OPI Ponce de Lilac

You know, for someone who owns a ton of vintage nail polish, I really don't post enough of it on this blog. I'll end up posting something that's 5-10 years old (not old enough to be considered vintage), or some timeless shade like Essie Mademoiselle. I rarely bring out the big guns - my chemical-laden stinkbombs that are older than me. So, that's exactly what I'll be doing today.

Ponce de Lilac is one of those old OPI shades that no one really talks about. I've seen it go for big money on eBay and similar sites, but there's no excitement around it like other ancient OPIs. I got this in a little 3 for $25 sale that someone in the Vintage Polish Collectors Facebook group was running, along with two other oldies (Burnt Sugarloaf and Route Beet Float, two pretty unremarkable brown shades). It came out in 1996 and while I don't think my bottle is from the original release (the bottom label would have looked different), it's definitely from 1998 or earlier, as it has the old bottle style. You know the one, that says "PARIS • LOS ANGELES • ROME" under the OPI logo.



(Like the new nail shape? I tried to go for almond and it sort of worked.)

Here it is in 3 slightly problematic coats. There's the obvious VNL, as well as some lumps and bumps - this polish is not in the best condition. This is a WEIRD color. It's a sort of sheer grayish-blueish with purple shimmer. The closest comparison I have is Revlon Street Wear's Raw or Sinful's Japanese Violet, neither of which I own, but it looks fairly similar based on the pics I've seen. While colors like this are almost pedestrian compared to the holo-duochrome-flakie-microglitter-thermals of today, I can only imagine how this was received in '96. Had this color been done before? (Did the aforementioned similar ones come out before this?) Or were the cool girls clamoring over it? I have to wonder.

I can't capture this polish correctly on camera. It has a certain glow to it that just can't be photographed. I don't think I own anything like this, honestly, and I don't think many (if any) dupes exist. The ones I mentioned above aren't exact, only a little bit similar. You can also see that awesome old label. This style lasted from about 1998 to 2004, and I own quite a few bottles with it. I love the font! It should also be noted that the bottle has no icons on the back.

I'm thinking I should start showing off more of my vintage polish stash, especially the ones that have no/few swatches online, as many of them do. The old China Glazes are particularly elusive, and since I own 48 out of the 98 "Pre-2000" polishes on the ChG wiki, I feel it's my duty to share them with the world. I also have some from the Babes in Toeland series, as well as a couple of never before seen prototype bottles that I should totally archive here.

Well, I know what I'll be doing soon. And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

China Glaze Pool Party & some thoughts about my collection

Looks like I've been posting quite a lot lately, eh? All of this uploading doesn't seem to be having an effect on traffic to my site - still, nobody sees it. That's okay, I mostly post for me as a way to archive my collection. Today my Head2Toe order arrived, and one of the polishes I received is extremely strange.



This is 4 coats of China Glaze Pool Party. Dries down satin but I added some of my fave TC, Seche Vive (not to be confused with Vite). I can't figure this polish out. It's certainly neon, that's for sure, but... what color is it?  In low light, it looks like a bright coral. Under the OttLite, it looks like a searing reddish-orange. Lit by my iPhone's flashlight, it looks neon red. In the bottle, it just looks pink. What the heck is going on with this polish?! It's a chameleon! This picture isn't a very good representation of the color I'm seeing in person, but I don't think I could take an accurate picture if I tried. It's also managed to make my hands look REALLY tan on camera - compare this pic with the one from my last post to see what I mean! In person, I'm as white as can be. Is this polish magic?

Anyways, I've been thinking a lot lately about the size of my collection. I stopped counting a LONG time ago, back when I had around 650 bottles, and I've got no idea how many I have now. My lowest guess is in the 800s, my highest... 1000? That can't be possible! I've currently got one completely full Helmer, a medium-sized USPS box full of vintage ChG, and a plastic tub (roughly 18 x 14 x 6) that's overflowing. I was intending to grab another Helmer at Ikea, only to arrive and notice an hours-long line... there had to be at least a couple hundred people. Hell no! I was not standing in that queue, so it looks like the Helmer will have to wait.

