Dose of Lola: April 2011

3 coats

From the Summer 2011 collection, Girls Just Want To Have Fun is a stunning coral shade. It's right on the borderline of jelly and creme, very squishy. You may have noticed that I'm kind of a Lippmann hoor, but really, this is a GORGEOUS polish! The formula is perfection (what's new?) and the dry time is faster than most.

P.Y.T, Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Daytripper

Girls Just Want To Have Fun is available at deborahlippmann.com.

29 April 10 comments

2 coats

108 Degrees is a bright pink with fuchsia flecked shimmer. I feel like I have a lot of shades like this, so I wasn't super excited when I put it on. The formula is thin yet not runny. The brush on mine was super wonky, so I didn't have fun applying this!

T-B: 108 Degrees, Misa Summer Love, 108 Degrees. 3 coats each.

There are only subtle differences between Summer Love and 108 Degrees. Summer Love is a touch warmer, and the shimmer is larger. That's about it.

Not the most unique color but still a great choice for summer!

27 April 2 comments

I couldn't decide what kind of nail art to do for my Easter mani, so I gave up and just went with this:

3 coats

Holos always save the day. :)

25 April 16 comments

Here's a new shade from the China Glaze Island Escape collection. Since Electric Pineapple is the polish I was most excited about, of course it was the first I swatched!

3 coats

Electric Pineapple is a chartreuse-ish creme. I really like it! It's bright without being garish and doesn't make my hands look like trees, which is always a nice bonus. The formula was on the thin side, but it applied nicely and was opaque in three coats.

T-B: Electric Pineapple, OPI Fiercely Fiona, Electric Pineapple

I thought they may be dupes, but Electric Pineapple has much more green in than Fiercely Fiona. They're different enough to own both, especially if you like weird, yellow-green shades.

24 April 7 comments

I Juggle Men, from OPI's Femme de Cirque collection, is a conundrum to me. It shrinks everything it touches!

Here it is over American Apparel Passport Blue. Are we seeing all that shrinkage?? That's just two coats of I Juggle Men. No Seche Vite or any other type of topcoat.

Here's IJM over So Many Clowns, So Little Time. Looks great, right? So far, the only way I can wear IJM is one coat over a polish. If I add a second coat, BAM! Shrinkage! What kind of polish shrinks itself?

Oh, and look at the hilarity that happens if you add Seche Vite on top:

The wrinkling is less noticeable with Barielle Manicure Extender (middle finger), but c'mon! Sure, IJM dries quickly and shiny, but it doesn't dry anything below it. I'm sooo not into sitting around for hours waiting for my polish to dry. I'd need some sort of quick dry topcoat over it, and that's clearly not an option. I'll stick to CND Sapphire Sparkle.

I've seen some manis with this that look perfectly fine. Any tips to wearing this successfully??

22 April 5 comments

Guess what I found at a dusty! A beautiful, brand new bottle of Merry Midnight. Rather than hoard this and keep it as a second backup, I decided to share the wealth. It's stunning, really:

How to enter: all you need to do is be a follower and share a fun fact with me! It can be about yourself, the world, cute animals, etc. Entries will be accepted until May 6th. International entries are always welcome!

22 April 52 comments

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!! I used to Random.org to help select a winner:

The 36th comment is Cilucia! Congrats! Please contact me (contact button ------>) within 48 hours to claim your prize. :)

Next up is my backup of OPI Merry Midnight, so keep an eye out for that giveaway post tomorrow.

21 April 4 comments

I'm really loving my *close my eyes and grab* method of choosing a polish to wear. Today I grabbed Dulce de Leche from my OPI drawer.

2 coats

Dulce de Leche is a gorgeous pinky nude creme. This looks like the perfect base for a lace mani. *plots* The formula's great! It was completely opaque in two coats and applied perfectly.

Dulce de Leche is readily available wherever OPI is sold.

18 April 19 comments

I've been on shimmer/duochrome/holo overload for the last few weeks, so I just wanted something simple for today's mani. I closed my eyes and reached into my OPI drawer, and this is what I grabbed:

2 coats

Lucky Lucky Lavender is red-toned lavender creme. Mmm it's divine! Definitely a wonderful palette cleanser after all those crazy (crazy awesome) polishes I've been wearing. Lucky Lucky Lavender applied beautifully with no cleanup necessary. I also really love the finish.

Lucky Lucky Lavender was released with OPI's Spring 2010 Hong Kong collection, but I think it may be permanent? I'm basing this solely on the fact that there's a slot for it at Ulta, so I may be wrong. In any case, it's a great polish to own!

17 April 14 comments

The sun is not my friend today. I seriously waited until the last possible minute to leave for class, hoping the sun would show up. Of course 10 minutes into my drive, out comes the sun! So, today I have some phone pictures to share with you.

How gorgeous is this! This is one coat of Man of La Manch layered over Illamasqua Baptiste. It's very thin, so I'm not sure how many coats it would take for full opacity on its own.

