Rudolph Nails!

I am so excited to share these festive nails with you! I saw a bunch of similar designs online and on Instagram and I just had to try them! I don't do a lot of nail art but I am really happy with how these came out! 

I used the following colors: China Glaze Ruby Deer, a White Striper, China Glaze Snow, Zoya Chantel, Nuber Toasted Marshmallow, China Glaze Dance Baby, Color Secrets Little Black Book, and Essie Little Brown Dress. 

  

So what do you think? I am really excited about them! Please let me know if you've done any cool holiday nails.

Disclosure: Some of the products were  provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Throwback! Essie: Lollipop

Throwback! Today I am taking you back in time a few years to show you one of my favorite polish purchases from the beginning of my nail polish obsession. This is the perfect candy apple red and I took it out in honor of the beginning of Fair Season here in Connecticut, because it reminds me of those oh-so-sweet treats. This is Essie's Lollipop and there simply isn't another red as perfect as she is. I am sure you've seen this color a million times before but I had to dust her off and show her some love because she's really pure perfection in my eyes. 

Lollipop is a sheer, jelly, candy apply red with no shimmer. The shine on this polish is magnificent. I used three coats for the opacity shown and, while it is a jelly finish, it does get fairly opaque. I am a huge fan of the way this one just pops! 

  

Do you love this one as much as I do? What's your favorite candy apple red?

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Essie: Clam Bake?!?

So I was recently at Ocean State Job lot checking out their nail polish collection and I stumbled upon something curious. All four of these Essie nail polishes were labeled Clam Bake. Looking at the stock image of Clam Bake from Essie's website I am thinking none of the four were really the color!

My question to you all is: do you think these ended up at Ocean State Job lot because they were simply mislabeled or do you think these were blatant fakes? I happen to think it was just a mislabel. I only had my cellphone with me so I couldn't take a photo of the labels but they all looked like actual Essie labels. Looks like QC at the Essie plant made a huge mistake. There were tons of these there in boxes. INSANE. 

So what say you? Mistake at the Essie factory or counterfeit polishes at Ocean State Job Lot? Have you seen anything like this before?

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Essie: Topless & Barefoot

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice weekend and treated your moms' to a great Mothers' Day and Happy Mothers' Day to all of the moms who follow my blog!! I hope your kids spoiled you! I had a nice weekend. On Saturday my husband and I went for a nice long hike then later in the evening we went  for dinner at a local place everyone raves about, it was fantastic. Then yesterday I spent time with my mother for Mothers' Day, it was fun! 

Today I have a  nude to share with you that I believe came out last year, though I am just getting around to trying it out. This is Essie's Topless & Barefoot which seems to have become a blogger/youtube guru favorite over the last year.  I love nude polish and this is no exception. I'd consider this one to be Sand Tropez's pinker cousin. It's a warmer beige nude creme and less grey than Sand Tropez. 

This went on smooth and opaque in just two coats.  I had no issues with streaking or balding and I was happy with application.  

What do you think of this one? Need it in your life or just another run of the mill nude?  FYI: I got mine at CVS which seems to have a nice selection of Essie polishes these days.

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Essie: Lady Like

Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well today.  I wanted to show you all Essie's Lady Like because I mentioned in my Demure Vixen post that they were very similar.  Hopefully you'll see the similarities I did.  I think Lady Like has the same grayed mauve color that Demure Vixen has but it lacks the purple micro-shimmer.  It's an understated professional color that I think many people can pull off. 

Formula was nice on this like all Essie's seem to be for me. I had no issues with streaking or balding and it was opaque in just two coats which is always a plus in my book!

Here they are side by side. Demure Vixen appears lighter only because that photo was taken with a flash to show the shimmers. The base is seriously identical:

Which do you like better?

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Essie: Demure Vixen

It's just another Manic Monday! Today I have an oldie but goodie. This is from last winter, I think, but I just got it now. It's never too late to pick up a pretty polish!! This is Essie's Demure Vixen which is a light grayed mauve with a subtle purple microshimmer. The shimmer is understated but really makes the color something unique. I think this is a really chic, work appropriate color.  I think it will work for tons of skin tones too, especially darker skin tones. Though some might think it's too drab but I personally love it.

