Heads Up

Just a brief post to let you all know about some image stealing.

I was recently emailed by a lovely reader named Susana, who informed me one of my images has been used without permission on the site OPI Nailbar. Here is the page with one of my pictures of OPI's Clubbing Til Sunrise. And here is my original post showing off Clubbing Til Sunrise.

There are a variety of other bloggers' images stolen on this site, especially on the Classics page. I can only assume since they did not ask for my permission, they didn't ask for permission from anyone else.

I have been out of the nail blogging loop for months now, unfortunately, so I couldn't link the images to specific bloggers. If you see someone's nails you know, please pass it on.

I have contacted OPI Nailbar through their contact page, but am doubtful of how successful it will be. I had to use Google Translate to send a version in Spanish (I sent it in English as well).

To my knowledge, this is the first time I have come across an image of my own being stolen. I thought I had avoided that due to watermarking all my images, but perhaps I should have been more obvious with my watermarks. I didn't want them to be too distracting so you all could focus on the nail polish, not my blog's URL posted across the image. But it's certainly something to consider if/when I get back into blogging. (On that note, I am getting the itch to start blogging again, but all the polishes I brought with me to London I've already blogged about. Time to buy some new polishes!)

It's kind of a weird feeling knowing that someone has stolen something you spent time on. I've seen it multiple times in the nail blogging world, so in some ways I am not too surprised. That being said, it by no means makes it okay.

It makes me realize how important it is to let shady businesses like this know it is not okay to steal someone else's work for their own gain. I'm certainly going to by very mindful of any etailers I purchase nail polish from. If they use stolen images, I am not going to purchase from them (not that I have in the past), and I intend to contact them and let them know why. At the very least, I encourage you to not shop at OPI Nailbar.

...Okay, so this wasn't exactly a brief post! I hope you are all doing well! Like I said, I am really starting to miss nail blogging, so my love for nail polish might get the better of me, and you may see me around again in the not so distant future.

PS, I currently have American Apparel's Manila on. I am not even going to link you to my original post about it, as my pictures are even more embarrassing than this PhotoBooth one.

Edit: It seems that OPI Nailbar have taken down my images, as well as other bloggers' images. I never did receive and response from them.

It's Been A While...

I wanted to write a brief post to let you know that I am still alive. Truthfully, I have no idea what the future holds for this blog. In about an hour, I am headed to the airport, and tomorrow I will touch down in London, where I will begin my graduate studies for two years.

In the interest of remaining somewhat on topic, here are the (very) few nail polishes I am bringing along:

I am not ready to say goodbye to this blog (and my followers!) quite yet, so I will keep it open. I very well may start blogging again - you never know!

I did just start up a blog for all of my London adventures, if any of you have any interest in what I'll be up to. From Minneapolis to London is what its called.

Hope all is well with everyone!

ELF Fuchsia

So, first of all, I'm going to apologize for the quality of the upcoming photos. I don't have my DSLR with me, and out of laziness just used PhotoBooth. While they are not the highest quality, they are actually rather color accurate. Here's ELF's Fuchsia.

Fuchsia is obviously a fuchsia colored polish. Consistency-wise, it's one of those creme-jelly combos. It is opaque enough to need only two coats for coverage, but it dries nice and shiny. Applying it was strange, though. With the first coat, I noticed that the polish started separating, for lack of better word. It almost looked like how crackle polish works, only in one or two spots on the nail rather than all over. I'm not sure if it was just part of the polish, or it reacting to my base coat? It was weird to say the least. The second coat did cover up those spots, so it wasn't a total deal breaker.

It looks more purple in the bottle than it does on the nail, and at first I was disappointed, as I'm not a big pink person. But it immediately started growing on me, and I think it was just what I needed. I've been so stressed out with grad school stuff (damn you, FAFSA!), it was nice to put something cute and bright on my nails. It's definitely a summer-y color, which is welcomed.

And yes, I was hanging out in my parents' kitchen when I took these photos.

Love & Beauty Olive

Here's a polish I purchased a while ago, and am unfortunately just now wearing - Olive by Love & Beauty.

