Midnight in Moscow

Here I have the lady that initially got me back into nail polish. I got this when OPI first released the Russian collection, though it sat mostly alone in my medicine cabinet for years before the polish psychosis set in.

Midnight in Moscow is a dark, dark vampy red (though when you're removing it, it comes off black) with red sparkle in it. When the light catches it, it's just about the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen. I've had this color for... five years? Six years? And I still get excited when I put it on.

Loft-y Ambitions

Loft-y Ambition came from the China Glaze Metro Fall 2011 collection. This color is a deep wine shimmer color -- kind of like a nice Malbec. And now I'm thirsty.

Zoya Jem

When I saw the previews for the Zoya Mirrors collection, I knew I needed to have Jem. Then I found a blogger who was having a mystery grab bag blog sale (10 for 27!) and this gem came in it (hah, Jem/Gem!)

Jem is a lovely purpley-red color with a lot of shimmery goodness. It pulls redder on me than most people (which is odd, because I tend to pull things bluer). Pictures 'neath:

Hey Sailor, or Why Women Tear Each Other Down

Hello readers! Today I have for you China Glaze's Hey Sailor from this past spring's Anchors Away collection.

This color applied like a dream and required no post-polish touch ups. I love when that happens. It's a true tomato red, like a 40s pin-up girl. In fact, when I wore it, I had a vintage looking dress on and got some good compliments on the retro appeal of the whole look.

But beware...
There was one lady at my office who has achieved relatively high levels of success and has a reputation for woman-on-woman office crime, who saw fit to make a comment about the bright red color. In front of a huge group of our colleagues, she looked at the color and said "that's a very interesting shade of red." And I said "thanks, it's called Hey Sailor!" She replied, "It wasn't a compliment. It's a very specific red. It's red." I was really embarrassed and said "yeah, it's just 40s style." She repeated her take on it two or three additional times to the whole group. Meanwhile, I was too shell-shocked to continue in the conversation.

I really hate women who can't handle being around other women. And this, to me, was just plain tear-her-down-so-I-can-look-better. But, it does bring up a potential issue with this color. It's a bright red, and in the past those had a reputation. Despite the rather pedestrian reputation reds and pinks have for nail polish fanatics, the bold reds (and some hot pinks) still seem to scream "trollop" to some outsiders. And if you work with one of these outsiders, they may publicly humiliate you.

How would you handle a situation like this? Would you have defended your nails stronger, or would you have backed down (like I unfortunately did)? Tell ya what, I'm reticent to even wear a bright red or pink anymore! Boo to girl-on-girl crimes!

Branding Iron Is the Hotness.

In one of my very first e-tailer purchases, I bought China Glaze's Branding Iron. Despite the fact that it was spring at the time, it caught my eye and I thought I'd wait and use it as a fall mani color. Well, it turns out I'm crap at waiting and wore it in mid August. I got a ton of compliments on it, and it's really and truly a special color. I went to transdesign to see if they still have it, and it seems they're out of stock. 8ty8beauty does still show it on their site (at least as of last Thursday).

The formula was great, and I'm a big, big fan of China Glaze brushes. The color is a deep red shimmer that leans more towards rust, rather than burgundy. It's one of those "glows from within" colors that I'm a HUGE fan of. HIGHLY recommend.

Happy Canada Day!

I've always been a big, big fan of our neighbors to the north (or south, if you're from Metro Detroit). So in honor of their birthday, I did a Canada Day manicure.




The red nails are done with China Glaze Ruby Pumps (two coats) and the white nails are China Glaze Frosty (four coats). My Seche Vite has gone missing, so these are sans top coat... and still with an insane depth of sparkle!

So happy birthday, Canada! And happy Canada Day to my beloved Canadian.