Non-Polish: tokidoki at Sephora!!!

So this is only loosely related to nails, but I had to post it anyway. Sephora is launching a tokidoki line in May!!! I know there are loads of tokidoki fanatics out there. I don't happen to be one, but I am a make-up and Sephora fanatic, so you can bet I like the looks of this collection LOL.

Here's what Sephora has to say about the tokidoki line:

"The line combines the imaginative playfulness of the tokidoki universe with the highest quality, color-rich formulations. Pop pigment shades for eyes, lips and face come together alongside professional tools and accessories, all inspired by Simone’s cast of characters, like the milk stealing Moofia and the sweet and prickly SANDy. Don’t let the cuteness of these characters fool you; this color collection impresses the most experienced makeup aficionados. With immaculate attention to detail such as artist approved chisel tip applicators, indigenous Japanese and Italian ingredients and professionally milled powder formulations, every aspect of the line brings together art, color and performance for an unforgettable experience."





As of right now, the nail products in the launch of this line are:
"For Nails:
· Galleria Nail Files ($10) – Sculpt nails with files inspired by skateboard decks featuring iconic tokidoki characters. Available in 6 styles, 3 files to a deck.
· SANDy Nail File & Cactus Pup Buffers ($5-8) – SANDy will shape your nails, the Pups will buff, all so cute with such a pretty payoff. Easily attached to any keychain for instant access."

So no polish yet, but we can hope, right???

Rescue Beauty Lounge Giveaway at R3 Daily!

Check out this great giveaway! R3 Daily is giving away two complete sets of the Rescue Beauty Lounge Surf Collection!

RBL Giveaway

I like the looks of Diddy Mow, what do you think?

Later today, I'll have a post about a new line Sephora is launching in May. Later in the week I have a Nicole by OPI Target exclusive to show you, along with a fun Sinful Colors glitter!

Interesting Nail News

I stumbled across this news the other day- L'Oreal has purchased Essie. You can read the full article here on Style List. It's pretty interesting, they're talking about having a line of Essie cosmetics, like lip glosses, etc. I kind of always liked that Essie was a smallish company run by Essie herself. How do you feel about this news? Do you want to see Essie expand as a brand? Do you think L'Oreal is going to ruin the brand's classy feel?

When you're done reading that article, click "get the latest tips here" for more interesting nail news. Sonia Kashuk is doing a line of polish for Target (including at HOT looking silver) and Nicole by OPI is going to have some exclusive polishes at Walmart. I think I'm going to look for that Sonia Kashuk silver today!

China Glaze Poolside Collection

Finally I have all the pictures and my thoughts on the China Glaze Poolside collection. Overall, my impression of this collection is a lot more positive than it was in the beginning. However, all of these polishes have some degree of VNL. I'm showing these with 4 coats, except for Pool Party, which is 3 coats. I was pretty disappointed in the lack of opacity. And yea, yea, I know about layering them with white polish, I get what you're saying. I just don't think I should HAVE to layer them. I own other neon polishes that do not require another polish underneath them, that's all I'm saying.

The COLORS in this collection, on the other hand, are FANTASTIC!!!! Super bright!! My pictures do not come close to depicting how bright and neon they are! We'll start out with my favorites I think.

China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, no flash

Flip Flop Fantasy is definitely my favorite in this collection, and sadly, it's picture came out the least accurate. This polish is exactly the right mix of pink and orange-y coral. It is also so bright, it probably could light your way in a dark room. I can't wait to wear this on my toes, it's going to be ahhhhhhmazing!!!! This is 4 coats, and it has a bit of VNL but not as bad as others in the collection.

China Glaze Pool Party, three coats, no flash

Pool Party is my second favorite, and you can read my complete thoughts about it here. Definitely a Must-Have. This amuses me because usually my least favorite polishes are pinks!

China Glaze Towel Boy Toy, no flash

Third place is probably Towel Boy Toy, although Kiwi Coolada is very close. What puts Towel Boy Toy ahead is the shimmer in this pool blue polish. I don't own any neons with shimmer and I love it! It's a really cool look and perfect for this color polish, as it looks like shimmering pool water. I think this one should have been named Pool Party instead LOL. I would call this a Must-Have and it gets originality points for the shimmer. This is four coats.

