Pure Ice First Time

Hello friends! Long time, no post. Life has been a little hectic since I last updated; between caring for a new kitten, traveling halfway across the globe to meet with my boyfriend, and getting back into the groove with college, it's been a little crazy! However, my passion for nail polish is still burning strong, despite selling off a small part of my collection. 

Today I bring you First Time from the fantabulous, and sorely missed, Pure Ice. I'm not sure exactly what happened to the brand, but it's no longer available at Walmart, and I believe it was quietly discontinued a couple of years back. It's too bad, really, because Pure Ice always had great quality for such a low price. Ah well, I guess we'll have to deal with Salon Perfect or whatever else you can get at Walmart for a couple bucks nowadays.

First Time is a hard polish to describe. One look and you'll notice the chrome-y finish... but what color is it? Under some lighting conditions it appears as a sort of sage green, but runs the gamut all the way through robin's egg blue. It really does depend upon the light you view it under.

That being said, it's a lovely color! Very calming. The formula is also not the worst I've encountered, but it's imperative that you let it dry fully between coats; if not, you'll end up with lumps and bumps that are so beautifully highlighted by the frosted, brushstroke'd finish. I managed to do pretty well on the fingers shown here, but my thumb looks like me wearing a form-fitting dress... Lump City!

Ah, well. I guess I should get going. There are two assignments due tomorrow that I'm totally neglecting, so catch you later!

And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

Black Label OPI Movin' Out

Three words to send shivers down the spine of every vintage nail polish collector: Black. Label. OPI. In the vintage nail world, BLOPIs reside in the upper echelons of desirability, but many can be found at the same price of a current bottle. For this reason, it's very easy to build a large collection for relatively little money, particularly if you aren't after funky colors. Reds, pinks, and nudes tend to fly under the radar and stay cheap, but it's the oddball colors that gain a cult following. Today's subject is a perfect example of such a polish.

Movin' Out hails from the beloved 2003 Holiday on Broadway collection. Few collections are held in such high regard by the vintage polish community. This is due to the fact that the collection is primarily comprised of duochromes, some of which are rumored to contain a similar pigment to the legendary Clarins 230, aka "Unicorn Pee". Movin' Out is one of these!

Because of this, I had to take multiple photos of the colors this polish can achieve, as just one wouldn't do it justice. It practically cycles through the entire rainbow! This is definitely its most common state, though – a sort of shimmery medium purple. While many opt to layer it over black to accentuate the color shift, I really enjoy this semi-sheer finish that builds up nicely over 3 thin coats. Besides, layering isn't really my style – if I don't enjoy a polish in its unadulterated state, then I generally don't wear it very much (with the exception being chunky glitters).

This next photo is a slight departure from the previous cool-toned purple, now introducing a bit of orange shimmer. The camera simply does not do this justice! It looks pale and delicate here, but in person, this shimmer is vibrant and glowing. 

I never had much of an interest in the Holiday on Broadway collection, as I'm not huge on duochromes, but I found this one for a very reasonable $8 so I just went for it. It can fetch anywhere from $20 to upwards of $50 on eBay, so I knew I was getting a deal! Even if it's not something I think I'll wear much, I like to grab anything I can for collecting purposes. And now I'm so glad I jumped for it – it really is a stunner. It's like some sort of magical crystal. Trying to describe this polish and all of its colors makes my mind go in a fantastical direction... the aforementioned magical crystal, the scales of a dragon, the wings of a fairy, the feathers of a phoenix. If you think I'm giving it a little too much credit, wait until you see the next photo.

YEAH. Look at that! It mainly cycles between purple, orange, and green, but I have seen flashes of yellow, and it's nearly gone turquoise at points! I guess this is actually more of a multichrome than a duochrome, though I don't think either of those terms existed in 2003, when the mad scientists at OPI concocted this potion. The collection also featured a couple of holos (one silver and one gold), which were still quite the novelty back then. 

That being said, this polish now pales in comparison to what's on the market. THAT being said, I don't care! I still think this is such a pretty, ethereal color. I anticipate I'll be staring at my hands quite a bit for the next few days.

And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

Glitter explosion: Lynnderella The Glittering Crowd

I've been wanting a crazy glitter for a while. Standard rainbow glitter is cool and all, but sometimes you just want something really nuts. I came across a few good options in my search -- Starrily's Toy Story comes to mind. But somewhere along the way, I discovered Lynnderella's The Glittering Crowd and fell in love. Finding it, though, was bound to be tough.

