Buffalo Check and Plaid

Short post today, I will update with more information on the colors soon.

I am SO in the mood for Fall, so here is a Buffalo Check design I did with red and black.

After a day, I decided to add grey and yellow for a Plaid design.

Thanks for looking!

Essie Sew Psyched

     Sew Psyched was a part of Essie's Fall 2010 collection, and even though it came out last year, it is still available in stores such as CVS and Ulta. Essie's website states that Sew Psyched is a "cashmere-soft sage pewter." To me, it looks like a greyed-out green, or a vintage army green. It looks like someone melted a little toy soldier and poured it into a nail polish bottle.
     In the bottle, there is subtle white shimmer, but on the nails I can barely see it. If I hadn't seen the polish in the bottle, I would think it was a creme on my nails.
     The crazy thing about Essie is that I never know what to expect. With Turquoise and Caicos I had to apply 3-4 coats, but with Sew Psyched, I could have almost gotten away with just one thick coat.
     This color is unique to me, as I don't have many army greens in my stash. I definitely recommend checking it out based on its opacity and the fact that this would be a great Fall staple color. But I'm just biased to green anyway. ☺
     Essie's nail polish retails for $7-8, and is available at CVS, Ulta, Wal-mart, and Target.

Sinful Colors Secret Admirer

    Secret Admirer is probably one of my favorite Sinful Colors polishes because it is such a unique color. It is black with silver shimmer running through it so much so that it looks like dark gunmetal. It was completely opaque for me in two coats. There's really not much else to say about this awesome color except that it's dark, and if you don't feel comfortable wearing black nail polish, this may be the color for you, as it is nice alternative to straight black. I have two bottles of this color, and I got them at Walgreens for $1.99. You can't beat that price ladies and gents! ☺

Revlon Vixen

     According to the All Lacquered Up nail polish blog, Revlon Vixen is a known dupe for the original Chanel Vamp, which appeared on Uma Thurman's nails in Pulp Fiction. So, I went to the nearest CVS to see what all the fuss was about.
     I read that Vixen is supposed to look like dried blood, so I knew that even if I didn't like it, my mom would love it. (She loves blood-red shades. Don't ask me why, but that's just what I've heard all of my life. ☺) I also had read that this polish had a bad bubble problem, which I actually did not experience.
     This polish did cover completely with no bubbles, but for some reason I remember it taking about three coats to be an even dark color. Vixen is certainly opaque and very shiny with a top coat, but I was expecting it to pull more red than it appears to. To me, it looks more brown than red. I don't mean to be gross, but I guess a scab is dried blood, and a scab is brown? Ewwww, gross, I know! =P
     For those of you who love dark, vampy colors, however, this is the color for you. It's a cheap option at around $5-6 instead of paying big bucks for a Chanel polish. This is a perfect color for Fall. I really do love a good, glossy creme, but for some reason I wasn't feeling the brownish-hue, so I added an Nfu-Oh flakie polish the next day, and then it became instant LOVE! I will post pictures of that lovely combo later.
    What do you think? Do you wear dark colors only in Fall/Winter, or would you rock this color all year long?

  

Essie Coat Azure

    I had seen Essie Coat Azure on online blogs, and had seen it in CVS many times, but I never purchased it because of the $8 price tag for such a small bottle. However, I found it for 50 percent off, so I bought it and immediately took it home to try it out.
     Coat Azure is a dusty medium blue with very subtle shimmer. It is not a loud, bright blue because of the slight greyish tone. It does resemble the color of denim. Unlike the other Essie polish I have tried, this color was not streaky and did cover completely in two coats. I suggest you head to your local CVS and check out this polish!

Crackle Time! with Sally Hansen and Sinful Colors

     Ok, so just like James Durbin wanted to "give metal a chance," I wanted to give crackle nail polish another chance. In the past, I've done black crackle over red, black crackle over pink, silver crackle over green, and while I think the concept is interesting, I usually get tired of the "crackle look" after a day. Yet, I still get sucked into trying out new crackle colors. I don't know, I think it's the novelty of it; I just love watching the polish "crack" on my nails. ☺
     So, I stopped at Walgreens to see what new nail polish goodies were on display (I've heard that Sinful Colors is coming out with a collection similar to the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides collection, and I can't wait to get my hands on them!). I picked up Sinful Colors Dream On, which is a darker, neon (contradictory, eh?) fuchsia and a Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat Vintage Violet. I wanted to try a crackle combination that wasn't so in-your-face; I wanted two colors without so much contrast. So, I paired these two beauties together, and Voila!

My mom said I have Monster Nails, and that they look like cracked wounds! Yuck! However....

     I actually really like this combination together. It's more subtle, and inside you have to look really close to see that there is crackle polish on top. Outside, however, is a different and beautiful story. ☺ Outside in the sunlight, Dream On underneath turns into a juicy red grape/wine color that is just begging to peak out from the darker violet duo-chrome crackle on top. Love!!!
     Dream On took either two thick coats or three thin coats to be opaque, and it dried matte, which wasn't a problem after a top coat. I really, really love this color; it would look great even by itself.
    Vintage Violet was an interesting crackle polish, and on some nails it didn't crack as much as I would have liked, but that may be because I didn't wait long enough for Dream On to dry completely. I did have Vintage Violet chip on my thumb nail today, so that's a total of one whole day without a chip, which isn't very pleasant.

Overall, I love this crackle combo. What are some crackle combos you have tried and loved?

Haulage

Here is a haul I did a couple of months ago. The top row are all Sinful Colors, and they were all on sale for $0.99 each. A lot of dark, vampy colors that I can swatch closer to fall. (Or just whenever I'm craving a dark mani.) ☺ The bottom row is a pack of Color Club colors that actually did not have names on them individually, which was kind of frustrating. I think the whole pack of colors was around $6-7 at Ross Dress for Less. What hauls have you done lately?