Man of La Mancha is from the Holiday on Broadway 2003 collection. Despite its über discontinued status, it's still pretty affordable on eBay.

14 April 9 comments

Misa Paradise Shore is the epitome of a Summer collection. Brightly colored and packed with shimmer. Sign me up!

2 coats

Endless Keys is a bright orange (tangerine?) with gold, flecked shimmer. Congrats, Misa. You made an orange I actually want to wear.

2 coats

What's that? Yeah, I'll wait a moment while you grab your sunglasses.

Krystal Water is a blinding teal shimmer. It glows like NO OTHER! Well, actually it glows like another polish in this collection.

3 coats

Accurately named, Mega Margarita is a cheery green with gold, flecked shimmer. This is what I was hoping BL Dosh would look like. So cute!

2 coats

Mermaid Dreams is an ocean blue shimmer. Like Krystal Water, it glows like crazy.

2 coats

Summer Love is a hot pink with fuchsia, flecked shimmer.

2 coats

Under My Sunbrella is a Sunny D yellow with gold, flecked shimmer.

The formula on these was generally great. The only one I had a problem with was Mermaid Dreams. It was thick and a little stringy. I will definitely have to add a few drops of thinner in this one. I also experienced a bit of bubbling on the flecked shimmers.

I love this collection! It makes me happy. The only shade I'm not happy with is Under My Sunbrella because it looks...gross. I have no idea who can wear it, but I definitely can't. Other than that, though, this is a collection I'm happy to have in my stash.

Stay tuned for comparisons!

12 April 24 comments

I love my texting thumb. My texting thumb keeps me connected to the world. She is always there for me when I need her. She always matches my phone because, well, they're a team:

Here, TT is sporting OPI Alpine Snow as a base with Essie Turquoise & Caicos, Lapis of Luxury, French Affair, and China Glaze Lemon Fizz sponged on top. Stamped on top is an image from Konad m57.

So yeah, I'm ~~kind of~~ definitely a dork.

12 April 19 comments

So, I found this at a dusty just a few days after I purchased one on eBay. Typical, eh? Although I don't mind too much because...

2 coats

DS Original is AMAZEBALLS!

Seriously, I have nothing else to say.

Listen, if you don't own this, you need to swap/dusty hunt/buy at a totally reasonable price/kill (jk) for this. K? Alright!

09 April 12 comments

Exhibiton, Prism

Pulse, Eden

Annnnnd a little Hello Kitty

Swatches coming soon!

08 April 2 comments

Every now and then, I'm going to give away some polishes that I've backed up. With so many untrieds, it seems silly to have so many backups. First up is MAC Bad Fairy:

I don't love it on me, so there's absolutely no reason to keep a backup of this. If you missed out on this, now would be the perfect time to try your luck. :)

How to enter: all you need to do is be a follower and leave a nail related comment. Entries will be accepted until April 20th. International entries are welcome!

06 April 86 comments

The main difference between these two is the shimmer. Borrowed & Blue is a creme while Sky has a bright blue shimmer. Sky also looks a bit green when compared to B&B. I would say they're different enough to own both.

If you would be happy owning just one of these, go for Borrowed & Blue. The formula is awesome, and it's opaque in just two coats. Sky is tricky to apply and takes 3+ coats to even it out.

Top to bottom: B&B, Sky, B&B

2 coats of B&B and 3 coats of Sky

04 April 8 comments

Here are some swatches and comparisons of the shades from the collection. Since I own so many pale pinks, I skipped Better Together.

2 coats

Borrowed & Blue is a pale blue that isn't like any of the other pale blues released this season. I love how clean it looks. It was really easy to apply - no streaks or running. I thought it may be similar to Hard Candy Sky, so I did a quick bottle comp:

Look at how clean B&B looks next to Sky. So pretty. I didn't do a nail swatch comp, but I can do one if you'd like. I think they're different enough to own both.

3 coats

First Dance is a true red jelly. I love how shiny the finish is, and it was a dream to apply. I pulled two reds that I thought of when I first swatched First Dance, and this is what I came up with:

Top to bottom: Zoya Kristi, First Dance, China Glaze Salsa

First Dance and Kristi are jellys while Salsa is a creme. I don't see much difference between the shades, except Kristi is just a touch cooler and Salsa is richer in pigment.

3 coats

Made to Honor is a pinky nude jelly. It actually built up really nicely, which I didn't expect. I love this shade and don't own anything quite like it. Really, I couldn't even find something to compare it to. Of course, I might be forgetting something. Feel free to suggest a comp for this.

Is anyone else loving this collection as much as I am?

04 April 9 comments

Now that I've swapped for a backup of this, I feel like I can wear it freely. Have you ever felt like that? I know I'll probably never get through my first bottle but am still hesitant to use a HTF frequently until I back it up. It's probably just me, though, since I'm such a crazy shopaholic. :)

2 coats, no flash

This probably goes without saying, but I love Merry Midnight! It's like the purple version of $OPI 212: there' s a little bit of everything in there.

w/ flash

03 April 8 comments

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