From what scarce information I could find on this polish and the Lynnderella brand as a whole, it debuted in 2011 as part of Lynnderella's very first line of nail polishes. Apparently, Lynn was a bit of a celebrity on the Makeup Alley forums, and was known for mixing her own custom nail polishes, which was a pretty new phenomenon at the time. Other polishes in her inaugural collection included Connect the Dots, a black & white hex/bar glitter topper which would be imitated by countless other brands, and Shape Shifter, which featured holographic glitter of various shapes. These polishes would make waves in the community and probably contributed to the popularity of indie polish on the whole.

That being said, this was not an easy polish to track down. It's now a decade old, which is never a good place to start. Even in the event that production of this polish continued after its initial 2011 introduction, I don't think Lynnderella makes it anymore. In fact, I'm not 100% sure if Lynnderella still makes polish at all. But...

I did find it online and it sat in my bookmarks for a little bit. I figured I'd buy it when I had a little extra cash, since dropping $16 on a single bottle of nail polish is a little steep, especially as someone with very little indie experience. One day, I was thinking about its beautiful multicolored goodness and clicked on the link to see that there was only one bottle left in stock. I knew it had to be mine!... and that brings us to today.

(Yes, I know my nails are nubby... I'm sad about it too.)

I read that this polish contains over 100 different types of glitter, and I wholeheartedly believe that claim! On my middle finger alone, I see:

• Aqua star glitter

• Large mint round glitter

• Medium yellow hex glitter

• Small periwinkle hex glitter

• Small green holo hex glitter

• Small yellow holo hex glitter

• Small aqua holo square glitter

• Small yellow square glitter

... and so many more, it would take me forever to write it all out.

It really is like confetti on my nails! I have lots of different multicolored and multi-shape glitter, but nothing this crazy. I adore the variety in shape, color, finish, and size. And you wanna know the crazy part? This is one coat. Any more and I think it'd simply be too overwhelming. It also evens out pretty well for a chunky glitter -- 2 coats of Seche Vive have reduced it to a very slight lumpy feeling. 

Even the right hand makes a rare appearance to demonstrate just how nuts this glitter is. I'm sure this would look even better on longer nails, since there'd be more real estate for a wider variety of glitter, but I feel it works well on short nails too. I think you could cover a turd in this stuff and I'd think it was pretty. I'm not the biggest glitter fan, but this is simply too good! 

On a personal note... you may have noticed that this post is a little less refined than usual, and there's a good reason for that. These past couple of days have been pretty jam-packed. I adopted a new kitten. It's a very exciting thing, especially considering that my name is on the adoption papers and she's staying in my room while she acclimates to her new home. Her name is Stella, she's a Russian Blue mix (which means pretty gray fur and adorable mauve paw pads!), and she has my heart. She's approximately 10 weeks old, which is already a tough age for kittens, but her curious spirit makes it that much tougher. I've spent nearly the entire duration of writing this post trying to avoid getting my fingers bitten and backspacing after she walks across the keyboard. As I type, she has her little butt all up in my face... and now she's walking across the keyboard again... and now she's going after my fingers... and now she's biting my laptop. I've only had her for 2 days and I'm already worn out, but it's a rewarding type of exhaustion. She's cuter than you can possibly imagine, and I just about die inside when she curls up on my chest and falls asleep after an intense play session. Even the grosser parts of being a cat owner, such as scooping the poop, aren't that bad. I always hated when people would call themselves 'cat moms' or 'cat dads', but I think I'm starting to understand. She's the first kitten I've had in my adult life, and I am basically her sole caretaker... the sense of responsibility weighs heavy on me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love her so much, even if she is, quite frankly, a little shit.

And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

Happy Pride! Rainbow jelly dotticure

WARNING: PERSONAL DRIVEL AHEAD. SKIP TO THE RED LINE TO BYPASS MY RANTING.

My relationship with pride month is a complicated one. While I'm not super open about it (partly because of a very devoutly Christian extended family and partly because I don't feel it's an important facet of myself), I am bisexual and thus I am included in the festivities. I have known that I was bisexual from a very young age, around 11 or 12, and was initially very excited to learn that there was an entire community for people like me. However, as the years went on and different sects of the LGBT sphere splintered apart amid rising tensions, I started paying less and less attention to all of it. I'm bisexual, and that's that... I just didn't feel the need to spend my energy obsessing over it and arguing with people who are unwilling to accept me as I am.

