MAC Prêt-à-Papier Nail Lacquers

The MAC Prêt-à-Papier collection features two lacquers, one is a light brown with a teensy amount of shimmer, the other a fairly standard bronzish metallic shimmer. I found this less boring than the other collections lately. For some reason I am really taken with the brown paper bag color of the light brown, called, of course "Brown Bag". Somehow it strikes me as very stylish. So I got it and I like it. It feels very au courant as MAC says. Though frankly even thinking the words au courant makes me feel like such an asshole.

I didn't bother with the bronze lacquer, called Originality, as it isn't. At all. In fact they seem to forget MAC Mercenary, released just last year, is very like it!! Did someone get amnesia? I mean they aren't exact dupes but come on.

MAC Brown Bag. Actually not too wildly different from Essie Uptown Taupe, if you have that. Brown Bag is warmer than Uptown Taupe though, and UT has a silver shimmer not a goldish one. So they are like cold/warm sisters.:

S'More China Glaze Glitters!

Yay! I can has moar glitar?? I has a glitar!! I can no has long fingarnalez, tho. U forgiv?

China Glaze Dynasty is kind of a dark rose. But it has a bit of red in it, sometimes I almost think this is brick red. It has small rainbow glitter.


China Glaze Techno, large rainbow hexagons and small rainbow glitter in a clear base. Dab this one on, don't stroke it, so you get good coverage on the hexagons.


China Glaze Sour Apple - what else? Apple green jelly with small opalescent glitter in it. Nice! This is two coats I believe.


China Glaze Mahoganie is on the browner side of brick red. It has small rainbow glitter.


China Glaze Shooting Stars, I think this is indispensible. It's got tons of microglitter in nice opalescent shades, and big opalescent hexagons. It layers so beautifully over other polishes!! This is only two coats, it has great coverage!


Ther is moar glitar in teh futur!!

Black Phoenix Claw Polish

I was the very lucky recipient of some of the illustrious Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's nail polish, which they call Claw Polish (love it)! BPAL doesn't just make hundreds of incredible artisan perfume oils in "magickal, pagan and mythological blends, Renaissance, Medieval and Victorian formulas, and horror / Gothic-themed scents", they do jewelry, Tshirts and assorted neat stuff which fortunately includes a growing offering of nail polishes (under the Black Phoenix Trading Post arm of the site). Mostly now it is blacks and browns, deep reds and a few pinks, and one glow in the dark. I hope to see them branch out! They certainly have enough inspiration.

First thing that is notable is the formula was quite surprising. It was terrific. A polish line in which the CREMES are more manageable than the jellies??? Wow. Dries fast, hard and just like glass. It's incredibly shiny stuff. I would use topcoat for protection but it is in no way needed for a glossy finish. It's kickass. The brush may be a bit stubby for you long brush lovers, but otherwise is standard. Anyway all due accolades to the talented people at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Thank you!!

I tried a different style photograph for these polishes, inspired by the "Claw Polish" name. Yes, Napoleon, I have large talons. If you hate it feel free to call me an asswipe.

You're going to have to take my word for it that Destroying Angel is not black. it's a dark chocolate, but it's browner than the picture. I am sure I will try again at some point.


Smokestack is actually a very dark blurple jelly with a ton of very fine subtle shimmer. It packs far more punch than you think it will. Very nice.


Croquet they call a flamingo pink, I think it's a bit softer and a great deal prettier than flamingo. Bet the Sissies will love this one!


Malediction is simply black, with that stunning super-gloss that China Glaze Patent Leather has. This is a jelly, not a creme.


Sed Non Satiata is a smooth, sleek berry.


Robotic Scarab is a gleaming bronze shimmer. I drool on this.


Bordello is a beautiful lightly metallic raspberry shimmer. Suckable!

