Hi, my name's Selina and I'm addicted to nail polish

You know how they say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem? Well can we, perhaps, just pretend that's the only step? So I admit I'm addicted to buying nail polish, you all pat me on the back for taking such a huge step towards recovery and then we all go back to how we were and I keep buying nail polish? Yeah? Excellent. As you were then.

So here's some more polish that I bought. Back when I had that little problem.



Anna Sui Number 126. Obviously I had to buy it because it was super cheap on TradeMe. And it's pretty.



Lancome Number 297. This one was also super cheap on TradeMe. And it's yellow.



Ahhh, right. Now these weren't super cheap on TradeMe. Although some of them were on special so that's pretty good, yeah? But, you see, what happened was, I was at the mall buying a present for a friend and these polishes just accidentally bought themselves with my credit card. Darndest thing huh? Anyway left to right: Rimmel Deliciously Dark, Blue Me Away and Go Cobalt, Max Factor Ultra Blue and some really cute little nail templates for painting designs on your nails in wave, skull and crossbones, butterfly and pawprint designs.

Also, something I didn't buy. These came from my wonderful friend Ewa who sent me the Bourjois So Laque polishes:


Left to right Maybelline Matte in Matte Rose, Butterfly Collection Number 244 and Delia Glamour Number 5. And at front a Paloma lip gloss.

I've seen the Maybelline Mattes around on a few blogs and been quite keen to try them out because unlike the current mattes from O.P.I. which are just too chalky matte for my liking the Maybelline ones (which were released some time ago) have more of a lustrous satin finish which is quite lovely. All the other items are brands I've never heard of so I'm very excited to try them out.

So there we go. Oh and did I mention that I just ordered a whole heap of polishes from Overall Beauty because they were having a massive sale on BB Couture polishes for their newsletter subscribers?

Oh dear, I do have a problem don't I?

A potpourri of swatching

Lots of swatches today. 13 Year Old Daughter, her friend and I watched Bride Wars and I swatched while I watched. (Hehehe, nice rhyme Selina!)

First, a find from one of the local dollar stores. I think the brand is Winniax (Winwax? Wineax?). All the writing on the back is Asian so no idea what the colour is called.



Look at the moist doggy nose!

Nice colour, palest mint green that reminds me of the little knitted booties all my great aunties made when I was pregnant and we didn't know what sex the baby was! But: Worst. Application. Ever. Streaking and dragging and bald spots in all four coats and then it took forever to dry even with a top coat of Seche Vite. As cute as the colour is it doesn't wow me enough to put up with the application, so this one's going in the bin (it was only NZ$3.00 after all).

Next, China Glaze Solar Power:



Not bad application for a yellow. Some streaking on the first couple of coats, but the third coat fixed it up nicely. Quite a nice warm yellow shimmer, but I do not like this on my skin tone at all.

So on to Max Factor Nailfinity Disco Pink:



Yes I am aware there's only one finger in that photo! Just when I was about to take the pictures a nice man came to the door trying to sell me tree felling services. When I got rid of him I'd forgotten what I was doing and started to take the polish off before taking the photos. My bad!

Anyway, lovely application. This is super-pigmented and almost opaque in one coat. No streaking or dragging, nice formula. 13 Year Old Daughter loved the colour - it was a bit too pink for me (not being a lover of pink polishes) so off it came.

And last, a Cuinong polish (no name, number 285). Now a note about Cuinong polishes: I picked this one up from the local dollar store for NZ$3.00. I've seen the same polishes being sold on TradeMe for upwards of NZ$5.00, which means that by the time you've added postage on you could be tripling (if not more) the actual cost of the polish. Shop around!

Anyhoo, here's the swatch:



The colour is more green than in the photo - astro turf green. It reminds me of my favourite shirt from 1984. Promise not to laugh?



It had a tie people! Back in 1984 it didn't get much cooler!

Anyway, not bad application (the polish, not the shirt), three coats but for some reason the polish is more transparent at the tips of my nails than on the rest of the nail. The colour looks plasticky and artificial and I quite like it!

And that's all my swatches for today. You're still laughing about the photo aren't you? Sheesh.

We have lift-off

So the Telecom men have been. They promise me they have fixed the problem, but just in case it happens again they've very conveniently blamed it on damp under the house. Because then it's not Telecom's fault, obviously.

Anyhoo, to stop myself from going completely bonkers I have painted my nails. A lot. So I have lots of swatches for you. And also a dog. Just because.