That being said, I am not ashamed of my sexuality. I think the capability to love both men and women is a beautiful thing, but it's only a tiny piece in the puzzle of me. Who I am romantically involved with has no bearing on me, my personality, interests, ambitions, etc. I understand the desire to be loud and proud about it... having confidence in oneself is admirable and, unfortunately, escapes many people. But for me, it's just another aspect of myself, as much as being a woman or having green eyes. It's not something I control. It just is. 

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That being said, I could never pass up the opportunity to do some rainbow nail art! Even if I don't attend parades or add a frame to my Facebook profile pic (hello, homophobic aunts!), I can still show support on my nails. This is a manicure I would do any time of the year, but it just feels especially appropriate now!

I'm not too big on nail art in general -- I mostly prefer to swipe on a couple coats of a color I like and be done with it. When I do decide to get artsy, though, I always reach for my dotting tools. While I like to think I've developed a rather deft hand in the 3 years I've been regularly painting my nails, I'm useless with fine details. I do have a nail art brush, but I've failed miserably on the half-dozen occasions I have tried to use it. I'm also useless at doing... polka dots. They seem foolproof, but I just can't align them the right way! Instead, I like to take this scattered approach. I'm unsure if there's a proper name for this technique, but whatever it is, I love it -- it's so stupid easy and looks gorgeous every time!

For this look, I started with 3 coats of OPI Bubble Bath, one of my favorite nudes. I then used the entirety of Essie's 2019 Glazed Days collection for the dots, as well as Pure Ice "Beware" for the silver glitter. The result is, in my opinion, beautiful! Things started getting a little muddy on the pinkie finger -- I definitely should have used a smaller dotting tool -- but overall, I really adore how this looks. My boyfriend said it reminds him of Smarties (the European version), which I can get behind! I can tell that I'll be staring at my fingers for the duration of my time wearing this. I could also see this as a birthday or New Years' look, it's just so colorful and joyous!

Well, thanks so much for reading to this point. Have a wonderful rest of your month -- I hope you are able to be your authentic self safely and peacefully <3 And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

Vintage rarity: China Glaze Open Sky

Though I almost never show it, I have a pretty sizable collection of vintage China Glaze. I have a Helmer drawer full of the really old bottles with the ridged cap (like the one you'll see today), and about 3/4 of a drawer filled with pre-2006 white labels. And let me tell you, some of my favorite polishes of all time come from the first 10 years of China Glaze. Off the top of my head... Draped in Velvet, Anklets of Amethyst, Dorothy Who?, Cat's Eye, Crystal Ball, and so many more. I wouldn't say that this one quite makes the all-star list, but it's still a fun little polish and a time capsule of the time it was released!

Not a whole lot is known about the history of China Glaze. The brand reportedly started in 1998 and has been chugging along ever since then, but aside from that and its acquisition by American International Industries in 2005, there's not much info out there. All I can say about this specific polish is that it was released sometime between 1998-2002, seeing as this style of bottle was used during that approximate timeframe. (There was also an earlier bottle, which may have been a prototype or available to professionals only, that has not been documented anywhere online aside from the vintage polish Facebook group... I have 2 of these, so maybe I should post about them!)

Open Sky is, as the name suggests, a sky blue frost. It's a little less vibrant IRL... it's more slate blue than the robin's egg shown in this picture. It's veering into metallic/chrome territory with how silvery it is! When was the last time a polish brand put out a color like this? Hell, when was the last time this was considered fashionable or trendy? Of course, I care very little about what's in style, so I love this. I imagine that the average consumer, though, would not appreciate its brushstrokey finish. This is one of those polishes that has no forgiveness, no wiggle room, no margin for error. It will show every single lump, bump, and slip of the brush! I've been trained well with all the streaky frosty goodness I've encountered in my time, but if someone who can barely get a creme polish on their nails without it looking like a trainwreck were to try this, I don't even want to imagine how this would go down!

At the end of the day... I like this polish. A lot. Enough that I own two bottles of it (though I picked up this vintage specimen mostly for collecting purposes). Even with all of its flaws (...its many, many flaws), I look down on my nails with delight. It's just another one of those times where I'm reminded how much I truly love vintage nail polish. There are so many funky colors and finishes that you just don't see today... either because they've fallen out of fashion, or because the methods of their production have been lost to the sands of time (for example, the ChG Babes in Toeland foil-glass fleck finish apparently cannot be reproduced with modern ingredients). Yes, we now have the luxury of holo and multichrome and flakies and all that good stuff, but I'll take a hideously colored toluene-formaldehyde stink bomb over a modern indie polish any day of the week. :-)

And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

OPI What's Dune? (Black Label)

I got my bottle of What's Dune? for $8. EIGHT DOLLARS! Even though it's about 2/3 full (right up to the line beneath OPI on the bottle), that's a damn good deal. If you know anything about this polish, you'll know that it and the entirety of the collection it was a part of are highly sought after. I'm considering myself very, very lucky. 