Towel Boy Toy, no flash

China Glaze Kiwi Coolada, no flash

Kiwi Coolada... I sometimes think I love this. It's neon, it's a lovely bright highlighter/grass green, what could be bad about it? But I think the amount of VNL is just throwing me off here. With pink polish, it's not so bad. But once you get into green territory, I really don't think it looks good. I'd like to wear this one a lot, but in reality, if I have to layer white under it, I probably will only wear it once or twice this summer. Too bad, because it is a lovely color! This is four coats.

China Glaze Kiwi Coolada, no flash

China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, no flash

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini is a little bit along the same lines as Kiwi Coolada. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this color. It's like a highlighter! My pictures make it look a little more golden than it is, but just think of a yellow highlighter. My problem again is the VNL. It just looks tacky with a color this bright. I think when my nails are shorter maybe I won't mind as much. This polish is also a tad streaky, as is the case with most yellows. A nice thick layer of Seche Vite helped with that problem though. I think this is four coats, but it could actually be five. I may have stopped counting at this point.

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, no flash

China Glaze Sun Worshipper, no flash

Last, and definitely least in my book is Sun Worshipper. This is the Poolside Fail polish. It still has some black specks lurking around in the polish, it's streaky, and again with the VNL looking tacky. I do enjoy the extremely bright, eye-burning orange-yellow color, however. My pictures of this one are too yellow, it's more orange than this (the real color is closest to the color of the first and second nail from the left in the second picture). Like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese! I think I'll be wearing this on my toes a lot. I'll try it with white underneath, but I feel like it will be super streaky. The second time I tried this polish, I did thicker coats than on the Fail day. I think it worked out a bit better, though it took longer to dry.

China Glaze Sun Worshipper

Overall, I love Pool Party, Flip Flop Fantasy and Towel Boy Toy. I love the colors of Kiwi Coolada, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and Sun Worshipper, but the formula left me a little disappointed. I think my real problem is that I expect a lot from China Glaze and lately I don't think they've been meeting my expectations.

The China Glaze Poolside Collection is available online at 8ty8 Beauty.

Polish of the Week: China Glaze DV8

China Glaze DV8, three coats, with flash

While you wait for my full review of China Glaze Poolside, check out this little treat I purchased with my Poolside order- China Glaze DV8. DV8 came out with the OMG holographic polish collection. This was really an impulse buy, it hasn't ever been on my list or anything. MAN I love impulse buys when they turn out to be this good! It's so good, I'm considering ordering a few more polishes from OMG, maybe GR8 or L8TR G8TR?

China Glaze DV8, three coats, no flash

DV8 is a holographic teal that is unlike any other polish I own. The holo effect isn't overwhelming in most lights, but the color is such a stunner, I think I would love this even if it had no holo effect at all. If you look at your nails up close, you can almost always see the holo, but from an arm's length away, it's not so noticeable.

China Glaze DV8, three coats, with flash

DV8 is just gorgeous though. I spent a lot of time staring at my nails while wearing this beauty. This is three coats, although I might have been OK with just two. I just had some difficulty with the first coat on a few nails, so I did three just to even it out. I tried DV8 out right after I posted my Poolside Fail post, so I started out in a bad mood and expecting a crap polish. I couldn't have been more wrong though! This is a must-have for me, and I'm not sure why I didn't have it before this!

China Glaze DV8 is available online at 8ty8 Beauty.

Haute Look and Urban Decay!

Right on Haute Look, you can buy the Urban Decay Apocalyptic Nail Set for half price! This set started out at $26, you can buy it now for $13!

If you're not a Haute Look member, this site offers designer apparel, accessories, and beauty product for up to 60% off. Signing up for the site is free and there's no obligation to buy something if you sign up. Usually, you have to be on the waiting list for a few days/weeks, but here is an invitation link, as I'm already a member. Go buy some Urban Decay!

I have a post coming up later today, I'm working on it!

China Glaze Pool Party

China Glaze Pool Party, three coats, no flash

I wanted to share these two pictures with you because they're the only two pictures of China Glaze Poolside that even vaguely resemble the polish LOL.
Neons are very hard to capture on camera, so I think I'm going to have my boyfriend take these pictures. This will cause a bit of a delay in my post, but I'd rather do it right than do it quickly. So the whole CG poolside review should be coming around Wednesday I hope.

China Glaze Pool Party, three coats, no flash

But for now, I have this picture of Pool Party, a super bright medium pink neon. It doesn't look super bright in this picture, but the tone of the color is pretty accurate. So just imagine that this is brighter and more neon looking!