MollyHell's Grab Bag! - Nubar Moodies #M138

Nubar Moodies don't work. Pretty much a given. But this one KINDA works. As you can see the tip is a nice warm bronze and the top half of the nail is a beautiful gilded orange falling leaf color. It kind of gives you a fall leaf manicure all on its own.

Nubar Moodies #M138:

MollyHell's Grab Bag! - China Glaze Wagon Trail

So I finally got China Glaze Wagon Trail! So let's compare it to MAC Seriously Hip and OPI At Your Quebec & Call, shall we? I will probably do an on-finger comparison too, later, but for now we can compare photos.

China Glaze Wagon Trail, olive brown shimmer with pinpoint rainbow shimmer:

MAC Seriously Hip is a black jelly, though, with olive shimmer, whereas Wagon's has a brown tone added. So similar, but not exact:

OPI At Your Quebec & Call - much lighter, but same color as Seriously Hip, if you get me. Has the pinpoint rainbow shimmer, maybe not as much as China Glaze Wagon trail?


All in all my fave is still OPI At Your Quebec & Call.

OPI Winter 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection!

OPI's Winter 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection consists of two parts. One half is six reds called the "Glamour Reds", and the other six polishes are the "Dark & Neutrals". First let's get the formula out of the way - this was uniformly easy to apply and non-staining, and easy to remove, though the large grain shimmers took a bit more effort. I love OPI's wide brush. It does make the curve at the top of the nail a bit difficult, but it allows for such easy application otherwise. So formula is no problem here.

Let's start with the Darks & Neutrals. I'd say this part of the collection was pretty damned terrific.

I'll start with what I consider the weakest polish of these six, OPI All A-Bordeaux the Sled, and it's only the weakest because this is simply a standard dark wine vampy jelly. So given that it's unoriginal, you have to admit it's incredibly hot. I got the mini set which included this (only $6.11 at TransDesign) and feel no need for a big bottle, but I wouldn't be surprised if you do. It's a year-round great vampy.


I don't normally love browns, but I like Ginger Bells!. It's a great orangy brown creme which absolutely gives me a Fall feeling. It's sleek and shiny, and could go with so many outfits. I used this as the base color for my Migi Nail Art gingerbread man. I think OPI did a great job capturing that kind of fall baked goods feeling with this one. Mmmm, spicy!


Holiday Glow is a prune-like brown/purple with small silver glitter. It's fun, but it's not the standout of this collection.


OPI Sapphire in the Snow. I want to stab someone in the face I love this polish so much. I wish on the finger it was the same color as in the bottle (I found it a bit darker), but it's so cobalt it almost glows from within. It's incredibly gorgeous even if it is so dark. I LOVE this!


Even with the beauties we have already seen, OPI Shim-Merry Chic and the next polish are the real stars of this collection, in my opinion. Shim-Merry Chic is a bronze shimmer/frost just jam-packed with soft pink/gold/bronze flakes, and tiny rainbow flecks. The picture doesn't begin to do justice to its beauty.


OPI Merry Midnight is a wonder. It's a violet jelly also chock full of that gorgeous soft-shade jewel tone flakes that Shim-Merry Chic has, and also the same pinpoint rainbow shimmer. It's so festive, so pretty, so mesmerizing!



The other half of the Winter 2009 Holiday Wishes Collection, the Glamour Reds, well, it's a whole lotta red. I love reds and even I think this is too many. Luckily they are all gorgeous.

Comet Loves Cupid is kinda like All A-Bordeaux the Sled, in that it's been done, so I don't quite understand it's inclusion. I think it's a bit too bold for most people, but it is very sizzling stuff.


OPI Meet & Jingle is a yummy bluish red cranberry-colored frost. Luckily it's only minimally streaky. I like it well enough.


OPI Glove You So Much is a kind of blackened burgundy. It's in that strange place where could be a slight frost, or a subdued shimmer. I kinda go with frost, but it has very little streaking and damn what a color!!! This color is stunning.