This comes from the beach-themed 2003 S/S It's Summer for Shore collection (meaning it was released around the same time that my little sister was born, and she recently turned 18... let that sink in). To my knowledge, this was the first time that OPI would ever produce holographic polish. Of course, many of the well-known Designer Series polishes would utilize holographic glitter, but apart from that, I don't think OPI has ever made another entirely holo collection! These are different from your standard holo, too, featuring subtle linear holographic glitter in shimmery bases. While I'm not usually the biggest fan of holo, these are really something special!

What's Dune? (whose name I still don't really understand... is it supposed to be a pun on "what's new"?) is comprised of a shimmery white base, a blue/pink shift, and that subtle holo I mentioned... quite a lot going on with this polish! I'll be honest, I've never seen anything like this before! It's fairly sheer, with 3 coats still leaving some visible nail line, but I don't really mind -- in fact, I think it lends itself to the delicate, exquisite color. (You could layer it over black to bring out the shift and the holographic qualities, but I'm not a layering type of girl, nor do I think this polish needs altering.) I think they really nailed the beachy theme with this one, because it reminds me of a seashell... specifically, mother of pearl or white abalone. The ultrafine linear holo is reminiscent of the rainbow sheen on these shells, and it's really beautiful! 

While the holo is not quite as noticeable under regular lighting conditions, it really sparkles under my phone's flashlight! I think this blurry photo does a pretty good job at demonstrating this. Here, it looks more like a strong holo you might see from an indie brand these days.

That's one of the things that strikes me about this polish, and the rest of the collection -- for 2003, this must have been pretty special. I'm not sure exactly how prevalent holo was back then -- I know the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line existed, some of which featured holo -- but I'm sure it was not utilized nearly as often as it is today. I'm imagining this collection could have been some nail polish fans' first introduction to what would become such a beloved mainstay in the current polish world. It also reminds me of how fun OPI used to be... of course, they still pumped out the same reds and pinks that we see in collections nowadays, but there were gems like this that are far more whimsical than what the company would dare to release nowadays. Exciting finishes & colors are usually relegated to indie polish, and that's just not my scene. 

To conclude, I really like this polish. It's a gorgeous, unique color unlike anything I own or have even seen before. Though it's quite rare and my bottle is not entirely full, I think I will be using this with some regularity... it's too pretty not to.

And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

OPI Show Us Your Tips!

Ever since I laid eyes on this polish 2-ish years ago, I knew I had to have it. It was a no-brainer. I'm a sucker for this particular shade of cornflower blue, and the added shimmer was a big bonus. Somehow, I didn't own it until today. I can't explain why. My bottle was $7.99 on eBay. It's not exactly a huge investment. I kinda just forgot about it. But I didn't, really, because I'd think of it now and then and wish I had it... but I wouldn't buy it... to quote Patrick, "the inner workings of my mind are an enigma". 

So here it is. FINALLY. Five years after its debut in the 2016 S/S New Orleans collection, and two years after first falling in love with it, I finally have the beautiful Show Us Your Tips!

So is it everything I've dreamt of and more? Well... kinda.

Here it is in 3 not-so-easy coats with some Seche Vive on top. I bumped up the saturation to try and match the color I'm seeing in person, but it's a tough one to capture. As mentioned above, it's a shimmery cornflower blue, veering towards periwinkle. It is just as pretty as I had hoped, oh my goodness. Though this came out in the Spring/Summer collection and it's May at the time of writing, I think this would work really well as a winter shade. Doesn't it remind you of icicles, Jack Frost, and all things magical about the colder months? At the same time, it does work as a warm weather shade -- I think this would really pop on tanned skin. 

Despite my glowing endorsement, this was an absolute pain to apply, as you may have guessed by my "not-so-easy" comment. It was thick and gummy, and patchy in sections. However, 3 coats was enough to smooth it out for the most part -- all that remains is a very slight section of patchiness on my index finger that you may just be able to make out in the photo. Another not-so-great aspect of this polish is the sheerness. Even with 3 horrible thick coats, there is still some VNL if I look closely. Thankfully, though, it is opaque at a glance, so I won't berate it too much for this.

