Honest Babes

**CAUTION: NERD(LACQUER) ALERT** I am going to be geeking out for the Trek-esque polishes because they bring back such good memories. A great color of polish is wonderful, but it's even better when it evokes a feeling or memory. That's what I think at any rate.

My first choice of NerdLacquer to swatch was Warrior Ethos because I must admit that I prefer the Klingons over the Vulcans (Purely Logical) and the Romulans (Cold & Calculating.) Three coats by itself was perfect opacity. If I hold my finger up to the light, I can see my nail tip, but otherwise it looks opaque. I love the different colors and sizes of glitter in Warrior Ethos- everything just works for me. I think this is a great unconventional holiday red and I've been surprised by how well it's worn for me.

A lot of pictures... for serious!

Essie's winter collection this year is called Cocktail Bling, but I gotta say- these aren't very blingy. The one color from the collection that I didn't buy is Brooch the Subject (773.) It looked like kind of a tan/camel color, which would not be flattering in the least to my coloring. The five colors that I did get look like crèmes. The two colors I'm going to review right now are Bobbing for Baubles (769) and Size Matters (771.)

Size Matters, School of Hard Rocks, Bangle Jangle (not to be confused with Bungle Jungle), Bobbing for Baubles and Cocktail Bling in the lightbox:Buncha pix inside...

I picked up three of the Halloween nail polish offerings from Fantasy Makers (AKA Wet n Wild) last week or the week before. (Halloween creep is not as bad as Christmas creep, but Halloween paraphernalia still coming earlier than I had expected!) I figured they were cheap enough and worth a try since the colors weren't so bad. I didn't opt for the glow in the dark polish since I have more of those than I'll ever need. The big downsides on these are the potential for slightly wonky, fluffy, stick-y out-y brushes (which I noticed on quite a few bottles) and the tombstone tops that never twist on fully flush to the bottle unless you repeatedly twist the tops on and off until you're satisfied.

Purple Potion (12420) is black with purple microglitter.  The glitter is slightly darker and finer than the glitter in Lippmann's Bad Romance. It only took two coats to get opacity, which surprised me. The glitter is not as blingy on the nail as it is in the bottle, which is kind of a bummer. It also dries to a satin finish, so I'd suggest top coat unless that's the effect you're going for. I put two top coats on and Purple Potion is still not as shiny as I'd like it to be. I had no problem seeing the shimmer under fluorescent lighting, though, so this isn't dark and drab. Yay Halloween!

After seeing Makeup Magpie's post on YSL's fall collection, I had to go see the polishes in person.  The display and tester bottles did not list the numbers or names of the polishes, but my ever faithful SA found them after opening several boxes and checking them against the testers.  Wintergreen is #43 and Moonlight Blue is #44.  If you're a fan of greens, I highly suggest checking Wintergreen out!You should definitely check Wintergreen out, green lovers!

Who Let the Dorks Out? (SE 293) is from Sephora by OPI's new Glee collection.  It's described as "opaque metallic peacock green," which doesn't strike me as the best description for this polish.  It's kind of a wishy-washy green with icy blue shimmer.  In certain lights, you can see the shimmer turn pink.  I personally don't like the base color and the color of the shimmer together, but maybe I'll warm up to it.  It certainly doesn't make me think of the character of Sue Sylvester on "Glee" or peacocks, and it doesn't resemble the little dot on Sephora's website, either.  In fact, the two crèmes and to a lesser degree Miss Bossy Pants kind of look like their sample dots, but the rest of the colors are off-base.  Hell to the No looks like a shimmery cooler-toned purple on sephora.com, but it's more red-based in color with heavier gold shimmer, for example.  But I digress!