Smitten With Mittens is a new top ten entry in My Favorite reds. Deep, rich, and packed with huge shimmer, this just screams fancy party. It makes me feel like I am putting on my best to go celebrate. The color is great and the shimmer is eye-popping.


The last two Glamour Reds are Crimson Carol and Dear Santa. Despite the pictures, Dear Santa and Crimson Carol are quite similar in real life. I kinda don't see the need for both. So pick one, they're both very, very pretty. Dear Santa is slightly darker, Crimson Carol is slightly bluer.



TransDesign sells a mini pack I already mentioned with Comet Loves Cupid, All A-Bordeaux the Sled, Holiday Glow and Shim-Merry Chic, for $6.11. It also has three other polish boxed sets consisting of two full sized Holiday Glow polishes with a bracelet for $9.98. Nice gift! Enjoy these. I think it's a wonderful collection.

*Note: All but Holiday Glow are photographed with glue-on nails!

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI Kris Kringle Makes Me Tingle

I've heard this called many nasty names. Glad this year's winter polishes are better.

OPI Kris Kringle Makes Me Tingle:

FINALLY!!! OPI Suede Collection!!!!!

I was pretty scathing in my review of the OPI Matte Collection. I wondered aloud if OPI made the Suedes because they immediately realized how crappy their Mattes were next to other companies like Nubar and Zoya, and those brands' magnificent semi-matte velvety finishes. It appears I was right, because OPI completely redeemed themselves with Suede. Everything that was wrong with Matte is right with Suede. OPI, come back, all is forgiven!!!

They did as I tried to do with the Mattes, they raised the darker colors several shades so you could SEE them, and added a massive quantity of metallic powder to them so they would have some depth, shine and texture. These are about the texture of soft whipped butter. They spread well, and dry quickly. When they dry they look like your fingernails were professionally powder-coat painted. It's such an easy way to get manicured-looking nails within minutes. I would say try to get these in one coat, and not apply two, they can tend to ripple and clump if you use too much polish. I applied these over wet and dry base coat, had no shrinkage or rippling problems with either, they dried quickly and no matte finish was lost.

For those who hate and fear matte polish, I would reconsider. These are not flat. These are like velvet - they have a glow, or like the back side of satin. They have both texture and a mixture of matte and shine. As I said about Zoya's MatteVelvets, these look like velvet made with satin, they have a soft matte but glowing textured layer over a base of shine. They really do look a lot like suede, but if the lowest layer of the suede was shiny. These are terrific. I would have preferred a red instead of two reddish purples, and a green instead of two blues, but otherwise I am over the moon about these polishes.

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Suede, a much needed color lightening, and doing so made it such a gorgeous color!


OPI Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees Suede is OPI's version of Zoya Loredana, or ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly. It's more the color of Fuggen Ugly, but the texture of Loredana. Needless to say I love it!


OPI Russian Navy Suede does lose a little bit in translation, but it's still pretty. It loses the characteristic purple shimmer, so it could have been tossed for a gorgeous dark green, imagine how great it would have been if they had lightened Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow like they did Lincoln Park and made it Suede!?


OPI You Don't Know Jacques Suede is SO much better Suede than Matte. A boring taupeish brown becomes a sleek sophisticated brown. A real standout.


OPI Ink Suede is more successfully interpreted that Russian Navy. Love it! Somehow manages to keep the purple quality!


OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede, pretty but this coulda been lost for a red or a vampy burgundy.


Well took me a while, but worth the wait, saved a lot by buying these online. I seriously adore them!!

Color Club Wild At Heart Fall 2009 Collection

FINALLY I have these. I am in love with this set. It's got great vibrant colors, a healthy helping of holographic glitter, and only one boring color. Even the boring color has glitter! The formula is good, Color Club formula is nice and manageable for the most part, though frosts are almost always streaky and the ones in this set are pretty much no exception.

Onto the colors!