A cool aspect of this polish that I didn't realize until I got it is the dimension of the shimmer. I had initially thought this was your bog standard shimmer, but if you look closely, there are intermittent flashes of pink that peak out every now and again (hopefully this blurry photo will demonstrate that). It's a nice touch, though I don't think a polish this pretty needed it.

Today I got a massive lot of Zoya from a nice lady in one of my Facebook groups. I swatched all of the colors and fell in love with a few, so expect to see them popping up sometime soon. This is my first ever experience with Zoya, and I'm so excited to add another brand to my frankly massive arsenal of polish!

Thanks so much for reading! And until next time... PEACE! xoxo

OPI Up the Amazon Without a Paddle (Black Label)

I know, I know. It's been 5 months since I posted last. Yes, I'm fine... kinda.

Ladies, this semester has been one hell of a ride, emphasis on the "hell" part. I am not cut out for 5 classes. At all. I'm especially not cut out for giving speeches and presentations at 9:30 AM. I've also landed a side gig as a transcriber for an insurance adjuster, so in addition to my schoolwork, I'm spending anywhere from a few minutes here and there to hours not dissimilar to a full-blown part-time job per week doing this (the influx of work is not very consistent). Oh, and my 15 year old cat died. Who I love more than anything in the world. Yep. I know that no one (or next to no one) reads this blog, but if you've been wondering, that's where I've been. 

Anyways! Today I've got a fun little shade that's fallen to the wayside in the books of nail polish history. OPI's 2002 S/S South America collection was not unsuccessful by any stretch of the imagination. Some of its colors are still produced by the company 19 years later, such as the sizzling pink La Paz-itively Hot and the beloved nude Dulce de Leche. Other polishes from this collection did not get so lucky, and were neglected for the permanent lineup.

Today I bring to you one such example, Up the Amazon Without a Paddle (love the name). My bottle is first edition!... but only because it was swiftly discontinued after the collection's run, along with other unloved colors like the amusingly-named Galapa-ghost (a whiteish nude) and Santiago Sangria (which looks virtually indistinguishable from La Paz). And honestly... I can kind of see why.

Not to say this isn't a great color, because it is. It's a bright coral with an obnoxious pink shimmer to it. In both of the pictures I've attached, I've used the flash on my phone camera to really emphasize that pink glow. I would call it "stealth shimmer", but that'd be a lie -- even when not under direct light, this shade hums in such a way that these old shimmery OPIs tend to do. There's also some golden shimmer swirled into it, if you can tell. It's real nice. 

So why was this discontinued if it's so great? Well... it just looks outdated. It simply screams 2002... well, if I'm being honest, it screams 1996 a little louder. Not that I remember (I was bigger on watching Barney the Dinosaur and shitting my pants over nail polish back then), but I get the vibe that by 2002, the nail world was starting to get antsy. Pinks and reds and nudes weren't cutting it anymore. Those wacky, edgy shades popularized by brands like Street Wear in the 90s were beginning to really catch on. Why wear a pearl coral when you COULD be wearing green glitter? Maybe for the conservative crowd or the office workers, a pearl coral could be nice. But for the cool college girls and Phoebe from Friends types, a funky color is much more en vogue. Then again, I could be totally wrong... but I'm just speculating! (Oh, and it's MAD sheer... like, 4 coats and I still see VNL sheer. That could have had a hand in its discontinuation, methinks.)

Check it out, on my stubby little nail, on my fat little finger. Ain't it puuuurdy? I'll answer that question for you -- it's alright. Y'all know I love a good vintage polish more than damn near anything on this planet (with the only exceptions being my mom, my cats, my BF, and sushi), but this one doesn't really do it for me. Yes, it's bright and fun and all that good stuff, but... I don't know. I just don't love it. Then why'd I use it? It's called shopping the stash, people! Sometimes you just gotta close your eyes and do a full manicure with the first polish you grab. With ~1000 polishes under my belt, it can get hard to choose with my eyes open. It's not like I picked this out for myself, anyway -- I got it as part of a $5 lot on Facebook. I got some other BLOPIs in there too, including Kinky in Helsinki, which remains one of my best finds 2-ish years later. One (wo)man's trash is another (wo)man's treasure... :')

So that's gonna do it for today. If you've read this far, I hope you enjoyed it. If you didn't, go to hell. :) Jk. And until next time... PEACE! xoxo