Olive is a ton of olive shimmer packed in a smokey base. I absolutely love this. It's vampy and antique-y and murky and still really pretty! It reminds me of moss. My pictures are not the greatest as shimmer/glitter tends to freak my camera out a bit, but I think you get the gist of it. It also gave me some lobster claws, so sorry about that!

Olive is a bit on the thin side, but not hard to work with. I used three coats to cover bald spots, but the coats dried quickly so it wasn't too inconvenient.

I love the Love & Beauty/LA Girl polishes. The price point is perfect, and they have a wide variety of unique shades.

Misa Date Nights to the Twilight

Here's a polish I purchased a long time ago but am just now getting around to wearing - Date Nights to the Twilight by Misa.

Date Nights to the Twilight is the only Misa polish I own, and was part of the Winter 2010 Spark My Interest Collection. It's a medium purple that's got this shimmery/foily thing going on. Super pretty, though not super unique. In some lighting situations, I noticed it can lean a bit more blue (blurple, you might say). I used two coats, and they applied smoothly.

The only thing I don't like is the name. It's really wordy and doesn't seem to make much sense. Is it even grammatically correct? I'm assuming Misa is implying that you could wear this out for a date night, but surely there's an easier way to say that. Why not just Date Night? Or even Twilight? Misa, I don't get it!

Revlon Sheer Seafoam

I have been lusting after Rescue Beauty Lounge's Bikini Bottom for at least a couple years now. I have come close to purchasing it quite a few times, but always talk myself out of it. $20 for one bottle of polish? I have only heard good things about RBL, but I just can't bring myself to spend that much on one bottle. So, when I was at Walgreens the other day, getting passport photos taken, I saw Sheer Seafoam by Revlon and snatched up the last bottle.

When a polish has Sheer in its name, trust it. This stuff is sheer. I used four coats, and the nail line is completely visible. But I absolutely love it! This definitely satisfies my desire for Bikini Bottom, and for a quarter of the price! I loved the sheerness, and I loved the jelly finish. I got air bubbles throughout, which I actually liked because it made the polish seem like the ocean. A friend of mine commented on the same thing.

Overall, I'm a huge fan of Sheer Seafoam. It's great on its own, and would look great used in a jelly sandwich. But, for those of you who aren't into visible nail line, steer very clear of this bad boy.

What do you guys think? Too sheer for you? Or do you find the hint of color interesting?

Color Club Gingerbread

A while back, I won Nailtopia's giveaway of Color Club's Beyond the Mistletoe collection. I just got around to trying my first of the four, Gingerbread.

Gingerbread is a glittery polish that reads as gold, but is made up of more than just gold glitter. There's glitter of pretty much every color packed in that little bottle. I love the blurred shot which gives you an idea of how the light bounces off all the glitter. I used three coats of this because I wanted to wear it on its own without a base color. But with one coat it covered well, and would look great layered over another color (I was thinking a teal... perhaps OPI's Ski Teal We Drop). The nice thing about Gingerbread being a glitter is that it dried super fast! A huge thanks to Nailtopia for holding such a great giveaway.

OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster

Of all the polishes in OPI's Touring America collection, this is probably the one that I normally would have been attracted to the least. With all the darker colors and funky colors, it seems unlikely that I would have chosen something like I Eat Mainely Lobster. I guess I was in a coral mood, because this is the only one I picked up.

I Eat Mainely Lobster is a pink-leaning coral that freaked my camera out. It's not nearly as... hot pink as these pictures would lead you to believe. It also has pink and gold shimmer, which somehow showed up kind of blue in my photographs? It's not blue. It's also not very noticeable on the nail, which is a bummer. I hate half-assed shimmer. What's the point of adding shimmer to a polish that barely shows on the nail? Surely brands test the polish before sending it to production! I think I used two coats for this.

Despite the fact that this polish is not very "me" and could use some more shimmer, I still really love it. It's definitely a warm weather appropriate color.