I also had an insane thought regarding my collection... what if I swatched all of my polishes? I had tried to do that using some tips and a plastic finger, but I got about 60 polishes deep before I abandoned the project. This method was messy and inconvenient - the tips can only be reused so many times before they begin to melt due to all the acetone, and the plastic finger was shaped in such a way that I had to bend the tips in order to apply them. I wonder if swatching on my real nails would be easier? It'd definitely take a while to get through all of my polishes, but having a comprehensive catalogue of my collection is something I'm interested in. I also happen to own some rather rare polishes that don't have any swatches online, and I'd love to change that.

Anyways... it's only about 11:30 at night, but I'm quite tired. School starts back up in 2 weeks, and I have a heavy courseload ahead... wish me luck! And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

Gummy apple nails!

I know I said I'd be keeping my confetti nails on for a little while, but I just couldn't. You know why? Whenever I wear star glitter on my nails, the corners tend to peel up and catch on everything. Having any sort of texture on my nails (even just slightly bumpy glitter) bothers me to no end, so I undertook the grueling task of removing all that glitter from my nails. Here's what I replaced it with! Shown in 3 coats with TC.

This polish may be called "Mint", but I don't find that accurate in the slightest. This is a bright green jelly polish. The photos aren't doing it justice - I wouldn't quite call it neon, but it skews more "radioactive green apple" IRL than the sort of kelly green shown in the photo.



This photo of my pointer finger is much closer to the actual color of this polish. Isn't it awesome? I'm a sucker for those squishy jelly shades that look like candy on your fingertips, and this matches that description to a tee. I feel like I could suck on my finger and taste sour apple (not true, of course, but I wish it was)! You could always layer it over white if you're not a fan of VNL, but I've come to love jellies and their fun, unique finish.

While my Head2Toe order is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, I think I might be leaving this shade on for a couple of days. I can already tell that I'll be staring at my nails the entire time I have it on!

Until next time... PEACE! xoxo

My take on confetti nails

Well, hello again! I just can't seem to stay away, huh? As of late, nails have become a central facet of my life yet again. I'm painting them with regularity and putting lots of effort into my nail care routine (if it's any indication, I'm sleeping with gloves on these days). If you saw my last post, you'll also know that I've been getting into nail art! It was never something that interested me until recently - I found myself watching a lot of SimplyNailogical to cope with a bad falling out. Her videos are super fun and silly, providing not only a great distraction from my blues, but the inspiration to dip my toes into some nail art - thank you, Cristine, for reigniting my love for nail care and awakening my new passion for nail art!

I don't know if today's look can really be considered nail art, though - there wasn't any actual skill involved. Basically, I just spent an hour elaborately placing glitter on my nails. There was a trend that made the rounds on Insta last summer called "confetti nails". I actually didn't know about this fad until I found an article about it and I fell totally in love. You can sum up confetti nails in two words: glitter explosion. The philosophy of confetti nails is just to place as many different types of glitter on your nail as possible, and that's exactly what I did. I pulled out the big guns for this one:


1 coat of OPI - Be Magentale With Me for a slight pink tint (hides the yellowness of my nails a bit, also just looks cute)
1 coat of L.A. Colors #652 for a little bit of iridescent pizzazz
Randomly placed on nail:
Love Your Life - Nicole by OPI
Blind Date - Kleancolor
Twinkly Love - Kleancolor
Carnival - NYX Girls
Starry Silver Glitter - NYC

No, I did not get this smattering of glitter by just applying it like regular nail polish - I placed every.single.piece with a toothpick. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Very painstaking and very time-consuming, but I really love the result.








My use of Kleancolor's Twinkly Love is also quite unorthodox. Usually, this polish would consist of chunk pink, blue, and silver holo heart glitters. In my bottle, whether it be from age or improper storage conditions at the dollar store I bought it from, the pink and blue colorants that once coated the heart glitters has peeled off. This leaves only silver hearts and a bunch of pink/blue flaky foily holo pieces. I used these pieces in my confetti look - the most prominent instance in this photo of my left hand would be the blue flake on my pinky finger.