Pool Party is definitely a Win, not a Fail. While there is still a little bit of VNL after 3 coats, it's not too bad. For such a pretty color, I can live with it. I also imagine it would be less noticeable if my nails were shorter. My nails right now are long-ish for me. If you've noticed, I really prefer very short nails. I do too many things with my hands to deal with long nails. I get very uncomfortable when they reach a certain length.

So enough about my nail length, Pool Party is HOT. I can't wait to wear it on my toes. I hope to have better pictures of it and the rest of China Glaze Poolside in a few days.

In other news, apparently Sephora by OPI Teal We Meet Again is available for purchase now. Now that I just placed a massive Sephora order two days ago. Awesome. But if you are a Beauty Insider, you can get 15% off your entire order with the code "madness", so that's good news!

Poolside FAIL

My China Glaze Poolside polishes arrived yesterday and I was SO pumped to try them out today.

I don't think it was meant to be for today. The very first one I tried was a disaster. First of all, after four coats, the polish was so see through, it could be called a sheer. This makes me angry. I was frustrated and no longer excited about trying the rest of them.

Secondly, there were little black specks of something that looked like crushed dead bug all over the inside of the cap of the aforementioned polish. So these crushed dead bug specks ended up on 3 of the 4 nails I did. HOT.

Thirdly, after all this, the weather here is dark and overcast, so the pictures I finally took of this one polish are totally inaccurate color-wise. So, I quit today. The Poolside collection will be reviewed another day.

I did buy two other treats when I bought Poolside, so I might try to post them later after I stop seething with anger.

Orly Foil FX: Rage and Shine

Orly Shine, three coats, with flash

Last weekend, I dragged my boyfriend into the mall and picked up two of the polishes from Orly's Foil FX collection, Shine and Rage. The Foil FX collection was created to imitate the mirror-like finish of Minx nail treatments. (If you haven't heard the buzz about Minx, check it out here).

Orly Shine, three coats, no flash

First up of the two polishes that DID grab my attention is Shine. Shine is a highly reflective silver metallic. It is more shiny and even more gorgeous than these photos show. The silver is a nice true silver, it doesn't lean green or blue. Application on these was pretty easy, but I did have to do three coats. I actually felt like I could have used a fourth coat. Three coats looked fine most of the time, but when I held my hand up to the light, I could see right through the polish on my tips. I also was expecting this to dry quicker than it did. Usually metallics dry super fast, but these took at least as long as regular polish. If you're a fan of silver polish (like me), this is probably a must-have!

Orly Shine, three coats, with flash

Orly Rage, three coats, no flash

Next up is Rage, a rose-tinted metallic polish. Originally, I was thinking this would be kind of a rose gold polish, but it's more like rose silver. This polish is gorgeous! So shiny and a very unique color. I thought this would satisfy my longing for China Glaze Hi-Tek, but Hi-Tek is definitely more gold. When I give in to that lemming, I'll show you a comparison of the two. I had the same application experience with Rage as I did with Shine. It required three coats, and I can still see through the polish when I hold my hands up to the light. If you like metallic polishes, this one is a must-have, due to it's unique color.

Orly Rage, three coats, sunlight

There is a third polish in this collection, called Luxe. Luxe is a metallic shimmering gold. Usually I like gold polishes, but this one wasn't grabbing my attention, so I passed on it.

Now, a couple of comments on this whole collection. While these polishes are super shiny and gorgeous, they are nowhere near Minx-like. So, if you're looking for a Minx alternative, these are not the solution. Minx metallics are almost mirror shiny and super smooth. These are shiny, but they are textured, almost grainy.

Secondly, I definitely recommend wearing a ridge-filling base coat with these. I did not use a ridge-filling base coat, and I feel like I can see every single imperfection in my nails.

To sum up my feelings, these are beautiful polishes to own, especially for any metallic polish lovers. However, if you wanted a Minx substitute, you're out of luck!

The Orly Foil FX collection is available online at Transdesign or at your local Beauty Plus Salon.

OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte with Shiny Top Coat

OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte with one coat Color Club top coat, no flash

I was originally going to just add these pictures into my Polish of the Week: OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte post, however...

THIS POLISH IS STINKING GORGEOUS WITH A SHINY TOP COAT. GO DO IT NOW.

OK... so, anyways, this really is a stunning polish with a shiny top coat. The shiny coat magnifies the sparkle in the polish and also adds a duochrome-like blue flash to the polish that wasn't there before. I walked outside to get the mail while wearing this and could not believe how hot this looked.

OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte with one coat Color Club top coat, with flash

As for how this compares to the original LPH, I think it's actually a brighter pink, with a more pronounced flash of blue shimmer. I like the original LPH, but I don't think the color is as saturated as LPH Matte with shiny top coat. They both are hot pink with a bit of blue shimmer though, so they are probably pretty similar for the average polish user. I no longer own the original, otherwise I would do a comparison shot.

I really like this color matte, just the way OPI intended it to be, but from now on, I am going to have a hard time deciding whether to wear it matte or shiny!

SEPHORA by OPI Teal We Meet Again Promo Pic!

Sephora by OPI Teal We Meet Again

Just got this promo picture in for Sephora by OPI Teal We Meet Again from the Summer 2010 Havana Nights collection. I'm working on finding out when these will be available for purchase! Teal We Meet Again looks like The Hotness. I think I'm going to love it!!!

Also, coming later tonight, I have some gorgeous pictures of OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte with a shiny topcoat!
Tomorrow, I'll have pictures and comments on Shine and Rage from Orly's Foil FX collection.
Also, I am anxiously waiting for my China Glaze Poolside collection to arrive on my doorstep, so stay tuned for that as well!

See the SOPI Havana Nights Collection Online!!

The Sephora by OPI Havana Nights collection is on Sephora.com already! It's weird because it's not on the main page for Sephora by OPI, and the title says "Sephora by OPI Modern Flowers Collection". But you can check out the colors! I will definitely be ordering some of these soon! EDIT: The collection is not available for purchase yet. But you can still check out the colors and plan your order!

I like Teal We Meet Again (shimmering deep blue green), Carribean Cocktail (Ocean blue with silver shimmer), Read My Palm (light jade green) and maybe Rumba Romance (bronze shimmer) as well!!!

Polish of the Week: OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte

OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte, three coats, with flash

I have having some difficulty deciding what polish to put on yesterday. I have a whole bunch of polishes that I have yet to actually wear as a full mani, but none of them seemed to catch my attention. So I started to dig through one of my boxes of spring/summer shades. When I got to the pinks, I immediately picked up OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte.

OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte, three coats, with flash

I think maybe I wasn't in the mood for the whole base coat, 2-3 coats, top coat, wait for it to dry, etc. thing. So I applied three coats of La Paz-itively Hot Matte and they dried nearly instantly. Ahhhhhh, one reason to love mattes.

OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte, three coats, with flash

Unlike the other OPI mattes, La Paz-itively Hot is actually a matte shimmer. I took some pictures from the side to make sure you can see the shimmer. This is a really hot color for summer, a hot pink that leans a little red at times. These pictures are color accurate- just look at that brightness! This is a great option for those 95 degree summer days where you barely want to move and need some fast nail color. This color would also look amazing with a shiny top coat! I wanted to wear it matte this time, but I may post a pic with shiny top coat later on.

On a side note, how sick would this color be as a Suede??? Am I the only one who constantly wishes that OPI would release more Suedes???

SEPHORA by OPI Summer 2010 Havana Nights Collection!!

OMG just got an email with this info-

"Show your nails some summer love with a line-up inspired by the passionate glamour of Havana, the Sephora by OPI Havana Nights collection. Capturing the vibrancy, passion, and romance of this iconic city, these colors reflect the tropical shades of the surrounding sea, the lush vegetation and pulsating rhythms from salsa bars and cabarets. The Sephora by OPI summer 2010 Havana Nights collection will be available in May 2010."

Tropical shades of the surrounding sea= blue/turquoise??!!! The lush vegetation= green???!! This sounds like a HOT collection to me. I hope they have some nice finishes in there, like Leaf Him At The Altar's shimmery goodness.

What do you think about this collection just from the press blurb? Are you as pumped as I am?

EDIT- Apparently this is one of the shades???

Non-Polish: Ole Henriksen blue/black berry enzyme mask

Ole Henriksen blue/black berry enzyme mask

We haven't done a Non-Polish review around here in awhile, and since my nails are still recovering, I figured this was a good time to review my new favorite face mask. Ole Henriksen blue/black berry enzyme mask is a moisturizing face mask made with hyaluronic acid, lavender extract, and blue/black berry extract. Hyaluronic acid is an ingredient found in many moisturizing/anti-aging treatments and is supposed to help bind moisture to the skin.

Love that this is a clear gel!

