When you think about it, it's amazing how many affordable, pretty polishes are out there. Take Sinful Colors for example. Comes in a wide array of gorgeous colors and finishes, and affordable enough to own lots of them.

I recently purchased a couple from their Leather Luxe collection. First thing I loved about this polish was the following pictures are of ONE COAT!!!  I like to change my color often, so only having to do one coat is fine with me. Makes for easier removal and who cares if it chips after a day or two ? Please pardon the touch up on the ring finger.  I had used a bit too much glue and it dried shiny so I tried to cover it up with a bit of polish.  I need someone to now make matte glue ;)

I was also able to finally try out these gorgeous studs from Born Pretty Store. At least that's where I think they were from, haha. A friend ordered them for me in 3 different sizes. Lisa, is that where you got them from ?  I don't think the studs would have looked as nice on polish that wasn't matte. Matte/Studs - sort of goes together. 

Taylor Blue

Taylor Storch was a vibrant, gifted young woman when in March of 2010, a tragic skiing accident changed everything.  Her parents were told that she would not survive and they made a choice that they knew their daughter would want.

Taylor's organs were donated and helped to save and change numerous lives.  Although her life ended way too soon, her spirit lives on in Taylor's Gift, which strives to increase organ donation.

OPI partnered with Taylor's Gift and created an exclusive polish named "Taylor Blue".  People are invited to join in on the Paint it Forward campaign and paint you nails to show your support.

Here is Taylor Blue.

Please go to http://taylorsgift.org/ for more information about Taylor and how you can become an organ donor.

Just Peachy......

What's your first thought when you hear the word "peach"?  Fruit, right? That's normal, most people would say the same thing.

I'd like to bring your attention to something else you should think of when you hear the word "peach". Think of Uterine Cancer Awareness. Yes, it has it's own color - it's not pink. PEACH is a gorgeous color.  And thanks to the combined efforts of some indie polish makers and bloggers, this is just one disease that we are hoping to bring more awareness to.

Samantha Rigge of Gothic Gala Lacquers is new to the polish making world, but you'd never know it by looking at and trying out her polishes.  I told Samantha my story when I was searching for a pretty peach polish to wear. You see, I've been diagnosed with uterine cancer, twice. Most recently, I had surgery, chemo, radiation and cyber knife. The cancer has shrunk but it's still there, it will never go away. We just have to keep a close eye on it......that little fucker.

Samantha graciously decided that "Lost My Lady Bits" would be just one of the awareness polishes she would be making.  When you purchase "Lost My Lady Bits" at a cost of $9.00 a bottle, $2.00 will be donated to "Be Bold Be Bald". Polish will be available beginning September 1st at her Etsy shop, which you can find here http://www.etsy.com/shop/gothicgalalacquers.  But you don't have to wait, go now and check out her other beautiful polish. And please, let me know if you purchase a "Lost My Lady Bits" so I can personally thank you.

My polish to review arrived in the mail today and I didn't want to waste much time trying it out. This polish has a sort of fuzzy peach as a base color, pretty in itself. But then, add the copper, rose and irridescent glitters and WOW !  Not too much, just enough to make it sparkle. I absolutely LOVE this color and will be wearing it often.

I also have to commend Samantha on her packaging. What a beautiful surprise inside the box.  Multicolored shredded paper along with a multi color spiral shaped confetti - pretty ! She also includes a home made deep purple lollipop. The polish itself was wrapped in a beautiful tissue paper. She left nothing untouched by her obvious caring hands.

Thank you Samantha, I am proud of you and I thank you so much for being one of the indies to take on this challenge. I thank you all.

Favorites........

I don't usually play favorites, but sometimes, just sometimes,  you can't help yourself.

Case in point - Essie's Jamaica Me Crazy......not a new color but one of my favorites. Essie polishes all apply so smoothly and easily, the polish just glides onto my nails. Just LOVE how the color crosses that line between pink and purple so beautifully. I used 2 coats of Jamaica Me Crazy on all but two of my nails. I used one coat on my accent nails, followed by Julie G's Secret Treasure, another beautiful cross between pink and purple but this time, sparkles ! I used one dabbed on coat of Secret Treasure. I followed all of this with one coat of Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength, Diamond Flash, my go to quick dry top coat and another favorite of mine.

I really love the combination of these 2 polishes......subtle yet noticeable.  And the fact that I have a coat of Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A Peel - my newest favorite under the accent nails assures me of easy removal.

What are some of your favorites that you'd recommend to other polish lovers ? Go ahead, I won't tell ;)

More dupes......or are they?

When I look at my racks of polish, I tend to see a lot of polishes that appear to be duplicates. While I realize that there are slight differences I wonder if I could do without those that are so similar.

 I'm like a moth to a flame when coralish (that's not a word, is it?) colored polishes are around. On the rack, these all looked like corals to me. When I actually tried them side by side, there's one that appears to be more of a red.

The color on my pinky, Essie's Hip-Anema, clearly is more red than the rest. It's such a rich, beautiful color !  The remainder, from left to right.....all Essie's - all 2 coats - Sunday Funday, California Coral and Come Here !  They're all gorgeous colors and I love all of them.

I really do think I NEED to have all of these colors......don't you agree ? :)

Inspiration...........

Here is the inspiration picture

I'm not a huge fan of gold.....but I love Silver. So when I found Milani in Silver (yes, that's the only name on the bottle) I bought it, hoping to recreate this somewhat.  

Here's my manicure using Glitter A Peel by Nail Pattern Boldness, Cool Gray by Sinful Colors, A silver holo from Nails, Inc. and Silver by Milani. This pic was taken indoors.

And here's the outdoor pic....I LOVE that you can see some reflections on my hand.

Where do you get inspiration from? 

Glitter A Peel is very appealing..............

Well, I can tell you honestly that Glitter A Peel is a must have for anyone that uses sparkles.  One nail had chipped yesterday and the polish was beginning to peel on its own so I pulled at it just a bit and had to stop myself. It felt like the entire nail would have peeled off if I continued but I wasn't ready to remove it all.

Today I sat down with my cuticle pusher and began to remove my polish......sometimes it was tough to get it started, so I used the sharper end of my cuticle pusher just to get the polish up off the nail a bit, but once I got started it came off with ease. Granted, I did not use a lot of sparkles, but I just know this would work even if I did.

I would recommend this base coat to anyone that used sparkles. I think that I just may use it for all of my polish applications.......would save my cuticles from all the polish remover.  http://nailpatternboldness.blogspot.com/