Reader's Choice Mondays ~ Cult Nails Power Thief

Hey dolls! Hope your week is off to a great start. My birthday was on Sunday and I had a great weekend celebrating with hubby in Destin, FL. I didn't do anything special to my nails, even though I took polish with me. I ended up keeping NOPI Just Busta Mauve on the entire time, which was fine with me.

This week's winner of the Reader's Choice poll was Cult Nails Power Thief with 43% of the votes. Power Thief is a gorgeous brown filled with silver flecks. The formula was typical of Cult Nails awesomeness and I used two coats in the pictures below.

I've been in the mood for brown polish lately, so Power Thief was right on time. I love the silver glass flecks in this polish. Have you noticed yourself reaching for darker colors yet? I usually wear the shades I want at any time of year, but lately I'm reaching for dark shades.

For next week, I have three of my untried ManGlazes for you. Please take a second to vote in the poll below!

surveys & polls

Nicole by OPI Just Busta Mauve

Hey dolls! Today I'm wearing a shade that I've wanted since I first saw swatches last month. I try to stay away from Target as much as possible (their clothing section is the death of my wallet), but I made a special trip just for Nicole by OPI Just Busta Mauve. The formula was thin, but not problematic. Just Busta Mauve is so complex; it's mauve, brown, shimmery, and just hard to describe. Therefore, I'll just leave you with a bunch of pictures. Please click to enlarge these!

I just love everything about Just Busta Mauve, including the super cute name! This is the kind of shade that just stands on its own to me. I put this on earlier this week thinking the pink undertones were strong enough to use it as a part of my first breast cancer awareness look. I never got around to adding anything to it (which means there will be 2 BCA looks next week so I can catch up). Hope you all love this color just as much as I do!

My birthday is on Sunday, so hopefully I'll have time to come up with a fancy look for the weekend!

Fall Trends ~ Fall Foilage

Hey dolls! The next Refinery29 fall trend for this season is one I really love - Fall Foilage. Since I live in Florida, we don't really experience fall like other parts of the country. One of the things I miss most about my hometown in South Carolina is seeing the leaves change colors. Back to polish...I find that golds, browns, and burnt oranges look so good on my skin tone. Here a few that I'm interested in.

Winter Trends ~ Browns

There is something sexy about brown nail polish and how sexy and sophisticated it looks during the winter time,  so it's no surprise that it made the trend list on Refinery29. Here are some of my picks:



I have China Glaze Midtown Magic in my untrieds...must wear this beautiful shade soon!

I know a lot of people don't like browns, but how do you feel about them???

The Last of the Stash

As promised, here is the last of my stash that is swatched onto nail wheels. Since starting this series, I didn't really buy many polishes until the last two weeks. I found the Foiled Color Club set at Ross and couldn't resist it since I don't own many foils. That's neither here nor there though...this post is pretty lengthy, so let's get started with the grays and blacks.

Grays/Blacks

1. Zoya Dove*
2. OPI Skull & Gloss-Bones
3. OPI I Vant to Be A-Lone Star
4. Avon Matte Grey Cement
5. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Gunmetal
6. Barielle Coalest Day of the Year
7. Aldo Hit the Pavement*
8. Nicka Black
9. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
10. Goldie #38
11. WnW Shine Night Prowl
12. Essie Power Clutch
13. Loreal Cockatoo's Mystery*
14. WnW Fantasy Makers Purple Potion
15. WnW Fantasy Makers Black Magic

Zoya Dove is one of my most favorite grays ever! Avon Matte Grey Cement was actually my first matte polish last year. I picked up WnW Purple Potion on a random trip to Walgreens, not even realizing its a dupe for Night Prowl, so I swapped that one. I'm most looking forward to wearing Essie Power Clutch from this color group.

Golds

1. Zoya Jules*
2. OPI Simply Smash-ing
3. Zoya Goldie
4. Barielle Gelt Me to the Party
5. Funky Fingers Golden Coast*
6. Sally Girl Gold Glitter
7. Juicy Couture Gold Glitter*
8. OPI Pros & Bronze
9. Barielle Aura Angora

Zoya Jules is an awesome color. I love the way it looks like an antique gold necklace melted over my nails. I'm really looking forward to wearing OPI Pros & Bronze.

Nudes/Browns

1. Zoya Minka* 
2. Zoya Shay*
3. Zoya Pandora*
4. Zoya Gretchen*
5. FingerPaints Holly-wood Frame
6. SH Complete Peachy Keen
7. Essie Sand Tropez
8. China Glaze Camison
9. Barielle Buddha-ful*
10. Barielle Make it a Latte*
11. Beauti Control Chocolate Truffle
12. SH Insta-Dri Slick Slate
13. China Glaze Midtown Magic
14. Diamond Cosmetics Decadence
15. Loreal Owl's Night*
16. SH Xtreme Wear Pumpkin Spice*
17. Barielle Cowl of the Wind
18. Butter LONDON All Hail the Queen

Nudes/Browns

1. Color Club Nouveau Vintage
2. Color Club Rebel Spirit

I've already said that Zoya Gretchen is my most favorite nude ever! After wearing Barielle Make it a Latte recently, that's now my favorite brown. Loreal Owl's Night takes the cake for one of the most unique in this color family. I'm looking forward to wearing Color Club Nouveau Vintage and ChG Midtown Magic.