You can also see it here on this macro of my pointer finger - that little holo chunk between the stars at the bottom. Isn't there something so fun and whimsical about this look? It’s the perfect balance of super-cute ultra-glittery girly fun without being TOO in your face and obnoxious about it. Especially if you opt not to cover the whole nail like I did - but that was less about keeping the look subdued and more about the fact that I was getting tired of gingerly placing glitter on my nails. It gets tiring after a while! Still, I had fun deciding where to place each glitter, trying to achieve a purposeful yet playful look. I didn’t want it look like I individually placed every piece - confetti is pretty messy, right? I think I was able to achieve that feeling of orchestrated chaos.

While I’m still unsure if this counts as nail art, I definitely did have fun with it, and I love the result! I’m waiting on a Head2Toe order that’s set to arrive in a couple of days, so I’m definitely keeping this on until my new polishes arrive. I did something uncharacteristic and made a small order consisting of things I was specifically looking for. A neon pink? A yellow-toned orange? An opaque pinky nude? A ridge filler? All stuff that I was already looking for. Very surprisingly for me to exercise that kind of self restraint! I think I’ll also be heading to Ikea today to pick up another Helmer - my collection has gotten out of control! Well... until next time... PEACE! xoxo

Nail art has my heart

Lately, I've had a lot of free time on my hands, what with the whole coronavirus thing and all. School doesn't start back up for a few more weeks, and aside from the odd task around the house, I'm not doing much. Obviously, I've been painting my nails constantly, and while a fresh coat of plain creme polish is easy and effective, it's grown a little... boring. I've had some nail art tools (a thin brush and some dotting tools) collecting dust for the longest time, so I got to thinking... why not dip my toes (or my fingers, I should say) into the wonderful world of nail art? I've been painting my nails regularly for about 2 years now, and with all this practice has come great dexterity and steadiness, which have proved very useful in my nail art endeavors. Let me show you some of the looks I've done in the past month or so!

Base - Essie Mademoiselle

White - Orly French Manicure Softest White

Black - Jordana Black

Silver glitter - Pure Ice Beware

Here you have a dotticure I did about a month ago. I had initially tried traditional polka dots before realizing this - I absolutely cannot do normal polka dots. I have a tough time placing them at regular intervals, and they end up misaligned. So, I thought, why don't I just smack them on my nails willy-nilly and see what happens? This is the result - a gradient effect using multiple different colors. I actually really like how this turned out, and so did others - I posted this in a nail polish subreddit and got almost 200 upvotes! 

Base - Orly French Manicure Softest White

Black - Jordana Black

Red - OPI Big Apple Red

Yellow - OPI Towel Me About It

Blue - Nicole by OPI I Sea You and Raise You

Silver glitter - Pure Ice Beware

Next up is this fun and colorful leopard print look. I also really, really like how this turned out - leopard print looks a lot more complicated than it is! You can see that my black polish got a little bit stringy after sitting out in a puddle to dip my dotting tool into, resulting in fine black lines as I lifted the dotting tool away. Still, I think this look is a lot of fun, and I couldn't stop staring at my nails when I had it on. I showed it to my boyfriend and he said it gave him major 80s vibes - I have to agree!

Green - Revlon Sassy

Red - OPI Big Apple Red

Yellow - OPI Towel Me About It

Here's a sweet little strawberry accent nail! I thought this was so cute that I ended up wearing it for about a week. I was a little too scared to attempt the strawberry on all of my nails, but I'm thinking I may try it at some point - my sister wanted me to replicate this on her!

Gold - Urban Outfitters Fools Gold

Black - Jordana Black

And lastly, here's my latest creation (which I'm still wearing now) - gold glitter with a black French tip! While definitely the most simple and easy to achieve out of the bunch, I'm super proud of how they turned out! The tips are totally freehand - I didn't think I had enough control to get them so clean looking, but I underestimated myself! I did some very minimal cleanup with an angled brush, but there was no tape or vinyls involved. Here's a tip for all you polish lovers - Urban Outfitters has really high quality polishes for SUPER cheap. They're currently running a 3 for $10 sale online - I got this one, as well as a blue holo glitter and a highlighter yellow creme.

Well, it looks like that'll be all for today! I'll definitely continue my nail art adventure - not only is it pretty, but SO fun! I love trying out new designs, and practice makes perfect! Until next time... PEACE! xoxo