Halloween Nails: Color Club Limelight with Swatches

Hey guys! Sorry I've been away so long. I'd like to say it's because I'm so busy but in fact it's been the opposite. I'm been enjoying some relaxing before starting (hopefully!) two jobs early in November. I promise not to be away for so long again and I'm actually working on posts for the coming weeks today.

Today I wanted to share with you a polish I got a while ago but have never worn and you'll probably understand looking at the pictures. It's very much a neon green and on my long nails it'd probably look stupid under normal circumstances. Since it's Halloween weekend and all I decided to go for it and I'm glad I did. This polish is so fun that I can't stop staring at my nails and wanting to show them off to the world. Even though we got a couple inches of snow last night I still managed to have the most fun night with a few girls I haven't seen in a long time and a few I've never met and more than once the topic turned to nails. Take a look at these pictures of Color Club Limelight and read more about the finish and wear after.

Truth be told I had to do my nails two times this week with Limelight. The first time I didn't use a basecoat since I normally don't and ending up with major chippage on day two. Since I was actually leaving my house for once I decided to do them again Saturday morning and this time I used Sally Hansen Double Duty as both the base and topcoats and it seems to have worked like a charm. One of my actual nails is a little scraped and scratched up and I polished right over it and that is the only one that has a chip even after a night of partying and a day spent cleaning and doing dishes. I suspect that is just my nail itself and not the polish. Moral of the story with this one is to use a basecoat and a topcoat.

OPI Pink of Hearts Shatter for Susan G. Komen For the Cure

I love the Rockstar Manicure. You know, to look like you've been strumming a guitar or smashing a drumset but you have better things to do like, you know, work, eat, get in your exercise, stare at Rockstars on the internet. You catch my drift. I'm not exactly a perfectionist when it comes to my nails but I just can't go all the way and sport chipped nails for the cause. No sirrey! Luckily you don't have to either. OPI brought back the shatter trend (does anyone remember CoverGirl Crackle?) and now you can get crackles in every imaginable color of the rainbow from many major brands. They look like a deconstructed nail but have the polish (haha, see what I did there?) of real manicures. You can wear this one to work and people won't think you neglected your manicure for weeks like I just did.

Now I know there are lots of girlie-girls out there and Pink of Hearts is the first pink shade of shatter. It's a really pretty mid-tone pink, not too bubble gum but not so dark that it's unbearable either. This is one of my favorite shades of pink and it looks good on everyone. You can get it anywhere you normally buy your OPI and if you're like me you'll probably be able to still find it on shelves, more metropolitan areas may require a little searching this late in the game.

OPI will donate $25,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure for the fifth year running so let's support them in that and pick up this fun shade. I can just see the options now, over black, silver, blue, purple........

Your Wish Is My Command.... The Hottest Nail Trends

Since Ashley was the first to comment on my giveaway I'm going to go ahead and do this post on her suggestion, the hottest nail trends.

I'm not really one to follow the trends of the nail polish world. Shatter and crackles are cool but it's not really a look for me, at least not right now. Maybe boredom will kick in and I'll be all over those babies come the middle of what is sure to be a hellish winter, who knows.

As you can see above in the image (that is Beyonce by the way) the current nail trend is a multicolored mani. Back in the days before Androids and iPhones Blackberry manicures were all the rage, where you painted just your thumbs a different color. This look has morphed a little bit and now the different color nail is usually on the ring finger. This would be an amazing look if you are engaged, especially if you wanted to wait to see if people noticed the ring. You can draw attention to it and dare people not to notice your beautiful bling. How fun is that?

You can use any color combination but personally I think it looks best with colors in the same shade intensity like Beyonce's brights, similar darks or barely there light shades. I think a dark gray mani with a silver accent finger would be amazing. You can even switch it up by using a crackle topcoat on one nail or even do a matte manicure and leave one nail shimmery. The possibilities are endless with this one so tell me, are you going to try it out? If you do I want to see pictures!

China Glaze Purple Panic (Neon) with Swatches

First of all let me just acknowledge that it's awkward to photograph your pedicure and I'm sorry for this blurry shot. That's probably half the reason why most nail polish swatches on the web are of hands. Secondly, I know some people have problems with feet so I apologize if you are one of them, since my pedicures last a heck of a lot longer than my manicures you'll have more hand swatches for your viewing pleasure.

First things first, China Glazes Purple Panic is NOT purple. That is one of my big pet peeves. I'm the girl who loves purple and although I'm embracing pink a lot more these days it's still a long way down from my top picks of purple and teal. This shade is most definitely pink, almost a bright pink fuchsia color. In the bottle I get a tad bit more purple than I get on the nail. The shade almost perfectly matches the pink on my "I love Shoes" flipflops from Payless (aren't they cute?)

As with all China Glaze polishes (my favorite by the way) the wear is wonderful, especially for the toes. I did have a tricky time getting it off however so after trying in vain to rush a polish change on my tootsies I had to rush and re-polish because I didn't have time to scrub and scrub. This could be avoided with a basecoat and/or some patience which I have in short supply.

I realize some of the colors are hard to find if they were limited edition but I'm bringing you my personal collection for now. If you're lusting after a color there's always ebay or makeupalley.com. If you don't know about Makeupalley you have to try it out. Sign up for an account, post your unwanted makeup items (used or new, preferably with pictures) and make/receive requests with other members. You pay shipping and end up with new to you makeup items. If you have any questions about makeupalley, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email drugofchoicebeauty (at) yahoo (dot) com and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Orly Snowcone with Swatches

Ever since I was a pre-teen I've had a love affair with nail polish. Back in the day I would change my polish a couple times a week and probably even got to the point where I would do it every day. In those days I was pretty liberal with my choices, anything goes including every finger a different color. I still have the luxury of doing that as I don't work anywhere that wouldn't allow for nail polish and/or funky manicures and my tastes haven't calmed down. Do we have any fans of the blackberry mani out there? You know you have your thumb a different color than the rest of the nail? I don't know if I'd go that far but I'm far from a neutral girl.

Enter Orly Snowcone (in this less than flattering picture of my hand) The name alone makes me happy but it's not what I would picture when I think of a snowcone. Orly's version is more of a cotton candy blue color, perhaps slightly brighter yet at the same time very pastel. This blue is neither green or purple leaning just a straight up baby blue shade.

I love the way this color wears. I could easily get away with one coat and the polish didn't drag or skip over the nail. Orly's one of my favorite brands for their fabulous brush and brush handle, the rubber no-slip grippers really help when you're impatient like me and have to do 10 things at once in order to feel successful. Or is that just me?


The wear with this polish was pretty good. I'm so hard on my nails and don't use a base coat (although I'm in the market for one and strongly leaning towards one from Orly) but I got a good 2 1/2 days of wear which is GREAT for me. A lot of times I'm lucky to get one full day and such is the case with MAC.

What do you think? Is this a color you'd wear for a mani or could you only get away with it on your toes? Come on and let me know in the comments. Stay tuned tomorrow for a pedi post with China Glaze!