Reds

1. Zoya Sooki*
2. Zoya Kimmy*
3. SH Xtreme Wear Ice Coffee
4. ChG Ruby Pumps
5. OPI Love is a Racket*
6. Diamond Cosmetics Hue Are You?
7. Zoya Posh

Here's the color I have the least of. I'm so not a red girl. I recently stated that OPI Love is a Racket is my favorite red...but this is only by theory. I love it in the bottle...its the perfect candy red shade, but the wear on me was horrible and it stained. I'm really looking forward to wearing Zoya Posh...I have been wanting this color after seeing it on many blogs and finally got it during their last promo.

Whites/Silvers

1. SH Xtreme Wear White On*
2. Essie Marshmallow*
3. FingerPaints Private Collection
4. NYC Starry Silver Glitter
5. OPI Servin' Up Sparkle*
6. Goldie #10
7. OPI Your Royal Shine-ness*
8. OPI Spark De Triomphe
9. Orly Rock Solid
10. Glitter Gal Silver Sparkle*
11. Color Club Boho Mojo
12. WnW Party of Five Glitters
13. WnW Gray's Anatomy
14. Nicole By OPI Positive Energy

I can't say I really have a favorite from this family. I'm looking forward to wearing Essie Marshmallow as a full mani, as well as Orly Rock Solid. I'm not the biggest fan of silver polishes so I don't have many of them. 

Whew...that was a lot. I hope you all have enjoyed just a little peek into my stash at its current state. I've accumulated a lot and I promised myself that I wont have more polish than what my Melmer can hold...we'll see how that goes. As usual, let me know if there is anything that you would like to see. 

*Polishes have been blogged about previously

SH Xtreme Wear Pumpkin Spice

Hey dolls, I decided to layer Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pumpkin Spice over Barielle Make It a Latte. These colors go together extremely well as Pumpkin Spice has a very sheer brown base. It is filled with copper glitter. I used two coats to get maximum coverage of the glitter.

Pumpkin Spice is a gorgeous glitter! I'm not really into Halloween, so this is about as festive as it will get from me. :) Happy Monday!

Barielle Make it a Latte

Hey dolls, today I'm wearing Barielle Make it a Latte. This is a gorgeous brown that's filled with a hidden gold shimmer that comes out in the sunlight. It looks like a bar of chocolate melted on my nails. The formula was great and full opacity was achieved with two coats.

flash

Simply gorgeous! The color dries a little darker than in the bottle, but it's still a great brown. I love everything about this...yall know I'm a Barielle pusher. :)

Do you have a favorite brown polish???

Loreal Owl's Night

Hey dolls, I don't know what my deal was but I wore Glitter Gals Silver Sparkle for 3 days before I finally decided to take it off. I guess I really did like it. I wanted to go darker, so now I'm wearing Loreal Owl's Night. This is the color that I was most excited about when I saw the Project Runway Colors Take Flight collection. Owl's Night is a very unique color that's somewhat hard to describe. The base appears brown in some lights and its filled with a coppery-golden shimmer. In other lights, you can also see some murky olive green tones. I'm impressed with both Loreal's formula and brush. There were no issues here at all. I could have gotten away with one coat, but I decided to do two to bring out more depth in the color.

sunlight

shade

I don't own anything like Owl's Night, so it's definitely a keeper. I've been staring at my nails since I applied it. If you haven't tried Loreal's polishes in awhile, I'd definitely recommend checking out this collection.

What are your thoughts on Loreal polishes?

Swatch Alert...Zoya Gretchen

I'm so excited....I've finally found a nude polish that I actually really like...and didn't feel like it was too plain! This is Zoya Gretchen. Everything about this shade was perfect for me. Gretchen is described on the Zoya site as a light milky brown with neutral pink tint and warm clay undertones. I couldn't have described it better. I always thought I would be super bored with a nude polish, but I wore this one for 4 whole days without adding anything to it. The formula and application was easy. The color was opaque in 2 coats. Here are some pics:

I think that this nude can work on many skin tones because the pink tints aren't the dominant feature. This is a great neutral color when you still want your nails to look good, but you don't want anything super bright.

What's your favorite nude polish? Happy polishing dolls!

Nail Polish Trends ~ In the Nude

I was browsing the web a few days ago, and I found an article from Refinery 29 on the top trends for nail polish for the early part of this year. The top 6 trends listed are:

• Nudes
• Blues
• Peachy-Pinks
• Lavender
• Gunmetal Grays
• Topcoat Effects

One of the biggest trends in all of fashion is the nude look. I personally love a nice pair of nude heels. I think they make your legs look amazing…but I digress. My bestie is typically a nude-nail kinda girl and I would always try to get her to switch to some color. I guess she was ahead of the times. This trend is perfect because it can be worn on all skin complexions. Most companies have a variety of nude shades, ranging from those with more pink undertones to those that are more beige or brown. Here are some awesome shades that go well with this trend!

Sand Tropez

Knotty

Inattendu

San Tan-tonio

Flowie

This look was all over the fashion runways earlier this year. I'm ready to take part in this trend. A nude nail would look great with the outfit below. These shoes are AMAZING! What are your feelings on the nude look?