Honest Babes

This is the culmination of things I've found interesting over the last few days. Sorry, no pictures! The ones I wanted to add kinda stink, so I need to retake them. 

I've been waiting on Ulta to get the OPI Muppets collection, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon. At this point, I may forgo the Muppets and save for the Holland collection instead. Thanks a Windmillion is killing me softly. And speaking of pale greens (I'm surprised this trend is still going, to be honest), I am DYING to get my hands on the Spring 2012 Dior green called Waterlily. Here it is on the nail.

And speaking of Ulta, apparently OPI is discontinuing 14 colors: Calendar Girl, Sit Under the Apple Tree, Give Me A Coral Sometime, Peach-a-boo!, Red Hot Ayers Rock, Chapel of Love, Bullish on OPI, Take the Stage, My Big Break, Paint My Moji-toes Red, Bronzed to Perfection, Clubbing til Sunrise, Bling Dynasty and Chopsticking to My Story. From what I understand, they may all be on sale, two for US$10, but I didn't receive that Ulta ad so I don't have the exact details. (Thankfully this was reported on Ulta's Facebook page.) To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that a majority of those colors are still around.

Is it me or do these Inglot flakies look like the Nails Inc Gossip Girl flakies?

Did Karl Lagerfeld actually have anything to do with the cosmetics and nail polish for a Sephora line? If only WWD was free to read online! Not that I'm a fan of his or anything...

Does anyone else randomly check magazine giveaway pages? I'm not really digging Glamour's stuff this month, but People StyleWatch has the Kardashian Kolors from Nicole and Lucky has Zoya. I really want the Guerlain set from StyleWatch. And speaking of the Kardashians, I support this.

No joke, I have about a hundred different comments about this report from Cleveland on CND's Shellac. Yes, you do have to do research into any beauty treatment you're thinking about getting... unless you're making a snap decision on the spot. You can only do so much in that case. And sure, looking at bottles is probably a good idea, but that isn't the first thing I think of when I'm getting a pro manicure. (The last time I got my tips done with regular polish, the manicurist used clear polish as a base coat, then base coat as top coat before sticking me under a lamp. Whaaaat?) I'm not surprised that some people had wear issues since it seems that not everyone applying Shellac knows what they're doing. But I think it's cool that this news team looked into something nail-related!

If none of that was even remotely interesting, maybe this video will be worth your time. I laugh every time I watch it.

The scuttlebutt on the street is that the new OPI Ulta exclusives are Nicole's Gossip Girl collection polishes from last year.  That's entirely possible, since Nicole and OPI have shared shades before as far as I know.  (OPI's I Pink You're Adorable is similar to Nicole's Starbright Sparkles II, and OPI's Unripened from the Halloween collection last year was close to Nicole's Blues in the Night.)  You be the judge below:Pictures ahoy!

Nicole by OPI has released some Spring exclusives for Target.  But you already know that by reading other blogs, right?   I found them at my local store last week, so check your store if you're cruising for them!Some cell phone pictures...

I tried to do some swatches of Nicole Fell From the Tree, Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, OPI's Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede and Revlon's Matte Suede polish in Emerald City.  Can't say these pictures really came out, but maybe they'll help!

Here are the colors themselves - ignore the fact that the Nicole looks aqua.

Observe...

I must first apologize for the state of my nails.  I finally got tired of having long nails and chopped them all off.  It's pretty clear that I should have spent way more time with the nail file than I did.  I'll just have to do better when I do full hand swatches!

Left to right, all OPI- Unripened, Obscurity, Sanguine and Nevermore:

Let's get the most boring part of this entry taken care of immediately, shall we?  Essie's Velvet Voyeur (732) is your standard issue vampy color.  It's more purple/berry-toned than some I've seen, which is nice.  But unlike some of my fellow bloggers, I didn't find the formula to be that easy to work with.  I still had some patchy bald spots, though I guess you could blame that on me.  Or my base coat, Barielle Natural Nail Camo.  I can feel a base coat break up ready to occur.   I think I ended up with three to four coats before I was satisfied, but it was way dark then and not as purple as you can see in the bottle.You'll want to click this if you like glitter!

Lippmann's Lady Sings the Blues and Across the Universe debuted during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, and I'm sure you've seen them on every other blog by now.  What can I say- I got distracted by other colors.  A magpie is me! Wall of text and four pictures of dubious quality...

What's a gal with a chipped manicure and some extra time to do in Sephora?  Why, swatch glitter topcoats!  I tried on two of the newer Sephora by OPI top coats, Sparkle Me Silver and Only Gold for Me.  SMS is described as "clear with rectangular silver iridescent glitter" and that's pretty accurate.  This polish has a clear base with rainbow bar glitter, or, if you really hate it, hair glitter.  Some people think it makes your nails look hairy, and while I don't share that opinion, I still think about it when I see this type of glitter.   OGfM is described as "clear with chunky and micro gold glitter."  It has a clear base with gold hex glitter and much smaller gold glitter.Both shown over Nicole's Peas and Q's polish...

After much gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, etc., etc., I finally found the elusive (for me) Nicole Hint of Mint (NI 286) at Wal-mart.  Is it a Wal-mart exclusive?  I've certainly heard that, and I don't think I've seen it at Target or Ulta.  But let's be honest- I have no idea.  I'd describe HoM as a light minty pearl.  I did two coats, but I think three might be better for full opacity.

A few weeks later, I found the minty crème Nicole Peas and Q's (NI 319) at Target.  Is it a Target exclusive?  I haven't seen it at Ulta or Wal-mart, so I again have no idea.  It was opaque enough at two coats, so I stopped there.

I want to say that HoM was US$6.99, while PaQ was $7.99, but I don't have the receipts in front of me.  My Target does have a nice display of newer sparkly/glass flecked polishes, but the rumor is that they cost more than regular Nicoles.  I can neither confirm nor deny.  So basically, this whole entry is to let you know that I know nothing, aside from the color of these two polishes.  Helpful, no?

I'm kind of in love with the mints against gray wood...