Go Red For Women 2013: Essie Lollipop

I’ve been long aware of the “Go Red For Women” campaign.  But, admittedly was grossly uneducated on the topic. So as I was preparing for this post, I decided I couldn’t stand behind a red manicure unless I took the time to learn about the issue at hand: women & heart disease.  I challenge you to do the same. I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t realize heart disease was the #1 cause of death among women.  Everyone knows the signs and symptoms of a heart attack, but did you know they present differently in women?  If you’re interested in learning more, please check out the official Go Red for Women website here.

Now, onto the polish! I’ve had this polish since 2009. When I bought the 4 piece cube mini set from Essie’s Winter 2009 collection, I was only interested in Mint Candy Apple. I just wasn’t interested in Lollipop (” yawnnn…another red “) or Rock Candy (“ugh another sheer pink..”) Sadly, I hadn’t tried this polish until today! So much regret!

Lollipop is a bright “candy cane” red creme/jelly hybrid. I the description is fitting, since it was a part of the 2009 Winter collection, but I wouldn’t limit this beauty to winter. It’d be great year round. I can just picture it on my toes this summer! I used two coats and they dried to a perfect glossy finish. The shine factor was actually what caught my attention first.

Luckily, Lollipop is still a part of the standard Essie collection – you can pick it up at Target or Ulta and enjoy it all year long!

If you missed Alli’s Go Red For Women manicure, be sure to check it out here! For another swatch and links to some of my favorite red polishes to date, check below the jump!

Happy Weekend, loves!

 

Fall Favorites: OPI – Can you Tapas This?

Fall is in full swing in Virginia: the air is crisp and the leaves are changing and I absolutely love it.  I was really feeling a darker fall infused manicure this morning and I think dark polishes look great on shorter nails.

Tapas is an excellent example of this season’s it color: oxblood. It’s a dark brownish red creme. Application was great – I used three coats, but it looked perfect after two.

While it is no longer a part of the core OPI collection, I picked up this gem in the Spring when it was on clearance at Ulta for 3.99 – such a steal. At the time of this post you can find it on Amazon in the 12.99-15.99 range. Lucky for you, if you’re lemming this polish – try out another one of my favorite fall polishes: Mrs. O’Leary’s BBQ. Alli claims they’re the same, I disagree – but they certainly are close AND it’s still a part of the core line so it’s very accessible.

Happy Monday!

OPI – Barefoot in Barcelona

I’ve been on a quest for the perfect nude polish for my amazing Nana. I was sure I’d struck gold when I picked up Barefoot in Barcelona the other day – but it was declared to be “too pink.” Not to fret – I gladly welcomed Barefoot in Barcelona into my collection with open arms.  I’m thinking now she’d like something closer to Essie’s Sand Tropez, but any suggestions you guys have would be great!

Barefoot in Barcelona had it’s debut in OPI’s Spain Collection in the Fall of 2009, I didn’t give it a second thought then and probably wouldn’t have again without my mini-mission. That being said, I really really like it. In general, I like nude polishes – they make my fingers look longer and more elegant and I find them to be very classy. Barefoot has a great formula – I used three coats to try and hide my middle finger nail split – but two would be just fine.

Interestingly enough, on the OPI website this is categorized under “browns” instead of “nudes/neutrals” – thoughts?

Have a beautiful night!

Essie – Eternal Optimist

Originally from the Spring 2009 collection, I picked up Eternal optimist today while I was on a bit of a beauty shopping bender.

Essie describes this as “a spiced tea rose with a dash of cream.” Works for me! It’s a dusty peach/pink/nude… see this is why I should’ve just stopped with Essie’s description. Anyway – it’s elegant and very flattering with my skin tone. It fits nicely into the “perfect for job interviews” category and I like the name – I need a little more optimism in my life these days.

It’s not a stand out in my collection by any means, but it has it’s place and while I own many, many different shades of pinks – this one is unique for me.

The application was average. It took 3 coats to get full coverage and get rid of any streaks and I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Hope you have a lovely Saturday!

PS – if you haven’t already, head on over to Julep, take the style quiz (I got American Beauty), and get a Julep Maven box this month for only A PENNY! Use the promo code NEWYEAR2012. I’ve wanted to try Julep polish for a while, but the price for each polish ($14) is a bit much and I really couldn’t justify spending $20 a month for the Maven Box. However, with the promo code you can try it out for $.01. I’m really excited about this and will definitely be posting a full review once I get my box. Also – if you only want to try it for a month (like me – most likely) – you have to call and cancel by January 24th in order to avoid being billed 19.99 for next month’s box.