First up, Color Club Rev'd Up:



I'm impressed with the Color Club polishes - good application and super-fast drying time. I think this was three coats, I can't remember (there's been so many polishes people, so very many). It's a nice colour, it doesn't blow me away probably because there's a lot of sparkly purply/pinks out there similar, but it's pretty.

Speaking of pretty, look at the paw!



Next, Max Factor Nailfinity Golden Peach:



Quite sheer, could have gone for four coats with this, but three was ok. Good application but like a few metallics I've used it reacted with Seche Vite top coat (just on one nail) and went gluggy. A very pretty muted gold colour but I'm not sure it suits my skin colour, and it's a little 'safe' for my liking.

13 Year Old Daughter asked for white nails with black polka dots, so I got to try out my new dotting tool.



That's Color Club Paris White with dots in China Glaze Urban Attitude. Yet another fabulous Color Club polish, Paris White applied really well which I didn't expect after past experience with whites. It's a really lovely pure white that reminds me of house paint (in a good way). Three coats because there was a little bit of streaking but again dried super fast.

This was my first time using the dotting tool, and I'm quite pleased with the result. Best tip, which I read on a blog whose name I have now forgotten, make a little dish out of tinfoil and pour just a small amount of polish into it (I actually dropped it off the brush rather than pouring), then dip your dotting tool into that. Also, don't load the dotting tool with too much nail polish (that one comes from my own experience!).

Then I decided to do a little nail art on myself, so I broke out the painter's tape.



The polishes were Color Club Paris White, China Glaze Nail Art Ink and Pinnacle Quicksilver.



I started with a base of Pinnacle Quicksilver - nice application, a lot of brushstrokes though but a very nice bluish-silver. Then I taped off a diagonal across my tips and used Color Club Paris White, and finished with the China Glaze Ink. I'm quite pleased with the result given it's the first time I've attempted anything with a nail art brush. Another tip, from another blog I can't remember the name of: when painting a straight line with a nail art brush place the brush on the nail and then move the nail under the brush rather than the brush over the nail. I had a few thin lines and a few thick lines but that's just practice.

And finally, I've saved the best for last. O.P.I. Suzi Says Da!:




Brown polish can be hit or miss, it's so often either too 'old lady' or just plain unattractive. But this one. OH. MY. GOD! Seriously, while I was applying it I had to stop myself from sticking out my tongue and licking it. Two words: Melted. Chocolate. I cannot stop staring at my nails, this colour is so very beautiful, and what a gorgeous smooth shiny finish. This was three coats, and looking at the pictures it could have been four because I can see some semi-bald patches near my cuticles but that's no biggie when the colour is this beautiful. This one goes in my favourites list, I love it!

An apology, some more hauls and a polish review

Hello there my pretties, apologies for the radio silence - our internet has been dead for the last couple of days. It's back up at the moment, so I'm taking advantage while it lasts.

First up, a couple of purchases from TradeMe which arrived in the mail yesterday:


Top row: China Glaze Urban Attitude, Pinnacle Quicksilver (never heard of this brand, anybody have any experience with it?), Color Club Paris White, Color Club Fast Woman, Color Club Queen of Speed. Middle row: Color Club Rev'd Up, Color Club Sugar Rush, Color Club Candy Girl.
Bottom: O.P.I. Bronze gift set, Suzi Says Da! and I Only Drink Champagne plus cosmetic bag (which I'm not particularly fond of, I only got it for the colours which were a bargain).

Next, from today's trip to the mall, a bundle of stuff from Postie Plus. I can never resist popping in to our local Postie Plus - their clothes may be a bit on the 'grandma' side but they always have bins and bins full of cosmetics at super cheap prices. Today's haul:


Nailene Rhinestone Nail Art Kit, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds, Max Factor Nailfinity Golden Peach, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Honeymoon Red, Maybelline Wet Shine Diamonds Jewels n' Berries, Max Factor Nailfinity Disco Pink.

And finally (phew) a review of BB Couture Peony Pink.



That is the most gorgeous pink. And I say this as someone who hardly ever wears pink nail polish! It reminds me of candy floss (mmmmmmmm, candy floss). However this was the first of the BB Couture polishes to give me application problems, and to need more than two coats. There was a lot of streaking and bald patches, which mostly disappeared by the third coat although if I'd wanted to be a perfectionist about it I probably would have gone for four coats. On the plus side, like all the BB Couture polishes I've tried it dried super fast. Application problems aside, I love it!

My nail polish collection now numbers 162. And there's several more arriving in the mail in the not-too-distant future. I may have to go to polish-rehab!