Honest Babes

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!

Happy new year, everyone!

Ulta is clearancing out a lot of the holiday collections they received, including OPI's Burlesque polishes.  I was shocked to find two bottles of Elle's Spell by Barielle, so I more than willingly plunked down US$2.99 for one of them.  It looks gorgeous in the bottle!  I've seen some great swatches of it, so I'm excited to see it on the nail.

I loathe Sally Beauty Supply because of the terrible manager at my local store.  She seriously needs to be fired and scuttlebutt says I'm not the only one who has complained.  Yet she continues to be employed... it's a mystery to me!  When I visited a Sallys in a far-flung location, I found the Halloween collection by China Glaze deeply discounted.  Score!  I think I paid $1.99, but I've heard that some people are finding them for $0.99.

anthropologie had a 40% off already discounted items, and shockingly, that applied to Strange Beautiful polishes!  (Not shockingly, it did not apply to the Lipstick Queen three pack of lipstick.   It was still >$40.)  I bought two out of the three SB duos that I found and paid only $3.95 per duo.  Not bad considering they were originally $18 each.

From your left to your right: ChG Mummy May I (942), Ick-A-Bod-y (944), Strange Beautiful polishes in Verdigris and Pink, ChG Zombie Zest (943), Barielle Elle's Spell (5103)

There's been a lot of buzz about CVS' 75% off clearance sale.  It is amazing, and if you have a CVS nearby, get out there and buy some great stuff!  I'm not normally a regular makeup swatcher, but I might do more of that this year.  It's just a lot easier to swatch on nails, so that will still be my focus.   At the CVS I visited, I found the following on sale:

Insta-Dri formula: 06 Rose-a-go-go, 16 Blush Rush, 17 Mochachino, 22 Jumpin' Jade, 23 Blazing Blue

Diamond Strength formula: 90 Brilliant Bordeaux, 92 Deeply Violet, 94 Black Diamond

I assume these are on sale across the country, and there may have been some that I didn't catch that are also on sale.  Some of the deeply discounted colors are very pretty and I'm sad to see them go.