Boots No 7 Salsa

Here's another polish sent to me in a swap with Nicole, Salsa by Boots No 7.

Salsa is a shimmery red. It obviously has some magenta going on, but the pink is not as visible in real life as it is in my photographs. This was a really pretty color that I loved wearing. It is also rather festive, and I bet it would look great paired with a shimmery green for those Christmas celebrators out there. Application was a breeze, and I believe I used two coats.

Please ignore that state of my cuticles here. I've been so busy that cuticle maintenance has fallen on my list of priorities.

Zoya Jules

A while ago I jumped on a sale that Zoya had for the Intimate collection. I think the entire collection was $25, and included free shipping, which was a steal. Here's a polish from that collection, Jules.

Jules is a nude base with gold and silver shimmer mixed in, which combine to create a gorgeous champagne. I love nudes with some shimmer or glitter mixed in. I unfortunately can't remember how many coats I used, but I don't recall it being too finicky, so I'm going to guess two. This is definitely a pretty color, and the shimmer gives the nude base some extra oomph.

Models Own Purple Blue and GOOD NEWS!

I'm still here! I apologize for being absent, but I have a good reason for it. First, let's get to the nail polish. Even though I haven't been blogging, I have still been wearing polish and photographing my nails, so I have a backlog of posts that I am working on getting through. Up first is a polish sent to my by the ever-lovely Nicole at Top to Toe. Here's Purple Blue by Models Own.

Purple Blue came out with the Beetle Juice collection that made a big splash. My pictures are not the greatest, but it's a pretty duochrome that shifts between (you guessed it!) purple and blue. It was on the thin side - I used three coats - but it applied easily. I really loved looking at my nails and watching the colors shift back and forth.

Now, onto my exciting news. I've officially been accepted into graduate school! In London! Starting this fall I will be studying Art Conservation at Camberwell College of Arts. I am equal parts excited and terrified. This will be my first time out of the country, and my first time away from my family for so long. I'll be gone for two years. I am really excited to be back in school and back in an artistic environment. And I can't tell you how excited I am to (hopefully!) get out of retail.

As far as my little blog goes, I honestly have no idea what its future is. I plan to continue updating until I leave in September (though I have TONS to do, and don't know how regularly I'll post). But I only intend to bring a few nail polishes with me to London, as I'm trying to travel as lightly as possible. I'm sure I'll buy some nail polish while I am there, but hopefully not a lot as I will have to bring it all back or leave it. I will keep you all updated with my plans.

All that said, I'm sorry I was gone so long. I missed not only updating my blog, but commenting on your blogs as well. How have you all been?

Milani Rad Purple

The moment I saw Milani's Rad Purple on Short 'n Chic, I knew I HAD to have it. A really pretty purple that's also a jelly, my most favorite nail polish finish ever! Count me in! When I placed my order with drugstore.com, which also included Whimsical, I picked Rad Purple up as well.

I absolutely adore this. This was three coats. It has some neon qualities to it, though I wouldn't call it a true neon, so it dries to a satin finish. But once you pop some top coat on, it's full of shiny, squishy goodness!

The nail of my middle finger peeled pretty far down, unfortunately, so I chopped the rest of 'em. They were getting to such a nice length, too! I guess they will grow back in no time, but it's still a bummer. I'd love to see Rad Purple on longer nails.

Revlon Whimsical

I'm slacking again. Ugh. I'm just so stressed with waiting on grad school news, and working on submitting some new pieces to a gallery. Nonetheless, I have Whimsical by Revlon to show you today.

Whimsical is the highly sought after dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air. I know people are selling this for more than it is worth because it's a bit harder to find, but, people, you can still find this on drugstore.com for $5.

It's a pretty sheer polish. This is three coats, and you can see the nail line. I liked that effect, as we all know by now, so I kept it. If you wanted something less sheer, I'd recommend layering it over a light blue. It applied smoothly.

I really love the juxtaposition of the milky, sheer blue and the glitter. It was one of those manicures that had me staring at my nails frequently.

Sinful Colors Verbena

Just a quick post before I run off to work. Here's Verbena by Sinful Colors.

