Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

I almost completely forgot to blog this polish! This is Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream. And my picture just does not do it justice. It's a beautiful shimmery turquoise/sea green base with blue glitter. I did three coats with two coats of Insta-Dri. It feels just like what a mermaid would choose for nail polish. I'm very smitten with it. And if the price tag is scaring you off, don't let it. This is such a unique color and you definitely won't be disappointed.
And now I've swatched both of the DL's that I own. Any recommendations for more? I'm probably not going to run out right away to get a few more but I've been highly impressed by the two I've got and would be open to some other joining my stash.

My Nail Polish Collection and Storage

Since we've moved, I haven't been super happy with my beauty product storage. We definitely took a step in the right direction when I picked up a Helmer from Ikea for my nail polish! Honestly, the room I keep my beauty products in is incredibly ugly, so for now, I'll just stick to the Helmer and what's inside.
On top, I keep a long Skubb box (love those things!) with a bunch of products I use regularly, plus nail polish remover.

Top drawer is random nail related things. Top coats, base coats and thinner in the paper boxes (Jenn made those). My manicure set in the bag. Sally Hansen Color Quick pens (I hate them), Reinforcement stickers, labels, superglue pen, and nail stickers.

Second drawer is China Glaze. I can fit 13 more bottles in here, so yeah, I'll be surprised if I don't overflow into another drawer by the end of the year.

Third drawer is OPI. I can fit 15 more bottles in this drawer. Again, I would not be surprised if I overflow.

Fourth drawer is randoms. It's only about half full. I've got Orly, Zoya, Color Club, Sally Hansen, ELF, Wet N Wild, Illamasqua, Essie, Nicole By OPI, Ulta, Nails Inc, Butter London, Studio M, and Deborah Lippmann.
The fifth and sixth drawers aren't worth showing. One has just a bag of cotton balls and the other is empty. I'm not gunning to fill this baby up any time soon but it is nice to know I've got a couple open and available drawers.
And that's it! I know it's a lot of polish, but hey, at least I only need one Helmer and not multiple. How do you store nail polish?

My Favorite Things 2012: Nails Edition

We can't talk favorite things without talking about nails. I started this blog just to keep track of the polishes I had worn. I went back through all my posts from the last year and picked my five absolute favorites. You can see all my nail swatches here. I'm just reposting the pics from their respective posts but you can click the name to read my thoughts on it, how many coats I used, etc. These are not in some kind of special favorites order, just alphabetical by brand name.

 Butter London Lovely Jubbly

China Glaze Prism

Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

OPI The Man With The Golden Gun

I've loved blogging all of my manicures this year. I fell off the wagon as far as writing regularly a couple times in 2012 but I'm hoping to be a little more consistent with my posting in the next year. It's been a great year and I'm hoping 2013 will be even better. Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe

AHHH! I love this! I was wanting it pretty badly when I got it but for real, this is incredible! Uriah actually picked this one for me to wear and I'm so glad I did. Across the Universe is a blue jelly with light blue and green glitter. This is 4 coats plus Colorstay top coat. I probably could have stopped at 3 but there was a little bit of unevenness that I wanted to fix. Formula was fantastic. I didn't have to fool around to get lots of the big glitters on my nails. I got just the right amount with a normal technique. Overall, this is a fantastic polish. I don't have anything else like it!

Polish Debauchery Haul!

What happens when two polish junkies spend a week together?

This! We ended up going to three different malls, one Cosmetics Company Outlet, Ulta twice, and Target three times (I think). We did other things besides shop but this is what I have to show you today. You might want to get a drink and settle in, this is a LONG post.

 Zoya Charla, Sally Hansen CSM Loves Me Not, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue, Wet N Wild Megalast Through the Grapevine, Wet N Wild Megalast Bite the Bullet, Revlon Colorstay Top Coat

The first three were lemmings, especially Pacific Blue. I've hunted for Pacific Blue for a while. The Wet N Wilds were buy one, get one 50% off but they aren't that expensive at full sale price. I know I've said this a few times but I really just needed a new topcoat and I've heard good things about this one.

Nails Inc. Topping Lane, Nails Inc, Sweets Way, Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream, Butter London No More Waity Katie, Butter London Lovely Jubbly

All of these were major lemmings for me and my firsts from these brands! 

Lush Mask of Magnaminty, Bubblegum Lip Scrub, Heavanilli Massage Bar, Sultana of Soap, (not pictured) Cosmetic Warrior Fresh Face Mask

My first Lush items! There are two near me and even then they are both more than an hour away. We ended up visiting both. The only things I was absolutely determined to get were Bubblegum, Sultana of Soap, and a fresh face mask. The first Lush didn't have any of the fresh face masks so I ended up with the Mask of Manaminty. It's the only thing I haven't used yet. I love everything else. It all smells wonderful (except Cosmetic Warrior).

Benefit Sugarlicious set, Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, MAC Fix+ mini, Estee Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup, MAC Lipglass in Pink Lemonade, Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in Lovesick and Honey, MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in In Anticipation

AHHH! I'm such a Benefit fangirl and I'm LOVING this set! Pretty much everything here has been major love even though half of it was unplanned. It's been a struggle to find the right match for me in the Invisible Fluid but this one is perfect (1N1, if you are wondering).

MAC 15 Pan Pro Palette, Motif, Jest, Woodwinked

Well, I got caught up in being at a MAC store for the first time and ended up with a palette. MAC is quickly turning into one of my favorite brands. I have 4 other shadows that I already owned that I need to depot.

Overall, I was happy with everything I got. I'm definitely going to be on a no buy for a while. I'm not really sure the terms of my no buy but we have so many things coming up in September and October that it probably won't matter that much anyways. If you want a review or swatches of anything in particular, let me know!