PSA: Up & Away is out!!

Check TransDesign!! It's there!

Of course I literally, not an hour ago, bought them off Ebay... I ended up saving $2, but there was so much else I wanted! Oh well, guess I'll just wait for OPI Hong Kong now for a TD order.

What are you getting from Up & Away?

Why You Should Always Go After a Lemming

I'm still kind of new to collecting, so while I liked Misa's Dirty Sexy Money when it came out, I didn't realize the significance of it. For weeks I saw people's pictures of this awesome green shade, and my interest grew. I had even planned to buy it in a TD order, but kept putting off the order because I was waiting for Holiday collections. And of course, by the time I was placing an order it was out of stock. Everywhere. I could not find this thing for it's original price. And my interest grew to mild insanity as I realized my only options were spending anywhere from 2 to 4 times the original price. Being frugal by nature, that part hurt. But I finally found it on Ebay for a still reasonable price, and though I had to beat out another bidder (sorry if it was you!), it was totally worth it. This is the. best. green. EVER*. I'm so glad I found this when I did because now I can't find it anywhere. And I encourage you, if you're totally lemming something, get it before it's gone! You'll really regret it later if you don't! And if you end up not liking it? Swap for something else on MUA!




*Okay. Not ever. But from the time I won it on Ebay, to the time I got it in the mail, wore it for 3 days, and then took it off for something glittery, it was the best green ever.

OMG, what has MAC come up with now?

I'm an huge fan of MAC lipstick and lipglass, I own about 45 total! But I have no MAC nail polish. But when Blue India comes out, March 11 as I've read several times, I will! I've heard MAC applies terribly, but for this color, I don't care! This shade is AMAZING in the bottle, I can't imagine what it will look like on the nail. I look forward to seeing the early release swatches!


OMG so pretty!!!

Glitter Fanatic Must Have - Mad as a Hatter

I'm pretty sure most of us have a special place in our heart for some version of Alice in Wonderland. I loved it growing up, and after hearing that OPI was doing an Alice themed collection I was excited!... until I saw promo pics. 2 reds and 2 super glitters? Yawn. But then pictures of the glitters showed up and I had to have them. I'm still quite disappointed that OPI did 2 reds and did not do anything for the other fabulous characters. No Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, White Rabbit, or Jabberwock? Come on! There were so many great things they could have done! But what they did was very well put together. Today I have Mad as a Hatter to show, and it is a MUST HAVE! It's a mostly purple glitter with plenty of silver thrown in, but up close you can see green, orange, gold and red flecks. It's so mesmerizing! And the best part? Every time I look at my fingers I think of Johnny Depp. Nothing wrong with that!



Anyone else super excited for Tim Burton's upcoming Alice film? I'm a huge Burton fan, and IMO Burton + Depp is always pure gold!

Essence Meet You in Budapest

I didn't know anything about this brand when I first saw this color, but I new I had to have Meet You in Budapest. It's a perfect, so perfect, teal with a super-jelly finish. I managed to track down someone who wanted to swap, and I was so excited! Essence is a drugstore brand from Europe, and I didn't know what to expect in terms of application, but I was completely blown away. It applied flawlessly, and was perfectly opaque in two coats, which for a jelly is amazing! And do you see the shine on this? There is no topcoat. That's right. No Seche Vite, no Poshe, this is all Essence's natural finish. I actually picked this dulled down picture because the rest of them reflected me in my nails! This was a limited edition color, but if you have any super nice European friends, ask them to track it down!


I haven't done any swatch comparisons with this, I'm waiting to get the new China Glaze collection to see if it's close at all to Flyin' High, though the more swatches of that I see, the less similar they look. Possibly similar to RBL Teal? I'll need to compare next time I bring it out!

Sapphire in the Snow...bank

I am a wonderful driver. I've never been in a crash or fender bender, never accidentally brushed my bumper against something I shouldn't, and have never had a ticket. Yet in the last week I have put my car in a snowbank TWO times! I wasn't going faster than 15 mph each time and the second time wasn't so bad, I just rocked the car out. But it's rather embarrassing to be chastised by your dad when you've had a clean driving record since you got your license.

Putting aside my exasperation with icy Minnesota winters, I'm quite in love with today's NOTD. This is my very first vampy color and I still don't know why I didn't jump on these earlier. Application was great and opaque in one coat, though this picture is two. Unfortunately I was having a terrible lint day and some stuck to the color before I put on SV, but I tried to fake a perfect mani with my camera! Sapphire in the Snow was from OPI's holiday collection, the only one I picked up while they were in stock. I'm so glad I did! I have a list of about 8 other almost-blacks to pick up now, I'm completely hooked.

Minty Fresh

Today I have more lovely mint shades! I recently found OPI's discontinued Hey! Get in Lime! for what I thought was a reasonable deal on Ebay. And while I generally don't like to buy from the auction site in this case it was totally worth it! While it took 4 coats and seemed kinda watery the end result is beautiful. If you are at all lemming this, pick it up before you won't be able to find it for under $20.

Claire's Dream Catcher is super popular right now. Just google search for "Dream Catcher Channel Jade Dupe" and you'll see why. While it's not a dead on dupe, it's just a touch more yellow based, it's close enough for you to close your eyes and think of Jade. This one is a super bargain too, I think Claire's always has BOGO 50% off on their nail polish. The application was a little finicky but not the worst I've ever dealt with. This was 4 coats.

Essie Mint Candy Apple was also popular this last month but it seemed like the jury was split on this one. You either loved it or didn't. I loved it, but not as a mint. It's more of a robin's egg blue. This is one you have to see in person because almost every picture I've seen makes it look chalky and pastel-ish and it's really not. It's bold and smooth. This applied really well with 2 coats but I needed a third to cover up some bald spots.


So my mint collection is growing slowly! Anyone have any recommendations I should hunt down?