Color Club With Abandon is a strangely named black jelly with large grain brown shimmer. It manages to be dark but STILL be brown!! Would OPI please take notice?? Easy to apply since it's a jelly, needs two or more coats. I woulda named this one Do It In the Dirt.


Color Club On the Wild Side... ah here's that aforementioned streaky frost. What a waste of a gorgeous shade. Pure frosts like this look so old-fashioned and messy. But what a color!


Color Club Wild at Heart, well, I don't think I have ever taken a better picture. It applies like a dream, and looks like it was sprayed on by a professional. Trust me, this one will look just as good on you. It's not a holographic, but it has enough holo glitter to pack a very nice punch and to look sleek and shiny. And what a great, deep purple.


Color Club Love 'em Leave 'em, huh? I woulda named this Renegade Attorney, or Slightly Naughty Secretary. It's BEIGE. This needed to be canned and replaced by a rich ruby red with holographic glitter. they could have filled a large need in the polish world but gave us something you could probably get away with at work, but frankly is too boring for anywhere else, despite the nice holo glitter.


Rule Breaker is a gorgeous teal frost but it has so much shimmer added as well that it applies a bit better than On the Wild Side. Beautiful color, just I think it'd be best worn without color coordinating your clothes with it.


Color Club Wild and Willing is not done justice by my picture. It's a slightly sheer golden brown jelly with very vibrant shimmer. It reflects tons of light. it also has a small shot of gorgeous rose/green duochrome. Just fabulous.


So why am I so interested in the names? Who knows. I know no one cares about the names. They just made me go WTF this time. Heh.

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI Copper Mountain Copper

OPI Copper Mountain Copper is a kind of brick red semi-frost. It's multifunctional, could be work, could be play! You decide.

OPI Copper Mountain Copper:

Essie Cuddle With Color Fall 2009 Collection

I'm a bit late with this one, but I wasn't going to buy it til it came on at internet prices and I could buy the mini set. And I'm glad because while it's more exciting than normal Essie offerings it's all been done before. I did not buy or swatch bright tights, it's just a neon orange. I'm sure the formula is fine. Buy it if you like neon oranges. As I said I bought the mini set, plus one full size bottle, Chinchilly.

Essie Pink Parka. Neon pink. It's got more blue to the pink than their summer offering, Punchy Pink, and I adore the color. It's pretty much exactly the base color of Color Club's summer offering Electro candy, but without the blue shimmer. I do like it but a mini will be quite enough. Sometimes neon pinks can get a bit orangey, and this one absolutely is not orangey.


Essie Chinchilly. A grey with a healthy helping of taupe. Would have preferred a straight grey, this reminds me of dirty filing cabinets.


Essie Midnight Cami is another midnight navy blue with a slight shimmer. It has a nice cobalt tone, if it's been a few shades lighter it woulda been to die for, but as is it's just yet another almost black.


Essie Angora Cardi, a simple creme, kinda a bit redder/purplier than raisin.


Essie Mink Muffs is a cool-tone brown. Nice for work.


The formula is standard decent Essie, the colors add some needed variety to Essie's line, but are kinda unremarkable. I think it'd be a nice work set, barring the neons.

O! A Daily OPI! - OPI I'd Like to Thank and also a Note on My Nails

OPI I'd Like to Thank is a somewhat sheer frosty light brown with a bit of rose/green duochrome.

OPI I'd Like to Thank


Also, just FYI While my nails get stronger and longer I'm wearing glue-ons. That's why suddenly they're all long and perfect. Got tired of broken short nails!

O! A Daily OPI! - 3 Days Worth!

So I went on a mini-vacation. My laptop has a different resolution than my desktop, and my pics often look weird in it. So I wanted to not post til I got home. So we get three OPIs today!!

OPI DS Exclusive, a gorgeous deep rose holo:


OPI Basque in the Sun, a shimmery golden brown:


and OPI Silver Sparkler, for when you absolutely, positively need to twinkle.