I am usually not a big fan a face masks. I find that they're often either a pain to remove (like the peel off ones), smell funny, or leave your skin tinted green or some other hideous color. This is exactly why I LOVE Ole Henriksen's blue/black berry mask. It is a clear gel with absolutely no color that you rinse off after 20 minutes. No greenish tint to your skin, and no residue left on your face. It smells slightly like lavender, but not overwhelming. The scent doesn't linger on your skin after you rinse the mask off. I can't stand when there is a heavy scent on my face from creams or masks!

Now, onto the benefits for your skin! This mask is really moisturizing. After I rinse it off, my skin looks so much healthier and plumped up. Any dry, flaky patches disappear. While this is not an acne mask, any acne I have looks noticeably better after I use this mask. Make-up applies much smoother as well.



Another great thing about this mask is that is it safe to use under your eyes. My under eye area is extremely dry and constantly needs moisture. I think it's a hassle to use a separate mask for your under eye area, so this is like a hidden bonus in this product. It's not irritating at all to my eye area, and any dry lines I had vanish immediately when I use this mask. The skin under my eyes is so smooth after using this mask, it looks almost like doll skin or over-airbrushed magazine ads for eye cream.

The blue/black berry enzyme mask is $32 for 3.5 oz. I think this is actually a good price considering what a great product it is AND the fact that you can use this as an eye mask! Also, Sephora right now has a special Skincare Challenge for Beauty Insiders. When you purchase 4 skincare products over $20, you get a free "featured reward product". This mask is qualified for the Skincare Challenge program, so if you buy it, you're a quarter of the way towards a free product! Read about the Skincare Challenge here. I'm a sucker for a free product, so you can bet I'll be purchasing 4 skincare items LOL. The Skincare Challenge is running through December, so you have plenty of time to nab your free product!

The Ole Henriksen blue/black berry enzyme mask is available online at Sephora and at Sephora stores near you.

We're Baaaaaackkkkk!

EK and I have returned from Scotland! We had a great time and bought loads of clothes and accessories!!! Our dancing results were not really what we had hoped for, but the competitions were really difficult this year, and we both danced well.

My hands and nails are in need of a little R&R due to dry airplane air, bad hand soap, etc. So I don't have a real post today. I need some hand therapy first LOL!!

Polish of the Week: Zoya Erin

Zoya Erin is not a typical Never Enough Nails Polish of the Week. It is sheer, barely there, natural-looking, and probably best used for French manis, which EK and I tend to avoid. BUT, it's named ERIN. LOL. So we had to make it polish of the week.
Besides, it's good to show things on here that maybe aren't glitter bombs or greens.

Three coats Zoya Erin, with flash

I did three coats of Zoya Erin. It's meant to be a sheer polish, so it is obviously sheer. It provides a beautiful peachy-pink shimmer to your nails, making them look healthier. If you work in an environment that is not polish-friendly, this is a great option for you! Also, as I said before, this probably work well for French manicures. The formula on this was perfect, as is the usual for Zoya. No streaking whatsoever (I always have trouble with sheers and streaks!).

If you're looking for a lightly tinted, shimmery polish with a fantastic formula, check out Zoya Erin!

Three coats Zoya Erin, with flash

Zoya Erin is available online at Art of Beauty.

A "Re-fresh"ing Konad

Two coats China Glaze Re-freshmint with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover Konad, wih flash

Since it is actually spring now, I decided I should finally break out some of my spring polishes! For today's Konad, I started out with two coats of China Glaze Re-freshmint (see it alone here).

Then I picked China Glaze Four Leaf Clover for my stamping polish. This created a cool, kind of subtle Konad. I've been doing contrasting colors for Konad-ing, but I like this look of the light and dark as well. I used the fishnet image on the m57 plate. This image is a little tricky because of all the small lines in it. It's very easy for one of them to get out of place. I'm still working on preventing this with this image, but I think it works best to place your nail on the stamper, instead of the stamper on your nail. It seemed to come out cleaner that way.

Two coats China Glaze Re-freshmint with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover Konad, wih flash

These pictures are before I did my real clean-up, but it was about to get dark out, so I wanted to take them before clean-up. You can imagine this would look cute without the little green edges LOL.

Two coats China Glaze Re-freshmint with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover Konad, wih flash

China Glaze Re-freshmint and Four Leaf Clover are available online at 8ty8 Beauty. Konad stamping kits and image plates are available online at OC Nail Art.