubar products work very well together and gave me a mani that lasted a week and might have gone long had I been able to avoid boredom and need a new color to look at. You can get Nubar nail products at www.bynubar.com

I have to say, this isn't the most prismatic/holo nail polish I own, but it is a holo that is suitable for the office and for that the Lizard give it a rating of Toasty. I'll wear it again for work or when I need that understated bling that Nubar Spark is so good at delivering.

I Made the Shortlist!!!

Holy cow! I got the email this morning telling me that my entry made the top 50! I'm delighted. I love the colors that won, but I am thrilled that my idea made the shortlist.  I am guessing they are talking about the first one on my blog because entrants were only allowed one entry. You can see my entry(ies) HERE. Then I kind of created it HERE.  (wonder if that hurt my chances...doubtful, the winners are great colors)

Congratulations to the winners, I'm so excited for Raindrops!

I pretty thrilled about this...been having a tough time this week with life in general...this was a nice pick-me-up.

Anyone else get the email??? Share! I want to see your entries!

Babbling Brooke is celebrating her 2nd blogoversary! (and you can too!)

GREAT blog, 10 winners, HUGE prize pot...what more do you need? (oh! I know...fun "name that polish" games!) Head on over to enter by clicking on the picture!

Hurry! The giveaway will end on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 11:00 PM.

Iridescent Pink/Purple Comparison

I thought I would do duochrome purples next but I changed my mind. Those, aka "peacocks" will come later, since I already compared two of them before.

Today I will show you the Iridescent Pink/Purples that were in my stash:

They are: A no name Sephora mini, Sinful Let Me Go and Sally Girl It's So You. 

Here they are on the nail in the above order and in the shade (mostly 3 coats each):

And in full sunlight:

I'm keeping the Sephora mini. I suppose the Sinful would be pretty for layering, but I wanted the bottle color. Maybe it needs to be applied over a similar pink creme? Any suggestions? Oh it doesn't matter, it's already left the stash. :)

But to give you a bit more information on them: 

Sephora no name mini:  The brush was wide for a mini, but I liked the formula and it's got the best pigmentation. It had the pigmentation I WANTED the Sinful to have. Lizard rating: Balmy

Sinful Let Me Go: No problem there, you're gone! Hehehee!  This was a watery, bubbly 4 coat mess. It's really similar to the Sally Girl one, but even the Sally Girl had better pigmentation. Lizard rates this one Chilly...actually, how about Arctic. LOL

Sally Girl It's So You: Ok, you can have it then! (Just kidding)  The formula on this one was really nice, the brush is ok for a mini, actually, I am impressed by the brushes and handles on these little gals. :)  Lizard rating: Tepid. This one might be good for layering, but I'm done deluding myself with the idea of keeping minis in my stash to keep my stash small. This one goes too.

So I'm keeping only the Sephora Mini, it is the only one in the group that gets to bottle color. The other ones don't even come close. I have had the Sephora for a while now and have checked the display every time I go to Sephora and I never see it there anymore...so I apologize now for creating any lemmings that won't ever be fulfilled.  

New Blog layout

Compliments of Toxic Phoenix from Toxic Lipstick and Toxin's Designs

I love it! Thanks Zoe!

I'm alive...just been focused on getting better

Thanks for checking on me, you ladies rock and I appreciate that you were checking on me.

My trip to Seattle to visit my son was really good. He's growing up fast being out on his own and far from home and it was actually just pleasant and fun to hang out with him and his roomie for a week. I made his favorite foods for dinner (with plenty of leftovers to come back to after I'd gone home.) We went shopping so I could show him how to feed himself for cheap for a month. Visited some cousins and connected him with family and friends I know up there. Drank some red wine with him and his roomie every evening and showed him how to make a cheap red wine taste pretty darned good!

First trip off the plane was a to Ulta so I could get what I needed to keep my nails in shape. (I carried baggage ON and you can't take flammable stuffs. So I picked up a bunch of polish that I left behind except for one. (more on that maybe in another post.) Do I have photos? No, my camera died and so I never thought about taking pictures until just about the last day there. That is when I took this picture:

It's a picture I took at Gas Works Park which is about 10 blocks south and 5 blocks west of where he lives.

Yeah, the weather pretty much sucked the whole time I was there. Took me over a week to get over my seasonal depression coupled with missing him...it was a rough week and a half. My poor husband. LOL

Just before I left, I spent a few days at Physical Therapy and got some exercises and stretches I could do on my trip. I got a little better while I was away too!  Since I've been home, I've been focused on doing my Physical Therapy exercises and making my appointments. It's paying off. Last night, for the first time in over a year, I slept all night without pain and without the aid of Ibuprofen or Naproxen, (Motrin or Aleve if you want brand names.) At PT yesterday, I was weeping tears of joy and pain at the same time...because, though there is still pain, I am releasing the fear around the pain and allowing my body to relax and get through it. There is a huge lesson in that for me and I believe that is why I am healing. Of course, the therapy is a big deal since it's stretching muscles that were so tight they weren't moving anymore and building muscles that had gone to sleep since the frozen muscles were doing all the work. I even rode my bike for 10 mins and it was WONDERFUL!!! I get to ride for 10 mins a day for a week and if all goes well, I can increase in 10 min increments over the weeks ahead. Soon, I'll be back to riding to work...ok, maybe not soon, but at least I have that to look forward to again...and riding on the weekends to downtown Santa Barbara and back. So. Much. Fun. I. Can't. Wait. (but I have to.)

So, I guess what I'm saying is, I'm crawling out of my hole...And I do have a couple photos of some past manis to share. First up is Cheeky Monkey Get Wet. What can I say, I love Cheeky Monkey. I love the colors, the names, the idea, the owner and goodness...the formula is to die for. I think this is from 4 days of wear too:

Taken in morning light with my new Droid phone. Not too shabby! And again, this is after 4 days of wear.

I got a swap package from Konadomania (More on that later too) and picked the Sh-E holographic polish. It was interesting...It was my holographic mannequin hand color. Kinda cool!

Hard to tell the whole mannequin hands thing, but in the shade it was pretty close. Then in the sun it was all, Wham! Pow! :) It's pretty! Thanks Ms. Konadomania!

On another note, I sent a request to Clarin's today using this link: Ask Clarins  to bring Clarins 230 back. I got a response saying they'd forward it to research and development. Let's all drop them a note to bring it back and maybe if they get enough requests they will? Let's at least try. What do you say ladies??? Who's with me??? :)