Miss Marion - The Cremes

I received a rather large package from J Pinot, Inc. the makers of Miss Marion Nail Polish, for review. I will begin with the cremes in the package. Here are the players:

They are from left to right starting with the front row: Cocoa, Elizabeth, Carnival, Mamey, Midnight Red and Ebony.
 I don't yet have "where to find" information other than you can order direct from the company for now by writing to customerservice@jpinon.com
First up is Cocoa, a light nude creme that covers well in two coats but I did three because I am a three coater by habit.

My Namesake - Elizabeth, didn't impress me much in the bottle, but after wearing this "Miss Marion Skittle" mani for a day, she really grew on me. A pretty rosy beige that is office friendly and elegant if maybe just a little bland. :)

Then we have Carnival a bright fiery red creme that wows at two coats. This one leans just a little orange, but it's sexy!

And Mamey, a rich lady in red that I just love.

Sexy, no?
And then there is this Midnight Red a gorgeous deep red-brown similar in color to Cheeky Monkey's Social Climber. Maybe I'll do a comparison in the future.

These applied without any issues. The formula is B3F and they've got it down quite nicely. I thought the consistency of these was very easy to work with, stayed where I applied it and spread "like buttah" :) They dried just fine with a coat of Seche Vite on top and wore extremely well the next day when I shuffled at least 2000 pages of paper while assembling a bazillion tax returns. I did see a few marks on the white pages as the polish left traces when my nails scratched the paper, but it was mostly Mamey and Carnival as they were on the index and middle fingers, the ones I use the most for the task I was doing at the time.

Cocoa was a bit too light for me as I tend to go toward the more dramatic colors, but I am betting it would be the perfect nude for someone out there. Elizabeth grew on me and I'm quite fond of my namesake. :) Carnival suits it's name quite well as it's a very festive red, Mamey is just plain sexy, and Midnight Red is a great go to color. 

Next up, the frosts...but tell me, what do you think of these cremes?

til next time!

~The Lizard

Will the Real China Glaze Flying High Please Stand UP?

Before I show pictures, let me just put out a blatant request for encouragement for life in general. Life has been exceptionally challenging for me this year (yeah, I know it could be much harder) and I'm losing steam fast. I didn't think I'd find myself here at my age, still struggling to make ends meet.

When I was a kid, I thought I would be a rock star, and though that is still a dream, it's not a realistic one. So I find myself at a crossroads trying to find my way and head in the direction of what I want to be when I grow up. I can be anything now! The days of making sure I can feed my son are behind me, he's on his own now - even if he does need an occasional assist from me. Truth be told, I haven't had to do much for him financially for a few years now and yet I still struggle.

Flying High (full evening sun)

I'm tired.

I need some kicks in the butt and some encouragement. I'm battling depression and losing interest in everything that gives me joy, including - dare I say it? - Nail Polish! *background shriek goes here* 

I think I'm fighting depression along with all the other health issues. I just want to be comfortable. I think all the hurt feelings and lashing out that I'm seeing isn't helping, and I'm not singling out any one group of people either, I'm seeing it everywhere. I'm just so tired. 

I ask you, wonderful readers and fellow bloggers, drop me a comment to put a smile on my face, a song in my heart or just a little bit of sunshine-y hope back into my thoughts. Because as lovely as this color is, it didn't help much. :(

One little piece of info to add here regarding "Flying High."  The photos above represent what I've seen all over the web to show this color. Even my camera picked it up this way. Flying High is not this color! It's more teal, it's like For Audrey's darker sister. It's For Audrey more saturated. So I futzed with the color a bit and here are pictures that capture the polish color better, just ignore what color correcting did to my skin.

Almost right...(shade)

Even Better! (shade)

And still, I can't quite capture it...

Have a good evening. Thanks for reading! I value your comments, your friendships and your blogs. 

G'nite. :)

Milani Fresh Teal

Knowing I'd love Milani's Rad Purple Neon (that isn't neon) this one caught my eye. Teal is one of my 10,000 favorite colors and I realized I don't have any Teals in my stash, so this one went into the basket. I will admit that the Rad Purple swatches told me to open the bottle and peek at the polish inside and it was, indeed, teal. My photos are too blue. There it's weird though, the bottle is a different color than the polish, but still, it's really teal, not blue, and a simple, nice, creme.

It went on nicely and this is 2 coats, thick coats, but they didn't bubble. I think I've got the bubbling issue down to a science now. My only concern about this one is it took a long time to really remove it all, and it was just a swatch. Still, I always put my base coat on, because I don't want any staining happening and some polishes can really do a number on natural nails. This would, most likely, be one of those problem children. Took forever to remove every trace...and if you take a closer look at the Anaka swatch, you'll see remnants of this biatch there. Still, it's pretty and I'll see about longer wear affects in the near future. This is a nice summer color and so I'll wear it then.

I'm off to get some Nubars I've been lemming and then, I swear...no buy until I go thru what I've got and swap or clear some space. I'm nuts for Nubar...really.