Fall Favorite: OPI Ginger Bells

  I always felt like this was a misfit in OPI’s Holiday 2009 Collection: Holiday Wishes. It’s a perfect Fall color – not winter!

But either way, I’m glad I got it because it’s been a fall favorite ever since.

It’s a dusty orange – reminds me of the color of pumpkin pie- yum!

Application is on par with most of the OPI polishes I own – pretty great. I used two coats, they went on smoothly and I topped it off with a coat of Essie’s Good To Go Top Coat.

While this polish retired with the collection, you can get it on Amazon or eBay. I actually just looked and someone is listing it for $1.75 on Amazon. Great deal!

What are you rocking these days?

Fall Favorite: China Glaze Free Love

A bit bright for Fall? Not if you’re a sports fan! Free Love is from the China Glaze Retro Diva Fall 2009 Collection. I don’t wear it often, but when I need an orange – this is it. It’s perfect for any sports team you may support that has orange in it’s colors. Admittedly, I wore it  to cheer on a local high school football team.

It applies nicely with 2-3 coats and dries very shiny. There’s a subtle orange shimmer to it that you can barely notice because it’s a cloudy day here in Virginia.

If you really want to check out my original review you can look here. I will say, I have not noticed the chipping problems that i had then so I’m going to attribute that to base/top coat issues and not Free Love.

So, what are your favorite sports teams and what is your go to polish?

Happy Saturday!

 

Rescue Beauty Lounge – Scrangie

I really don’t know how I went so long without wearing this! Scrangie was created by none other than.. well.. Scrangie as a part of RBL‘s 2009 Fall collection. It featured three polishes created by Scrangie, Polish Addict, and ALU (for swatches of all three: All Lacquered Up has a great post here).

Though I haven’t tried the other three, Scrangie is a clear standout and completely unique in my ever increasing collection. It’s a violet purple base with stunning iridescent green/teal shimmer. I used three coats + a top coat. I wore it poolside all weekend and the shimmer sparkles in the sunlight – absolutely beautiful.

I bought this last fall, and have reached for it several times since but always ended up choosing something else instead.

RBL Polishes retail for $18. Sadly, Scrangie is not currently available on rescuebeauty.com but maybe if we’re lucky it’ll be a bring back at some point.  This is my second wonderful experience with RBL and I’m looking to try more – any must haves? Would love to hear from you!

Happy Monday!!

 

Orly Blue Suede

The other day I had the sudden urge to do a matte manicure. I settled on Blue Suede from Orly’s Fall 2009 Matte Couture Collection. For some reason I never got around to trying it. I had a fairly good experience with Purple Velvet from the same collection so my expectations were rather high for Blue Suede.

Blue Suede is what I wanted Russian Navy Matte to be; a gorgeous navy with a tad bit of shimmer in it. The shimmer is really what makes this polish. It’s less matte and more…suede!

As with all matte polishes the wear isn’t great but this polish is worth it for me to wear for a day or so. Despite the fact this is from Orly’s Fall 2009 collection it is still for sale on their website. Maybe it’s being added to the permanent collection…

OPI Pamplona Purple

I am a huge fan of OPI’s Fall 2009 Coleccion de España. Bullish on OPI and Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow are some of my favorite OPI polishes (and I know Katie’s been rocking Can You Tapas This? lately). So when I was on the search for yet another Springy polish that wasn’t a pale creme I ran across Pamplona Purple. I probably haven’t worn this polish in 2 years, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Pamplona Purple is a red toned purple creme. It’s a gorgeous color; dark but not too dark. The formula is nothing short of perfect. This applies beautifully in 2 coats and wears wonderfully.

Color Club Ms. Socialite is a dupe of this polish (see a comparison here), though the formula of Pamplona Purple is far superior. This is part of OPI’s permanent collection, so it should not be difficult to find.

I think this is a nice change of pace for Spring, even though it is from a Fall collection. Rules were meant to be broken, right?

OPI Bullish on OPI

This polish is from the Fall 2009 OPI España Collection. I had so many favorites from that collection, and we can add this to the list. In the bottle this didn’t look like anything special, but once I got it on my nails I was really impressed.

Bullish on OPI is an orange leaning very warm red creme. Even with the orange undertones I found it to be a flattering color. The formula was perfection; I used only two coats. The wear was also fantastic.

Even though this red is from a Fall collection, this in my opinion is a year around red. The orange undertones lighten it up enough to make it an appropriate Spring/Summer red, and the warmness of the color makes it great for Fall/Winter.

This was at one point part of OPI’s Classics collection as this was not part of my original purchases when the Spain collection came out. It’s still on the website as part of the permanent line, but I looked for it last time I was at Ulta and didn’t see it. So hopefully it’s still readily available because it’s a great polish 🙂