Verbena is a medium purple, dusty creme. The color is so pretty. It applied quite easily - two easy coats, and it was good to go. Overall, a great polish, perfect for welcoming spring.

The Night Circus Inspired Nails

For a brief period of time, I considered changing around the style of this blog. I was going to do my manicures based on the book I was reading. I quickly realized that wouldn't work out well, as my reading and nail polishing paces are different. Plus, I read a lot of embarrassing young adult books, and I don't know that I want you to know about all of those! At any rate, I decided doing that every once in a while would be fun. Here's the first one, based on Erin Morgenstern's novel The Night Circus.

The Night Circus is about a circus which only occurs, obviously, at night, and the only colors at the circus are black and white. There are fans of the circus who follow it around, and they wear black and white, with a red accessory so they can recognize one another. This color scheme was the inspiration.

I started out with a couple coats of Man Glaze's Mayo, and then added Man Glaze's Matte is Murder for the stripes. I chose these rather than cremes because I liked the added shimmer. The red was Tate by Nails Inc. I think these turned out pretty cute. But I have to say, I am so envious of those of you who can paint an even stripe.

There's much more to The Night Circus than I told, so if you haven't read it, I highly suggest you do so. It's so good! I really like circus themed things, particularly from the past, so I was really into all the imagery in the book. I also was a fan of Water for Elephants (not the movie though, that was awful). Actually, the first thing I remember wanting to be when I grew up was a tight rope walker in the circus. Have you read either of those books? Are you a circus fan?

L.A. Colors Berry Red

I just dyed my hair red, and in honor of that, I decided to do a red manicure! Here's Berry Red by L.A. Colors.

My photographs of this are not the most color accurate. Berry red is actually, well, more berry than these images show. It's a bit darker, but just as juicy and squishy. A classic red jelly. Sigh.

While not the most unique color, and not exactly unique in my collection, I was actually quite surprised with the ease of application. It slid on very easily, was not messy at all, and dried very fast and shiny (even without topcoat, though I was wearing a coat of Seche in these photos). I used two coats, which allowed for just a bit of visible nail line. I found this at the dollar store a while back, so I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that it "flowed like butter". Sometimes it's nice to have a reminder that one doesn't need to spend $20 on good quality nail polish. I also bought a champagne/gold color, so I'm interested to see if the application of that is just as flawless.

Here's a crappy shot of my new hair color, for those interested. I wish it was sunny out today so the red could really shine, but of course it is gloomy. I'm really enjoying being a red head again, and I think next time I will go a bit brighter!

Collection 2000 BMX Bandit

I've been a terrible blogger lately, I know. I guess I haven't had the motivation to write anything. My philosophy when starting this little blog was to blog because I enjoyed it, and to never force myself to write anything just for the sake of getting a post up. So, I apologize for the delay, but sometimes ya just need some time away, ya know?

Here's a polish I wore probably about a week ago now: BMX Bandit by Collection 2000. It was sent to me by the lovely Nicole. It's a pretty cornflower blue creme.

Unfortunately, I can't remember a whole lot about the application process. I'm sure I used at least two coats, likely three. I do remember being surprised that it wasn't as finicky as I anticipated. I was expecting it to be a pain, considering it's almost pastel, but it went pretty smoothly.

A coworker of mine said it was Spring-like, but not too pastel. Which I'd agree with. If you're not into the brighter or lighter shades of blue, but still want something for the warm weather, this is probably a good option.

Andrea Fulerton Naomi

I had a funeral to attend today, unfortunately, so I wanted to wear something traditional yet not too bright on my nails. I went with Naomi by Andrea Fulerton.

 This is a color you've seen many a time on this little blog. A deep red, with a jelly finish. Love! The color is great, but unfortunately the consistency was a drag. I used three coats. Not because I was trying to cover up visible nail line, but because I kept getting bald spots near my cuticle where I would lay the brush down. On top of that, it took a long time to dry.

On the bright side, I really did like the design of the bottle. I'm a sucker for good product design, what can I say?