The formula was nice. I usually love Essie's formulas and this is no exception.  I used three coats for the opacity shown though I think I could have gotten away with two. It went on smoothly with no streaking or balding whatsoever.

So what do you think of this one? Pretty or too plain?

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Essie: Sand Tropez

Hi everyone! I've been so bad at posting lately! I am so sorry!!! I suck! Today I have an Essie color to share. I haven't really posted many Essie polishes lately, so why not!?

This is Essie's Sand Tropez which is from their redesigned drugstore available line.  So the bottle is different (read cheap looking) and the color name is on a sticker on top of the handle.  I got this at CVS. I only bought it because I had some coupons because I am annoyed that CVS has these for $8.75. What the hell is that? When Essie was Salon only its   MSRP was $8. So why is it more expensive now that it's in CVS and Wal-mart. Not cool. I really resent that!

Oh well. This color is a nice taupe/gray nude color. It's different from all of the taupes out there but it leans towards being just another gray to me. In the bottle it looks more brownish but on my nails it's def. just another light gray. I love colors like this but I don't need 40 bottles of the same color. I suppose it is ever so slightly differnent than the grays in my collection but it's not 100% unique. Oh well. 

Formula was good. It was fully opaque in two coats and went on with no issues. The Essie brush is very small so don't expect to do the old 3 swipe application with this one. That's really the only thing.

So are you a fan of Sand Tropez? What do you think of the new, L'Oreal owned Essie? Do you see it in your drugstores? How are the prices near you? 

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Happy (belated) St. Patrick's Day with Essie: Pretty Edgy

TGIF! I feel like my week went by super slow, that is so annoying!!! Tonight my husband and I are watching our 8 month old nephew so his mommy and daddy can have a date night. We're excited, he's such a cutie!!

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and I was too lazy to blog so I am going to show you my green of choice today.  I wore Essie's Pretty Edgy which is a vibrant green creme. I think Essie called it a pimento green or something like that.  I'd been wanting this one for a long time but always skipped purchasing it. I am not sure why.  While I am happy that I finally decided to drop the cash on it it's not as amazing as the internet world would have you believe, you don't need this. I feel like it's pretty close to Nina Ultra Pro's Salsa, which I own. I think this one is slightly brighter than the Nina polish but close.

Formula wise this is a good polish. I needed three coats for the level of opacity that I am comfortable with.  It's a creme finish with a high gloss finish. Even though I needed three coats I didn't have any issues with balding or streaking at all, so that's good.

So what did you wear on St. Patrick's Day? Let me know in the comments!!!!

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Essie: In Stitches (The Fall Collection)

 Happy Wednesday all. I hope you're all having a great week. Today I have a color from Essie's fall collection to share with you. This is In Stitches and it's a typical work safe pink creme.  It's nothing exciting but it might be a staple for those of us who work in a conservative office as it's not offensive to the boss! I think it'd be good for an interview as it's not distracting or bold.

I found the formula on this one to be nice. I had no issues with application and it was not too thick to work with like some of Essie's lighter colors like Van' D Go.  I think this is well formulated and I don't have anything to complain about.

Not sure there's much else to say about this. It's nice, safe for work but not ground breaking in any way. I'd say if these are your type of colors then it's a good investment. Otherwise get Sew Psyched and Merino Cool from this collection instead, they're more interesting and fun! 

Disclosure: This product was sent to me by PR. All reviews are honest and done at my discretion. Please refer to my disclosure policy at the top of the page for more info.

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Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween readers! Are you doing anything fun for Halloween? I'm not sure what we're doing yet, I am going to attempt to dress up like a vampire or something. Who knows.

I wanted to show you my Halloween Manicure. I got the idea for the Frankenstein nail from the lovely Goldiestarling on Youtube. Check out her amazing tutorial for a way better version of these cool nails. I suck at nail art so these are sort of messy but festive none the less.

Click on this image to see a list of what I used:

Have a wonderful Halloween all. Leave a link to your Halloween inspired nails in the comments.

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